sciencebabe's Journal

So I have spent another 5 hrs of my life in the OB’s office this week — 3 hrs on Monday for the non-stress test (baby not stressed, me not stressed before sitting there for 3 hrs, kinda enraged by the end) and 2 hrs Tuesday for my regular check-up. I wish they had snacks, better art or at least mostly nekkid male models to make the visits more interesting, but alas, they have none of the above. Just a lot of knocked-up looking ladies and some bored looking husbands. Sometimes some cute kids though which is always a plus…

The good news is that my doc is very happy with my numbers — blood pressure, weight gain, baby’s growth as measured by the length of belly (after 16 weeks or so the number of inches (or cm I can’t remember which)  from the bottom to the top of the bulge is supposed to be the number of weeks you are plus or minus 1), head is still down — and the baby kicked her when she pushed down to feel the head, indicating response to stimulus, probably gets that from the hubby I’m sure — etc all looked good.

They start doing a physical at 37 weeks — which I was on Wednesday according to their files. I asked her to check me anyway since my hubby was in Vegas, and if it looked like the baby was going to pop out momentarily, advanced warning would be good. She said I’m not at all dilated, but that I’m 25% effaced. I asked her if she could predict timing based on my numbers and she said ‘no’. However, at least we know that the baby’s not going to fall out when I sneeze at this point. Fortunately, the baby stayed in there — hiccuping and fidgeting — until hubby got back. I figured that the hubby was there to start this process, it’s only fair if he’s there to see it through to the ending of the process.

I know the baby would like to move out of the studio and into a large space at this point, and quite frankly, I’m not opposed to the idea myself what with our constant battles over space, but now is not quite the time yet. A tad more fattening would be good – of the baby that is, not me.

I’ve also had an epiphany: when the baby gets the hiccups 4-5 times a day, there is frequently squirming and lots of movement associated with said hiccups. At first I thought the baby was annoyed by the hiccups, which is why it moved at the same time. Now I realize that perhaps the baby is practicing in-utero beat-boxing — laying down those smooth lines and grooving to the beat. Now I also realize that beat-boxing is not a skill either hubby or I have, but like Hubby says, it could be a recessive gene. Maybe my Grandpa would have been the first and finest Polish-American Beat-Boxer if only he’d been given the opportunity. I will watch carefully to see if the baby seems to keep on honing the skills after joining the rest of us.

I'll keep you all posted!

k