Week 35

Although I'm not technically 35 weeks until tomorrow, I decided to post an update now since there won't be much to update on next week... considering I feel completely confident that I'm measuring perfectly and baby is doing just fine.

Recently I started noticing more frequent and stronger braxton hicks along with a few indicators that my body might be dilating. Both of these things are completely normal at this point, especially for third time moms, but when I started having more and more unusual aching back pain accompanied with some leaking fluid over the last couple days, I decided I better get things checked out today... especially since we're going on a short camping trip this week. (My pain was not crazy bad or anything... just enough to irritate me I guess). SO I called the on-call doc and she said to come in... of course. And the whole way I was kicking myself for calling because I felt silly and ridiculous... like I was probably just thinking into it too much.

When I finally got there, they got me right in and had me on the monitors... of course. Baby looked perfect, just as I expected, but they were fairly concerned about all the "contractions" I was having. They were the same braxton hicks I had been having, but they were consistently about 5 minutes apart... I felt minimal discomfort from them except for very mild cramps and mild aching in my back. I know what painful contractions feel like, and these were not even close to being painful.

They ended up running a couple tests and checked my cervix to make sure the braxton hicks weren't causing too much progress. I have not been the least bit concerned about early labor, or that baby would even come before 37 weeks, and I'm still not too concerned about it. But as of now I'm dilated 2cm, which is perfectly okay. My body is surely getting ready a little earlier this time, but baby's birth is definitely not imminent. My cervix was still completely closed at this point in my last pregnancy, so I was a little surprised to hear I had progressed at all. But, women do walk around like this for a while sometimes. I just hope baby hangs around at least for another 4 weeks. That would be ideal for me so I can have everyone present for the birth. I have to admit, it is kind of exciting that things are slowly starting to happen... Makes it feel real that baby will be here in the next month or so!

Anyway... they were very glad I ended up coming in though. They discovered I have a nasty bladder infection which they are treating with antibiotics. The dr said if I had waited a whole lot longer it likely would have caused an assortment of issues and spread to my kidneys which would have been very unpleasant. Sooo needless to say the discomforts I've noticed lately were from the bladder infection and should subside soon. I really didn't have much to complain about in the first place, just wanted to be sure that my symptoms were normal before we left town. Glad I went in and now I can enjoy the trip a little more comfortably. Everything pregnancy and baby related is still going quite well. I feel great considering I'm getting so far along now. Thankful for each and every day, and each and every moment of this experience. Anyway, thanks for reading friends! I'll update at 37 weeks. :)