round 2 // 32 weeks

Happy new year!  32 weeks today, which, more importantly, means ONLY 8 WEEKS TO GO.

Yiiiiiikes!

I'm in a slight panic at the thought that we have 2 months left and I really haven't done the first thing to get ready for this child, except collect a few girl clothes from sweet friends.

At least she has a name.

I've been trying to just "get past Christmas" (isn't that terrible??) before trying to tackle anything, but in the back of my mind I knew that meant I really was only leaving myself a couple months to get ready for her.

NOT in the back of my mind anymore...now it's smacking me in the forehead!

So here's the bump comparison -- I look better here, in my opinion, than in my last one.  Go figure.

I had a doctor's appt on Monday that ended up being a little more involved than I planned.  At this stage of pregnancy, and especially with one who has hypertension (ahem, that would be me), it's pretty standard to begin weekly non-stress testing at my doc appts.  They hook me up to a couple monitors that will monitor the baby's heartbeat and movements.

So on the 30 min long NST Monday, they observed "variables that are concerning".  I asked for a little more information and they said variables could be anything from cord or head compression, lack of oxygen, decreasing placental function, etc.

Due to these "concerning" variables, they sent me for an ultrasound at which they performed a BPP (biophysical profile).  Basically, they watch the baby doing several different things for a longer period of time to make sure everything is okay.  These things include breathing practice (hard to imagine babies have to "practice" their breathing), heartbeat, moving all their extremities, etc.

Natalie got an 8 out of 8.

That's my girl.  :)

So nothing of concern to report and we got a few more photos of her...

This one tripped me out -- she was looking right at us!  She opened her mouth a couple of times...it was crazy to see.  I hope you can see her face, how she's looking out...

Jeff was off on Monday and had Deacon while I was at my appt, but when they decided to send me for an ultrasound, in case there was anything to it, I told Jeff I really didn't want to go by myself.  Bless his heart, he and Deacon met me and we all went down to have my ultrasound done together.  I thought Deacon would think it was really cool to see his sister on the monitor, but he seemed more concerned with mama laying on the table with jelly all over her belly..."you okay, mama?"  Every time I looked at him, he was looking at me instead of the monitor.  It was sweet.  Love that boy!

So I'll be back at the doctor's office Monday for my weekly appt.  Praying we don't have to do the ultrasound thing again.  It's great to see our little girl, but I'd like to avoid the drive downtown to the office that has the ultrasound equipment, thankyouverymuch.