Are we there yet?

I'm getting stuff marked off of my gianormous list of 'to do before July' at a good pace. We had our last shower back home in Joplin with family and friends this past weekend. It was such a relief to finally be able to see what all we had, and then go out and get any essentials that we didn't get. Little man's nursery is officially stocked and ready to go. Car seat bases are installed in both cars (that way we can switch cars easily), our stuff for the hospital is setting out waiting to be packed with the last minute items, clothes and blankets are washed and put away, and the nursery decorations should be complete in the next week or so. Waiting on a few prints from Etsy to arrive so I can frame them. Getting all this stuff done makes it feel like he should be here any minute! Waiting and not knowing when he's coming is really testing my patience. I'm officially ready to be done being pregnant and move on to the more fun things about having a baby in our life :)

I've started weekly appointments with my Dr now, and we see the perinatologists every 3 weeks. With our last ultrasound showing some arrhythmias reappearing, we now have non-stress tests (NST) twice a week :( Basically I sit in a recliner for 30 minutes while the external fetal monitor measures baby's heart rate and any contractions I'm having. To pass the NST his heart rate needs to have 'accelerations' where it momentarily increases in relation to his activity. He failed his first one we had, basically because he was sleeping. So I was given an orange sucker with no results, and then some apple juice with no results. They were hoping the sugar would wake him up. Since it didn't we then had a quick ultrasound to do a biophysical profile. They basically watch for certain activities that he's doing and he scores points for those things; the point range is anywhere from 0-10 with 10 being the best. He scored a 10 :)

Other than that, we are just anxiously awaiting his arrival (me more than Matt at this point!). I'm just ready to get him out, but Matt's more leveled headed and wants him to make it to full term. He's already  a protective daddy. Love it.

Me pretending that I actually like the flavor combo of orange sucker
and apple juice. Also helping hold his heart sensor in place since
it wasn't reading well.

A full 35 weeks!! We've missed our Sunday pictures
for the last 2 weeks so we snapped this one when I
got home from work on Tuesday.

Happenings

I finally got to see little man again today during our ultrasound at SMMC (we'll be doing these every 3 weeks until he's here). Unfortunately, he was head down and facing my back. Exact same position as 3 weeks ago. On the bright side, he's still head down and hopefully will stay that way for birth. On the other side, we couldn't see his sweet little face. But we did get a good look at his back, neck, ears, and all the fine floating hairs on his head. Yes I said floating. His hair is long enough to float around next to his head! The doctor said everything looked pretty good; growing well, normal development, no signs of SVT, no signs of hydrops. However, he's starting to have some irregular heart beats again, but with no significant rhythm issues. She plans on having Dr. P arrange for a NST (non-stress test). Basically I sit and relax while they monitor his heart for approximately 20 minutes, that way we have an idea of how often these little irregular beats are occurring. I was really hoping that this wouldn't be an issue anymore, but we were told that it was a possibility that as he got bigger. The bigger he is the smaller the digoxin level is to his heart. I'm trying to stay positive about thinking that this is something we won't have to deal with once he's here, but it seems like the digoxin really is still helping keep his heart in a steady rhythm. I was just hoping that he didn't need it anymore. He might be showing us otherwise. I need to call and set up my next appointment with Dr. P tomorrow, but we should know more by the end of next week.

Other than that little blip, life is great! I've been enjoying our neighborhood pool nearly every day that I'm not working, which is wonderful :) Also working on getting his room finished. My new goal is the end of June to have it completely done. Still need decorations to put on the walls, and one more coat of polyurethane to his refinished nightstand. I've got the crib linens all washed and on the crib. I think I'll wash his newborn and 0-3 month clothes at the end of this month as well. I also plan on getting my hospital bag packed by the end of the month, the basics anyway. Seems like a lot of deadlines for the end of June. Better get started soon. ALSO, come up with a small list of realistic names. A few to choose from for when he get's here. We have a big talk about names every week or two, and then just decide to keep thinking. If we're both actually thinking of names in the meantime.... probably not. I think we're both hoping to be hit square in the forehead with inspiration, and then hopefully agree that we both love it.

On a completely different note, we have officially witnessed some baby robins come to life and grow up outside our bathroom window. Several weeks ago a robin built a nest about 2 feet away from our window, then laid some eggs (we could only see the edge of 1), she sat on them for what seemed like forever, they finally hatched 2 weeks ago (2 birdies), last week one fell out of the nest and I had to put it back in with gloves and a ladder while being seriously screamed at by the mom and dad, realized there were actually 3 baby birdies (have since only seen 2, don't know what happened to #3), and today they flew the coup! I've been watching them closely, and I'm amazed at the whole process!! I'm even a bit sad that I won't have them to watch and look after every time I go to the bathroom. I'll miss them. Apparently baby birds can't fly well or far at first, so I've only managed to spot one of the in the back yard hanging out on our hill. And the only reason I spotted it was because momma bird swooped down and gave it a worn :) Makes me nervous to mow the grass though. We might have to put that off for a little bit. Here are some pictures to enjoy...

32w5d

Momma checkin' on her birdies

Outside our bathroom window (note windowsill)

1 week old- can see one bald head with beak, and a few wisps
of feathers. (pic taken 6/1)

7 days old- flew from the nest about 2 hours after this photo (taken 6/7)

Baby shower #1

I'm now 32 weeks, and baby and I are both growing. Our nurse at Dr. P's office said "Wow! Good. You're making progress. 6 pounds!" I'm thinking, excuse me?? Six pounds in two weeks?!?! What is that about?? This certainly can't keep up for another 8 weeks; that'd be 24 more pounds!! More than I've gained this entire pregnancy. Let's hope things slow back down. All is still good with baby's heart too. We talked a little about labor and delivery at this visit as well. We're planning on doing all this as intervention-free as possible, and wanted to gauge her reaction/attitude to that.

It seems like some things we won't be able to compromise on, like no eating and drinking during labor. She said it is anesthesiology's policy in case there's an emergency and general anesthesia is used (rather than an epidural for a c-section). She also feels very strongly about having an IV for emergency access as well, although I don't have to have fluids running. It can just be heplocked. And lastly, she wants continuous fetal monitoring "once I'm in the throes of labor, about 5 or 6 centimeters". Uhhh, it seems to me that that's only 1/2 way?? I was thinking continuous monitoring, like never. More like intermittent for 5 minutes during each hour for the whole process, even during pushing. We'll think more about that one, and probably politely decline (over and over and over and over again). We both agreed however, that if intervention-free is our goal (secondary to SAFE of course), that staying home and long as possible would be a good option. So that's what we're planning on.

On to more fun things, I had a great shower last weekend that my friends Courtney and Katie threw for me. Unfortunately, we all got so caught up in the shower that nobody took pictures! The shower kinda reflected baby's nursery style. Eclectic, bright, and fun. Katie handmade several items for the shower including the tablecloth and table runner, paper owls, and party favors. Courtney made all our yummy food. The punch even looked like a blue bubble bath, floating rubber duckies included! We ate some good food, played a few little games (none of which I won), and then opened gifts. Baby got some pretty sweet stuff from the girls! Two favorites: a book called Boss Baby and a Sporting KC onesie! Baby is already a fan; he's been to several games this season :)

Katie's cute owl family!

Wonderful homemade hand scrub (shower party favor)

Invitation for the shower along with the duckies
who floated in the bubble bath punch :)

Being gutsy here! We've spent a few hours by the pool
since it opened Memorial Day weekend. Good times:)
31w5d