Once again it's been a week and where are my updates? Well, I haven't really taken pictures lately, but still have some to post from Easter Sunday afternoon when Nate, Sarah and Mina came over and we had an egg hunt and grilled out. It was such a fun and busy day.
I have had quite a few questions about this pregnancy from people lately, must stem from the fact that most of my pre-term/early problems have started around this stage of the pregnancy. Here's a bit of info on baby Dot.....
- Since 16 weeks along I have been getting progesterone shots, the goal of this is to keep the hormone levels high, within a couple weeks of delivery hormone levels drop, so the hope is that this will prevent that problem. I have heard different numbers but I believe I will be doing these till sometime between 34-37 weeks so we're almost done!
- At 20 weeks we had the normal ultrasound that most pregnancies get 1/2 way through. Ever since I have been have ultrasounds every 2 weeks. They measure different things to make sure nothing is happening too soon as far as my physical body is concerned.
- Starting at 22 weeks along I have been getting a FFN test done every 2 weeks. This test is rather hard to explain, but basically is checking for the drop in hormone levels as earlier mentioned. I have googled it, and have a pretty good understanding. This was the test that they did a couple weeks before Rachel was born that came back positive and forced me to bed rest with her around 33 weeks.
As of a week ago Tuesday all of these tests/procedures continue to be fine/normal/negative. So we are on track. My due date is still mid-June so the goal would be to make it to Memorial Day weekend or even into June.
At my last appointment I was given a paper called a "Birth Plan". Mark and I had a good chuckle over this. First of all being that I said "I thought that plan was to have a baby..." Anyway some of the questions on there for preferences made me laugh. Perhaps I was as niave with my first - however, I think that realistically sticking with the goal of 'having a baby' at the end is probably a better way of approaching the whole thing then some of the obvious demands and goals that some women seem to have (wanting whole family - children included - present for birth?????). One question on there was whether my partner and I agree on our birthing ideas and methods. Apparently some husbands think that they get a say about whether their wife wants/needs drugs etc. My doctor specifically asked about that one I said Mark's view on it will be to bring me and say "Fix her." My doc already likes my hubby :)
So Dot Day is approaching, but hopefully continues to be a few weeks off as I have some projects to finish before she gets here! The church here is having a shower for me this weekend which is so nice, I'm excited to have a chance to get to know some of the women of the church better.
So I guess that leaves the final stage of guesses - anyone up for a guess on date/weight/etc.? Let us know! We're also open to name suggestions, although reserve the right to keep all final choices a secret until the big day. Keep in mind that middle names so far used are Joy, Faith and Hope so we'd like to stick with the same concept (Grace, Mercy, Peace or a Greek/Hebrew equivalent of one of these words - not Peace though, it's Pistous in Greek, yuck!).
Thanks for checking in on us! Have a great week everyone!
