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Strong heartbeat for A, in the 180s. Urine has some leukocytes, but looks okay. They are thinking stress maybe. Will know more when I see the midwife (I was seeing her student).

@avivoca: You absolutely should not feel silly!! I went in for a NST last week because her kicks weren't as frequent and powerful as they have been. (everything was fine). But you truly weren't feeling well and you did the right thing! And I hear you about emotions lately! Got in a huge, pointless fight with my husband this morning.

@avivoca: I'm hoping the white blood cells mean nothing but also that you feel better!! Don't feel silly going in. It's better to be safe than sorry!

Anyone else feeling completely mentally checked out of work? I have my busiest couple weeks coming up and I'm dreading it to the point where I just don't want to do much. I just need to get through it and then I can cruise until baby is born.

@MrsKoala: I am so over work. There has been a lot of stress associated with it and the huge event we are planning (it keeps getting pushed back). Now they are planning it for Halloween weekend and my department really feels like it's going to be detrimental, but no one higher up is listening to us (the ones who work in programming). I'm just putting my head down and trying to coast through the next 7.5 weeks until my leave starts.

So, my midwife *thinks* she felt the baby was head down today, but didn't seem 100% sure. I thought I would have to go back next week, but since I am technically not 35 weeks until tomorrow, they said I can wait until 36 weeks to come back in.

They are going to do a cervical check at that appointment so they can make sure it really was the head they are feeling. Then we talked about the possibilities if the baby hasn't turned, but I am just going to think positive thoughts until then!

Baby was measuring a bit behind and I haven't gained any weight over the past two weeks, but they said the kinda of weird position of the baby could be why my measurements are off, so I'm not too worried unless they say the same thing at my next appointment.

@tlcbaby: Great news re *hopefully* being head down! I hope they're right and that baby is getting into a good position!

I know that you had had some concerns about the weight gain and I hope it's just as simple as baby being in a funny position. How are you feeling?

@Periwinkle: I am still very tired, but I feel MUCH better. My mind feels sharp again. That was the scariest part, I felt so fuzzy and slow. I'm also sporting a fantastic amount of Kinesio tape on my back. My hips and sacrum were twisted very badly, which is why I could barely walk and still am having a hard time lifting H. My glucose has been really good today too. I probably won't hear about my culture until tomorrow or Friday.

@avivoca: Why did you decide against an ECV? They only mentioned it today and I don't know much about it, other than my sister tried with her first and it didn't work.

@tlcbaby: Because there is a small chance of it not working and it becoming an emergency situation. For me, it doesn't feel right, but I know plenty of people who it has worked for!

ETA: this humidity is KILLING me. And I will be very glad to never wear bug spray again.

@tlcbaby: I hope so too! Good for you doing the trolley hop! I'm walking a 5k next Saturday in memory of my friend's father and I imagine I will be the same way.

@Periwinkle: yes. The humidity. Ugh. It was perfect on Monday, PERFECT. Then yesterday it turned into a sauna. Today was even worse, it's like once 5:00 rolls around, the humidity goes up to 95% and I'm breaking a sweat just turning over.

@avivoca: Glad you are feeling better! I feel you on this oppressive humidity. We've got a heat advisory here today and I'm not okay with that.

@tlcbaby: Hopefully, baby was actually head down. Crossing my fingers for you!

@Periwinkle: Glad that you are finally officially changing roles. I remember you mentioning that before but that it was chaotic. Hopefully, things calm down! I find myself reminiscing about my last pregnancy as well and I remember feeling so good. Like I was totally not ready for my baby to come because I felt so good! This time, I'm dragging sooooo hard! I also had LO1 in February so it was an easier time of year for me. August is always my crazy month so when I found out I was due in September, I was like what the eff did I get myself into?

@mrsjd: I cannot even imagine the humidity there!! Excuse my medical ignorance, but why does low platelets mean you can't have anesthesia?

@mrsjd: I can't imagine how you are feeling! I'm so sorry that you are dealing with worse than ours. I was dying on my walk last night (dog does not like to use the yard).

I had a natural delivery with H and am shooting for it with A. You can do it! One thing that really helped me was to remember that the average labor for a first time mom is 18 hours, but you are not in pain for the entire 18 hours. The average amount of pain time is 3 hours and 30 minutes. I'm a runner, so I likened it to running a marathon.

@mrsjd: Oh man, I forgot you are down south! I can't imagine the misery! Hoping your platelet levels stay steady so that you can have that epidural if you want one!

Actually, that leads me to a question, what are all of your thoughts on epidurals? I loved mine last time because my contractions were right on top of each other and it allowed me to relax enough to actually get to 10 cm. My transition was actually pretty fast last time (went from 5 cm to 10 cm in an 1 hr and 45 mins) so I'm wondering if I can go without it this time? I might try.

@mrsjd: I attended an Empowering Birth class and my husband also read "The Birth Partner." My provider and hospital are very natural birth friendly and they really helped me power through. My labor was 15 hours and I spent 11 of those at home laboring how I needed to (lots of walking; I walked basically for 10 hours, you can see my tracks in the carpet lol). Once I got to the hospital, the nurses repeated my birth plan to me verbatim and said that they would not offer pain meds. I only asked for them once, and the nurse reminded me that I was so close to delivery that I didn't need it. This time, they are offering gas and air, so I might take a hit of that if I need to. Definitely talk to your provider about how you want a natural birth and talk to them about how the hospital will be.

@avivoca: I think mine was pretty similar to yours in terms of length. I was in labor for a total of 15 hours and I spent most of the time working (people are going to think I'm crazy). Then I went home, ate dinner, decided to go to the hospital at 8:45 (got there at 9:15), and had my son by 11:55 pm. I've heard that the second time is usually faster so I'm kind of hoping I can power through without the epi.

@avivoca: @MrsKoala: Thank you both! These are very helpful stories. I've spoken a lot with friends, and while I'm not scared of a C-section (not ideal, but ok), it's the general anesthesia that I would prefer to avoid. But it's all premature now, anyway. We shall see. I was always toying around with having an unmedicated birth anyway (my mom swears the recovery was amazing), so maybe this is just a little nudge.

I do plan to labor at home as long as I can if I go into labor on my own. Everyone seems to agree that is the way to go!

ETA: My provider is very open to my preferred method of birth (she will be delivering me 100%) and also the hospital where I'm delivering has made a concerted effort in recent years to reduce C-sections. So that's encouraging.

@mrsjd: Also, I really liked that I got to deliver how I wanted. I pushed on my hands and knees. Delivering on your back is not the best position because it actually makes your pelvis smaller, so try out lots of different positions (squatting, hands/knees, back). I was so tired when I got to the hospital that I laid on my back for two hours and pushed with the squat bar, but once I flipped to hands and knees, it went much quicker.