No labor yet...

Labor Day Weekend has begun, but without any REAL labor so far! We've been keeping busy, getting last minute things ready, and trying not to get too caught up in our heads about the upcoming events. Todd's been finishing up the bathroom--right now he's sanding the doors to the vanity cabinet he built. I made some cookies today and later this evening I'm going to make some chicken pot pies to freeze. Depending on when labor actually happens, I'd like to bring in some of the cookies to the nurses at the hospital. :)

I think we both had expected to go late (in terms of due dates) and when our OB told us she thinks we'll go early (or very soon!) our mindsets completely changed! Every night this week since our appt, I've thought "is this the night?" The only other preliminary sign that we've had of labor is that I've started passing my mucous plug...started on Wednesday and continues a little each day. Labor is such a bizarre event-- you have no control over it, and just have to accept that it will begin when it's time to. We just have to be patient and surrender to that unknown. So who knows when this is going to happen!

The waiting continues...

Love you lots,
Julie

Appointment Update

We had our weekly OB appt today and everything continues to look good. Our little girl measured perfectly and sounded great. My OB checked my cervix again, and this time I'm dilated to 1-2 cm, 60% effaced, and was -2 station. She said, "wow, that's a lot of progress since your last visit." Now, I know that women can be at 2cm for a while before going into labor, but my OB was really hinting that she doesn't think it will be that long! She asked me if I had an appt scheduled for next week, and I said yes. She said, well, I'd give it 50-50 chance that you'll make it that long. Then she went into what days she's on call this week, and said she'd love to be there for the birth if it works out. Holy smokes! This is really happening! I'm glad Todd was there for this appointment...he looked more than slightly shocked at the idea that this babe could come this week!

This evening we had our last labor class. I was having some low abdominal cramping intermittently though the whole class, and am still having it. Not sure if it's the start of something more, but time will tell. Todd and I did get home and spent a little time doing some last minute preparations, but we're off to bed now.

Will certainly keep you posted and updated as things progress!

Lots of love,
Julie

36 week OB appt

Our OB appt went really well today. Thankfully our little girl measured right on track at 36 cm! Whew! I was a little worried about that! She's still head down (good girl!) and my cervix is nice and closed still. I was able to talk to her about some of our labor questions and feel very reassured with her responses. I like this OB so much! She does think I need to stop working, and I'll admit that I'm glad to hear that. Work has been getting really tough for me lately. I know some women work up until their due dates, but it's just not happening for me. I'll be able to spend the time instead taking care of myself and our babe, cooking healthy meals, taking care of the few things I still have on my to-do list, and putting my feet up. Sounds just fine to me!

Poor Todd has been sick since Friday and I actually had to take him to Urgent Care last night at 2am. They think he might have pneumonia and put him on some meds to hopefully get better. He's slept pretty much all day today, and I think he'll be home the rest of the week. Poor guy--he never complains when he's sick, but I know when he asks if we should go to the hospital in the middle of the night that he doesn't feel good. I just want him to be feeling better by the time our little girl comes!

Think that's about it from here. We have a fun dinner coming up on Sunday with some of our good friends. It's kind of a last before-baby get together. These friends have been so supportive of us during our journey through IF, and then through pregnancy. I'm really looking forward to it!

Love,
Julie

Catching Up

Boy, what a month it's been! I've completely let this blog slide as we've gotten busier, but I've promised friends that I'd get you all up to date! So grab a cup of tea, put your feet up, and enjoy!

Baby Girl Updates:
Our little one has been super active the last couple weeks. Her movements definately feel different as she has gotten bigger and has less room to bounce around in. Instead of lots of pointed kicks and punches, I feel more swooshing actions, and whole body bumps. It's so strange watching my belly bounce up and down, back and forth, and know that our little girl is making it move like that. She's also started getting the hiccups. She's been having them at least once a day, which is another strange feeling. This morning I woke up on my day off at 7am...I thought, hmmm, why did I wake up? Do I have to pee? Nope. Hmmm..and then there it was! Hiccup! What a bizarre thing!
Our OB appointments have been going well too. I have my last every 2 week appointment next Wednesday, and then we'll be going in every week. At the last appointment, she measured a week behind, which does make me a bit nervous. It was a fill in OB, so there's certainly the chance that she just measured differently than my normal one. She wasn't too concerned at this point--said she could feel plenty of baby, and we'll just have to see what she measures next week. Good news is that baby girl is head down, and will hopefully stay that way until she comes!

