36 & 37 Weeks

36 Weeks, 4 Days - On our 3rd Wedding Anniversary

The last 2 weeks have been pretty uneventful, since our hospital stay, so I'm condensing them into 1 post.  I have learned what I first suspected . . . I am not a good bedrest candidate.  I have not followed a *strict* regimen, but I have tried to rest and stay off my feet.  More than anything, I was really concerned about the work I was missing, that I hadn't planned on.  While I will only get docked for about 3 days, I won't have any sick or personal days to start the year next year.  I know that ultimately, I have to take care of Kinley and myself to make sure we are both healthy and ready for delivery.

John told me to just treat this like a school vacation.  Bless his heart for trying, but I just had to laugh.  My response was "if this was a vacation, do you know how many projects I would be working on???"  I did my best to take care of a few things around the house, with rest in between, so I wasn't overdoing it.  We would take an occasional trip to the grocery store or Target for a few things, just to get out of the house.

I continued to see both Dr. Turner and Dr. Chatman once a week.  Dr. Chatman told us she doesn't like to "mess around" with the preeclampsia, because it can go from mild to severe really quickly.  So, she felt most comfortable letting me get to 37 weeks, and then scheduling an induction.  I would hit 37 weeks the weekend of Easter, and she said waiting until the week after would be fine.  All along, my mom has been hoping that I would be able to hold out until after Easter.  That is such a busy weekend for them at church, so she was hoping she wouldn't have to leave before then. 

Last Wednesday, John and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary.  I hope this will be the most low-key celebration we will ever have.  I certainly don't mind, but I like when we are able to do something special to celebrate with each other.  Our finances are a little tight right now, and I've just been feeling very lethargic, so I told John I would rather do something nice in a couple of months when the situation is hopefully better.  John gave me a really sweet card and took me to lunch at The Olive Garden.  We had been seeing their commercials a lot lately, and I was really craving the salad.  So, even though it wasn't fancy, it was thoughtful of John to do something he knew I had been wanting.

The day after our anniversary, I saw Dr. Chatman for the last time.  The ultrasound was quick and uneventful.  In true Kinley fashion, she didn't show us her face, so we will just have to wait for that magical moment that we meet for the first time!  The ultrasound tech at Dr. Chatman's measured her at 7 lbs. 9 ounces, which would presumably put her right around 8 pounds at her birth.  Dr. Chatman said we will have to let her know how close they were.

Today, I had my last appointment with Dr. Turner.  She checked me, and wasn't surprised to find that my cervix is still closed.  I hope my body will "get in gear" and cooperate when the drugs get rolling.  She answered our last minute questions, and told us how she expected that things would go.  I hope she will be able to deliver Kinley, but even if that doesn't happen, I know I will be in good hands.  I'm pretty anxious, just because I've never done this before, and as much as I've read and heard my friends talk, there's nothing that can predict how it will go for me.  We are as ready as we're going to get, though, and we can't wait to meet this baby girl!