We Have a Date!

Well - the wonderful news is that today, my doctor and I scheduled my induction for April 11th! I am hugely thankful that I actually have an end date to my bed rest, and Brian is excited that he might be able to share his 30th birthday with his baby son or daughter!

My non-stress test today was definitely interesting. It took about 10 minutes for the nurse to find the baby's heartbeat. It shouldn't be that hard to find the baby's heartbeat, especially since there isn't too much room for the baby to move around at this point. The nurse said that she couldn't say for sure, but she didn't think the baby was breach. She thought it was more likely that the baby was "sunny side up" as she described it. This basically means that instead of the baby's face looking at my back (as it should be), the baby's face is most likely looking at my stomach. Although there are exercises that women can do to help the baby turn, unfortunately, since I am on bedrest, I can't do any of these exercises. So, we would definitely appreciate any prayers that the baby would get into the "right" position soon - and stay there! Once we finally located the heartbeat, the baby had hiccups for the first 7 minutes of the test which again tends to skew the test. So, the non-stress test today was definitely interesting. But we finally got the baby to calm down, and the nurse was satisfied that the baby was doing fine!

When I saw my doctor, she told me that she wanted me to have blood work drawn again today and that I will complete another 24-hour urine analysis next Sunday. That should be my last 24-hour test until after the baby arrives. I told her that for my sanity, I was really just hoping to schedule a date for induction today. She completely understood, but she also wanted Brian and I to understand that there is a chance that the baby could spend a couple of days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) after the baby is born. This is essentially because babies lungs are considered to be completely developed at 39 weeks. However, because of my pre-eclampsia, she didn't want to wait to schedule my induction until 39 weeks.

Based on her schedule, we agreed on April 11th for the induction. I will most likely go into the hospital on the night of April 10th and then she will start the pitocin on the morning of April 11th. Again, if any of my blood work or protein levels change dramatically, then they will automaticaly move up my induction. But as long as everything continues to stay steady, we will be having a baby on April 11th! Obviously, another prayer request would be that my blood work and protein levels continue to stay steady. And finally, another prayer request would be that when the baby arrives, it's lungs would be fully developed and that it would not need to spend any time in the NICU.

Thank you all for your love and support throughout all of this! So many people have sacrificed so greatly for us, and we are eternally grateful! We are almost there! :)