41 Weeks...

Well, we are still waiting! Tomorrow is Christmas and I can't believe it! I went to get a non-stress test on Monday and an ultrasound to make sure that it is safe for the baby to stay in there. Our baby scored a perfect 10 out of 10, but the monitor was picking up contractions. Apparently I was having then every 2-3 minutes, but they were not lasting a long time. I wasn't feeling them at all though. I was hoping that maybe I'll be one of those people who goes in and is like 7-8 cm dialated and didn't even know. :) Right, wishful thinking, I know. So she said she should send us to the hospital to be monitored, but I wasn't feeling them, so she let me go back to work. I got through my last two days at work before break, which is great. I do not start my maternity leave now until Jan 2, which means I get extra time. Although, I guess it doesn't really count if I don't have the baby yet! Janell and Zeb came down for a few days, which was awesome. She was super helpful, but she wasn't able to see the baby! Now, Chris' parents are here until Monday. My mom is still here, and my sister and her family too. Erica gave me a massage yesterday, which was awesome. She did pressure points that are said to induce labor. We've been walking and eating spicy food and all, but I now believe those are all lies. I will get contractions, but that's it. I thought Monday night I was going into labor, but obviously...I thought wrong. Oh well, I'm trying to be relaxed about the whole thing. I was hoping to have this little baby by Christmas and I even threatened to take all the presents back for him/her that are under the tree. :) I guess baby knows me too well already. Only time will tell! So excited to hold this little one!

Due Date

Well, we're here...at my due date. The baby still is not. This week I got the necessary paperwork that needed to be filled out before the baby comes (that I didn't know about) completed, which made me feel super stressed, followed by extremely relieved. Chris is done with school for Christmas Break...I still have Monday and Tuesday if I don't have this baby before then. My mom is coming in tonight after she celebrates Christmas with her sisters. I am very excited about that. :) My sister and her family is coming Sunday night, but won't get here until really late. The midwife wants me to get an ultrasound next week to make sure that everything is ok to let him/her stay in there until the 42 week mark. So my appointment for the ultrasound is Monday and I have another doctor's appointment on Thursday. Baby is sounding good and still moving like crazy, which is great. Maybe the baby is just waiting for everyone to be here. Who knows?
As for how I'm feeling...still pretty good. I was really sore earlier this week and my feet were KILLING me yesterday when I got home from work. Other than that, I have been feeling pretty good. I was complimented yesterday by some co-workers that I am the most even-keeled expecting person they've ever known. That made me happy. I don't want everyone to remember this as horrible. I want the pregnancy and this baby to be seen for the miracle that they are. I want all glory to be given to God for everything working so perfectly in order to bless us with this little one, as I am still in awe of how everything has to fit together in just the right way in order for pregnancy to even occur. My mind continues to go back to Rob Bell's book: "I can't believe I get to live this life." This is the motto of my life. I am so fortunate and so blessed and wouldn't want it any other way. Well, here we go. Into week 40 of the pregnancy. May this baby join us in God's perfect timing...and may I be ok with that, no matter when it is. :) Love to all, can't wait to share pictures and the experience of having a baby soon!

One Week!

I can't believe I'm due one week from today. That's crazy. My school had a baby shower for me (and the other 3 girls who are pregnant) yesterday, which was awesome. We got some great stuff off our registry and are so fortunate to have such wonderful coworkers. They also did a shower and Chris' school last Thursday (I can't remember if I already mentioned that) and we got a lot of great stuff then too! We are so blessed, it's amazing.

As for how I feel...I still feel pretty good. I'm trying not to complain too much. :) The baby has dropped quite a bit, so I'm using the bathroom a lot more. It makes it harder to sit up and is starting to get a little bit harder to walk too. However, I am SO thankful that I am working. It keeps me busy and moving around a lot, which is good. My most recent doctor's appointment went well too. They said I'm measuring perfectly. Baby sounded good and has been extremely active, which is always reassuring. "Now we wait," she said. We will see when this little baby decides to come meet us! 1-3 weeks left! My sister and her family come out in just over a week, along with my mom..which will be fun! Here we go!

