The latest from the doctor's office: I had an OB checkup on Thursday. My blood pressure is fine. My weight appears to be unchanged, but Baby continues to grow and kick so there's no issue with the scale numbers. Baby's heart rate was in between 145-155, and the kickage is considerable. I got a strep swab (if you have to ask, you don't want to know) and will be back at the doctor's office again in two weeks to get the results and have yet another checkup. We appear to be on track for an approximate due date of November 20.
I have dusted off the pregnancy books from two years ago -- I have hardly cracked them open this time. It's not so much that I feel like a seasoned veteran, it's just that I figure anything that makes me feel like crap or otherwise weird is to be blamed on the pregnancy and there's little that can be done about it. I know by now what requires an urgent call to the doctor, and everything else I just have to put up with.
But I'm dusting off the books now to remind myself of what labor is all about, since I didn't really go through it the first time. I had a late-evening function at work last Saturday, and when I went to bed that night I had my first experience with full-fledged Braxton-Hicks contractions. Those wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been 1:00 in the morning. Ugh. Fortunately, they've stayed away since then. And now I know how they feel, so I hope that I'll be able to tell the difference if/when the real thing starts happening.