Due Date

 

Well, we have some exciting news... we are scheduled to have a C-Section on June 9th!

At our appointment yesterday, everything was looking really good. No more drops in heart rate or any sign that Adelyn is under stress. In fact, she's grown a lot! She's back in the 50th percentile!

However, with a two-vessel cord baby, the further along we go, the riskier it gets so our doctor wanted to find the balance of keeping her in the womb as long as possible but also getting her out as soon as we safely can.

Sooo.... June 9th at 7:30 a.m., Austin and I will check in to the hospital and be holding our baby girl a few hours later! That's assuming she doesn't decide to make an early arrival and if she's anything like her mamma, she may just do that.

We've chosen to go the C-Section route for a lot of reasons that I won't go into in detail about. Simply put, it isn't worth the risk for us to try to have a natural birth when it would likely put a lot of strain on Adelyn's heart and also likely end in a C-Section anyway.

It's taken me a while to adjust to the fact that we have a scheduled time to have our baby. All my life and especially the past 8 months I've envisioned it happening so differently. Never did I think of it as a scheduled appointment. But at the same time, there is a peace that comes with knowing that she won't be born any later than June 9th. I feel like for the past month I've been head down, putting one foot in front of the other, just getting through the day. Now I feel like I can finally look up and see the end is near. Well, I guess it's more of a beginning. But the end of pregnancy.

We're excited.

Unfortunately my body won't keep up with my excitement and all the preparations I want to make before then. I imagine this is just the beginning of not being able to get stuff done in the timely manner that I want to.

12 days left!

36 Week Update

36 weeks down. Less than 4 to go!

Imagine a large honeydew. Now imagine strapping it to your front side and carrying it around all day. Oh and don't forget to try to sleep with it there too. Add a few more pounds of extra fluid, and extra organ, and some muscle cramps and you'll begin to identify with a 36 week pregnant woman. I'm not complaining, just trying to help you identify. I'll be honest, these last few weeks haven't been my favorite in pregnancy and I imagine the next few aren't going to get any better. BUT there is hope on the horizon -the end is in sight!

Maternity Clothes?

Of course. Nothing new there. Except you know you're getting big when you feel like some maternity clothes are fitting too tight. Sigh...

Stretch Marks?

Nothing yet. Although I really can't see half of my stomach now so maybe there are some and Austin is graciously not telling me.

Sleep

I've forgotten what it feels like to sleep through the night. Lots of dreams about Adelyn and pregnancy though.

Movement

Since she's head down, her feet are in constant contact with my ribs. I really don't get tired of feeling her move though. She hasn't been much of a night mover either which I am thankful for. Maybe she'll be born with the natural ability to sleep through the night. :)


Doctors visits

I mentioned in a previous post that last Thursday, we were there from 10-6 because of some irregularity in her heart rate. (Thank you two vessel cord...) We went back 4 days later for another extended non-stress test to make sure everything was still OK. She passed with flying colors. We have another appointment in 2 days to continue monitoring. Because of the two-vessel cord complication, we really aren't sure when it will be better for Adelyn to be out of the womb rather than in it. Every appointment we go to now, there is this question, "will we be coming home after this or will we be told we're delivering a baby today?" It's kind of a hard place to be.

Mood Swings

I really think my hormones have chilled out a bit. I feel like I have the mentality of "just soldier through it" right now. 


Cravings

Gummies and carbs. I have to be pretty intentional to get fruits and veggies on my plate. Doing my best. Having a garden full of lettuce helps a lot.


Gender

She's a little diva already. In our last ultrasound, she was sticking her tongue out at us. That was the same day that we were later admitted for further observation. She knew she was about to wreak a little havoc on our day.


Labor Signs

Still lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. They seem to be growing a bit in strength too. At our last appointment, our doctor did tell us that keeping Adelyn in the womb past 39 weeks would probably be more stressful on her than good. So we will most likely induce or have a C-Section somewhere between June 6-10. Who knows though.

