Whew! That was a close one!

As some of you may already have heard, I almost had a baby this weekend! Because of all the stuff going on with my body (see last post) the doctor was concerned that we would run into complications that could affect the baby. So far he looks great, and he is considered full-term as of this weekend, so she was not worried about him being born early. She felt that the risks of complications were higher than the risks of inducing labor. But when she examined me, she discovered that my body is no where near ready for labor, even being induced. She was still going to go ahead and do it, but after conferring on it with some of her colleagues, she decided that the monitoring we are already doing is enough to catch anything that might be going on with me or the baby.
So, probably no pre-Christmas baby for us, which we are grateful for. At least I am - I knew I was not ready. There is the potential that my body could still go into labor on its own, but that's unlikely I think. Or after our visit on Monday, she could still potentially decide that we need to have the baby this week - but I doubt it. She still wants me to have the baby early, but she's giving my body more time to get there as well. That way even with induction it will remain a more "natural" birth experience. So I'm thinking weekend after Christmas, when he'll be at 39 weeks.
Also, my brother told me a funny story that I want to share. He was talking to his daughter (who's about two and a half) about me being pregnant and having a baby, and he asked her, "What's the baby's name?" Her response? "Bacon."

So Close!

First, some apologies about not posting for so long. I've been meaning to, but we've been having some serious issues with our internet connection. Robert is working on it, so hopefully soon it will be totally fixed.
Lots of big news, mainly, little Gabriel may be coming into our world a little earlier than we'd thought! Last week at my doctor's appointment, my doctor decided to get super concerned about the fact that I am still having glucose show up in my urine. In addition to that I am still putting on more weight than I really should be. Those two things combined made her go, "Okay, you know what, I don't care if your gestational diabetes test came back normal all those weeks ago, we're going to do something about this." Like I've said before, I am a relatively healthy eater - not great, I do have my weaknesses, but I really shouldn't still be having these issues if everything is normal. So she did some more bloodwork. They also did some bloodwork to see if there was anything going on with my gallbladder and liver, because that constant pain I have had in my ribs has gotten much much worse recently. I've had a few times where its seriously made me a little bit incoherent and panicky, it gets so bad, and I have to lie down to make it go away. And apparently, that is where my gallbladder and liver are! So she just wanted to make sure they were functioning properly.
When the results came back, everything looked fine except for my blood sugar levels. I had already made an appointment with a dietitian to put me on a meal plan to handle my blood sugar levels. When I saw her, she also showed me how to check my blood sugar levels with a little meter, so now I'm poking myself in the finger four times a day to get a record for my doctor. After the blood results came back, my doctor said she was basically treating me as though I have gestational diabetes. So I had to go to the hospital on Saturday so they could do some monitoring of the baby. They did what they call a non-stress test, where they make sure his heart rate is fine and that he's moving. They are also looking to see accelerations in heart rate with the movement, because that shows that his blood is properly oxygenated (I think). Gabriel did fine, but had a little trouble with the acceleration part. According to their protocol, they have to see certain signs before they can let me leave, so I was sort of stuck there until he had another heart rate acceleration. Thankfully he did, and then they had to call my doctor for her to authorize my release. That was when I realized that if they didn't like something that they saw, they would just check me in, call the doctor, and I'd be having a baby! It was a little eye-opening.
On Monday I had an ultrasound, just to make sure that the baby looked good - there were a variety of measurements the doctor was looking for that would tell her whether or not he was suffering from my excess blood sugar. I was very glad to hear that the doctor thinks he looks great - she is not worried about him at all, right now. However, I will be very closely monitored for the next couple of weeks until my due date, and I have a feeling that the doctor will not be interested in waiting beyond that for this baby. Until my due date (so for the next three weeks or so) I'll be going to the hospital once a week for non-stress tests (my next one is on Friday), and getting an ultrasound every Monday morning with my doctor. When we made the appointments for the ultrasounds, the receptionist said, "She likes to do these in the morning, in case you need to head to the hospital afterward."
So, at any of these visits, basically, the doctor could potentially decide that she doesn't like what she's seeing, and I could be checked into the hospital to have the baby. Presumably there won't be any emergencies, and he can be induced, rather than requiring a c-section. But I'm really not sure. She also started me on a medication to lower my blood sugar, because even with my diet changes (which are honestly not that much), it's not where she would like to see it. I have one more final project for this semester, which is not due until Sunday, but which I am planning on getting done tomorrow or Friday at the latest. I would like to get it done tomorrow, so that when I check into the hospital for my test on Friday, I have no worries, at least where school is concerned. After that, I am obviously going to make sure the baby's room is ready, and that we're ready for him whenever he comes!!
I'm not worried, I think the baby will be okay no matter what happens - the doctor is being super extra cautious right now just to make sure that's the case. It's just a little strange to think that it may happen this way! And I want to reiterate that the doctor does not think that he is in any trouble right now, and in fact, he looks fantastic. I think it's me, and what my body could still potentially do to him, that they're a little worried about. Thank goodness gestational diabetes goes away after pregnancy! Now I know the value of taking care of myself so I don't get type 2 diabetes in the future. It is seriously no fun. Oh, and I will try to post a picture soon! I am rather large, as you might imagine.

