39 Weeks & 1 day...

I had my weekly OB visit today with Dr. E. M (IF) came out for the appointment and Olivia came along as well.

I have been a little apprehensive the last couple of days as the news of Baby K has settled in. He looks adorable and is a big boy. Hi size had me worried a bit about the potential size of Baby V...but Dr. E managed to alleviate some of those fears for me today.

The appointment went well. My weight is about the same as last week....and now I know I am eating (...and eating a lot) but it must not be sticking .. which really ... I am pretty ok with that! My blood pressure is good 110/68 - down a bit from the previous two weeks this is good.

My belly measured 37 weeks today - Olivia got to help out with the measuring as well as finding the heartbeat - she was very excited....and very sassy all afternoon!!! but that is a different story.

M, Dr. E and I discussed the size of Baby K and potential size of the baby V. Dr. E does not think that I am carrying a 9 lb baby .. unless I am hiding it very well. I think that I all belly and I can feel her in there - but I have no clue as to how big she may be. I did ask, but Dr. E did not want to venture a guess on size - the scale is the only one to tell. She checked my cervix and I am dilated to about 4-5cm. This is a lot of progress from last week of being at 2 cm. I am excited about it - this means my body is definitely getting ready for Baby V's arrival!!! Yeah for birthdays!

Dr. E swept my membranes a bit and I have noticed more color in my discharge since leaving the clinic. However, I have had quite a bit of discharge over the last couple of weeks and I am sure I have been slowly loosing my plug as I have been dilating. Still no significant contractions other than a few here and there which has been the same for the last couple of weeks as well. I hope that I can get a good night sleep and maybe that tomorrow will be the big day.

I have had my membranes swept with all my kiddos in the past and it never seemed to make a difference in bringing on labor any sooner. However, I have never been dilated this far without being in active labor....so this is new to me and quite interesting. With all of my three previous births, the sack of water was broken when I was between 3 and 4 cm dilated, and although I was having pretty regular contractions with all of them, I never really felt the contractions until the bag of water was broken. This makes me a bit curios to know if I really am having regular contractions at this point and I just do not feel them because of the water cushion. Speculation speculation....the human body is a miraculous organ.

I just pray and hope that things will progress well and that M&M will make it to the coast in time for Baby V's delivery when the time is here. How wonderful to think about that very soon they will have their little princess to hold along with Baby K.

Baby news....welcome Baby K...

Saturday morning I woke up with a sore back and I thought ... hmm maybe today will be the day....well that idea was blown away really quickly. Shortly after arriving at the soccer field with Olivia for an 8:00 AM game, I got a text message from M telling me that they were at the hospital with M (their other surrogate) and for Baby V not to get any ideas!!! Woohoo baby day!!!

Baby K was born early afternoon ... I rubbed my belly and told Baby V that her big brother had arrived and that she needs so stay put for a bit so M&M can take in the wonder of her sweet brother. I have seen pictures and Baby K is sweet as can be. He is big too!!! 9Lbs 7oz....ohhh I pray that Baby V is a bit smaller than her brother!!!

M&M looks so incredible happy - I can only imagine the elation they must feel after waiting and praying so long to have a baby of their own. Children are so amazing - true miracles... and how wonderful it is to be part of creating M&M's miracle. They have been blessed with a sweet baby boy and will be doubly blessed when Baby V arrives to join her brother.

Doctor's visit...

On Thursday I went in for my weekly check-up. Before heading to the clinic, I met M at the hospital and we went to see the OB Manager there to make sure that they have all the paper work they need. Everything seems to be in order which is very good to know. The manager show us around briefly and we talked about the visiting policies in place with all the flu and swine flu worries around. It seems that it will be ok for the kiddos to come visit me as long as they are all healthy....this is good as Olivia was a little worried that she would not be able to come and see me.

