36 Weeks 5 Days

This morning Aaron and I had one of our prenatal appointments. We no longer participate in "Centering," that ended 2 weeks ago and since then we have our individual weekly visits. Today's appointment was a very important one, consisting of Acknowledgment of Paternity legal paperwork, and testing.

Since Aaron and I aren't legally married he is not considered the legal father of Penelope, meaning she wouldn't be eligible to receive any benefits from him (like insurance, or inheritance). But today we signed the Acknowledgment of Paternity paperwork, giving Aaron full legal standing of our giant Penelope. It was kind of like being in court, very legal and professional. So now when Penelope is born she will officially be a Jimenez. Yay! 

Next order of business was the Group B Strep test. Group B Strep is a bacteria that grows naturally in the vagina. It comes and goes without women even knowing it, without causing any harm. However, if this bacteria is present when a woman goes into labor it can cause harm to the baby as it passes out of the birth canal. If present, the woman must have an IV with antibiotics while she is in labor. I think it is pretty common and very easy to deal with. I find out next week what my test results are.

While I laid down the midwife felt around my belly to figure out the positioning of Penelope. She is still head down, she has been that way for like 5 weeks now. She also said that Penelope was a smaller sized baby...wait...are you joking? Have you seen this giant belly and how ridiculous I look? But yes it is true. Of course she cant tell how much Penelope will weigh but she predicted that she will be in the 7 pound range. I bet you can imagine the sense of relief I felt. No giant 10 pound Penelope! 

The midwife also performed my first vaginal examine since first becoming pregnant. I am currently 1cm dilated and 70% effaced. Effacement means that the cervix is soft, which is a good thing, we want a soft cervix. 100% effacement is when the cervix is completely soft and thinned out. And for those of you who didn't know 10cm is complete dilation, this is when pushing can begin. Everything is perfectly healthy and where it should be at. The midwife predicted I wont go past my due date. Can I get another sigh of relief? Ahhhh!