early labor signs, preeclampsia

[swhitney]

I'm 36.5 weeks now and anxious... I keep thinking about Cathe delivering Eric at 36.5 weeks. I'm curious, did you have any idea it was coming? Did you have early labor signs?
At 36 weeks I have no signs of impending labor other than Braxton-Hicks. I expected my baby to drop by now since that usually happens 4 weeks before birth, so I hear anyway. What were other peoples' experiences with signs of labor? I'm really worried I'm going to be late. I'm really small and supposed to deliver a 8.5-lb. baby, so I'm very nervous at the prospect of going past my due date.
Also, at my last doctor's visit, she was a little concerned that I had some signs of developing preeclampsia, except for the blood pressure (which is still quite low). So I'm supposed to be resting a lot. She said some exercise is still OK. How does working out affect this condition?
One final question. Do you get much bigger from now until the end, or are you already so big that another inch or two doesn't matter? I feel like my ribs are going to crack (I remember asking about bigness at 27 weeks... 27 weeks was NOTHING compared to now!) and my maternity clothes barely fit.
I'd love to hear about other peoples' experiences or advice since this is all new to me.
Can't wait for those new tapes, Cathe... I'm trying to view postpartum recovery as an exciting challenge.

Sara

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hang in there Sara!

I know that is much easier said than done. Wow, you are sooooo close. I'm getting so excited for you. Yes, you are right, I gave birth to Eric at this point in my pregnancy(36.5 weeks). I really didn't have any obvious signs but then again it was my only pregnancy so I had nothing to compare it to. I did not drop, and I was also very uncomfortable. I, too, wondered just how much more my belly was going to stretch by the way it already looked. A few things that I noticed were that my feet hurt much more frequently in the last week. They were swollen and achey and I needed to put them up every two hours. Also, I had on and off menstrual type cramp during the last week. But the final thing that occured before I had him was on the day of. I had a shooting cramp in the lower left side of my belly. This occured a couple of times during the day(totally different from all the other odd cramping during the pregnancy). It was accompanied with a strong feeling of diarrhea(but I never actually had it). By evening, the cramps again turned into the mestrual type cramps. The last one had gotten so uncomfortable that I went to the bathroom thinking that I actually got my period. Well, I was shocked because I did see blood but before I could react in fear of what it was due to(since it seemed way to early to have the baby), my water broke. And so the rest of the story goes.....

But we are all different so you really can't compare one persons symptoms to another. I would however, have that hospital bag packed and be prepared, just in case.

Good Luck Sara, and please keep us posted!!!!