I am now 36 weeks pregnant.
This week started out kinda scary. At our regular ultrasound, the perinatologist informed me that my placenta "looked old." Apparently, it's prematurely aging. She graded it as a "grade III," which it shouldn't be until the end. All she really said was that it probably wouldn't be a problem, but I need to make sure I do my kick counts. Then she said I needed to go into fetal diagnostics at the hospital twice a week for monitoring until she comes...
At first, I was just kind of irritated that I had to go in for hour-long monitoring twice a week on top of all the other stuff we have going on. But a couple hours later, it sunk in what this whole old placenta thing means. It means that there's the potential for my placenta to essentially die and stop taking care of my baby. Then I freaked out. I've had to hear a lot of things like this throughout my entire pregnancy. It hasn't been easy, and there have been lots of little concerns and minor complications. I haven't freaked out at any of them. I hardly even flinched when I found out I had to have a C-section. But this was too much for me. I couldn't stop crying, and I was so so soooo scared.
Levi and I had church that night. I cried pretty much the entire time. At the end, two women prayed for me, Levi, the baby, and my jerk of a placenta. I began to feel a little bit of peace, but I was still pretty scared. The next day, I kept telling myself, "I won't be afraid. I won't worry." In the afternoon, I got a text from one of the women with this verse:
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. - Deuteronomy 31:8
That was really comforting, and I started to feel really covered in peace and prayer. Then Levi called and told me he had spoken with the most senior perinatologist at our ultrasound office. The doctor said that they never judge a placenta on how it looks; it's how it functions that counts. And since my baby is right on target, my placenta seems to be functioning just fine. He also said that the twice-weekly monitoring should be able to catch anything before it actually becomes a problem.
Hearing this made me feel SO much better. I was so relieved, and I've been really relaxed about the whole thing ever since. I had my first monitoring appointment yesterday. Everything looked great, and I haven't noticed any decrease in movement. Baby girl is doing really well! Hopefully, she'll stay put until her scheduled Halloween birthday, but we're almost ready for her now, so she can come any time she wants.
Pregnancy is really hard, you guys! Even though this has been the most difficult period of our lives, I feel incredibly grateful for so many things. God has been taking care of us LIKE CRAZY. Seriously, I could write a book on this. We have seen miraculous provision. I trust God like I never have before, and it feels really really good. I'm excited to see what He has in store for my little family of three.
P.S. This is the most risqué bump shot you guys will see on here... hopefully, my bare bump didn't offend anyone too much. ;)