A whole year!!

So, I got an alert yesterday to tell me that it has been one year since I started Sister Eggs. I can't even believe how much has happened in the last year.

The fact that we had only just decided on using donor eggs one year ago and now we're literally hours or days away from holding our baby is such a blessing. 

I'm so incredibly grateful. I just feel lucky to have such wonderful support and to have been as fortunate as we have. 

It's been a long, sometimes incredibly tough year, but we've made it this far! 

And now, the doctor has given us an end date. If I'm not in labor before Monday, I will be induced then. It's not what I originally wanted, but I'm over it. I just can't wait to meet our baby!

This time next week I'll be holding our newest son or daughter. 

Happy Due Date!

Well, I've made it to my due date with my sanity intact. Barely! I'm so ready to meet this baby, but apparently s/he is not quite ready to meet us. I have an appointment with my doctor on Wednesday. My guess is that if the baby isn't here by then, they'll suggest another induction. I'm less afraid of the induction this time because I've been there, done that. But I really do hope to go into labor before it comes to that. With the size predictions of this baby, I won't fight an induction. I'll probably go with whatever the doc suggests. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that it won't come to that!

I'm feeling lots of contractions, some days I have more than others. And the baby feels low. I feel large and am having a hard time maneuvering easily with this big belly. But I've kept up the walking five miles, five days or more a week. I'm almost ready to throw in the towel with the walking, but I'm trying to keep it up. We'll see how I feel.

Here is my due date belly pic:

37 weeks...getting there!

So, I'm 37 weeks 2 days pregnant and I'm feeling pretty good! I'm still walking 5 days a week and I'm hoping that will help when it comes to labor. 

I had an appointment today. Everything is pretty much the same as last week. I think I gained another pound or so, BP is excellent as usual, strep B test was negative. I asked the doctor whether she thought the baby might come late like Little T did. She said that second babies tend not to make you wait as long. So I'm trying to prepare myself for 5 more weeks of waiting but I'm hoping for less than 3 weeks! 

Things are definitely starting to get real. I've been doing some nesting. J has helped out a lot the last few weeks, cleaning out drawers and closets because I'm nesting, but also exhausted, so I need the help! Haha. I also washed all the unisex baby clothes and they're in the baby/Little T's shared room waiting for a tiny person to wear them. We brought out and cleaned the car seat, swing, bouncer, boppy, crib sheets, changing table covers, etc. so I'm feeling a lot more ready.

I've also packed most of the essentials for my "go bag" for the hospital. I have a gift from the baby to Little T. A couple of activities she can do at the hospital during visits. Oh and Little T's "Big Sister" tee shirt came in the mail today. So, all there is left to do is wait for baby! Thankfully, I have a really busy week, so that should help the time go faster. The end is always so long!!

Here's a shot of me today:

36 weeks and feeling pretty good...today

So, I can't believe it's been a month since I last updated. A lot has happened. I am 36 weeks 2 days pregnant. The baby no longer has any cords around his/her neck. It took three more ultrasounds to confirm it, but we got that good news. At my last ultrasound two weeks ago (34weeks), s/he was measuring just over 6 lbs, which is very big, especially compared to where Little T was at that point. 

This weekend was Labor Day weekend and I had a kind of hormonal weekend, to say the least. Little T got a bad case of Poison Ivy last week. She has it all over her face, torso, arms and legs and has been on steroids because of it. Sweet girl that she is, she shared with her mama too. So I have it all over my arms and knees. I didn't think I could take anything for it, so I've been itchy and miserable. On top of the poison ivy it's been humid and in the nineties all week. Oh and I was feeling really down about gaining too much weight. I had a couple of really down moments and started crying on a car ride, explaining to J that there was no way I'd be able to make it four more weeks!! With this huge baby! Basically it was a bit of a bummer long weekend. 

But then today I had a doctor's appointment where they assured me I hadn't gained too much. They told me I could take something for the itch relief (yay!) and that not only has the baby dropped but I'm 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated. I've had a lot of Braxton Hicks so I wasn't totally shocked and I also know that doesn't mean I'm going into labor tomorrow or even in the next 3 weeks, but somehow hearing that things were starting made me feel a lot better. 

