39 Weeks!

We're hitting the home stretch here! Tomorrow marks ONE WEEK until our C-section! How exciting to be getting this close to meeting our little one! We are waiting eagerly for March 2nd to come. 

Today we had our last trip to the hospital before the big day! I had to do my pre-admission testing and a non-stress test. Dan took off work early to drive me to my 2 o'clock apt. With our windows down, holding hands we drove the short trip to the hospital. What a perfect way to spend an afternoon? We were honestly dreading having to go back to the perinatal ward where the version was, to get the non stress test... but our trip to the hospital was almost as perfect as the 60 degree weather in February! The pre admission testing was easy as pie (after peace corps needles don't phase me in the least!) and the PA we had was great! Her first baby was breech and she had a C- section and offered great advice and input on recovery and how doable it was! 

After the pre-admission testing we made it to our non stress test with 30 minutes to spare! Our favorite nurse was there and was so sweet! (she's the one that always comments on what a happy baby Itbert is!) She hooked me up to the monitors and then got the woman in the next bed situated. When she was done, about 5 minutes later, she peeked her head in and smiled, "Baby looks great already! We'll keep you on for a few more minutes but baby looks perfect! What a happy baby!"  Dan and I beamed! :)

After the non-stress test we asked if we could take a tour of the maternity ward... see a postpartum room, see the nursery. Our favorite nurse took us through and gave us a tour of the ward, (giving up her precious time! so sweet!!!) The rooms are small but private, which is GREAT! and they will pull in a cot for dan to sleep on at night! The tour ended with a walk past the nursery where there were 2 burrito bundled babies and one that was so new, they still had him under the french fry light! They were so small, so amazingly small! I leaned over to Dan and said something eloquent like, "We're gonna have one of those little burritos soon!" For the first time for both of us, I think, it's starting to feel real. Finally it's sinking in that we are going to have a BABY!

PS.      I know you're not supposed to wear white after... or before... uh... but let's face it folks, I'm a rule breaker! The weather was too beautiful today to ignore my one elastic waisted skirt! Rules-Shmules!

Itbert's nest! :)

So, Itbert's room is done! It looks a little busy, and it is... It's such a small space (almost 8 feet by 8 feet... a glorified closet!) and we had so many things to put in... It's not too busy, just busy enough that Itbert can choose whether he/she wants to dream about flying in a hot air balloon, cozy nests, or roller skating birds!

The yellow ties on the stick above the window are something we brought back from China. In sacred spaces people tied red ribbons, yarn, fabric, or even trash onto branches when they prayed. These ties were traces of prayers, proof, or simply a tangible form of the words they'd meditated. I was captivated by this idea when we were in China and wanted to incorporate it into Itbert's nursery. I found this branch tangled in the brush outside our kitchen window. I scrubbed it and brought it in and Dan sawed it to size for me. Then he and I prayed for Itbert and tied a yellow piece of fabric scrap, yarn, ribbon, and yes, even yellow plastic grocery bag pieces on with every prayer. (I love the idea that no prayer is too silly or small) This branch is an visual representation of the prayers we have said, and will say for Itbert. Below are some images of the tangible evidence of prayer we found in China.

38 weeks and Valenturd's day!

The little blue post-its are my valentine's gift from sweet Dan! Just little notes to let me know how much he loves me! I'm so lucky! :) I made him strawberry cupcakes, but he wins the prize for time and thought! 

 So, Dan and I don't really celebrate valentine's day... or any other hallmark holidays. (we're not big card people...) SO, we celebrated our valenturd's day in our own special way... we went to a birth center appointment, came home, popped some Ellio's in the oven and ate it and snuggled on the couch. And as romantic as that sounds... that's a typical night for us. (After China Ellios is one of our favorites! We ate them before we left due to a tight Pre peace corps budget and missed them like crazy while overseas. Go figure we are on a similar post-peace corps pre-baby budget now, so that is how we excuse our non-foodie and non-healthy guilty pleasure frozen pizza-like rectangles! Mmmmm! my mouth waters just thinking about it!)

38 weeks and surprise surprise baby is still head up! (And very happy to be this way, it seems) I'll wake in the morning with baby spun sideways but no matter what I do, Itbert always wiggles back to head right up under my left ribs. I hope this means Itbert is a snuggler! We had our appointment with the surgeon this week and got our due date. We are going to get to hold this little (very wiggly) baby on March 2nd, Lord willing, unless Itbert decides to come sooner, in which case we rush in to get a C-Section then... not many people are willing to deliver a breech baby vaginally these days. We understand. 

