36, 37, Hospital Visits and 3D ultrasound pictures

Well well well, we are down to 17 days until D-day and I feel like things are going haywire.  The Friday before the shower I went to the hospital for two blurry vision headaches.  Spent about 1.5 hours getting tested and watched, they were very confident that I didn't have preeclampsia.  Things were going well until this past Sunday and I had another blurry vision headache and then 2 more on Monday.  I mentioned as much to my Dr. at my normal appointment, she ordered blood tests and urine tests.  I got a call on Tuesday night that she wanted me to come in first thing Wednesday morning for a follow up.  When I got there she explained that my urine was still not showing any protein, my blood pressure was normal but there was elevated levels of PIH in my liver results.  Dr. sent me to the hospital to have the tests run again, I was there for 3 hours hooked up to non stress test monitors and heart beat monitor.  Baby was moving like crazy and the heart beat was great, my blood pressure was excellent.  Blood tests from that visit indicated that my liver PIH levels were returning to normal but the Dr. ordered me to do a 24 hour urine collection just to verify.  I had just enough time to do the collection before it was baby shower time at work.

What a special day that was, so many generous gifts and words of wisdom and love from my co-workers.  They went with a book theme, so the nursery is stocked full with some lovely reading materials. I should be getting pictures from the shower this week and I'll share when I get them.

Friday morning Kyle and I went to the ultrasound location and baby and I under went another non stress test. During this test they wanted to be sure baby did two big movements over 20 minutes.  The tech came back into my room at 10 minutes and said baby had been jumping around, way more than the minimum needed movements but they had to finish the test.  Then Kyle got to join me in the ultrasound room where baby was measured for growth.  Boy oh boy does baby have some chubby cheeks, not hurting for nutrients in my tummy.  They said that baby was growing right on track and that everything looked beautiful, as of Friday they estimated weight right now at 6 lbs 11 oz.  Said they would expect 0.5-1lb more of growth before baby is delivered, that would put us just under 8 pounds and I would be more than happy with that.

I went back to my normal Dr. appointment this afternoon, she did her normal exam and said she would put money on me going past my due date.  She said baby was moving around like crazy but it was one of the most stubborn she had seen in a long time.  Baby has not dropped and it would be nearly impossible to induce me if the need should arise.  So, for now baby is comfortable (mommy less and less comfortable each and every day).  I say to little baby, you have a couple more weeks and then I think it about time to show this Dr. what we are made of.    I had more blood work run this afternoon and will go back from more on Thursday before another ultrasound and non stress test Friday morning.  I'm told I will be doing this routine weekly until baby has arrived.

We did get both cars outfitted for the carseats and I have my bag contents ready just need to put them in a bag.  I feel like I have more bathroom and toiletries than I need but they take up so little room I would rather have them than not.  If anyone has a personal "must" have item please feel free to let me know.  I don't feel like I'll need all that much and to be honest the hospital is like 2 minutes from a mall and not all that far from home should I need to send Kyle out.  Our diaper bags have basic stuff in them and are ready for when we are brave enough to venture out.

I think that is enough for now, just wanted to give everyone an update on what has been going on with me.  I feel awesome and yoga is my friend, I can't wait to go again this week. I very much look forward to a deep tissue massage after baby has come, my back and shoulders and hip flexors could use a good deep rub.

36 weeks big

37 weeks and growing growing

Dr. says baby isn't dropping but my tummy appears to show differently, baby is getting heavy!!

My family seems to think baby looks like me, top ultrasound and the little picture of me, told you baby has chubby cheeks

Here is my first picture this pregnancy and the last picture I've taken.  Can't wait to do a little time lapse at the very end.

Baby Shower

What a fantastic day!  I feel so honored and blessed to have so many ladies (and men) that love me and our baby.  We celebrated the new addition to the Childers' household on a glorious day.  It was a shower to remember, with homemade umbrella cookies, a deliciously cute cake, yummy food, beautiful decorations, crafts that baby C will get to use for the first few months of their life, gifts out the wazoo and more laughter and love than all the rest combined.  My sister did such an amazing job of thinking of all the little details, what an amazing party planner she is, I am so extremely lucky to have her by my side.  Thank you to all those that joined the party whether it was in person or in spirit, baby C feels the love!  There will never be enough words that I can put together to thank my family, especially my sister, for such a wonderful party.

Shannan and her Mom Karen, helping do day of details, thank you for coming to joint he party.

