Baby Update: Week 38

Here we are... the home stretch. Baby W is viable and could come {safely} at any time. I'm ready for him to arrive because I'd love my body back. As you know from my previous post, 6 days ago I had an external version done to turn Baby W into the correct position. From that experience, I was required to wear a very large belly band and it's super itchy! As if the humidity changes haven't already caused me to lose TONS of sleep and itch all night incessantly-- add a wool band to the mix and that's a cocktail for pain and torture. But, worth it, I know.

How far along?: 38w3d
How big is Baby?: Big enough to make his appearance! I believe he's probably in the 6-7 pound range at this point. I'm not huge and most people that see me do no react to him being very large at all.
Maternity clothes?: Yes. We all know how I feel about them at this point. Thank goodness for yoga pants on days where the other 4 options just aren't working.
Sleep?: Terrible. Like I said, that itching! I think it's about 40% baby and 60% intense dry skin. I have literally tried it all: oils, lotions, wet skin + lotion/oil, infrequent showers, short showers, humidifier running all night...
Best moment of the week?: When Baby W was turned successfully!
Movements?: Oh yes. His new position head-down doesn't seem to be bothering him much since he's moving as much as ever!
Food cravings?: No. I did make peanut clusters last night for the first time ever. My mom would make these ever year for Christmas and since I had all the ingredients (peanuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter), I figured I'd try my hand at it. Peace of cake and delicious.
Aversions?: Not really... but the heartburn has been creeping back and making me question my food choices. Gardetto's mix = rough night.
What I miss?: A full night of uninterrupted sleep. Haha. I know. Laugh away. That will cease to exist in just a couple short weeks when Baby W arrives.
What I'm looking forward to?: I am looking forward to the weekend! It starts (for my husband) in about 4-5 hours!
Anything else?: Not really. He's fully grown and all set to make his appearance. The thin hair on his body is shedding and the vernix is also diminishing.
This week in history: Obama makes a surprise visit to Afghanistan, we had our first snow! It didn't stick for long but I hear tomorrow we'll be getting 2-6 inches! And so it begins...

What's going on this week (with us)?: We had a great week. I subbed a few times but I have a feeling that this will be my last week. I would go one more week of subbing, but people keep asking me when I'm due, if I am up for the task of working a full day (what would I be doing at home but driving myself crazy?! Laundry is done, bags are packed...), etc. It's almost like they want me home-- which I guess makes sense. No one wants me going into labor in the middle of subbing kindergarten, right? Depending on how far along I am according to my doctor tomorrow, I'll make the decision if I will continue working a few more days or not-- though I know it's not super accurate either way since people progress at different rates.

We are getting a Christmas tree tomorrow after my 38-week doctor's appointment. I've never had an appointment on a Saturday. Tomorrow will be my first time. Christmas trees seem much cheaper here than in LA... or maybe it's been too long since we've purchased one. We've only had one tree in our 2.5 years of marriage since last year we did not buy a tree in Germany (traveling a ton and no space). We should be able to find a nice tree for under $25. Many go for around $15. Not bad.

We have a date night on Sunday to Geja's Cafe. It has been rated one of the most romantic restaurants in Chicago. We considered checking out Marshall Fields' lights and window displays on State street, too, but it may be too cold. It's been in the 20's with a wind chill down to about 10-15 degrees lately. We may be doing a drive-by rather than parking and walking in the freezing (and potentially hazardous, icy terrain) temperatures. Either way, we're going to have an awesome fondue dinner! Can't wait!

Here are the photos from the previous months. Since they turned Baby W, you may be able to see a huge difference in the shape of my belly. It's definitely less of a basketball and more top-to-bottom rounded out.

Here I was two weeks ago at 36 weeks breech.

Here's my 38-week photo after the external version = no longer breech.

Here are the rest of the photos in case you'd like to check back in time. At my 40 week post, I am thinking about creating a video slide show to see progression better. It's a pain to upload, but I'll make it happen somehow. That is if Baby W isn't here already! :)

Month 1, Month 2, Month 3, Month 4, Month 5, Month 5.5, Month 6, Month 6.5, Month 7, Month 7.5, Month 8, Month 8.5, Month 9

Here's a lovely care package sent by Samantha for Thanksgiving along with a card from my parents-- the jellybeans are long gone!

Our friend Erin (who just had a baby girl in October!) sent over these books as some of her favorites. She's also a kindergarten teacher, so she knows what the little ones love. I would say that the super little guys perplex me. I'll learn soon enough! Thanks Erin & Adam!

It's been package central at our house... unfortunately I don't have a photo of all the amazing things Alison, Nic, Gab & Scotty sent (I put it away already and wasn't going to run around the house pulling things from shelves... sorry no photo!), but I'll describe the amazing stuff. Alison has now had two little ones of her own and had a baby in March, so she's well versed on what she loves. She wanted to share some of those loves with us and Baby W.