Thanksgiving

Today I'm so thankful for my family. For everyone who I will not see today, and for the family that I get to spend Thanksgiving with today. I am especially thankful for my little growing family that consists of me, Robert and Gabriel. It sounds really weird, but I feel like he's a part of everything we're doing today - I mean I feel like he is a separate individual who is enjoying the holidays with us. I know that he's still a part of me, but when I think of us getting ready for the holidays, I view him as being not a part of me, but his own little self. It's really hard to explain. But I'm excited to do all of the Christmas decorating and everything that we have not done for the past five years. It's because of the baby that we'll be staying home, so it feels like this is our first Christmas together. Even though he won't officially be here yet! So maybe that's why I feel like he is participating, when really, he is just along for the ride.
So that may not make any sense, but I wanted to try to convey what I was feeling today. I'm thankful for all of you, and I love you very much! And I'm thankful for chocolate covered peanut butter balls, which Robert is making while I type this!

Breastfeeding Class, and further updates

I know, it's been forever since I updated. But not much to report. Little Gabriel (!) is just loving making his presence known. He's in the same position a lot it feels like. I feel most of the moving on my right side, and I often get kicked up under my ribs on that side as well. Which is great, since that's the side that my ribs are most sore on. It gets uncomfortable, to say the least. And I'm still suffering from all the same other discomforts I described in previous posts, so no need to go any further into that. At least the baby seems to be enjoying himself. I just honestly can't believe that I still have six more weeks of him (and me) just getting bigger! It's a little crazy.
I began a little bit of work on the baby's room, convincing Robert to move the treadmill out of there. It's still in the hallway, but at least now I've been able to do a little bit in there. My next goal is to rearrange all of the bookshelves to my liking, but they may have to wait until we can actually get the treadmill into storage. I know that bookshelves seem tremendously unimportant, and it's probably tough to understand why I need to have them settled before I can set up the crib, but that's just the way my brain is working right now. I still have to discover the location of my missing bassinet for the pack n' play that Chris sent to me. Having someplace for the baby to sleep is important.
And breastfeeding class! We went tonight, and, for me at least, it was really interesting. Most of the info I sort of knew already, having picked it up from various other readings. But it was really nice to get so much information, and to see how super supportive they are of breastfeeding at the hospital. It seems almost impossible to fail, unless there is some deeper underlying, unpreventable something that keeps you from being able to. They really really want you to be successful. So that's good to know.
And in non-baby related news, our dog George was attacked by another dog at his doggie daycamp place. No one saw what started it, but it is speculated that the other dog reacted to a "back off" signal that George gave her, and just snapped and went at him. They were only without supervision for a minute or two, but she was able to do a lot of damage in that time. He's doing okay, but he's looking pretty beat up. Lots of open puncture wounds on his neck and the sides of his face. The other dog was brand new, it was her trial day. She didn't pass. So having someone else to worry about has made me focus on my own discomforts less. Which is good. As I've said before, my complaints are nothing compared to what some women deal with during pregnancy. Or compared to what George is probably feeling now.

32 weeks - That's 8 months people!

