Babylicious Adventure Filled Day

Today, we did a lot of stuff dedicated to the baby... it wasn't all super exciting, and so I want to publicly thank my husband for his support and absence of any complaining today.  He was great, and we ended up having a pretty good day.

First, David came with me to my OBGYN this morning for another BPP appointment (non-stress test plus ultrasound).  I weighed 145 pounds, and my blood pressure was 102 over 68.  This was "good" but a little lower than my "normal low" blood pressure reading.  This reading made more sense later when I felt extremely light-headed after resting for 5 minutes, with head elevated while resting on the chair and blood rushing to my feet pointing downwards, doing the non-stress test.  I started to feel very warm and get a headache, some of the symptoms that I get when I feel an oncoming fainting episode.  These symptoms make me nervous because I have fainted a handful of times in my life (including once when I was teaching in the classroom!), so they moved me to another room where I could lie flat on the bed and have a fan in the room.   Below is a picture that David took of me before my near fainting episode.

The non-stress test went well, and the baby was kicking plenty.  Next, we went back to use the ultrasound machine.  The baby looked healthy... good ribs, muscle tone, heartbeat, etc.  My doctor did however mention that the placenta was starting to "age" or break down slowly.  She pointed out just a few white calcium spots that we could see in the placenta on the ultrasound screen.  These spots mean that the placenta is getting older, which is normal at this stage of pregnancy.  She said that when the placenta starts to resemble a "cauliflower cut in half where you can see all the white florets inside" on the ultrasound screen, then that is when the placenta is not functioning to its full capabilities and its time to deliver the baby.  My placenta did not look anything like that yet, but definitely gained a few "white spots" since last week.

The baby had also rotated into the breech position this time when we first saw her on the ultrasound screen, whereas she had been head down for the last two weeks.  However, she then ended up rotating sideways by the end of the appointment, so my doctor said it's not concerning if the head is up or down at this point, and that there's still time to rotate the head down before delivery in 4-6 weeks.

I appreciated that David came in with me today on his day off from work.  It was the last time that he would see our OBGYN doctor at this clinic before I start my appointments at the hospital downtown, where we will meet with the doctor that delivers the baby.  I have one more appointment at this clinic next week before it "becomes real" and we regularly see the building and doctor that will take care of business for the rest of the pregnancy.

The second part of our baby activity filled day started at 5:00 PM when we drove downtown to our "Baby Care / Parent Transition: Guide to First 6 Weeks" class.  We were the first ones there, and were eventually joined by two other couples.

 We learned to "swaddle" among other useful information at the class.

 Afterwards, we celebrated as graduates of our baby class by grabbing dinner at the "Twin Peaks" restaurant.  Apparently, it's like a Hooters restaurant...yes, the waitresses are wearing tight tops cropped at the belly and showing some major cleavage, in addition to the shortest shorts that I've ever seen worn by a girl, practically underwear.  

But, here they wore Uggs boots with their waitress uniforms because the "Twin Peaks" theme not only refers to their upper anatomical parts but also to the ski lodge setting seen throughout the restaurant.  Hey, the waitresses were nice, there were plenty of big-screened TVs, including a personal one in our booth, and the food was actually really delicious! 

 After a day full of baby prep, David was eager to cheers with a frosty brew.

 I ordered a delightful lemonade topped with a maraschino cherry.  I could order a glass of wine, but I figured that I only have a month left with baby in the belly and decided that I could wait that long to indulge in any alcoholic treats. 

David thought that this picture with me eating my cherry from my virgin drink was hilarious, and so I promised to him that I would post it because he was a good boy with our "baby overload" adventures today.

 Per the suggestion of our Twin Peaks waitress, we ordered fried pickles.  How fitting for us after spending a day at the doctor's office and the hospital with other pregnant couples for a baby class!

 They were FANTASTIC.

The end!  :)