Belly button

Proud to say that my belly button still remains in. Way in.

Laugh of the week

I continuously bump my belly on things (and people). I'm just not used to it being so out there! I'm sure it's a bit awkward for people to have an encounter with a baby belly so I do my best to avoid unintentional contact.

What I miss

Exercising. I have slowly weaned my exercise down to walks but after the scare at our last appointment the doc said to not intentionally exercise.  I worry that I'll have a hard time getting back in the habit. I miss getting sweaty and the feeling after a good run.

What I'm looking forward to

Not being pregnant.


What I'm nervous about

It's looking likely that I'll have a C-Section. Even if I try to do a normal birth, there is a high chance it will end in C-Section. I know tons of woman have them and tons of babies are saved because of them. I'm not so much worried about the risk- I'm more worried about the aftermath. The long recovery and consequences it has on future childbearing.


Weekly Wisdom

I've gotten tons of good advice from the book I'm currently reading, How to Have Your Second Child First.

That's about it. We have another appointment on Thursday so that will give us a better idea on how she is growing and how that precious heart rate is doing.

 

Currently Reading...

How to Have Your Second Child First

This recommendation has come from multiple people. I got it in the mail yesterday and have read almost half of it already! It's one of my favorite baby books so far. It's a super easy read in which experienced parents offer their best baby advice. The stuff they wish they would have known first time around.

Little Bee

I actually finished this about a week ago but never mentioned anything about it.

It was one of those books that I couldn't put down. It's not so much a thriller but one with incredible character development that makes the reader want to keep moving forward to find out what happens.

Hopefully you've explored my blog enough to find my recommended reading section (on the top menu bar). I LOVE book recommendations so if you have any that are worth of the list, please let me know!

Heartburn and Baby Hair

Early in my pregnancy, I remember reading that heartburn can be a sign that your baby will be born with a head of hair. It sounded like an old wives tale so I didn't take it too seriously and honestly kind of forgot about it because at the time I wasn't having any symptoms. Well the past few months I've gotten to experience the lovely presence of heartburn. At first I didn't even know what it was. Since I figured it out, Tums and soy chocolate milk (a recommendation from a fellow blogger) have been my trusty allies in the evening hours.

At our last ultrasound, the technician pointed out that she could see quite a bit of hair on the baby's head. I'm not too surprised since both Austin and I were born with full heads of hair. But I WAS surprised they could see it in an ultrasound! After finding out that Adelyn will be born with some luscious locks, I remembered what I had read almost 7 months back: that heartburn is often a sign that your baby will be born with a lot of hair on their head!

I did a little research and was surprised to find that this isn't a myth. There are crazy amounts of statistics and studies showing the connection. Here are a few:

This article from the New York Times

Pregnant Mothers with Heartburn...

Article from Fit Pregnancy

Crazy huh? If her hair is anything like mommy's, guess I better pack some hair gel and mousse in her diaper bag.

Personality

Below is an accurate visual representing the differences in Austin and I's personalities.

Austin: Systematic, thorough, thrives under given structure, perfectionist, quality over quantity

Polly: NOT a perfectionist, OK with a little chaos, outside-the-box thinker, efficient, get as much done as quick as possible

What I find funny is that most people assume I'm a Super-Type-A Personality type. While I do have some characteristics of a Type A, I would say that I am not a classic example of either type. Yes I am super proactive and detail oriented but at the same time I am not at all a perfectionist and am OK with mediocrity. Yes I value efficiency but I will sacrifice quality for the sake of getting something done faster. (A character quality that probably drives Austin the craziest...) Parts of my life are very well organized and some parts, well, aren't at all. So people- don't assume I get stressed out easily. Don't assume I've got my closet color coordinated. Don't assume I'll have an ulcer if my schedule doesn't go the way I planned. I'm more laid back that I appear :)

We Almost Had a Baby Today

OK, so maybe not ALMOST but there were for sure a few hours there where we weren't sure if we were going to meet Adelyn today or not. Here's the full story:

We went in around 9:30 am for our weekly Non-Stress Test where they strap you in and watch the baby's heart rate for 20 minutes. Well, right in the first 5 minutes there were a few huge drops in her heart rate. It went from 150 down to 60 and 70 a few times. The nurse there thought that the machine had lost the baby's pulse and was picking up my own heart rate. Seemed to make sense so we weren't too concerned.

