35+4

So, we're probably coming home with a baby this time is starting to sink in. (And I don't think I'll be able to get rid of that probably that's always lingering in the back of my mind until we're putting him in his carseat.) Anyway, it's exciting and overwhelming and oy, we have so much still to do. The good part of that is that the days are flying by. The bad part of that is this "nesting" energy I've heard about is seriously lacking. I just want to sleep.

It still definitely feels very surreal. Random people keep asking me when I'm due (someone must be looking out for me because in the 5 or so times I've been asked when I'm due, no one has asked if this is our first, not this week, at least. That almost makes up for the 6 or so times I had to go over that question and my medical history in the 2 days we had our hospital stints a few weeks ago. Funny how they manage to keep track that I'm allergic to penicillin but we have to talk over that our first baby died and why every single time and with multiple people when I was admitted. Even the wheelchair lady who brought me down for the follow up biophysical asked.)

Anyway, this week was mostly uneventful with a few minor touches of excitement. On Monday we had monitoring and I was apparently having some contractions. But I wasn't feeling them so they weren't worried, though there were 2 in 20 minutes. And on Thursday I didn't have any and Luke did great again. Wednesday was my last (hopefully) high risk appointment for this pregnancy. I say "this pregnancy" because both my high risk doctor and my OB have said how much easier my "next pregnancy" will be. And I'm permanently high risk so even if everything ends up better than they could have expected, I'll still be on lovenox and low dose aspirin and have growth ultrasounds and everything. Although high risk doctor said she'll be a lot more mellow with me next time. I'm not really up for even thinking about a next pregnancy at this point, though.

Last Friday at 34.5 weeks, Luke was measuring in at 6 lbs 11 oz or 6 lbs 6 oz, depending on which u/s tech you believe.  (There was one in training who got the smaller estimate and the real tech who got the bigger estimate.) But they both have a margin of error of a pound at this point, so my guess is he was right at 6 lbs and if he's born as scheduled, he'll be right at 7.5 pounds.

Next week I see my OB on Monday. Tuesday I have the amnio (assuming that labor is not threatening and everything else looks stable), we do that around 9 am and I believe we'll know the results for his lungs by the time we leave, afternoonish. I also believe they keep me most of the day on monitors, just to be sure the baby is still doing okay. (The most serious risk for these late term amnios is that it might break my water, which wouldn't be a big deal, they'd just deliver, and it's extremely rare for even that to happen. I have read a story about a baby moving into the amnio needle and they have a little scar on their foot from it, but they do them at the baby's feet and as far from the baby as possible- plus babies usually generally instinctively stay away from needles in that situation-so it's really really unlikely and not a huge problem other than the poor baby got poked in the foot with a needle. It's scheduled for a time when Luke is pretty mellow.) Anyway, I'm told that it doesn't really hurt anymore than the lovenox injections I've put in my belly for 20+ weeks of this pregnancy, (actually they said it hurts a lot less) so I'm not that worried about that part. I am a little worried that his lungs might not be ready to go yet and then we've done the amnio for nothing because they'll just have me deliver at 37 weeks without a follow up amnio. But both of my doctors are really convinced they'll be ready especially since I had steroid shots. My high risk doctor even said she'd "bet money on it." Since she hasn't been wrong about anything this pregnancy, even when I've worried anyway and she wasn't, I mostly believe that he will be ready to come out. But I try to brace myself for the possibility that it might not turn out that way so I'm not really disappointed just in case he's not ready yet.

But, if everything goes as planned, we are down to just 4 days left until we meet Luke!

17 weeks + high risk appointment

17 weeks today and here is the evidence (plus Koda's supervision):

My high risk ob appointment today was pretty good, although I got stuck with the bitchy tech to take my vitals. (This would be the same woman who asked over the phone if I had any kids, and I sighed and said, "well, she died"...she replied in this really snotty tone, "so no then." --I understand that they meant *living* children, but she didn't have to be crappy about it. You would think that someone working in a HIGH RISK ob office would have a little more compassion.)  Anyway, she's still always pretty bitchy about everything- today she had an attitude because I stepped off of the scale before it beeped even though the numbers had stopped changing for several seconds, and then again because I was trying to take my blood pressure on my machine after she had taken it so we could make sure my machine is working right, and she insisted we check the baby's heartrate first, even though she had just taken my blood pressure. (And then she insisted that I check it in the other arm, so the pressures were taken 5 minutes apart and in opposite arms, thanks for helping me get an accurate comparison.)

I love my high risk doctor, though. She suggested the names "lovenox" or "heparin" (my daily blood thinner shots) for the baby.  And did a quick scan- he's still a boy (and not a tiny bit shy about it), my fluid looks good, everything looks good (no measurements, it's just a crappy roll in machine and I have a real ultrasound Friday anyway.) She assured me that it doesn't matter that we did the quad screen at 16 weeks (I did it at 17 weeks with Olivia), that if it was going to come back bad, it would have been bad even then, and she's really encouraged that it came back normal. She agreed to let me do my next growth ultrasound in 3 weeks rather than my usual every 4 weeks,since 20 weeks is when Olivia had really fallen behind in growth, and we're going to start checking for notching and fluid levels on Friday. (Notching is basically an indication that the blood flow isn't perfect from the placenta to the baby, instead of the normal full flow of blood, there's a little "notch" in the flow. Between 19-21 weeks, notching indicates an increased chance of pre-eclampsia.) I'll only be 17.5 weeks so no notching won't really mean much this early, and it's not a guarantee in any case, but I'm glad she didn't hesitate to agree when I mentioned it. (And she looked impressed that I asked.) So I have notes for my ultrasound tech on Friday from her to make my next appointment in 3 weeks and to check for notching. (I had only wanted her to check for notching at 20 weeks but she wants it checked both times. She said they normally don't check so early, but with my "checkered past", she wants to keep an eye on it.) 

Hopefully lovenox+low dose aspirin+ normal quad screen+ normal growth + no notching= a healthy 36 weeker.

Tomorrow probably, I'll be scheduling my amnio for 36 weeks, which will be the last week of April. It will be just to check the baby's lungs for maturity, and we'll deliver soon after the results are back. It seems crazy to be scheduling it so early, but my ob wanted me to talk to the high risk ob about it and decide and schedule it now (the alternative is to wait until 37 weeks and cross our fingers that I don't go into labor first, because of the type of incision for my c-section with Olivia, if I go into labor than there is a risk of uterine rupture that they aren't really comfortable with.) Joe and I talked about it, and quite frankly I want this baby out the minute it's safely possible, now knowing all of the things that can go wrong. The high risk ob had the same opinion, so the only guessing about this kiddo's due date will hopefully be if I will make it that far. (Labor or signs of trouble-pre-eclampsia/HELLP/hypertension/growth restriction- and we deliver earlier.)