36 Week Appointment, and Maternity Pictures and 27th Birthday

Yesterday, which was my 27th birthday, I had my first weekly visit to my doctor. First of all, I had a wonderful 27th birthday. David made it very special by making me breakfast in bed and taking me to lunch at a really cool spot downtown on his lunch break. I also got a pedicure and was able to relax and pamper myself all day long. Delightful. So, being 27 is just fine with me. :)

I was excited to start the weekly visits to the doctor. Waiting between appointments, especially when it's a month, seem like it takes forever. But a week seems so quick!...and I love getting updates and hearing her heartbeat. Here are the stats...

1. Her heart rate was 160 and sounding good.
2. My blood pressure was right on target.
3. My belly measurement was almost exactly 36 weeks (we were 36 weeks and 1 day when I went).
4. I am dilated to about 1 cm.
5. Abigail is "extremely low" according to the doctor and she said she could feel her head.
6. We are/were 80% effaced. So my cervix is already thinning out quite a bit and she said this gives us a slight headstart.

So, all that being said, I actually felt the need to get that hospital bag packed. I commented to the doctor about how I couldn't believe we were already 80% and that we hadn't even taken our childbirth class yet. She laughed and said to just not go into labor before we go (Saturday), but if I do, they'll tell me what to do. IF I DO? reality check. Time to pack the bag...we're just waiting now. So who knows, Abigail could decide to make her debut in a couple days, or wait until we're all the way to 40 weeks. Regardless, I think I'm really going to like getting to go every week. My next appointment is on Halloween, so we'll see if we're even more effaced or dilated.

A couple weeks ago (the last weekend in September) we were able to take some maternity pictures with the photographer we also chose to do Abby's newborn and 6 month shots. We had a great time and she sent us the disc recently. Here are some of our favorites...it makes me really excited to see what creative things she does with Abigail.