It's Almost That Time!!

  I was reading some old posts from August about how I thought I was pregnant then, due to not ovulating. I've been wanting a baby super bad since the end of October 2015, and now here we are about to slice me open to take out this little rainbow baby! I've been told that a rainbow baby is the one that is born after a miscarriage. It's also interesting thinking about rainbows since the unfortunate Orlando Pulse shooting anniversary is also on Monday. I think the weekend will go by quickly too since it's my birthday on Sunday. The big 30, but we'll call it 28 since I said a long time ago that I wanted to be 28 when I have a baby, probably because that's the age my mom was when she had me! =)
   Bedrest photos with Sasha:

  Some updates (texts I sent to everyone) from the last few appointments this week:

Monday, June 5th ~  Another good appointment. We didn't even need to talk to Dr. Greves today, but he was upstairs doing other patient stuff. Emmy's doppler percentages were better than usual today, even though usually they're still good. Our sonogram tech, Melissa, says it's bad if they get up to 95% because then it means there's not enough blood flowing through the umbilical cord, but usually Emma is between 70 and 90 which is fine. Today she was 76% which is even better! Melissa also told us that even though she's measuring small she should still have all the development of a 36 week old baby. We got to see her opening and closing her eyes. Michael said that was too creepy!!

Yesterday I only felt her moving a couple times. I ended up massage/poking her last night because she wasn't moving a lot when I laid down to go to bed like she normally does. But she was moving a lot this morning during the ultrasound and Melissa said that she was doing really great with her "breathing practices" so let's hope she keeps it up and shows off her great breathing techniques for real next Monday and for the rest of her life!! Emma's hair looked longer too, "blowing around in the fluid". Gotta get those little flower headbands ready!

Wednesday, June 7th ~ We met Dr. Feld at the regular OB office. He came into the hospital while I was there one time, but I didn't really remember him since I always saw Jen Ivy as my OB. He is a nice man, but seemed to be in a little bit of a hurry as he never sat down, and got right into procedure instructions and questions. He will be the one delivering Emma. We didn't notice him smile at all, which was a change from having Jen Ivy who jokes around with us, but she was on vacation this week. Last week she said she hopes she gets a chance to see us again and meet Emma in the hospital.

Thursday, June 8th ~ More good news. The skeletal dysplasia panel came back already and that was negative!! It checked for 30 different type of skeletal diseases (the most common ones out of 100) including the fatal Thanaphoric Dwarfism that Dr. Greves thought she had a few weeks ago. As well as brittle bone disease, so she doesn't have either of those which is very, very good!! Because all of the tests are looking so good and the only issue that they know of right now is that she has IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction), Dr. Greaves is going to call Dr. Fleishman (the pediatric cardiologist) and see if it would benefit Emma's heart at all to stay in for another week. So he'll call me later today to see if her delivery is still on for the 12th, or if it would be the 15th or 19th instead.

  I mentioned a few posts ago that Michael put the bases in our cars last Sunday before Miriam came over to take our maternity pictures. My friend Lindsey gave us that mirror on the back headrest, that way Michael can see Emma while he's driving. We bought one for my car too, but the way my back headrests are positioned (plus they are attached to the seat), I wouldn't be able to see much of the mirror, so we'll probably exchange that one for something else.

   Today Michael met me for my Pre-Admission Testing. I felt bad that he came (even though I love when he comes to appointments with me) since he had to sit in the lobby most of the time. We were there for 2 hours, but got to watch Just Like Heaven on TV. I also learned that Michael has never seen the movie Napoleon Dynamite!! The appointment consisted of speaking to an insurance representative, then getting blood drawn, filling out a few papers, and being given a special chlorhexidine gluconate soap to use twice before coming in for the surgery on Monday morning. She also said I'm not allowed to wear make up or jewelry that day.
   We never got a call from Dr. Greves yesterday or anytime today, so we are assuming that Emma's birthday is still on schedule for Monday afternoon. Plus all the paperwork I filled out today said it was. If it wasn't, someone would have had to call me by now to set up a regular appointment for early that morning and another one on Thursday.
   I weighed exactly 134 pounds on our scale at home this morning. (Yesterday I think it said 138 on the old doctor scale. It's always more at the offices with my bulky clothes and shoes on.) So I've gained a total of 22 pounds during this pregnancy. I'll weigh myself again Monday morning and also the morning after I get home from the hospital, just to see how much "baby weight" I lost. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get back to my "before weight" by the end of July when I have to go back to work and am expected to fit into my uniform that consists of very baggy pants with a super tight waist..

Closet Conversion

  Let's see how much Michael has gotten done from his project list so far. The ones crossed out have been completed:

(1) converting Emma's closet into a changing area
(2) building and painting valances to go over the curtains
(3) Foxtail Cove hammock relaxation area outside
(4) decorating the dining room and building or buying a small cabinet
(5) painting the front door and adding a wreath
(6) staining the deck
(7) planting more/ better flowers in the front yard

  Well I sure feel like he has done a lot more than that lately.. *pondering emoji* And I'm pretty sure Project #2 will be finished this weekend since he already built the valances for our house, he just needs to paint and hang them. A couple weeks ago he got three finished for Lindsey, which I posted about. The rest of the projects will have to wait. Depending on how long Emma is in the NICU, he may have a few more weekends to get things done, but it might just be Project #7.

  ^^ Here is how her closet started off nice and junky on May 14th, a week after we got the last of what she "needed". The project was put on pause after May 18th when we got the grim news with the possibility that Emma would go straight to Heaven once she's born. But after things continued looking up over the next two weeks and we got our positivity groove back, Michael got back to work on the closet this past weekend.

