Going Back to Work!

Well it's official - I'm allowed to go back to work!!  My appointment went well today - dilated to about 2cm and about 50% effaced (that's the thinning/shortening of the cervix)...so not a ton of change from last visit, but a little.  The doc is ok with me heading back to work - and I am quite excited about it!! I talked to my boss and I will start out with a four hour shift from 10am-2pm on thursday and see how it goes.  Then we will decide if I want to increase hours or just stick to short shifts for the next few weeks (or however many days this little lady is going to wait to arrive!)  It will be great to see my coworkers and also to get back into the groove of doing anesthesia again!
   Other than that...no news to share! I'm happy to be going back to work and still just can't wait to meet our little girl!!  Hope everyone is doing well - I'll be sure to update with any changes!
    Lots of love,
       Tom, Katie and Little Lady

37 Weeks PLUS!

Hello Everyone!
 I was hoping that I would have an update today after our doc appt, but unfortunately it was cancelled because another patient was in labor!  Needless to say I was slightly jealous (of the lady in labor!) but also a little bummed because I had really been looking forward to finding out if my body had made any progress!  So...don't really have any official news to share, but life off of bed rest has been great so far!!
    I made it to 37 weeks last friday and Mom and I went to the state fair on thursday to celebrate a day early!!   We had a wonderful time (as usual) and I was just so thrilled to be able to go to the fair because considering everything that has gone on in the past few months...I really didn't think it would be an option! We decided to drive instead of riding the bus (just in case the little lady decided to come check out the excitement of the fair herself) so we arrived bright and early at 6:50am!!! We dropped Tom off at the airport to head to Yale...and then headed to the fair and got an amazing parking spot!  I don't think I have been to the fair this early since Mom, Grandma and I used to go together when I was much younger.  It was great!!  The bathrooms were line-free, and we were able to poke around for a bit before things got crowded.  Plus, it was nice and cool - so we could avoid pregnancy overheating!  I had my traditional corn dog by 9:30am...and overall we just had a blast!  We walked a lot, saw all of the "regular" spots that we like to frequent...and besides skipping the onion rings, we had my favorite fair foods.
     So, here I am....still pregnant at 37 and a half weeks!!  Definitely not the way I had anticipated it after about 16 weeks of bed rest...but even with the incredible amount impatience I am feeling, I have to remind myself of how thankful I am every day that our little girl has stayed safe inside of me!  We rescheduled our doctor's visit for tomorrow afternoon so I will try to update the blog with new changes (if there are any!)  Until then...I'm just waiting for our little lady to decide its time to make her debut!   Love to you all!  Enjoy the state fair pics...;-)

We figured this would be a great place to be in case I went into labor!

The happy ladies at the fair

Our new hats - pretty sexy!  The salesman told us we needed to focus on our "Hattitude!"

I was a little worn out, but still having fun!  I felt very refreshed after I finished my enormous lemonade!

   

   

We Made it to 36 Weeks!!

Well, we are so thrilled to say "HELLO 36 WEEKS!!!"  Technically we reached 36 weeks yesterday, but I was too busy being excited to do anything with the blog ;-)  Our doctor's appointment went very well  - everything is looking great!  Cervix is definitely dilated maybe over 1cm, and is also very "anterior" which is where it tends to move when getting ready for delivery.  So, who knows what will happen now, but we can sleep well knowing that if she arrives soon, she will likely do wonderfully considering that 37 weeks is technically "term!"
   Here are some pics that Tom took to document the 36 week mark!  Enjoy!! Thanks again to everyone for your support - we truly couldn't have done it without all of your love, prayers, kind words, not to mention incredible amounts of help during the past 15 weeks!!  It's been quite a wild ride....and when this little lady arrives, it will probably only get crazier!!  We can't wait!! ;-)
 

Baxter wanted to be involved in the celebration too!!

 
Tom proved to be quite the photographer!!  So glad he could document our special day!!


Lots of love,
 Tom, Katie and The Little Lady

The room is almost ready!

Hey everyone!
  Sorry I still don't have a 35 week picture and now we are already 35 and a half weeks!!  I did want to post some pics of the little lady's room - which has really come together in the last day!!  We got our changing table/dresser and a great storage bin/shelving unit as well!!  We are really happy with the way everything is coming together - we are finally starting to feel ready for our little one's arrival - which may be sooner than we think!!
   Last night I had yet another episode of pretty significant contractions (every 3-4 minutes for over 2 and a half hours) and some nasty low back pain!  We did call the doctor, but at that point the contractions seemed to be slowing down.  She told me that we should go to the hospital if they continued to come so close together, and especially if they became more painful.  Otherwise - we were ok to stay home....which is what we did!!  I really wish that my body could just make a decision one way or the other!  It would be so nice to have a more "black and white" thing happen to help us know whether real labor is happening or not!  It's also hard because I am still on the medication that is meant to stop contractions - so it definitely seems to make them less intense than they might be without medicine.  Anyhow, for now we are still home and I'm still pregnant!!  We will see what happens this week...and in the next few weeks!  We will keep you all updated!  For now, here are some pics of the baby room!  Enjoy!!

Yesterday Marked 35 Weeks!

