A Poll!

Alright folks... for many of you this is double-dipping (since I posted it on Facebook too)... but we know that I'll get checked in tomorrow morning and start on the drug to "ripen" and "thin" my cervix. Once that is achieved to my midwife's liking we'll switch to pitocin which will get my contractions going... and then at some point after that we'll have a baby!

So... here is the poll:

1. What time will Wesley arrive (be specific folks)?

2. How much will Wes weigh?

3. How long will Wes be?

Ready or Not...

We took this evening's last minute opportunity to take a picture of Wesley's new digs before he arrives...

Here is Wesley's crib complete with monkey mobile, safari wall hanging and LOTS of blankets and quilts... this baby will not get cold!

Here are a few of Wesley's stuffed friends waiting for him to come home!

Wes' changing table... he has more clothes than I do and that is NOT an exaggeration... the bins here are full of his newborn and 0-3 month clothes!



And finally... Tater was kind enough a few nights ago to try out the co-sleeper for us (when it was full of pillows). Winston took it as his responsibility to do so the following night. They both approve!

Belly Update- Grandma Requested

*Scroll Down to see most recent belly photo*

Mom said last night that she wanted to "see the bump." So... here is the baby belly post. I'm going to try to just use this same post and add new pictures as we take them so that by the end I'll have one post with all of the belly shots (and I'll just keep moving it to the top when there's an update). Scroll down to see the "newest" belly shots.

3 weeks along

7 weeks along

16 weeks


18 weeks

20.5 weeks (halfway there!)

This is 23 weeks.


And this is 24 weeks, 2 days. Hiding this guy seems like it should be getting harder though I had two people today tell me that they would "never have guessed" that I was pregnant.

26 weeks, 3 days. Definitely starting to feel like I "look" pregnant... though with the fall weather upon us it is still pretty easy to hide should I want to as well.

This was 31 and a half weeks (I'm now 32 and a half). As you can see, I am carrying him very high and according to all of the movement/pressure I am feeling he is still laying across me from left to right. Hopefully in the next month he'll get the idea that he wants to drop... we'll see!

A little over 36 weeks.

And here we are at 37 weeks and 5 days... since I am being induced in two days, this is as big as I am going to get!

And just for good measure... this is to prove that the belly is mine and not someone else's! Happy mommy with crazy hair ready to go the hospital tomorrow morning!

Induction

Induction has officially been scheduled to start Saturday morning. I check into the hospital Friday evening around 7pm (that would be 95 hours from now if anyone is keeping track, not that I am!) and we start a cervadil-type drug to "soften" my cervix so that it will be ready (oh please, let it be ready!) for inductin Saturday morning... yes, Reid and I are going to have a baby outside my body by the end of this weekend!

What I've Been Doing since New Year's...

Laying (mostly)....

On my left side...

And my right side...

And sitting up (you have to do so occasionally!)

Back to the right (Tater was a little miffed that I slept on the sofa rather than on the bed with him and remedied it by coming out in the morning and laying on the pillows RIGHT in front of me)...

Still on my right...

Back to the left...

To the right (are you sensing a pattern?)...

And yes... back to the left!

Good thing I have three trusty dogs to help me hold down the sofas... they are certainly good cuddlers!

Midwife Appointment

We had a midwife appointment yesterday which included a bio-physical profile ultrasound. No, I had no idea what that was either until yesterday. Basically it is a fairly in depth ultrasound where the technician is looking for several things to make sure that baby is doing well in terms of health. She looks, of course, at heart function and heartbeat. She also watches for breathing rhythm (in order to pass he has to do practice breathing for at least thirty seconds in a row... he did this almost immediately when watched). She measures several spots for fluid levels to make sure he has a big enough bathtub. And finally she watches for three large movements.

Well, let me tell you last night was not a good night in terms of sleep for me. I was up every half hour or so for most of the night and at least some of that was directly because Wesley was dancing up a storm. He was even flipping around and enjoying himself on the way to the doctor's office (as he is now). But once again, my son who has not yet entered this world is proofing just how darn stubborn he can be. He laid perfectly still for fifteen minutes of the tech poking and prodding him and my changing positions. It took my downing an entire 16 ounce bottle of orange juice to get those three movements out of him and even then he gave them begrudgingly. We have another of these ultrasounds next Wednesday. I plan to inundate him with juice and possibly chocolate half an hour before it begins!

