pregnancy – hellomelissa.net

38 weeks, 5 days

April 30, 2009September 1, 2008 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

Still here. Still pregnant. Skeletor is still incubating. I can’t really complain about it since I’m not overdue yet (my due date is the 10th). I am considered full-term so if she was born now, things would likely be just fine. I finished working on Friday so now I’m in sit-around-and-wait mode. I’m hoping to get a haircut between now and when the baby is born.

I had my weekly NST (non-stress test) on Friday. When they took my blood pressure, it was higher than normal – not crazy high, but high enough. This is the second time that this has happened in the past couple of weeks. I had bloodwork done a week and a half ago and it came back fine, so I’m not really worried about it. What brought the resident doctor in was that the baby’s heart was skipping beats. I didn’t notice it until they mentioned it. (some mother I am!) They gave me a quick ultrasound and I could see the heart beating, and skipping every 9-12 beats or so. Other than that the baby was fine, and they were happy overall with her heart/movement patterns.

They told me that skipped beats happen to babies in utero sometimes. Generally after the baby is born it would get monitored and the heartbeat would likely correct itself. Now I’m supposed to go for NSTs twice a week until the baby is born. I also heard the resident mentioning inducement to my OB. They let me go after I was there for nearly 90 minutes (the NST usually doesn’t take more than 30 minutes). However, they did let me go so I figure I can’t be in that bad of shape – if things were bad, they would have admitted me to the hospital.

So now I have to do the following:

Fill out kick charts – tracking Skeletor’s movements over a set period of time (six movements in two hours or better). The last three days have been fine – I’ve been getting six movements in about 30 minutes. Yay Skeletor!
NST on Tuesday at 8AM
Biophysical profile (which is a combination of a detailed ultrasound and NST) on Tuesday at 9AM
Go see my OB after these two tests. I’m assuming we will discuss options at that point

I’m frustrated because I feel absolutely fine – no headaches, no blurred vision, no spots, no nothing. Just swollen feet, but they’ve been swollen for over two months so nothing new there. When I told my OB’s receptionist that she just reminded me that they’re taking good care of me, and she is right. Better safe than sorry.

I’m trying not to worry much – if my doctor or anyone else thought there was a major problem, they would have kept me in the hospital. So now tomorrow’s appointments should be interesting. Maybe Sean will end up winning the baby pool (he picked September 2, I picked the 14th, and almost everyone else is between those days).

More news as it warrants.

Not done cooking yet…

May 4, 2009August 23, 2008 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

I hope today’s horoscope doesn’t mean that I am going into labour today.

Are you prepared for things to go to the next level? Whether it’s a new relationship, a work responsibility, or just your own journey to self-awareness, things are going to get deep, today. So get ready — take nothing for granted right now and keep an open mind. Any conversation can turn into something that changes your life, today, you just have to hear those cues when they are given. Be a bit bolder, and you’ll step right into a fantastic new opportunity.

36 weeks, 5 days

April 30, 2009August 18, 2008 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

I’m trying not to live in countdown mode, but I know I currently have:

9 more working days until I go on mat leave
13 more days until my birthday
23 more days until Skeletor’s due date

Classes and appointments are in full swing right now so my calendar is filling up. Better to stare at the calendar than the clock I suppose.

36 Weeks

April 30, 2009August 13, 2008 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

36 weeks.

36 weeks!

28 days left until my due date. Whether Skeletor makes her appearance before, after or on that day is a total crapshoot. Sean thinks she’ll be early, but my mom thinks she’ll be late. I tend to side with my mom since she’s been through it before and she was late with both my sister and I. My last day of work is August 29th, which is two days before my 30th birthday. I’d like the baby to be born in September at the very least because then everyone in the family gets their own birthday month (not that we celebrate for a month or anything, more to spread the festivities out).

The pictures (from my Flickr stream) at the bottom of this post are of the nursery and baby gifts we have received. The quilt and bibs are handmade by my aunt. They are so pretty – I hate to see them get dirty, but I’d rather them get used (and dirty) than hide them away.

Haven’t taken any good belly shots lately. I better do it soon, as I am starting to get huge!

33 Weeks

April 30, 2009July 23, 2008 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

Sean took this just over an hour ago. I am 33 weeks today. I probably should just give up on wearing my regular t-shirts, but I put this on when I came home from work, so it’s not like I went out in public in it. Does posting it on the internet count? Whatever.

I put some other pictures on my Flickr page (link leads to my entire set of belly pictures, so you can see the progression), including some with exposed belly. I’m not usually a belly exposer in public but I figure since there’s a baby in there, I can get away with it.

The pregnancy is going well. My feel are swollen and I’m still going for weekly non-stress tests, but in general I feel good, and Skeletor seems to be incubating as she should. She’s not totally out of room yet – she’s still kicking up a storm.

We start our prenatal classes on August 16th. We’re doing one full day of prenatal class, one evening class for baby bath and massage, and one evening class for breastfeeding. Hopefully we learn lots, and more importantly, the baby stays put until we finish all the classes!