So, now I'm just trying to focus on enjoying the next 4-6 weeks left of my pregnancy! Or who knows, maybe this (projected to be 9 lbs) baby will decide to come a little early! (I wouldn't be disappointed, as long as baby is fully cooked).

Meanwhile, J and I have been getting all the baby stuff ready and it's starting to come together. So, for today, things are good and I'm not having crying jags in the car. Stay tuned to see if the positivity continues or if I'm back to melting down by tomorrow! 

Another ultrasound another issue

Well, it looks like this baby wants to put me through the wringer here. ;) this morning we had a really great ultrasound with very cool 3D photos of our baby's face. Baby is measuring big. Book says s/he should be about 3.75 lbs and ours is weighing in at a whopping 4 lbs 14 ounces. That's almost 5 lbs at 32 weeks! Yikes! So I'm not going crazy. This is a big baby I'm growing here! That is the good news.

The not so good news is that the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby's neck TWICE. This is not super common apparently so they ordered a Non-Stress Test or NST, which we passed. We have another ultrasound scheduled for next week.

I'm doing my best to not panic, as the doctor told me that would do no good and that I shouldn't really need to panic anyway. I really hope this doesn't affect our desire for a vaginal and not C section birth. I guess that remains to be seen, and of course, I'll do what's best for baby. 

My friends tell me I should have some good karma coming my way and hopefully we'll have a great sleeper with a fantastic temperament. Who knows. What I do know is this baby looks a lot like my other. Both are spitting images of their father. I'll attach a new belly photo and some cool 3D images of what I think will be my son! (Though we still don't know for sure!)

Ultrasound #4 - finally some good news!

Well, I'm excited to finally have some good news to share. This baby is growing like a weed! Today I should be measuring 26w1d according to the doc. Well, baby is measuring 27w4d. More than a week ahead. No wonder I'm so much bigger!

The doc also noted that my placenta had grown a lot too and now the placental lakes that she had been so concerned about are much smaller in comparison to the entire placenta. This means huge sigh of relief! They even said we could wait 6 weeks before our next ultrasound. Bittersweet, because I'll miss seeing him/her but I'm glad they're less worried and I feel like the time will fly by. We're away almost every weekend and then for a full week of vacation in late July.

They asked if we wanted to try to get a glimpse of baby's face on the 3d ultrasound. Why not? But s/he wasn't totally cooperating so the face is smushed into my uterus and looks a little weird. Anyway, I'm feeling really great about the appointment today. 

I'm excited to show Little T when she gets home. I've been working on her third birthday party favors and props so she'll probably care more about those than pics of her soon-to-be sibling, but I'm excited to show her anyway.

I'll attach today's ultrasound pics and an update of the belly at 26 weeks:

Ultrasound #3

I know it's been awhile, but we have been busy! 

Everything seems to be progressing well with the baby. We had our ultrasound this morning. I'm feeling more and more like it will be a boy, but we haven't seen any proof of that. Just a hunch. The baby's growth is excellent. S/he is right on target (1lb3oz), but of course, as is familiar with this pregnancy, there is an issue.

It seems that my placenta is presenting as atypical. It has very large "lakes" within it. This means there is extra fluid on the surface of my placenta, which show up on ultrasound as dark spots. They told us this the last time we had an ultrasound and then said they wanted to monitor us monthly. They don't really know what it means, just that it isn't normal. She said it sometimes leads to smaller babies, in theory, but that she hasn't actually seen that happen.

At today's appointment the doctor was shocked when she saw just how big the lakes were. That made me pretty nervous, but she was great. She reassured us that the baby is growing right on track, so we would just continue the monthly monitoring to make sure the baby was growing properly, so I'm focusing on that. 

I also got some great pictures of the baby, who seems to have the same profile as his/her sister. 

Overall, we're feeling really positive that the baby is growing steadily and moving like crazy. 

Here is my belly at 22weeks:

And here are some shots of baby (the first is 3D):