34 weeks & things are looking good!

We can all breathe a little easier today as the baby is looking very healthy and gained some weight. He's still a little behind his former growth curve, but not as far behind as two weeks ago. He's now in the 40% percentile for his age.

His kidneys are still holding a very small amount of extra fluid, so they will need to be checked by his pediatrician after birth. However, Dr. P. thinks that it will probably resolve without any intervention as the amount is barely over the normal cutoff (6mm instead of 5mm).

In other news, I met with my gastroenterologist last week to discuss my colitis flare and birth options. He said my flare sounds pretty mild and there's a good chance it will resolve by delivery. Even better, he doesn't think there's any need for a c-section at this point since UC doesn't typically cause fistulas unless it's very severe (which mine is not). So, we are currently planning on an induction around August 5th. I'll know the final date and time on Monday!

I'm feeling very fortunate these days. I'm thrilled that I'm almost at the end of the pregnancy (something which I never believed would actually happen, based on my history), and even better, the third trimester has been pretty easy overall. I know of so many women who are just miserable at this point, and I was warned over and over about how difficult it would be. Amazingly, I still feel really good. I'm not experiencing swelling, or varicose veins, or hemorrhoids, or severe heartburn, or almost any of the myriad of third trimester discomforts. My back is a little sore at the end of the day, and I'm slightly more tired than normal, but honestly, I think the first trimester was a lot harder than this one. Dr. P. said she thinks this can be attributed to how much I love my job as I'm really motivated to work as long as possible. She said if I hated my job, I'd probably be miserable and in pain. Interesting, no?

Today's Stats:
Gestational Age: 34 weeks, 1 day
Baby's Weight: 5 lbs, 1 ounce
Fruit Comparison: Honeydew Melon
Weeks until delivery: 4
Weeks until I stop work: 3
My weight change: + 11 lbs

Nursery Decorations

This past long weekend was a productive one. We finished framing and hanging pictures, broke down a mountain of boxes, washed and folded baby laundry, put together the stroller, packed the hospital bag, took a trip to Ikea, and Chad finally tackled cleaning up and organizing our disaster office. Somewhere in there I found time to get a massage (wonderful) and we watched 3 towns' fireworks shows from our back yard. Oh, and I nearly blew us all up by starting an inferno in our gas grill... luckily I managed to turn the propane off before it caught fire too. Anyone know how to clean fire extinguisher foam off a grill?? :-P

Now that the nursery is done, I'm feeling much less stressed. It's really starting to set in that this baby will be here in just a few more weeks! I'm excited and nervous at the same time -- I can't wait to meet him, but I'm also really not looking forward to the delivery part...

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the nursery:

We spent an afternoon painting these.

 

 

 

 

The tree and monsters are vinyl decals.

My next ultrasound is tomorrow afternoon, so I will update you afterwards with the latest stats.

32 Weeks

Following a rough night of frequent contractions and insomnia, today's ultrasound was also somewhat disturbing. While the baby is still looking normal and healthy overall, he only gained 2 ounces in the past two weeks. With so little growth, he slipped from the 60% percentile to the 33rd. Dr. P. feels like it's too early to be overly concerned right now as this could just be an anomaly (maybe due to the terrible cold/flu I had last week?). However, if his growth doesn't pick up within the next two weeks, then we may be looking at a problem requiring intervention...

The other possible issue is that one of his kidneys is retaining slightly more urine than is normal. Normal range is less than 4mm, and his measured 5mm. Again, Dr. P. said not to worry about it yet as slight abnormal readings are common with baby boys and usually resolves by birth. However, if we continue to see a trend over the next few weeks, then he may need a procedure to correct it.

In better news, my blood pressure is still looking good and the ulcerative colitis flare I've been coping with is possibly starting to settle down. We're really hoping it does so I can avoid a scheduled c section... Speaking of which, we also have our delivery date set! If I'm induced, it will be at midnight on August 5th. If I have a c-section, it will be at 7 AM. For the time being, Dr. P. has the OR booked for the c-section route since that is currently the most likely scenario.

We finally have a picture to show today; however it's not the greatest. Since the baby is head down, we're not likely to get many more decent photos.

Following my ultrasound, I spent the next 40 minutes in the monitoring room while the nurse chased the baby around with the monitors in an attempt to do a non-stress test. He wasn't very cooperative and kept moving away from the monitor every time she got it placed! Eventually she got it in the right spot long enough to determine that everything looks good.

This Week's Stats:
Gestational Age: 32 weeks, 1 day
Weeks until delivery: 6 (!)
Weight: 3 pounds, 13 ounces
Heart Rate: 125 bmp baseline with accelerations up to 155 bmp
Fruit Comparison: Winter Squash
My weight change: +10 pounds (no change from last time)
Stretch Marks: nothing obvious; maybe a tiny one in my belly button.

First Non-Stress Test

Today was my first NST (non-stress test) at the hospital. From now until delivery, I'll be going every Monday and Thursday for these tests. It's basically just simple monitoring to ensure that the baby is doing well and to check for signs of pre-eclampsia and pre-term labor. Today, the nurse took my blood pressure (normal), did a quick ultrasound to see how the baby was positioned (head down), and then hooked me up to two monitors around my belly for 20 minutes. The first monitor records the baby's heart rate and the second contractions. They want to see the heart rate at a good baseline level (anything between 110 - 160 bmp is normal; our baby's is around 145 bmp) and then accelerate when he moves. What they don't want to see are any long decelerations that don't come back to baseline quickly.

For the first 10 minutes or so, the baby was sleeping as he'd been super active all morning, so the nurse woke him up with a vibrator (!) against my belly. After that, he rolled and kicked like crazy. He had one brief deceleration during the test, but since it was quick and his heart rate came back up to baseline and stayed there afterwards, she said it wasn't concerning. Most likely he compressed his cord a little during one of his rolls.

We're relieved that everything still appears stable despite me losing my mucus plug yesterday. This rather gross substance helps to prevent infection and doesn't normally come out this early. However, since I'm not having increased contractions since losing it, the doctors aren't concerned.

I return on Thursday for my ultrasound and another NST session. Cross your fingers he cooperates so we can get a good picture!

30 Weeks

There's not a whole lot to report this week. Baby continues to do well and is as active as always. I'm starting to feel huge and experiencing plenty of third trimester fun such as heartburn, backache, insomnia, etc. Fortunately all of that is minor and so far I haven't had any issues with swelling or blood pressure.

We're pretty sure the baby's not deaf as he is very responsive to music. We've been watching the tv show "So You Think You Can Dance" and he kicks and rolls around like crazy during the whole thing! It's pretty weird to watch my belly rippling and bulging from his gymnastics.

We have a good start made on getting the nursery set up. All of the furniture is in the room (pics are up on Facebook or you can email me if you want to see them). We will work on decorations this weekend, so hopefully I'll have finished pics for this blog by my next update.

Tracy and my good friend Stephanie are hosting a local baby shower for me this Saturday. I'm very excited and can't wait to celebrate with everyone!

Today's ultrasound was quick and uneventful. Baby was facing inwards, so no photos again. Dr. P checked the umbilical cord blood flow and it's still looking great. :)

Today's stats
Gestational age: 30 weeks 1 day
Baby's weight: 3 lbs 11 ounces
Weight percentile: 62%
Heartrate: 151 bpm
Fruit comparison: winter squash
My total weight gain: + 10 pounds