Hospital Trip

This past week was crazy. Overall, for being 38 weeks pregnant, I feel pretty good. I feel almost normal, in fact. There are just a few things that remind me how pregnant I am. For example, when I caught a glimpse of my huge stomach walking by the mirror yesterday. I can't believe how big it is. Or, when I do things like I normally do, but then (for some reason) am incredibly sore. Weird. :)

Well, we got a trial run on Wednesday night. I went to school and felt a little weird all day, like kinda sick for some reason. I didn't know what was up, but got through school just fine. Then, I went to my (now weekly) doctor's appointment and was going to have my routine check-up. While I was waiting, I asked Chris to pick up dinner because I was hungry and wanted to eat immediately when I got home. :) His phone was dying but he told me he would grab dinner and see me at home soon...I figured I'd be there in no more than an hour. When the midwife came in, we talked and she listened to the baby and started to get concerned. She said that after the baby's heart rate accelerated (after moving around) it dropped way down (decelerated) and she was a little worried, so she wanted me to be hooked up to the continuous monitor for a little while. So the nurses came in and attached a contraction (which I'm not having yet) and heart rate monitor. They did see some dips, which was still not comforting. She said to be safe, she wanted me to go to the hospital where they could continuously monitor it for an hour. She said the cord could be around the baby's neck, or it could just be squished behind the baby, the baby could be grabbing it, or sucking on it. The hope was that by the time I got to the hospital, the baby would let go of it or move and all would be gin line for me to go home.

So, I went to the hospital. I called Chris (but his phone had died), called my mom (no answer), and finally got a hold of my sister. I asked her to keep calling Chris until he turned his phone on and tell him what was going on. I went to the hospital and triage was full, but when they heard why I was there...they bumped me up and put me in a different room to be monitored. Listening to the baby's heartbeat was comforting, and I felt better when Chris showed up after my sister filled him in. The nurse seemed very optimistic about the whole thing, but after a while said that I had to stay overnight. (This made no sense at all, because I thought everything was fine and I was going home.) They wanted me to be monitored all night and get an ultrasound the next day to make sure the cord wasn't being blocked. The nurse made a comment about when the last time I ate was...which was when lunch was over at 12:15. It was now like 6 and she was talking about how that's so long. Yah, but my appointment was at 3:30, which I thought would be over quickly and I could eat at like 4:30. Needless to say, I was REALLY hungry by this point.

Well, I stayed all night. I finally got dinner at like 8. They gave me an IV (which I HATE), hooked me up to the continuous monitor for baby's heart rate, and was hooked up for them to read contractions(which I still wasn't having). My baby, who is super active at night, made all the nurses either laugh or get really irritated because he/she would move every time they tried to get the heart rate. Literally, some of the nurses were working on it for 20-30 minutes at a time because right when they would get a good read, the baby would move. One nurse said, "You know this baby is laughing at my right now." Needless to say, I didn't get more than like 2-3 hours of sleep that night. They had to keep coming in and moving things around to pick up the heart rate again. Chris was wonderful. He went out to take care of Paris, got stuff for us, and stayed with me at the hospital. I can't imagine trying to get up and unplug everything by myself so that I could go to the bathroom (which was a lot because of the IV and water I was drinking).We both missed school on Thursday (which was the first time I have ever been gone without having Sub plans) but the people I work with are awesome and took care of it. The next day, I ended up getting the ultrasound and the baby looked good. The cord was not around the baby's neck or anything, which means we didn't have to get an emergency C-Section. The baby has chubby little cheeks and a little bit of hair too! :)

So apparently, what ended up being said was that the baby has a low baseline heart rate. So, normally a baby's heart rate is 140-160, our baby's is like 120. When it gets excited or moves around, it jumps way up (to like 160-200) and then drops back to normal (120), but that huge drop is what had them worried. They didn't originally see that 120 is normal for my baby. So anyway, they ended up saying that it is just a very happy baby. This concerns me a little bit because I could see Paris the same way. She is so relaxed, but then gets SO excited that she pees everywhere. I hope our baby isn't an excitable pee-er too. We JUST got a handle on that. :)

So that's that. It was scary for a while, but we are so thankful for all the thoughts and prayers and for everything being ok. A baby is such a little miracle. There are so many things that have to work out just right in order to have a baby and we have been appreciative and in awe of this the entire time.

Like I said, good trial run for many reasons. 1. Chris will not let his phone die anymore so he knows what's going on. 2. My mom will answer her phone and have her bag packed in case it's the real thing. 3. We will have the hospital bag ready to go. 4. We wrote the neighbor's phone numbers down so they can help us with the dog. 5. Every day I leave work, I will be ready to not be back.

Now, back to waiting. I just have to count the baby's kicks 3x a day to make sure that baby is still moving and active. So, 38 weeks and 1 day. 1 week and 6 days until my due date. So excited to meet this little one. <3