Another Update

I know, there have been approximately 2983239847 updates this week.  You have all been so thoughtful and kind with your calls, texts, messages, thoughts and prayers and we are so grateful!  I can't wait for this baby to meet you all and know how loved she is.

We went back to the doctor today after my being on bed rest for several days to check in, and the appointment went really well - thank the Lord!  I have been so worried about it, and I didn't sleep much last night as a result.  When we arrived, I turned in my 6 lbs of pee (true story, I weighed it this morning - I spent the night worrying about what to do if I filled it up, but it [just barely] didn't turn out to be an issue after all) for them to analyze and then I had my blood drawn.  I peed in the cup as usual (protein free!) and weighed in.  Would you believe that I am down -5 lbs from Tuesday's appointment?  So that puts me at a total weight gain of +25.  It is crazy how much fluid I was/am retaining.  I wish I would have taken a picture of my hands and feet last week vs. this week for comparison purposes, but it was seriously gross.  Also, my blood pressure was back to normal - 122/76, which means my bed rest is doing the trick!  They hooked me up to the FHM and baby girl is still doing well.  She got the hiccups while I was hooked up, which was hilarious to hear.  Also, no contractions while I was hooked up today, which they were also pleased about.

The doctor came to check in, said baby looked great, and then sent us off to our ultrasound and told us that he'd see us after.  We haven't had an ultrasound since our gender determination at 16 weeks, and it is incredible to see all of the changes.  She still looks like an alien, but we could definitely see defined body parts.  It's hard to believe that the last time we saw her, her whole body fit on the screen.  Today, we had to examine her piece by piece.  My fluid levels are fine - above average, actually, which they said is good.   They confirmed that Geronimina is, in fact, a girl - no surprises there!  We got to see her little face - we can tell that she has Mommy's fat cheeks, and we also saw that she is definitely going to have hair!  We're not sure how much, but it's definitely there - we could see it moving back and forth (swaying almost) in the amniotic fluid.  She has fat little legs and feet, too.  Bad news for Mom's lady parts, though: I am 33 weeks 4 days today and she is measuring like I'm 35 weeks, weighing in at 5 lbs already.  They are supposed to gain about 1/2 lb per week until the end, so if I go full term we are looking at an 8+ pound baby.  On top of it, she took after her Daddy's side of the family and her head is in the 96th percentile in terms of huge-ness.  Makes me hurt to think about it.  Here are the two pictures they gave us - again, she still looks like an alien, and she was too big for a full body shot, but we're happy to have them nonetheless (sorry they're crooked, Dan is not as meticulous with his scanning as I am):

This is a pic of her labia, LOL.  Definitely a girl!

This is a straight-on shot of her face.  If you look closely, you can see how her nose is pressed up against my uterus.  AND you can see her chunky little cheeks!

After the ultrasound, we went to meet with the doctor.  He said that he's very pleased with my progress since Tuesday, and that I was a tough case to figure out.  I have all of the signs of preeclampsia - high blood pressure, lots of swelling, low platelets, etc. - but he said that I've also been like that for the entire pregnancy.  My blood pressure, for example, has always been on the "high" side of normal - not as high as it was this past week, but high.  My platelets have always been on the low side.  So, he took me off of full bed rest, but decided to keep me on modified bed rest.  He wrote a note saying that he prefers me to work from home - I'm allowed to go into the office if I need to, but not for long periods of time and I need to keep my feet up.  He said that I'm no longer chained to the bed - I can do things here and there around the house as needed for short periods of time - but I still need to be resting with my feet up the majority of the time.  The gym is a no go, unfortunately.  I am allowed to make quick trips to the store, but he said he didn't want me "taking 45 minute trips to Target (his words, not mine)."  All in all, this is good news.  I am lucky that I have a pretty flexible job, so I'm hoping my boss will be ok with all of this.  The doctor also cleared me to go to Charlotte for my baby showers as long as Dan drives and I promise to stay rested, so I'm excited about that as well.  In a normal pregnancy, I would be going to the doctor once every two weeks at this point in time.  With my symptoms, he said that normally he'd want to see me twice/week from here on out, but he was so pleased with my progress that we are going to go once/week and see how it goes.

So, there you have it - today's progress report was a good one, and Dan and I are very pleased and relieved.  My next appointment is next Friday, so let's hope the news remains good.  No word yet as to whether they'll let me go full-term due to large-ness of  baby buddha in there.  :-)

Thanks again for all of your love, support, thoughts and prayers!  We are more appreciative than we can ever tell you.

Sarah