Wednesday, March 7, 2012

36 Weeks: Filled with Violations on My Womanhood.

Tuesday of this week I went to my 36 week appointment. Well, really I went on Monday of this week AND Tuesday, because my brain does not work right. Anyway, when I finally got my days sorted out, I was checked out by Midwife Carol. I have seen MW Leslie for my last several appointments and have definitely built a comfortable relationship with her, so I was glad to see Carol again. The only one of the three I have yet to have an appointment with is Amy, and I have two with her this month. So, by the time I go into labor, whichever MW is on call for that night/day will be a familiar face and voice that I will feel happy to be in the hands of and have a decent rapport with. This is one of my FAVORITE bits about using a midwife; I know exactly what I am getting into as far as "people who will get to see me hollering/crying/emitting strange fluids/sweating/contorting/loving on my new child". I can't imagine doing such a private thing in front of Dr._____ who is randomly on call because your real Doc is at Disney World that week...

Back to the topic at hand-- I had my GBS test this week and it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be! I am used the protocol of a OBGYN's office, where you are given a medical gown, told to disrobe and that the Dr. will be there in a few minutes to do your PAP, etc etc. *Sitting, waiting, cold table, awkward, read magazine, awkward* Blah Blah Blah. I was prepared for this routine when I went in on Thursday, but that is not what I got. It was actually kind of funny. I was laying back on the chair with my sun dress up to my chest while Carol did the Doppler and felt around on me to see where he was and everything. Then, as she is putting it away and cleaning the gel of my tummy, she just says "okay pull down your panties a bit so I can get my swab culture". I (lying flat back on this table) reply that I can't really pull them farther than my hips because I am too fat to lean up. She says "Oh don't worry I will pull them further if I need to". I wanted to crack up. I love my birthing center. It took her all of a millisecond to swab and be done with it. It was much less like a medical procedure and more like your mom walking in on your when you are in the bathroom. Not a big deal.

I will get the results back at my appointment next week, and hopefully it will be negative so that I don't have to deal with antibiotics during labor. She also mentioned to me that since Augie is always head down with his back to my right side that I should try to sleep/lay as much as possible on my left side so that gravity might help him to become OA and not OP. It was a little hard to do last night and my left ear got pretty hot and gross feeling, but I will continue to try in the name of no back labor! In other sleepy-time news, Forrest says I have snored for the past two nights. Poor guy is slowly seeing his young wife turn into Olga the Inn-Keeper. I just made that up, but it sounds about right.

Finally, this weeks journey brings us to my purchase of *Da-dada-daaa* a package of ladies Depends. I was quite sad to have to make this purchase. My last bit of pride apparently rings up for $10.99 on sale. At our Bradley class it was highly recommended by the instructor to buy them, as the bleeding for the first few days postpartum can be treacherous. I kept trying to insist to Forrest that I would rather go around with a towel fashioned into a diaper or just lay in the yard on a pile of newspaper rather than wear Depends, but he insisted. I think it was a mixture of his desire to not have to deal with the "accidents" of a crying and exhausted woman at midnight and his fondness for finding out the things in life that make me squirm. Anyway, these things are atrocious. They go up far past my bellybutton, which I care about about not for the sake of fashion, but comfort. I think I will have to cut off the top third of all of them so that I don't itch to death and leave Augie motherless.

This is me trying them on.
Note: if any of you mama's who give birth want the rest of my pack of 18, I doubt I will use even half. Just let me know!

1 comment:

romanreb said...

why in the world would you buy depends when I get them by the case? You KNOW I wear depends, Child! Gah! I can't get out of bed without depends...