Closely Watching

Today we had our final appointment of the week with the high risk doctor. The baby (who we are definitely sure is a girl after today's ultrasound) was put through her normal test today. She scored fine on the test but once again her amniotic fluid dropped. The doctor was concerned and has now added an extra appointment for the beginning of the week to measure the fluid and watch her very closely as they have been doing. We are hoping for the best but feel comfortable being at almost 37 weeks along. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the nice weather I heard is coming!

An End is in Sight!

I just got back from a doctor's appointment with my regular doctor. I grew 2 centimeters this past week. Whether the measurement is good or bad, I am trying hard not to take any of these measurements too seriously as they are not as accurate as the growth dopplers. They are a rough estimate and I have been warned they do not always correlate to what they find with the growth dopplers. Anyway, by any rate I have grown and this is a good thing!

We also scheduled my induction today- If I do not go earlier with the baby, the induction is scheduled for my 39th week. Just about three weeks away and this baby will definitely be here :-) We are getting very anxious to meet her and have her at home with us to use all of this new baby stuff we (well, Ryan) feverishly put together. Our house is quickly becoming baby central. We are now featuring a pack 'n play (Blue's favorite new sleeping spot), exersaucer, bouncer, diaper genie, and baby monitor just in the basement area. Now if we could just have someone besides a cat to use it all :-)

Well, you are all updated and I am off to read a book on the sunny patio. Have a good day-

Back to Appointments

We had another appointment with the high risk doctor tonight. The baby did fine on all parts of her test tonight but they are watching my amniotic fluid closely. The fluid has started to go on a slight decline but still within the "I stay pregnant" range. The fluid is so important because it is really baby pee (interesting, huh?) and this tells the doctors if her kidneys are working properly. The things I never knew about having a baby... :-)

We hope you all had a nice, relaxing three day weekend. Ryan and I love to rent seasons of television shows, so we started the TV series Lost this weekend. I cannot believe what we have been missing out on! Some episodes are a little intense, but we are really enjoying it and it is definitely something good to occupy me while I am resting at home.

Have a good Wednesday!

To 36 Weeks We Go-

Today's appointment went well. The baby was sleepy (I wonder if she will be as sleepy all the time when she comes out) but scored fine on all parts of the test. We continue on to 36 weeks and we are happy that the baby is seemingly healthy and growing. We hope she continues with her current pattern. We have a nice, relaxing weekend ahead of us for the three day weekend and hope you all have a good long weekend. We have a three day break from doctors as they get Memorial Day off too so that will be a nice treat. Have a great one!

And we keep moving on-

Tonight we had an appointment with the high risk doctor. Although we didn't write it in our blog last night, our regular doctor had expressed that she would like the baby out ASAP just in case complications would arise. She even told us if it were her (she is 20 weeks pregnant) she would want the baby out where she could see her. So of course this made us think she could be coming out again, but the regular doctor and the high risk doctor chatted today and the high risk doctor decided she is still benefiting more from the inside than the outside world. We chatted in depth with him this afternoon about our worries/fears about something happening to her inside of me, and he was very understanding but said as our doctor he basically has to wait for the perfect time to pull her (when the risks inside outweigh risks outside). He told us about new studies that are related to low birth weight/early babies and resulting negative outcomes that could come 20-30 years down the road for the little lady. That all being said, if anything goes wrong they will pull her immediately. We just thought we might want to be proactive rather than reactive, but we have to put our trust in the doctors and the tests that she is having twice a week. The doctor even sat in for the whole test tonight to make sure everything looked good with the baby. I think he can tell I am slightly starting to lose my mind between talking with the regular doctor, the high risk doctor, and constantly monitoring the movement/lack of movement with the baby. So we remain with our appointments and close monitoring and hope for the best. That is our update for tonight, we will update later in the week.

Fence for Howie

Ryan has been working hard on putting a fence up in our backyard so that Howie can play fetch outside, sniff happily, and hopefully use up some of his energy. He just finished it last night and Howie loves his new freedom of running around without a leash on.