  ^^ Almost done. This was before the finishing touches: getting a white 3-foot extension cord, hanging a bar for the clothes, and screwing the diaper basket to the wall. I was very glad that he kept an area for me to hang some of her clothes. What you see pictured are her newborn and 0-3 month pieces. The 3-6 month and 6-9 month outfits are in the closet. I need to wash everything this week, but we will probably also need to get a few preemie outfits (and diapers!) for her. We got enough Size 1 diapers from the baby shower to last a month!

  My mom got us that pretty woodlands bible verse canvas. So I am glad that he opened up that space since we didn't have any good wall space in the rest of her room to hang it. Also originally Michael was going to paint in the inside of the closet gray to match the rest of the room, but he kept it white because that is what I wanted. What a sweetie! =)

   Here's a silly panorama of her room we took in April after he got it decorated. On the far right over Michael's left shoulder is the window and then the heart garland. The closet is not shown. And here is the official Before and After:

It's a Hard Love

Hold on tight a little longer // What don't kill ya, makes ya stronger
You can't change without a fallout // It's gon' hurt, but don't you slow down
Get back up, 'cause it's a hard love

But there's a reason that the road is long // It takes some time to make your courage strong

   This song called "Hard Love" by Need to Breathe makes me think about a lot of things, specifically the verses that I didn't add in here. But right now the chorus is making me think about being patient and positive while waiting the 13 more days until Emma's scheduled birth (Monday, June 12th at 12:30pm). The time has definitely slowed down this month since I haven't been working. I really like my job and miss it, and the people that I work with, but I'm keeping them up to date on their "Teletype baby". 

When the wolves come and hunt me down // I will face them all and stand my ground
'Cause there's a fire burnin' in me // They will see my strength in this love I found

   Zach came down with Peyton for the long Memorial Day weekend on Friday and stayed with his friend Edgard, but first stopped by our house (he hadn't seen it yet!) for a couple hours and we watched Finding Dory on Netflix with Michael until his friend got home from work. I also saw Zach and Peyton yesterday afternoon for about 30 minutes and we watched her climb all over a nearby "pey-pound" (playground) until they had to drive home.

  A few days ago when Michael was at work (maybe also on Friday?) I went through all of our bills and projected paychecks between now and mid January to see how much money we could put back in savings. We had been taking some out each month so Michael could work on his long project list, but I guess he decided we were spending too much money in a short period of time (I agree) and set a savings goal for us. However, after an hour or two of "crunching numbers", I let him know that after August we will barely have any money left over each month due to baby bills and daycare fees that we are not used to paying. In the words of Mrs. Molly Weasley, "We'll manage."

  Michael says he is already.. what's a loving word for "annoyed"?.. by how often I ask, "How much is that going to cost?" But at the same time says I am very good about paying all of our bills on time and keeping us on budget so that our savings account gets richer when possible. We started our grocery shopping for June already (mostly individually) and keeping track of them helps me make better choices. Michael went to Target to get some of his last night because he had a $25 gift card, and today I went to Publix. When I'm on a budget I usually go to Walmart, but due to needing turkey and cheese from the deli and knowing Triscuits were a BOGO this week, I went to Publix instead. I sacrificed my love of bakery sugar twist donuts and instead made s'mores pudding cups for dessert from a mix I already had from Dollar Tree last year.

   This morning Michael and I went to another high risk appointment to get Emma's updated measurements, but for some reason the ultrasound tech said the last one was on the 18th (a Thursday), but they have been done every other Monday. Whatever, we'll get the growth scan done in two days. But my growth is up to 133 pounds now!
   These pictures were from last night with me being 35 weeks and 1 day pregnant. Sometimes I think I look super pregnant and other times not so much. According to my Pregnancy+ app, a baby grows to about 2.2 pounds by 28 weeks, and 3.8 pounds by 32 weeks. So although Emma is for some reason five weeks behind, she is still the right weight for her size. But I have also heard and read that the estimates in measurement via ultrasound can still be off by a pound or two. The doctors told my mom that I would probably only weigh five pounds, but I was almost seven! So maaaybe Emma will actually weigh 4 or 5 pounds? As long as her lungs are strong, she can breathe on her own, and we can bring her home after a few weeks, we'll be good. That's what I'm praying for.

Gore Construction

  Project #2 of Many: This weekend Michael was working on building and painting wood valances to go over the top of the windows, and/or over the curtain rods. This is something he has wanted to do since we moved into the house last July. The previous owners had upholstered valances with a fabric that did not match our taste furniture, however, we do like the turquoise colored curtains they had in the living room and bought pillows to match! (We had red velvet pillows at the apartment before.) Our friend Lindsey hired Michael to build some valances for her house, which gave him the motivation to start this project yesterday. He finished hers today and the ones for our house will also be done soon.

   Yesterday Michael got all of the wood he needed from Lowes. He had his list of which size wood and trim pieces he needed and how many of each. Today he used a mixture of wood filler to patch all of the nail gun holes and any imperfections in the wood. Then he used three different types of sand paper and sanding blocks to make the wood extra smooth before painting it. He had Pure White semi-gloss paint left over from when we painted the kitchen cabinets and used that for the valances.

   In the photo directly below you can see two of the valances. The one on the left had been sanded already and the one on the right has the wood filler smoothed down.  He then caulked the pieces, then began painting. I will show Before & After pictures in a different post once our valances are completed and hanging up on the walls over the curtains. I didn't get a full picture of them, but Michael also made 1"x2" mounting brackets for each valance that will be screwed into the walls to help hold up the main frames.

 ^^ His extra wood stash.

   I am 34 weeks pregnant today, currently weighing 131 pounds. The next doctor appointment at the hospital is tomorrow morning at 7:30am. Michael will go with me to that, but I won't be writing about any baby Emma news from the previous appointments (this past Thursday and Friday) until later on when we have more information with hopefully more certain answers about her growth conditions.