38 weeks!

Jared got a picture of me sitting down. I don't have much of a lap anymore...

How big is baby?

He's about 19-21 inches long and weighs between 6-8 pounds. He's still working on gaining weight every week, but he's about as tall as he will be until after he arrives.

What is he up to?

We got to see him on the ultrasound today. He was opening and closing his fists, practicing breathing, and moving around all over. 

Appointment

My appointment went well today. My blood pressure was still up, even after being on blood pressure meds for a few days (156/92). The belly is measuring right on target, and his heart beat sounded good. My OB said we will be inducing on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on when they can get it scheduled. I'm so excited to meet him in less than a week!

Labs

We dropped off my wonderful 24-hour urine collection. Really hoping that was the last time I have to do that. They also needed to do labs again, so I got them done in the outpatient lab before the NST. I didn't get results from them, but I'd guess my OB will call if something isn't right.

NST

We went in for the NST as usual, and just before the nurse was going to call my OB with the results, our little guy decided to grab onto his umbilical cord and let his heart rate drop quite a bit during a contraction. We got to stay in the hospital for a couple extra hours of monitoring to make sure his heart rate stayed in the correct range. The nurse said it's pretty common, and we were just "lucky" enough to catch it during the NST.

BPP

We also scored another ultrasound because of his little heart rate incident. It's called a Biophysical Profile (BPP). The ultrasound tech came into my room and checked a variety of things to make sure he's still healthy, including amniotic fluid, cervix, and the placenta. She also watched his heart beat for a while, watched his lungs practice breathing, and his hands open and close. I thought the breathing was really cool, especially because most people don't get to see that on an ultrasound this late in the game. I can't believe how big he is already. He is in the head-down position (yay) and passed the BPP within 10 minutes. We got another profile shot, but didn't have a chance to scan it for the blog yet.

What's next?

One more NST on Monday, as long as everything goes well. Then the induction. Can't wait!