37 Weeks

I had my 37 week check-up today. It went pretty well. I am now 3cm dilated and her head is "right there". She didn't tell me what station she is at. I am still 50% effaced. Over the last 3 weeks, I have dilated 1cm per week, so we'll see what happens this week. My midwife was at the hospital with someone else, so I saw a nurse practitioner. She stripped my membranes and asked how far we lived from the hospital. I think that is just wishful thinking. I don't think Audrey will make her appearance this week, but I could be wrong. Of course, I'll keep you all posted!

Finally Ready

We are finally ready for little Audrey to make her appearance. We had the majority of stuff done since we weren't sure if I was going to be induced a few weeks ago, but we finished up all the little stuff this weekend. We put her swing together, installed the carseat, touched up paint in her room, packed her diaper bag, etc. It feels so good to be completely done! Now, we just get to sit and wait for her to arrive.

I think Ava is having the most difficult time waiting. She tells me multiple times a day that she is ready to see Audrey. She doesn't understand why she can't just come out at any time! She is still being so sweet! The other day she crawled in my lap to give me a hug and tell me she loves me. Then, she leaned down, hugged my belly, laid her head down, and said, "I love you too, Audrey." Then, she kissed my belly and told Audrey she is ready to see her! I can't wait for the first time she gets to see and "hold" Audrey. It is going to be so sweet!

So, we're still here waiting on Audrey. I go back to the doctor tomorrow, so we'll see if anything new is happening.

The longest I've ever been pregnant...

Today I am 36 weeks and 2 days pregnant. Ava was born at this exact point in my pregnancy with her. So, as of 3:14pm today, this will be the longest I've been pregnant. In my opinion, everything else from this point on is just icing on the cake. Of course, I think Audrey is in much better shape than Ava was at this point, so it probably wouldn't make much difference. On Tuesday, we'll officially be full term. I'm sure she'll camp out in my belly for a few more weeks after that just because she can. :)

I think Ava knows we're getting close. Every day she tells me she is ready to see Audrey. I think we're all ready to see Audrey, but she needs to stay in for just a little bit longer.

36 Weeks

Today, I am officially 36 weeks. I saw my midwife this morning and I am now 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. For those of you who don't remember, I was 1cm last week. She said at this rate she doubts I will make it to 40 weeks, but we'll just have to wait and see. We'll see if little Audrey wants to be stubborn or come and meet us a little early.

I'm still enjoying being pregnant, but I can't wait to meet our little girl. Ava asks to see Audrey every day. She will be so excited once she is finally here!

What not to say to a pregnant woman...

I'll start out by saying I do have a really great husband, but every man sticks his foot in his mouth at some point, right??

On Friday I was feeling huge, hot, fat, and disgusting. Kurt came home from work and asked me where I would like to eat for dinner. Here is how the rest of our conversation went...

Me: I don't want to go to dinner. I feel fat and disgusting.

Kurt: You're not fat and disgusting.

Me: Yes I am! Look, my clothes don't even fit. (I stood up to show him)

Kurt: Just go put on a maternity shirt and we'll go.

Me: This IS a maternity shirt!!

Kurt: Oh...

Needless to say, we went to the grocery store and picked up frozen pizzas for dinner.

It's Official...

I can no longer sleep! I am so tired! I've been trying to go to bed a little early to get some extra sleep, but I still watch every hour go by on the clock ALL NIGHT LONG!! Between not being able to get comfortable, being EXTREMELY hot, Audrey deciding the middle of the night is a great time to get her exercise in for the day, and the 5,000 bathroom trips a night, I am not getting a lot of sleep.

I know this happens to every pregnant woman at the end of her pregnancy and everyone says it's getting you ready to be up with a newborn all the time, but I could really use the sleep now more than ever! I think I'll pick up a bottle of Tylenol PM today and hope it does the trick tonight. Just one night of good sleep would feel amazing right now! If not, I'm going to feel like I'm in that new mommy haze long before she actually arrives.

