38 Week Exam

I had my 38 week appointment today. My next appointment is scheduled for 2 weeks from now..just one day shy of my due date!!! I know I've said this before but WHERE has the time gone!!!! Anyway, in a nutshell, all went well today. The doctor strongly suspects based on the internal exam that I will make it to 40 weeks! I'm actually happy and relieved to hear this news since Toomas Mom isn't scheduled to be here until January 9th AND because a December birth would mean entry into the school system one full year earlier. I've been having a LOT of fairly painful contractions lately, so I'm relieved to know they aren't doing anything!!! I mostly get them on ONE side and not in my back...but it was great to hear that things aren't impending. Just a few days to make it until 2009! :) The baby hasn't yet engaged either, although I do feel him to be a lot lower than in previous weeks. I had a very quick ultrasound today in which the doc was mainly concerned to check fetal size and position. Currently the little man is checking in at 3490 grams or 7 pounds 11 oz. This is with 2 weeks to go. I'm quite sure he will be close to Erik's size which was 4 kg and 55 cm long! We'll see though...the doc's opinion was that he wouldn't quite reach 4 kg.. I had a bout of stomach flu for a few days and it was rough. The nausea wasn't as bad as the extreme fatigue and muscle pain. I survived though and am feeling up to par again as of today. I still have a lot of things to do on my list, but I'm getting there. Next week will be my final blood draw for the anesthesiologist. I had my appointment last week at the public clinic with their anesthesiologist just in case my private clinic is full on d-day. Now I'm all set for either clinic once I do the blood tests. I'm not planning on having an epidural but it is mandatory for emergency situations (emergency c-section). Last night I made up my birthing music cd and printed a neat little label directly on the cd. Today the kids did drawings for my hospital room and I printed out a little photo of the 3 of them to keep me company during my stay. All the small details are almost in order!!! Physically the pregnancy is getting to be a lot more difficult. Just one month ago I was SO comfortable, but now having a basketball size belly is getting difficult. Bending and moving around have become a lot harder in the last week or two. I'm hanging in there for sure, but it isn't a cake walk. I lost 2 kg since my last visit, but baby is still gaining a very well. I'm happy to hang on for another 2 weeks!!! The photo is of my baby belly taken just a few minutes ago--you can see how much the little man has GROWN!!!!