Our Little Gemini

S/he's not even here yet, but Monkey is already showing two sides of his her personality.

Behold:

Sweet, smiling Monkey
and..Tongue sticking out Sassy Monkey!

Both of these images came from our 36 week growth scan this morning. According to Dr. Larmon, Monkey now weighs in at a whopping 6lbs 11oz. That means he/she is measuring about 8 days ahead of schedule, which is good news and means the gestational diabetes isn't turning Monkey into Gargantuan Baby! Babies gain an average of 1/2 lb a week at this point, meaning if I went all the way to 40 weeks, Monkey would weigh around 8.5-9lbs. But because of the gestational diabetes, Dr. Larmon doesn't want me to go past 39 weeks, so if I haven't gone into labor on my own, we'll be looking at an induction around June 11th.

But...Dr Larmon is pretty confident that I'll go into labor on my own before then. My first internal check this week showed I'm currently dialated 1cm, 50% effaced, and Monkey is at -2 station. Since we're already making progress, Dr Larmon believes I won't make it to 39 weeks, which is good for me. I've heard nasty things about inductions...

So that's the story from here. The doctor gave us the all clear to go up to the U.P. for the weekend, so Karl and I will get to visit with the Homburgs for a couple of days. I have been quite clear with Monkey that I don't plan to deliver a Yooper, so there will be NO BABY this weekend!

It's May....

Also known as the month before we have a baby. Or, maybe even the month we HAVE the baby. I know the norm is for first babies to be late, but well....I don't tend to be normal. You know those "rare side effects" they talk about with drugs? They could be replaced with a blinking billboard that says "Hey Steph...this is what's going to happen to you!" I should have known back in 2006 when my surgeon told me that within his practice only one gall bladder patient needs to be operated on without laproscopy every year. Of course that patient would be me. So yeah, I would totally not be shocked if Monkey decided he/she wanted to share a birth month with Mom. We'll reach 36 weeks right before my 30th birthday.

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here as we prepare for Monkey's arrival and the start of the 2009 wedding season. As Monkey's due date fast approaches we're spending a lot more time at the doctors office! Last Tuesday I had my first NST...that's dr speak for Non Stress Test. I quickly learned that NSTs really are nothing to stress about. Basically, it's my excuse to spend 30 minutes in a cushy chair with my feet up chilling with the monkey. Of course that "chilling" involves a contraction monitor for me and a heart rate monitor for the Monkey. I also get to hold one of those cool Jeopardy style buzzers and I have to press the button every time Monkey moves which makes a note on his/her heart rate tracings. The doctors want to see Monkey's heart rate go up every time he/she moves. It's actually really cool to watch. Our first NST was a great success because Monkey didn't like the heart rate monitor on my belly and spent a good 20 minutes trying to kick it off. The doctors got all the movements they needed to see and we were sent home with a gold star and instructions to come back in a week. The NSTs will be done weekly from here on out to make sure things are still going well in there while we deal with my gestational diabetes out here.

Thursday we had yet another ultrasound to check on Monkey's size. Gestational Diabetes babies can get too big, so we want to keep an eye on that. In typical Monkey fashion, we have very little in the way of cool pictures to share from the ultrasound. Not even having his grandpa present for the ultrasound could lure Monkey to show off his/her face! In fact, Monkey was so curled up and comfy it was tough for the tech to get some of the measurements she needed.

Here is what we did find out:

• At 32 weeks Monkey was measuring 4lbs 12oz. That puts him/her in the 66th percentile for weight. Based on overall size, Monkey is about 10 days ahead of his/her due date.
  
• Heart rate was once again in the 140s.
  
• Monkey is still head down and expected to stay that way for the duration of the pregnancy since there's not a lot of room to move in there anymore.
• Monkey's head circumfrence measured 2 weeks ahead. I told the tech she must be doing it wrong because that wasn't possible. She just laughed.

While we didn't get any face pictures (Monkey had his/her hands AND umbillical cord blocking his/her face) we do have a couple ultrasound images to share:

Pretty cool 3d view of Monkey's hand and foot. He/she is quite skilled in using those hands and feet to cause me some discomfort!

See those fuzzy lines in the middle? That's hair!! Monkey actually has hair already! I was bald until kindergarten practically, so this must be a Homburg family trait.

Now, Monkey and I are off to finish prepping for tomorrow's wedding. We're planning to pack lots of snacks for the long day and I've threatened to oink at anyone who gets in my personal space. Gotta keep the swine flu away!