39 Weeks

Only one more week to go (hopefully)!! We saw Dr. Clark (my original OB and the high risk specialist) on Friday. Blood pressure was totally normal - 118/60 something. The dreaded moment of truth came when I stepped on the scale... I have gained approximately 63lbs during this pregnancy - a horrifying number. I guess I will just have to get busy pushing our cute little pink stroller around the neighborhood. Emily will know the 'hood like the back of her hand by the time she is 6 months! But, back to the appointment...Dr. Clark poked around on my tummy and said that her best educated guess was that Emily will weigh somewhere between 7.5 and 8lbs...pretty normal. She said that since I had been checked for dilation during our hospital fiasco on Wednesday, she didn't have to check me unless I wanted her to. As unpleasant as this experience is, I asked her to go ahead and check just to see if anymore progress had been made. Since I was only a little more than a cm, she "stretched" my cervix to 1.5 to 2 cm. OW! OW! OW! But worth it, I guess, if it means it will get Emily here any sooner! She then told us that she did not like to induce first time Moms before 40 weeks, but we could go ahead and schedule an induction date if we wanted to. We decided to wait until the 40 week appointment to do this. I would really like for nature to take its course, so we will probably put induction off as long as possible. Dr. Clark told us that while there is no way to be absolutely sure, she believes I will go into labor sometime between 40 and 41 weeks. I will be 40 weeks on 8/15/08 and there will be a full moon 8/16/08....if the moon can pull the tides maybe it can pull this child out of me!!! I am officially off of work now, so I plan to just rest up this next week...maybe I'll even find time to finish Emily's baby blanket!!! But, I guess I shouldn't expect miracles... :)

1st Trip to the Hospital

Yesterday I was feeling a little woozy and lightheaded, so I asked Tracy at work to take my bloodpressure. It was 150/85 which is pretty high for me since I normally have kind of low blood pressure. So, I called the Dr.'s office who told me I needed to come in to be seen. I called Kerry to come get me since I didn't think I should drive while I was so lightheaded. Once we arrived we saw one of the nurse practioners so said I was still dialated only 1cm, that my blood pressure was down to 140/70 and she wanted me hooked up to a fetal monitor there in the office for awhile. However, after she consulted with Dr. Grider about this, Dr. Grider made the decision to send me down to Labor and Delivery. I then spent the next four hours hooked up to a fetal monitor and a contraction monitor and I got some blood drawn. I believe they were concerned about preclampsia, so they taking all the necessary precautions. But the blood test came back normal, the fetal monitor showed Emily was doing wonderful and the contraction monitor, while it did show I was having contractions, it was not enough to justify keeping. So, home I went. Kind of a waste, but I guess it is better to be safe than sorry. This little episode did convince me, however, that I need to be through with work. I thought that just working half days this week would be no sweat, but I guess it was harder on me than I thought. Oh, well. I guess just resting up until the big day isn't such a bad idea after all!

38 Weeks

Today I am 38 weeks pregnant. This morning I went for my 38 week check up and, much to my dismay, found out I am still only 60% effaced and 1cm dilated. Boo!!! I was really hoping they would tell me I had made some kind of progress. I think this little girl is just too comfy in there. Maybe it is time to try some of Aunt Tiffie's home induction methods...

Here are a few Glamour Shots we had taken a couple of weeks ago - check out myspace to see them all!

37 Weeks

Yesterday, I went for my 37 week check up. I was scheduled to see Dr. Clark (the high-risk specialist), but after waiting for 3 HOURS the medical assistant asked if I minded seeing Shannon the nurse practitioner since it would probably be a couple more hours before Dr. Clark was available. At that point if they had said they had a medical monkey available I would have readily agreed. Anyway, I had had some concerns that Emily was behaving way too much like her mother and had managed to be ass-backwards, or in more polite terms, breech. However, Shannon (the ARNP) did the exam and said she could definitely feel the sutures of the head so she was not breech. BIG relief! She also said that I was still dilated one centimeter. That was kind of a bummer. I had been daydreaming all the way to the Dr. office about being told that I was dilated several centimeters and about to have this baby. But, Emily must be a little too comfortable in her warm, watery digs and in no hurry to make a grand entrance. Oh, well. I have waited this long, I guess I can manage to wait awhile longer.

On a funnier note...

Last night a pretty vicious sinus infection began to make itself known by means of a killer headache. In an attempt to relieve the ache, I went to bed with a cool washcloth over my eyes. At some point during the night, the washcloth must have fell off my face and onto the bed because it made a huge wetspot. Later during the night I rolled over into the wetspot. After a few moments of wondering why in the world my rear end was wet and cold, I suddenly sat straight up (well, kind of. I really kind of pulled myself into a semi-sitting position) convinced that my water had broken. After a few moments my mind cleared and reality set in and I realized that the only water I was feeling had come from the bathroom tap. I really think I am thinking about this WAAYYY to much...

1 CM!!!

We went to the Dr. this morning and found out I am 1cm dilated! Whoo-hoo!!!!! Now, I know this isn't much and I could stay at 1cm for a few weeks yet, but at least SOMETHING has happened! Every cm brings us a little closer to a baby! The Dr. also once again assured us that my big, swollen, cartoon looking feet are no cause for concern. Some wannabe M.D.'s out there (and you know who you are) have told me that they are going to take me off work, put me on bedrest, yada yada yada... Once again Dr. Grider said that as long as my blood pressure stays normal and my proteins are good, then I can pretty much do anything I want.

I really debated on whether or not to admit this, but maybe someone out there can offer me some reassurance... All of a sudden I have this overwhelming, horrible fear that something will be wrong with our baby. All of the tests I have had say everything is A-ok and I haven't been given the slightest cause for concern, but I just can't seem to shake it. Has any other Mom's out there experienced the same thing??

Babyshower

Today we had my baby shower and, boy, did we clean up!! :) Seriously though, we received all kinds of super nice things. I just want to thank my Mom, my MIL Bonnie and my bestest freiend ever Tiffany for all the work they did to make today as special as it could be!! Everything went off without a hitch and I couldn't be happier with it all!!!

The shower was over at about 5pm and Kerry and I have spent the rest of the evening washing all the new blankets, tiny little sleepers and itsie bitsie little socks and finding homes for all of our new treasures. We absolutely cannot wait to try everything out on her. I know it must sound like I am about to conduct a science experiment or receive some kind of new toy, but all of this is such a new experience to us that we are just super excited to experience it all. Tomorrow we are going to pick up just a few last minute things that we didn't get at the shower (after all we did receive it hardly seems possible that there is something we are missing!!!!!!) and then we will be all ready to welcome our beautiful little baby girl into the world!!

PS.

Check out the shower pics!