39 week excitement

It was a long day of baby stuff, but we're still here waiting for Megan's arrival. This afternoon at 3:30 I headed over for my 39 week check-up (for those that aren't keeping score as closely as we are, the baby is due exactly one week from today.) The appt was with the one we call "Dr. Panic." We expected some excitement today and we got it. Long story short, a quick conversation about the baby's movement patterns of late and I was upstairs in the hosptial for a non-stress test and a biophysical. A look at my poofy ankles and he also ordered a re-check of my blood pressure (which has been normal all along, thank you very much.)

One cup of apple juice and an hour later we had a very feisty baby and some nice tracking on the NST read-out. If you've never had one of these before its very simple. I get to lay on the nice hosptial bed with a big belt velcroed around my belly. Two small disks are held in place by the belt. One records contractions if any and the other the baby's heartbeat. For what its worth, her heartrate was a nice steady range right in the middle of what they look for. It would run up a bit when she was getting feisty and then settle back to its baseline afterwards. As this belt does its thing, I get to hold a small clicker and press a button each time I feel movement. At first, not so much movement...then apparently the apple juice woke her up and the constant sound waves emitted from the heartrate thingy bopper got her going. By the end she had taken to punching the monitor just enough to knock it off a good recording spot - not so that you'd see it move, but you knew because of the way accurate readings stopped occuring at the same time I felt a jab at the spot the big disk sat.

From there we took a ride with two of the most hyper-active and insane transport folks I think you'll ever find in a hospital. They wheeled me in a chair down to the ultrasound room. Grandma is very pleased that the nice tech "snuck" her in to watch the monitor. A check of amniotic fluid levels (another thing on Dr. P's check list today) showed that levels are nice and plentiful. IN fact the tech said I could loose half of what was there and still be ok. Between that and my ankles - no wonder I feel like part-camel. She also confirmed, yet again, that its still a girl - and a little girl that was in constant motion. Everything else looked great. We got a big old print-out of the scan We had some better pictures on screen that she didn't get to print out because of the way Megan kept putting her hands up near her face and creating shadows. We do know, according to the tech, that we've got a round-faced, chubby cheeked baby. ;) The last tech we saw at the OB's office said the same thing a month or so ago. Megan is also a baby girl that appears to be bald because the tech couldn't see much 'fuzz.' Actually it was a neat ultrasound to have because the tech - I'm guessing she was bored since we were the only ones there - took a lot of time showing us everything and was willing to look and point out whatever else we had questions about. Based on her measurements she gets a 'date' of Sept 18th -- three days off my due date. Whatever that will mean in the long run. And based on her measurements, she estimates the baby at 7lbs 12 ounces as of today. I keep reminding myself that the day Logan was induced he 'estimated" at 7 lbs 13 ounces...and was born a full pound less. Ack!