36 Week Update

This has been a busy week for us! On Wednesday we met with a pediatrician (Dr. Madden) who lives near us and both of us really liked her! She was very straight forward and clearly outlined things to expect, visit schedules, good things to have on hand at home, etc. I really appreciated that since this is a whole new world for both of us! Both she and the pediatrician we met with about a month ago (Dr. Fusner) seem great. They have two different personalities and approaches, but we know Maddie will be in great hands with either one of them! Right now, we are leaning towards Dr. Madden. We decided though that we'd try to fit in one more pediatrician visit. After seeing how different the personalities are, we thought it may be best to just meet as many as we can. We are very lucky to live in this area and have so many great pediatricians around us. We found out that the DC area has the highest ratio of pediatricians in the US! So, we have our last appointment with another pediatrician (Dr. Kulp) on March 19th. It scares me a bit that the appointment is so close to our due date, but that was his only availabile time before our due date so we jumped on it. I'll be calling his office back every now and then to see if any other dates have opened up!

Last night we had our car seat bases installed and it was really informative - they showed us how to remove and re-install the bases on our own (should the need arise) and also had us work with a doll to practice putting someone in the car seat. Once we had the doll in, they showed us how tightly we need to pull the straps on her to make sure she is secure. And boy, do we have to pull those suckers tight! It's probably going to freak us out the first few times we do it, but we want her safe! I think this may be David's job for the first few weeks!! We are good to go on this front though, and it's been fun today seeing a little car seat base in the back seat of my car. I can't wait until we have something to put in that base!

This morning I had my 36 week check-up appointment and everything went well! My blood pressure was up a little bit, but they said that is normal at the end of a pregnancy. It wasn't too high, or in a worrisome range at all, so there's nothing to fret about there. Maddie's heartbeat was good and strong too, measuring in the 140s. I was hoping that there would be big changes in my body this week, but unfortunately things are moving slower than I had hoped! I know it's only been a week, but I was wanting to see big progress since I'm so anxious to meet this little one! Maddie is at a -2 station, which is the same as last week. I have effaced a little bit more and am now at 60% (vs. 50% last week). I haven't started dilating yet either, but I know we still have three more weeks to go. So here's to hoping that we'll see some more changes next week! Oh, and I only gained a half pound this past week, so I'm now just a little over 167 lbs. This is the first time that I've gained less than the average - unbelievable!

From here on out, we don't have too much going on other than my weekly check-ups. We worked to have most everything done by the end of February so that we can just relax and take things easy in March. My next check-up is a week from today, March 6th.

I can't believe that our little girl is due to arrive just three weeks from tomorrow! We are so excited!

Love you all!
Nile & David