38 Weeks

Had my appointment this morning. Robert had to work later, so he and Makenna came with me. Surprisingly she did not scream the entire time and actually let the midwife, that was wearing a white coat, hold her. So it is not all doctors offices she freaks out in - just her pediatrician.

Blood work results were finally in - they showed that I had already had 5th's disease and have lifetime immunity. So, now I am back to being a "regular" pregnant person. Which also means I don't get to see the little one again on screen this Friday. Now, if he wants to show up in person, I won't complain!

Everything else seems normal - I didn't hear any complaints about weight or blood pressure being too high. She did check to see if there was any progress and that was a very uncomfortable minute or so. She said I was essentially not dilated (so not sure what the girl thought she felt the other week, because I can most certainly agree with the the opinion from today) and I am 80% effaced. So, some progress, but not a lot.

I suppose now that my legs are working again I can get up and take a walk, but it has just been too darn hot! So, for those hoping for a baby before the weekend, doesn't look like there's much luck. I could be wrong, but he may be settled for a while longer. Oh well - he'll come when he's ready!

What a week

I must say after a week like this one, I can't say that I would like to do this again! I suppose it started last Friday when mom called and said Makenna had a rash. She had run a fever on Wed., but it went away, so we assumed teething as the temp wasn't near as high as it had been a couple of weeks ago. And since she had picked the worst time in the world to decide that she needed to "rocky" before bed and naps and wasn't satisfied with just a few minutes - would scream - with tears - until you "rocky-ed" to her content. So back to the pediatrician we go. Makenna now knows what's going on when she is there. They called her name (I assumed to go back, but I had to fill out paperwork) so I tell Makenna to come with me. She decides to sit on the floor in the waiting room and cry "All done!" Long story short the dr. says she has hand, foot, mouth. Which after the fever is not contagious. Fast forward to Monday morning and I wake up with a rash on my belly. Wonderful. And the muscles in the top part of my leg are killing me. I feel like I have been exercising for hours with very tired muscles - which I can tell you clearly has not been the case. I have a normal appointment that day, so the midwife tells me that hand, foot, mouth is the same as 5th's disease (human version of par.vo). Well, I've had 5th's disease as a child, so I can't quite figure out why I have the rash and she proceeds to say had I not mentioned Makenna's rash, she would have assumed pregnancy rash. But, since I have mentioned Makenna's illness, I get blood drawn - which over the years I have become very good at. Tuesday my entire legs feel like I have been exercising forever to eventually include the arches in my feet. Let's just say the next two days I look and feel like I cannot walk. It was horrible. I could not for the life of me figure out how I was going to make it to July 10 with these walking problems. And when I looked up pregnancy rash I was thrilled to find that (according to Dr. Goog.le) that 70% of women with the rash are having boys. Lovely. And the best part is that it might not go away until a week or so after the baby is born. Even more exciting. I traded phone calls with my dr. office and they decide since the blood results have yet to come back, they will schedule an appointment with the specialist to have an ultrasound and work me in this week. That was this morning. Still no blood results. Apparently with the par.vo the baby could develop fluid, which is why the ultrasound. However, I did learn that these two things ARE NOT the same, so I am now thinking that the ultrasound and follow up specialist appointments are pointless because the pediatrician thought it was hand, foot, mouth - not par.vo. If Eli had fluid, they would have recommend induction, but since he was fine and we don't know what the blood will say, I had to schedule another ultrasound for next Friday. Now my office had gotten my hopes up that maybe they would induce next week, but from the sounds of it, I will be having this baby when he feels like coming. Thankfully my legs are feeling much better - I found the ugly shoes (with arches) that I had worn with Makenna. I thought I had been wearing sandals so frequently lately maybe that was causing my leg problems. And after wearing the ugly shoes for 3 days, I think it has helped. As I mentioned - earlier this week I wasn't sure how I was going to make it to the end of next week. Today, I feel like he will be in there forever! I hear there is a full moon tomorrow (Saturday), so maybe that will coerce him out?! Probably not as that didn't help with Makenna either! Oh, on a good note - the ultrasound tech said his head was normal size and he currently weighs 7 lbs 7 oz. (Makenna's birth weight) and so another two weeks would put him 8 lbs 7 ozs. About 8.5 lbs - which was the guess the other week. Of course the measurements can be off, but it doesn't seem like he is going to be too far from the norm - at least there is some hope! My appetite has picked up a bit today, so I may go have some ice-cream! Enjoy!

