Set the Date

Week 34 is here!  I am 34 weeks and 2 days today which means the prayers are working, Praise Jesus!  After arriving and being admitted at 31 weeks, this milestone is a huge accomplishment and blessing for our sweet baby.  Although baby brother will still be delivered prematurely, the doctors consider babies born between 34-36 weeks 'late preterm'.  This does not mean that we are out of the woods but it does mean that baby brother has a stronger chance of a shorter NICU stay.  We are praying he will be able to go home with us when it is time for me to be discharged.  However, there are several variables at play that will determine whether or not this will be possible- all of which we won't know until our little man is born. 


At my last update I had mentioned that my BP had elevated a few times leaving some uncertainty about when I would deliver.  However, after those few elevated readings, my BP settled back down (i.e. I settled back down and tried very hard to stay relaxed) and remained stable.  We made it through the weekend with good to low BP readings.  Baby brother continues to do well and as of my ultrasound this morning, he is in the head down position.  I had a strong feeling he had flipped again after awaking to some painful movements on Saturday night.  This baby is a real mover!  He has now flipped from breech to head down, back to breech and now head down all in 3 weeks.  Honestly, it amazes me how he still has room to do this (My tummy is crowded!!) but yet its another example of God's incredible design. 


Since I am stable and baby brother is thriving, the doctors have agreed to let me wait to deliver until 35 weeks.  I only inquired about this EVERY SINGLE DAY of my hospital stay thus far.  I wanted to make it as long as possible as I know how each day matters for baby.  35 weeks is still early but the doctors are not comfortable letting my pregnancy progress beyond that point as the likelihood of my health deteriorating increases the farther along I remain pregnant.  They can't say for certain that something would or would not happen as we continue to wait to deliver.  Blood pressure issues in pregnancy and preeclampsia can go down hill extremely quickly without much warning and therefore the doctors do not want to test the limits.  I understand their stance.  I also have a strong intuition that everything would be fine if we waited until 36 weeks and remained on my BP meds but am not willing to take that gamble (nor will the doctors allow me to).  I put my faith in the doctors and in their abilities after observing me now for several weeks.  So unless something unexpected occurs, I will deliver on Monday, 10/17 at 35 weeks & 2 days. 


We ask for prayers for a healthy delivery, strong baby- lungs/ breathing, temps, blood sugars etc., short NICU stay (baby will have to go to the NICU as part of the hospital policy- all babies born prior to 36 weeks are required to go to NICU), prayers for peace and release of anxieties as Blake and I prepare to welcome our 2nd baby very soon, prayers for our sweet Beau as he continues to be juggled around while I am in the hospital and for an easy transition to big brother. 


We look forward to an exciting week ahead and I am very much looking forward to my last 1.5-2 weeks (1 week until delivery and 4-5 days to recover) of this hospital stay with the greatest gift at the end! 

Obsessed with garbage cans and throwing anything in sight away! For some reason he doesn't care that mommy thinks it's "yucky, yucky".

The theme of his hospital visits...getting into everything...noticing the trend here?!  And in case you are wondering, he did pull out EVERY.SINGLE.TISSUE.  and then he helped daddy throw them in his favorite trash can LOL.

The play house on mommy's hospital floor.  It doesn't compare to being outside but it's still fun.

Fun in Papi's fire car over the weekend!  Papi retired last week after 48 years of service, so Beau had to get some fun in while he still could.