Week 38 check-up

Yesterday was a busy day for the baby! She had her doctor's appointment - these will now be once a week, since we're almost to week 39. The Embassy nurse-practitioner, Jackie, mentioned to me that she was meeting with our doctor just before our appointment, so I invited her to sit in; it's always useful for her to see how actual check-ups go, and I think she was very happy to observe. Our doctor has also worked with quite a few other Embassy families, so it's useful for the Embassy health unit to know how that works out. Anyway, Pauline continues to grow right on schedule - her head is now measuring just under 10 cm in diameter, which is enough to make me a bit nervous although the doctor says it's perfectly normal. Her abdomen and femur measurements were also perfectly normal. And although she's growing right on schedule, I haven't gained any weight in the last 2 months, which means our efforts to control the gestational diabetes through diet and exercise seem to be working very well. We then spent a good 40 minutes on the fetal monitor - she was a little too active at first, and they wanted to get a full cycle of active and asleep. The doctor says no eminent risk of going into labor... which is a relief, since we really don't want to go too early, though it does mean I have 15 more days of pregnancy.

After lunch at the hospital cafeteria (really pretty decent), Tim and I went to the midwife's office for Round 2 of acupuncture. (Round one was last week.) There are a few reasons for this: first and foremost, it relaxes me and the baby. Secondly, it's supposed to help my body get ready for labor. We're planning to induce labor, but the closer we can get to being ready at that point, the easier it should go for both the baby and me. And as we learned yesterday, some of the acupuncture points can also help encourage my body to drain some of the excess fluid I'm now schlepping around in my legs and ankles. (Not quite cankles, but they're a lot puffier than usual these days...) Our first acupuncture session was wonderful. I don't know how much it may have helped with the labor thing, but boy, it sure worked to relax me. Yesterday's session was also wonderful, though I managed to stay awake through treatment and after returning to work when it was over. Our midwife's partner is actually the one who does the treatments, so we chat in German, but it's fun (and Tim says he can understand a lot of what we're saying, which is great.) She estimates that Pauline is now around 3.6 kilos, which is about 8 pounds. Given that Tim and I were both big babies, this is no surprise.

German health care practitioners are big believers in homeopathic and herbal remedies, and our midwives are no exception. Starting a week or two ago, I've been "prescribed" raspberry leaf tea to drink - it helps stimulate contractions. Getting the pharmacy to sell it to us was a bit of a chore! but we managed to get it. Yesterday, the midwife added green oat tea to my daily regimen. It looks and smells like hay, though the tea itself tastes a bit more like green tea. This is supposed to help with drainage; we'll see how it goes.