This week marks 33 – saw my regular doctor for another round of listening to kiddo’s heart rate and all looked good. She was held up at the hospital a bit and I ended up sitting there for an hour, which was all well and good until I realized how much water I’d had to drink that morning and begged someone to let me get up and hit the restroom.

We talked for a while about logistics – she thinks we’re looking at the 37th or 38th week for a C Section now that I can show up with decent blood pressure regularly. She said with Sparky still hanging out upside down and with low fluid and already small (she’s in the 6th percentile based on ultrasounds from 32 weeks), going for anything other than a C Section might be too much stress on both me and kiddo, and I’m fine with that. Week 37 starts on April 10th and Week 38 starts on April 17th, so I was happily eyeballing the calendar and telling people at the office those were our target dates. I laughed and said that having a Tax Day Baby was fine with me and she shook her head. “No one wants to be born on tax day! Besides, one day that might be your busiest day of the year and you don’t want to have that be her birthday!” Fair enough, I guess. She said the high risk doctor would have to give her a written directive before we could set up a scheduled date anyway, so when I went today I mentioned that.

Per usual, her fluid is still low but she’s breathing just fine and moving around ALL the time (to my comfort and discomfort) which means she’s active and doing well. She’s turned in a completely uncooperative way, so no photos this week from the ultrasound. I am well aware that her lack of interest in doing what I’d like for her to do currently is only the beginning of a long struggle with a strong willed child and person. I get it, Ember. Thanks.

We’ll be measuring next week (34 weeks) for a growth/size estimate to see how she’s doing there, and the high risk doctor happily mentioned “oh, who knows! she might turn! you might not even have to have a C section!” Uh….

No, wait, that was a thing I’d already decided was going to happen, people! I’d already gotten comfortable with the idea. When I went by the chiropractor today (all the appointments this morning) he happily laughed, and said I might still end up with a C Section even if she was turned the right way, and not to worry much.  I suppose I continue to learn daily that I am not In Charge. Sigh.

So in general it sounds like No Plans can be made until after next week – which is also fine. I’ve decided, though, to go ahead and take the 16 weeks available of Maternity Leave with some working from home towards the end, which means if she does get evicted from her current housing by mid-April, I won’t be back to work until mid-August. I went back and forth on it a little, but decided this is time that I’ll never get back again and I might as well take it.

Size comparisons for this week are as follows:

I am waiting to get some photos back from recent baby showers – but I’ve made it through all 3 now and am spending most of my free time writing thank you notes. I’m so appreciative of how many people are excited for me about this Big Adventure. My Aunt and I were talking the other night and she kept asking about different things “do you have bottles? do you have this? do you have that?” and I kept answering “yes – I have all those things!” She said “sounds like you’re ready!” and I laughed. I said “I have all the things, but I KNOW I’m not ready!”

The other thing that has been happening lately is milkshakes. And I mean HAPPENING. In my Regular Life Before I Was Building A Person, milkshakes were never something I actually cared about. Take ’em or leave ’em. However, I’d like to say I don’t have more than one a week, but now it might be more like 2 a week. I can recommend milkshakes from the following vendors: Urban Stack, Five Guys, Chik Fil A, and most recently Cook Out. I have not been terribly impressed with Sonic, Zaxby’s or Dairy Queen – and I finally broke down and got one from Baskin Robbins last week thinking it would be THE BEST, but wasn’t any more impressed than with the others. I have been told Steak N’ Shake is the way to go, but so far I’m going to say that bang for your buck, Cook Out has TONS of options (for $3!). Please Note: I am generally opting for the Oreo/Cookies N Cream flavor milkshakes at these establishments so I can’t vouch for many others.

And of course, there was a cookie cake at my work shower (along with Papa John’s pizza – this girl rolls in style, guys). Cookie Cake is one of those things you think you’ve had enough of until you get away from it for a few minutes, and then you realize you could definitely have more. For anyone who is giving me an eyebrow up on this, I’m still hanging at around 12 pounds gained in total, so don’t worry too much about all the trash I appear to be cramming into my face.