Baby R -- week 29 update

Here we are in week 29 and Declan is now the size of a small cabbage, measuring 17 inches and 2.9 lbs according to the What to Expect app.
Wednesday, July 25th was the 4th Annual Bump Day. A day to celebrate bumps everywhere and promote healthy pregnancies. I participated by sharing this pic on Instagram and Twitter.
We took this pic Wednesday morning before work in Declan's room.

28 weeks, 6 days! Can't wait to meet my little boy!

It's funny to me looking at this pic, because it doesn't seem like my bump is that big yet but as I look in the mirror each morning, it seems like my bump is huge! As I keep telling D, our mirrors must be skewed.  Ha!
I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment Wednesday evening after work but I got a call Wednesday afternoon letting me know that my doctor would need to reschedule as she had other patients in Active Labor. I completely understood and realized that could be me in a few months and rescheduled for Thursday morning.

On Thursday, I drove to the hospital for my appointment and everything went well.  My bump is measuring right on track at 29 weeks, which is exactly where I should have been on Thursday. My weight is also on track (I've gained 20 lbs since the beginning of IVF) and my blood pressure is in a normal range.  Declan's heartbeat was still really strong in the 150 bpm range. I got my Dtap vaccine protecting me from diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, which is extremely important since whooping cough can be dangerous to our little guy. The doctor also recommended that D get the vaccine as well, which ironically he did when he had his work physical on Tuesday. We'll both be protected and protecting our son when we bring him home from the hospital.
While I was at my appointment, I also asked my doctor about labor and delivery and tried to get a better idea of what I want to do for delivery. Natural birth, epidural, or local anesthesia...there is so much to think about and decide which is best for me. She gave me some good information that will hopefully help with the decision. She also informed me about the possibility of having to have a C section and when she'd make the call to bring me back to the OR if that was necessary. We also went over if I need to be induced and at 39 weeks, she'll put me on the schedule for induction but if I go into labor before that, then that's even better.  Either way, I will have to deliver in week 40 due to my advanced maternal age.

I'm still feeling really good and am super lucky that everything is going well and on track! We're working to finish up a few things around our house and then we'll focus on getting ready for our little boy's arrival!

Baby R -- week 28 update

We've made it to the 3rd trimester and our little boy is the size of a cauliflower this week and should be around 2.5 lbs. He's so very active and we're only a few short months away from meeting our precious little one!

Since my last post, I found out the results of my 3 hour Glucose test that I took on July 7th and thankfully I passed with flying colors! One less thing for us to worry about right now as we enter the home stretch. We also started our birthing classes on the 11th and we've had 2 classes so far. The first class focused on labor and this week's class focused on delivery and positioning. We have a week off before we talk about inducing and C-sections and then our last class will focus on life with a newborn. It really has been super helpful attending these classes and it has opened my eyes to things I hadn't even thought about! Week one of class we also got to tour the hospital and the L&D floors. While we weren't sure if we would deliver at this hospital (since it's not my doc's main hospital, just a hospital where she has privileges), it gave us a chance to review the pros and cons of using this hospital. Yesterday, we went and toured my doctor's home hospital and learned about their practices for L&D also. While I've known and felt pregnant for this entire journey, yesterday it really hit me that soon enough I will be delivering this sweet boy and I'm not sure if I'm really prepared yet. We saw a premature baby in the Special Care Unit and he was so teeny tiny. That's what really made me think. People always say you're never totally prepared to have a child and I totally get that now. Obviously D and I had fertility issues which prolonged us getting to this point but I really thought, "oh, I'm in my mid-thirties, I'm financially prepared, I'm responsible, I've got this under control" and then you see such a small human being and I turned to putty and started thinking, "How are we going to care for such a tiny person?," "How will we know what to do to keep him happy and healthy?," "What if I can't breastfeed due to the infertility we faced?" "What if I'm not a good mom?"  I know it's all just pre-delivery jitters but it really made me anxious.
I also have to start thinking about what I want to do in Labor and Delivery.  Do I want a natural birth or an Epidural? I know everything can change but I want to at least have my birth plan mostly figured out so I'm not completely stressed entering the hospital. I'm torn between natural and using meds. While I'd like to think I could have a baby naturally, I'm just not 100% confident in that yet. I hope to use some of the relaxation techniques I've learned in childbirth class but will labor be too much for me? There is so much to consider and I need to figure out what exactly will be best for me, D and baby Declan.

