I get to leave the house!!!!

I'm not posting pictures again on this post mainly because I'm lazy and I'll be posting some after my doc appointment on Tuesday. But, I had a doc appointment this last Monday and I don't think I could've asked for a better appointment! As some of you know, I've been measuring big (about two weeks ahead every week) and since it's been a long time (by my standards) since I had an ultrasound to measure how big baby is, my doc is having us do an ultrasound next Tuesday to "see exactly what we're dealing with". But from his guestimation from this last appointment he guessed baby to be about 6.5 lbs (at 35 weeks 3 days), so big for his age, but sorry Dad, not the hulk!

The best news: My bedrest has been modified to an incredible extent. I get to leave the house! I am now allowed to go to a movie or out to dinner if I want to. I also get to do some cleaning! It sounds funny that I would be excited about cleaning, and I am so so lucky to have my Mom come every week to clean for me and for Tiffany to help me out as well, but now I can let my suppressed nesting instincts take over and clean everything that bugs me when it bugs me! So basically, I am not allowed to work or do things every other pregnant woman shouldn't do, and if I start doing something and get contractions I have to lay down (which I'm realizing is more often than I had expected), but I actually have some freedom to do things! This is a transitional bedrest to put me back into normal life soon!

Now I just have to transition back from being a lazy bum into doing everything I want to do!

32.5 Weeks and Counting!

Good news! I am now past the 32 week milestone and baby is staying put so far! He is pretty well developed but breathing and eating could be hard for him still and the longer he stays in there the stronger his brain will be, although everything should be firing at this point! It's still early, but every week that goes by just means that he'll have less time he'll have to spend in the NICU. I'm still on bedrest, but as long as baby is okay, I don't really mind, it's not forever!

The stats: My cervix is still short but has been holding at about 1.4 cm. I recently asked my doc the difference between a short cervix and effacing and they are essentially the same thing, without boring you with the details. The shorter the cervix, the easier it is for your body to dilate for labor. So basically the 1.4 cm length means I'm about 65-70% effaced, depending on the doc that is measuring. That's partly why this has been scary since my cervix dropped to that length at 28 weeks and they were'nt sure how fast it would drop the rest of the way. And for some unknown reason, I'm higher risk for preterm labor since this is an IVF baby. I am also now 1 cm dilated, but I could stay that way for endless amounts of time!

Other good news is that I no longer have to go see the high risk docs! It'll be really nice to just see my ob weekly rather than a different high risk doc every week. The bad news is that my ob will be doing a physical clinical check on my cervix every week now instead of using an ultrasound. The bad news is that I won't get to see baby again until he enters this world when I haven't been able to see his weight or anything for a month already! Am I spoiled or what?!

Honestly, this whole experience has been scary, but more so, it has really allowed me to see so clearly how blessed we are. I don't usually get super mushy but I feel so lucky to have such great friends and family that have supported us so much through all of this. I can't say thank you enough. We are so excited to have this little boy in our lives and can only hope that we can teach him the sort of love and compassion that everyone has shown us. And it goes without saying that none of this could be possible without Gods help. He really does have a million pieces to a puzzle for each of us that only he knows the big picture of.

Oh, and we decided to name him Noah! We're still working on the middle name!