Jfer's estimated due date has come and gone and still no Junior. We think that maybe tardiness is genetic and manifests itself at a very early age (in utero, so to speak).
Our doctor's appointment was yesterday, one day after Jfer's 40th week, so since we are past the due date, they were to performa baby "stress test". This sound a little ominous, but actually isn't. They don't, as one of my coworkers assumed, walk up to the belly and yell "Four more years of Bush in the White House!" Instead, they simply monitor how the baby's heart rate reacts to stress, and by "stress" it means a contraction or the baby moving around.
After the usual belly measurement and the by now routine discussion as to whether Jfer will have a heparine lock, we went into the monitoring room where they strapped two transducers to Jfer's belly. The first transducer is an external fetal heart monitor and the other one is a contraction sensor. Jfer also got a button to push whenever she felt the baby move. These three wires were hooked up to the monitor which displayed HR (heart rate in BPM) and UA (which we assume means "uterine activity" in some unknown unit) and plotted this data, along with FM ("fetal movement" ?) whenever Jfer pushed the button, on a continuous strip of paper.
Then they gave Jfer some juice and she dug into her M&Ms to kick-start Junior. For a while nothing happened but eventually the baby started moving and his/her heart reate increased nicely whenever s/he was active. Jfer doesn't really have any contractions that she notices, but apparently some are going on, though not strong or regularly, and the baby reacts positively.
While this wasn't terribly exciting for me -- I didn't get to sit in a compfy recliner and they didn't offer me any juice -- I was really glad that everything looked good. I always have this dread, whenever we go for a checkup, that they're going to whisk us away to the hospital -- stat!
We're less than a week away from Jennifer's due date and it's slowly starting to sink in. I think we're mentally ready for it, even if the house may not be. Jfer's still feeling very well and is in no hurry to get Junior out. She doesn't think that it'll happen by her due date.
Our Dr's appointment on Friday went well. Jfer's regained her weight (having an appointment after lunch seems to have helped) and the baby's heartbeat was nice and strong. The Dr has had a bad experience with a Hypnobirthing mom earlier that week -- I hope it won't be coloring her attitude too much.
Three more weeks to go before Junior is supposed to make his or her appearance. It's nice to be past the early-preemie stage and we're looking forward to the last few weeks of Jfer's pregnancy. The only thing her Dr suggested was to cut back on salt -- other than that, Jfer's doing just great.
Her belly is now beyond the round beachball stage where you could occasionally feel movement underneath the smooth sorface. It's now at the point where you can see movement -- it's very X-Files or Alienesque and you almost expect a little creature to burst out of her belly button. Depending on where the baby is, there is often a lump where the butt or foot or knee sticks out. It sometimes makes Jfer's belly look lopsided.
