Induction scheduled!

After talking with my doctor today, we decided to just go ahead and do steroid shots on Monday and Tuesday of next week, and induce on Thursday night. That way we skip the amniocentesis altogether, and we don't have to delay getting our baby out if the amnio showed her lungs weren't mature. The idea is that I will deliver on Friday, August 6th. Just one more week til we have our little girl in our arms! Here's my 35 week belly:

Amniocentesis for Thursday, August 5th

I will have an amnio on Thursday, August 5th and if the baby's lungs are mature, I will be induced that night. I'll be 36 weeks exactly. Keep your fingers crossed that her lungs are mature... it would just be another curve ball if they weren't.

9 days and counting!

34 week ultrasound and appointment

Today we had our 34 week ultrasound. Our little girl is doing great and growing big! She is in the 83rd percentile for growth and her estimated weight is 6lbs, 7oz!!!! We were shocked by how much she has grown. The nurse practitioner doing the ultrasound kept insisting that she looks just like Daniel. I can definitely see it... especially in the mouth. So it will be interesting to see what the verdict is after she is born. Here's a great pic of her:


We also found out today that some of my blood work is looking a little suspicious in regards to pre-eclampsia. My doctors have known all along that I am at high risk for pre-eclampsia, so they have been monitoring me diligently. Well, some of the early markers are starting to show up in my blood. I have not yet had high blood pressure, sudden swelling, or abdominal pain... or any of the other tell-tale symptoms, but there is a possibility that they will develop at some point. In the meantime, my doctors have stepped up the monitoring so that nothing sneaks up on us. It makes us a little nervous... but at least all of this didn't crop up 10 weeks ago. Our baby is well developed at this point and a good size. I would like her to stay in as long as possible... but unfortunately it may not be up to us.

If pre-eclampsia doesn't develop, then I do have a scheduled induction date of 8/26/10. At that time I will be 39 weeks.

Here's a video from today's ultrasound. She was moving her head around a lot and had her hands near her mouth as you will see.

I love priceline.com!

Daniel is attending a conference at the Sheraton all week in downtown Denver so we thought it would be fun to stay one night together downtown (since every other day of the week he is commuting in and out). Ideally we wanted to stay at the Sheraton. But even for a Tuesday night stay, the price on all the vacation sites was $220 + $30 in taxes, so $250 for just one night. Yikes. A little more than we wanted to pay.

So we went to priceline.com to try out the "name your own price". We were able to choose our location vicinity (downtown Denver) and the star level we wanted (4 star hotels only) and then we named our price. I checked and all of the 4 star hotels in that area were located along the 16th street mall and there were only 9 of them. (One of them being the Sheraton). So we were thinking we had about a 1 in 9 chance of actually getting the Sheraton... and if not... we would be close at least.

We submitted a price of $100. With taxes, it would be $120. We submitted the request and waited to see if we were approved.....

Not only did they accept our request.... but we're staying at the Sheraton!!! We were so thrilled. So instead of a night for $250, we're staying for $120. I love it when things just work out like that!

40 days!

That's how much time is left until I reach 39 weeks, and that's the maximum amount of time left until we meet our little girl! I can't believe it's so close now.

On another note, we received our stroller this week. Our family purchased it for us and we are so grateful! We are so excited to use it once Baby Girl is big enough!

And boy, it's getting harder and harder not to leak her name out. Daniel and I are starting to use her name a little more often with each other, and that makes it worse. But don't worry,... it won't be long before everyone knows her name! Patience, patience!

Outdoor Maternity Photo Shoot

This weekend Daniel and I did my maternity portraits in the park. For the shots of the two of us, I set up my camera on a tripod and used the self timer. And Daniel did a fantastic job capturing some beautiful photos of just me. Here are a couple pics from the shoot, but you can see all of the images by clicking on the "My Pictures" on the right side of the blog and then choosing the "Maternity Shoot" album.

I am a human trampoline!

Last night I was laying on my left side feeling my baby move about. She is big... measuring over 4lbs at this point and she is getting VERY strong. Her position while I was laying was such that her head was down near my cervix, her feet were on my left side and her back on my right side. So as I was laying on my left side, she essentially had her feet underneath her body.

I had my hand under my left side and could feel her feet pressing hard against them. Then suddenly she launched herself off my hand and her back and butt went lurching upwards, against my right abdominal wall. Holy smokes! I thought she was going to jump through my skin. Not a pleasant feeling. I rolled over so she couldn't try that little maneuver again!

I'm almost 32 weeks, but she's measuring more like a 34 weeker (according to biophysical ultrasound reports done at a perinatal center). It's amazing to me how strong she is getting! Her feet don't just push back in anymore if I press on them. She resists the push right back and if she wants her foot stretched out, she will have it stretched out!

Happy 4th of July!

31 Weeks!

Each week that goes by feels like such a success! With my high risk for pre-eclampsia, I am so relieved when another week goes by without any signs of its onset. Our baby girl continues to move and kick and stretch out her legs... testing the limits of how much my belly skin can stretch!

I had stopped gaining weight for about 6 weeks straight so my doctor told me to start eating more calories. Here I am following doctor's orders and taking advantage of my new table top as well! Having a big belly to set your plate on while eating is very handy!!!
A few weeks ago Daniel and I went to a Rockies game with some new friends of ours, Kara and Tim. We had a great time... the weather was perfect and the Rockies won! What more could you ask for?