We then proceeded on to meet with our OB. She walks in the room and the first words are, "Well, the two-vessel cord is becoming an issue..." She explained that the drops in heart rate were indeed the baby's heart and not my own. She then told us she wanted to do some additional monitoring to see if this was an isolated event we happened to catch or if it was occurring over and over again. We were instructed to head over to labor and delivery where we would be monitored further.

At this point I really wasn't freaking out too much. A little weirded out that we were headed over to a Labor and Delivery room but was able to maintain composure. We just thought it was precautionary and we'd be out of there in an hour. We get put in a delivery room, strapped me up to a machine, and were told to hang out for a while.

For the first hour, there were no drops in heart rate. Our doctor came to check on us and told us that things looked fabulous and we would probably plan on going home pretty soon and I was now allowed to eat (I was told not to in case we needed to have a C-Section). However, a few minutes later we saw two big dips. And then a few more 30 minutes later. The doc told us that we needed to stay until 5 or 6 pm and possibly overnight depending on what her heart rate does. At this point, Austin and I were looking at each other wide-eyed wondering if we were going to have a baby today. At the rate things were going, it was looking likely. Talk about an unexpected twist in the day!

Well... 3 Seinfeld episodes, 1 Glee episode, some work from my computer, a ton of texts to our family and friends, and a nap later, doctor returns around 5:30 to tell us the good news that there weren't any more concerning dips and for a lot of reasons she felt pretty confident to send us home. Whew!

We are SO glad we didn't have to stay the night. And SO glad we didn't have to have a C-Section today followed by a baby in the NICU.

We'll go back in Monday for another extended Non-Stress Test to make sure that heart rate is doing OK. I was given instructions to take it easy, not to exercise, and to pay close attention to Adelyn's movements and signals. No bed rest thank goodness but firm instructions to chillax.

The whole experience of today made everything seem so much more real. I mean, we'll be back in there in probably 3 weeks and actually come home with a baby. It was a good trial run that helped us know what we would need to bring and what to expect. It just increased the range of mixed emotions I've had all through 3rd trimester: A complicated mix of excitement, anticipation, and anxiety.

We got home at 6:30. Even though I laid in a bed most of the day, I'm wiped out. Looking forward to a good night's sleep in my own bed without a background cacophony of beeps and hospital sounds.  While I'm super excited to meet Adelyn, today confirmed I'm not ready just quite yet :)

Belly Shots by the Week

Baby Kicks

My high school small group (senior gals) were over tonight.

Towards the end of the evening, Adelyn decided to show up to the party. All but one of these girls had never felt a baby kick before. The experience was documented...

Right after this one was taken, Adelyn gave a big kick that Becca (on the right) got to feel. It made her jump!

Maggie was a little weirded out by all the baby belly feeling. She kept her distance... Haha

Luckily Adelyn was up for a little showing off so all the girls got to feel at least one kick or movement.

Best quote of the night...

"Ooooh, I felt her! I love her already!!!" -Haley

Plushie Fail

I attempted this today...

It didn't go so well...

Looks like a very amateur version of the original.

My Mistakes:

• Didn't use enough ribbon


• Didn't align ribbon very accurately


• Need to be more precise with the hand sewing on the face


• I was more interested in getting it done than getting it right

I plan to try this again. Someday.

 

Most Popular Pregnancy Q&A

Since I work primarily with high school students and college students, I get a lot of the same (and sometimes hilarious) questions. Here are some of the most popular pregnancy questions answered:

 

 

"When are you due?"

June 19th

"How are you feeling?"

