36 weeks

in my last post, i expressed my concerns with this pregnancy. in summary, i was both worried that the baby was going to be bigger than bayli, and that i wouldn't be able to deliver her vaginally due to her size, and worried that she would be too small, and that she would need to be induced early in order to get her the nutrition she needed. the reasoning behind these two contradicting worries i tried to explain in my last post, but... ultimately we knew the answer would be given over the course of a few ultrasounds. so, yesterday i had my second of three ultrasounds, and met with the dr and got lots of questions answered!

first of all, baby is growing great and is not small. in fact, she is already larger than bayli was when she was born. (baby #2 measures 5.7 pounds, while bayli was only 5.4 at birth) this is wonderful because it means she is healthy! but... it also means that we are officially in the unknown territory of figuring out what my body can handle when it comes to delivery and size of baby. because it is my second baby, and because i will most likely not need to be induced this time -my blood pressure is looking great, and i'm not experiencing symptoms of toxemia this time around like i experienced with bayli- therefore baby will come when she is ready, and when my body has been "primed" the dr's and i think that i will be able to handle a bit bigger baby. but just how much is a "bit"? that's the guessing game. 

doc thinks that if i were to go into labor on my own before i reach 38 weeks then i should be fine. he doesn't anticipate the baby growing a ton within the next week and a half or so. He also thinks that she looks healthy and ready to come. He's basically given me the "A-ok" for labor, but, he can't do anything to help push this along any faster. i am contracting frequently, the baby has dropped, i've lost my mucus plug and have started to dilate and efface. but it's just been false labor so far. so... right now we are just hoping that she decides to get things started. but... if i get to 38 weeks and still haven't had her, then we will do the third and last ultrasound and potentially schedule a c-section if she is measuring at or above 7 pounds. 

so... in summary, my body has naturally started the process of getting this baby out, we are all just hoping these braxton hick contractions turn into the real thing sooner than later. 

baby girl, we are ready to meet you! 

And now for your viewing pleasure... some of the pictures from our most recent ultrasounds and my latest belly shot with the comparison of my last belly shot with Bayli. also... if you want to see what i was like at 36 weeks with bayli, here's the link to that blog post.