Aden & Anais swaddlers (these are so wonderful!), Sophie the Giraffe & Giraffe Wubbanub, 2 nursing tank tops she bought for a total bargain (way to go, Al!), a Boon Squirt spoon (...which is awesome! They use them with Scotty and they're super convenient!), & A Baby Gap footed outfit (SO cute). Everything is being washed so it's all ready to go! :)

Here are a few photos of that horrible band I've been wearing. I've only taken it off for a total of about 3 hours since Sunday. I wear it when I sleep since I am less aware of his movements then, and most of the time when I'm awake. Right now, however, I am being a rebel. It's just so uncomfortable. I'm hoping by tomorrow's appointment, the doctor will tell me I am good to go and he's right where he needs to be without a chance of movement. Of course that's probably unrealistic, but it's a hope.

Doesn't that look comfy? The good news is (if I'm trying to be positive here), is that it does provide back support if that was a concern... which it's not, really.

EV Success!

Guess who's no longer breech? That's right!

We went into labor and delivery for our 10 a.m. appointment with the celebrity doctor and before we knew it, Baby W had a new position. I bet he's just super confused at this point having been breech for a long time and now living in an upside-down world.

We know L&D quite well considering we spent a few hours there on Tuesday after my fall. We were taken into a delivery room this time because they needed to use the ultrasound machine-- and it appeared to be pretty quiet around the area.

The nurse hooked me up to fetal monitoring again, asked me a ton of questions, and gave me a shot that was to calm the uterus before the EV was to be performed. The shot was no walk in the park and hurt for a few minutes after, but I've had worse. It made me feel a bit jittery, but that's just what the nurse said I might feel. She came in and gave me a big cup of ice water to get the baby moving. It seemed to work quite well because there was lots of movement going on!

After being there for about 30 minutes, the doctor came in, checked to make sure I was still breech (definitely) and they hauled in the ultrasound machine. They checked his positioning and heart rate often for a few minutes as they figured out where he was in my belly. Then, the action started. She used both hands on my nicely gooped belly (they used a bunch of that ultrasound gel), scooped his bottom and his head and moved him in a circle clockwise (if you're from my perspective). It took about 15 seconds and it worked! Except... he promptly moved back into his lovely breech position. They monitored me again, counted his heart rate, and tried again. This time, about 15-20 not-so-comfortable seconds and he was head down! She held him there for about a minute while monitoring his heart rate as to make sure there was no distress. While painful, it wasn't the worst I've felt. The nurse commented twice that she's never seen anything like it-- the baby's body obviously moving into place. The doctor said it was because I'm a small person and every large body part (his head, mainly) was visible. The doctor was very pleased and said I was a great candidate not only because I have a small physique, but because I was relatively calm throughout the process and didn't tense my stomach muscles.

I was hooked up again to fetal monitoring to assure there was no distress and discharged 2 hours later-- after we both had cat naps, watched a little TV, and listened to some Christmas music. Before we left, I was strapped with a massive belly band so that it would hold him in place and give him little room to be able to flip back up if he tried. I have instructions to wear this band at least until my next OB appointment on Saturday, December 4th.

While elated, it's a bit more scary and real now! Things could potentially move at any time considering he is in position. With our previous situation, I had more control of knowing that there was little likelihood I would go into labor because he was not positioned properly. Now... it's all a mystery! Thank you to all who were praying (especially my favorite 2-year old, Joel Marriott). Now, if we can only keep him down and from already expressing his {obviously} individual mind. I wonder who he has acquired that quality from? ;)

Baby Update: Week 37

This week was quite different from most! I had two experiences I never anticipated! Well, one experience and somewhat of a decision we had to make.

Here's the experience...
I was on my way to sub last Tuesday and stopped off at Starbucks to buy a venti caramel apple spice. I rarely go to Starbucks and even more rare is ordering a venti! I happened to have my free birthday coupon from October that was soon to expire. On this bitter cold morning, I figured it was the best time to use it. I arrive at the school 30 minutes before school starts and grabbed everything I needed from my car. About 20 feet from the door of the school, I slipped on black ice (I did mention is was definitely in the 20's with a wind-chill, right?) and landed right on my bottom. You can imagine where my drink ended up... all over the place. Frustrated, I headed into the school knowing I was probably going to be leaving immediately. I let the secretary know that I couldn't stay and had to go to the hospital. At 37 weeks, that's not something to take lightly. I called Ray and he met me at the hospital. I was just so frustrated because my bottom didn't even hurt, my drink was gone, I lost out on a sub day (which are about to end completely soon, along with that extra cashflow), I left my delicious lunch at the school, I inconvenienced the school who had to find another sub with 20 minutes left until school began, and to top it off, I had to spend 2 hours at labor and delivery! Who knows what that bill is going to look like when it arrives...

