39 weeks yesterday... we have a plan!

Yesterday marked 39 weeks! I had my appointment and everything is going well. The NST was good, no worries there. I asked my OB about the syrinx/epidural thing and she thinks it will be OK, but will check with an anesthesiologist to be sure. I'm not planning on getting one anyway, but I'd kind of like for it to be an option if I feel I need it. I mean I have no idea just how bad labor is going to be, so I'm trying to keep my options open!

I didn't get a cervix check, she said there was no need and I know she's right. Hopefully things are progressing, though. We talked about induction and the plan is that I'll have my next appointment on Wednesday, 39+6, and probably go to the hospital that night. I'm not in a desperate hurry to get the baby out, but my OB doesn't want me going much beyond 40 weeks. My blood pressure is generally OK but has been rising a little recently, and I think that's part of it. If they start inducing on Wednesday night, baby boy might actually arrive on his due date - 5/16. Not that that really matters, but it would be pretty cool I guess. I'm still hoping our baby will have other plans and I'll go into labor on my own before then, though! :)

My hubby has told his manager what's likely to happen - obviously the dates are subject to change, if the baby comes on his own earlier or if for some reason they don't induce me on Wednesday, but he's trying to keep them in the loop. He has 7 vacation days left to take, so if everything goes according to plan he'll be off Thursday and Friday, and then all of the following week. Hopefully we'll be out of the hospital by Sunday at the latest. If the baby is born on Thursday, we might get out by Saturday. Ideally I want to see one of the hospital's lactation consultants before we leave, to make sure everything is going well with feeding before going home.

It's all getting very real now! :)

3D ultrasound booked!

I just scheduled our 3D ultrasound - it'll be next Wednesday, a week from today! We can't wait, this is something we've been looking forward to for ages (me more than my hubby, I think!). It's actually my Christmas present from him - it just didn't make much sense to get the ultrasound at Christmas time, because our anatomy scan was right after new year and I wanted to space them out a bit. Plus, I'll be one day shy of 28 weeks so we should get some good pictures (if baby boy cooperates!).

My mom and stepdad arrive from England next Friday; they're staying with us for 15 nights. I thought about getting the ultrasound while they're here, but really I want it to just be me and my hubby. We'll show them the pictures, I just don't really want anybody else there during the scan. Maybe that makes me weird, I don't know. Anyway, it's what I've decided and I'm super excited! :)

So the Chinese Gender Calendar was right for us!

We had our anatomy ultrasound this afternoon. I can't help but feel anxious before ultrasounds, but I guess that's normal! Anyway, our baby looks great! As far as I could tell everything is in the right place - the tech didn't seem concerned about anything, but it's standard that they don't tell you very much because the doctor will review the images. The heart has 4 chambers as it should, and the cord has 3 vessels (which we knew from our NT scan anyway). My cervix is long and closed, and the placenta is posterior and high up - yay! We saw the spine, ribs, bladder, kidneys, heart (heart-rate was 167 bpm), diaphragm, brain, face, limbs... and we found out we're having a little boy! The tech said he's about 13 oz, which is on track for how far along I am. Almost a pound already, wow!

We're both so happy with how everything went, it was amazing. I was kind of expecting to be told the baby is a girl, so I was a little surprised - albeit very happy - with the news! After the ultrasound we stopped at a couple of stores to pick up some little blue outfits and an ultrasound pic frame. I used this pic as a Facebook announcement, because so many people were excited to find out our news:

We got 9 pictures in total, which is awesome! He had his hands up by his face most of the time, so you can see a hand in front of his face on the profile shots. We also got a picture of one of his little feet - so cute!

Profile with hand in front of face

Another profile/hand pic

His face! Less alien-like than at the NT scan!!

One of his little feet!

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's 2013 already! I hope this year brings much joy and happiness to all.

Tomorrow is the big day - our anatomy scan. I'll be 20 weeks 6 days, so hopefully the ultrasound tech will be able to get all of the measurements they need. We're very excited to see our baby again! We're hoping to find out if it's a boy or a girl, too. Either is absolutely perfect - we just want our baby to be healthy. I'll update after the scan tomorrow! :)

Stunned!

