Dylan

Happy New Year!

We spent our first moments of 2012 in Scripps hospital! We thought you were possibly going to be a New Year's baby and share your birthday with Jackson and Grandpa. Every year we spend New Years Eve with the McCallion family and this year it was at our house. We were having a fun night of make-your-own pizzas and make-your-own sundaes when I was starting to feel off and knew I needed to head upstairs to take my blood pressure. It was high and so I laid in bed for thirty minutes and Danielle came up to take my blood pressure for me. It works out nicely to have a doctor and a nurse at your house when you are having a health issue! My blood pressure remained high and Daddy was kind of freaking out (he does that, as you will soon learn) and Dr. Pat said I really needed to go to the hospital. I called the midwife on call and she told me to come in for monitoring. It was a pretty crazy ten minutes gathering up all our stuff and packing bags just in case we were going to have you. Daddy must have gone back into the house like 4 times because we kept remembering things we forgot to bring while we were pulling out of the driveway. Thank goodness we had great friends at our house that could be there with Carson and Brooke.

It was a crazy foggy night and a bit of a dangerous drive to the hospital. Daddy had been enjoying some good champagne and nice wine with Pat & Danielle so it was a good thing I could drive. They ran some tests on me and monitored my blood pressure and contractions for a couple hours and everything was okay. I was having contractions 2-8 minutes apart but they weren't painful. The midwife checked my cervix and I was only 1-2 cm dilated. I was actually getting an ultrasound when it turned midnight. She checked on you and you looked great with lots of fluid in the uterus. You were practicing breathing.

It was definitely an eventful New Year's Eve! I was relieved that you weren't coming yet, but Dave was hoping that you would have been born so you could have had a special birthday connection with Grandpa.

37 Weeks

I am full term! I am so shocked that you are not going to be a preemie. I was so certain that I even bought a bunch of preemie baby clothes. Looks like someone else is going to have to have a very small baby boy so I can pass those clothes on.

I had my appointment with Dr. Washkowiak this morning after a rough night last night. I was up until 2am with horrible reflux and throwing up. Dr. W had told me that she might just keep me after one of appointments so I was fully prepared when I went to my appointment this morning. I had my bags in the car and made sure the house was completely in order and I had Danielle lined up to pick the kids up from school, just in case. I didn't want to get my hopes up that you might come today, but I was actually pretty disappointed when she didn't send me to the hospital today. I think it is the hormones and the lack of sleep, but I definitely cried. It is all just going so differently than I expected. I really want to go into labor on my own and I really don't want to wait too long to meet you. I am very happy that you have gone full term, but now I am feeling very ready and anxious to meet you and have you in my arms. Pregnancy at the end is definitely rough.

Dr. W checked me and I am at least 2 centimeters dilated and she said my cervix looks ready. My blood pressure is about the same this time and there wasn't any protein in my urine so she said she feels okay with me going another week. The good news is we have an end in sight. If you don't come sooner, you will be born on January 14th!! I do really hope that I go into labor before that because I would rather avoid petocin and the increased chance of a c-section plus more painful contractions, but I am really excited that Dr. W will deliver me. She is such an amazing doctor and I think it will only add to the great experience of child birth to have her with me.  The date was chosen because it is the day next week that Dr. W is on call, but it is a special day too because it is your big brother's half birthday.

Baby Brooke

I can only imagine that this has to do with your impending arrival, but Brooke has been acting like a baby a lot lately. By "acting like a baby" I don't mean whining and being difficult, but she actually pretends that she is a baby. She crawls on the ground and has her own baby language. It is pretty funny, but can be frustrating when I am ready for her to act like a 2.5 year old again!

Old Wive's Tales

Now that you are considered full term, I am all about evicting you, my little watermelon! I have pushed out 4 and 5 pound babies pretty easily, but I am getting worried about pushing out a 7 plus pound baby. So far delivery has been really easy for me. With Carson I pushed 3 times and with Brooke it was 2.5 and I got to pull her out of me.

So in order to encourage you to come I have done a few things that are considered old wive's tales because they likely don't have any real impact on when a baby comes. I have done squats and lunges, eaten spicy Mexican food, taken warm baths, and a couple other things. Unfortunately I can't exercise or go on long walks since I am supposed to be on modified rest now. Well tonight I decided to put eggplant parmesan to the test. There is actually a restaurant that swears by it and has a wall dedicated to pictures of babies born after their moms ate this particular dish. The restaurant is in another state though, so Daddy and I went to Crush restaurant in Solana Beach instead. We had a great time, as we always do on date nights, and we both really enjoyed the eggplant parmesan. I was so hoping it would get things moving, but instead it gave me the worst heartburn ever! I am already on the full dose zantac around the clock and chewing tums as well. I was up until 2 am with heartburn and throwing up. The eggplant parmesan turned out to be a big fail!

Update

I went to see Dr. Washkowiak this morning and I told her that I wasn't feeling great and that my blood pressure seems to be up. She confirmed that my blood pressure is significantly higher than it has been and I also had some protein in my urine. She wants me to monitor my blood pressure at home throughout the day and to call if it is 140/90 for two or more readings. Since I am almost full term, she said she will possibly induce me depending on how things go because with high blood pressure you are just waiting for something bad to happen. There was a little bit of protein in my urine, but that can be typical at this point in pregnancy. I got blood work done and everything was okay. Dr. W said I should expect that she might keep me at my appointment next week or the following and go ahead and induce me. I am getting so close to meeting you! I am very excited and nervous too.

My Little OB

Look at how huge my belly is now at 36 weeks! Brooke likes playing doctor and checking on my belly and baby Dylan. Your siblings are both getting really excited for your arrival. Brooke likes to shake my belly and say, "Wake up baby Dylan!" Yesterday Brooke asked when you are going to "crack out" : ) She is thinking that you are like a baby bird and my belly is like an egg.