Week 35: World's Most Boring High Risk Patient? I'll take it!

Today I'm 35 weeks and have only 35 days to go until my official due date--very exciting (by the way, I am not the first person to notice that--saw it on the blogs of some other pregnant women)! And I'm happy to report that I've finally made a tiny bit of headway on the accumulation of some necessary baby stuff. AC visited last weekend and brought with him a box full of baby boy clothes (not surprisingly, mostly blue) that my wonderful Russian friend from Little Rock sent along for me. I was really impressed by their quality (almost everything save for one or two items was 100% cotton and the clothes were not super cutesy with annoying graphics and sayings all over them) and the condition they came in (super clean and almost brand new looking--only a couple of items had small, hardly noticeable stains). Combine that haul with the few really nice items that my mom purchased for me and I think Ziggy has plenty of clothes to last him for at least the first 6 months of life! The only exception might be buying a few more cold-weather items for outdoors.

On top of that, I got busy on Craigslist and made a few purchases. My friend had recommended a BabyHawk Mei Tai as a baby carrier, but they're fairly expensive (something like $95), so I found a brand new Mei Tai Baby brand carrier on Criagslist for only $35. The mom who sold it to me said her daughter wasn't a fan, so she ended up never using it. I figure if Ziggy refuses to have anything to do with it, I can always use it as a nursing cover up (it has a really pretty design) or just resell it on Craigslist myself.

I also bought 8 extra small size Fuzzi Bunz brand cloth diapers (6 white and 2 butter cream) that came with inserts for only $40 (less than 1/3 of the original price)! They are completely clean (no stains whatsoever) and look brand new. I would have preferred the small size as they'll last longer, but even if these only last Ziggy the first month, they'll still save a lot of money over disposables and will give me a chance to see if I like or can handle cloth diapering and want to invest more money in a larger size. The mom who sold them to me said she probably should have bought 12 total and recommended getting a few more to make my life easier, so I found another woman on Craigslist who sold me 3 AIO (all in one) no-name brand cloth diapers with snaps like the Fuzzi Bunz (I refuse to do velcro or aplix!) and a small white Fuzzi Bunz without an insert for $25. I'm going to see if I can buy some extra inserts online or else ask my grandmother if she can make me some--my Russian friend made some of her own inserts so perhaps I can ask her for the template she used. Both women who sold me the cloth diapers kept thanking and praising me for going the cloth diaper route--it was really quite cute! And all three of the women were really nice and helpful and eager to please--so far I've had an excellent experience with Craigslist.

In other news, I had my Echocardiogram last Friday, which revealed that my heart is healthy. The technician scared me a bit when she called in the cardiologist to investigate the possibility of ductus arteriosus, but when he took a look, he reassured me that everything was fine--apparently I have an extra little blood vessel or shunt leading from one artery to another, which can sometimes happen, but causes no problems. At least that's what I understood him to mean---I kind of wish he had explained it better.

Then on Tuesday I had my usual visit with the MFM followed by the non-stress test. First I was seen by one of the fellows, a very nice Asian woman who was very easy to talk to and who did a vaginal rectal swab to test for Group B Strep. She also ordered a blood test to recheck my thyroid levels. After meeting her, I realized I probably would have preferred a female MFM but most MFMs are male (according to SH, this is because it's almost impossible to have children yourself as a high risk OB due to the erratic, unpredictable, and long hours, so most women don't go into it). Anyway, she'll be the one seeing me for all of my appointments in October while Dr. D is gone on vacation.

I'm doing so well that I don't go back for another appointment for two weeks, when I'll be almost full term at 37 weeks. After that I'll resume weekly appointments until I deliver. I will have the weekly non-stress test next week though, along with my pulmonology appointment on Friday, which makes me feel a little better. Even though everything is going so well, it's still reassuring to know that I'll have some sort of monitoring and contact with doctors next week.

My non-stress test was also uneventful. For once, Ziggy cooperated and wasn't too active or too lethargic. I think he was sleeping in the beginning and then woke up and started to try to kick the heart rate monitor off again. The nurse seemed impressed by his activity and said that a baby who moves a lot is a happy and healthy baby. Oh yeah, and my blood pressure was normal yet again. Wow, I am starting to become a really boring patient, which I guess is good :)

It's suddenly become quite chilly here, and although I'm enjoying the crisp Autumn air and the relief from the heat, I think I've become so used to always being warm that now I feel cold a lot of the time. It doesn't help that all of my maternity clothes are really meant for warm weather. It seems silly to go out and buy maternity clothes now, with only 2-5.5 weeks of pregnancy left, so my mom and I have been trying to cobble together a few warmer items for me to wear until then from her wardrobe and from the clothing my step-dad leaves here for when he visits. Even my sneakers have become too tight for me to wear comfortably, so I may have to buy a pair in a half-size up.

Anyway, that's all I can think to say now. Hope everyone (all three of you who read my blog?!) has a great weekend!