One More Week Waiting for Baby

My patience has officially run out. Our due date is too close (4 days away) and I am too excited and anxious to be patient any longer! I am not the only one though...I get daily calls and texts from friends and family asking how I'm feeling, if anything is different and if I think the baby might come soon. I love that everyone is so excited with us, but all of their excitement just makes me more anxious!

Last weekly Belly Bump picture...39 weeks, April 22, 2015

I feel pretty good; about the same from day to day. I can tell our baby is growing bigger because I feel like I have less and less room--especially when he stretches: I feel like I have to pee and can't breath all at the same time. I am also feeling more and more pressure down low and my hips are very achy, achy enough that I wake up every hour to "roll" (it's a step by step process with a belly this big) to my other side because my hip on the side I am laying on is throbbing.

I have also noticed a decrease in energy in the last few days. A week ago I was itching to leave the house and get out to walk around, but now a quick trip to the grocery store is more than enough moving for one day. They say walking can help bring on labor, but if I walked too much I would need a four hour nap to recover! In fact, on Thursday I did basically nothing: took a LONG soak in a warm bath followed by an hour nap on the couch--I know...I have a rough life.

We have had several appointments this week to keep us busy in between making sure our house is all clean and ready (mostly...again, no energy means cleaning shortcuts) for Ryan's family who arrived Friday and will be staying with us for the next week. On Wednesday we went in for an ultrasound and Non-Stress Test (NST). Because of my gestational diabetes, my doctor is keeping a close watch on my amniotic fluid levels. The ultrasound showed that my fluid level is 24.4 cm. The normal amniotic fluid index is between 5 and 25 cm, so I am just barely sitting in the normal range, which is good. Baby Dean also performed perfectly on the NST, moving just enough to elevate his own heart rate just the way they wanted.

Relaxing during the Non Stress Test

On Friday we had our last weekly appointment with my OB. First we had to drop our other baby--the furry one, Saisha--off at the vet to get her teeth cleaned. For those who don't know, doggy teeth cleanings are a little more serious than human ones and are done under anesthesia, so it's like sending my baby in for surgery. Saisha HATES going to the vet and acts horrible and aggressive every time, so I try to stay calm, but it stresses me out too!

On Friday the vet tech that was supposed to take her back was afraid of her so she had me walk her through the back, past the procedure tables and exam areas, to put her in a kennel where she would wait. I already felt guilty when she was so excited to go on a car ride, not knowing where we were taking her, and now I had to leave her locked up all alone in a cage in a scary place, making me feel like the meanest mommy ever! Last year she had nine teeth pulled and she needed three more pulled this time. She came home with pain medication, an anti-inflammatory, antibiotics and instructions to feed her only softened food (soaked in water) for a couple of weeks until her mouth heals and her stitches dissolve. Once home she whined non-stop and wandered the house, seeming lost...then kept me up all night with her constant crying. By 7:30 I was so tired I wanted to cry!

Excited in the car before she knew where we were going...and recovering at home after

As much as everyone loves hearing about our dog, I am sure you are likely reading this for baby updates, so back to my appointment. I am still holding strong, dilated to one whole centimeter. However my cervix thinned a little more and I am now 80% effaced (only up 10% from last week, but it's still progress). I am measuring right where I should be and I have lost a little more weight; in the last two weeks I have lost three pounds, but the baby is still growing and I am still eating (just healthier and smaller portions as my blood sugar levels get higher and baby takes up more space). My blood sugar has tested high three or four times this week and I had glucose in my urine at my appointment Fridday, so we will still go back for another fluid check and NST test on Tuesday, just to make sure everything is good. My doctor said if my fluid is high, even 36 hours can make a difference in baby's health.

We clarified with the doctor exactly what will happen if I don't go into labor on my own by Wednesday, which is my due date. The hospital will call and give us a time to come in that evening. She said she always hopes for a time between 5:00 and 7:00 in the evening, but depending on how busy labor and delivery is it could be anytime between then and the next morning. Once I get there, a doctor will place a balloon in my cervix to try and get it to dilate more on its own and if needed start me on a pitocin drip (low dose overnight--or for the morning if we get in late) to hopefully kick start my body into motion. Then we basically wait and see what happens. If none of that works then they will slowly up the pitocin to fully induce labor. No matter what we will have our baby by sometime Thursday or Friday at the very latest (if they don't get us in Wednesday night). Will we have an April or May baby? Of course, I am still hoping April and in the next couple of days!

I seriously am so excited to meet this boy of ours that I cannot wait! I did make one teeny, tiny mistake this week and watched some labor shows online. I admit they kinda freaked me out and I probably should not have done that so close to the end of my pregnancy. Go figure I did not watch any easy birth stories: I saw women pushing for hours, exhausted, in pain (even with an epidural), one even begged for a C-section because she couldn't take any more...but I am trying not to think about that. My labor won't be that hard--or that's what I keep telling myself so I can get through it!