Baby K update!

I am now 35 weeks.  I am doing non-stress tests twice a week and starting now, seeing a doctor weekly (before it was every other week).

My stress tests haven't been entirely reassuring.  The risk to the baby with my heart issue is that not enough oxygen will be supplied to him.  So far, he has grown beautifully, but as he gets bigger and I get bigger, the demand on the heart also get bigger.  During the non-stress tests, they want to see his heart rate increase with movement, then return to baseline.  His baseline is always a beautiful 135-140, but he rarely shows increased heart rate with movement (and he moves...a lot!).  He will occasionally, but not consistently.  What should only take about 20 minutes to see what is considered a reactive (good) test takes him about an hour.

Today he did really well on the stress test, and while the OB was pleased with how things are going so far, he made sure I understood that I am not out of the woods.  I still have to see the cardiologist before delivery and have a growth ultrasound next Tuesday to make sure he is doing okay.  They will measure him and assess his movement and breathing to make sure he is not in distress.  If, at any point, they detect distress, he will be induced, as the risk of being born early will outweigh the risk of staying inside me and lacking oxygen.  Fortunately, I trust these doctors entirely, and I am so confident that everything will be okay.  I won't lie, though... when this baby is safely in my arms, the weight of the world will be taken off my shoulders.  I am anxious to know that he will be 100% okay.

Today my co-workers put on a baby shower for me and another co-worker who is due a week before me.  It was wonderful!  Amazing food, adorable and clever presents, and just a really, really nice time.  It has been such a whirlwind of a year:  getting pregnant and miscarrying, leaving a job after only 8 months, starting a new job, getting pregnant again.... it's been a roller coaster of emotions, and I think I can finally safely say that I feel so much peace and contentment with everything.  I can finally look back on the past year and see how all of it fits together.  I miss the clinic job I had and I think about it on a daily basis.  There were so many wonderful things about that job, I have zero regrets about exploring that area of work.  A lot of laughs and a lot of new experiences which I will forever be thankful for, but it also taught me so much about myself.  Leaving an entire health care system that I never saw myself leaving was HARD.  I felt a sense of homesickness on a daily basis for months after I left.  The open arms and new friendships that have developed over the past many months, though, has shown me that sometimes things must fall apart so better things can fall together.

And things are definitely, DEFINITELY falling together.