In other news, we had our St. Louis baby shower last Saturday and while it was a lot of work getting everything ready, the shower was a huge success! The shower was co-ed and we had 25 guests attend. We had so much food, the games were a lot of fun, I enjoyed talking to all of our friends and family and we got a lot of great gifts!
We had everyone complete baby predictions and advice cards for us too.  Probably my favorite game was our Name That Baby game. We had 10 pictures of D and I as babies and everyone had to guess who was who. My mom, dad and aunt were not allowed to play since they should have known the pictures but we had everyone else play and the answers were so funny! No one else got 100% but my step dad and uncle came close with 9.

Here are a few more pics from our celebration.

The cute cupcakes!

Chocolates handmade by my Mom

My brother helping with the food setup

The prizes and the games

All the wonderful gifts!

The Grandparents

My future sis and me

Our niece and nephew with their homemade pictures for Declan's room

Gifts from my cousin Nicole - we have a future Sparty and Blues fan!

The Proud Dad to Be!

While the day of our shower was a long day, we opted not to try to put everything away once we got home. Thankfully we could just sit it in Declan's room until we were ready to tackle putting everything in its place. We opted to do that this weekend and found a home for everything for the time being. I'm sure we'll change spots once Declan is home and I realize no matter how organized I thought I was, there are more convenient spots for some of the everyday essentials.

This week I have another doctor's appointment on Wednesday afternoon. It's my last monthly appointment before I start seeing my doctor every two weeks until we hit 36 weeks and then the visits will be weekly. I'm still feeling really good and do not have any complaints about any common pregnancy issues. I've also been able to keep up with my workouts which I'm hoping will help me in labor and delivery with the contractions and pushing.  Overall though, I've been extremely lucky!

Baby R -- week 26 update

Here we are at week 26 and our baby is the size of an eggplant and weighs about 2 lbs. We're still plugging along and getting ready for our little guy's arrival.
This week we got Declan's dresser delivered and with the 4th of July holiday on Wednesday, we were able to start putting it together.  While it took a few nights to complete, we can happily report it is mostly finished...minus the back which we need a few more hands to help hold up and screw in.
While we were putting together the dresser, our helper decided to test out her brother's crib to make sure it was up to his standards. She gives it 3 paws up! I can only imagine what it will be like when Declan is here.  I'm guessing she will be in his room constantly checking on him!

She also inspected our work on the dresser when it was complete and gave us her seal of approval on that as well.

Having the extra day off for the holiday was extremely helpful this week.  It allowed us to get more of the baby shower preparations complete and also take care of many of our regular errands.  It also gave me a chance to get a few good workouts in before my Glucose Tolerance Test this weekend.
Yesterday morning, I had to be to the lab at 7:15 am for my 3 hour test.  We got there right on time and I was taken back for my fasting blood work.  After a quick draw, I got my 100 g of Fruit Punch glucose to drink. Similar to the Orange glucose at the doctors office, I down the 100 g in no time flat. I had 4 minutes to drink it and I think I had it finished in under a minute.  Really, I don't know why many pregnant women complain about the glucose drinks. They are super sweet, yes, but they taste really good! After I finished my drink, I sat back in the waiting room for 60 minutes until it was time for the 1 hour draw. At 8:28 am, I was called back and gave my second sample.  After a quick poke, I went back out to the waiting room for another hour. In between the draws, I drank a ton of water, read, watched tv and talked to D.  At 9:28 am, I went back again for a third draw. While the first two were done on my left arm, the phlebotomist decided to try my right arm to give my left a break. Unfortunately the veins in my right arm are even tinier than the small veins in my left arm and I ended up with a huge bruise in just minutes after my draw. I went back to the waiting room and waited another hour for the fourth and final draw. At 10:28 am, I was called back a final time and got the final draw done from my left arm again. Really it wasn't that bad. It gave me some time to think and read and relax before we took on the rest of the day but I was glad to get out of the lab around 10:40 and head back home to tackle the rest of our day. I hope to hear back regarding the results this week and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I passed and I don't have gestational diabetes. It scares me to think about having to manage that for the next 14 weeks and I just want to have a healthy little boy.