I was hooked up to a fetal monitor for 2 hours and listened to Baby W's heartbeat the entire time. It was fairly steady around the 130's until he moved-- then it jumped between 150-160 every time. Ray stayed with me and got a bit of a taste of what it's going to be like in just a few weeks. When I was done, the nurse said she read a few contractions, but at this point in my pregnancy, that is completely normal and not the effect of a fall. I was discharged and carried on with my day.

The next piece of weekly news is the decision we had to make. I was scheduled to see the doctor yesterday and not looking forward to the waiting room. Every time I am scheduled to see this particular woman, it takes forever to be seen! I usually wait over an hour in the waiting room for her. She is also the one of the four doctors in the practice that is the "celebrity" of the group. She delivers all the high-risk, scheduled multiples births, and is known in the area for being that doctor. You can almost never get a new patient appointment to see her unless you are already seeing another doctor more exclusively in the practice. Since it is uncertain of which doctor will be on-call the day I deliver, they schedule me to see all of them at times during my monthly/weekly checkups. I saw two other doctors the last two weeks and this week was her turn. Having been breech and given ultrasounds the last two weeks in a row, I thought this week would be no different. The waiting part was dead-on. I had to wait forever. When she came in, she also recorded that the baby was still breech (which we also knew going in) but then asked if I would consider an external version. I was shocked to hear this! We went into this appointment thinking they would automatically schedule me a c-section and just hope for the best when it came to his positioning. That was the only way we saw getting out of the c-section. She didn't even mention the word! She told me she was on-call Sunday and that she would gladly attempt the version if we were interested. She weighed the pros and cons of the procedure (concern of placenta separating from the uterus or going into active labor) but also said that in her 23 years of doing ev's, she has never seen that happen. Well, I believe she said one woman went into immediate labor after, but that's better than the placental separation. So, we agreed to go ahead with it. We scheduled the procedure for 10 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday, November 28th) and walked out. If it doesn't work and he still doesn't turn, we have a scheduled c-section. If it does work or he turns at a later date, we're going natural. I know the procedure is painful, but I'm willing to give it a shot for the potential to avoid the awful c-section recovery! The stat I was given: there's about a 30% chance it will work since it works best on people who've already been pregnant (= stretched uterus more pliable and mine isn't). She also said, though, that since he is quite high in my belly that it may be a better chance for me than another first-pregnancy candidate. Considering I was given a 25% chance he'll move on his own, I will at least increase the probability a bit more and do everything we can.

As for the rest of the baby updates...

How far along?: 37w4d
How big is Baby?: Baby W can be anywhere between 5.5-7 pounds at this point. All estimates, of course. I'm about 2 days away from viability, where the baby can be born at any time without any risk of complication or underdevelopment.
Maternity clothes?: Yes, and I hate them. Loathe. Can't wait for my other clothes to fit again.
Sleep?: I slept amazing last night thanks to the humidifier and lots of lotion. For the most part, I've been sleeping erratically, but I was happy to have a great night's rest.
Best moment of the week?: The whole week was wonderful. We spent Thanksgiving with our friends, Jim, Kristi, and Joel along with their families. Ray and I are in the midst of 4 days off together which is such a blessing to have right before chaos hits (aka having our first baby!). Sure, it will be chaos, but also a precious time in our lives we will only share together.
Movements?: Yes, he moves. A lot, and often. While we were playing games with about about 15 friends last night, and all of them witnessed Baby W moving violently in my belly. He can be quite entertaining. :)
Food cravings?: I've been wanting pizza this week more than usual... though I haven't actually had any. Haha.
Aversions?: I wouldn't say so, except that I don't feel in the mood for leftovers lately
What I miss?: See maternity clothes and sleep.
What I'm looking forward to?: Tomorrow's procedure being over. I want it to happen but I want even more for it to be over so we have a general idea of the next proceedings. Will be be having a c-section, or not?
Anything else?: Nope. Most websites are saying he's fully cooked at this point and can come at any time.
This week in history: The full-body scans and pat-downs at airports are causing lots of issues with TSA and travelers.
What's going on this week (with us)?: I mentioned a few things... but we've been spending a lot of time this week just getting little things done for Baby W. We bought some items and did the laundry of baby clothes, blankets, etc. We're now working on odds and ends that are on our to-do list for this long weekend. We've cleaned the house really well since there is a potential that tomorrow's procedure could be the day for us. Doubtful, but we aren't taking any chances of coming home to massive amounts of dust bunnies. Of course that means I'll probably be doing another deep clean before the baby actually does come, but at least we utilized our time well. We headed out last night after bundling ourselves up in a bunch of layers to see the Naperville parade through downtown. After, we had cider and headed to the Grounds for Hope Cafe to play games with a bunch of friends.

I'll update if the external version was a success, or not after tomorrow's procedure! Turn, baby, turn!