36 Weeks

36 weeks is another milestone that I have been counting down toward.   The risks involved with a delivery at 36+ weeks are much lower than even a week before and Bug only has to hang on for another week to be considered full term.  Only four more weeks until she's due and I'm starting to get nervous, excited, panicky, you name it.

I realized about a week ago that I hadn't been scheduled for an appointment between 31 and almost 38 weeks.  Since I've been seeing my doctor like clockwork every 4 weeks, I thought something was amiss.  Realizing that a strep B culture is supposed to take place between 35 and 37 weeks, I decided to call my doctor's office.  After almost an hour on the phone, I convinced the confused receptionist that a January 3rd appointment would not be between my 35th and 37th week of pregnancy, she scheduled me for an appointment on Friday, a day shy of the 36 week mark.

Despite my husbands requests to "make sure I asked for pictures", the appointment was mostly routine except that:

• Doc says Bug is head down.  She figured this out when she feeling my cervix for dilation.  Note to the ladies..... don't mention to your husband that the doctor can feel the baby's head through your va-jay-jay.  This may not bode well for your chances of getting lucky that evening.
• Doc checked my cervix for the first time since my 8 week appointment.  Its not an entirely fun experience, but she warned me that it would be TERRIBLE, and it wasn't as bad as she made it out to be.
• The strep test was the least fun.  Mostly because I didn't read the fine print that Doc needs to swab your vagina and around your anus.  Not so comfy.

Other highlights of this week:

• Friday was my last day of work for two weeks.  Though I will be spending the next two weeks re-writing my lesson plans (thanks to the fact  that my sub freaked out when I mentioned that she might have to do a few labs with the kids), I'm on winter break
• DH had the house cleaned from top to bottom and all of the dishes done when I got home from my appointment on Friday.  Consequently, we will likely stay married for another week.
• I spent all day yesterday making tamales with my crazy family  and lived to tell the tale. 
• Feeling more and more Braxton Hicks and hiccups are at least a twice a day event.  I do not enjoy hiccups when I have them, and enjoy them even less than she does.

I started thinking about when might actually come.  I'm hoping for January 11th, so then her birthday will be 1/11/11.  DH is hoping for December 31st for the tax break.