Because he was sluggish movement wise we also had a stress test (where they put the two monitors on your belly and watch his heart beat). No trouble passing that... either he likes the vibration of the monitor or he really doesn't but either way it gets him to squirm a fair amount. I also had my blood pressure checked which is staying in the acceptable range. The protein in my urine was, according to Jayne, "just a little bit" and I have gained one pound since last week (an acceptable amount). The internal exam reveals that my cervix is still closed tight but that isn't surprising as I'm still in my 36th week (and therefore pre-term). However, his head was fairly low which is a good thing considering up until last week we weren't sure whether he was head down or not!

But, the most important (in some ways) part of our visit was at the end when we talked dates. Jayne said that with my blood pressure issues she did not want to wait for this pregnancy to come to its own natural conclusion. She suggested strongly that 38 weeks is an appropriate time to deliver a baby whose mama is having the medical issues that I am having. Basically... let's give him enough time to cook but also let's get him out before what we currently have under control has the chance to become something we no longer have under control. Makes sense to me.

So... Wes has another stress test on Friday. Then we have another ultrasound Wednesday as well as an exam. And as long as both of those are good and don't call for more speedy action, I will check into the hospital on Friday, January 29th. At that point they'll give me cervidil to "ripen" my cervix (sorry to all of you for whom that is TMI). Then, most likely, we will induce on Saturday, January 30th... which means that Reid and I will most likely be parents in ten days. Yeah, you could definitely say that it is getting real!

Shower and Winston

So, the two things in the title of this blog have nothing to do with one another but both deserve to be talked about. First, I had my Alamosa baby shower yesterday at my friend Renee's home which was great. As it was probably my last chance at a social event before Wesley arrived I very much enjoyed it. When you know that staying at home for an indeterminate period of time is looming ahead of you it is nice to have something to put on makeup and nice clothes for. The food was yummy. The games were silly and fun. The presents were very appreciated... and most importantly the company was great. I will try to upload some pictures sometime soon.

And Winston... this afternoon I was laying on the couch with Winston behind my knees when I felt him twitching a lot. I sat up to find that his eyes were still open and that he had his legs pulled up really tight to his body. He was shaking a lot and it was clear that he was in distress. Reid came running into the room and we got Winston onto the floor. It was clear that he could not support himself on his legs. I called the emergency vet number and in the two minutes it took to get a vet to call us back he had started to relax. He was still shaking some but the muscles of his legs were relaxing. We described everything to the vet and he agreed that most likely it was a seizure. He told us to keep a close eye on him and if he has any more this evening we'll take him in on an emergency basis. If not, then we can take him in tomorrow to have some tests run to rule out a few causes of seizures in dogs. If all of those come back negative then chances are good we'll never know exactly what caused it.

We scoured the house and couldn't find anything he had gotten into (the first thing you think with a beagle!). Plus the fact that he isn't showing any gastro-intestinal discomfort makes me think it unlikely that he ingested a toxin. After we cuddled him for fifteen minutes or so he got up and wanted to go out. Reid took him out along with my mother's westie... and the two of them were bouncing around the back yard wrestling and chasing one another just like they always do. You would have had NO idea that twenty minutes before Winston was effectively paralyzed. He came in and has been peacefully sleeping on the sofa for most of the afternoon (minus one quick run to the kitchen when I offered all of the dogs a "t-r-e-a-t" to make sure that he was willing to get up and move around... for a treat, you betcha!). So... Reid will take him to the vet tomorrow (so long as this evening goes smoothly) and we may or may not ever know exactly what happened. But, if you wouldn't mind keeping Winston in your thoughts (along with Wesley and myself), I'd appreciate it!

"Is he coming or not?" Week

This past week has been a big one in the baby Neilsen world and I want to write a little about it before I forget (as I've been told repeatedly that once Wesley makes his arrival my brain will instantly go to mush and details that are now crystal clear will vanish forever).

