Almost 30 Weeks

It's been a little while since I last posted. Our laptops video card died so I've been out of touch, but it was a good break and it came at an appropriate time too. It gave me some time to reconnect with the real world a bit since bedrest has had me for connected to the computer for the past few months. We spent mother's day honoring our first born son Jack, since it was also his first birthday away from us and this past Saturday we attended a memorial service at the hospital where he was born. Overall, I think it has been a healing couple of weeks. In Owen's world, we've been ever so busy.

Not only am I getting bigger as we approach week 30, but I am confident that he is too. This past week, he pressed his hand to the inside of my tummy and I could see its outline. It was so fast, that I really believe I should wear a helmet cam to catch these moments for his daddy to see. Owen's kicks in general are a lot stronger and we can actually watch him move around in my belly from the outside in the evening when we are all relaxing. I enjoy this time a lot. I like getting to share his movements with Dustin so he feels connected to Owen too. We missed this phase of pregnancy with Jack, and it's been a real gift and blessing to able to experience these things. I always tell myself that, even if the worst happens to us again, I will always remember these times because they have brought us so much joy. I think Owen has showed us how to be happy again, how to be happy in our new skins.

In the medical outlook for us, this week begins our twice weekly non-stress tests every Tuesday and Friday morning. For those who don't know, an NST involves you basically being hooked up to a heart beat monitor and movement monitor for a certain period of time at your doctors office. If the babies heart rate and movement meet the criteria the doctor is looking for at the time, and everything else checks out ok, you get to leave. But, if the doctor isn't satisfied by something, either the baby isn't moving as much as they'd like or the heart rate isn't normal you get sent to the hospital for further evaluation. I believe (and this is an assumption, I'm not sure) that most people in the high-risk category do the NST's. I'm not sure if you would get them as often or at all, for a normal pregnancy. Either way, I'm happy to sit in a lazy boy recliner for a half an hour twice a week listening to my babies heart beat :)

We also have our next prenatal class this Tuesday which promises to be super fun. We're going to be going over all of the stages of labor and even though we are having a c-section, I'm excited to learn about it. Last week we learned mostly about the anatomy of a pregnancy and pregnancy exercises as well as what to look for in case of preterm labor. It was hard to be at that class because it was Jack's angelversary, but we managed to make it through. I'm hoping this week is a little more gentle on us emotionally.

Lastly, Friday is our next OB appointment and I am hoping to get the doctor to nail down which week he will be removing our cerclage. Because after that comes out, the baby can theoretically determine when he wants to come on his own. (Well he could do that now too, hopefully not yet though!). We talked about the dates for our c-section at the last appointment and it is looking like July 14th or possibly the 15th will be Owen's birthday. That will be when we hit 38 weeks pregnant and it's as far as our OB will allow us to go due to my uterus being scarred from my previous classical c-section.

Whew! This turned out to be a long one. Sorry ya'll! I'm playing catch up here. Thanks for reading, as always.