Baby R -- week 38 update and our quarantined Kinny

In less than 2 weeks we will be meeting our little boy!  It is so hard to believe that one year ago we were trying to figure out what we were going to do when we found out from the fertility doc that I had very few follicles and ultimately was diagnosed with Diminished Ovarian Reserve.  I still am pinching myself with how lucky I've been throughout these 9 months and I'm so glad we made the decision to pursue IVF even if it was a scary thought at first.

So what's been up the last two weeks....
Kinny had her Radiocat Iodine I-131 treatment and came through like a champ. She's been quarantined in our guest bedroom and we've had very little interaction with her. It's been hard but I know that it is best and she's on the road to recovery. We'll take her back to the vet on Thursday to have a 2 week Geiger check and then she'll have to see her regular vet in 2 more weeks for T4 bloodwork and renal panels.  She's been eating and taking her meds and overall seems to be back to normal. *fingers crossed*

As for baby Declan, I had my 37 week appointment on Wednesday, September 19th and we had an ultrasound scheduled along with my normal prenatal appointment to check on his weight and stats. Having gone through IVF and being of Advanced Maternal Age, my doctor wanted to make sure everything was on track. The ultrasound went well as did the Biophysical profile. Declan's estimated weight was 6 lbs 2 ounces and he was mostly on track for all of his measurements.
I was only scheduled to have the ultrasound at noon and then was supposed to come back at 5 pm for my actual prenatal appointment but the doctor was able to fit me in before I had to head back to work.  Everything seemed fine with the ultrasound and the appointment but after I left, the doctor reviewed all of the results and saw Declan's heartbeat all over the place from the multiple times they checked it and as I was on my way back to work, she called and ordered me to go to the hospital for a Non-Stress test to ensure the baby wasn't in distress. Let me tell you, that was one of the scariest calls I've endured. I turned my car around and headed to the hospital where they hooked me up to monitor the baby's heartbeat for 30 minutes. Thankfully Declan's heartbeat settled and was as perfect as it could be according to the L&D nurse taking care of me. Turns out that my lack of eating most likely caused the erratic heartbeats. Work was absolutely insane that day and I missed out on my morning snack and then had to leave for the doctor at lunchtime so I hadn't eaten since 6:30 in the morning. I learned my lesson and I've been making sure that no matter how busy it is, I need to take the time to eat my snacks and lunch on time so that we do not have any problems these last few weeks.  It also helps that the Ultrasound tech was able to change my remaining ultrasounds to 4:30 pm rather than at lunchtime.

On Friday, September 21st, D's office threw him a surprise baby shower in the office and I was lucky enough to get to join in on the surprise.  We got so many great gifts from all of his co-workers and they had a cute cupcake cake for us. D was definitely surprised! It was so hard keeping the secret from him because I tell him everything but I am super happy I was able be there for the celebration and not ruin it for him!

This week I had my 38 week appointment and had another ultrasound and prenatal appointment. D was able to go with me this week and see Declan on the ultrasound. My doctor also scheduled my induction date -- October 10th at 6 pm. My doctor expects that I'll come in and get prepped and I'll most likely be in labor for most of the 11th. While I'm a bit anxious about labor and delivery, I'm more worried about taking care of my little boy once we bring him home. In the hospital we will have a crew of nurses helping us and when we get home, we'll have to get acclimated to a newborn and figuring out a schedule that works for all of us.

This past week I also turned in my final work schedule to my boss. My official last day will be the 10th at noon and I'll return on January 3rd. I'm hoping to have everything set at work so that I can take off with little to no issue and enjoy every minute with Declan and Kinny.  Work has been so crazy that I don't know what to expect but I can only hope for the best.

I have one more ultrasound and prenatal appointment scheduled for this upcoming week before the big day!  Hopefully we'll have everything ready in time for D day!

