:: 39 weeks ::

Well, here it is! I can see my due date so close ahead. Only 4 more days!! Hopefully Easton will make his appearance within these next 4 days, but I'm thinking he's going to be a few days late. My midwife determined at our last doctor's appointment last week that I have not dilated at all yet. His head is REALLY low though, so hopefully that will make pushing his little head out a little easier.

We have had several doctor's appointments over the past 2 weeks (including 4 ultrasounds). I have had to get so many ultrasounds because my fluids have been a little low. The doctor wants a pregnant woman's amniotic fluids to be between 5-25cm throughout the entire pregnancy. And although it's normal for the fluid levels to decrease as the baby gets bigger, they have been monitoring me to make sure they don't get too low. At one point they were at 6cm, which is on the low average. In the last 2 weeks they have increased to 12, then 9.5, back down to 6.5 and are now at about 7cm. They won't induce unless the level goes down to 5 or lower. We have another ultrasound on Tuesday to see what my levels are at, but at this point, they're hoping that they won't have to induce and that I can go into labor naturally.

At the last few ultrasounds, Easton has measured a little on the smaller side. The doctor's are predicting that he will be somewhere around 7lbs at birth. They are monitoring his weight to make sure that he keeps putting on weight.

A little over a week ago, we went to the CHP to have our carseat installed and we put together or last piece of "furniture", the baby swing. So we are officially now ready for the arrival of our little boy. We are VERY excited to meet him.

I have been on maternity leave for the last 2 weeks. It has been really nice to relax and continue to get things ready for the baby. The last 2 days I have had a cold, so that has not been fun at all. I'm hoping that it goes away soon... especially before I go into labor!

Well that's all for now. I will try to update this one more time, closer to my due date. And have one last picture at 40 weeks!

:: 37 weeks ::

Only 17 days to go! 17?! 17!!!!!!! Wow, where has the time gone?

This past Friday (Oct. 9th) was my last day of work! I have officially started maternity leave for the next 4 months. My tentative return date is February 2nd (which is all dependent on the actual day I deliver).

Last weekend we got together with my friend and photographer, Amanda Bordonaro, for our maternity photo session. Although we are waiting for the complete package of pictures, you can see a few of them here... www.amandaraeblog.com. Just scroll down to the blog titled: Michelle & Dusty (Prego). She did an amazing job and we had a lot of fun shooting with her!

In the past week we have had 2 ultrasounds and have another one scheduled for tomorrow. We had a little scare with my amniotic sac fluid levels, but in the past couple of days I have been able to get the levels back up to normal. A huge relief, that was initially a little bit of a scare. During that same appointment, my blood pressure had increased a little bit, but has gone back down to normal.

Right now, Easton is an estimated 5lbs 3 oz. And because of that, we are getting another ultrasound tomorrow to monitor his weight. Apparently that's a little small at this point in my pregnancy, but they aren't to worried about it. They just want to make sure that his weight progresses over the next 2 1/2 weeks. They are estimating him to be about 7lbs at birth.

So now is just a waiting game. Easton could come at any time. Our bag is packed and we're all set for that mad dash to the hospital :)