The fence literally started out as hunks of wood and Ryan put it together to make this very sturdy and I must say, very cute fence. I cannot believe how handy Ryan has become during our almost three years of being married and homeowners. He decides on a project and figures out a way to make it happen. Howie is very grateful! The last step is to stain the fence to match our big fence on the back of the property line, but that can be done anytime in the near future.

A picture of a portion of the fence is below. It is even removable just in case future buyers of our house don't want a fenced in yard.










We took a video of Howie running happily last night in the backyard. He comes up at the end of the video to smile :-)

Monday, Monday, Monday

Wow, three posts in one day...that is a record!

We had our doctor's appointment tonight with the regular doctor. Although I thought I had made great growth this week, my stomach remains at 31 weeks- a full 4 weeks behind. The much more precise version of this test is the growth doppler and as you know we found out Friday she is doing better with her growth so we are not going to worry about this measurement too much :-)

We will continue to update you as we move through our week of doctor's appointments. Have a good one!

Work Baby Shower

On Thursday, my school threw me a great baby shower. I was overwhelmed with how many people attended (teachers are busy after school!) and how generous everyone was.










I am so lucky to work where I do and to be surrounded by great co-workers. They were incredibly supportive with everything with the baby and have helped me in any way that they could. Thursday was my last day at work for the school year regardless of baby coming or not so I said good-bye to everyone on Thursday after the shower.

Friday was filled with anxiety about the baby possibly coming and doctor's appointments so today is the official first day of my leave. I am having a hard time not being at school to enjoy the chaos that is the end of the school year. It is a crazy time (field days, field trips, class parties, etc-) but there is something very gratifying about finishing out a school year with your students. My mom thinks I will be over this by Wednesday so we shall see :-) I am trying to force myself to remember the shortness of breath, shooting pain in my back, and the stress that came with juggling work and the unknowns that are surrounding our baby to be.

Today I will be on the computer (as you can tell from the updated blogs) and writing lots of thank you notes for the two showers I have had and giving this body and baby the rest that they need :-) I will keep everyone posted on how our appointments go this week.

Friend Baby Shower

Four of my girlfriends (thank you Kayte, Nicole, Stephanie, and Judy!) threw me a beautiful baby shower yesterday afternoon. We ate wonderful food, drank punch from a fun fountain, played games that didn't require me to move (yeah!), opened lots of wonderful gifts, and ate Sweet Dreams cupcakes for dessert (really, really good cupcakes). I have wonderful girlfriends and it was nice to have so many in the same place at the same time.

Below are pictures that Stephanie took during the shower. She said I kept glaring at her every time she took the pictures. I think this a natural reaction for an almost 9 month pregnant girl, BUT I am very happy she took lots of pictures to capture the big day. Thanks Steph-

Clockwise from top left: The basement was decorated with lots of cute outfits for Baby Janisch; Cassie, Shea and I enjoying the shower; Favors! Flowers in cute pots lining our stairs; playing the celebrity baby name game (my niece Kelsey is to my left and Ryan's mom is to my right); The yummy display of food that Kayte and Nicole prepared

Here is the Update...

We had our big appointment today and it went really well. No baby today and no planned c-section for next week. The baby's weight went up and the head/body ratio got better also! Her percentile went down just a tiny bit, but nothing they are too concerned about. The appointments continue three times a week and the doctor told us (actually we saw both doctors today as they were very excited about the results of the growth doppler so the 2nd doctor came in to congratulate us also) it will take less and less to pull her the further I go along. So the bags remain packed and we remain in limbo, but we feel good/fortunate about the baby's improvements.

Ryan and I would like to thank everyone for their constant good thoughts and prayers, it is obviously working as our little girl is improving and still in my belly :-)

Tuesday

Ryan and I in our normal positions during the first part of the baby's test. This is the non-stress test portion before we move on to the ultrasound.



