32 Weeks!!

Good Morning!!

Well here I sit at 4:52am, bored, awake, and tired at the same time. I have been wide awake since about 3am; I wish I had a great story as to why I am so awake but I think my bladder woke me and my mind wouldn't let me be, so here I am. I just wanted to give everybody an update on my doctor’s appointment yesterday and my first NST (non-stress test).

First and foremost Katie is looking great and she passed the NST with flying colors. All the test consisted of was strapping me to a baby monitor and handing me a button to press every time she kicked or moved, as expected I was depressing that button constantly and told the nurse I would pay for the next ink cartridge for the machine. (A black line appeared on the print-out every time I pressed the button.)

About half-way through my 30 minute NST my doctor thought it would be funny to zap my stomach with a little hand held buzzing device that looks like a mans Norelco shaver to get her really fired up. I tried to tell him that was a bad decision, but he did it anyway and we couldn't get a fix on her heartbeat for about 3 minutes because she was flipping around and making too much noise with her kicking. The doctor and nurses thought it was hilarious meanwhile I'm getting the crap knocked out of me and I had to deal with a foot-in-lung situation that literally took my breath away for a few minutes.

So Katie did well, but Katie's mom is still having issues, of course. My blood pressure was 140/90 and I had 3+ proteins in my urine, again, but in a small but countable victory my weight was down about 3 lbs. which sounds like a weird plus but with my swelling issues loosing some weight is good and indicates decreased swelling. (small hooray!) Due to the high blood pressure I am now mostly confined to my bed, laying on my left side and ordered to take my blood pressure a few times a day.

I am now visiting the doctors office twice a week, having NST's done every time and on watch for any new signs that I could be slipping in to more trouble like headaches, more swelling and vision problems. My doctor can't predict when Katie will need to make her appearance but she will not be a Christmas baby, we are all thinking she'll be a Turkey baby. I am currently 32 weeks pregnant and both my doctor and I think I should be able to make it at least to 35 weeks, meaning Katie will be small and premature but her lungs will be developed and she will most likely be able to avoid the NICU.

Up next is our ultrasound on Halloween and tacked on to that visit another NST. Hopefully we will get some good pictures of Katie to share, this is our last ultrasound and even though a c-section looks more and more likely I'm still holding out hope to see her in the right position just in case I can have a natural birth.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we scramble to get things ready for Katie's arrival; it's going to be a fun ride here with me on bed rest and Nat working over an hour away from home!! Have a good weekend!!