The question of the day/week/month?

Everyone is asking if I'm ready for Isla to be here. Such a tough question. I can't wait to meet her and all the selfish things like I can't wait to move normally again and I can't wait to not have to pee every 45 minutes. But I don't want to not feel her moving around inside of me anymore (although I can do without the panic of wondering if I've felt her enough on any given day). I want to share her with her family and introduce her to all her friends, but I don't want to not have her all to myself anymore. I want her out here because I'm so worried about something happening to her before she gets here, but I also know I can protect her better now than I'll ever be able to again--this is as close to keeping her in a bubble as I'll be able to do. The realization that she's coming out and it IS going to HURT is setting in. So are all the worries and fears about what we're going to do with her when she gets here. I suppose all these things are natural. Women have been doing this for centuries.

Meanwhile, I was 1 cm dilated Monday. I know that doesn't mean anything--I could walk around like that for weeks and weeks. Dr S said the menstrual-type cramps I've been feeling are Braxton Hicks. Those are getting more frequent. We went up to the hospital Monday night for a NST because I couldn't feel much movement. Once on the monitor we could hear plenty, but I still couldn't feel it. I guess she was just swimming in the middle of her pool. The last two days she's been a good girl and swimming at the edge where I can feel lots of movement. Next Tuesday I go back to the clinic for another ultrasound, see how the amniotic fluid levels are, how big this little girl is getting, and to see what they say about the swelling issues. I guess whatever they say, Isla will be here within a month or so! Ready. Or. Not.

January 14th

On December 14, I told P that my prediction was that Isla will come on January 14. I was just thinking about things and went back and looked at old blog postings and realized that January 14, 2009 was when I realized that the last miscarriage was imminent.

I don't really have any feelings about that, just a realization.

Puffy marshmallow feet

My feet have looked like marshmallows since Christmas Eve. I've also had some swelling in my hands off and on. Yesterday all that extra fluid was reflected in the scale. My BP was also a little high at the doctor's office and there was a trace of protein in my urine. She said I needed to cut back to working half days and reduce my other activities. I'm in the middle of a 24 hour urine test to measure how much protein is actually in there. Hopefully the test results come back good and we're able to keep Isla cooking for awhile longer.

Merry Christmas!

P and I had a fairly lazy Christmas. He loves his new birthday robe and spent most of the morning in it. Bumper seemed to like us lazing around the house too.

For the most part, the pups were fairly lazy yesterday too.

P and I went to the late Christmas Eve service at church so we didn't have anyone going with us to take our picture before church. So this year's Christmas pic was taken Christmas Day when my parents came over for brunch. The pic from 2 years ago is still my favorite. Hopefully next year I can be back to that size. We'll also have a nearly one year old in the pic with us!

Here's a picture taken after my last shower. M got Isla what EVERY girl needs...a shoe wardrobe! How great is that?


I've been wanting to write something for Isla...hopefully that post will come in the next few days. I'm just having trouble putting everything I want to tell my little girl into words. I've told her from the beginning that she can't come out until January....January is almost here and I'm getting quite anxious to meet her! Still, I understand what so many mommies have told me about how much they missed being able to feel their little ones after they were born. I was looking back through my blog yesterday and saw an entry from August where I talked about feeling her move---I can't believe I've been feeling her move around in there for 4 months!

Time to get going....P and I are going to the gym so I can hang out in the pool awhile. My feet have started swelling the past few days so hopefully the pool will help that.

Can't sleep

It's 3:30 in the morning and I've been awake for at least an hour. First it was hip pain, then my mind started racing, then Bumper decided if someone else was moving around, it must be time to go outside to potty and play, then the hunger started... UGH. I went ahead and got up about 30 minutes ago to at least quiet the dog so P can get some sleep. I've been playing games on Facebook. Now I have a dog resting his head (and front paws and upper body) on one leg and the laptop on the other. Oh, and Isla's found some spot she likes the last few days that involves some body part wedged in the left side of my ribcage. I ate an orange but I'm still hungry. And I'm sleepy. And uncomfortable. And what's with these things that feel like menstrual cramps? I've read they're Braxton Hicks and I've read they're not. But they're infrequent so I'm not going to worry too much about them. Isla--if you're reading this is in a few years, these are the joys of being 35 weeks pregnant with you.

Wishful thinking?