Today was our 2nd appointment of the week. The appointment started off a little slow as we were waiting for the baby to wake up during the non-stress test portion of the appointment. They "buzzed" her several times and she finally woke up and then flew through all portions of the test just fine.

Our next appointment is at the end of the week. This is the big growth doppler appointment that we have been waiting for since our last growth doppler. In case they decide to take the baby that day, the doctor decided to move the appointment up in the day (more staff I think) and I have been instructed not to eat anything for several hours before going in. The basic plan is: If we see no growth, she comes out then and there. A little growth but drop in percentiles again, we schedule a c-section. Good growth, she stays in and we keep going with the appointments. Just a couple more days and we will know more and we will inform you more-

Have a good next couple of days! We will be posting again soon-

Monday Appointment

Today was an appointment with my regular baby doctor. I grew a cm! That is my first cm in three weeks. I am still measuring three weeks behind, but at least my belly and the baby are moving in the right direction. Hopefully this means good growth when we get the Growth Doppler done at the end of the week.

We talked in depth about what the c-section will entail when it most likely occurs. The doctor has said a c-section would be a safer option for the baby so that we do not put her body in any more distress than necessary. Ryan and I had lots of questions for the doctor as we both thought I would deliver the baby naturally up until two weeks ago. We now feel much more knowledgeable and ready for what is most likely to come.

The doctor felt like we will probably deliver in the very near future, but we made an appointment with the doctor for a week from today "just in case" the baby is not here yet. I cannot believe we might be parents in a week! It makes our heads spin a little but we are ready when she is :-) We are so anxious to hear/see the results from the Growth Doppler later this week so we know how she is doing and the predicted time of her arrival. We will keep you updated as we are updated.

Happy belated Mother's Day to all of the mommas reading this- I hope you enjoyed your day!

Quick Update

Today's appointment went much better than yesterday. The baby's movement was up a little from yesterday and all other parts of the tests were passed just fine. This all means she is allowed to stay in for another weekend :-) We have three appointments next week and the one at the end of next week will be extremely telling because it will tell us how much or how little she has grown.

We are happy with how today went and we are going to rest this weekend so we can gear up for another week. We hope you all get to do the same. Have a good one-

Time to update

I have been unsure whether to update the blog with the recent events that have been going on with the baby, but we have decided it is a good way to keep everyone informed and updated on how our baby girl is doing.

So here is the basic info-
As many of you know, the doctors have discovered that the baby is not growing quite the way they would like inside of me. Last week, we found out not only is she small, but the main concern is that her head/body ratio is elevated (head is bigger than body) and this means she is not getting enough from me and what she is getting, she is prioritizing to her brain.

To make a long story short, in order to ensure the health of the baby we now go to the regular baby doctor once a week and to a high risk baby doctor (at least) two times a week. Each time we visit the high risk doctor the baby is put through an ultrasound and test(breathing, heart rate, amniotic fluid level, etc) to make sure she is still able to maintain a somewhat healthy lifestyle inside of her momma-

The doctors have told us they do not feel the baby will make it to her original due date (June 23) and actually they are ready to take her out anytime they feel necessary. I was injected with steroids twice this week to help pump up her lungs just in case they decide to take her in the very near future. I am currently 33 weeks along and they feel that this is far enough along that she will be just fine once she hits the outside world. I would love to make it to 34/35 weeks (these are the magic weeks according to the Internet) but babies have a schedule of their own and we trust our doctors to make the call when they feel it is time.

As for today's update:
Today we ended up going into the doctor because I was not feeling a lot of movement. They put the baby through the "test" and she scored lower but they still feel like she is benefiting more from the inside than the outside. She definitely was moving less so they will be watching her carefully as they have been. We go back tomorrow for another test.

Ryan and I are doing just fine and I think we are most nervous about all of the unknowns...when she will come, what level of care she will need after being born, and of course if she will get to go home with us when I get released from the hospital. These are all questions that cannot be answered so we are trying to take everything one day at a time.

We will try to update often so that everyone can stay on the same page with the constant Dr's appointments.