36/37 week report and picts

we've begun the weekly appts...finally! we had an appt last thursday. there are no signs of estella arriving anytime soon. she was still so high, the doc opted to do a quick ultrasound just to make sure she was still head down. luckily, she is. everything is looking good. our next appt is this thursday.

i did have a bought of contractions last wednesday night. not painful. but, they lasted for about 3 hours. we concluded it was probably stress-related and not real labor.

we had a great weekend, last weekend. nan was in town. (for those of you who dont know nan...she is one of my best friends that i've known since 7th grade and is expecting a baby girl in October.) it was fun to relax with another preggars for the weekend. and, we got lots of funny looks with our baby bellies. apparently, 2 pregnant women is a strange sight...

we took this belly shot last night (36.5 weeks)

34 weeks!

i think it finally hit us that we will have a new baby very soon. this weekend we talked about our new addition quite a bit. we have really done much prep for her arrival. maybe the nesting bug will hit sometime soon? i guess we do know that she doesnt need much, so there isn't huge pressure to get her room ready.

last week the doc hooked us up to the monitor. estella was a little lethargic, so they wanted to make sure all was ok. she passed all the needed markers. so, they sent us home. our next appt is on the 15th, then we will go once/week. wow. crazy.

i am beginning to feel really pregnant. tired. hard to roll out of bed. the norm. but, she is doing good. she is quite active in there. (a lot more than ely was.) i would say she might be a gymnastic with some of her tumbles :)

attached is a pic of my tummy at 32 weeks (about 2 weeks ago). i will post another at 36 weeks.

Week 28 Tummy

There's been quite an expansion going on in my tummy. Babygirl just continues to grow, and so does my tummy. (I think she has even provided some lovely stretch marks to remember her by. Ely didn't leave me with such a gift.)

Some people have noticed, I'm carrying Estella a lot lower than I carried Ely. That is making for some extra growing pains that I don't recall from my pregnancy with Ely.

Other than some stretching and feeling huge, I am feeling ok. Dealing with a little nausea that pushes me to go into carb-overload. But, nothing that is too bad.

Just 11.5 more weeks to go!

27.5 week update

we had another U/S on thursday. they were look for any issues that could come from earlier issues. seems all is still good! they said her measurements are running in the 58 percentile. that day, she was head down. which is a first. AND...the previa is gone! finally at a place where we can "resume normal activity" and can proceed with a normal birthing plan. YEAH! hopefully, all appointments continue to provide us good news!

i had a follow-up with my OB on friday. she said all was looking good. we laugh because the appointments seem "boring."

enjoy estellas pics. anthony and noticed she looked a little different this time. by the looks of these shots, she has a fairly large nose and big-ole lips :)

i will post some new belly picts next week!

24-week update

growing, growing, growing...my tummy is expanding quite nicely, as you can see. she's kicking all the time. even to the point of seeing my stomach poke out. i cannot keep ely's attention long enough for him to witness it. soon enough.

i had a check in last friday. a week early due to some concerns. luckily, all was fine in baby land. our next appt will be 5/20. we'll also have an U/S to take a look at the previa situation. hopefully, the placenta has moved, and we can cross that concern off our list too :)

i've been nesting a little bit. which is funny, because i never really nested with ely. we went through all the bins of baby stuff that i'd saved from ely's younger days. we were able to salvage all the toys and a lot of the 0-6 month items are gender neutral. she'll just have to be used to wearing some blue in her first few months too. with the help of some other girl cousins, she'll be able to look like a girl in public ;)

we're waiting to re-do the room as a nursery for a few more months. we are hoping to have a few guests in the early summer. so, we'll keep it as a guest room until mid-july. we do know the "theme." (actually, i am not one for themes, but i like to have a color "theme") the plan is red and fuscia with aqua accents. i think this is the bedding we will be purchasing. (gives you a better idea of what we're thinking.)

20-ish week update

after the good news shared last week, the 20-week update seems a little boring. but, i will follow through with shorter updates and picts.

now that we are considered a "normal pregnancy," we will have normal visits at normal times. i went on friday to visit my normal OB for a 20-week check-in. to my surprise, i had packed on quite a few pounds in the last 4 weeks. i had only gained 6lbs in the first 16 weeks. from week 16 to 20, i put on another 7lbs! wowza...obviously, i've been less stressed and eating a lot more! with gaining 13lbs in the first half of this pregnancy is still less than i'd gained at this point with ely. so, it's not all bad news. (and, you can see the tummy is expanding quite nicely)

we listened to the heartbeat. all good. they will test my blood sugar at the next appt, at 24 weeks. and, we will have another U/S done at 28 weeks to check the previa. after the 28 week appt, we will begin seeing our doc every 2 weeks!

she is moving around quite a bit. her "kicks" are much more gentle than ely's. still enjoying the pokes/prods that she is giving :)

The "big" appointment

yesterday was the day. the day when all would shift into "HELL YEAH" or "what do we do now?" mode. we are officially in HELL YEAH! mode :)

funny thing...there's not much to say. except for everything is normal. that's all the genetic counselor wrote on the report. NORMAL. wow...what a shift. NORMAL. NORMAL. weird to say. weird to think NORMAL is now a miracle. i'll take it.

details:
started with EKG. they didnt take long. 10 minutes? the cardiologist came in fairly quickly to let us know everything looked great.

moved on to the 20-week anatomy scan. again, all the parts/pieces that are supposed to be there were there. the high-risk OB came in during the scan to look at one thing. then, said: all is good. your baby looks normal. of course, we made her repeat it a few times. it was amazing news.

the only "bad" news is that i still have placenta previa. it has shifted a little bit. but, still limited to activities until it is cleared. but, looks promising! at least this forces us to have more U/S. (typically you dont have any further U/S after 20 weeks.)

so, that's it. back to normal pregnancy mode...and i love it!

thanks again for all your support. we couldnt have done it without you all. i will continue to update the blog. hopefully for just boring stuff like belly shots, etc.