More Grace Drama

I think our little angel is going to be a drama queen. She can't just make things simple. I started back to teaching on Wednesday and noticed the increased activity caused some spotting. Friday night I started bleeding really bad and was admitted to Labor and Delivery. I spent the night and they did an ultra-sound about 1:00am. Grace looked good and she is about 4lbs. 2 oz. The bleeding is because the placenta is down near my cervix instead of up in the uterus where it's supposed to be. Being confined to bed made the bleeding slow down enough that I got to go home Saturday mid morning. I'm now confined to bed rest until the baby comes.

Monday I went to the dr. for a follow up visit. I have 6 weeks and 4 days until my due date. We discussed plans for the remainder of my pregnancy. I'm to limit my activity {which will be hard since we're moving in 3 days} and come in weekly for monitoring. During the weekly visits they will hook me up to monitors to watch the baby's heartbeat and measure the fluid levels. In about 2 1/2 weeks we're planning an amniocentesis {spelling??} which is where they draw out some of the baby's fluid and check for lung development. If the lungs are developed we'll go ahead and deliver Grace. If not we'll wait a week or so and then deliver. We've decided to go ahead with a planned c-section because of the risks involved with the placenta prevea. I could try a vaginal birth but chances are the bleeding would be so severe that I would end up having an emergency c-section anyways. We want what is best for Grace so I'm going to go ahead and have the c-section. Besides... that would stink to go all the way through the pain of labor just to end up with a c-section anyways. I'm a little nervous about all the risks and drama going on with the pregnancy but Jacob and I are both getting really excited knowing the day is drawing near that we get to meet our little princess. It's crazy to think we will be parents in a few weeks.

Posts

I know it's awhile in between posts so if your curious about anything feel free to post a response. I know Katrina always goes on to check to see if anyone has posted comments, hint, hint!

Pregnant Jacob

We attended our first birthing class on Sunday night at the hospital. Jacob got to wear the pregnancy apron which mimics the feeling of being pregnant. The nurse loaded it with bags of water to represent the fluid and blood volume increase a woman experiences during pregnancy. She also put in a 7 lb. baby doll. Jacob only had to wear the apron a few minutes before he said he had a new found respect for why I walk so slow and am out of breath all the time. I wish I could take my belly off for just a few minutes!!

Grace's New House

We recently bought a new house to better accommodate our growing family. We move in on August 28th. We are so excited to have more space and newer construction. Apparently babies take a lot of room and this house will provide that. It has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms compared to our old house which had 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. The house is only a few blocks from Adams, the school I teach at. One of the best features is the hot tub in the back yard!

30 Week Development

Our baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in my uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

3D Ultrasound Pictures

Here are the latest ultrasound pictures of Grace. I have more frequent ultrasounds these days to check my cervix to see if the placenta is moving out of the way. It did move a little so the dr. thinks we may be able to have a vaginal birth which is great news. These pictures were taken with the new 3D ultrasound machine at the dr. office.

Popeye Arm

I went to my dr. appt. on Friday and they sent me to Labor and Delivery for some IV fluids since I was somewhat dehydrated from being sick. When the nurse came to check on me she noticed my arm was swelling. Either the IV didn't get in my vein or my vein blew because the fluid was filling my arm up instead. Jacob said I looked like Popeye with a huge bulge in my lower arm. He found it so funny he took this picture to share with all! It only took about a day for the swelling to go down.