At my midwife appointment last week my blood pressure was high. So she put me on modified bedrest ("Try to lay on your side as much as possible and keep your feet elevated, stop going grocery shopping for yourself, etc"). We did that for a week (thank goodness my mom is here) and went back to her office on Tuesday. My blood pressure, taken by both the nurse Vicki (who usually gets a lower number) and Jayne (who usually gets slightly higher), had my diastolic (or lower number) above 100 which is not good. We had also bought a home monitor and I had been tracking my pressure at home, knowing full well that my bottom number was living in the 90s and occasionally creeping up to the 100s. Yet somehow it was still a shock when Jayne said that she wanted to admit me to the hospital for 24 hours to run test and monitor my blood pressure.

Mom, Reid and I immediately went upstairs to the maternity ward (we did not pass go and we did not, unfortunately collect $100). The check-in process was insanely easy ("Yes, Jayne called about you. This is the room you'll be in. Please sign these two forms"). I changed into a gown and they immediately took my blood pressure (down into the 90s sitting on the bed with my feet up, in the low 80s when I laid down on my side... instantly). Then they hooked me up to the fetal monitor where we watched his heartbeat bounce around for fifteen minutes. Come to find out later when I spoke with Jayne that you want the heartbeat to bounce around a fair amount (within the range that his was) because it shows periods of activity and relaxation. He passed with flying colors.

They also took some blood which they tested for several things. All happily came back with the appropriate results. Perhaps the least enjoyable part of my stay was the 24 urine test... Yes, for 24 hours you have to pee into a pan within the toilet and then pour your urine into a container (which is put over ice!) so that at the end of the time they could see how much I had produced and most importantly test for protein levels. Apparently if the protein level had been above 300 it would have been cause for moving the pregnancy along more quickly because it would have been an indicator that my high blood pressure was causing issues for my kidneys and/or liver. Luckily when the results finally came in Wednesday evening the level was 220, which apparently is acceptable.

Because I had not planned to check into the hospital I did not have anything with me. Reid and mom came home for dinner and then Reid drove back to the hospital (which is luckily only 12 miles from our house) with some of my "necessary" stuff (snacks, entertainment, a change of undies, etc). Of course after he left I thought of more things I needed so he had to stop by Wednesday morning before work too! I spent the 24 hours dozing, watching tv, knitting and visiting with people, when not having my blood pressure checked, peeing about a million times and having Wesley monitored three times. Apparently he is like his daddy and not a morning person because the morning scan was the only time where they had to move the monitor around and then give me juice to get him active enough to do the reading.

Luckily my blood pressure stayed low while lying on my side, the baby's readings were good and my protein levels weren't too high. Had any of those things not gone our way, there was a very real possibility that I would have been heli-vacced to a Denver hospital with Reid driving over and we would have delivered Wesley this week at 35 1/2 weeks. SLV Regional Medical does not deliver babies before 36 weeks if they can help it, mainly because we don't have a NICU and because of our high altitude (a baby born with premature lungs at this altittude has a greater increase of problems than a baby born in Denver which is a few thousand feet lower).

Instead of that prospect (which I was very much NOT looking forward to), I got sent home on complete bedrest (though granted one special compensation for my baby shower later this afternoon!) and a low dose of blood pressure medication. I've continued to monitor my numbers here at home and the combination of the two things seems to be working. I also had a BP check yesterday with Jayne that checked out well. We also did another fetal scan just to make sure and Wesley once again passed it exceedingly well (in other words, he has passed all of his tests! It's just mom who is failing :)...

On Tuesday we have another OB check (my one on Tuesday also told us that I was not the slightest bit dilated or effaced). We also have a bio-physical ultrasound which will make sure that Wesley has the correct amount of fluid levels, good muscle tone, correct size/weight gain, etc... If both of those come back well, we will continue what we are doing for another week. At this point our goal is to get to 38 weeks, at which time Wesley will be firmly in the full term camp (full term is technically any time after 37 weeks). At that time, if all of the test results are still coming back well (ie, if he is good size, my blood pressure is still holding steady, his scans are still showing lots of good activity, etc), we will induce labor... 38 weeks is exactly two weeks from today! Wow... that's soon. We haven't set a specific induction day yet (that might happen at our next appointment on Tuesday). The one thing we do know is that with my BP issues we won't be going all the way to his due date and definitely not beyond it. So... though I'll keep the counter at the top of the blog as to Master Neilsen's countdown to due date... we're going to have a baby before that timer is up! And until then, I'll be doing a lot of laying on the sofa!

