1 Week And 6 Days - 37 Week Checkup

Yay for another easy-peasy, boring doctors visit! To sum things up briefly (and well because the visit was brief) my blood pressure was awesome at 103/70, I gained a crappy 6 pounds this week, the baby's heart beat was stellar (I'm an awesome mother and I forgot to ask what it was), and the best most exciting part of all.......

 I'm 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced!!

I asked her what this meant for me and yeah, pretty much nothing. She said that to deliver this little guy early I'd still have to go into labor with either very regular contractions or my water breaking. I asked if there was any amount of dilation that I could stroll in at that would send me over to Labor and Delivery and she smiled and said that she had plenty of patients that walked around 4 cm for a while and weren't sent over. In my head all I could think was "Oh, so 5 cm is the magic number!". Don't you just love the way that my brain jumps to all sorts of conclusions! :) I have very high hopes of walking in there next Thursday and her being all "OH MY GOODNESS HILLARY, YOU ARE 7 CM AND ITS TIME TO HAVE A BABY!" Bwhahahahah. Like that will happen...

As a side note for me to remember later, Grady and my MIL came with me to the doctor today. She kept him in the waiting room while I was getting checked. When I came back out to them he was soo upset that he didn't "get to go back there" with me. He's so stinkin cute. I asked my MIL if she was brave enough to come back again next week and this time we'd take him into the exam room with us. I'm pretty sure that neither will be scared for life if they can just stay up by my head! :) He was even sadder when we got into the car and he realized that we didn't have a baby to take home with us. All I could tell him was "You and me both Buddy."

2 Weeks And 0 Days - Still Hanging In There

I'm still here gestating away. I had such high high hopes that the second the cerclage came out so would this child. No such luck so far. Maybe my doctor was right when she laughed and said "You'll be one of those moms that goes past her due date." I know that this won't happen but the thought that it could have makes me shiver. Thinking back on my first pregnancy with Graham I laugh at myself. I cheerfully and with almost no worries made it all the way to 41 weeks. Now that thought is almost incomprehensible. All I can think about these days is "lets get this baby outta here!".

For posterity's sake some of the things I'm feeling today are crazy hand and feet swelling, the inability to fit behind my steering wheel with out scooching my seat way back, and the sensation that this little guy has dropped way low. It could be just my imagination but my baby bump seems to be much lower...

I go for my first cervical check tomorrow morning at 10:15. I'm super curious as to how far I'm dilated! Anyone care to make any fun guesses!! I'm going to say that I'm at least one centimeter.

2 Weeks and 1 day - Bye Bye Cerclage

Bye Bye cerclage. You kicked butt while you were here and I'm excited to now see you gone. It means that I am now one step closer to my dream of a complete family. Soon it will be 5 of us and I can not wait!

We had a call time of 7 am for the cerclage removal so that meant getting to hospital at 5 am. Somehow, despite the excitement Bobby and I were both able to sleep really good last night. When the alarm went off at 3:45 neither of us really batted an eye. Bobby's Mom got here around 4:30 and we headed off into the cool darkness of the early morning.

You will think that this is kinda funny but both of us were really enjoying ourselves! It almost had the feeling of a "date night". Bobby works out of town and really long hours to boot so the time that we have together always feels special. Throw in a quiet car ride with zero children and it was pure bliss!

We got to the hospital in plenty of time and checked ourselves into Labor and Delivery. I wasn't quite sure what all to expect other than it would take only a minute or so to complete. To my surprise we were taken behind a set of double doors that led to L&D's OR and pre-op/recovery rooms. I had been imagining just a regular L&D room for our mornings stay. After changing into a gown, answering an hours worth of questions and getting an IV started we sat and waited for me to be called back. The anesthesiologist came and talked to me which just ended up confusing both of us. I told her that I shouldn't need anything for the pain as my Dr. had said that she had only ever had 1 patient that needed a spinal for this particular procedure. (Plus I knew that I would spend more time getting the spinal placed than the actual procedure itself...) I really was willing to tough it out. She double checked with my OB and they decided that I really shouldn't need anything.

The removal of the cerclage itself wasn't bad at all. It was very intimidating being in the OR by myself (I had been anticipating Bobby being able to hold my hand and talk to me while having it done). The worst part of the entire process was (***TMI WARNING***) having the speculum placed. She had told me that it shouldn't be too much more painful than having regular pelvic exam. Umm, she was WRONG! I am not afraid to admit that I pulled the warming blanket up to my face and covered my eyes in there. I was totally about to start crying. Thankfully she was right about how long it took (only a minute) and I never really felt her remove the cerclage. Once the speculum was out and gone I felt sooo much better! I have had no bleeding and feel the same as when I left the house this morning! 

