Surprise!

Well, I had a surprise ultrasound today and got to see my lovely baby boy up close and personal.

Starting on Monday, there was a noticeable slow down in the baby's movements. I attributed it to him getting bigger and having less room to move, but of course, the seed of worry was planted. To be honest, if it weren't for how much it would cost, I probably would have called on Monday. Yesterday, his movement didn't pick up any. I wouldn't say that he moved less than Monday, but I would say that it was still pretty slow.

Last night, we went to a Tigers game with Ben & Jeanette and I felt him once the entire time we were were at the game. But we were hot, cramped and I figured I probably just wasn't feeling the movement because of everything going on around us. By the way, it was a really good game (even for a non-sports fan like me) and we had a lot of fun!

This morning, I got up around 6:30 and hadn't felt a single thing by 8. I drank juice, laid on my side, pushed on him . . . sat in my usual positions that made him move, etc. Nothing worked. Right before we left for breakfast at camp, I felt him once, but barely.

When we got to camp, my anxiety was mounting and I kept going back and forth between feelings of, "I need to do what's best for the baby, no matter what the cost" and "it's probably nothing and you'll waste time and money for them to roll their eyes and tell you not to worry."

I ended up calling and going in and I'm glad I did. My amniotic fluid is low. Not dangerously low, but outside of the normal "acceptable" range. Which won me weekly ultrasound appointments (and weekly bills for ultrasounds . . . which I'm actually ok with because I know that they're not pointless) up until he's born. If it continues to go down, they'll have to induce labor early.

The up side of all of this is that I got to see my sweet baby boy today. With Jack, I didn't have any ultrasounds after 20 weeks, so I never saw him at this stage. But baby #2 was gnawing on his fist and grabbing his toes . . . I was SO bummed that Kyle wasn't there with me. I guess he'll catch the show next week.

So, if you think about it, will you pray that the amniotic fluid levels don't drop anymore this week? I'd really, really like to not have to be induced. I'd love to go into labor naturally (well, as much as any woman loves going into labor, I guess). And I'd love for it to be at 40 weeks instead of 37.

On an unrelated note, my original due date (the one calculated according to my LMP, which is rather unreliable) would have been tomorrow. I'm really glad it's not . . . I've got a lot to do!