Week 37... my 150th post!

This week was our Spring Break, so I got to spend the whole week with my Momma! We had absolutely gorgeous weather and we were able to sit outside, read, and get some sun. It felt so good to get out of the house.

I'm really starting to get restless about McKenna's arrival. Along with starting to feel like a big puffy lug, I'm just so ready to meet her. This week my ankles, feet, and hands have started to swell and I definitely can't say that I'm very comfortable anymore.

Week 37 baby bump

me & ChiliMack

On Wednesday I had my 37 week appointment with Dr. Frangella. It was my first time meeting her, although she has been the on-call doctor each time I've been in the hospital. Dr. Frangella is the last of the doctor's for us to meet, we have now met with all 5 of them. Although I'm hoping Dr. Weeks is on-call the day we go in...I'd honestly be happy to have any of them deliver our Kenna girl.

Mom drove me to the Spalding office and Brian met us there. As I had said last week, we were pretty much resigned to the fact that we would be heading to the hospital after our NST, so mom stayed with us.

BUT...we didn't have to go anywhere!!!

McKenna did in fact pass her NST this week and we did not have to go to the hospital!!! See...there's a first time for everything! As you can see from the picture Brian took of the chart:


The top squiggly line is McKenna's heartrate. Each time she moved I had to push a button - kinda like a game show buzzer - those are indicated by the arrows...see? The bottom squiggly line is my contraction monitor. I had a couple of small contractions while we were there, but nothing like labor contractions.

I wish we had a picture of her chart from the first few NST's so that you could see the difference. Her heartrate on the first few was very consistent - the line was pretty straight, it didn't stray much from the 145-148bpm mark, movement or no movement. As you can see from this one, that isn't so. This time it was much more jagged...up and down...especially as she moved.

Dr. Frangella was very happy about her heartrate movement and declared the test reactive!

We continued with the rest of our appointment after our NST. My blood pressure was 126/84 and McKenna's heartrate was on average about 155bpm. The internal exam revealed that my cervix is still closed up tight and not dilated at all. My belly measured big...39 1/2 cm (I was only 37 weeks 1 day)... Dr. Frangella was a little concerned because my belly measurement has been right on up until now, she wanted to make sure that McKenna hasn't gotten too big, so she ordered a growth ultrasound. We were lucky because the ultrasound tech was actually in the office and was able to fit us in that day. McKenna's ultrasound turned out great, everything looked fine with her size and growth. She measured 5lbs. 13 oz!

Dr. Frangella was also worried that my blood pressure medication may be masking what could really be going on in terms of blood getting to McKenna, so she ordered ANOTHER 24 hour urineanalysis and blood work. She wants to make sure that preeclampsia hadn't snuck up all of a sudden.

We left the doctor's office with a couple of possible scenarios...if my blood work or urineanalysis came back with a positive for preeclampsia then we would be delivering this weekend, if it came back negative for preeclampsia then we would be good to go until our 38 week appointment next Wednesday where at that appointment we would schedule our induction/possible c-section.

a nice picture of me getting ready to take my urine to the hospital to be analyzed...fun stuff! See how much color I got from sitting outside!

I love SPRING!!!

I spoke to the nurse this morning about my labs and everything came back just fine...so we are good to go until our appointment on Wednesday the 7th. I was hoping for a little Easter Bunny Baby!!!

I guess you really never know....my water could break...keep your fingers crossed!

Here are a couple of pictures of us sitting outside with the pups this week...

Puffy with her dog, Trip

what a sweet face!

poor Bunny could only stay in the sun for so long...then she got too hot!

she said that she's already dark enough!

laying her head on Aunt Puggie's leg...she could sit outside all day long!

headed out for a Good Friday lunch of Pepper & Egg's sandwiches

at Portillos with Mackie, Mom & Dad!

...and yes this is my 150th blog post! What a 150 they've been! It sure is amazing how the meaning of "Waiting for Baby Witko" has changed! It definitely shows how love, support, and prayers can get you through. Love to you all, thank you!

Happy Easter!