I did feel a little bit bad for the baby. I think that I totally stressed him out with my stress. Before the procedure his heart rate was hovering between the 120's and 130's. It was much higher when I got done. I asked about it and they said that he would be just fine. I need to remember from now on to take things (emotionally)much easier. It's not just me that is feeling what I feel anymore. I only had to stay to be observed for a little over an hour. As it became apparent that I was not going to be going into to labor anytime soon they discharged me right away.

Today with my hubby at home with me has literally felt like a mini-vacation! We got to get out and have lunch together and then meet Graham at the bus stop after he got done at school. I can't wait to have a relaxing evening with just me and my boys! My next checkup with her in two days and I can't wait to see if my cervix has made any changes!

T-Minus 2 Weeks And 2 Days.... Let The Countdown Begin!

I figure that since I really am in the home stretch now I really should be blogging everyday until he's here. That's my plan at least. No promises though since irregular blogging has pretty much been my M.O. lately. I figure if I'm busy suffering right now with this big 'ole baby then one day he might want to read about it when he gets older.

(I know, who am I kidding. Neither he nor any of his other brothers will ever give two craps that their beloved mother tried to blog multiple times a week for years just so they would always have memories of their childhood. I fully undertook this blogging endeavor for my three future daughter-in-laws knowing that they will care about their hubby's life as little kids. Hi Ladies!)

Since September 28th looms in only 2 weeks and 2 days I've been trying to accomplish all the stuff around the house that I've avoided for the past 9 months. In my happy head Bobby and I will head off to the hospital leaving behind 2 well behaved little boys (HA), a sparkling clean house (Double HA), and a well stocked fridge so that no one goes hungry because they can't find something to eat because Momma is gone for 4 days (Triple HA).

But, who am I kidding? Mostly what I spend my days doing is eating for 2 (or 200), laying on my couch watching more Netflix (aka "Mad Men") than is good for me, and on occasion tossing a dirty dish into the dishwasher then patting myself on the back for being such a great Mom.

On happier notes of getting things done, we did take the boys to Build-A-Bear yesterday. Grady made one for himself because the 900 stuffed animals he has are.not.enough. Graham made one for the baby though and it was beyond cute watching him do it. I seriously almost cried in the middle of the store. When we got to the portion of it where you get to dress them I handed Graham the little outfit that was pale blue and said something about a baby. He promptly looked at me like I had a roach crawling across my face and dressed it in army fatigues and a little camo hard hat. I truly am a mother of all boys.

Quickly on to how I'm feeling today symptom-wise... If it weren't for this darn cerclage that is still in I'd swear that I was going into labor soon. I've had low back pains, nausea, no appetite, another un-mentionable symptom, and what I would swear was my mucus plug starting to come out (I'm not even sure that this one is possible considering how I'm all stitched together...).

I'm hoping that by tomorrow I'll have much more to report! I'll update after we get back from the hospital from the cerclage removed. Here's to hoping that my water randomly breaks while we're there and this little guy is born soon!

Week 36 (and 1 day) And MIA

Sorry I have been MIA for almost a week now! Our computer completely died :(. I took it in to B.est B.uy to try and see if their G.eek S.quad could fix it again and the second they opened our tower they said that it was fried. They said that they could fix it but that it would really be cheaper to just get a whole new one. Gag. Just the expense we need right before the baby comes... Bobby thinks that he can fix it himself so we will see...

For right now we are surviving on an old laptop of Bobby's parents. At least it's something though and for that we are grateful! I kept having images of the baby coming early and having no way to email or blog! Panic inducing! It's a little on the slow side so I'm trying to catch up on commenting and reading blogs! I also haven't been able to check my email in DAYS. I'm going to try and hack my way in later today when I have had a nap and gained some more patience with all the slowness.

