Overwhelmed in Fort Knox

We had our weekly doctor's appointment on Friday.

Let me start here -- everything is FINE. Baby Z is doing great and everything seems very healthy.

Now let me move on to the part where I semi-embarrassingly admit that I had a total and utter breakdown after this appointment.
It started out like any other appointment... Mommy got weighed (no real gain since last week, which is fine) and had her blood pressure taken (110 over 70). I peed in a cup (I'm quite the professional, thank you very much) and then was greeted by a chipper Dr. J (the only male doctor, whom we've only had once before, early on for a real quickie of an appointment).

When Dr. J rolled out his first question -- has the baby been moving as often as usual -- I answered truthfully.
Well, no, not as often as he had been, but I didn't think it was enough to be concerned about. He was just rolling around or fidgeting while we were in the waiting room.
Dr. J, being a very by-the-books kind of guy, didn't like that answer and seemed concerned. He asked me if when I laid down for an hour if I would be able to feel the baby six times.
I hesitated. I had never tried that, so I didn't really know. I just knew that the squirmy baby who I usually felt every hour or so was much more chilled out, but still fluttering about during the day.

We finally moved past that, opting not to get a non-stress test to check out his movement but to instead keep an eye on baby's movements over the weekend. (Which have been fine).

After measuring my belly and listening for the baby's heartbeat (about 132 beats/minute), we decided to go for an internal exam to see if any progress had been made.

Let's put it this way: My cervix is Fort Knox, at least as of Friday afternoon. No dilation and no softening or "ripening" of my womanly area.
HUGE bummer, but I was prepared for that to be a possibility. Some women take weeks, some take days, some take just hours.

But then, Dr. J told us (after some uncomfortable squeezing around of my belly/uterus) that he wasn't confident that the baby's head was still down (like it had been a couple of weeks ago). Either the baby had flopped around to a new position (he thought maybe he was sideways) or he was just up too high to tell for sure that he was head-down.

So we go for an ultrasound on Wednesday (before our next doctor's appointment) to see what the baby's position is (and to get an idea of his weight!). If the baby is not in the proper position, the doctors will try to turn him around themselves (using some prodding and poking and twisting of my stomach). The deadline to do that is at 39 weeks. Then, if he is in the wrong position, we have to have a C-section.

I know that no matter what, Wednesday will answer a lot of questions and uncertainties for us. And who knows, Fort Knox might crumble down soon.

I'm just hot.
Cranky.
Uncomfortable.
Ready for baby.
And totally overwhelmed.

(I must like this Zachary kid or something!)

We're doing great though and are grateful for the easy ride we've had so far and all of the support along the way.

Much love!