Friday, March 21, 2008

Fully Cooked, Just Warming

As of Tuesday of this week we are 37 weeks. Austin is fully cooked and is just warming at this point. At our doctor's appointment on Tuesday, the doctor said everything looks good. Mom's blood pressure was up a little at the appointment from what it had been at the hospital testing visits, but nothing to be concerned about. Doctor said that there was no labor progress yet - everything is still sealed up tight. Since mom's blood pressure has been good while on house arrest, he doesn't want to induce yet because he feels that it would be ineffective since the body is not progressing at all yet and would likely lead to a c-section.
According to the doctor, the tendency will be for the blood pressure to start creeping back up again with time, so we continue the twice weekly monitoring/non-stress tests at the hospital. We had testing on Wednesday and the nurses said everything looked good. We go back tomorrow for round two for this week.
Maybe the Easter bunny will bring a baby instead of chocolate this year!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Impatiently waiting....

Things have been a little crazy around the Carr household the past couple weeks, so hang on.....

Last Thursday we went to the doctor due to to my HUGE swollen feet and ankles that weren't going down. When we arrived at the doctor, my blood pressure was 150/95 which is in the red zone for pregnant mommies. Dr. Towsley promptly told me no more work and to begin bedrest. He then sent us over to the hospital for further monitoring and testing.

While at the hospital, my blood pressure dropped down to 95/53, which was great. The nurses said this was further proof that bedrest would be good. All the lab work came back fine. I was having pretty regular contractions, about 6 minutes apart, but it was false labor likely due to the cervix check at the doctor's office. The doctor said that if Austin came that night, he would let him come since we were in week 35, but that he would like to buy a little more time if possible. He also said that if my blood pressure continues to go up, he would induce labor to prevent complications with Austin.

So now we sit at home and rest and wait. I have to go twice a week for non-stress tests which involve monitoring the baby and blood pressure checks. Yesterday (Tuesday) was the first day of testing and all the blood pressures were good. The baby was very active (just like his daddy!) which the nurses said means he is nice and happy. We go again on Saturday. We both think Austin will make his appearance early (whether on his own or by force) but who knows....I certainly hope that I will not be on bedrest for the next month! Next Tuesday we will be considered full term (37 weeks) and we have a doctor's appointment that day, so we'll see what he says.

In other news, the nursery is finally ready. With all the hoopla last week, we decided it was time to get into action in case Austin arrived!! Aunt Yen came over and helped Nathan finish getting things ready. The only thing missing now is Bethany's new glider and ottoman which will be arriving shortly.

Changing table and dresser


Crib, armoire, and giant giraffe (that Daja isn't too sure of.....)


Note the Gator mobile. It even plays the Gator fight song (very quietly of course)!


Finally, an update on Daja. She has been declared tumor free and is almost completely healed. The incision took longer to heal than originally anticipated because of its location on the back of her leg. Her constant movement kept it from sealing up as quickly as it might have in another location. The vet says that the tumor was a grade one and that all the cells around the initial tumor were clean, so hopefully there won't be any more tumors pop up.

And the winner is.......

We have finally settled on a name!

The baby's name will be Austin Daniel Carr.

Hope you like it! If you do, let us know. If you don't, don't tell us......
It is not a slight thing when those so fresh from God love us.
--Dickens


If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.
--Vincent van Gogh