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 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!