Head first

Visited the OB yesterday. The basics look good, I gained a few pounds, blood pressure normal. He asked me how often the baby moves, and when I let him know it was at least once every couple of hours he was happy with that. If the baby goes quiet for 4 hours I'm to try get him to move by drinking juice or pushing on the belly a bit, and if he's still quiet I should visit the hospital. No worries there. I have a feeling he moves much more often than I indicated to the doctor, though on days where I'm moving around a lot I tend not to notice his movements as much.

We heard the whoosh whoosh heartbeat on the doppler again, which he said sounded strong and at 144 bpm, normal. Then he briefly switched on the ultrasound. Not an amazing view for us this time, but he saw everything clearly, and told us that the baby is now head down. This is great news. At least for now, I don't have to worry about when he'll turn, or if he'll turn. It is possible that he'll flip himself around some more but still, head down is good.

This month wasn't as big of a growing month as I thought it would be, and the evidence that it wasn't all in my head started to mount as I hit my latest milestone. The reactions of strangers has shifted. Now when I say I'm at 6 months, the response is "you're still so small!" Yes, I am, though I've gained about 15 pounds so far...anyway, I know that everyone goes at their own pace and growth spurts are different for each kid. The doc affirmed this for me.

He also went over some of the basics on when to go to the hospital, and his stance on epidurals. First, go to the hospital when the pain becomes too much to handle at home, regardless of dilation or time between contractions. I've heard many others tell stories of being turned away at the hospital due to not being far along enough, but this hospital did seem small enough that this wouldn't be an issue....plus, I have a pretty decent pain threshold, I think. In any case, I don't think I would stay at home if the pain were too much to bear anyway. Regarding pain relief, he wants the whole process to be as positive as possible. If you spend hours upon hours in awful pain it's not going to make for happy memories. He says it'll be up to me whether I need it or not, but his basic recommendation is that I have an epi early in order to allow me to save my strength for the final pushing. (Epidurals last for 2 or 3 hours.) All will be decided at the time.

So, no new tests, and the only homework I have is to sign up for birthing classes...and take it easy.

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Here are links to the registries:
Babies R Us
Target

And here are some sellers I've seen on Etsy that I dig...not to say we need these things, I just want to give an idea of the kinds of styles we like.

Gifts are fully appreciated but never necessary!