Last Day of Work!

So Friday was my last day of work. Going into work in the morning totally sucked, but the feeling leaving was very surreal. It doesn't seem possible that we're so close to having lil guy here! Unfortunately, I got all the way home and realized that I still had my pager in my pocket... BOO!!! I figure if I have to head downtown for something before baby boy is here then I'll bring it back by, but other than that, I'll pass it off to one of my work friends to return when they come by to see baby boy. (ps- that's most likely you Megan!) We finally got another picture taken last night when I got home from work; remember the one that we were supposed to take Tuesday?

My most recent NST was Thursday at SMMC after work, and was normal as usual. Our next doctor's appointment is Monday morning, and Tuesday will be an official full 40 weeks according to the dates set by our first ultrasound. However, Matt and I are nearly certain that today, July 21st, is his actual due date. Most first babies are late though, so I won't be surprised if he comes sometime next week anyway.  So in the meantime, Matt and are enjoying our "early retirement/staycation" now that we're both done with work. We're planning something fun for the two of us to do each day to help pass the time, and to have something to look forward to until lil guy wants to join us. Today we're going to see The Dark Knight Rises! For those of you that know Matt, you can only imagine how excited he is. We're heading out to the theater to get in line here in the next hour. Tomorrow is mini-golf day! There's an indoor mini-golf course in Overland Park that we're going to, Tiki Hut Mini Put :) It's going to be supremely hot here in KC for the next week, so all of our activities are mostly limited to indoor stuff. After our doctor's appointment on Monday, we'll make more plans for the week.

If lil guy decides he's not ready to come by Monday, we'll have to discuss our options with Dr. Piquard. The perinatologists originally wanted us induced at 39 weeks. Dr. P gave us an extra week since he's doing good. I think she might give us one more week (so to 41 weeks), but I'm not certain. Matt thinks she'll only give us until the end of next week. Either way, if he's not here, I don't really want to sit at home waiting and will probably continue to work. I'll play it by ear each day, but my next work day wouldn't be until Wednesday July 25th. I just REALLY hope that he decides to come before then so we don't have to mess with the 'keep working/induction date' conundrum. Matt and I are convinced that he'll come when he's ready, and that we'd like to keep interventions to a minimum now and during labor/delivery. Of course, the end goal is ALWAYS healthy baby and healthy mom :) Now I'm off to get ready to head to the movies!

(Oh and yes, I cut my hair last week! I donated 12" to Locks of Love. Since my very first hair cut when I was a preteen, I've only cut my hair when it was long enough to donate. I've never cut it just to cut it. My hair is nice and thick right now, and I had read that a couple of months after the pregnancy hormones wear out of your system that all those extra locks will fall out, so I wanted to maximize my donation; hence cutting my hair now.)

37w5d- last picture with long hair

39w3d- first picture with short hair :) and yes, it's
no trick of the camera, my belly seems to have popped
out some more this past week. It just doesn't stop growing!
Even though all the books say I shouldn't be getting any
bigger at this point... mine is proving them wrong.

...still waiting....

We had another Dr's appointment today along with our twice weekly non-stress tests (NST). Everything is still looking good. I'm measuring on track, still 3-4cm dilated and 80-90% effaced (so not much change there), and little guy is at a "0" station (head at the starting line, a negative is higher in the uterus and a positive is moving into the birth canal). His NSTs have all been fine. He tends to just hang out around baseline unless I consume either sugar or caffeine prior to going. I usually have cherry Poptarts if my appointment is shortly after breakfast, if it's later in the day I stop at Scooter's (our local coffee shop) and get a frozen blended caramelicious (think caramel frappuccino). Today was a caramelicious sort of day and he passed with no problem :)

We pretty well got everything done a few weeks ago when I made my last post, so now the waiting game really intensifies because we have nothing else to distract us and take up our time. Anytime I get asked when he's due, I give them the count down and say something along the lines of "I'm ready to be done" or "He couldn't come soon enough". Even though I do feel this way sometimes, I'm also really trying to focus on enjoying the last few weeks of pregnancy instead of wishing them away. Enjoying the closeness baby boy and I share. Having him with me wherever I go, knowing he's safe, knowing what he's up to every second of the day, having a bond that no one else shares with him, feeling him trying to stretch in tight quarters, and the hiccups every so often. These are the things I will surely miss. Matt and I enjoyed a date night last week which was pretty fun. It's been nice to just take time to relish in our last few weeks together. It's hard to even begin to imagine how much little guy will change our world :) Looking forward to finding out though.

I've had some contractions that are stronger and feel more productive than my standard braxton hicks contractions, but they only last 2-4 hours and then dwindle out. They are just teasing us it seems :) Also, between my forgetfulness and work schedule we haven't taken any photos in awhile. So we'll take an official '39 weeks' picture tomorrow and post it soon (assuming I remember). And one last note, my last 2 days of work are this coming Thursday and Friday! I plan on working until he's here, but for scheduling purposes I'm only scheduled until his due date. If he's still not here next Tuesday, I'll be working Wednesday-Friday of next week as well. We talked a little about induction at our doctor's appointment since they originally wanted me induced at 39 weeks. Dr. Piquard will let me go a little over before inducing, but she didn't give me a specific date. She thinks we won't have to worry about it. Little guy has proven us wrong over and over these past few weeks, so we'll see...

Anxiously awaiting...

It's been awhile since I've got around to posting, so here's what has been going on with us and little guy...

