The Pointy Thing

Peanut has what we call "the pointy thing" and it can always be found by touching my belly. The funny thing about 'the pointy thing' is that as soon as you touch it, it moves away. Fun times.

OB Appointment Yesterday

Yesterday was supposed to be (in my mind, anyway) the big appointment where we decide if I will be induced early or not. I had to get my doctor's office to refax the information from the last u/s I had done, and we were supposed to look at the results yesterday and go from there.

Well.

I don't think we are any further decided than we were before. Turns out, though, that Peanut is in the 75th percentile for size. That means she was bigger than 75% of babies of her gestational age at the time, so the doctor asked me what I would like to do. I said I wanted to rock and roll, and have the baby before I run the risk of her becoming too big for me to deliver without surgery. His answer? Um, ok then. Let's do an internal next week and check how things are coming along. We'll check if she has come farther down, then too. See you Monday. Keep out of trouble. The end. Grrrr. I don't feel as if any progress was made at all. Oh well. Peanut could always come on her own before then, although I am not allowed to go into labour on Wednesday or early Thursday as per my mom. Poor mom is so mad because her boss is making her go on a business trip this week. She'll be back by 8pm Thursday, though, so Joe keeps saying "Ok, no problem. Thursday night we go into labour, and Ella will be born on Friday. Done deal." Oh if only it were that easy!!! Friday is our ideal day to have her, though. It's Nana's birthday...the one she's named after. Wouldn't that be cool for them to have the same name AND birthday?? So cross your fingers for me that Joe's plan can somehow miraculously come to fruition!!

Ho Hum.

Got an OB appointment this afternoon. Should start getting ready soon, but I am too busy being a bump on a log. Room is ready. Bags are packed. Drawers are stocked. Daddy is ready. Mommy is ready. Enough waiting already. Bring on the BABY!!! Raspberry leaf tea, castor oil...I don't care what it takes, but something's gotta give! My belly skin hurts and it looks like a train wreck. I can't stand up without grunting and groaning and half the time Joe has to help me. I want to be able to walk more than three feet without baby squashing my bladder into an uncomfortable raisin. I want to wear proper shoes....I want to see my baby! I want to hold and cuddle and smell my baby! No more comfy tummy for you, Peanut. You are hereby evicted!! COME ON PEANUT!!! I WANT TO SEEE YOUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!

Page 28

Baby Shower, (but aren't baths safer? hehe)

On Sunday afternoon, I was told to be at my mom's for 3 pm. When arriving, my friend Nancy was just getting out of her car with a big gift wrapped in baby paper. "Hmmmm....wonder why Nancy's here...and who could the present be for?" (Nancy was late...she was supposed to be there at 2:30, but we went in together.) It's ok, I knew my mom was throwing me a shower that day. My MIL is not good at secrets, and besides that, my mom was not good at keeping it secret either. Why else would she need my friend's emails?

I couldn't believe all the people there. I thought there would be 5, tops, but there was at least twice that many. We played games, and had a nice lunch in the backyard, and then it was present time. My registry was wiped out of the big stuff!! All that was left on it were the little things like receiving blankets and the like. I got my Angelcare monitor, my FP Baby Papasan, my set of bottles for when I am a proficient pumper, oh my goodness....so much stuff! I also got some beautiful stuff that WASN'T on the registry, like a set of peek-a-blocks and a set of roll a rounds which Joe and I really wanted but didn't add, some adorable outfits, and my friend Jenn brought a beautiful handknit blanket that her mom made, complete with matching mitts and a scarf! It's even in the same yellow as the bedding I made! She also brought a coatrack that her dad made, and the base is all bunnies. SO CUTE!

My friend brought me a beautiful soft blanket from Austria, and a couple adorable little outfits (in yellow! What a smart girl...She knew I was tired of pink, and yellow is my fave!) and a Baby Mozart DVD which I may preview today. Then my MIL gave me my glider that I wanted so much. After all was unwrapped, my mom gave me a terrible card which made me ball my eyes out....maybe I will transcribe it here. After the card, my mom brought out the gifts from herself, my Nana (Ella's namesake), and my stepdad and sis. It was our playyard and our STROLLER!!!!! Omg...my little Peanut hasn't seen a speck of the world yet, and she's already spoiled! So wonderful. I got to bring home the helium balloons, even.

I am so blessed.


The card:

First, there's the news.
The heart-pounding,
could-it-be-true news
that arrives like a telegram
from the universe
telling you that your world is about to
explode
into a million brilliant
emotions.
Then comes the queasiness, the sleepiness,
the funny food cravings.
You count the weeks and wait
for the milestones --hearing a heartbeat,
seeing a shadowy sonogram image,
feeling that first fluttery kick.
You wonder if you really ready for this.

