37 Weeks (& 2 days!) - Officially Full Term!!

We had our 37 week check-up on Monday and we're quite thrilled to have made it to full-term! Dylan's still a happy camper, but now the tables have turned and we are anxious for her to decide to arrive ASAP. :)

Dylan did excellent on her NST, which we are always grateful for. She is a busy girl and I think every week the NST tech, the Ultrasound tech, and the doctor all comment on how active she is - we might have a wild child on our hands! The ultrasonographer put her weight at 7 pounds 8 ounces this week, she's growing like a weed! (Too much tasty fair food for me this week, I guess!) That means she's already a pound and a half bigger than Haley was at birth, which is making me less and less confident that my second delivery will be easier than my first, though that's what most everyone claims... Hmmm.....

During the ultrasound, they also noted that my amniotic fluid is now down to 7.5 from 9 last week. We're still above that 5 mark (less than 5 and they induce right away), but getting lower again. So, during my exam, the doctor also checked to see if I might be leaking fluid. (If I was, that would also mean induction right away.) I'm not leaking fluid, and I'm still only dilated to 4 cm, so we were sent on home with the plan that we'll now go in twice a week to have my amniotic fluid levels checked and a NST performed to make sure Dylan's still happy in there. Also, I'm now supposed to do fetal kick counts twice a day, just to keep a close eye on her. So Thursday I'll be heading back up for that, and we'll just be playing it all by ear. If my fluid level ever gets below 5, if Dylan ever seems less than happy in her environment, or if I would ever be leaking fluid - they would induce right away. Any time she decides to come on her own is A-OK with them, especially now that she's officially full term. Otherwise, as long as she's happy, and my fluid stays at a safe level, they'll let us go till 39 weeks or so and then they might just induce me by breaking my water. I think at that point I'll probably be up for it, it's rather stressful being so far away from the hospital with our doctors and feeling like we'd never make it there if we actually went into true labor in Logan, and running to Columbus twice a week will get old very quickly too. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she just decides to come on her own between now and then, but otherwise hopefully we'll have a sweet Dylan-Roo in our arms within the next 2 weeks!! We can't wait to hold her and smooch those sweet feeties that keep trying to poke out of my right side! I told the doctor that I think she would already be here if she knew she was supposed to come down & out, not just straight out through my belly button! :)

36 week check-up

Yesterday was my 36 week & 1 day check-up for Dylan, and Chadmo managed to come along with us this week. :) Once again, Dylan did excellent on her Non-Stress Test. She's an active baby and she's still loving her environment - her heart accelerates when she moves just like it's supposed to, and it doesn't decelerate when I have contractions which is very important! (I was having contractions about every 5 minutes on the monitor again this week, like I was last week, but certainly not strong ones.)

We had an ultrasound again this week, and they estimate her weight at 6 pounds 15 ounces! Her head still measures a couple of weeks ahead of her body, but the ultrasound tech was reassuring that it doesn't look like she has a ridiculously large head, just a big one. (Which is to be expected between Chadmo & myself!) She even commented that you could see some hair, not a ton of hair mind you, but some! This came as a complete shock to me as I never expected to have anything but babies who were bald till they were 2. We'll see how much is there when she's born and if she can hang on to it over time or not. :) My amniotic fluid was a little lower this week, down to 9 again, so they're going to resume doing ultrasounds every week to check my fluid level.

Dr. Copeland is on vacation this week and next, so I saw Dr. Sayat this Monday & I'll be seeing him again next Monday. I saw him once while I was pregnant with Haley, and I'm a big fan so that's just fine with me. I've now progressed to being 4 cm dilated - only 1 more cm to go and we're half way there! Dr. Sayat said any time I go into labor now is fine, and that they wouldn't even try to stop labor at this point. For now we'll just keep on keeping on with the appointments, but he said if my fluid ever gets too low or Dylan seems unhappy with the fluid level, they would just induce me by breaking my water. (Yay for NO pitocin - hopefully!) Hopefully that won't happen and I'll just go in to labor on my own when Dylan decides it's the right time, but that's still good to know. I'm voting she comes on about the 24th, if only we could choose! ;)

One last note, the final lab results are in from the hematologist and my bloodwork still looked good, so we are good to go! And to correct a statement from my previous post - vonWillebrand's is the most common bleeding disorder, affecting 1-2% of women AND men. (It's just less commonly diagnosed in men, because they don't have periods.) vWD is an autosomal dominant trait, meaning you only need to have one gene for it and you will be symptomatic - not just a carrier. I must only have 1 gene for it, because Haley did not have vWD (thank goodness!) If I had 2 genes for it, all of our children would have vWD. But that still means 50% of our children will have vWD, so there were a lot of instructions from Dr. Cataland to the hospital on things they can & can't do to Dylan during & after delivery. I'm certainly glad I went to him, it's good to have all our ducks in a row.

Haley-Bug's 2nd Birthday

Here's a picture! Haley's 2nd Birthday cake!

It was Miss Buglette's 2nd birthday this past Saturday, September 10th. I was waiting to post until I had pictures of her birthday cake, but we have misplaced Mom's camera and for now the pictures are hiding from us. When we find the camera, I'll post pictures retroactively. :)

Saturday was a beautiful day, 70's and sunshine-y. It was a beautiful day last year for her first birthday too, and while I suppose that some year on September 10th the weather will be crummy, these last 2 years it makes it feel like Haley's smiling down on us.

Last year we started a tradition for Haley's birthday that was suggested to us by a friend who also had a daughter who passed away. Each year on her birthday, we go to the cemetery and release one balloon for every year old she would be. Katy & Greg are awesome enough to pick up balloons at Children's Hospital for us on their way down to Logan. (Children's Hospital is the pinnacle of fancy balloon selection, Logan's balloon selection leaves something to be desired.) This year Haley had a GIANT dragonfly balloon, and then an iridescent "Happy Birthday" balloon to go with it. Mom, Dad, Katy, Greg, Chadmo, & I headed out to visit Haley's gravesite, and then we released the balloons with little notes tied to them. We watch them until they get so far away that you can't see them anymore, which takes a surprisingly long time, especially with the big ones. The winds were blowing a different direction this year than they were last year, in fact pretty much the exact opposite direction, and I'm sure my superstitious self could construe that to mean all sorts of different things. ;) In any case, it's nice to visit her grave when the weather is beautiful, the grass has all grown in where she is buried, the landscaping we planted is doing well, and the birds are chirping - it makes it all seem extra peaceful.

After the cemetery, we all headed back to Mom & Dad's for Haley's birthday dinner & her traditional birthday cake with pink frosting. We're making this part of the tradition too, there's some 'Mommy' part of me that just needs to bake my baby a cake on her birthday. No singing "Happy Birthday", that's too weird for us, but it's good to eat dinner & cake & celebrate Haley & laugh & smile while we think about her. To quote from the back of her gravestone:

& for me, it will always be this way,

walking in the light,

remembering being alive together

(Living Memory, by Brian Andreas)

To complete the evening (though I doubt this will become part of the birthday tradition, but I guess you never know), we played a fun new game called BezzerWizzer. It's a trivia game of sorts, but much more fun than Trivial Pursuit in my opinion, and we're big fans. Dad won, but it was a close game and everyone played well which is always more fun that just having someone annihilate you. I imagine next year that Dylan won't be quite old enough to play yet, so she might convince us to do something more to her taste. :) All in all, it was as good of a day as we could've hoped for. Also, we sincerely appreciate all the sweet thoughts, prayers, phone calls, notes, cards, and messages from people who thought about Haley & us on her birthday. We are beyond lucky to have such caring and thoughtful family and friends. <3