Here is the latest picture, although it doesn't really give you a good idea of how large I feel. There is seriously a baby in there - either that or an alien creature, but we're pretty sure it's a baby.
The main stuff I have to report in this post is just how freakin' uncomfortable I've been!! My hips hurt almost constantly, as do my ribs, especially on the right. I keep expecting to see swollen and bruised skin, but it looks normal. It just hurts! The past couple weeks have definitely made a difference, and that baby just keeps pushing everything out of his way. My lungs are compressed so that I am almost always short of breath, no matter what I'm doing. And my poor stomach is squished - heartburn was bad enough, but now I feel queasy a lot of the time as well.
So that's my whine/rant about how uncomfortable my third trimester is. Sleeping has become difficult, but I've perfected my ability to nap, so that's not that huge. I'm not keeping up with school like I was because I really just can't sit at my computer for that long anymore. But that's okay. Now I'm back to how I was doing when I was working and in school. I am super glad that I am lucky enough to not have to work during this part of the pregnancy - I am just not one of those women who could do it!
I have another doctor's appointment this week - soon we'll be seeing her once a week! We'll see how much bigger I've gotten in two weeks. Also, I get my swine flu vaccination today. I think that's pretty exciting. I had decided not to get the regular flu shot, but now I'm wavering on that decision again. I've never gotten it before, and if it were just for myself, I would not be getting it this year either. But it's supposed to protect your baby even after birth, which is good. So we'll see.

Baby Shower

We had a fun baby shower this past Saturday, with just a few friends from the area. I don't have pictures yet, but once I do, I will certainly post them. I am quite sure that there are some very amusing ones.
One of my favorite things about the shower was something that was suggested by my old boss - she said that at her sister's shower, everyone was asked to bring their favorite children's book, to jumpstart the baby's library. I thought this was a fantastic idea, and as a result, I have many lovely books now! My mom is visiting me this weekend, and she also brought me a huge stack of books that we read together when I was a child. Some of the books I remembered very well, and others I had totally forgotten about until I had them in my hands again. Now I just need to organize the baby's room in a way that will allow for books to be put somewhere. We will be buying another book case soon for sure.
Other than books I got some fantastic clothes, a diaper bag (two actually, so I took one back), and some super cute bibs. Showers are fun. :)
In other news, I was trying to remember if I mentioned my doctor's visit this week. I don't think I did. Basically I have a big baby, is what we have decided. I am measuring at 33 inches, which is slightly larger than normal for where I'm at in the pregnancy. I'm doing yoga, and reading tons about natural birth, so hopefully I will have no trouble at all just because he's a little big. Positive thinking is incredibly important when it comes to having a good labor, so I am keeping that up as well! Oh . . . I was going to do a post all about why I am choosing natural labor, and all the stuff I have learned about various types of augmentation of labor, but I think I'll do a separate post about that later.

He has a name!

Okay, big news!! Some of you may have already heard that we have settled on a name for our little boy. Some of you may think that name is Josiah, since that's what we were discussing for so long. But as time went on, neither of us really felt like that was right, even though we were calling him that occasionally. So we hadn't officially said that was his name, but more like just the top of a short list. And then a month or so ago I had this dream . . .
I'm not kidding, my dreams have been fairly epic since I became pregnant. Sometimes it feels as though I am watching a movie, and that's how this one was. A huge, crazy, end-of-the-world type movie. I could tell you more than I'll share here, because some of the scenes are still really clear in my mind, but I'll just tell you the important part. So I was pregnant in my dream, and the world was ending. I believe the sun had exploded, at least that's what it looked like. (Yes, I saw it happen in the dream.) I had a few hours to find a way to safety (presumably off the planet, although that was never really clear). Somehow I managed to get together with a group of people who were leaving, there were only eight or so of us, and we knew that it would be up to us to begin a new human civilization. And what I said right before I woke up was, "Baby Gabriel will be the first of the new civilization." So when I woke up, I was like, that's it . . . Gabriel.
The more I thought about it the more I liked it as a name, and when I brought it up with Robert, he said he really liked it too. I'm pretty sure we had actually mentioned this name before, but neither of us felt very attached to it. But now that we're thinking more of the little person that is our son, it just seems right. So, laugh all you want that I got my son's name from an epic, kooky, sci-fi dream, but hey, it's a good name isn't it?