Great Day

WAIT until you see the 3D ultrasound picture. Wow.

Today was a really good day. We did the whole routine at doctor's office today - ultrasound, FHM (fetal heart monitor), exam, blood work, BP. Everything looks great.

Highlights - ultrasound was amazing. They estimate baby is 7.1 lbs, give or take a few miligrams. Growth is on target for size, weight, fluid, placenta, etc. And s/he has hair! Not that I'm the least bit surprised, but totally facinated that it shows up on the ultrasound. And then the tech did a 3D version, so you could see the chubby cheeks, nose and pouty mouth.

Hubby is scanning tonight. Wait until you see it. It is totally amazing. Words can't even describe it.

We've made it to 38 weeks which is great news from development standpoint, we're officially in the safe zone.

I asked if I can go back to prenatal pilates, denied. But she gave me props for trying.

We ended the day with massages, a wonderful treat. And a great way to start the weekend.

Happy Friday!

Dry run?

Good news - we accomplished a lot this weekend. Carpets professionally cleaned. Major trip to Target ensured we are stocked with diapers, bottles, vaseline, and more. I received a very informative tutorial about cloth diapering from a guy at the dog park and believe I'm sold (more later). Picked out diaper bag. Installed pack 'n play upstairs. Hubby took first steps at installing crib (personally) and car seat (professionally). We really knocked out a lot and I'm feeling much better about our state of affairs...

In other news - I'm sleeping at the hospital tonight.

Eek!

Long story, short(ened) - Regularly scheduled doc appointment Friday revealed high blood pressure. They ordered blood work. Blood work came back a little high so doc called Sat and asked that I come back Monday for rework of all the above. Monday revealed four pound weight gain in 72hrs...and all of those details together add up to sound a little bit like pre-eclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia is a condition common in first time pregnancies, they don't know why it happens but in summary, as the nurse said this morning, "the only cure for pre-eclampsia is delivery." (?!?!?!)

And so, we did an ultrasound to see how baby S is looking. In case we'd be seeing him/her sooner than expected. Baby looks great, totally cute lips and nose visable. I'll try to scan photo soon. Healthy heart, good measurements, about 6lbs they estimated.

Next up, blood work at the hospital. I left doc's office, hubby met me at NW. We went through OB triage, did the whole fetal and bp monitor for 90 minutes. Blood work.

Ultimately everything is just slightly elevated. Nothing to rush into the delivery room over, but also something they want to ensure isn't rapidly escalting. So they checked me in. I'm being monitored for 24 hrs and then ideally released.

Gotta tell you, it freaked the crap out of me. The lack of control in this situation is very unfamiliar to me/us. But this has been really good, the ultimate dry run. Now we know all that we need to bring with us, what to prepare for, the mental leap of it all. I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow with a bundle of experience, rather than a bundle of joy, and coming back a few weeks ready to rock!

In the meantime, prayers much appreciated, focused on release tomorrow!

Hum, ok I still can't figure out how to get the baby pics up. They are saved as PDFs, DW resaved as jpegs but I still can't figure out how to get them on. They aren't showing up as jpegs when I try to attach. AGH! Hubby will resave tomorrow so you can see the cuteness soon.

This week was a big pile of garbage which means I still haven't written about how awesome the ultrasound was. Coming this weekend, promise.

Instead of bitching about all the things that were SO annoying about this week, I'm going to share a few great things that did make their way in - more than three things I'm grateful for:

- Ultrasound was truly best 30 minutes of TV I've ever seen. More on this but can't be said enough.
- Baby S is wiggling and dancing all the time now and every time I feel him, I smile (for some reason I feel like I have a secret no one knows about - though at this point the belly is no secret).
- I found $80 on the sidewalk Thurs while walking the dog - how sweet is that?!?!
- I love other moms. I have a whole post on this coming soon but moms rock and I can't get enough of their tips and advice. Keep 'em coming!!
- We had a great event tonight for BK, thanks to my kickass team who pulled it all together with very little help from me.
- We have two renters lined up to look at Winona tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
- I'm diving into Twitter ("cityretreat" there too but I'm going to have to watch for a bit before I dive in, not totally sure how it works just yet).
- Bellydance maternity store is having a sale tomorrow, I'm buying.
- My airplane did not snap in half and fall from the sky as I was positive would happen on Thursday night.
- Hubby agreed to Bugaboo suddenly after initial resistance.
- Went to great muscle pump class this am and my instructor is preggo too so she is going to take a few prenatal classes and bring back the moves for us.

I'm off to bed. Making the list of positives has nearly washed away the week. Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up liking everyone around me :)

Happy weekend!

Mental capacity to do my job. Thursday night date. Baby kicks.

Baby S is an heirloom tomato this week - 19 weeks. I love the choices for the comparisons, my favorite! Hair is growing on the head and apparently he can hear my voice now. It would be easier if he could hear my thoughts. I'm talking to him in my mind but not out loud yet. I'm sure that will come soon.

I can feel him moving. It is pretty neat, just little pulses or nudges but from the inside out. Nothing on the outside yet and I can't tell when or where it will happen. Next week we have the Level 1 ultrasound (20 weeks). We're half way, can you believe that??

This is supposed to be a great appointment because you see the baby (I haven't seen him since 6 wks old and I was looking at the wrong thing on the screen), big as day. I can't wait. We'll upload some pictures.

We're both taking tomorrow off. We were supposed to go on away for a long weekend but cancelled it b/c neither of us can stomach the idea of getting on a plane. Instead we're thinking about going to WI for the day. Regardless, it will be lovely. I'm going to try to avoid the bberry and see if the earth stops rotating on its axis.

I'm enjoying one of my two glasses of wine in October and the vacation is fabulous already.