On to better things! I had my 36 week checkup yesterday with my OB. All went great! My blood pressure was good, I didn't gain any weight again (who can eat when the baby is taking up all the room!), and the baby's heartbeat was right on track at 135 bpm. I did have a small crying meltdown with Dr. W. during the appointment though :(. The baby had decided to nap most of yesterday morning and so was barely passing his kick counts (she likes at least 4 an hour). He had been very active for the past couple of weeks all the time so it was really alarming to me that he changed all of a sudden. Everything I have read on Dr. Google says to watch out for these kinds of changes. When the doctor went to check his heartbeat it took her a minute to find it and I started to have a panic attack. She usually puts the Doppler on my stomach and its right where she's guessing it is. By the time she finally found it I was just soo relieved that I lost it completely. She said that she would get him to move for me so she gently rubbed along his back for a minute until she got several good kicks out of him. She was very reassuring to me and later on in the afternoon after a good lunch and lots of water he got back to his usual thumping and bumping self :).

Thank God I only have 2 weeks and 5 days left until he's here!

We Have Dates!

I hadn't heard back from my OB's office yet by lunchtime today so I decided that I really should go ahead and call them. Bobby really needs to know as far ahead of time as possible so they can make arrangements for him to take off.
Here is the gist of it!

Cerclage removal : Tuesday September 13th 7:00 am

C-Section date: Wednesday September 28th 8:00 am

(I'm being silly and putting specific times just in case anyone would like to say a quick prayer for us then.)

The dates are farther back than I would like (but that's just me being picky). The cerclage will come out at 36 weeks and 5 days and the C-Section will be 38 weeks and 6 days. I know that my doctor knows exactly what she is doing but I was still hoping for both of them to happen at least a week sooner.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the actual surgical coordinator for my OB practice to make sure that I have all the arrival times correct and figure out when I need to run in for the pre-op blood work. Other than that it seems that things are pretty set!

Oh my gosh... Am I in the home stretch??!!

Week 35 (and 1 Day) !

I know that I say this every week (but I don't care, I'll say it again) I can't believe I've made it this far! I have one more week under my belt and not many more left to go. I am now more than ready to hand this little boy an eviction notice! :) I had my checkup yesterday at my regular OB office and it was fairly uneventful.

They started out by asking me to "undress from the waist-down please" so they could do the Strep B test. I gleefully told the nurse that my underpants would get to stay exactly where they were as I had already tested positive for Beta Strep waaaay back at Week 6 of pregnancy. Everything else checked out great. Great blood pressure, good weight check, good baby heartbeat and fundal measurement. We spent time talking about when to have the cerclage removed and when to set the date for the scheduled C-Section. Dr. W. offered once again to remove the cerclage at the same time as the C-Section but I'm still a bit scared about the weight of the baby tearing the cerclage out early and I'd still like the chance to maybe have this guy arrive a little bit earlier than expected :). She said that she still though I'd go past my due date even with the cerclage removed if it weren't for the C-Section.

Dr. W. said that she'd have her scheduling nurse call me yesterday with both dates but I haven't heard from them yet. I figure if I haven't heard anything by noon today I'm calling them! I promise that I'll do a small updater post later in the day with the dates if I get some answers. I know that you are all just dying to know what dates to add to your calender! HAHA :) They did get me scheduled for my last 3 appointments with Dr. W. The next one is next Thursday!

Sorry for no picture again this week of the two of us. Most days I am barely able to drag a brush through my hair and I refuse to post any pictures of my swollen, pregnant self looking all crappy... I feel like he has really "fallen out" though. It's funny, I think I look like I've shoved a giant balloon under my shirt!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 35 weeks and 1 day!

Size of Baby: Probably around 5-1/2 pounds by now I'd guess. No more fun ultrasounds for growth scans for us :(.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I stayed the same weight these past two weeks. But who really knows. This was the same office where I had the funky weigh in two weeks ago and I forgot to ask to be weighed on a different scale.

Maternity Clothes: Getting very very small. Most maternity tops are too small for me. I either squeeze into a maternity top if I have to leave the house or when I'm just at home I wear one of Bobby's t-shirts!

Gender: Still a little BOY!

Movement: Sometimes he kicks so hard that it's starting to hurt! Other times I can tell that the poor little guy is running out of room and he just twists and turns.

Sleep: It's been hit or miss this week. Some nights I sleep like a baby (haha) all night and don't even wake up to use the bathroom and other nights I'm up and down all night long!

What I Miss: Nothing this week!

Cravings: Okra and red meat.

Symptoms: Just the usual for this stage of pregnancy : heartburn, swelling, tiredness, anxiety :)

Best Moment This Week: My doctors appointment yesterday! I love hearing the baby's heartbeat and getting the reassurance that everything is still going good!

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!