March 12: Countdown

Unless I somehow have the baby before this date -- 2 weeks from today -- I'll be induced on March 12 (38 weeks, 0 days).

Stash

Here's the stash, as of week 35. I think we're good. From the left that's prefolds, covers, pockets and all-in-ones, and wipes. Bottom right is our travel wet bag.

Weekend

It was a pretty good weekend here. We met with our doula on Friday night and talked about our birth plan for an induction and for if, somehow, I go into labor spontaneously. We now have a few more questions for our doctor about the induction, procedure-wise, and we feel like we have a general idea about how inductions can go.

We also cleaned our apartment and continued the organizing projects we started last weekend. So last weekend, we bought 2 sets of shelves for our bathroom (there are no cupboards or storage of any kind in there) and organized the bathroom ... voila:



This weekend, we put up another set of shelves above the diaper station ... shelves that may or may not be stable ... even though the stud finder said there were studs where Aaron drilled, they didn't seem to be there. Obviously we're not going to have unstable shelves above the changing table, so we might have to take them down, which would be a bummer, because the shelves now cover some of the many drilled holes in the wall. We rented a steam cleaner, and Aaron did the whole living room while I sat at the computer and ate vegetarian sushi. Then we put down this rug by the diaper station:


An another shot, of the shelves above (with a shot of our new bright red diapers in front of green canister thing) :


Rugs and shelves aren't too exciting, but these are light and bright and happy (necessary qualities for accessories in basement apartments).

We also went to a farmer's market (where there were only about 5 vendors), and I went swimming tonight. The security guard saw that I was pregnant and about to walk a long ways over a big bridge, so he told me to get in my car and go past security and over it, even though I didn't have the right ID or parking permit. So I could park right next to the gym, which made my night ... I didn't want to have to walk a lot in the cold after swimming. Or walk a lot, period.

All in all ... a nice, mellow weekend.

And finally, here's me at 35 weeks, 5 days:

update

I talked with the perinatologist about my lowered enzyme levels (which Aaron wrote about below). He said it's great that they're coming down, probably a result of both the medication working and my condition getting a little better, but that they'd still induce at ~38 weeks (as of now). I'm very happy with this.

Latest ultrasound

What you see here, folks, is a perfectly healthy baby girl. She looks almost ready to come out. Just a few more weeks. We just came from the maternal-fetal medicine doctor and he said that he is recommending that Nikki be induced sometime in here 38th week. This is week 35. After that we got a call from our OB office, who said that Nikki's latest lab work came back and her liver numbers went way down. They are still elevated but nowhere near what they were. Were not sure what that means for the induction recommendation but the MFM doctor is calling Nikki this afternoon.
By the way, the sonographer was nice enough to give us a 3-d picture this time. That's why it looks different.

Update

Most of you who read this probably already know this (and thanks for being so supportive always, but especially over the past few days), but last week we found out I have cholestasis, which means I might have to be induced. After reading lots of scary stuff about cholestasis on the Internet (not recommended), getting a scary phone call from one of my doctors, followed up by a consultation with her in which she said they'd induce at 37 weeks (or earlier, if warranted), followed by our first trip to the perinatologist, our doctor today said they will keep monitoring me and the baby through a couple different tests and that they will induce depending on how those tests go ... not necessarily at 37 weeks (possibly sooner, possibly later). Anyway, it's been a pretty rough couple of days, but we're starting to feel more optimistic and like we understand the diagnosis and the plan from here on out a little better. The doctor today said that we could allow our minds to go down the path of worry and dark thoughts but not to do that, that the expected outcome is a healthy baby.

Week 34

Week 34 Appointment

This afternoon was our 34-week appointment. We got an unexpected ultrasound, because I'm still measuring ahead, and all is good: Baby size is on track for its age and the fluid levels are fine. She's 5 pounds, 2 ounces (average weight for 34 weeks is 5 pounds, so she's doing good! Average length for this age is 12.6 inches; don't know how long she is). Here are pictures from the ultrasound, and she already is looking like Aaron:

Other things were pretty good from the appt. They drew my blood again today, which we were expecting, because of having elevated liver levels (after being sick) and then slightly better but still elevated levels last time. I'm going back again next week, which I think might be the start of our weekly visits. It's getting so close, we're so excited, and the time is going so fast!

We've now seen all the doctors in the practice and have found our favorites. We had high expectations for today's doctor -- she's rated one of the best in the DC area, and she supports natural birth (from what we could tell from looking at VA-MD-DC online bulletin boards) -- but we like one or two of the other doctors better.

Next appointment in 1 week (Monday, Feb. 18).

The week ahead

It's going to be a busy few weeks at the S-H household. On Wednesday I am going to prenatal yoga with Nikki. All of the husbands/partners of the women in the class are. It will be interesting. They don't so much do yoga as sit around on pilates balls and talk about farting and insomnia. I'm prepared to have to talk about things I don't want to talk about.

This week we'll hit 33 weeks and on Monday we have our 34 week appointment. This time we'll finally rotate around to seeing the doctor we came to the practice for. We've liked almost every one of them though and I think we'll be comfortable with whoever is on rotation when Nikki goes into labor.

We also start Lamaze in a week. I think that means we're officially starting late. Speaking of birth support -- the new edition of The Birth Partner finally came out and is on its way as I write this.

Also arriving this week are the remaining diapers I ordered -- A couple Kissaluvs size 0 and a newborn cover (Proraps I think). I might get a dozen more prefolds but otherwise I think we are set for diapers. I love to be able to say that -- I have now spent all the money I am going to spend on diapers for at least 3 months. I packed a diaper bag for the hospital last night but I am not entirely sure how it's going to work. Speaking of the diaper bag -- I finally got one and it cost a whopping 6 bucks on clearance at target. It's not exactly our style, it's faux-suede with hippie flower embroidery but it was 6 bucks!