It's been a while since my last pregnancy update, life has been busy and the days have flown by. I'm finally full term. It seems unbelievable that in less than three weeks time, we might actually have a baby to care for. We have waited so long for this moment. It was June last year when we found out I was pregnant with William and Noah. Now, over 400 days later, we might finally be able to take home one of our three children. What feels like a seventeen month pregnancy will soon be over.
We had our 11th and final scan with our consultant last week. We saw our little one practicing breathing (which we can often see from the outside too) which is a good sign and baby was still head down thankfully. Baby's estimated weight was already 6lbs 14oz at 36 weeks, but I know weight can often be overestimated so we'll just have to wait and see if we'll be having a big baby! We left the appointment with an induction being booked for my due date. We're growing increasingly anxious and don't want to risk going overdue, so we were relieved our consultant was happy to arrange for this. Hopefully I'll go into labour naturally before then, but it's reassuring to have a definite end date in mind.
Group B Streptococcus
At 35 weeks I was tested for Group B Strep, which to summarise is the most common cause of life-threatening infections in newborn babies in the UK. It's only something I'm aware of from online support groups for bereaved mothers, but once I'd heard about it, I planned on getting tested for it. The test isn't offered on the NHS as there's no national screening programme in the UK yet, (although there are campaigns to introduce this), so we spoke about it with our midwife and chose to pay for it privately, which cost £35, and simply involved sending off some swabs to a lab. My results came back a few days later - positive unfortunately - so I'll be having antibiotics during labour which greatly reduces the risk of the baby developing an infection. Not the results I was hoping for, but I'm so glad I got tested for it so we're aware I carry it. It's a shame that midwives don't inform pregnant women about GBS. I feel if it's not yet routinely tested for, they could at least let women know about it so they can make the choice on whether or not to get tested. If you'd like to know more, the Group B Strep Support site has plenty of information which can be found here.
Symptoms
The heatburn I had been experiencing has eased off and my appetite has returned. My bump is very itchy lately, so I've increased the body butter applications and sometimes place a cold wet flannel over it if it's really bad. Braxton Hicks have become a lot more frequent, although they're still completely painless. There are still no stretchmarks on my bump, which amazes me as it's now measuring a whopping 44" in circumference. I'm expecting them to appear any day now!
Our hospital bags have been packed, and we have all the baby items we need, so it's now just a matter of waiting! I'm so looking forward to seeing our baby's face and finding out if those cheeks are as chubby in real life as they appear in the 4D scans!
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Labels: 37 weeks, baby, pregnancy, pregnancy diary
