20 days left..

I had my 37 week appointment on Monday. Still no check on dilation but the doctor did try to determine the baby's position. When she couldn't make a 100% prediction by just feeling my stomach she decided to break out the office ultrasound machine. Mind you, this is not a high quality machine and as the doctor attempted to find my son's head her reaction became more and more amusing. She couldn't find it for the life of her. I kept trying to "hint" as non-I know everything even though I've never been to medical school as I could that it was deep down in my pelvis but she wanted to see it for herself.

She then proceeded to tell me that this has never happened (not being able to find the head) and that she was going to send me to Fetal Diagnostics this week for a better ultrasound which would also determine fluid volume and the baby's size. I'm really not worried at this point because I know the kid has a head. As you can see from the above picture, he had one at 20 weeks and heads don't just disappear right?

Anyway, so I got to schedule another ultrasound which I was pretty excited about...it's fun to see your baby even though it is incredibly difficult to tell what is what on the ultrasound machine.

I scheduled it for Tuesday at 1:30 but my issue soon became this: the only office that had an opening this week was the same place I went the day I had some spotting back in October and found out we'd lost the baby. I wasn't too thrilled to go back there even though I knew this baby is just fine. I mean worst case scenario, my fluid is low and we have to have the baby this week. However, it was hard not to let my fear creep back in. I did actually break down at one point but I really wanted to see my baby again so I went ahead and scheduled it. The worst part was that Caleb couldn't come with me again (he hadn't been able to get off work the day we found out either since it was all so last minute) and I didn't want to go alone.

Thank goodness my friend Cathy happened to be off work and was able to go with me. I don't know if she knows it, but having her there kept my mind off it almost completely. We were just chatting away the entire time there and in the waiting area. I didn't have the chance to worry about it and that was wonderful.

Our little guy was just fine, his head was exactly where I kept trying to tell the doctor: deep in my pelvis. I was pretty proud of myself too because for the last two months I've been trying really hard to determine what body part is what when I feel him stretch out and I've managed to guess correctly. We didn't get any great pictures this time, just a good shot of his foot (you can see his little bitty toes!) but the actual ultrasound was great. Poor Cathy couldn't tell what was what but I've found after you've had four ultrasounds you start to recognize what everything is. I could tell where his feet and hands were. And when she focused on his face we could see him yawning and his whole face moving. It was definitely the coolest thing I've ever seen.

She did also check to make sure (for the third time) that he is a boy. Lately I've been hearing stories of people being wrong and getting the opposite sex and I was starting to worry. Not that having a girl would be bad (although I know I've written on here about my fear of having a girl -- two words: Middle School) but we've been calling him by his name since April 10th not to mention the fact that 95% of his clothes are for a boy.

The fluid was great too (I know I shouldn't have been hoping it was low...but I'm getting impatient to meet him!) and they "think" he'll be about 7lbs at birth. That doesn't mean too much though, since the weight prediction is the most inaccurate the tech said. And I've read online that it can be a 2lb difference either way! What the heck is the point then? Whatever. I predict 8lbs but we'll just have to see.

Well that was my eventful last few days baby-wise. Maybe next week they'll actually check for dilation.