After our brief visit at the hospital, we headed over to the clinic for my check-up. We were scheduled to see Dr. H which is the last doc for me to see. The clinic have 3 OB's and one midwife and whoever is on call will do the delivery....it would be nice to have meet them all before they may show up in the delivery room!!! Well ...Dr. H's was not there and we got to see the midwife instead. P's is a treat..very funny women ... but boy was she running late that day! She is very chatty and takes her time with her patients. This is great....just not when you are running 1 1/2 behind because of it!! Anyway the check-up was good. I have gained 1 lb and all looks good and well. Baby V's heartbeat was good .... that sound is so precious - I know we will not have many more opportunities to hear that! I had a quick cervix check - still at 2cm 50% effaced so no change there. Guess this little girl wants to keep baking for a bit longer.

As always it was great to see M...very enjoyable conversation as we were waiting for our appointment to begin. Before going to the hospital, I stopped at a great little store in Astoria where I had see the coolest stuffed animals made from recycled plastic bottles. I purchased a bunny and a puppy for the bassinets so they are not so empty while M&M wait for the bundles of joy to arrive. As it turns out....the wait was very short!

38 weeks today...

We are almost at the end...I keep wondering when baby V will decide to join us. I continue to have contractions on and off but she is clearly not ready to come out yet...so for now we wait!

Sebastian asked this morning if Baby V was coming today. I told him that I did not know and that baby V will come when she is ready - he looked at me and said "no mom, she is not coming today - your belly is still big and fat"!!! What a charmer...maybe I should start asking him for a daily birthing forecast!

Hospital paperwork...

Yesterday I received the legal correspondence in the mail that was also sent to the hospital...I am so glad they now have all the information. I tried to call the OB manager but she has yet to return my call. I would like to talk to her about logistics and how they normally handle these type of situations.

I continue to have small contractions on and off and I am really starting to anticipate the upcoming birth of baby V....it is kind of surreal that she is now almost here.

M&M have their bassinets ready and waiting - I am sure that they cannot wait to fill them up with their little bundles of joy. I am so excited for them.

Emotionally I feel really really good about this journey - this has been such an incredible experience up to this point and now that we are close to the end, I just pray for a smooth delivery and a quick recovery.

Contractions and 37 week visit...

On Tuesday this week we are 37 weeks along...wohoo!! M&M are both very happy that we made this milestone...early full term and baby V seems happy and healthy where she is.

On Wednesday I had an all day staff meeting in Astoria - the meeting went well...but the chairs sucked to sit on!! During the day I had a few contractions but they really picked up overnight - I was having them pretty consistently but they were not painful so I chucked it up to Braxton Hicks and a preview of what is to come!! Today we continued our meeting and my contractions continued as well. Some of them were pretty strong and definitely made me take notice. Pretty exciting although we all hope that Baby V will stay put for a bit longer.

I had my doctor's appointment this afternoon and M (IM) came along as well. This was the first time she met Dr. E - but she was fabulous as usual and she even made sure that M got her swineflu shot done...yeah! The appointment went really well. My weight have been consistent over the last 3 visits - I am happy with that. I feel that I am all belly and the 20+ lbs are primarily sitting on my stomach. My blood pressure was a little high for me 118/low sixties .. I think it was because I was still having some contractions. Dr. E did a cervix check and I am now dilated to 2 cm and effaced 50% - things are progressing!

After the appointment I had to rush off to school for a parent teacher conference as well as get the teacher dinner from the PTA group ready for the school personnel. Conferences went well - both Magnus and Olivia are doing well in school - always room for improvement but I am happy with where they are at.

My contractions have slowed down now as I am sitting here relaxing...This is good news as I have lots to get done at work tomorrow...but I gotta say that I am getting very excited to see when Baby girl decides to join us.

Starting to drop...

I noticed today that my belly has dropped just a bit - Rio noticed too! Baby V is still laying very high - but not quite in my ribs anymore. This makes it a bit easier to breathe but makes me go to the bathroom even more than before if that is possible. Along with this, I am starting to feel much more pressure on my pelvic area especially when I get up from sitting for a while.