Other than the lack of sleep, I'm actually feeling pretty good. Of course, it's getting a little more difficult to do things the bigger Audrey gets, but I'm not miserable yet! I'm enjoying feeling her move all the time and the last few weeks she is completely mine! I really can't wait to meet her though.

Random Pictures

I feel like this blog has been all about my pregnancy lately, so here are a few random pictures of Ava.

Ava used to let me put her hair in pigtails, but she has refused for the last year. The other day she finally let me try again. They aren't perfect, but I'm sure they never will be with a 2 year old who is on the go!

A little half smile






Caleb and Ava showing the wings they got at the airport the day my sister and her family left for Singapore.


The whole family before they left. Notice how well all the kids are cooperating. :)

35 Weeks

I've been trying to post this for a few days, but I'm just now getting around to it. I had my appointment with the specialist on Monday. It went really well. Basically, she said that Audrey looked great and the blood flow from my placenta was normal. She said my placenta was aging, but she wasn't concerned about it since I am already 35 weeks. She said my midwife may want to do one more growth scan if I make it to full term, but she thinks it is fine for me to wait for Audrey to come.

I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday (at exactly 35 weeks). They did another non-stress test and Audrey looked good again. They took my blood pressure when I first got there and it was really high. My midwife came in "yelling" at me that I make her worry about every little thing. :) Of course, she was kidding. They had me lay on my left side for 15 minutes and my blood pressure came down. I'm not sure what that was all about.

We talked a lot about what the specialist had said and what we would do from here. She said she will not let me go past 40 weeks. She just doesn't think it is worth the risk. She said she may incduce at 39 weeks, but we would talk about it as it gets closer. I really want to go into labor on my own!! I DO NOT want to be induced again. Of course, we'll have to do what is best for Audrey at the time.

She checked me yesterday and I was 1cm dilated and my cervix was really soft. She said we'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks and then she will try to help things along a little once we hit 37 weeks. She would like Audrey to be born on her own as soon as possible after 37 weeks.

I think that's it. Now we just wait for Audrey to make her appearance. :) It's crazy to think that I'll have this baby in less than 5 weeks. I hope Ava is ready for her world to change. She talks about "Baby Audrey" all the time. I think she'll be excited! I can't wait to see if Audrey and Ava look alike.

Oh, that reminds me...the specialist kept switching the ultrasound machine to 3D while we were in there. She kept trying to get a good picture of Audrey's face, but she is REALLY low. We did get one though. I've never wanted a 3D ultrasound because you know what your baby looks like, but the doctor didn't give us a choice. I think she was using it to see certain things. Anyway, here is the picture of Audrey. It's not great, but her nose looks EXACTLY like Kurt's nose!! I'm sure I'm going to have two little girls who look just like their daddy.



Here are two pregnancy pictures right at 35 weeks.

Audrey's Nursery

I've been promising for months, so here are a few pictures of Audrey's nursery. It's not 100% complete, but it's getting close. Kurt's dad is painting a shelf to go on the wall with the table and window and we just need a few more accessories.

Looking in from the door


Looking from the closet


Audrey's name on her door (it's pink because it faces the playroom when closed)


Ava also has her name on her door

34 Weeks (Only 6 weeks left!)

I am feeling very emotionally drained and have a killer headache (which I never get) from all of this, but I'll try to update everyone on the pregnancy since I know several of you are waiting on this post today.

I had another appointment today. They repeated the ultrasound (u/s) and biophysical profile (BPP) and things didn't look any better than last week. My midwife said my placenta is definitely aging and they want me to see a perinatologist ASAP. They are trying to get me in tomorrow, but it may be later in the week. The good news is that Audrey still looks good. She looked good on her BPP and the non-stress test didn't show any major decels in her heartrate.

My midwife talked everything over with another doctor, but they are going to let the specialist make the call about inducing me. They said he may say he wants to take the baby now or he may say I can't go longer than 37 weeks or something like that. Of course, these are just guesses. We'll have to wait and see what he actually says.