When we got home, my mom was there working on shortening the curtains we hung in Declan's room. We bought 96 inch panels because I thought the 84 inch would be too short and they needed to be taken up about 8 inches so they didn't drag on the floor. Since I'm not the most patient with sewing, my mom offered to take care of it for us. She had 3 panels done and was finishing up the 4th when we got home. Another item checked off the list for Declan's room.

Afterwards, we went to GFS and Aldi to pick up the ingredients to make the food for the baby shower next weekend. Since the shower is next Saturday afternoon, we'll need to prep and make everything Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, which meant we needed to pick up nearly everything this weekend so we can make it in time. We're having a fairly simple menu of baked mostaccoli, dollar roll sandwiches, meatballs, salad, asian cole slaw, veggies, fruit, cupcakes and cookies but it still is quite a bit to tackle before next weekend. Thankfully with a few stops, we managed to pick up most of what we needed minus the veggies, fruit, cupcakes and cookies, which we'll get closer to the end of the week so they are fresher for the shower.

I also worked on finishing the games on Saturday so we can get those printed this week.  We have 3 games for everyone to play and I'm excited to see how everyone likes them.

As for today, we had household chores to work on and a bit more shopping to get finished. I gift wrapped the prizes for the games and packed up some of the stuff we'll need to take with us to the Clubhouse next weekend.  We'll have a busy week ahead and I want to be as prepared as possible so we don't have too much stress going into Saturday.  This week we have our first Childbirth class on Wednesday night then on Thursday afternoon we have our Cat Orientation at the rescue shelter where we're going to volunteer. I'm looking forward to the Childbirth class and I'm sure we'll learn a lot over the 4 weeks. I'm also excited to tour the hospital which will hopefully help us to decide which hospital to use for labor and delivery.
We're also in the process of working on our birth plan, choosing a pediatrician and starting to look for potential daycare/preschool options for next year.  So many decisions and time is passing way faster than I thought it would!  I'm enjoying pregnancy way more than I ever thought I could and knowing our little boy will be here soon enough is very exciting!

Finally, I want to share one other picture from this afternoon that completely melted my heart.  Kinny has been spending a lot more time cuddling with me. We talk to her all the time about Declan and we talk to Declan about Kinny also. It seems like she already is forming that sibling bond with her brother.  This afternoon as I was sitting on the couch, she cuddled up by me and put her sweet paw on my pregnant belly, almost like she wanted to make sure her brother knew she was there.  He kicked back a few times not hard enough to scare her or make her move but it was almost his way of telling her, he loves her too.

Baby R -- week 25 update

We're already in July and our little boy is now the size of a rutabaga and according to my the tech at my follow up anatomy scan on Thursday is weighing 1 lb 11 oz.