Hey everyone!
  We have made it to 35 weeks and managed to keep this little lady where she belongs while Tom was away at Yale!!  I had a great week with Cathi, my Mom, and Dad (and even my brother when he stopped by!)!!  Cathi came from California to make sure I was well fed and taken are of, and my parents were both at the house almost every day helping out with cleaning, meals, yardwork, sewing projects...and anything else I needed!  The baby room is coming along - Cathi sewed up some darling curtains for us and they look great!!  She also did some shopping for some room accessories - a new lamp, some book ends, and a new mirror too!  My Mom made my day by sewing some blankets that I had planned on making before the little lady arrived - and they are so cute!!  I was so happy to have her help since I'm not allowed to sit up long enough to sew anything until I come off of bedrest!  On monday our changing table (courtesy of Jim and Greta) should be arriving and I can't wait!!  The baby's room will be almost complete - only waiting for a little girl to make it complete ;-)  I'll make sure to post some pictures as soon as we get organized!  I will also post a 35 week belly picture eventually!
  Not much else to report - feeling blessed and thrilled to be this far along, and to have such an amazing support system in our families and friends!!  Love to you all!

Another Good Appointment!

     Well, yesterday we had our weekly doctor's appointment, and I'm happy to report that things are looking great!!  I am still dilated 1cm, but it seems that the bed rest has managed to keep everything the same as last week (cervical thickness, etc.) so that is wonderful!!  The medication and all of this laying around seem to be doing their job!  I will be 35 weeks this friday, which gets us another week closer to the very happy number of 37 weeks!  My doctor would really like it if I could make it that far, so we are starting to make plans about when to stop the medication and bed rest all together!!  The funny thing is that when people ask me what the first thing I'll do when I am allowed off bed rest, my response is typically something as simple as "drive myself to the grocery store and walk around" or "take the dog on a walk or to the dog park."  It's funny how the little things in life end up being the ones you miss the most when you aren't allowed to do anything!
      I had both of my Moms at the appointment - my mom, Jane, and my mother-in-law, Cathi.  It was really nice to have them there to hear everything the doctor had to say.  Everything else looked good as far as the appointment goes.  The baby has a nice strong heartbeat, and is active as can be!  My belly is still measuring on the small side, but the doctor is not concerned after seeing the results of the ultrasound last week.  The baby is growing wonderfully, however she is scooted so far down in the canal that she doesn't measure right from the outside.  ;-)  She is kind of a little stinker!
    Anyhow, now my job for the rest of the week is to stay down and keep still and make sure that everything is calm at least until Tom gets home.  He will be back on friday and we are counting the days already!  I am so lucky to have his mom here taking care of me - she is making sure I'm well fed and that everyone in the house (meaning baxter, lucy, and bosco) are all ok!  My parents have been helping out tons as well - they are over here almost every day spending time with me, helping clean, giving baxter haircuts and baths - I am so lucky!!
  Hope everyone has a wonderful week!  There will be another update when we reach 35 weeks!!
     

34 Weeks!!!

Well we have made it another week!!  So happy to be here - and really keeping my fingers crossed that we can make it at least another week so that this little lady doesn't arrive while Tom is in New Haven!!  He has a week long intensive at Yale coming up this week so he will be gone from sunday until friday.  Tom's mom, Cathi, is in town to help take care of me and make sure I behave while Tom is out of town, so I have plenty of people watching out for me, between Cathi, my parents and all of our wonderful friends!!
  Things have been stable this week - we will have another appointment on Monday with the doctor and I'll post an update after we find out if anything has changed.  The medication seems to be keeping the intense contractions away for the most part, so I'm hoping that come monday, we won't have made any big changes in the last week!
  Here is our 34 week picture!  This little lady is moving like crazy and keeps making my belly look slightly lopsided (thank goodness she was behaving during the picture!)  Have a great weekend!!

She's just the right size!

Well our doctor's appointment today was full of GOOD NEWS!!  We had an ultrasound before our appointment to check on the little lady's growth, and she is doing wonderfully!!  She is approximated to weight in around 4lbs 10 oz. right now which is right on track for the 50th percentile for her gestational age!  Her little heart was beating strong at a rate of 143 and we could see all of the little heart valves doing their job just perfectly!  She is in the head down position and she is hanging out quite low in the canal - which is likely the reason that she has been measuring small!  Typically babies aren't as low as she is until around 37-38 weeks, but she is just in hurry I guess ;-)

  When we met with the doctor, she checked my cervix and I am still dilated to 1cm which is good - we are going for no change here since I have been on the medications to slow contractions and have also been following strict bed rest rules!  It was really comforting to know that things seem to be holding strong for the time being.  When I asked, my doc said that she would like me to remain on this level of bedrest and on the medication to stop contractions at least until 36 weeks and then we can kind of see how things go.  So - a few more weeks of good behavior and then maybe I'll be allowed to get some activity back in my life!  All in all, the visit was a great one and we are all just happy to have gotten as far as we have!!  I will be 34 weeks on friday, so we have more milestones to look forward to!  Hopefully this will be a nice quiet week!  Here is a little pic of our lady - enjoy and have a great week!!  I'll write updates if anything changes ;-)   Love to you all!

Here is a little profile snapshot from our "growth" ultrasound today!  She is pretty squished in there so it was hard to get a good shot - but you can see her little nose and mouth if you look closely ;-)  The top of her head is on the right....then on the left you see a jumble of tummy, umbilical cord, hand, etc....hard to tell!