Weeeellllll....

Today was wonderful and very, very long. It's now 8:20 in the evening and I feel like I have about two seconds worth of energy remaining. I'm tired, in pain (my back is killing me) and I wish that I could sleep for the next 3-8 weeks!

Our first appointment of the day was the ultrasound. Once again, it was absolutely amazing! We did get more 4D pictures of our little girl, and we also confirmed some of the details. First, she is definitely a little girl. We got some cute 4D looks at her butt and little girl parts. Very cute little pictures! Second, she is not so little. This ultrasound was ordered because I've consistently measured larger than I should given Bailey's gestational age. Well, at 33 weeks and 6 days, Bailey measured 6 pounds, 11 ounces. In week terms, that's about 36 weeks, 4 days. In other words, she's about 2-3 weeks bigger than she "should" be at this time.

Now, that's not a problem. It's actually fine. She's just a big girl. She's so freakin' adorable, honestly! She's already got little chubby fat rolls on her arms and legs. Her cheeks are big and round, her belly is perfectly round. She's incredibly sweet, and if born anytime soon would probably not have any issue keeping herself warm! All of her measurements are proportionate to her body...she's just a bit large.

Our doctor is not worried, and neither are we. A bit apprehensive, maybe, but not horribly worried. If she continues to gain weight at the "normal" range of about 1/2 pound a week and we go to 40 weeks, she'll be between 9-10 pounds at birth. Not exactly what I imagined when I imagined my perfect, natural delivery...but we'll take it! She's healthy and she's thriving inside my body. I wouldn't change that for anything.

Our next appointment of the day was our normal prenatal appointment. My blood pressure was perfect again, Bailey's heartbeat was fine and I have actually lost 2 pounds in the last two weeks. My total weight gain for this pregnancy is now 12 pounds! Honestly, I'm not complaining. Bailey is obviously getting what she needs to grow and thrive in my body and I'm not reeking havoc on my organs and limbs by packing on ridiculous amounts of weight. I'm proud of that. I am the one who has to lose it after the baby born, so I'm glad that I've found a way to be moderate and only gain an small amount of weight. It could have just as easily gone in the other direction.

We have one more two week wait. At our 36 week appointment, we will have our first internal exam and the strep B test. Exciting. After that, our appointments are every week. The wait is truly on. We are in the last inning of this big game, and I'm feeling every second of it.

Our final appointment of the day was with the woman who will become Bailey's pediatrician when she's born. We were pretty much entering the meet and greet with the thought that if we didn't hate her, she would become her pediatrician. I mean, there are many options in our area - if we find a doctor we end up not liking, we can just find another.

But we loved her. She was warm, kind, responsive (we only waited 10 minutes), and the facilities were adequate. She had absolutely no issues with us as a gay couple - didn't even bat an eye. She asked all the right questions and answered all of ours the right way. We got a very positive response from her when I indicated that I wanted to breastfeed for 6 months.

All in all, we think that she is going to work out just fine. She's a nice woman and seemed to be what we needed. She's available all the time (we have an after hours pager number that she or her associate carries 24/7) and gave us a good feeling.

So that dilemma is solved!

It was a great day. I'm tired, though, and ready to get this show on the road. Some dark part of me was hoping that I would get put on bed rest for some reason. I get so exhausted commuting back and forth and trying to work for 8 hours at a time. My days are 11-12 hours long, just in commute and work time. That's rough right now.

But, I'll survive. I am strong and our daughter is doing exactly what she needs to do in my body. How could I complain about that? I'll get through the next month or so. LOL - then, I suspect, I'll know what REAL exhaustion feels like...