32nd week here (32/40 = 80% pregnant, but considering we’re talking about going a little early, probably more like 32/38=84.2%). Went to the doctor Monday and was happy to have a decent blood pressure reading and show off my homework (“See?! It’s fine at home!”) to which she laughed and said “oh, it’s just ME then, huh?” General verdict was that it’s almost 100% that we’ll go C Section at this point since the other option can add stress to the baby and probably isn’t worth it – especially since I’ll be going early, which she’s backed up to 37-38 weeks at this point. That would put me having a baby around April 10th or 17th. You know, about a month from now – YIKES. She did say that I’d be going to both doctors weekly from now until the end to watch kiddo and make sure she’s not having any trouble. At this point, little may be an understatement as she’s in the 6th percentile on size, but otherwise nothing else appears to be going wrong. Her fluid is still “borderline” as in, on the low side of normal, so that’s what has everyone the most concerned. No one wants her kiddie pool to empty out before she can be evicted from her current housing situation. So, until mid-April, it looks like we’ll just be on the lookout to make sure she’s doing well. Per usual, her Non Stress Test went great, and I’ll be headed back to High Risk later this week for another ultrasound.

Size comparison here – this app gives some really strange options. If you can believe it, this is the Most Normal Item I found. From the world of the internet, at 32 weeks MOST babies are 18″ long and around 4lbs. We know from last week that Ember is estimated to be closer to 3 1/2 lbs (3lbs 40z), but she may also be growing this week, since most of everything else is handled now and her only job is to focus on getting bigger.

A week ago, I had my first baby shower and it was fantastic. Granted, I dealt with my first round of actual social anxiety and was totally nervous at a social event for what could possibly have been the first time in my life, but it was great. My dear friends Matt and Katherine held it at their house and with the help of some of my other buddies (Ashley, Kathryn and Laura), pulled off a great mix of baby shower and casual get-together for friends. I decided a couples shower would be fun, but didn’t realize how many people would say “YES!” and suddenly we had a guest list of almost 50 people planning to attend! Yikes! Luckily, Katherine is a Party Queen and everything went off without a hitch (and I’ve been writing thank you notes all week).

My friend Matt (who insists that the baby IS going to be named Matilda after him, obviously) and I joked originally during planning stages that we should have some kind of nod to the Donor, so he was able to pull together this majestic piece of art which everyone appreciated:

This weekend comes a second baby shower thrown by a friend from the gym and all my bad-ass crossfit friends and next week is one for the office. I feel so lucky to have so many people who want to celebrate with me!!  And I will be SO glad to have people stop by and visit us when I’m home on maternity leave – so feel free to get in touch, I’ll need visitors!!