30 days

Today I had my 2 weekly doctor appointments, one with my OB and one with the specialist. We had our first one with the specialist where we got our usual Friday peek at Noah! I'm glad he's still being a good boy and staying head down. One less thing to worry about. As usual, he had both his little hands in front of his mouth.

On the profile view, we could see his mouth moving and it looked like he was sucking on his wrist, too cute!! I still can't get over those chubby cheeks!!! Another view, we were shown that Noah has quite a bit of hair, yay!!! Just like his older siblings who all had a good amount of hair when they were born. The hair is the white lines in the upper left hand corner of this picture below. And he has hair all over, not just this little patch. ;) She had to change angles to see all the hair, this was just a glimpse of one area. Amazing what you can see on ultrasounds!!!

They said Noah is still looking pretty good. His organs still looked fine and had no hydrops and my amniotic level was good. They did say they saw some skin edema which I guess they said they expected eventually. The specialist also informed me that they will not let me go past my due date. For those that remember, I have a history of going 2-3wks late. It really hit me when she said that....today is 1 month exactly until my due date. 30 days. I mean, I know the end of my pregnancy is coming but to be given a definite deadline, well, just brought a rush of emotions. I was suddenly reminded of all I had to do yet to get ready for Noah, well, as much as I possibly can. And I'm just not ready to face the things that may come in the days ahead. I had to do a reality check before I got too overwhelmed by thinking too far into the future. I was reminded I am given the strength to deal with the here and now and to not worry about what is going to come. I have to trust that God will give me whatever I need in the coming days to get through whatever I am going through at that time. Right now I need to be thankful Noah is doing good, my health is still good and to just enjoy life where it's at now.

I still feel a sense of urgency though to make sure I get those little things I want done sooner rather than later. I started working on his room this week. And I was reminded just how much I hate painting ceilings!!! haha At least that part is done and I can now do the parts that I enjoy. It took me months to come up with bedding and a mural that I wanted to paint (hence why I waited so long to do it!) I also wanted something that was a bit different as well as gender nuetral since at the time we didn't know what we were having. So my plans are to finish up the walls and start on the mural in the next few days.

Right after our specialist appointment, we went downstairs to my OB appointment. While there, we were given a message from the specialist that they now want me followed twice a week by the OB instead of the once a week I had been doing. And they stated if there is any increase in my blood pressure or any other changes, I have to be induced right away. Again, just hearing that hit me all over again that I NEED to get some things done this week just in case. I don't want to be scrambling if something changes all of a sudden. Because they seemed to imply they will be surprised if I will be allowed to go until my due date. :( The doctor also told us when they had their weekly meeting & were going over my case with others in the practice, that they noticed that Noah's measurements of his head and chest need to be watched. Due to his abdominal issues, his abdomen is bit bigger than his head. When typically it's the other way around. They said they need to watch his growth because there could be concern I won't be able to deliver him vaginally if his abdomen gets too much bigger than his head. Thankfully everyone is on the same page in trying to help me avoid a c-section. So please keep this in prayer, that we can have a normal delivery. I believe this coming week when I go in for another ultrasound, they will be taking his measurements again and we'll know a bit more.

She also said she will try to schedule a meeting with us & the different heads of hospital staff who will be involved with us so they can all be on the same page in trying to help us still have the birth experiance we want as well as try to make it as best as possible under the circumstances. We also talked again about the many different circumstances that could possibly happen. There are SO many unknowns still so it really makes it hard to know just how things could go. It really is a day to day thing right now. And many decisions will have to be made as things happen which is difficult. Pray that we will make the right decisions as things arise and feel a peace about it. Because even now just talking over different things, it's so hard to know just what to do.