32-Week Check Up

This morning, Marvin and I went for our 32-week check up to do the usual exciting stuff: the weigh in (gulp), the blood pressure, the lovely urine sample (what a horrible part of those technicians' job descriptions), the belly measurement and the wonderful heart beat. And I'm happy to report that this visit was much better than the last!

The weight gain was three pounds in two weeks (but I like to think that the extra pound was because my hair was still wet from my shower and was weighing me down a bit - it's also grown a bit since last visit which may add a bit more weight - I do have a lot of hair you know...), the blood pressure was 110/65 (normal), the pee was good (again, poor technicians), the belly measured 31 cms (on target - should be about 1 cm for every week and I'm 31 1/2 weeks) and the wonderful heartbeat was between 142 and 146 bpm.

The doctor was also able to determine (through a lot of jiggling and pushing around) that Baby Bav's head is down (not dropped, but facing downwards), the bum is just above my belly button and the feet are up near my upper right side ribs (which explains why I'm feeling a lot of kicking in what feels like my right armpit). Baby Bav likely weighs around 3 or 3 1/2 pounds by now... how exciting!

We learned an interesting thing about the heart beat today... turns out that the doctors look for a fluctuating heart beat as opposed to a stable heart beat because it indicates good brain stem development and brain activity. The theory is that if the baby has a stable heart beat then all of the baby's energy is being spent on keep the heart going (not other body functions and development, which isn't good).

We also found out that one of the suspected causes of calf cramps at night (of which I've had a few - absolutely no fun to jolt awake in the middle of the night because you think someone is trying to steal your calf muscle from right off your leg while you sleep) is that the baby is drawing on the mom's calcium storage. Apparently, in addition to having calcium in our bones, there is a lot of calcium in our lower body muscles. So in theory, the calcium depletion could be what causes the cramping. Why at night? Maybe the baby figures that it can get away with sneaking a bit of calcium while mom is sleeping... great... Baby Bav's already trying to pull the wool over mom's eyes! :)

Today's doctor was quite nice, still a bit rushed but he did take the time to expand on his answers (ie. the heart beat and calf cramps). I also liked him because he told me that things were progressing very nicely and normally. What mom wouldn't like to hear that? :)