35/35 already??

Wow, can't believe how fast these last few weeks are passing. We've reached the 35 week mark which also means there are only 35 days remaining. Yikes.

Today we went in for a growth ultrasound to see how big the little guy is getting; he's currently weighing in at 6 lbs which means that if he goes to 40 weeks he should be somewhere around 8.5 lbs. Keep in mind that these ultrasounds are definitely not known for accuracy and can be off by a pound in either direction.

Also, even though we're only at the 35 week mark, his head circumference put him at a gestational age of 39 weeks. (Another yikes.) Dr. Palmer (our maternal-fetal medicine specialist) took one look at Daniel and I and said "that's genetics for you, no way that the two of you weren't going to have a big-headed baby"!

They found a few points of concern today so it looks like we'll be getting additional ultrasounds every week until Henry decides to become an 'outside baby'. There was some urine backing up into his kidneys because his bladder was too full, evidently this is pretty common for boys (which I took to mean as: they're more trouble than girls from the very beginning), and his heart was throwing an extra beat every now and then. Dr. Palmer thinks that both problems are related to my sugar intake and can be fixed by diet change alone. EVIDENTLY the fact that I had apple juice with breakfast and jelly on my pb&j for lunch (paired with a sweet beverage) could be at fault. So I've decided that this week will be nothing but water, grilled chicken, and vegetables, then we'll see how next Wednesday's ultrasound goes! (To ease anyone's concerns, she really didn't think that we will see any lasting problems from either condition and everything should rectify soon.)

Another little tidbit- looks like Henry might be taking advantage of his Aunt Liz's skills pretty early on! The ultrasound tech discovered that Henry appears to have a pretty good mullet growing. (Yet again, yikes.)

Here are a few pictures- I'll try to help you make sense of them along the way:

Obviously, the u/s technician marked his ear for you- other than that I think Henry looks like a scary rat in this picture, so please don't look too closely

Here you can see Henry's profile shot (on the right side of the picture)- the bubbles that are in front of his nose/mouth are actually cross sections of the umbilical cord- and the white blob towards the left is a fist (*I think*)

This picture has Henry facing you directly (tilt your head to the right and he's looking straight at you)- you can see his right eye fairly well and he has his right fist (notice the Michelin baby arm) smushed up against his chubby right cheek. (Yes, 'smushed' is the technical term.)

This is another profile shot- again, head on the right side and fist on the left- I think this is my favorite because it looks like he's smoking a little cigar. In reality, the "smoke clouds" are again a view of the umbilical cord and he's sticking his tongue out which gives the appearance that he's laughing. Of course there's always the possibility that he's telling a priceless bar joke in utero (I never claimed to be an expert on ultrasound technology).

There are only so many things you can do...

when you're stuck with your feet propped up on two large pillows. We'll see how long this blogging/website thing lasts; I'm definitely not making any promises. I do think this will be a fairly easy way to share updates and future pictures with everyone so I will at least try and give it a shot.

In the event that you haven't been keeping track (and I don't blame you since half of the time Daniel and I forget where we're at), the 30th week of our pregnancy is currently underway which means that Henry is now approximately the size of a squash. This doesn't seem too impressive until you remember he was only a poppyseed back in August.

Our last appointment with Dr. Cook (the baby doctor) was Thursday and it looks like we will be beginning twice weekly appointments from here on out. A little background in case the news hasn't spread: a couple of weeks ago Dr. Cook became concerned with some swelling in my feet and ordered an array of tests. The majority of the labs came back fine with minimal abnormalities, however, it was found that I am releasing more protein than is acceptable. The cutoff for protein is 300mg/24 hour period and I was at 350mg which is categorized as borderline pre-eclampsia. The good news is that there haven't been any problems with my blood pressure so far, which would be the most problematic part of pre-eclampsia. The bad news is that my blood pressure issues could change very quickly and become a serious situation.

Needless to say, we're going to handle the whole situation with quite a bit of caution. On Monday we will begin a series of steroid shots to further Henry's lung development in case he has to come early and I will only be working part-time from here on out (or until the doctor decides that full bed rest would be the safer option). Prayers/good thoughts are definitely appreciated as it looks like the next 10 weeks might be a bit rocky!

This news has kind of set a kink in our plans- everything around the house seems a little more urgent now. The nursery is coming along very well- thanks to Daniel- and should be finished next weekend, pictures to follow. We crossed the stroller and car seat off our to-do lists this weekend; at the very least, Henry will be able to travel home and should have a place to sleep if he were to come soon!