37 Weeks... FULL TERM!

Pregnancy: 37 weeks and FULL TERM

According to "The Bump" Hunter:

• Is the size of a winter melon!
• Likely measures around 18.9 to 20.9 inches and weighs about 6.2 to 9.2 pounds.
• Is gaining about 1/2 ounce each day.
• Is practicing some skills: inhaling, exhaling, sucking, gripping and blinking.
• Is getting his first sticky poop (called meconium) ready for his first diaper.

Sleep: Not doing too well in this department. Contractions are typically the worst at night and lately I have not been able to fall asleep until about 2 a.m. Throughout the night I am just flipping back and forth waking up every hour.

Name: Hunter Matthew Park

Feeling: Not feeling too great lately... Lots to update on. I've been on bed rest for the last week and a half. Late in week 35 we had a little scare. I was at work and my contractions started coming every 10-7 minutes and throughout the day they got progressively worse and closer together. Once they were about 5 minutes I left work and came home so that we could head to the hospital. We knew that it was still early for Hunter's arrival and likely that if born he would need to spend some time in the NICU... something all parents would like to avoid. Well once checked into Fairfax Hospital we headed up to the triage area where I was out on a monitor to check out the heartbeat and frequency of contractions. At this point they were getting closer together and much more painful... We got down to three minutes apart... The doctor on call said to give me up to three doses of Terbutaline (a shot) designed to delay labor. The max that one individual can take is three and guess how many I went through... Three because the contractions just kept coming back rapidly after the shot...

So these shots were not too fun... Each shot would shoot your pulse up to 120 (while just laying in bed) the elevated pulse resulted in uncontrollable shaking and just generally feeling like you had chugged an entire pot of coffee with your heart raising out of control. After 30 minutes the nurse would check my monitor to see if I was continuing to have contractions and to make sure that my pulse was down to about 100. At this point it was time for another shot... and the cycle of shaking and heart racing started again.... just generally not fun. Luckily after three shots my contractions spaced out to every 10-7 minutes again! After 7 hours we were able to go home and I was put on bed rest until week 37 to help me get to full term! WHICH WE HAVE NOW MADE IT TO!!!!

There have been a few times where the contractions speed up and get more painful but generally they have stayed around 10-7 minutes. This has been very tiring but we are just so happy to be at full term!

Matt has been amazing through this whole process and very protective!

Health: Put a lot of the health stuff in feelings. Now that I am off bed rest because I made it to full term I'm going back to work. The plan is to do 4 hours in the building and I will also do some work from home. Happy about the chance to be back around people.

Also now we are in the clear for delivery! Excited about meeting Hunter

Movement: I thought that Hunter should be running out of room but he is still super active and moves around a lot.

Belly: Very light linea negra, and my belly button is poking out a little. Still no stretch marks!!!

Next Appointment: 11 September at 38 Weeks. Doctor said that he didnt' think that I will make it to the next appointment but it is my goal to get there because we are short handed at work this week.

Non-Baby Highlights for the week:

• Not many highlights from bed... but I did get out to meet Emma's new teacher!
• Emma starts school tomorrow! I cannot believe that I have a 3rd grader!