Randomness

I had my final ultrasound and NST this morning. Here are some shots of le bebe:





Baby gave me a run for my money and wasn't very active, but with an extremely high heartbeat during the NST so the nurse had to stay with me and get me some juice. So stressful! He had to make the last visit memorable, I think!

They are estimating his weight to be about 7.5 pounds. This means I only have one week left to try to fatten him up. Turns out I didn't gain any weight in the past week despite the added eating. I am holding strong at 17 pounds. I also got to see his little face in high resolution (I saved my tears of joy for the car, ha!) They think he won't have much, if any, hair. I really wanted a baby with troll hair but he was so precious looking I think I am OK with baldness.

I washed alllll his clothes yesterday. I started to put it away but Rob came home sick so my day ended basically right then. I also put the linens in his bassinet and crib. My to-do list is getting shorter and shorter. Slowly but surely.... My goal is to have everything done by the weekend so Rob and I can relax. Oh, and get this! Rob says to me, "I got invited to Hurricane Harbor this weekend (a water park.)" He was actually hoping I would say for him to go! He must be out of his mind. If I went into labor on my own I wouldn't even be able to call him because obviously you don't keep your phone on you on a waterslide. Not to mention, it is our last weekend together and my feelings were hurt he wanted to spend his day with co-workers. Whatever.

I don't want to end this post on a sad note so I will just say that I was so thrilled and excited to see my little man. Of course I'm partial but I thought he was beautiful!

Breech

I should start by saying that I am not one of those women who purports to know exactly where her baby is positioned. In fact, I am not reliable to tell you anything related to where baby is and every week when I have my ultrasound I ask them to tell me.

For the past three weeks, baby has been head down. A few days ago, I could've sworn I felt him move. I didn't think much of it since I am not adept at guessing.

At today's ultrasound the tech says, "Is this baby ever going to move?"

I asked her to clarify and she said, "Well, he's breech!"

Now, obviously there is plenty of time for him to move to the "proper" position. And even more obvious, it doesn't matter what position he is in since I am not delivering vaginally. I was just so proud of myself for recognizing that he had moved on my own!

Miscellany

I had an ultrasound this morning and another non-stress test. The ultrasound stunk. It was a new tech and the most stressful of my ultrasounds to date. The baby is OK, but he was sleeping and the entire time, the only photos she gave me were terrible and it was just "blech." My NST was done an hour late but I wasn't mad because it meant the woman before me was having difficulty. If you've never had a NST, you have to click a button when you feel your baby move and it registers it on the machine in relation to the baby's heartbeat. The nurse told me the woman was having a hard time determining when she felt movement. I can understand her frustration, as the machine is extremely loud and my baby doesn't like to cooperate when he is on "display."

In other news, my linea negra is now obvious to me. Rob says he has been able to see it for weeks but it is my opinion that my line is blessedly light-colored.

If you've been following our insurance saga, it is mostly resolved. The insurance company switched everything from Rob's name to mine and credited me for my deductible. LOL, it only took took a few thousand dollars to meet a $1,200 deductible. Sigh. The system is broken but we know that. From here on out I should be paying 20% for stuff. Hallelujah!

As I type this I got an email from Chili's advertising their new sangria. I really, really love sangria. I don't drink it often but it is delicious. Sigh. I intend to nurse so it is not like I will be drinking any time soon post-birth, anyway. But it will be more than worth it!

Quotable

From my baby brother as he was examining my most recent ultrasound picture:

I don't mean for this to sound mean or hateful but I can't even tell what I'm looking at. This could be your pancreas for all I know!

Cutie Patootie

I realize that shortly after The Plague I promised to show an updated picture of le bebe from our most recent ultrasound. I guess I never got around to it. For shame, I know! Anyway, here is our sweet little man rubbing his eyes:



I've always been one of those types of people who think that ultrasound pictures are really only cool to the parents of the child, or maybe a select few close friends and family. But for what it is worth, modern medicine has enabled us to see a remarkable progression inside the womb, and that is incredibly interesting to me! Truthfully, I don't know how I feel from a scientific or ethical standpoint about ultrasounds, entirely, but I do know that we would not have a 3D/4D done. I am grateful for the opportunity to measure our baby's growth in lieu of the drugs I must take to keep him safe. Regardless of my conflicted feelings, I cherish all of the pictures we have of him thus far.

What A Difference A Few Days Make!

I was still on the fence about getting the NT scan as of this morning but by the time I got around to showering it was a mere 3 hours prior to the appointment and since they are so hard to come by, I felt it would be inconsiderate and unprofessional to cancel so close to the appointment. I also chalked it up to another chance to see the Puerto Rican Jumping Bean.

Here is a picture of the baby sucking its thumb (it is more obvious on the hard copy):



Here is a picture of it waving:



Here is a picture of it kicking its feet:



The Puerto Rican Jumping Bean still vaguely resembled an alien just last Wednesday so it is miraculous to me how quickly it is looking like a "real" baby!

P.S. Can everyone please cross their fingers it doesn't get my nose? That would not be cute! Rob has a much better nose!

The Fetus With the Mostest

I have a confession: usually when people upload pictures from their ultrasound, I think the baby looks like either an alien or a blob. Well, mine has moved from the blob phase to the alien phase. Nevertheless, this is my journal and my friend Rachel said she wanted to see this sort of stuff. So! This is our baby. It did NOT want to be photographed (already like its parents!) During the ultrasound it did a somersault and was dancing. When it dances the arms and legs are very pronounced, unlike in this picture where it decided to curl into a ball. If you are like me and need some direction, the head is on the left (the alien-looking seed-thingy) and the four brightly-colored parts are its limbs.

To be noted-when the doctor showed us the baby, I yelled out 'It's our person!' and Rob was in such awe he literally said nothing. Men and women are so different!