Pregnancy Update

Tomorrow I'll be 38 weeks along which is exactly when both Madeline and Ellie were born.  Katie, many of you will likely remember, hung on until 41 weeks on the nose.  Talk about frustrating!  So with my 38 week appointment tomorrow I'm not sure if we'll be possibly looking at an imminent labor or if it will still be some time before the baby is born.  At previous appointments the doctor has mentioned that we could attempt to get labor going by stripping the membranes at 38 weeks since it's worked for me twice before.  So if we go that route, it would be great if it works.

37 week belly dressed up for the Easter Vigil

I had another non stress test today.  The baby wasn't particularly interested in moving around as much as he normall does at these appointments so they weren't as thrilled with what they were seeing.  What should have been a 30 minute visit lasted over 90.  When they did an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid levels the results showed that it was still in the normal range but had jumped up 2 cubic centimeters.  The nurse was a bit concerned about that given my elevated blood pressure.  Three times they took my blood pressure at this visit and each time they seemed to get more upset which was only stressing me out more.  I ended up getting sent over to the hospital to be evaluated by triage where they monitored the baby and my blood pressure more and did some bloodwork.  They tell me that everything looks fine, so they sent me home.  I have my 38 week appointment tomorrow and then later this weekend I have to do this awesome 24 hour urine collection for a test to further rule out I'm guessing preeclampsia or something like it.  I'm really hoping that the baby is born before then so I don't have to go through that less than pleasant task.  In fact, I'm going to ask my OB at tomorrow's appointment how necessary that test really is.

I am inching closer to being all set up for the baby.  Ordinarily I'd already have the bouncy seat and pack and play set up, but last time around it was just awful sitting around for three weeks after when I thought for sure I'd have already had the baby surrounded by all of the baby gear.  So I have everything ready to go, but not set up.  After today's experience, I feel a bit more motivated to make sure I have a bag for the hospital packed, and I might go ahead and set up the playpen for the downstairs.  I did pull out my nursing baskets with all the burp clothes this evening and a few days ago I made sure I had the diapers and related items set up in the nursery and also in the basket that will be downstairs.  I'm getting there.

Oh and at the ultrasound I got another peek at the baby.  The nurse who had been doing the ultra sounds the previous two weeks flat out refuses to even peek at the gender to put my mind at ease that the baby really is a boy like the other ultrasound techs have told me.  I haven't seen for myself since the 20 week scan.  Today I had a different nurse and as soon as she went to start measuring the fluid levels she landed in just the right spot for me to be 100% certain that we are certainly having a little boy.

I'm hoping all goes well at tomorrow's appointment.  I'm especially hoping that my blood pressure will be down enough to be soildly in the normal range.  I'm going to have to find a way to relax, I suppose.

Are we there yet?

The third trimester is really doing a number on me this time around.  Keeping up with a two year old, trying to keep the house in order and get everything ready for the new baby along with making sure we stay on track with homeschooling is a lot of work.  Most days I feel like I'm going to fall asleep while I sit in the parking lot at Ellie's school waiting for her to come out.  Saying I feel exhausted at times would be a huge understatement.

I feel like our plans for Lent never really took off.  I had planned to do the Jesus tree readings with the girls each day but the closest we ever got to doing it was me hanging up the felt tree and taking out the ornaments.  They'll all still sitting in the basket waiting to be used.  Aside from the kids just being busy with soccer practices and everything else that crops up, I just couldn't find the motivation to dig out the list with the daily readings and the picture bible that went with it.  I feel so lazy with regards to this, but I keep reminding myself that the bean jar and merciful cross Lenten activities are going well.  And, the girls are at daily Mass with me most days so that has to count for something.

I decided once again to do the 40 bags in 40 days thing for Lent and that's going really well.  I've detached myself from a lot of material things and I'm still not done.  I've lost track of how much we have given away, donated and tossed but I know we've gone past 40 bags or boxes.  I just started going through the baby girl clothes today.  My goal is to get through all of the sizes Katie has outgrown before Easter.  I'm trying to whittle down what we have to a reasonable amount of clothing in case we ever have another baby girl.  For the new baby, I'm trying not to buy more clothing that what we would reasonably need.  I have a hard time resisting cute baby clothes so this is a bit of a challenge for me.

I'm almost ready for Easter.  Candy is purchased and most of what I need for the baskets I have already procured.  I still have a few items that I need to order and I suppose I should do it soon.

Tomorrow I'll be 36 weeks along.  I've been feeling really off the past few days.  I can walk a mile around the neighborhood and feel fine but going up a flight of stairs makes me feel like I'm going to pass out from exhaustion.  At my doctors appointment yesterday they were concerned that my blood pressure was elevated but after having me lie down for a few minutes and taking my blood pressure again they were able to get a slighly lower reading.  So I'm wondering if perhaps I'm on the brink of having some sort of issue.  I really don't feel right and can't recall ever having felt like this with the other pregnancies.  I go for a non-stress test and an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid level tomorrow.

Madeline's third marking period is behind us now and she's working her way towards the end.  I have most of the lessons plans for the rest of the year finished.  If we're able to keep everything on track even with a newborn in the house sometime in the next 2-5 weeks, she will be done before June.

Not knowing just when the baby will arrive makes me anxious.  I really wish I knew when labor was going to happen.  It would make things easier if I could just add it to the schedule. I'm hoping he makes his entrance sooner rather than later.  Things are getting a bit cramped and uncomforable in my torso and I sure would appreciate the breathing room.

I still don't think Katie gets that we're going to have a baby in the house soon.  We talk about the baby but it all seems to just go over her head.  I'm really not sure how she's going to react when we bring her little brother home.  She really loves babies so I'm hoping she will be happy to have a baby in the house but I'm bracing myself for what I suspect could be a difficult transistion for her.

I think this pretty much wraps up all the things I've had swirling around in my head that I haven't been able to blog about.  I have pictures of Katie enjoying the nice spring weather we've had the past week or so and also pictures from the older girls' soccer games.  I've gone to four soccer games in the past week!  I'm trying to get to as many of their games as I can before the baby arrives since I don't know if I'll be at many or any for the rest of the season once the baby is here.