Spicy Mexican and Raspberry Tea!

Tonight, we are going out for spicy Mexican dinner with Ron, Jenessa, and Gerry. Then we'll come home and watch the UFC fight on pay-per-view. Hopefully that'll stir up some excitement. I got a message from a friend today whose husband, a physician, has suggested I drink real raspberry tea; he specified that it not be raspberry flavored, but rather the kind found in the organic isle. If I don't make it there tonight, I'll be in the organic isle in the morning!! I'll let him remain nameless unless we see some results, in which case I want half of the money he earns from me making him FAMOUS!! ;-)

How do I feel? Well, like a stuffed sausage. And although I would love to deliver tonight, I have really enjoyed the way Baby has been moving this week. Evening is still the most active time, but I love feeling Baby's little heels sticking out of the right side of my belly. It's head is down, as it has been, but it is laying sideways with it's back and butt on the left side of my stomach and the arms, knees and heels all the way over on my right side. I'm really going to miss these feelings. What's making me uncomfortable is my back, and in the evening, or after walking or standing my stomach actually hurts. It's so tight and heavy!

Looks like it's gonna be Valentino Tolentino after all... I was hoping for a Baby Barack today.

Just got home from the doctor... NO CHANGE!!! I will go back to work on Thursday as long as I'm approved to do so by my employee health department tomorrow. I'll also need to go pick up some new scrubs since my last sets weren't fitting so well when I left work 4 weeks ago. It's bitter-sweet. I'm glad to be able to go back to work because I'd rather be there and busy than at home watching the clock. However, I would much prefer to be HAVING MY BABY! I know, Baby will come when God is ready for Baby to come. But can't I have a say in it too?! A girl at work was told my her mother that when you feel like you just can't take it anymore, you have FOUR weeks to go! I guess that means I have 3.5 weeks left, which would accurately take us to Valentines Day...
Next appointment is next Monday.

OK, I'm ready...

Sometimes it's better to let the picture do the talking... what do they say about girls stealing your beauty? If this belly wasn't hanging so LOW, I'd think it was a girl.

We've reached our 36 week goal!!!

We had three beautiful baby showers... they were amazing. So much hard work was put into them and we are so thankful to everyone!
Overall Baby has been behaving. We had an appointment on Tuesday morning and I wasn't yet dilated. However, when we had our weekly non stress test, doc wasn't seeing what he wanted. So he sent us back to the hospital for a few hours of monitoring. We were there for about 4 hours and by the time we left we were in good shape. They like to see a 15 beat acceleration of baby's heart that lasts for 15 seconds with baby movement. The expectation is to see 3 of these in 10 minutes of monitoring, but they weren't seeing that at the doc's office. I had eaten breakfast and drank some water, but they gave me OJ to see if that would help, they used the loud buzzer on my belly and that didn't work either. So that's when they sent me over to CDH. I think baby was asleep because at that time of morning I don't usually feel baby being really active, so I wasn't extremely concerned. Sure enough, within a few hours, we were getting the expected outcomes from Baby. And as usual, as the day went on we had increased activity!
Today will be my last dosages of medication. I'm 36 weeks tomorrow, so they feel comfortable that if I'm having contractions and go into labor, we are in a safe zone and it would be okay for me to deliver. The last few days I've been having a lot of contractions breaking right through the medications, but that doesn't really mean anything either... So only time will tell! I've washed Baby's clothes and started to put the nursery together. We don't want to get too much together because we are having carpet installed in just over a week to our upper level. So we're kind of in a holding pattern with a living room and dining room filled with baby items. We'll start bringing some of the items that won't be needed till Baby is a little older down to the basement to save room in the mean time.
My next scheduled appointment is on Tuesday evening and we'll have a better idea of our plan then. I may go back to work if I'm still not dilated... doc said he normally wouldn't allow that but as long as I don't do any lifting, he feels the safest place for me is probably at work since if I do go into labor I'm already at the hospital! I'd like to go back. I kind of miss being there. I know that feeling won't last once I have my baby, so why not go in and make some money?! Regardless of my feelings, I'll see what Dr. Heimburger has to say on Tuesday and leave the final decision up to him. Oh, and as for what led to all this in the first place: we saw the maternal fetal specialist last Friday who is quite sure it's due to placental abruption. And I should mention that we saw an ultrasound of Baby T that day, and this baby looks just like Daddy!! We're getting closer and are SO EXCITED!!!