36 Week Appt

Update on baby Eli - so again no pictures. I could be totally wrong, but I am having a hard time believing that I will make it to July 10. For some reason I had no doubt with Makenna that I would make it to the Christmas shutdown for work - my only hope was the she came soon after so that I wasn't out on leave with no baby. But this time I feel a little different - and it just started this past week. But I just feel different. I can tell he has dropped. The movements are much lower. So we'll see. Maybe he will prove me wrong and I will suffer through this heat for another 4 weeks.

The doctors office that I go to has two "sides." There are two doctors - one that is a hospital employee and another that went out on her own - but they share patients and space. You rotate among all. So one "side" does not do internals - that is the side I was on today. So, I have no idea if there has been any progress. What she did say is that I was GBS positive so I get to have antibiotics during delivery. And since I am allergic to penicillin and the mycin family they will have to get creative. Great. So to recap the last two visits, I have a child with a big head who is going to weigh at least a pound more than my daughter and I get to be put on an antibiotic that hopefully I am not allergic to. Sounds like great fun! And she said (since she is a nurse and doesn't deliver babies) that if I make it to 39 weeks we may want to talk induction. Something to do with the GBS and Makenna being a fast labor. So why we don't have a plan for now - I don't know.

I'm just hoping that we make it to next week - I don't have any reason to believe that we won't - so that little Eli is 37 weeks and then I can ask the midwife what the plan should be given fast labor with Makenna and GBS.

But Baby Eli is fine - heart rate is fine and no worries from that front. And still going strong. I am thinking he currently has the hiccups. But, I am still going to try to go to bed! Good night!

No pictures - 35 weeks

Sorry - I am having trouble with our computer reading the SD card, so no new pictures of Makenna. I can't believe that we have less than 5 weeks (I hope) until we meet Elijah. I am getting ready - I still feel pretty good, but simple tasks (picking things up off the floor, etc.) are pretty difficult at this point. At my appointment on Monday she actually did an internal exam and says that I am probably 1 cm. But this being the second child could have something to do with that. Plus I hear there is the possibility of walking around a couple of cm for weeks, so I don't think it means a whole lot at this point. I saw a nurse practitioner and thinks that Eli could be 8.5lbs. So if he comes early, you won't hear me complaining! Plus she says that he has a big head. This does not sound fun! The good news is that he is head down and she doesn't see that he would flip at this point, so sounds like we are on the right track at the moment. I'm now on the weekly plan, so I should have another update on the upcoming arrival sometime next week.

I suppose since I don't have pictures, I could tell a couple of Makenna stories.

We were in the car the other day and I was in the back with Makenna. For some reason she was sticking her fingers in her mouth and somewhat gagging herself. So I told her to stop. She says "good girl" (probably meaning that she had taken her fingers out of her mouth) and I replied with no. She responds "bad." I saw Robert's jaw drop and I busted out laughing. I know, the Nanny would have my hide!

She has started to tell us what she wants. As in she gets up from her nap and will say "nilk" - Robert continues to try to get her to say milk, but she is close enough. It used to be "nilt," so we're getting there. When you open the fridge she will ask for yogurt. I suppose it is bittersweet - nice that she is really starting to communicate, but also a sign that she is growing up!

Our neighbor told us a couple of weeks ago that we could take the swing set from his backyard as his kids are older and don't use it. So that has been Robert's project - taking parts of it down and then buying new wood to replace the rotted pieces. We'll post pictures when it is done.

Elijah's room is almost done. We have some things to hang on the wall and I will probably have someone come paint a quote over his bed while I am on maternity leave.

Hopefully we can get the photos up soon. I'm headed to bed.