Baby update: 38 weeks

Baby Olsen, July 25, 2011 (squishing his own nose) 

Here's the latest peek at our little guy. Since he had his fists up against his face, this is the best view we could get, but it's still fun to see. Look at those chubby cheeks! I'm having ultrasound weekly now to keep an eye on how Baby is doing. ("Advanced maternal age," you know.) So far, he's doing great. The ultrasound is for a "biophysical profile" that looks at various characteristics, including movement, breathing, muscle tone and amniotic fluid. He got an 8 out of 8 points both last week and this morning. He also did fine with his "non-stress test" which is just listening to his heart beat and making sure it picks up when he moves. Believe me, he moves! Aside from me being incredibly bored by having to sit in an empty room waiting for enough little lines to be recorded on a sheet of paper, it's certainly nice to know that he's doing well. The doctor doesn't expect him to make his grand entrance for at least another week, so I probably have time to still get pictures on the nursery wall and birthday presents for a certain big sister who will be turning 3 in two weeks.

At this point, I'm pretty much sick of being pregnant. It's hot. I'm pumpkin shaped. I'm tired of heartburn, sleeplessness and conversations about my physique. On the other hand, I'm more than happy to take another week or two to get ready for Baby. There's always some other baby shirt or blanket that really ought to get washed before he uses it. There are more than enough pages in Erik and Anna's sadly out-of-date baby books that need to be completed. My grand plans of stocking the freezer with meals haven't even begun to materialize. Oh yeah, and I hate labor. HATE labor. No getting around that one. Plus there's that year of sleepless nights on the other side of delivery. (Dear Medical Community, the irony of the "back to sleep" campaign is that implies that a baby on his back will sleep. Not in this house.) It's a mixed bag. I can't wait to snuggle the little guy, but I'm happy to wait till he's good and ready. I would, of course, appreciate if we could avoid any more 100-degree days between now and whenever his birthday will be. That would make the waiting a lot more pleasant!

One more thing, yes, he does have a name. It's his middle name that's up in the air, but the list isn't too long. Since you already know that he's a he and he's a cute little thing, you'll just have to be patient on the name issue until there are some additional statistics to go with it!