Our little boogar

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day resting on the couch because, let's face it, that's my life these days. Hubsters was hard at work on adding trim to the new back door he had installed the day before. I was quite proud of the work he was doing and enjoying listening to the sounds of hammering and sawing as he worked away.

A little before 5 I realized I hadn't felt Caleb move very much during the day. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it had been a very long time since this little guy had kicked or squirmed. I mentioned my concerns to DJ who quickly got me a glass of orange juice and planted me on my left side on the couch. An hour later there still wasn't any movement and I was starting to get concerned. We made a bowl of queso (Caleb's favorite food) and I quickly ate the spicy, cheesy goodness. Still no movement. DJ busted out the guitar and played as loud as he could right next to my belly. In a beautiful little moment, I felt one flutter before all was silent once again. When Caleb refused to move anymore we decided we would feel a whole lot better if we spoke to the doctor.

The on call doctor heard my story and immediately told me it was time to head to the hospital. We frantically packed the last elements of our labor bag, DJ showered, we called families, and headed out the door - more than a little stressed.

When we arrived at the hospital they got us checked in quickly and immediately hooked up monitors. Within seconds our room was filled with the glorious sounds of a teeny tiny heart beat. It was, without a doubt, the best thing we'd heard all day. The weight of the world fell off both of our shoulders. The nurse got us hooked up to the rest of the monitors and got us all checked in. Due to the stress of the past few hours my blood pressure had sky rocketed and they weren't going to let me go anywhere until it came down. I was confident that if I could lay on my side for a little while and listen to the sweet heart beating away I'd be fine in no time.

We spent a total of 3 hours hooked up to the monitors and heard Caleb roll around and kick the monitor several times. (This child does NOT like any monitor of any kind!) It was wonderful to know that he was moving even when I couldn't feel him. My blood pressure returned to normal and we watched the monitors as I had several little contractions - none big enough to be considered labor.

At 11:00 last night they finally let us go home. However, the nurse on duty mentioned that my records from the dr showed there was protein in my last urine test. So far this hasn't been a concern because it would mean I had pre-eclampsia and not just high blood pressure. It scared us just a little that we hadn't heard those results from the doctor. So we called our regular doctor first thing this morning to see what was going on and to make sure she knew about our little adventure.

She ordered an ultra sound for first thing Monday morning to make sure Caleb's still growing well and isn't showing any signs of stress. We're excited to get one last peek at our little man before he meets the world. I'm also glad we're going to check to make sure he's growing properly and he's not too squished now that he's getting bigger by the moment. If he looks good on Monday then we'll induce on July 25th. (If, for any reason, he looks like he's having trouble, they'll induce sooner.) That means that in less than 2 weeks I'll have this sweet little boy in my arms and I can come off of bed rest!

DJ is frantically finishing his to do list so that we have time next week to just relax and enjoy our last days with just the two fo us. :- ) I'm resting and making sure there's no reason for this baby to come early because of my blood pressure. And we're all so very thankful that Caleb's okay and that we didn't have to have an emergency delivery last night. Praise the Lord!

Full Term!

Today we have officially reached "full term"! 37 weeks! I have to say, there were many days when I didn't think we'd get here. Even my doctor did a little cheer for us today at our appointment! Here's the general run down of where life stands right now:

--The To Do list is almost completed! My family came in on Sunday for a few hours to put the finishing touches on the nursery. My sister is quite the artist and took our walls from boring to outstanding! Here's a little peek at the nursery.


Shelf over the crib - complete with a complete Winnie the Pooh collection! :) I'm working on the finishing details of letters spelling out "Caleb" that'll hang under this shelf.

My sister's fantastic handwork! This bee is flying over the closet door.



Shelves over the changing table. I seem to be lacking pictures of the furniture itself, huh?



Another bee flying over the shelves. Isn't he cute?!?!

These pictures hang over the glider in the corner. Above that, the third bee makes his appearance.

This is the corner next to the crib. You can get a little glimpse of the valance and the shelf over the crib.



This is the amazing mobile my best friend Natalie found on eBay years and years ago. Best we can tell it was from the 50s or 60s. She gave it to me for Christmas back before many people knew we were pregnant. It was such a fun little surprise!



--Today at my doctor's appointment I felt like we had a lot of good news/bad news going on.

Good news: We're full term.

Bad news: My blood pressure is slightly elevated again.

Good news: My doctor is still very proactive and is running a full panel of blood work to make sure it's just high blood pressure and not pre-eclampsia.

Bad news: My doctor goes on vacation next week.

Good news: My cervix is dialated 1cm and very thinned out.

Bad news: Caleb is still very high.

Good news: We are getting good at managing our days while on bed rest. (Even if we stay up way too late!)

Bad news: I'm still on bed rest and I'm starting to get a little restless.

--We tried to get the doctor to pin down an exact date for induction and she wasn't willing to do so. Her goal is that we make it to 39 weeks (and not much longer) but her fear is that we won't. We'll see another doctor next week while she's on vacation and pray that we don't need to be induced in that time. She's putting a rush on all my lab work so that she can get the results back in time to make a decision before she leaves if a problem should arise.

--Our puppies have LOVED the fact that I spend days on end laying on the couch. Cua, in particular enjoys my expanding belly and feels like she's been blessed with an every growing bed. She'll be shocked when it suddenly disappears!

--One of the wonderful things that has recently been checked off the to do list is the completion of a home made cradle. DJ and his dad worked very hard to make a gorgeous cradle for our bedroom. It turned out better than I could have dreamed! The pictures are a little dark, but I promise you it's amazing!



The cradle in our room!

 

The details on the end. Hard to see, but absolutely amazing!


That's the update from our neck of the woods! Our plan for the week is to keep resting and get this little guy to cook until he's "well done". Please pray with us that my blood pressure will go down, that our doctor will be able to deliver, and that we'll have a successful natural delivery like we've planned all along.



Another Update

We went back to the doctor today for our 36 week check up. This past week I think Caleb has absorbed every single calorie I've eaten since I'm not burning them off myself. My stomach has gone from "Awww, that's a cute pregnant belly" to "Woah! Look out! She's gonna take someone out with that thing!" He spent this week getting BIG. Even the doctor agreed that he had grown quite a bit.

I've been very obedient and have spent most of my days laying down. I was thrilled to see that my blood pressure was back down within normal range. I was also thrilled to see that my weight hadn't gone up in 4 weeks! I've worked hard to be careful about weight gain during this pregnancy and it's paying off.

So we're sticking with the same game plan - lots and lots of bed rest. However I'm allowed to sit up occassionally if need be. (My hips were thrilled by the news.) I'm currently sitting up in the recliner and it is glorious!

But the best news of the day was that the dr moved the induction date up an entire week! So we'll have a baby in just three weeks! (Unless the Lord decides he needs to come earlier.) The week of July 25th (give or take a day) we'll go in for an induction and have this precious baby in our arms. Wahoo!!!!