37 week midwife appointment

I saw the midwife again today for my regularly scheduled weekly exam. She told me that the contractions that I'm having are perfectly normal and that some women just have more of them than others. She said that now that I'm having them, they are not going to go away and I will continue to have them. Lucky me. She just said to pamper myself a bit - come into work late, go home early, put my feet up when I get home, etc. She also said that if this is happening with my first child, it will most likely happen with my second child AND even earlier in the pregnancy. Joy. She also said that the fact that I'm having these contractions does not mean that I will go into labor before my due date. Basically, they mean nothing.

She did an internal exam. My cervix is still long and mostly closed. She said it was medium-soft, which is very typical for a 37 week exam. The baby has not engaged, which explains why my belly still seems pretty high.

And the good news is that I'm Group B Strep Negative, which means I won't have to have automatic antibiotics during labor/delivery.

As of this morning, I was only up 27.5 pounds and it seems like I've lost some weight. She said that was also just fine and that my weight may stabilize at this point. There's only so much food you can get into a stomach when your uterus is so huge! I asked her to guestimate the size of the baby and she said that at this point, he was likely 6.5 pounds. So he'll probably be at least 7.5 pounds - 8.0 pounds at birth. Apparently, the size of the baby doesn't matter as much as positioning. A 9.0 pound baby in a good delivery position will come out easier than a 6-pound baby that isn't in a good delivery position. So that gave me some comfort if I end up going past my due date.