36 Week Checkup ~ 9 MONTHS!

Today I had a 9:50am appointment with Dr. Franklin at the John's Creek office. They did the usual and also pricked my finger to test my iron, which was fine. They also did the Group B Strep test which I won't get the results of until next week. I requested that she do a cervical exam to see if I had dilated anymore, they usually don't start doing them until 38 weeks. She said that I was still dilated 1cm but was 30% effaced.

Here's a little information on dilation and effacement for those of you who do not know what it means: Dilation and effacement work together to open the cervix to allow the baby to drop into the vagina. During pregnancy the cervix lengthens and thickens to protect the baby. During labor, the cervix softens and shortens to allow the baby to pass through. Effacement refers to the thickness or thinness of your cervix. Effacement is measured by percentage, with 0% being a thick and hard cervix and 100% being a very soft thin cervix that is "gone." During labor, the cervix opens wider to allow the baby to pass through. Dilation refers to how big the opening of the cervix is and is measured from 0 (closed cervix) to 10 (fully opened cervix). A cervix will need to efface before it will have any great progress in dilating. (http://www.birthingnaturally.net/birth/progress/exam.html)

She said that there is no reason for anyone to think that Tristyn will be here early just because I have already started dilating and effacing. But who knows, babies come on their own time and she could literally be here any day. For the time being I'm not going to worry about, I am just going to sit back and relax until the time comes :) Even though I am totally anxious! I really didn't like this Dr. but next week I will start seeing midwifes again for the remainder of my pregnancy.

This past Friday night (12/17/04) my mom's side of the family came over to our house for our Christmas gathering. I made dinner and it turned out pretty well. We exchanged gifts and Josh recorded it all on our new video camera. Beverly drew my name and she gave me a Bath & Body Works set and a $25 gift card to Target. Mom had Josh's name and got him a great looking gray Georgia Bulldawg hoodie. He really loves it. Josh & I also gave my Mom & Glenn their gift, we got them a new Olympus 35mm camera. She was totally excited about it and had no idea. I love giving her presents because she always gets so thrilled! It's so much fun just watching her reaction. Once Bev, Glenn, and Lamarr left Mom & Glenn stayed for a little while so Mom could do my feet. She filed down my nails, scrubbed all of the hard yucky stuff off of the bottoms, and gave me a wonderful massage! It felt so great!

Saturday (12/18/04) Josh and I went on a wild goose chase across Atlanta for the fire truck clocks for Dad. I think we spent about 4 or 5 hours total. I actually enjoyed myself because I got to be with Josh and I don't ever mind doing things for my father...but of course Josh whinned the entire time talking about how much my Dad owes him! LOL! After that was over Derek & Tasha came over and we all went to the Mall of Georgia and had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. We shopped around for a little while before seeing a 10pm showing of Spanglish. It wasn't as good as I expected.

Sunday was extremely boring. Josh had been sick all weekend so we just stayed around the house. Derek had stayed the night so he and Josh moved the guest bedroom from the room it was in to the other empty room because Tasha complained about being able to hear everything from the master bedroom. Hopefully now when we have guest that will not be a problem!

Monday Josh stayed home from work because he was still not feeling well. We layed around the house all day and watched movies. We both napped on the couch and went to bed quite early. This week has been pretty boring, not much going on. All of our favorite shows are in re-run mode until January so that leaves us with nothing to do at night, LOL!

Tomorrow I am getting my hair done at 10am and then having lunch at Emerald China with Tasha whenever I am finished. I'll come home after that to let the babies outside and then head up to JFB to meet the Bottoms family for dinner at La Parilla Mexican.

Not much has changed with me. I am still getting bigger by the minute! I try not to move around too much because it has become very difficult to move! My feet and back have not been bothering me too much, but then again I have been trying to stay off of them for extended periods of time. I am still not sleeping well...I have become a info-merical addict during the middle of the night! I have also resorted to coming down to the couch to try a different sleeping environment (also because of Josh's snoring!). I guess my body is just preparing me for the soon to be all night feeding sessions! But hey, I can't wait!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

I'll update this weekend after Christmas :)