Isla doesn't feel quite as much like she's shoved up into my boobs as she usually does. Maybe she's just going for a swim a little lower, but MAYBE she's starting to drop--wonder how long it can take them to drop? Or maybe I'm just imagining it and tomorrow I'll wake up feeling like she's RIGHT THERE again.

(Almost) 34 week check-up

P went with me to my regular check-up yesterday and everything looked good. The nurse told me last time that we'd start waist down exams this time, but she was off a visit--we start those in 2 more weeks. My doctor reassured me that the ultrasound estimate on weight could be a pound off and usually if it's off, it overestimates. This is going to be a big baby--a pound variance could be the difference between a 9 pounder and a 10 pounder! When I go back next time, I'll have to have the Group B Strep swabbing. In 3 weeks, I go back for another ultrasound to check growth--I'm hoping at that point we can get a better idea of when and how this baby is coming out. I'm not ready for her now--I know she needs more cooking time--but I really hope she decides to come before her due date!

And Happy Birthday to my sweetie!

Feed My Starving Children

This morning P and I spent two hours helping pack meals for Feed My Starving Children (www.fmsg.org). Our church committed 500 volunteers to pack 100,000 meals to be distributed to hungry children worldwide. They ended up getting 900 volunteers and had to turn others away. The shift we did this morning was one of four shifts today and we packed over 45,000 meals...enough to feed 124 children one meal a day for a year. Packing the meals consisted of measuring out a chicken flavored vitamin-mineral mixture, measuring dehydrated vegetables, soy, and rice. The meals were then packed into cases and the organization distributes them to relief organizations in over sixty countries. To prepare the meals, the bags just have to be placed in boiling water. P and I worked stations to load the food bag on a funnel and weigh the bags to make sure the appropriate amount of food was in each bag. It was just two hours out of our Sunday and I left feeling so appreciative for everything I have and that Isla is going to have a warm, safe, home with plenty to eat and also feeling amazed at how easy it can be to a difference in the lives of others.....a group of about 200 of us packed food to feed 124 kids for a year in just two hours. Our church will collect a special offering Christmas Eve to purchase food for this organization so more meals can be packed for kids.

I dreamed a dream....

Gotta love those pregnancy dreams….

George Clooney (not as Dr. Ross, but as George Clooney) delivered Isla this morning. No one else was in the room and I apparently slept through the entire thing. He woke me up and told me I needed to do some stretches. I asked about Isla and he told me she was being examined and cleaned up. After stretching, he wheeled my bed into the hallway where P and a bunch of my mom's cousins were waiting (people I see once every 5-10 years). P got me up out of bed and said we should look around while they finished examining Isla. Then I was roaming around a library trying to find a bathroom. I woke up before I got to see the baby girl.

No GD for me!

Not only did I pass the 3 hour glucose test, my glucose levels were on the low side. By the time I got to eat, my blood sugar was down to 46. No wonder I was shaky, felt like crap and had to consider having someone drive me to the lab for the last draw. Since the lab is a 45 second drive from work, I decided I could manage it myself, but had it been any further, I would have found a chauffeur. So no GD for me.

Since I passed the test, the reason for the fluid is idiopathic--we don't know. We'll monitor Isla and make sure she doesn't show any signs of distress, pray a lot, and wait for her arrival.

Specialist visit

I went to see the maternal fetal med specialist today. She wants me to have a 3 hour glucose test, fetal nonstress tests twice a week, and for me to do kick counts twice a day. I'll do the glucose test tomorrow and had my first NST today. Since the random glucose levels I've checked lately have all been under 100, I don't expect to have any problem passing the glucose test, but we'll see tomorrow for sure. If GD is causing the problem, then once we get my blood sugars regulated, we can expect the fluid levels to even out. If that's not it, there doesn't really seem to be any reason to think they'll go down. I have a follow-up appointment at the clinic on January 5th for another ultrasound to check for growth.

Since last Thursday, Isla has flipped back into breech position---there was a point over the weekend when I thought it felt like she did a complete somersault, guess I was right! She's also grown. Thursday she measured 5 pounds, 3 ounces. Today she measured 6 pounds. Of course there's a measure of error, but still, she's gonna be a big little girl!

She looks good though. Her cord formed as a 3 vessel but they could only see blood flow in 2. The doctor didn't seem especially concerned since I'll be monitored more closely anyway.

Huh.

We're supposed to have a baby. A BABY. Next month. NEXT MONTH!