Wednesday, January 19, 2011

34 Week Update

We made it to 34 weeks! That's been our goal for the last month, and here we are! It feels good to be a little more out-of-the-woods in terms of the baby's development and safety, but we aren't completely there just yet. (A baby born before 37 weeks is considered premature.)

Our OBGYN was right to caution us away from thinking about bedrest as a long-term thing (it was 10 weeks from the original mandate until my due date). Instead, he advised us to think in small-term chunks.  I can't tell you how much more manageable this makes it feel. So, the first goal was to get to 34 weeks.  That was the long haul, and we survived (although we certainly had our moments).  The next goal is two more weeks. Get to 36!

Once I got to 36 weeks, our new goal will be 38 weeks. But, even if I went into labor today, they would not attempt to postpone the labor. At 36 weeks, I will be allowed to start to phase in some physical activity again. Although, because I want to get to 38 weeks to help delay the possibilities of learning disabilities and increased risks of health problems, I won't exactly be running any marathons so as not to move things along any faster than we'd like to.  It will be nice to be able to help Lou with the preparation for her arrival.  He's been busy sorting, washing, folding, organizing, etc, etc without much help from me.

In other news, while things have been pretty quiet in terms of the pre-term labor signs since the bedrest started, I did start to show more signs on Monday - including contractions. The good news is that when I had my appt yesterday, I am still at 1-2 cm & 50% effaced. There are some other "TMI" things going on that are more along the lines of what you'd see at 38 weeks and not 34, but labor doesn't appear to be imminent just yet.

Thanks for your continued kind words and happy thoughts. This little bun is still cooking! :)