36 Week Appointment

Well, just one more week until I'm officially full term--the home stretch! I had my 36 week appointment today. My internal exam showed that I'm not dilated at all, and the baby is still really high up.  So I probably still have some time to get that hospital bag packed and ready to go.

From feeling my belly, the doctor made a passing comment that the baby may be 'oblique'. She said we may need to do an ultrasound soon to check on the position. She didn't really explain what that meant, and I didn't ask (usually when I'm  half naked I kind of space out on the questions). So of course, I googled it when I got home and found out all about the oblique position.

The oblique position is when the baby is diagonal in the womb. It's head would be right above my hip, it's butt and feet up in my ribs, and it's shoulder would be at the lowest point, down near my cervix. Based on the movements I've been feeling for the past few weeks, this position makes a lot of sense. So I'm calling it now--I think this kid is in the oblique position.

It's pretty much impossible to deliver a baby shoulder-first. Contractions should move the baby down during labor, but they will have to work pretty hard (and long) to do so. So I'm hoping that the baby gets there himself in the next four weeks. Which is a pretty likely scenario, really. He still has time and space to move down. And if the doctor confirms Bee's position with an ultrasound, there are some things we can do to try to move him. So I'm not too terribly worried, but I do think it's pretty interesting. I thought that 'breech' and 'head down' were the only positions this Bee could really be in, but apparently that's just not true.

So that's my 36 week update. Just four more weeks until I'm due, and one more week until this baby is officially full-term and won't have required NICU time, which will be a huge relief. No one wants their baby in the NICU, that just sounds horrible