Feeling the change

You'll have to excuse me if the next several posts are baby-related.  It's just where I am, and it's hard almost to think about anything else.  Getting ready for a baby is just one of the most life-changing things.  All these moments of preparation leading up to his arrival and the one day he's here, and you never go back to that side of life pre-baby again.  You just keep moving on.  Almost every day with Mia now I look at her and realize soon she won't be the only one.  There'll be one more.  I put her to bed tonight (usually Greg does but he was gone) and as I held her in the dark quiet room, I realized soon she won't be the only little person for whom I do this.  I also realized...I won't be sleeping quite as much anymore but let's not talk about that.  That's one aspect of new parenthood that can be quite hard to overcome but I think knowing it's coming and that I can cope (and that it "doesn't last forever") will help during the exhausting stages/phases.
I'm excited, I'm anxious, I'm overwhelmed (there's still so much to do!!).  And I might partially be in denial.

I had my 34 week appointment earlier in the week with a new-to-us doctor.  So far I'd met 5 out of the 8 doctors that deliver in my OB/GYN group and on Tuesday, we met the 6th.  We first had an appointment in sonography for another growth scan.  Little guy's looking good and is still on track.  I was a little anxious when they said his percentile had gone down a bit, but when we met with the doctor and they said they only really get concerned when the percentile is below the tenth, I really eased up.  (He's in the middle third of the bell curve, for what its worth.)
Back to the doctor, though...from all outside appearances, and by the amount of time we had spent waiting to see this doctor in the waiting room, Greg & I had lost hope of much of an exciting appointment.  Whether we want to admit it or not (and now I'll go on and admit it!), we make judgments based on appearances and this doctor was old, wiry-looking, and have a few funny mannerisms.  I didn't think he'd be very friendly.

However, he shook my hand, sat down, acknowledged this was our first meeting, greeted Greg, and then for the next 20-30 minutes, sort of explained how their practice works, made comparisons between now and 30 years ago (yeah, I guess he's been around that long!), explained what they do now for people of my situation, and what we could expect.  He really laid out the big picture for us, which I sort of had been missing the whole time, including things like why I have not seen a midwife for this pregnancy when they have midwives in the group (my risk level cancels me out from seeing them), and who I'll see on call, and how they figure out what the plan is for peeps like me and what all the additional monitorings really mean.  He was also warmly funny, making jokes about different things here and there and including Greg.
We left feeling very at ease and like he completely erased our preconceptions and as if it'd totally be okay if he delivered our baby when the time comes.

So, the plan is, weekly biophysical profiles until I deliver, and another growth scan in 4 weeks.  I was pleasantly surprised when he said they'd induce at 41 weeks, because I just assumed because of my Lovenox status they'd want to induce earlier, which would not be my preference unless medically indicated.  I'm hopeful and expectant and confident that God will send this baby down at the right time when he needs to come, and while he may not be 3 days early like Mia was, I trust God's timing.

I want to write more, but this is getting lengthy and there are a million other things I could do, so I'll conclude with a few pictures of the bambino for now!  Who is this guy?  And what will he be like??