But then...
you start making room
for the little one who already
sleeps to the rhythm of your heartbeat
and appears in your dreams at night.

The little one who waits,
just like you,
for that beautiful day
when you'll both look into each other's
eyes
and see the promise
of a lifetime
of beautiful
tomorrows.

With all our love and anticipation,
Mom, Don, Kelly and Nana.

Nope.

There's no way. No way I can go back to work. I tried to sit here at my desk for a couple hours and you should see my feet. They look like balloons. And my back is screaming. I think my body just got used to being off work. It's just not gonna happen. Give up the ghost Kim. Going to sit my sorry ass on the couch with my feet up for a bit now.

I called this morning and spoke to my boss. I said "See ya next year".

Now what to do with myself?

A plan...

I had intended to work till 39 weeks. I was going to have a week off before Peanut's arrival to tie up loose ends, and I was going to be tough and not have any problems. I was not going to be a whiner, and I was going to be strong and walk my three blocks every day without a complaint. (I was also not going to get stretch marks or swelling, by the way. )

Anyway, the bp thing changed my plans for me a bit. Joe made a good suggestion. He said I should call my family doc (who I have been seeing in tandem with the OB) and see what SHE thinks. So I told her that he says the bp is ok. He did not check it or ask me about it, but I still have some bigtime swelling in the feet and legs. Her response was "I will back you up if you don't want to work. It's good that your blood pressure is down now, but I am concerned that if you go back you will just wind up in the same position again."

I was really hoping for her to say go or don't go. Not more ambiguous "You decide" stuff. That didn't help much! I am thinking I will go back on Monday. I have an appointment with the OB on Monday evening after work. He can check and see how I am doing after that one day. If the bp is even slightly elevated, then off I will go. If it's ok, I will try and hang in for one more week, because that one cheque will make a big difference to me. So that's my plan.

What to do?

Went to get my blood pressure checked again. It's ok now, which is good. He says that technically I could go back to work if I wanted to, but he doesn't see why I would bother, seeing as I'm at 36 weeks tomorrow. I don't know what I want to do now!! I thought I wanted to go back, but now I'm not so sure. The three block walk in...being stuck at a desk when there's stuff to do here...They don't even need me because the new girl is already there and doing just fine... Besides...what if work was what was making my bp so high in the first place? But then again...I could use the money! I asked him about being induced early, and he says depending on my blood pressure, which he will be keeping a close eye on, I could be induced a week or two early. Well, I know natural is best but I am REALLY wanting to go early! This baby is big already...I don't want a Guiness World Record on my hands! I want a chance at a nice easy delivery!

Ahhhh. What to do. What to do?

Well, can't ignore it., I'm having some issues.

My doc has forbidden me to go to work at least until I have seen my OB on the sixth.

Apparently this swelling is extreme, (I gained 9 lbs of water since I saw her two weeks ago, and the swelling goes right up to my knees) and my blood pressure which has always been perfect is now up. She says that if it doesn't go away during my time off, I'm off work for a year, whether I like it or not. She said it may also be necessary to induce me early if it worsens, maybe at 38 weeks. She also said the baby is REALLY big (I'm measuring 38 cm) so an early delivery might not be a bad thing. She sent me for an u/s to confirm.The u/s revealed a perfect little hamburger, so Peanut is without a shadow of a doubt, 100% girl. That's cool because they said before that she was a girl based on what they DIDN'T see. Now she's for sure a she because of what we DID see!!

It also revealed that she is really big. She is measuring about 37.5 or 38 weeks gestation, and is currently 7.5 lbs. I am SO not ready to be off work! I was really counting on this month's pay to make the ends meet up nicely, not to mention the fact that I was planning on being a pillar of strength and wasn't going to have any problems. I know that sounds dumb, but I just really wanted everything to be just so. And now it seems things are not going as perfectly as planned. I always thought that the delivery was the thing that you couldn't plan...it never occurred to me that I might not make it to my due date, or that I wouldn't be 100% normal or healthy. Thank God, though, that it's not Peanut with issues, it's me. I wouldn't be able to handle it if my sweet baby was in any kind of distress.

Oh well, at least we got some more u/s pics. We saw her seriously chunky little cheeks, and her cutie little feet. May even have to go back for another u/s, although I forget why the tech said that...I think it had something to do with Ella's size. Maybe they will be wanting to check her lungs down the road or something...I dunno. Anyway, I will scan her newest pics a little later as it's feet up time.

Bah.