Baby R -- week 36 update and Kinny update

Here we are at week 36!! Our little guy is the size of a large cantaloupe and is approximately 19-22 inches in length and weighing in at 6 lbs. I am still in disbelief how quickly this pregnancy has gone. It seems like not so long ago I was taking my stim shots and hoping for a positive outcome and now we're down to 26 days until my due date.
I had my weekly doctor's appointment on Wednesday night after work. As soon as I got to the doctor's office, I was told my doc had to head to a delivery at the hospital and that there would be about a 45 minute delay. I didn't have a problem waiting so I just sat down and waiting for D who was on his way. About 15 minutes into the wait, the nurses came back to tell us it would be about an hour until the doctor would be back to the office. Again, I had no problem waiting. It was much easier for me to wait than to try to reschedule around work. So I sat there on my phone and talking to the other women waiting to see the doctor while D came home to feed Kinny and check on her. D got back just in time for my appointment and in we went to see the the doc. At this appointment I had my group B strep screening. The doctor also checked to see if I was dilated and checked on the baby's position. Thankfully Declan is head down and surprisingly I am 1 cm dilated and my cervix is thinner than what the doctor expected for a first time mom.  Both were good signs and the doctor thinks this will help my labor and delivery. *fingers crossed*
Next week, I'm scheduled to have an ultrasound before my appointment. It will be the first ultrasound since late June and I can't wait to see Declan's growth and all of features now that we're nearing the end of pregnancy.  I'm convinced Declan will look like Dustin when he's born.

This past week we also had a visit for Kinny to determine the game plan for her hyperthyroidism. I called the specialty vet office and they told me that the treatment she needed wasn't something that they did and I needed to call the only vet in St. Louis that offers the Radiocat Iodine I-131 treatment. Luckily, this specialty clinic is close to my office and we were able to get an appointment on Friday morning.  Yesterday morning we went in for our consultation with the doctor.  The doctor reviewed Kinny's medical history and checked her out and feels she's a good candidate for the Radiocat Iodine I-131 treatment.  We've set up the treatment for this Tuesday and she will be in isolation at the clinic until Thursday because she'll have a high level of radioactivity due to the treatment. I hate that she will be in isolation and even worse for me when she gets home because she will have to be isolated away from me in our guest bedroom for 2 weeks since I'm pregnant. D will be in charge of taking care of Kinny exclusively for the next 2 weeks and can have limited time with her while the rest of the radioactivity declines. I'm sure this will be harder on me than on Kinny but I just hate that I won't be able to cuddle with her and the fact that she won't be able to leave the guest room when she usually has free reign of our whole house. I am a nervous wreck but I want my girl to be healthy! We're staying positive and are hopeful that this will help our sweet Kinny girl!

Baby R -- week 35 update

It's been a whirlwind few weeks for us and thankfully we're still plugging along in spite of all of the craziness we've been facing.
This week our little boy is the size of a canary melon and according to my app, he's 19-22 inches long and approximately 5.5 lbs. He's still quite the active boy!  I constantly feel some part of him moving and grooving!  Starting this week, I'm visiting the doctor weekly until Declan is born. It's unimaginable that in just 5 short weeks we will be able to hold our miracle. Right now I'm a wave of emotions....excited and happy to finally meet him, scared to experience labor and delivery and worried I won't know how to care for my child once he makes his entrance into the world. It's been so easy to keep him protected in utero, I just hope I can do the same once he's out in the real world. This upcoming week we'll do a strep-B test and weeks 37, 38 and 39 I'll have ultrasounds to make sure everything is on point for delivery. Week 39 is also when we'll set up an induction date in case Declan doesn't arrive by his due date. Being 35, means I have a few more hurtles to jump to ensure that we have a healthy baby and my doctor won't let me go beyond my due date to ensure that we avoid some of the known medical issues for mothers of "advanced maternal age."

