37 weeks = full term!

Today I reached a milestone in my pregnancy that I did not reach last time around...I'm considered full term!  This means that baby can come any day, and if she does come before her September 28 "due date" she'd be considered a full term baby.  No labels like "pre-term" that Evan got (though she might bear that same label of being LGA...Large for Gestational Age).

~35.5 weeks (left) and 37 weeks (right).  Many of my maternity shirts are getting a little small now.

At my most recent prenatal check up this past week (I was 36.5 weeks) everything was looking good.  Baby is head down and she still has a decent amount of amniotic fluid around her (the biggest pocket they found was around 7 cm...in past weeks they'd said I was closer to 8.5).  It was harder for them to get the fluid measurement, though, as she kept moving and many of the dark "pockets" they saw on the ultrasound had baby "parts" in them (i.e. fingers, hand, etc) so they couldn't count those.

Moreover, they checked me and said I am already 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced.  Thus, they told me to take it easy until this weekend so I could make sure I went full term, but that if labor started any time now that they wouldn't try to stop it.  I remember being told I was already 1 cm dilated about the week before I had Evan, but I don't recall being much effaced at that point.  Granted, they also told me this could be a sign I'm getting close to having her, or I could remain at this point for a few more weeks.  It's so hard to know.

One new thing I wasn't expecting was to get another TDaP shot.  With Evan they wanted to give me one at the hospital after his delivery, but before I was discharged, as recent studies had shown it's good for adults to get a booster of this immunization to help ward off pertussis (whooping cough).  This virus has been coming back in epidemics around the country and infants are particularly vulnerable to getting it if exposed.  Yet for me, at that time, I had already had a booster as an adult (in 2008) so they said since I'd had it in the previous 5 years I was fine.

This time around, the most recent research is suggesting that every pregnant woman get it during each pregnancy now (according to my health care provider).  The reason for this is to help boost mom's antibodies to it, passing them along to baby while in utero, and then helping protect baby a bit more once they are born and before they can begin to be immunized against it.  Therefore, I got another poke in my arm (I'm pretty used to needles by this stage between all the blood draws and so forth), and now my arm is a bit sore.

With regard to the difficulty breathing/heart palpitations (potential arrhythmia) that I had been having, I have been trying to really hydrate myself overnight and first thing in the morning to see if that helps.  The results from the Holter monitor test they had ordered for me just came back yesterday and were normal, with the exception that I was having faster heart rates during the episodes (thus confirming my heart palpitations), but no abnormalities (or arrhythmia)!  So the good news was that my heart is normal, but the unknown now is why I'm having the palpitations.   The extra hydration had seemed to be working, but I did have an episode earlier this week, so it hasn't completely solved the problem (just seems to have reduced the frequency of it occurring).  The doctor has ordered a thyroid test, as she said sometimes it can be off in pregnancy and contribute to this, so that's the next test.  Either way, they feel pretty sure that whatever it is, it will resolve itself after pregnancy, and that could be any day now!

Anyway, I'm in that final stretch (literally...I'd say haha, but I don't find it so funny anymore), and I will be meeting my baby girl soon.  I'm trying to really enjoy these final days of pregnancy; watching my belly distort as she moves around, enjoying feeling her kicks and movements (except those that go straight into my bladder!), and admiring (sometimes in disbelief) my figure as my belly is really huge.  If this is my last baby, as I plan it will be, I will not experience these things again.  After having a harder time with this pregnancy, I can't say I won't be sad to not have sciatica (lower back nerve pain), general abdominal joint and ligament discomfort, swelling of my hands and feet, new stretch marks growing across my skin, heart palpitation episodes, and just feeling so immobile, but I will miss the unique moments of bonding with my baby while she's still in utero.  Needless to say, I'll have plenty of bonding moments with her, and Evan, over the many years to come.