1. Well, the nursery is all pretty much finished. We finally got our prints from Etsy, and they are framed and on the wall. We still have one area in the nursery that is pretty bare, so we're working on finding something to fill that space. I'm not too concerned about it right now. We'll figure it out eventually. So for the time being the nursery is done :)

Looking in 

Looking out

Changing table/dresser

Fabric bunting that I made for the gender reveal party now
decorates his window :)

Rocking chair that I finally put together, and the nightstand
off craigslist that I refinished to its current state of sunny
yellow. 

Sneak peek of what's inside the bins in his bookcase!

2. We met with both possible pediatricians and have decided to go with Dr. Kate Hartman at Shawnee Mission Pediatrics. Several people I work with take their kids there and have all had positive things to say about the office and the docs. Bonus is that Dr. Hartman can see little guy at the hospital after he's born, where as the other doctor didn't have privileges there (their office is over in Leawood).

3. My weekly visits with Dr. Piquard are going well. Everything is on track and looking good. I have been slowly dilating and effacing each week, which is encouraging being a first-time mom. Usually this  doesn't happen until actual labor sets in, which can make the whole process a little longer. As of today I'm 3cm dilated and 80% effaced (37w2d). I'm hoping this means when labor does start, it will move a little faster than the usual 12-14 hours (another first-time mom statistic that varies widely). I've been dilating a centimeter each week since Dr. Piquard starting checking. PS- the only reason we started checking anyway was some mild lower abdomen discomfort and cramping at 35 weeks, a bit early for labor to be starting. Each week we go to our appointment, she seems to be hinting that he'll be here sooner than later. However, it's been 3 weeks since my first check and still no baby... Getting my hopes up every time. It gets disappointing. I do know and realize that he could even be a week late before we'd be induced which wouldn't be until the start of August! And I also know that small pre-term babies have a harder time adjusting to life outside of mom. But just to be clear, full-term is considered 37+ weeks, which I now am! :)

4. I had my last visit with the perinatologists at 36 weeks. At 36w1d he was estimated to be 6lbs 5oz, and doing well. The morning of that appointment I noticed that he had DEFINITELY settled himself firmly into my pelvis. They call it "dropping" or "lightening". It was a big change and I was definitely uncomfortable! I've just now started to get used to it. Dr. Wickstrom (our main perinatologist that has been following us since day 1 of all the heart business) said she wanted to meet our little man and to let the staff know when we got to SMMC to deliver that she had been taking care of us so she could come by. I thought it was nice she wanted to meet little guy :)

5. On Matt's last week out of town, I had an appointment after work to get our pre-registration paperwork filled out at SMMC and get familiarized with their policies and procedures. The previous night I had some pretty strong and regular contractions that woke me about an hour after I went to bed. I called Matt to give him a head's up, and then started doing what I knew to help relax them if they weren't real labor. I ended up going back to bed about 2 hours later hoping I could sleep though them. Matt was in NJ and had no way of getting home until about 10am the next morning!!! This whole thing really got me anxious to have Matt back home for good. I couldn't imagine him not being there for the birth of our son! So I went to work as planned, had loads of contractions with back pain all day, and then on to SMMC for the paperwork. The nurse doing the paperwork suggested I get a labor check just to make sure, and if nothing else, to give me peace of mind and not to have Matt fly back early if he didn't need to (he had training in Chicago Friday and wasn't going to be home until Saturday). I was having regular contractions every 4 minutes or so, but not getting closer together or stronger over the hour they watched me with no progress in cervical dilation/effacement. The nurse suggested I say for fluids and further monitoring, and no work the following day. They felt labor would be very soon (the nurse said that weekend or beginning of the next week) and here we are a week later still pregnant. I suggested they let me go home, and I would come back if the contractions got worse. SO, they agreed to giving me Vistaril (helps relax the uterus and slow/stop contractions), Tylenol 3 for the back pain, and I drank a liter of fluid instead of an IV. The Vistaril worked wonders! I didn't have anymore contractions until Sunday :) The Tylenol 3 however, gave me some serious chest pain like I had last time I took a similar medication (something St. Luke's gave me for the kidney stones back in my second trimester). Makes me wonder if the digoxin and pain med combo is a no go. I've taken Percocet with no problems for my other stones while on digoxin, but until I had this chest pain again I totally forgot about the connection I thought they had last time I had the chest pain. Anyway, Matt took a late night flight home after training Friday evening. I felt so much better with him home to stay until 6 weeks after baby boy is here. YAY!!!!! It's the longest we'll have been in the same house in 3 years (since he travels every week). Can't even begin to explain how awesome this is going to be having him here this long!!! :)

6. And lastly, babies babies everywhere!! My friend Rachel had her sweet little girl Sunday July 1st, Courtney had her twins on Tuesday July 3rd, and Ashley will be having her baby no later than this Saturday (due to induction). That's 4 babies in 1 week! Holy moly!  This makes waiting for our little guy just that much harder, but I know he'll be worth the wait :) I'm just so stinkin' excited to meet him. We've spent some time with the twins twice, and I'll get to meet Rachel's lady tomorrow! It's really interesting to see the transformation that occurs when you talk to someone who's just had their first baby. It's like they're a whole new person in a very discreet sort of way.

36w5d

The front view!

Getting stuff set out to take to hospital! Matt has now
packed most of this since he's home :)

Get it in there snug!!

Getting the car seat in the LR3

Me and Courtney pre-babies!! The twinsies arrived July 3rd :)

Our last 4th of July with just the two of us :)

Happy 4th of July!!!!