Running towards a Rainbow: Back on the rollercoaster

This pregnancy has been mostly smooth sailing. For the most part, I have loved every minute of it, even the rough spots. The journey to get here was a rollercoaster ride, and at times, this pregnancy has been too. But magical nonetheless.

The last couple of weeks have been busy prepping for baby. Two weeks ago Chris' mom threw me a wonderful shower, with the help of his cousins, his aunts, and some of our friends. It was a lovely afternoon, with great food and wonderful company. Baby girl received some lovely gifts. I will post pictures from this and my NJ shower later. I'm still in the process of uploading these photos.

In the last week, I have been prepping my replacement at work. We are fortunate enough this year to have a very competent student teacher, so she is going to take over for me and teach my classes. She is going to be great. I've been working with her to get her ready and I think the transition will be seamless.

We've been busy getting the nursery set up. I'm happy to say it is mostly done. There is nothing on the walls, but it still looks really great and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I am most proud of the fan that Chris and I installed ourselves. It has a remote that has a dimmer feature, and I really like how it looks.

Both cars have car seat bases installed. The clothes are washed. Chris and I tag-teamed Market Basket on Saturday to stock up on supplies, so that we don't need to go out for a month if we don't want to. I spent this past Saturday preparing freezer meals. I also made beef stew and chili to can. Sunday we cleaned the house from top to bottom. To say I hit the nesting phase is an understatement.

Since we both had the day off for Columbus Day yesterday, we booked a tour at Children's to see the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. The reality of everything really hit me in there, as we looked on at a one week old baby who had just recently come out of open heart surgery. She was perfect, but hooked up to so many machines and looked so small. But the level of confidence and professionalism displayed by the nurses and doctors we observed there was awe-inspiring. And the technology! Every patient has its own room, and each room has all the equipment needed to perform all the tests needed as well as small procedures. The CICU cares for patients from newborns up to adults. Each patient is assigned its own nurse and they try to keep the rotation such that there is consistency in who is caring for the patient. They offer pumps and pumping supplies. They also give nursing mothers vouchers for three meals a day in the cafeteria. But I have to admit - it was hard to look on at that little baby. I am sure it will be even harder when it is our own child, however, we will know more about what is going on with her once she is through surgery than we do now, which in many ways will make it easier for us to cope with her condition.

And how is little miss, you may ask? Our last few appointments, she has flown through with flying colors. We have had a biophysical exam at each ultrasound - this checks to make sure she is practicing breathing, her heart is pumping, her kidneys are functioning, her bladder is full and that my amniotic fluid levels look good. Each time, she has shown them each of those things, no problem. Last week we had a non-stress test, which involves them strapping on two monitors - one to measure her heart rate, one to measure for contractions. She spent the 30 minutes it was on my belly kicking like crazy.

So back to the rollercoaster. It wouldn't be us if it were entirely easy. Fortunately, it has nothing to do with baby girl's health, but instead mine. At my last appointment, the doctor noticed that my blood pressure was up. That along with a couple of other red flags - I had a huge weight gain (9lbs in two weeks), my feet were swollen and the blood pressure - made them suspicious that I may be brewing pre-eclampsia. I was sent home with a jug to collect my urine for the next 24 hours, to test for protein. My doctor told me if it came back positive I would be admitted and kept until 37 weeks. Fortunately, it was negative, so I was able to go stay home and go back to work. Unfortunately, he also warned me that if it didn't go down by my next appointment, they would be inducing at 37 weeks. Well, today was that appointment and it did not go down. I did lose a few lbs, so there was that at least, but on the other hand there was a little protein in my urine, so they are now definitely worried about pre-eclampsia.

And here's the kicker - they've decided to induce me at 37 weeks. So I am booked for induction on Thursday. Looks like this November baby is going to be born in October. Tomorrow is my last day at work.

How am I feeling? A little bit of everything. My emotions have been all over the place, ranging from sad to see pregnancy end, to scared (mostly of being induced, not of labor), to excited to meet her, to annoyed that it didn't go the way I want, to stressed about getting everything done. I know not many women say this, but I am not ready to be done being pregnant. Like I said - I have loved every minute of pregnancy. Having waited so long for it, and worked so hard for it, I always promised myself I would love it if it ever happened. And I did. In some ways, I feel jipped out of three special weeks. I have loved watching my body change and grow. I have been lucky to gain the weight mostly in my belly and feel like I have carried really well. Other than the 9lb jump last week, my weight gain has been slow and steady. I don't have any stretch marks. Because my weight gain has been so level, it has only been in the last month that strangers have commented on my belly, and I'm going to miss my belly. I'm going to miss feeling her kick and being inside of me. I hope I get to experience it again. I've only recently started to feel uncomfortable. On the positive side, we'll finally be able to hold her and interact with her.

I will continue to update over the next few days. I'm guessing there will be a fair amount of down time while we wait for labor to progress....so stay posted. As I leave you tonight, I am leaving you with my 34 week, my 35 week, and my 36 week bump pictures.

34 weeks - Apple picking at Shelburne Farms