The surgeon initially wanted us to wait until 41 weeks (march 1st is my technical due date but since February 29th wasn't on people's radar last june it was called at march 2nd... so 40+1...) His thinking was if we wait the extra week the baby has more time to turn. I like this idea, I really do, but let's be honest, baby doesn't have much room to move around in NOW! A good example of this is how last week Itbert wiggled one of his/her feet up straight... toes to eyes style... and because he/she is so big that foot is now stuck up. Poor little guy has one leg waving in the wind... err... amniotic fluid! :)   The other leg is neatly bent... meaning I get kicks down by my right hip and all the way up under my right ribs! Apparently babies who have their legs up in the womb come out with legs that boing back up to their faces when they are born... Itbert will have that but just with one leg! :) Such a little goof ball! Can't wait to meet him/her! Less than 2 weeks now!

Look at this big belly!!!!

37 weeks and all's a'well!

Besides the usual getting bigger, life is pretty much as normal. My blood pressure, our amniotic fluid levels and Itbert's activity is all totally normal. (actually, everyone we see says "what a happy baby you have there!") Every time we hear it our hearts sing!

The reason we knew about the low fluid in the first place was because we went in for a consultation for an external cephalic version... aka, when they try to adjust the baby's position by pushing REALLY HARD on your belly... When we went back this past week they said my fluid levels were up high enough that they said they could try it! Monday was our day, so Dan took the day off and drove me into the hospital. It was an interesting situation. After two strikes at getting my IV in my nurse struck out and we asked for someone else to try... (she had no problem with my "tough skin" that the other nurse was complaining about). We had the procedure but all before and after the procedure the nurses and doctors were so unbelievably negative. We kept telling them that whether or not the procedure worked we were happy since baby is so happy. We didn't care, we just wanted to do what we could to turn baby. They seemed like they wanted to break our spirits! It's amazing how one positive voice in the room can drown out all the other negative ones - oh how glad I am that Dan was there with me! He's so good at helping me laugh things off! The version was not successful. (after about 3 minutes of bruising my belly and pushing way too hard (I thought) on Itbert's head we were all done!) And Dan and I were not surprised in the least. We have lived with this little Itbert for about 8 months now and we are learning just how stubborn this little one is! We talked on the way over and both agreed that we didn't think it was going to work. If Itbert is going to move, he/she is going to do it his/her own way and on his/her own! This baby is like me! So, we left feeling relieved that we did the last thing on our list of things that we could do to turn our baby... Now we would rest and wait and pray. If Itbert was going to spin we'd be here waiting!

hmmm... why so blurry???

I like this angle because you can see I still have feet... even though I can't! :) What a big belly!!!!

36 Weeks and boy are we moving F-A-S-T!!!!!

So, we found out last week that Itbert was turned head up. We tried everything from accupuncture to chiropractory to standing on my head... nothing was working. Itbert was moving a ton but couldn't manage a full turn. We got an appointment at the hospital to see if we were good candidates for an external cephalic version. (manually moving baby into the right position for natural labor.) Unfortunately they weren't able to do the procedure because Itbert and I don't have enough amniotic fluid... and by not enough for the procedure I mean low enough that they suggested we get this c-section scheduled sooner rather than later... we, being not eve 36 weeks at the time, were pretty surprised... they did a non stress test (hooking me up to a machine to monitor baby's heart rate, my heart rate, baby's movements and any contractions I might be having, while laying in a bed relaxing... really non stress). Baby got a big ole' thumbs up for it's performance. I got one too but I must say all the nurses saying "what a happy baby you have there" was more exciting than any positive report for myself will ever be! Long story short, we need to go in for fluid checks 2x a week so they can make sure we stay healthy.

I can't help but think that if baby hadn't snuck head up we'd never have known about the fluid issue and we are just so thankful that we are aware of it now. I'm drinking excessive amounts of fluid everyday trying to get baby as much to swim in as I can. And Itbert, well, Itbert is moving, dancing, kicking, and tickling all day long so we'll know that our little one is healthy. 

Again, this is not the plan we had going into this, but seeing how the Lord is leading our steps it's impossible to feel any kind of disappointment about the changing plans. We feel confident that we are being well taken care of! We can't help but see it.

So, belly at 36 weeks... and of course in the NURSERY!!!! It's not done yet but here are some sneak peeks at Itbert's little nook! (we still have a LOT to do... hanging picture frames, shelves and putting the rest of Itbert's things in their proper places! There are also hot air balloons to come!!!!)

So, we got this old glider from our borough wide garage sale this past fall... it was like every other glider... wooden, synthetic covered and run of the mill. Ours was exceptionally ugly. Soooo, we picked out some fabric from Ikea and when my dear husband brought it to me I realized it was not exactly what I had in mind... but I spend the next few days making a slipcover out of it anyways. It turned out pretty well I think. It's not finished completely... I got a bit of the tealish ribbon to go around the top of the skirt on the chair and the little ottoman.