My doctor's office is going to see me weekly with u/s, BPP, and non-stress tests at every appointment until I deliver. My midwife stressed again how important it is to make sure Audrey is moving as much as before. She said if I notice any changes in her movements I have to get to her office as quickly as possible. Apparently, the babies can go downhill pretty quickly which is stressing me out! She also told me to pack my hospital bag and keep it in the car. She said we won't know from one moment to the next when they'll need to take her.

I am so, so stressed. I don't even care about her coming early anymore. I just want what is best for her. It scares me to death that she could go "downhill" at any moment and it's up to me to make sure everything is okay between appointments. I know she needs to stay in a few more weeks and I really want her to, but it would be so much easier to make sure she is okay if she was out. I am so tired of this. I just want a healthy baby!!! I hate living moment to moment not knowing what is going to happen next. My midwife said the perinatologist should be able to answer a lot of our questions and give us a better idea about what is going on. I really wish someone would tell me if they think I can make it to full term or if I should expect to have this baby early. Of course, no one can tell me that. Ugh!

I need to post some pictures of Ava so we can have a happy post for a change! Alright, that's it for now. I'll update again when I find out when my appointment with the specialist will be.

33 Weeks and 2 Days (yes, every day counts!!)

Okay, I guess it is time for an update. I always have good intentions, but somehow my blog never gets updated. I have a bunch of pictures I need to upload, so I may just have some picture only posts here pretty soon.

I wanted to update everyone on my appointment yesterday. I've emailed out the same thing a million times. I need to start updating on here first and then just sending people my blog link. :)

Okay, here it goes. This will probably be very long. Yesterday, I had an ultrasound/biophysical profile and appointment with my midwife. The point of the ultrasound was mainly to check my cervix but also to check Audrey's growth because of Ava's growth restriction. The good news is that my cervix is still holding strong and overall Audrey looked good. They found one thing on the ultrasound that they are really concerned about.

They checked the cord blood flow via doppler during the ultrasound. They checked it over and over and over again, so I suspected there was a problem. I'm not quite sure what the numbers mean, but they want the number from that to be less than 3. I had many readings over 3 and one of 2.9. My midwife said my placenta looked good as far as calcification, aging, etc., but this shows that it isn't functioning well which is exactly what happened with Ava.

She said they wouldn't take the baby now because she still looked good on the ultrasound. I go back next week for another ultrasound and biophysical profile as well as a non-stress test. She said she'll continue the non-stress tests weekly until I deliver. A non-stress test is where they monitor both the baby's heart rate and my contractions for an hour. They want to make sure the baby's heart rate is accelerating during movement and not dipping really low like Ava's was at 36 weeks. This just gives them a better look at the baby instead of the 20 minutes they look at her on the ultrasound.

The main concern right now is that Audrey won't get what she needs and will lose weight, not mature correctly (mainly lungs), suffer from hypoxia, etc. Again, all the things that happened with Ava. She said I have to be very careful to make sure she is moving throughout the day. If at any time she becomes less active, she wants me to call her immediately. She gave me her personal cell phone number so I won't have to waste time going through the answering service.

The non-stress test results are good for a week. If she looks good on there, usually the baby will not go substantially downhill before another one can be done. My midwife is really hoping we can make it until 35-36 weeks to give Audrey's lungs more time to mature. I am praying her cord blood flow looks good next week and we don't have to discuss any of these "what-if" questions she didn't want to answer today.

I also got a very long lecture about bedrest. Kurt told her that I haven't been resting as much as I should. This is true, but I can't believe he told on me!! Anyway, she told me I can move from the bed to the couch if I need a change of scenery, but she doesn't want me up more than that. That is so different from what she said just two weeks ago. I'm doing my best, but I still have a toddler to take care of on a daily basis. You really don't realize how much moving around you do during the day until someone tells you not to do it anymore. It's so hard not to constantly pick up toys, clean the kitchen, etc.

So, that's what is going on with me right now. I would do anything to make sure Audrey is perfect and healthy, but I do not want to be induced again!! I also do not ever want to see the inside of a NICU. My midwife said that every day I can hold her in is one less day in the NICU, so that is our goal for now. We are hoping Audrey continues to thrive and will make it inside at least a few more weeks!