Depends on the day. Some days are a breeze, others feel like I have done a triathlon. Overall though, not too much to complain about.

"How are you sleeping? Does she kick at night?"

Again, depends. It kind of goes in a cycle. I'll sleep bad a few nights in a row and then get so tired that I sleep hard the next night. There have only been a few nights where she has kept me up kicking. I told Austin this morning that Adelyn decided to throw a 3 a.m. dance party last night. Dances included the Macarena, line-dancing, river-dancing, and something resembling the Superman dance.

"Any weird cravings?" (people LOVE this question)

I'm still on a blue Gatorade kick. Grapefruit all of the sudden sounded really good too. Popsicles as well.


"Are you going to have an epidural?"

Lord willing.

"Is the nursery ready?"

Pretty much. I still want to deep clean it and figure out how some of our new gadgets work (monitor, pack 'n play, etc.).  But if we had the baby tomorrow, it wouldn't be like we are scrambling to get things ready.

"How is Austin handling all of this?"

Pretty good. Once he realized that Adelyn could hear him and recognize his voice, he's been chatting it up with her. We've also gotten into the habit of reading to her every night (which is something we want to continue to do until she's too old for it). He has told me that every time I call he wonders if "this is the call."

"How do you think your dogs will do with the new baby?"

I think they'll be just fine. We've had a quite a few babies at our house recently and they seem to be getting used to them. I imagine Sophie will be a bit jealous and Chauncey will be a bit shy and skeptical of the new arrival. Hopefully they'll figure out she's more than a squeaky toy.


"Is your belly button sticking out yet"

Still in there. It's getting smaller and a bit more strained but is still an inny.

Questions NEVER to ask a pregnant woman:

"Wow- are you like due tomorrow??" (I haven't gotten that one but know people who have)

"Are you higher risk because of your age?" (People, I'm 28 years old. Not 40. No my childbearing age is not high risk)

"Are you so freaked out about delivery?" (No, but your tone makes me think I should be...)

"Do you realize that you have to push out something the size of a watermelon?" (I like to think of it more as a rotisserie chicken, but yes. Thank you for the reminder of my near future.)

New Hot Water Heater!

From day one of living in this house, the hot water heater has always made popping, knocking noises after a shower or using hot water. At first I was weirded out by it but I managed to get used to the sound and not panic thinking someone was knocking at my door immediately post-shower.

I'm learning that getting used to strange noises in your house is not always a good thing. Strange noises typically mean something abnormal is happening. This case was no different.

What we learned is that these mysterious popping noises were actually the system attempting to reheat the water. BUT  there was a large build up of sediment at the bottom of the heater that the hot water was having to burst through (hence the popping noise).

This picture shows what a build up looks like. I never got to see how much was actually built up in ours but I imagine after 2+ years it was not a pretty picture. We looked into getting a hot water heater from Lowes and Home Depot. We found one that was a good price with good ratings but then found out that Home Depot wanted to charge $350 for instillation... That was close to the cost of the heater itself!! Lowes was $250 for instillation but the heater was pretty expensive.

After further investigating our options we decided to go with a local plumber that we know and who has done work on our house. He got us a much higher quality heater and installed it for way cheaper. The plumbing in our house is a little funky too so I was glad to have someone who has been to the house before and knew his way around.

I realize this probably isn't exciting to anyone except for Austin and I. (And the dogs who will no longer confuse the hot water heater with someone knocking at the door). But I thought it was worth sharing in case anyone is having mysterious sounds come from their hot water heater. Don't ignore it!

Long Day for Chauncey

Chauncey, our dog, is a bit skittish. One of his favorite places in our house is under our bed. It's pretty much a routine that at some point in the evening we will hear him crawling, clunking, and squeezing himself under our bed to go to sleep for the night.

Well, after an entire day of playing outside  in the sun with a fellow (and way more hyper) Labrador, Chauncey apparently couldn't muster up the energy to make it all the way under the bed that night. We walked in to find this.





This dog continually makes us laugh...