"No change is good news."

Yup - an alien-looking baby face for your viewing pleasure :)

It's the one time when I can agree with the Hubster: no change is good.

Today we met again with a perinatologist at Froedtert for another ultrasound to check on baby. Baby looks good (weighs almost 2 pounds - yay!), and is head down finally (yay!!). He or she moved around a lot, and we were amazed at how much bigger they looked. One upside to seeing  your baby every two weeks is you can  really get a good view at development.

Since baby has gotten bigger, the mass has also gotten bigger. I'm not sure how many can remember from my last post, but the way to measure the mass in terms of a projected red zone, is to take the CVR, which is basically a ratio. A CVR of 1.6  is where heart failure becomes a real concern. Our doctor told us we're at a 1.5, but to him, that's still fairly consistent and stable with where we've been. To you or me, (definitely me), a  progression from 1.2, to 1.3, to 1.5 would be slightly alarming, but he considers it stable, and that's good enough for me! So, no change as far as how baby is doing, which is good :)

He also said, "We'll obviously be wanting to have you deliver here at Froedtert.", which is the first time we've gone definite in terms of where I'll be delivering baby. With each delivery I've gotten quite efficient at progressing, to the point where #3 was basically a couple of pushes away once we got to the hospital. No big deal, except we're doubling our drive, and there is no guarantee the Hubster will be with me when I go into labor, which means an additional 30 minute drive from work. Doc told me that although it's usually a good thing to want to experience as much labor at home as possible, I should unlearn that habit and let the Hubster know at my first contraction. He also agreed that a spontaneous labor would be ideal - wooo! :) But, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it (I'm sure there's some sort of joke about a canal/bridge I could make here, but I've got three midterms to cram for... ah haha... probably another joke there as well.)

ANYways, we've got all of our ultrasounds scheduled for every two weeks until my due date, and we're also meeting with pediatric surgery next time.

It's weird how this has gotten to be pretty much routine, and I definitely feel much less worry in between appointments. My good post-appointment mood tends to last a lot longer. Not that there aren't moments of "Is baby ok?? F***, I won't know for another 5 days!!", but they fade.

I do know that this experience has really opened my eyes to the trials and tribulations that some families have to face when it comes to the most precious things in your life: your kids. I've always donated whatever we could afford to places like St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, and the commercials for it just kill me (pregnant or not). Boy Wonder has recently taken an interest in the Ronald McDonald House because he had a notepad with artwork from a cancer patient and was reading about it. I'm not sure in what regard I'd like to put more of my own resources into organizations that help sick children and their families, but I know I'd like to do more when we can get over this hump. It's something I've always wanted to do, and I feel like this has been a catalyst to get that started.