37 Weeks

Yesterday we had another scare, everything is OK now, but I am really getting tired of all these bumps in the road.  

Our little guy has had a pretty regular routine for the last several months.  He wakes up between 3am and 4am.  It may sound like it's early and not fun, but I actually love it.  Its like its our special time together. Anyways, this particular morning, he wasn't active at all. I got up and ate something and still nothing. By the time we got to our morning appointment I was in panic mode. Things just got worse when our doctor couldn't wake him up either. He still had a strong heartbeat, he just wouldn't wake up. Anyways after about 10 minutes our doctor did get him up and moving but it was a long 10 minutes. During that 10 minutes he was talking about sending us to the hospital and having our baby that day. In the end, because they were able to get him moving, then sent us for monitoring instead. All the test came back ok and we were sent on our way.

photos from our last scan

Today it wasn't as dramatic,  but we still had a tough time of waking him up.  So I'm on edge and nervous every moment I don't feel him. We are 8 days away from our induction date which is inducing at 39 weeks.  Because of these set backs and for our peace of mind, we are now scheduled to go to triage every morning to be monitored from now until when the baby comes.

Like I told my therapist today, I am so ready for the baby to come and start worrying about parenting issues rather than having all these pregnancy worries, I am just so over all of it. We have definitely had our fair share so enough already!  So fingers and toes are crossed that this little guy stays active or my water breaks and we can welcome him into the world sooner.

Thanks for Reading,

HEATHER

Week 33

Our week 33 check up came a few days early because of scheduling.  Today was very exciting.  Today we came up with our delivery schedule.  From the beginning we had talked about being induced because our doctor was uncomfortable letting us go full term.  Today we decided on being induced on December 28th which would more than likely mean a delivery on December 29th.  December 29th is exactly 39 weeks.  He said at 39 weeks, the chances of the baby needing the NICU is about 1% and that's probably the lowest it ever gets.

I am very excited that we have a due date finally and we can start planning around that.  I really like that I won't constantly we sitting around worried when my water will break and when will I go into labor?  I have plenty already on my plate to worry about.

We are keeping busy whether we like it or not, with a ton of classes.  So far we have taken How to Avoid Preterm Labor, Cloth Diapering, and Breastfeeding 101.  We are about half way done with our Labor & Delivery Class (my least favorite).  Still to go we have Cord Blood Banking, Newborn 101, Infant CPR, Baby Wearing and Baby Sleep Strategies.  We also have lots and lots of doctors appointments.  We have non-stress tests, anatomy scans and OB checks.  I like all the doctors appointments though.  Everytime we go it just reassures us that everything is ok.

Looking forward to meeting our little guy soon!

Thanks for Reading,
HEATHER

Gender Reveal

IT'S A BOY!!!   

After we made it to the viability stage we were much more comfortable with the idea of actually finishing this pregnancy and taking a baby home from the hospital.  As soon as we started to feel kicks, it was if something got switched in my brain and I really started to connect with the pregnancy and with the baby.  It was at this point that we felt comfortable enough in our situation to share the good news and let everyone know the gender. 

I ordered a dog collar online that revealed the gender and put it on our dog Parker.  We brought her over to my parents house and let her inside and didn't say anything.  It took my Mom about 5 seconds to notice and then my Dad turned around and saw it too.  I burst into tears and we all hugged.  It was really special and wonderful to finally be able to celebrate this pregnancy.  For the family members not in San Diego we sent a video of Parker wearing the collar and just said that Parker had something to tell them.  It was kind of fun to do something special.  We are super excited and knowing the gender makes it that much more real.

Thanks for reading,

HEATHER

Week 25 - GD

After finally being able to feel our little guy and feeling like we are in a good place, it was time for more testing.  Every pregnant woman takes a glucose test at this point in their pregnancy.  It is to test for gestational diabetes and sadly, I failed the test.  There are 3 tests, The first one is a fasting test and you are supposed to score 92 or under and I tested at 94 and unfortunately no matter how much you fail by, a fail is a fail. The other two I passed just fine but that doesn't matter. So my doctor ordered a diabetes testing kit for me and told me to monitor myself for 2 weeks and go to the diabetic center at the hospital.  The diet they told me to follow I already eat that way so there is no real diet change of what I eat.  The only thing I can change is when I eat and how much.  She actually wants me to eat more often and eat more food and calories when I do eat.  So I did that for about 10 days and my fasting number still bordered around that 94 number and didn't lower.  So my doctor put me on a pill that I take a night and that did the trick and now my fasting number is between 70 and 89 so well below 92.  I still have to test my blood 4 times a day and by me, I mean Ryan has to do it for me because I can't see or deal with blood.  Our doctor isn't concerned and thinks there are no additional issues.  We are already being monitored very closely so no additional appointments are needed at this point.

Week 24 - Kicks & Viability

   Finally at week 24 we felt the baby kick!!!!!  This is amazing and exciting and just down right awesome news.  Most folks feel the baby starting around week 15 so we are 2 months late to the party.  Both of my placentas attached in the front so we weren't quite sure we would get to the feel the baby.  Actually Ryan always felt we would but I was never sure.  Anyways on Friday I woke up to about 5 clear as day kicks, I guess the baby got up before me :)  I couldn't wait to text Ryan and tell him the good news.  When Ryan came home, he put his ear to my stomach and about 30 seconds later, the baby kicked and it physically made Ryan's head jump a bit.  It was amazing.  I am so glad we both got to feel this on the same day.   Since then, like clockwork, our baby kicks every morning and every night when I lay down.

   Week 24 is the viability week.  It means that if for some reason, I gave birth today, our baby would have a good chance of surviving.  It would still be in the NICU and wouldn't be good, we are really only talking about basic survivability, but it's still great news to make it here.  3 months ago, I couldn't even imagine getting this far.  Hitting this milestone the same week we finally felt kicks has been a huge accomplishment for us.


   Mentally and emotionally we still have lots of issues we are working through and will still continue with weekly therapy appointments.  Since I can now feel the baby on a daily basis we are going to try and go longer than ever week to our OB check appointments, but nothing crazy, instead of every week we are going to go every 1 1/2 weeks and see if we are comfortable in doing so.  Our doctor is leaving the decision up to us and if 10 days seems too long, we will move back to weekly appointments.  For now though, it's really starting to feel real for the very first time and hopefully that turns into some comfort on our end.

Thanks for Reading,
HEATHER