On Monday 7 July, the day I landed in Guate on my red-eye from Los Angeles, I had a 10 am appointment with Dr. Monzon. My friend Michelle, who will hopefully be by my side during delivery, came with me to the appointment. She already has two kids, is from Guatemala, and has a non-dramatic personality, so she should be a huge help in the delivery room. There are few people that I’d want to be in the delivery room during such an event, but Michelle is one of them and I’m fortunate to have her here! My parents are flying in on August 6 and I’m hoping they make it in time to be with me for the delivery, as well.Dr. Monzon did the usual: weighed me - I’ve gained 26 pounds so far, listened to Sienna’s heartbeat which is strong and healthy and called Michelle in so we could check out the ultrasound. Sienna was her usual active self, but I was surprised to learn that she doubled in size since my last appointment 4.5 weeks ago! She now weighs in at 7 lbs!!! I joked with the doctor, asking if we could head over to the hospital because she's big enough already! He laughed and said, no, you're plenty capable of birthing a larger child and you were 8-11. I told him this was no time to compete with my mother :)
After a few other measurements, the doc informed me that the due date was now showing as August 1. You just never know - the first due date was August 13 and it’s been bumped up a few times since. We’ll see when she decides to make her grand entrance.
A new measurement that Dr. Monzon took this time was of the amniotic fluid. As Sienna grows, there’s less and less room inside the uterus and that means less and less space for amniotic fluid. A healthy environment requires a measurement between 8-11 and mine was an 8. It’s also important that there aren’t a lot of calcified areas in the placenta (I think that's what he said) and mine was still looking healthy. I’ll be back in two weeks and I’m excited to see how things are progressing.
It’s nice having the summer off. I’ve spent the past week finishing What to Expect When You’re Expecting, as well as reading a few other baby books that my co-worker Courtney gave me at the end of the year. The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, MD was pretty good about colicky babies and I have a couple of other books to keep me busy for the next two weeks. Once Sienna arrives, I’ll have little time for reading!
This week, Michelle and I are going to take a trip to the hospital, so I’m familiar with the layout and have an idea what to expect when I arrive. I can’t believe how fast these 9 months have gone and I’m so excited to meet baby Sienna!!