Shower Updates:
I was lucky enough to have 2 showers put on for this baby girl a couple weekends ago. The first one was a work shower, hosted by some of my lovely colleagues. We had such a nice time eating the delicious food everyone brought, telling stories, and of course, oohing and ahhing over the darling baby gifts people brought. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends at work! One special part of the shower, was when we all went around and talked about our own names--what they mean, how our parents picked them, and what we liked about them. I thought it was really special to learn these intimate details about my friends, and gave some insight into name choosing.

My sister and mom hosted the other shower for me. Some of my girlfriends, family friends, and my mother & sister in-law came to celebrate. Again, it was so nice to be able to visit with everyone, eat yummy homemade pizzas, and admire the darling baby items people brought for our little one. I really feel lucky to have such caring family and friends.

Nursery/House Updates:
I've been busy getting our little girl's room all ready for her over the past couple weeks. Todd and I had most of the furniture purchased and set up months ago (yes, we are planners!) but I had lots of hand me down clothes and then new clothes from the showers to sort though. This last weekend, I washed everything and organized it nicely into her dresser. I also whipped out my label maker to make it really clear what's what (yes, I'm a true 5S'er!) I really like how the room has turned out. We haven't gone with any theme, or colors..it's pretty basic, but I love it. It's fun to sit in the rocking chair and imagine what it will be like in a short while to have our daughter home with us.

Todd's also been busy trying to finish up some home projects before she arrives. We have a new bathroom that we've been working on for awhile now...We had a tile guy take FOREVER tiling, and now that it's finally done, Todd's been hustling to finish the plumbing and get the bathtub, sink, etc all ready. I've been looking forward to laboring in our new shower and started feeling anxious over the last week or two that it might not be done in time. But Todd's put in some late hours and the shower is now ready and he says the tub is getting installed TONIGHT! I can't wait! :)

So, there you go! I'll do my best to stay more update with this site to keep you all in the loop. It's amazing how time flies sometimes, although we certainly have been busy with other family things. We both had deaths in our families, within days of each other, so that was pretty hard. We love and miss you Grammy and Uncle Allen.

Thanks for checking in,
Much love,
Julie

Strong heartbeat!

Since I'm a nurse, I have my own stethoscope. When I first started feeling her move, I tried to hear her heartbeat with it, but wasn't able to. I've tried every couple weeks to see if I could hear it, but hadn't had much success....Until tonight! I'm working late, and had some down time. My stethoscope was sitting right next to me, and I was getting ready to put it away in preparation for going home. I decided to give it a try and see if I could hear our little girl. I tried in one spot, but only heard my tummy girgling. I tried it in another, and heard a strong, rhythmic beat! I counted to make sure it wasn't mine--and it definately was not! It was so amazing to hear! Even though we've heard her heartbeat at the OB's a handful of times by now, hearing it with my stethoscope, on my own, was just amazing. It's so reassuring and calming and did I mention it was amazing?! :)

I called Todd to tell him the latest, and will be bringing home my stethoscope for him to listen to as well! Now whenever I have any anxiety about how she's doing, I'll be pulling out my stethoscope to check her hb! (I might just start carrying it around in my purse!)

30 weeks today! I can't hardly believe it. We have an OB appt Tuesday, and will be going in every 2 weeks from now on. Fun, fun, fun!

I am so excited to meet our little one! (But sweet girl, you can stay inside and gestatate a bit longer, ok?)

Thanks for checking in on us,
Love Julie

Trip to Triage

I didn't think we'd get to double check the gender of this baby for another 2 weeks, but we've verified that this nugget of love is a girl! Let me back up a bit...

