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.