Dessert table with beautiful decorations.

Onsie station

Diaper raffle

Guests enjoying the sunny morning, eating and decorating onsies

Teacup favors, what a cute idea, the guests loved it!

That would be me :-)  trying to stay cool in the warm sun

homemade cookies, still enjoying them

Grandma, Mommy, baby C and Twink

Gifts setup outside, ended up opening them inside due to the warm weather

G. Grandma and Grandma to be, beautiful ladies

Me and Shannan catching up and enjoying the weather

decorations and dessert station, thank you Devarae for all the pictures and the beautiful decorations

How adorable is this cake?!?!

Onsie from Auntie Devarae and Uncle Mychal

Trying to pick my favorite of the homemade onsies, that was a difficult decision

Basketball ladies sans Kale, thank you for coming to the party

Cousins!!

4 generations, love these ladies (and maybe a couple boys???)

Auntie Cassie, thank you for making the trip to join the party

cool timeline Devarae put together, neat to see the progress all lined up

My mom surprised me with pictures of Kyle as a baby, how fun to see us side by side.

Weeks 33-35 updates, Quick LA trip and Sneaky Peaky of Maternity Pictures (shower in a separate blog)

Wow, it has been a couple weeks since I've updated the blog...where to start, bump and baby I suppose.  So up to this point my pregnancy has been going so smooth I wouldn't even know I was pregnant expect this large bump growing before my eyes.  But this last 2-3 weeks have taken a toll on my health, nothing serious I've gotten a couple head colds that due to my system concentrating on baby have turned into much larger colds than normal and have hung around longer than they should. In all my years working I have rarely taken days off work due to colds but my energy and concentration levels have been zapped more from the cold than normal so I've had to call in sick and hang with the pups to get better.  To top things off I made my first trip to the hospital to get checked out after work on Thursday due to blurred vision before and after work.  Things checked out fantastic, baby was very healthy and it seems no sleep and stressful work gave me a migraine, thankfully no preeclampsia.  Although I never want to go to the hospital when not necessary, it did give me a little glimpse into what I will experience with the hospital staff in the very near future.  I was very pleased with the bedside manner and the attentiveness I experienced.  

As for baby, now that I am at 35, almost 36 weeks, I go to the Dr. once a week for check ups.  She has done two pelvic exams to check my progress and each time she said nothing should happen for another 2-3 weeks but she has been surprised before.  If something were to happen now, she would not stop the progress if things were to get rolling now.  So will we have a March or April baby, only time will tell.  When I visited this week, Dr. couldn't tell position of baby so she is going to do an ultrasound on Monday to get a better look at how baby is sitting in my belly.  At 32 weeks the tech told me baby was butt up under my ribs and it doesn't feel like anything has changed with the pressure so we will see on Monday what we see.  

Besides the head colds and migraine, I feel great, tight tummy skin and lots of peeing but baby is dancing up a storm.  Sleeping has been difficult for me and I can't figure out why, I'm not uncomfortable and I'm not worrying about things, sleep is just playing hide and seek from me.  Oh well, I'll make it through.  

Quick trip to LA...when Kyle and I were flying home from the surprise trip to San Diego, I said whelp that is the last trip until baby arrives, little did I know not 2 weeks later we would get back on an airplane.  My dad's mom has been diagnosed with stage 3/4 lung cancer and her time with us is limited, so Kyle and I, my mom and dad, and Mychal and Devarae all converged on her house for the weekend just to hand out and spend some time with her.  She was doing amazingly well and I am hopeful that she will get to meet her great grand baby very soon.  We had gorgeous weather while we were down visit and got in some time with my mom's mom too. This trip was the first time we got to really see Devarae's bump, can't wait to meet her little baby in June/July.  

To round out this blog post I am sharing the two sneak peak photos that were shared with us from our maternity photo shoot.  We Bree in Monterey on 17 mile drive so a chilly day of photos.  She did an extremely good job making what can be an awkward experience into something fun and very special.  We had a great experience and can't wait for her to document our delivery and meeting baby for the first time, then doing our infant photos.  If you are in the area and need a photographer, please check out her website, she does amazing work.  http://www.katherinebreewalker.com/  This is such a special time for us and to have such beautiful pictures to document it is an even more special gift, thank you Bree!

Next blog I will share photos and thoughts about the out of this world baby shower my sister, mom and grandma threw for me this weekend.