It turns out I did ovulate on CD15 - woo-hoo! I'm really happy that it finally happened at a "normal" time - this cycle should be 28 days if my LP is 13 days. Awesome! It sure beats ovulating on CD22 (like my last cycle).

I guess the next 10 days will be torture, as usual. I just hope that this time we'll actually be lucky and get the BFP we've been waiting so long for... If we did catch the egg this time there's a chance we'll know before my hubby leaves for his business trip, so that would be cool. Of course if this cycle ends the same way all the others have, he'll be out of town when I get my period. Lucky guy!

Cool pics!

This morning I thought it might be interesting to take some photos of my saliva microscope results. I know, I'm a complete nerd! Anyway, here they are. If you look very closely you can see some small areas of ferning (they're in the red ovals). I took the photos with my phone camera so the ferns are hard to see, and most of the sample has no ferning. I recorded it as partial ferning after consulting some websites. I'm only on CD7 so I won't be ovulating for quite some time yet, but I find the microscope interesting!

I should charge my camera and see if I can get better photos!

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I'm quite excited today, because it's been confirmed that I will be in charge of the new pug rescue event I wrote about yesterday! Yay! I called the store manager this morning to schedule the first three events. [This will sound so bizarre, but I really hate calling people I don't know! Since I moved here I've had this silly hang-up about using the phone, because of my accent and I guess I'm worried I won't be able to make myself understood! Anyway, the call went well - I really need to get over the whole phone thing, I never had a problem in England!] The first event will be 7/15. That will give me some time to gather up everything I'll need. I've been making lists of things I need to have, since I seem to love writing lists. I guess I really am a nerd! Anyway, it's an exciting opportunity for me to become more involved in the pug rescue organization. I'm sure it'll be quite a lot of work, but I'm really looking forward to it!  :)

In other news, I decided to ignore my SIL with the Facebook thing. I don't need any drama, and I can't see a way of responding without some kind of drama ensuing. If she wants to get in touch with my husband (her half-brother) then she can email or call him. I don't need to be her go-between!

We're going to the gym again today. We went yesterday and I pushed myself much harder than usual. For some reason I don't like the elliptical trainer (whenever I use it my legs end up being like jelly!). Since we started going to the gym, about 6 weeks ago, I've used it all of one time and that was for only 10 minutes! Well, yesterday I did 20 minutes on the treadmill (walking fast on an incline), then 45 minutes on the elliptical. Granted, I had it set on a relatively easy setting, but it was still an achievement for me! I burned 545 calories in total, so it was a pretty good workout. I wish I could run on the treadmill but I find it hard, and if I was going to run I'd definitely need a better sports bra...

Staycation booked! Woo-hoo!

After a lot of online searching, we finally chose the resort we want to stay at. It's a great resort, we've been before (just for a day) when my mom and step-dad stayed there last year. There are lots of nice pools and great mountain views. The rooms are amazing and it's conveniently located. It's booked! I'm so excited, more so because it was my hubby's idea. I hadn't even thought of the possibility of going anywhere, other than maybe a day trip or two. It will be so lovely to have a little break, just the two of us with no responsibilities. I love our dogs to pieces but it'll be so nice to get some "us" time. Also, it'll be a good point in my cycle to go and have a romantic break. I should be able to get my HSG and glucose test done the week before, and then I'll be somewhere around CD10-CD13 when we're away which is fine. No damn period to ruin our break!

It's still possible that we could conceive this cycle, of course. If we do then it'll save me from having the HSG done. That would be good timing! I'm not really worried about it but it's not the kind of thing anyone really wants to do, you know? Anyway, right now I don't really care about that stuff too much - I'm thinking about our mini-vacation! Three nights in a beautiful resort, enjoying each other, the gorgeous pools and everything else there is... Bliss!

My hubby said it'll be like a do-over of our honeymoon, which was good but not exactly relaxing! We went to San Diego for a week and spent 5 days going to the zoo, Sea World and the safari park. We were so tired after all that! This will be nice and romantic  :)