The Week Between Christmas and New Year

Yes, yes... I'm very behind. But here is the week between Christmas and New Year in pictures (with a couple from Christmas eve and Christmas day thrown in for good measure).


This is probably my favorite picture from the week... there are actually several in the series. She just sat down next to Winston and served him tea... and then joined him by having her own cup. And honestly, I think Winston ate up the attention... He was just so cute with her.

Raley loved serving tea to the dogs... Tater was not so sure about being given an empty cup!

Frankly, neither was Albie.

This is the custom wine rack that Reid made for Sarah and Dan for Christmas. It holds six bottles and if I do say so myself... it's pretty darn awesome!

This is the mayhem that comes from having a nearly two year old in your living room... I wish I could say that this was at the end of the week but it wasn't... this was a regular occurence and it looked like this every day about fifteen minutes after she was up.

But look how cute she is with her mommy! Totally worth the mess...

I love this picture because I love her coat and hat! She went outside to chase her daddy's new remote control car! So much fun...

Winston was doing his civic duty by cleaning any and all crumbs from Raley's car seat!

What is one of the best toys of Christmas? Why the wrapping parts of course! Raley climbed in this bag and spent several fun-filled moments popping out like a present.

Raley helped Winston find the PERFECT toy (which of course was at the bottom of the toy basket)... no, my dogs aren't spoiled at all :)

What nearly two year old doesn't accessorize with her parents' Flip on one arm and baby doll on the other?

This was Raley helping me put on one of my favorite Christmas presents... fleece lined crocs! They might not be "stylish" but I have worn them almost every day since I got them! They are so comfy, warm and most important for a pregnant lady... they slip on! Thanks Sarah and Dan!

Who doesn't play piano with one hand while holding a rubber chicken dog toy in the other? She's a multi-tasker!

Raley and grandpa reading a story.

We made gingerbread cookies... this was Raley's part of the process. Needless to say the cookies actually got rolled out and made during naptime. But she was a very good dough stabber/eater (and she ate several pinches of flour as well)!

Playing follow the leader at the dinner table... a favorite of Raley's!

Still a little too small for snowboarding (maybe next year?)... but her daddy got to go snowboarding at Wolf Creek twice and sandboarding at the Great Sand Dunes once so he was happy!

The best we could get with two dogs, a squirming Raley and two adults.

I really like this picture... for some reason the morning that they were leaving Raley was all about Uncle Reid. She wanted to play with him and be held by him and was very happy to pose for pictures with him.

Sarah, Dan and Raley just before they started on their drive back to Long Beach, CA. I wish they could have stayed forever... but of course they can't. I certainly look forward to my next visit to southern Cali!

Blogging Haitus

Between the end of school (Dec. 18) and having my family here over Christmas I have been in quite the blogging haitus, haven't I? But with the sentence of bed rest now hanging over my head (I was told two days ago at my midwife appointment that due to my high blood pressure she wants me to stay sitting/laying down for 18-20 hours/day) I should have more time to devote to the blog... which is good since once Wes gets here I somehow doubt I'll have much time (though I promise Annie, I'll update with pictures as much as I can).

But for now I thought I'd post some Christmas photos... so, here are a few pictures from our Christmas day...

Here is the Christmas tree "Raley-proofed" before their arrival...


Raley and I after their arrival at our house Christmas Eve.


Three generations of ladies in our family (my mom, Raley and my sister)


Raley with HER pile of presents in front of her... any clue that she is an only grand child?? And I believe this is the closest Tater was to Raley all week long... he has some major adjusting to do when Wesley gets here.

It didn't take her long to figure out this opening present thing... though she did get overwhelmed easily. Not a big deal though... it just meant we stretched out opening her presents for two days!

Just to show that there were other presents opened... here is Reid opening one with my dad in the background.

One of many adorable pictures of Winston and Raley... he was SO good with her. He definitely one the good dog with toddler award.

Mom opening one of her hand-made presents from Reid's shop

Raley examining her present from aunt Jenna and uncle Reid (a six foot long polar fleece "Nemo" fish)


Alright... so it might be a little big for her right now but she'll grow into it!

And that concludes the day of Christmas... next post, the rest of the week (or at least parts of it).