"It's the final countdown" a 80's hair band once said

My friend at work (who was about 3 weeks ahead of me) had her baby this week - a health baby boy, so the "pressure" had turned to me. So far it's mostly just women in the bathroom acting surprised that I'm still around. And a ton of people asking how I'm feeling. It's funny when they ask me when I'm on the way to my desk in the morning. I mean, not being a morning person (EVER) I'm not sure what kind of response they are expecting. But, I'm guessing that on a normal day it would be rude to flick them off or just plain ignore them - I shouldn't try it now.

My appointment this week went well. I do not have strep b (go me!) so I don't have to have an IV during labor for antibiotics. :-) My belly has really jumped out in the last week. Most of my pants don't want to stay up and really require the longer maternity shirts that I have to make sure I'm not hanging out.

I haven't been sleeping through the night - with multiple bathroom trips and whatnot. Also, I have been getting in 3 or so hours of sleep and I wake up and can't get back to sleep even though I'm tired. That's fun. Just the start in the "lack of sleep" department, I know, but fun none the less.

My boss, who I really enjoy working for/with (and I'm not just saying that - she doesn't know the existance of this blog) has finally moved on from what I've been calling the denial stage and has accepted that I'm going to be out in a few weeks. On the way out on Friday, she said, "Can you come back on Monday?" and that she'll stop putting off talking about transitioning my work. It has been and will be very busy at work with the Annual Benefit Enrollment work that we have to do - and so far I haven't been thinking "I'll just wait to do this - maybe I'll be gone" - I've been trying to get things completely done. I'm sure I'm driving a couple people crazy because it means they are doing the work prior to when they "have to", but it makes me feel better.

Weekly doctor's appointments from here on out. It's only a matter of time.

Baby Shower and Dr. Appointment

It was a busy Thursday last week. I had my regular doctor's appointment for my 34 week check up. Dr. M gave the me offical ultrasound results from the previous week, all is good! They considered my fluid levels within the normal range and right now we don't have to schedule another ultrasound. The heart rate at the check up was 141 (right at average)- which we found fairly high up so we confirmed that she is still head down with a couple of pushes on my expanding belly. One thing from the ultrasound results was that the baby is in the 80th percentile for size. I commented that it seemed pretty big and Dr. M. said, "Well, it is big...but not alarming." MMmmmm... Okay. Great. I didn't find very much comfort in her comment - but I know that we are keeping an eye on the size anyways because of my gestational diabetes. I'll just take a big breath and get over it.

After my appointment, I headed to Hope's house for my Baby Shower! It was such a good time. It was so nice to see everyone! The food was great, everyone was so generous - I can't believe all of the thoughtful gifts. I really appreciate it. We are going to have the best dressed kid in the state, that's for sure. Oh, and if the first several ultrasounds were wrong and we have a boy - he better look good in pink! :-)

I was asked about the nursery... We have things set up and ready to go, there are pictures posted if you scroll down the page or go to the August 19th post. I have to wash the crib sheet, but everything looks so cute!

Next appointment: September 26

Ultrasound VI

Everything is still looking good. My fluid level is at 9.5 (or somewhere in the mid 9's) which is still in the low part of the normal range. The baby's heart beat was at 155 and she was moving like crazy. They took measurements (Head, abdomen and femur) and they were right on track.

The estimate for the baby's weight was 4 pounds 10 ounces (Which means over 1/2 of my weight gain is pure baby weight!) We were able to see a full stomach and bladder and a couple of fun things like the baby pulling her hand up to her mouth to suck on it. We were even able to see her tongue move while she was sucking. Also we saw her making practice breathing motions - very cool to see.

We'll see what (if any) follow up appoinments are necessary at our doctor's appointment next week.