So over the last few weeks, D and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary and made a trip to Michigan for our Michigan family baby shower. We had a great time seeing everyone and got a lot of amazing gifts from our family and friends. We also got to spend a few days visiting with family and also visited the MSU Dairy Store for an afternoon ice cream date. We had one little hiccup when the rental SUV we had got a flat tire. We tried to take it back to the rental facility to have the swap out the SUV and unfortunately they did not have another SUV of similar size to replace it with but they could give us a compact car. At 7+ months pregnant, this was not the thing to tell me especially when we made the trip up with a bigger car since we were having our baby shower. Thankfully we were able to find a tire shop to plug where 2 nails caused the flat.
The baby shower was a success. It was far more over the top than what I had expected but we had a great time. Here are a few pics from our trip:

D's favorite gift, the Tula. He even convinced Eli to go for a ride!

After our trip to Michigan, the next weekend we attended Kirchenfest where D kept up his annual tradition of bartending at the picnic. I unfortunately was hit with Sciatica and was in severe back pain not only that day but for about 2 and a half weeks. I've heard some pregnant women face this in the 3rd trimester and while I was lucky to not have many other pregnancy issues, this one took the cake for me. I'm so glad that this week I've finally started feeling better and can walk almost normally again.

Last weekend was Labor Day and we had a huge to-do list to complete to get ready for Declan's arrival. We spent the entire weekend cleaning our house, buying the last of the baby essentials, packing my hospital bag, getting our carseats installed at the hospital, washing all of Declan's clothes, bedding, blankets, etc.
On top of that we had a medical scare with Kinny and spent part of the weekend visiting both the vet and the emergency pet hospital. Back at the end of July, we took Kinny in for her visit to the cardiologist for a echocardiogram follow up for her heart murmur. During that appointment they determined she has hyperthyroidism and would need meds to help her heart, blood pressure and thyroid get back to normal. We'd been giving her the meds, even with her putting up a fight some days but she seemed to be doing better. Last Sunday, she was extremely lethargic and not eating or drinking and it scared us. We got her into her vet in hopes that it was something easy and as our luck would have it, it was not. Her fever was super high and they recommended we get her into the emergency pet hospital ASAP. We drove straight there where they started tests to figure out what was wrong. It was so sad for us as we had to leave her there overnight for observation. A pregnant lady should never have to do such a thing...I was a basket-case. Kinny is my first baby and all I wanted was for her to be back to her normal, happy, sweet self.
We got to pick her up on Monday after they determined that she had a reaction to her thyroid medicine. We got antibiotics because her white blood cell count was super low and told that we needed to follow up with her vet in a few days and consider another therapy for her hyperthyroidism.
While she still wasn't eating much, she did seem to perk up as the week progressed and her counts were back to normal when we went to her follow up appointment on Thursday afternoon. We do still need to address her hyperthyroidism issue and the therapy they recommend since meds are not an option is Radiocat Iodine 131. That means she'd have to have radiation and be quarantined for a week because this treatment would make her radioactive. I'm beyond nervous and scared not only for the treatment but the fact that I can't see or touch my girl for at least that long. Not only that, but with being pregnant, I don't know what else this means for us. Obviously she needs the treatment sooner rather than later but we have a human child coming in less than 5 weeks and the thought of her being sick and me being pregnant these last few weeks is nerve-wracking. This week I'm faced with talking to my doctor about Kinny's treatment and what it means for me and then getting back with the specialty vet and figuring out when to start her treatment.
She still is the absolute best girl ever and we'll do everything we can to make sure she stays healthy.
I snapped a few pics of her helping us with prepping for her brother over the last few weeks:

Testing out the bed and sheets to make sure they are up to Declan's standards

Inspecting all of the baby essentials we picked up

We thought it was stressful for us 3 years ago switching jobs, buying our house and getting married all in a span of 3 months but I think everything going on now has been harder on us but somehow we'll find a way to get through it all!

This weekend has been a bit more normal and I was able to make a few freezer meals for postpartum and take care of some of the smaller items left on our list. I also have spent a good amount of time just cuddling with my girl and getting some much needed rest.