34 weeks + 5 days

I never really thought about doing a tour of the hospital until it was mentioned at our birthing class. I'm very glad I did because it's a little complicated if you don't know what to expect. Nick and my mom came with me. Basically we learned the flow of things once we arrive at the hospital. It goes something like this:

1. Pre-register for admission (I did my paperwork today)
2. When you think you're in labor, come to the hospital where you will be taken to the triage unit. Only one person can be with you in the triage unit.
3. If you're not in labor, then you'll be told to go take a walk or go home.
4. If you are indeed in labor, then you'll be moved upstairs to the labor and delivery floor. Everyone gets a private room and is allowed to have 3 support people in the room at any given time. All other family members wait in the atrium waiting area.
5. Request a telemetry monitor so that you can be monitored through the wireless/waterproof monitor. This means I can walk around and soak in the tub while in labor- until I'm "bed confined" as determined by a Dr.
6. Once the baby is born, then mom and baby are moved to another floor. There are no restrictions on how many people can be in this room. However, the room is not very big so not more than a handful of average sized people can be in there at once anyway.
7. The baby is taken to the nursery. I asked whether the baby HAS to go to the nursery and was told that he is MY baby and I can request to have him in my room as long as there are no complications. The only exception is for bath time and when he is circumcised- baby must be in the nursery for these two procedures. Also, anytime the baby is in the nursery either Nick or myself can be in there with him- no restrictions.
8. Moms who delivered vaginally stay in the hospital for about 48 hours and those who have c-sections stay for 72 hours.

There is free wi-fi throughout the hospital and there's a murphy bed inside the recovery room for Nick to spend the night with me and the baby. That's the hospital tour in a nutshell.
When I was completing the pre-admissions paperwork, I signed a couple of documents authorizing treatment for myself. The lady kept saying "this is for.... sign your name, print name, and where it says relationship just write in 'self'". Then we got to the ones authorizing treatment for the baby. She says "initial here, print your name, sign here, and where it says relationship, write 'mother'". I know it's coming but I'm still not used to the sound of that title. I don't know how I'll handle that just yet.

Next on the schedule for the day was my Dr.'s appointment with the substitute Dr. After a one hour wait inside the exam room, he finally showed up. I understand he's double booked because of my Dr.'s absence but I didn't appreciate being taken into the exam room quickly, only to be left to wait an eternity. Not to mention that I was prepared for the Group B Strep test and then he told me I could wait until my Dr. came back since I'm not 35 weeks yet. Besides the wait, he was a very pleasant man and it was a good visit otherwise. I have not gained any weight since the last appointment, I'm stuck at 153lbs. I was starting to get concerned about that because I even stopped going to the gym (not that I was going frequently enough to matter). Dr. said the baby is "like a parasite right now and he's sucking everything out of you". Apparently it's ok for me not to gain weight at this point. The belly did grow 1cm since last visit.
I took this opportunity to ask this Dr. to tell me how he felt the baby is positioned. He said "I'm really good at figuring it out". He went straight to the center of my pelvis and without hesitation said "there's the head". I felt it and it was surreal. My mom even got to feel it. She was scared to squeeze too hard and he told her not to worry because she couldn't hurt him. Later she told me she was afraid she would poke him in the eyes! I feel better knowing that he's still head down.
Dr. said I'm in the in-between stage so I could choose to schedule an appointment two weeks out or one week out. After the next appointment, they'll be one week apart for sure. I'll have to call my Dr.'s office this week to schedule it.
After the Dr.'s appointment, mom and I stopped to buy a couple of things for the nursery. I feel like I've had such a long day and I didn't do much at all. I am exhausted! Maybe it's the crappy weather- it rained all day long. I'm getting ready to have dinner and hit the couch for a nap.