Sunday morning I woke up and pretty quickly felt some low abdominal pain. I decided to watch it and go to work anyway, especially since I was precepting a new nurse and would be able to sit down most of the day. Well the pain kept coming and going all day--it was really dull, and maybe a 2/10 on a pain scale. TMI warning: I also seemed to be having more vaginal secretions, and while I knew it wasn't urine, I couldn't tell if it was just normal secretions, sweat, or the more scary option- amniotic fluid!I wasn't sure if I should call the OB or not, but finally decided to give her a call around 2pm when I was still having pain. Of course, she wanted me to come in, and since it was Sunday I needed to go to the hospital, up to the triage section of Labor & Delivery. Yikes! I was feeling pretty nervous driving up there, but baby girl was kicking away the whole drive up which did reassure me.

The nurses there were great. Go nurses! Smart, professional, caring. They hooked me up to 2 monitors-one to monitor baby's heartbeat, and one to monitor contractions. Baby was doing great--nice strong heartbeat, and still active. The other monitor didn't pick up any contractions at first, but after repositioning me, it started to show uterine activity (i.e. contractions). They said the contractions were not Braxton Hicks contractions; they were "real" contractions. The nurse gave me a medication to stop the contractions, and warned that it would make me feel like I'm shaky, with a racing heart beat. And boy, did it! I felt terrible after a few minutes--very, very shakey. I had forgot that she said it would do that to you, and I was thinking, "gosh, i'm getting nervous!" But then I remembered it was the med. Ugh, no fun at all! It did stop the contractions though. They also did a cervix check, and swabbed me to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid. Cervix looked nice and closed & felt long, and my fluid was not amniotic fluid. Whew. They also had sent some urine to the lab, and it came back with showing some blood in it. So the OB thought that most likely it was a UTI, or kidney stone, or that it could be preterm labor. Since the contractions stopped and everything else looked ok, she decided to give me some antibiotics, send me home, and have me come into the clinic Monday am for an u/s to look at baby, my cervix (to make sure it wasn't shortening-a sign of preterm labor), and my kidneys (to check for stones) and then over to see my regular OB.

Todd and I left the hospital--feeling pretty shaken up, and only partially reassured. We both had these images of a 26week baby being born, and all that that would mean, and were anxious for my u/s to make sure that my cervix was looking ok.

So then Monday, I called to schedule my u/s and dr appt, and was able to get in at 10:30. We had an intern doing the u/s first, and when she checked my cervix it was 3.something cm long...The triage RN had said that if it was under 4, the doc's would probably be concerned. So I felt a little nervous about that, but knew that the experienced tech would be coming back in to recheck her work in a little bit. When she did come back, she remeasured it, and it was over 4cm! Whew!

Everything else looked great. Baby looked fantastic; moving all over the place, waving her hands at us. There was this great moment when we were looking at her profile, and she opened and closed her mouth 3 or 4 times--Todd thought it looked like she was smacking her gums! It was really cute. We asked them to double check gender--and they think more certainly that she is a girl! We also got an estimated weight of her--2lbs, 1 ounce, which is right on target.

My kidneys looked ok too. They couldn't see any stone, but the radiologist said it doesn't mean that there isn't one there. Ultrasound isn't the best technique for visualizing stones, but it doesn't expose the babe to radiation, and so it's the preferred way for pg women.

Off to the clinic we went to see our regular OB...She was super nice, and reassuring. She said we did the right thing by coming in on Sunday and was glad that the baby looked great on u/s. We don't have a definitive answer as to why I was contracting, but the pain is better, and we know it's not the scary possibility of preterm labor. So I'll continue to take my antibiotics, and hopefully we'll get the culture report from my urine back today.

We laid low the rest of the day yesterday, and I"m taking it easy today as well. I'll see if I can get some of our new u/s pictures posted so you all can see how cute she's getting. :)

Thanks for checking in,
Love,
Julie

Belly movements

Yesterday I was taking a nap, with my arm resting over my belly. Baby girl decided to give me a swift kick, and I felt my elbow move! I told Todd about it and wondered if I had been watching my belly, if I would've seen it move. I've heard about how alien-like it is when you can see your baby move from the outside, but we had yet to witness it.

So last night, before bed, I pulled the sheets down to uncover my belly as we talked. She started kicking, and I looked down, and could see my belly move up and down! I could feel her kicking (or maybe head butting, or maybe pumping her arms) on both sides of my tummy, and we could see all of those movements from the outside! It was so strange and bizarre, and wonderfully exciting at the same time.

There really is a babe in there! :)