36 week check-up...

This week we saw Dr. L - and I did not care for him very much. Neither did M (IM)....I hope he will not be the one to deliver Baby V!!

Anyway the check-up went ok. I am up 1 lb from last visit 2 weeks ago - so slow and steady weight gain. My blood pressure reading was off 130 over 65 - which is way to high for me. Normally my systolic number is between 100 and 110, so 130 would be a bit concerning to me. Funny the doctor did not even mention it! However, I had Rio re-check it later in the evening and it was 105/62 ..much better and in the range I am normally in.

Dr. L did the strep-B test and a cervix check. We should have results from the strep test by next visit. My cervix is still fully closed but "soft" .. whatever that means. I think Baby V is good and comfortable where she is currently hanging out and will stay put for a bit longer.

M&M stayed for dinner after our appointment - it was very nice. Ms. T had made roasted chicken, potatoes, brusselsprouts and salad...yummy! Olivia ate almost all the brussel sprouts. The dinner madness at our house is most definitely very different that the quietness at M&M's ... but soon they will know just how crazy life gets when you add a couple of kids to the mix.

October 4th...

November 3rd is the official due date...which means that since today is October 4th, we are within the 30 day window of Baby V's arrival. The day is coming closer really quickly now .... M&M are baby shopping this weekend and I hope they have lots of fun!

We went to the zoo today and we just had a really nice day. Although I gotta say - if you visit the Portland zoo .. skip the train ride - it is not worth the $3.50!! All you see is junk and if you are lucky maybe an animal or two...lesson learned! The St. Louis zoo is so much better!!! .. yes there are some things to miss about St. Louis!

After the zoo we went to Target to do a bit of Halloween shopping. We wanted to make sure that we have everything ready just in case Baby V decides to before Halloween! Olivia was a bit concerned that she would not be able to trick or treat if that was the case..but I reassured her that Daddy would take her... even if I could not walk around and display the beautiful pumpkin I am currently growing straight out in front. My belly is quite round and my shirts are getting pretty tight..so there are only a few shirts that I really like to wear anymore. I bought a few long sleeved t's at Target to mix it up a bit.. still by the time I get through this last month, everyone is gonna be happy that I will be out of my maternity wardrobe.

On Wednesday I go in for my 36 week check-up and from here on out I will now go for weekly ob visits. I know they are going to do the strep B screening test - pretty sure they will do a cervix check as well, so it will be exciting to see if anything is happening in that department. With all 3 of my own, I started dilating around this time - for each of them I know that I was about 1 cm when my ob did a cervix check at my 36 week appointment.

Sore ribs...

Baby V's little feet are constantly in my ribs these days - woo girlie ...you are making me sore. I have given up on wearing most of my under wire bras as they just get too uncomfortable by the end of the day. Right now, I can feel little feet flutter on the top right side of my belly...but thankfully not in my ribs!

Rio was checking baby's position this evening and she is definitely head down. She is getting quite low and when I get up from sitting for a while, I can feel a lot of pressure on my bladder ... translation = I need to pee almost every time it get up.

I continue to have lots of thoughts about the delivery and I am really happy to know that the declaratory judgment is now done and signed. This means that M&M will have all the legal rights to this sweet baby girl once she arrives. The paperwork will be sent to the hospital so that everyone there will know what to expect as well. Yeah - one more thing checked off the To-Do list.

M&M are also both headed back to this area of the country - it is very comforting to know that they will be close by again...just in case Baby V decides to make an early arrival. However, I doubt that will be the case as she seems very content where she is for now. I am still carrying very high, but I can tell that my body is getting ready for the big day. I am starting to have more braxton hicks contractions - some which take my breath away for a moment. I just passed the 35 week mark so although we are in the home stretch now, hopefully Baby V will stay put for quite a bit longer.