Baby Progress Report

I'm 35 weeks pregnant. Baby #2 is officially due November 12, but we started having some indicators this week that this baby will not stay (or be allowed to stay) where he is for that long. My doctor and I are hoping for at least November 1 as I will be past the 38 week mark (best for lung development), finished with work (best for my stress level), and my mom will be back from Australia (best for a successful labor).

The relevant history: Owen had IUGR (inter-uterine growth restriction), and was statistically a low birth weight baby (less than 5 1/2 pounds full term). Basically, he stopped growing in the last few weeks of pregnancy, and I was induced at 38 weeks because he was showing signs of distress. Our scrawny kid was beautiful in our eyes, but most full term babies have chubby legs...

People keep looking at me and saying, "You're 35 weeks?! You look tiny." Yes, a compliment, but also a good summary of the potential challenges. Over the last month, my belly has grown very little and I'm not putting on weight. Awesome for losing baby weight later, but not so awesome for the end of pregnancy when the baby is supposed to be doing two things: finishing lung development and PUTTING ON WEIGHT.

For those reasons, we are watching this baby's growth a bit more closely this time around. I was measuring on track through 32 weeks - yea! - but my measurement was starting to lag at this week's doctor visit. We had an ultrasound at 34 weeks that showed baby was about 1 1/2 weeks behind in growth. Not that big of a deal, as nobody expects me to grow an 8 pound baby. What will be more important is whether baby shows good growth between now and our follow-up ultrasound on October 19.

I also had my first session hooked up to the monitors this week and we discovered that some of the "baby stretching" that I've been feeling is actually contractions. Not frequent, not painful, and thankfully not producing any action that would land me on bed rest, but enough that I should be aware. As my doctor said, "Maybe this baby will show up early on his own and we won't have to push him along." Wait for November 1 please!

What it means: I will likely be spending quality time attached to the monitors at each of my weekly doctor visits. This will gage my contractions and also watch for slow baby heart rates that would indicate distress. If all looks good, we'll just keep waiting for a natural occurring later. If we see challenges, then I get to make more frequent visits to the doctor (yea!), all the while trying not to stress out about the things that I'm NOT getting done while sitting in their little closet of a monitoring room. Maybe I can bring my laptop and get some work done...