Countdown: 37 Weeks, 6 Days (...or 15 days to go)

I know I haven't updated in ages but I've been really rather busy. We've almost got the nursery finished, and ended up taking the bassinet down to Mamalas so she could do some finishing touches to it. (I will post pictures later on)

Let's see... Oh also I have been pretty busy with appointments at the hospital which I'll do a quick recap of:

January 22nd, 2006
Had the tour of the hospital today, and got to see where all the birthing rooms were. There are only 4 of them, but they are quite big and spacious, and all include a spa tub which I am very excited about. According to the midwife who led all of us through (there were probably 20 or so of us) there have been some "accidents" where babies have been born IN the tub, but mostly (unfortunately) they get the mums out in time and get them on the bed to deliver, using the tub only as pain management. Either way, I get to use the tub which I'm ECSTATIC over.

The hospital also has 4 private single rooms, which are generally reserved for women who have had complications, or who have had to undergo a cesarian. The midwife did say when we come in to deliver, if the rooms are available and we ask for one, then we'd most likely get one. I'm a little torn on that because part of me wants to have a private room, and another part of me would rather share a ward with other women so I'll at least have someone to chat with.

January 23rd, 2006
Went in for the second round of Cholestasis testing, as well as having my liver rechecked and a general bloodcell count done to make sure I wasn't anemic. Again I fasted, but unlike last time, did NOT have a mint before hand, just incase. I do have to say though, how pissed off we were in the beginning when I went to down to pathology close to where Mamala lives. It turns out they could not do the bloodtest for me, EVEN THOUGH the Doctor I saw told me it was perfectly alright and I did not need to come back to the hospital to have the blood drawn.

It turns out, I did have to come back to the hospital. So, there I am at Pathology around 845am (hungry, mind you) only to be told I now have to head roughly 20mins in the opposite direction back to the hospital. Okay, so, off we go. Twenty minutes later we arrive, and they make me wait an additional ten minutes. (Even hungrier now) The blood gets taken at 930am and they send me out to go have breakfast - finally!

I did wake up a couple of times through the very early morning hours scratching at my arm like a complete maniac, and had to apply TWO coats of DermaVeen to stop the itching. Since I've only really been itching when I'm really hot, or I've been out in the sun, today we realized that yesterday I had spent a lot of time in the sun (minus sunscreen no less) and therefore my right arm got considerably pinker than normal, thus the scratching. It even feels like more of a sunburn itch than anything and stings if I scratch too often or too hard.

January 25th, 2006
Antenatal appointment at the hospital to review the results of my bloodwork. Got a new doctor this time, Dr Ahmed, who was really very nice albeit a little hard to understand at times. He went over my file ALOT more thoroughly than any of the other doctors, including telling me that I actually had THREE due dates! I only knew of two! Turns out though, that we're going back to using the February 11th due date (again) because two of my ultrasounds AND my LMP correspond with it.

My liver test came back perfectly normal, which was confusing to me since if my bile salts were high (at 11) then wouldn't my liver ALSO have some abnormality? I posed this question to Dr Ahmed and he said that while it's usual to have a liver problem while having cholestasis, that's not always the case... And in some cases the bloodtest doesn't reveal any problem either, even when there IS one. (Science is so great, is it not?) My general bloodwork came back perfect as well and I'm not anemic (which I already knew), and my bloodpressure is also perfect.

It's all really very confusing to me.

After talking with Dr Ahmed, he has decided he doesn't feel the induction is necessary at this point, but we still don't have the bile acid results back yet, and those won't come back until next week, so I have another appointment on Wednesday to review those and probably come to some kind of solid decision then. Dr Ahmed told me that based on what we've talked about, he'd rather wait as long as possible and NOT induce me (since it's better for the baby that she come when she's ready) but since I'm at 37 weeks, I am clinically full term now and it would be okay to deliver any time between now and 40 weeks. (If she happens to come on her own, I mean)

He checked my uterine size and it's a stunning 38cm long, making my little demonette quite healthy and a good size herself. Dr Ahmed said if I was any shorter than I am, then I would be having a BIG baby but given that I'm so tall, he is quite confident she's a good size and her heartbeat is strong and incredibly healthy.

He did say that he still wanted me to have the trace monitoring (CTG) done of her heartbeat just to make sure she wasn't under any stress (relating to the cholestasis), but given that all 4 birthing suites were full and there was up to a 5 hour wait to have that done, I opted to make an appointment for Thursday to come back in. A five hour wait would have put me back at the hospital around 9pm and that's my bedtime just about!

So there, that brings us back up to speed for the few days I haven't posted since being away from the house, staying with Mamala. Yes she has a computer but her computer room gets unbearably hot and I can't sit in there for any length of time to type out a post OR go reading everyone elses!

Yesterday we did go back in for the CTG, and D came in with me as well. I was led into one of the birthing suites and hopped up onto the bed, and then two fetal monitors were strapped to my belly. I can't tell you how beautiful hearing her heartbeat is. I can't tell you how hypnotic it is, and how it was lulling both D and I to sleep. I can't tell you how much we truly missed hearing it once the CTG was done and midwife Heather told us her heartbeat looked normal and that she was not under any stress at all. (We already knew that of course, but sometimes you just need to let the docs do what they want to do)

So afterward, we basically came back to Mamalas, packed up our stuff and headed home. I don't need to be back down that way until next Wednesday (which happens to be my big three-oh birthday and which I had totally forgotten about, being so preoccupied with when bubby is going to get here and getting her room all prepped) so there was no point in me staying. Starting the following weekend however, I will be at Mamala's place until the baby is born because she only lives 15mins from the hospital, whereas I live an hour from it.

On our way home yesterday afternoon, we took some detours and didn't quite get lost, but for a little while we weren't sure where we were, and right in the middle of nowhere - at the end of the road no less - was a little teeny town called Cabbage Tree Point, located nearish to Jacobs Well. We stumbled into this quaint little town quite by accident, and when I say it was located at the end of the road, that's exactly what I mean. Right at the end of the road was a jetty, and beyond that, quite a large river. But it was so lovely to see; I love taking detours and ending up in little out of the way places.

Tomorrow marks mine and D's ONE YEAR anniversary and to celebrate we are heading up to the city and staying in the delicious Marriott Hotel so I probably won't be blogging again until sometime on Sunday.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!