34 Weeks

Yesterday marked 34 weeks in my pregnancy...6 left to go before my due date and only 3 until he's considered full term...a little bit scary!!

I "celebrated" being 34 weeks along by heading into Labor and Delivery because baby Will decided that he wanted to scare his mommy by not being very active all day. I have to do these things called "Kick Counts" each day to make sure he's doing okay in there. Basically I pick anytime and count the movements I feel. I should be able to feel 10 in an hour. If I don't, I'm supposed to drink some caffeine, eat some sugar, and then try again for another hour. If I still haven't felt 10 by then, I'm supposed to call the nurse's line to see what to do. Well, I woke up at 3:30am (after being to the bathroom a grand total of FOUR times during the night!) and realized that I really hadn't felt him move at all during the night (which is pretty unusual). So of course I started paying attention to it (and worrying a little bit!) and was up until my alarm went off poking my belly and trying to get him to move. He did move a bit...but not as much as normal!

So I decided not to panic and got ready for school. He continued his not-really-moving thing all day, so at 2:00 on my planning period I called the nurse's line. They wanted me to come in to Labor and Delivery immediately, so I got someone to cover my class for the last 10 minutes of the day and drove over to Scott and White. They hooked me up to the monitors and Will's heart rate looked great...mine on the other hand was not so great! It was in the 140s and my blood pressure was a little bit high. They waited and took it again - same story. They kept me on the monitors for 30 minutes and my heart rate never really went down...at points, MY heart rate was faster than his! The on-call doctor came in and said that they were going to draw some blood to test me for anemia. Apparently anemia can cause your heart rate to go up because you have less hemoglobin in your blood. Hemoglobin attaches to your the oxygen, so your heart has to work twice as hard to get your blood oxygenated - hence the high heart rate. The tests came back showing that I am anemic so it's something we're going to have to watch.

I picked up some bug at the hospital though (or possibly at school - who knows!) and I feel totally yucky. I think there should be a law that you shouldn't have to be pregnant and sick at the same time because it's not fun!! I have a horrible cough and have felt feverish all day (although I haven't actually registered a fever). I'm going to the doctor tomorrow though, and I'm going to talk with her about it and see if there's anything I can do for the awful cough. I'm looking forward to resting at home tomorrow since I took the whole day off, though!

Will weighs around 5 1/2 pounds this week and is continuing to grow and develop. His lungs are maturing and will continue to do so over the next few weeks. His hiccuping is a result of learning to breathe by taking in amniotic fluid. I'd say he's getting in lots of practicing since he's doing lots and lots of hiccuping! :)

Here's my 34 week belly picture. I was wearing the same outfit as my 28 week picture, so I decided to do a little comparison. In the words of my mom, I'm huge ;) Will has done quite a bit of growing in the past 6 weeks!

What a stinker!

Greg was a mischievous child and apparently our baby is already taking after him ;) Just kidding...kind of! Friday was a long day at school. I felt Will moving around a bit in the morning while I was in the shower, but I really didn't feel much after that. I didn't think anything of it since I was on my feet teaching all day and not really paying particular attention to whether or not he was moving.

When I got home from school, I realized that I hadn't felt him in awhile, which seemed odd. So, I decided to keep an eye on it for the rest of the evening. Greg and I ate dinner then I watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy on my computer and surfed the internet for awhile, all while paying attention to see if he moved. Well, he didn't - not even a flutter or a kick! I drank some orange juice and laid on my side for 15 minutes (which is what my doctor told me to do if he wasn't moving). He still was stubbornly refusing to move at all and I was getting more and more worried. I called the Labor & Delivery nurse's line and they told me I needed to come on in and get everything checked out. The nurse mentioned that he could just be sleepy or he could have his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck...definitely something that scared me!

Greg and I immediately got in the car and drove to Scott and White. I checked in and got wheeled up to Labor and Delivery. The nurse that was with us was awesome - she was SO nice and friendly with us. I changed into a gown and then they put the monitors on my tummy. Right away we heard his little heart beating away and I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. I asked her if it was normal for them to not move for a long period of time and she said that it wasn't normal exactly, but that it was common. She left me hooked up to the monitors for awhile and sure enough, he started kicking away - right where the monitors were. Apparently he didn't care for them crowding his space! His heartrate fluctuated throughout the 140s, but stayed pretty close to the mid-140s the entire time I was hooked up.

When the nurse brought my discharge papers in, she said, "Well, we'll see you back here in about 10 weeks!" 10 weeks? Really? Is it really that close? My actual due date is a little over 11 weeks away, but my doctor won't stop labor if it happens after 37 weeks. So Will could hypothetically be here in as little as 8 weeks. That is absolutely crazy!!

Yesterday and today, Will has been making up for lost time kicking. He was kicking so hard in the same spot yesterday that I had to get up and walk around - it hurt! But I'm not complaining; I'd much rather him make his presence known.