Last week, I had my monthly doctors appointment on Wednesday and my follow up anatomy scan on Thursday and both went fairly well minus one small hiccup. At my doctor's appointment, both my blood pressure and my belly size were normal for Declan's gestational age and his heart rate was a strong 144 bpm.  She asked how everything was going and also made sure to tell me that if my job becomes too stressful and affects my health, I need to let her know so she can provide doctor's orders in order to ease my workload.  While it is stressful and I'm working far more than I should, I don't want to have any restrictions just yet. I really want to keep my time off limited to after Declan's born so I can spend as much time as possible with him.
The doctor had me take my 1 hour glucose test while I was there as well.  I drank the orange drink in record time (it really tasted good...I don't know what other pregnant women are talking about when they say its gross, I found it refreshing!) and then had to go to the lab to have blood work completed. Unfortunately, my insurance doesn't allow me to go to the lab at the doctor's office. I sat there waiting for my appointment only to find out that I had to drive to a different lab a few miles away because they take my insurance. It was a bit nerve-wracking hoping I would make it within the hour time frame needed for the blood work but thankfully the other lab was fairly quiet and I was able to get there a few minutes before I was due for the draw. After the draw, I headed back to work for the monthly Financial meeting with our owner.

Thursday morning, my follow up Anatomy scan was scheduled for 8 am so before heading to work, D and I drove to the hospital for that. The tech was finally able to get the shots she needed of Declan's heart and with a lot of poking, prodding and rolling around on the ultrasound table, we got him to move in order to get the pics of his face that were also needed. He seems to love to face towards my back and snuggle in rather than show off so it took a bit to get him to face forward. He was super active though moving his arms and legs throughout the process and both the tech and I felt his displeasure with being moved in order for us to get pics of his profile.  It was the absolute cutest little face though! He even stuck out his tongue and yawned a few times as if he was telling us not to bother him. I just love this little guy, he's just so amazing and I'm excited to be his mama!  I left the hospital and got to work at 9 am and started my crazy workday.

While at work, I got a notification that my test results from my one hour glucose test were in. Unfortunately my results were elevated and I did not pass as I had hoped. The doctor's office called and told me that I needed to schedule a 3 hour Glucose Tolerance test for this upcoming week. The 3 hour test is apparently more accurate and hopefully with provide better results. So after talking to the doctor's office, I worked to find a time that I could go to the lab for the 3 hour test. Because I have to sit and have blood work every hour for 3 hours after this next test, I opted to schedule it for Saturday, July 7th so I didn't have to miss too much time at work. It bummed me out that I failed the 1 hour Glucose test but after researching a bit, I found out that many pregnant women have to take the 3 hour test. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this test comes back with much better results. I really haven't been eating many sweets and I've continued to workout so I am hopeful the results will be better. I just want to maintain a healthy pregnancy and carry Declan full term with no issues.

This weekend, we started setting up Declan's room.  My mom and Michael bought his crib and mattress and it was delivered last week. Yesterday they came out and helped us build it and get Dustin's desk downstairs. It took a bit longer than expected because the entire thing needed to be built but thankfully it is done and ready for Declan's arrival. We also unrolled the new rug I bought last weekend and moved the rocker into place. Kinny came in to help us too.  She's getting excited to become a big sister in a few months. After the room was put together, we went to dinner with my mom and Michael and spent a few hours just relaxing on the couch watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

 Next up for us is getting the dresser in and built.  Grandma and Grandpa Roberts purchased the matching dresser for us last week and it's expected to be delivered this week. It will take more help from our family since neither D or I are handy enough to do it ourselves. We'll have a crew out here on July 14th when we have our shower so hopefully we can get it completed then.

It's so hard to believe but our St. Louis baby shower is now in less than 2 weeks. I've still got quite a list of prep work I need to get through to make sure we're ready. RSVPs are due today so hopefully I will have a better idea of how many guests to expect so I can finish the preparations over the next 10 days. Next weekend, I need to buy the food so we can start preparing it a day or two ahead of time, print out the games and pick up a few other last minute things. The shower here will probably be smaller than the one in Michigan but I still want it to be a memorable day and fun for our guests. My mom has been making chocolates and Lifesaver pacifiers and seems to be enjoying helping me with the little details. I'm so grateful to have her help!