39 Weeks...Home Stretch!!!!

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!!!!

Yes, I know, my eyes are closed and probably not the greatest picture, but I still like it.  39 WEEKS!!!!  Crazy.  So yesterday was a pretty full day of baby overload.  I went to my appointment and surprisingly had another ultrasound.  The tech seemed surprised to see me too.  She asked "didn't I just see you?"  followed by, "do you know why they want you to have another ultrasound?"  My answers being "yup" and "nope".  I think the annoying woman who was scheduling my appointment from last week messed things up.  There really was no need for another ultrasound so close to the last one.  Regardless, we did one anyway!  A week after the first one and Abby was now measuring (their best estimate) 8 lbs 5 oz.  Only a gain of 1 oz in a week....phew!!!  An ounce I can handle.  Let's hope it stays that way this week too.  And to top it off, I lost another pound!  To date, I've gained a total of 34 lbs.  I think that's not too bad.  I'm on the high end of what they wanted me to gain, but hey, at least I stayed within the range! :)  It probably doesn't help when you are making desserts like this...

Daddy found a recipe and of course we had to make it!  Chocolate chip cookies, Oreo cookies, and Brownie on top.  Yeah, it's pretty dangerous.  

So back to our busy baby day!  After the ultrasound I met with my doctor who checked me out and told me I'm not dilated.  However, Abby was doing fine.  She still has enough fluid around her and her heart rate was great.  My blood pressure was still normal so no signs of major concern.  They still don't want me to go past my due date because of her size so before I knew it we were setting an induction date.  I know in my head at the end of this process you end up having a baby, but when they start to give you an actual date and tell you that you will be holding your child by this time next week...well, lets just say its surreal.  I am so excited!!  

So now we start our countdown!!  As long as Abby doesn't decide to make a surprise appearance ahead of time (which let's face it people, she's my daughter...anything could happen.  She is going to have to be the center of attention and what better way to start that off then by coming early after her doctor has set a date. She'll show us all!) we are scheduled to go into the hospital on Wednesday night to get settled in and hooked up to monitors and stuff.  Then, they plan on inducing me early Thursday morning.  So if all goes well we could be holding our little girl by Thursday afternoon or evening!!  CRAZY!!!!  Daddy and I are so excited!

So after that big news....we had our breastfeeding class that night which was being held at my doctor's office (which for reference, is right next door to the hospital.  This will be good to know for later.)  It started at 5:30 and all was going well until we started getting emergency alerts on our phones about the severe thunderstorm rolling through with tornado warnings in an area about 5-10 minutes from our house.  My friend, who lives just down the street from us, was texting us to check in and see how we were doing and we let her know we were down by the hospital at a class.  She told us to stay there and not try to come home yet because the storm was so bad.  She could barely see the neighbors house b/c the rain and wind was so strong.  Just after we got that message, a man working at the building we were in came into our class and spoke to the instructor.  Turns out, they had just issued a tornado warning and we could hear the sirens going off.  Just as our instructor was letting us know about the warnings the power went out.  So here we are, a bunch of pregnant women and their husbands all sitting in a room with nothing but the emergency lights on, talking about breast milk and breastfeeding, waiting to see what happens.  The instructor insured us that we were safe in this room and I made sure to assure everybody that if any of us went into labor it was ok b/c the hospital was right next door.  And as they all laugh, looked at me b/c clearly if anybody was going to suddenly go into labor out of the group is was going to me.  I told then no fears, hospital is right there, bags are in the car, my husband is here with me....we're good to go!!  See...

Luckily that didn't happen, but it made us all feel a little better at the time.  So we waited out the storm at my doctor's office until it was just south of us and then Nick and I started our commute home (which is going North, btw).  It looked like a war zone...trees were down everywhere, branches, leaves, power lines, power was out throughout the drive home.....it was crazy.    Luckily when we got home our neighborhood was safe and sound.  The boys were a little freaked out, but they calmed down a bit once we got ready for bed.  It was a doozy of a storm, but all was well.  

So yeah, crazy stuff happening lately.  I can't really put into words how weird it is to know this is the last Friday I'll be pregnant, the last weekend we will have without a kid, the last chance we have together before our life is forever changed in this amazing way.  It's official that the countdown to the most amazing change in our life has officially begun!  We are so amazed and thankful for this gift and we can't wait to hold our little girl and welcome her to our family.