Silly Baby Tricks

Well, yesterday David and I went to our 37 week appointment with our wonderful OB, Dr. Hedges, who is about three years younger than us and very cool. She's having a baby the month after we are. When the nurse went to check the baby's heartbeat, it registered just 115 beats per minute, which is about 10-15 beats below what it should be. Now, I've been working out throughout this pregnancy and expect this kid to be in pretty good shape. But, at this stage of the game, a low heart rate isn't a good thing. So we trundled over to another room and the nurse hooked me up to this seatbelt like contraption for a fetal nonstress test, where we could watch Ryan's heartrate for a good 15-20 minutes or so. His heartrate went up and down like he was doing intervals, which is good. The doctor said he was probably just lying on his umbilical cord or something. But all looks good. So David and I had our first parental scare. That little rascal!

So now we are playing the waiting game. David went to Babies R Us solo the other night to get the remaining supplies, such as a car seat, which is pretty darned important, since they won't let you leave the hospital without it. It was a pretty funny scene, I imagine, David walking around Babies R Us with a list, buying a wipe warmer, a "My Brest Friend" breastfeeding pillow and a few outfits for his strapping new son. I asked him to get some newborn gowns for Ryan, and he was very concerned that they not look "girlie." So Ryan has some great new gowns with cars and trucks on them. Hey, if a kid has to wear a gown, he can at least do it with some dignity, right?

Week 36 update

I went to the doctor this morning, and all systems are go for Ryan's arrival. In four days, he will be considered full term. The doctor predicts that the little guy will weigh somewhere around 7 pounds, and will probably make his appearance sometime in the next few weeks, though probably not for at least two more weeks.

This should give me plenty of time to completely rewire the house. I've been in a nesting frenzy. For someone whose nickname in elementary school was "Messy Amy," I've turned into a neat freak extraordinaire. In the past two weeks, I've organized the infamous "junk drawer" in our kitchen, cleaned all the poisonous substances from beneath the sink, washed and organized every bit of Ryan's clothing, and cleaned the linen closet.

This past weekend, we had our baby shower, hosted by David's sister, Stephanie. She put together a fabulous fete, and even managed to humiliate David in a funny game, which was one of her primary goals, since he's made teasing her an artform over the years. It was such a joy to see all of the friends and family who will love and help us nurture Ryan. We have very generous and loving people in our lives. We are blessed!