Take it easy

Well, the past couple weeks have been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. My blood pressure is still high and creeping up. The doc is having me do twice weekly non-stress tests and once weekly ultrasounds to make sure that baby is happy and still growing well (high BP can compromise blood flow to the placenta). To our relief, little Chickie is doing really well. I feel so happy each time we get good results from these tests. Other than the high BP I haven't presented with any symptoms of preeclampsia, but they are keeping a very close eye on me since it can show up really fast. I started working half days last week to get more rest and I think I'll be working from home from now until the baby arrives to keep myself as healthy as possible.

Chickie is getting nice and cozy in my belly and I hope I can continue to be a good home until it's ready to come out and play :)

Smilin'

We are officially 4 weeks away from d-date today! Time is flying. Things have been going well, we are feeling like we've pretty much got everything set for the arrival of this munchkin. We talked over our birth plan with our doctor at the last visit and it is so great to know that all of us are on the same page. Barring any serious medical issues, we want to do this thing as naturally as possible. Because we are seeing family practice doctors instead of an OB, I feel like we are getting an experience closer to a midwife. We're alternating between 2 doctors, with a 95% chance of having one or the other at delivery and they are both totally on board with the way we want this birth to go. Yay!

A minor blip in this otherwise healthy pregnancy is that my blood pressure has been a bit elevated when I see the doc. It's been high-ish since early in pregnancy and I suspect has more to do with being at the doctor's office than anything malicious. But, because high blood pressure can be associated with some really dangerous conditions for mom and baby, the docs are having me do a few extra tests to make sure that our babe is growing and responding well. I had an ultrasound done yesterday to estimate baby's weight and how much amniotic fluid it's floating around in. We haven't received the final report, but baby was measuring 36 weeks + 2 or 3 days, so if anything it's a little ahead on the growth curve - yay! And as a bonus, we got another sneak peek of our little chickie with a smile on its face :)



I'll keep you updated on any more developments in the BP department, but at this point it looks like everything is a-ok.