39 and a day

The beginning of this week greeted us with an unplanned visit to the OB/GYN after a long night of work Sunday night. I had some concerns related to my blood pressure and a lingering headache which they evaluated. Thankfully, the lab work showed only that I am anemic, but this visit did give me the pleasure of experiencing a 24-hour urine. It's quite humbling to move from nurse to patient. I spent 24 hours with a large jar of urine in my fridge because it had to be kept cold... I can't even touch the tip of the iceberg on how disgusting that this seemed. Luckily, our trusty water cooler was jarred one to many times dumping water all over the fridge which made for easy post 24-hour urine cleaning! I also have to say that it was quite annoying to have to go to the fridge, retrieve the jug, use the bathroom, empty the contents of the hat into the jug and then return the jug to the fridge every time I had to use the bathroom. Coupled with how often I already need to visit the bathroom this far into my pregnancy AND continuing this through the night, in a nutshell this is an experience I hope never to relive! I must admit though, I was so concerned about doing the collection properly that at one point I had a dream that I used the bathroom without saving the urine and woke up worried. I'm not quite sure how long it took me to figure out it was just a dream.

Other than that minor bump in the road Sprout looks great. I started taking an iron supplement to treat the anemia. In retrospect, as exhausted as I have been I should have known something was off, but assumed it was because D-day is quickly approaching. While it still is, I think that being anemic is playing a role in how pronounced my fatigue has been. Our little one's heart rate was 130 on my regularly scheduled appointment on Tuesday. I did not make any cervical change from last week, but my contractions have continued to increase in frequency, duration and intensity. These are all great steps toward having our new son or daughter! I have even recently had a few episodes that I thought may be it, but to no avail yet!

Today Ryan and I finally settled on what we think will be our baby's name once we know if this munchkin is a boy or girl. As it stands, the last possible day he or she could arrive is the 28th at which point I would be induced. I'm hoping for a baby before then, but the end is in sight! We can't wait to share the news that Little Sprout has arrived!