264 Days Down: Baby Update

And only NINE more days to go!

Yup, that's right, just nine.

Here's what's up lately---

The biggest news is that two weeks after we moved here I was diagnosed with mild preeclampsia, so the past couple weeks have been very busy with monitoring twice a week and an additional couple trips a week to L&D for headaches that won't go away. Yeah, we're now on a first name basis with some of the doctors and nurses on the labor deck, so that's cool. So because of the preeclampsia I now have an induction set for Friday the 23rd at 39 weeks---just nine more days! Bananas. However at my NST yesterday the nurse said it looks like I'm in early labor already so hopefully things will keep progressing on their own and he'll come before we even get to all that induction business. We're just glad that this all waited to happen until after we got through our road trip and were mostly settled in our new house!

The little guy is still measuring a couple weeks behind and (even though their estimates can be pounds off so I take it with a grain of salt) is clocking in at around 5.3 lbs. So take that, all you random strangers that insist I must be carrying twins or you can't believe how big I am! But though he may be little, he's still rollin' and a movin' like he owns the place. He always has a stellar heart beat and movement at our NST appointments and is regularly bumping things out of my hands if I lean them on my belly. Often he'll stick his little bum out and turn my belly into an almost cone shape---we joke that he's in there doing downward facing dog and stretching that tush up as far as he can. 

We had an ultrasound last Friday (and once again he didn't let us get any good photos of his face, the little stinker) and they said that (as best as I understand) his kidneys are "borderline normal" and they're concerned about potential renal pelvic dilation. We were told there's no reason to worry yet and that he's probably just going to have some more in-depth exams and ultrasounds with the pediatrician when he's born. Sometimes the condition corrects itself before the baby is born, so lets just hope everything is fine and he'll be healthy when he arrives!

Being pregnant has been a really great experience, but I have to admit, there are some things I'm looking forward to about not being pregnant anymore, like being able to cross my legs again and not having to mentally prep myself every time I have to bend over. This severe ligament pain has been terrible (the past week I haven't even been able to get out of bed without Joey moving my legs and helping to hold me up) and after five months of it I'm pretty much ready to be done with it. And ditching all of this swelling from the preeclampsia will be so great! But I'm gonna get all cliche here and say, that even though there have been tough things about it, I'm really grateful for this experience and I wouldn't give it back for anything.

And this guy.

I just wanted to give a shout out to this awesome man. He's been nothing short of amazing these past few weeks making sure I'm as comfortable as possible and helping me with things I haven't been able to do as easily because of migraines or the ligament pain or just plain exhaustion. He's so excited to be my labor coach and practices his skills whenever I'm trying to get through the ligament pain or am having a bit of anxiety about various stressors in our lives. Any time I have a contraction now he smiles the biggest smile and, while trying to stifle his ear-to-ear grin, asks "what's wrong, are you ok??", hoping that I'll say its go time because the guy is just so darn excited for his son to get here. And almost every night lately he rubs my belly and encouragingly tells baby boy "Ya know, you can come tonight if you want to! We're ready to meet you!" Joey just can't wait to be a daddy, and its the sweetest. 

And lucky for us, Joey is going to be home for the birth and will be able to take the full amount of paternity leave. We just learned something pretty neat actually---so Joey was originally supposed to be on a different boat and about a week before he finished prototype we got a voicemail saying the Navy switched his assignment and we'd be going to a different boat. Well we just found out not too long ago that the original boat we were supposed to be on just left on deployment and if we had still been on it, Joey would've completely missed the birth. So the boat change has turned out to be a huge blessing and we definitely feel Heavenly Father was watching out for us and put us exactly where we needed to be and with the crew Joey needed to have. 

Well, the cloth diapers are prepped, the bags are packed, the car seat is in the car, and we're ready to go---or as ready as we'll ever be, at least!