Chunky little gold digger

We had another round of appointments this week.  I went to see Dr. Dev on Monday and brought the boys with me while Brandon worked late – whew, is that ever a chore?  They want to check out all the equipment as I get weighed and sit for my blood pressure… then, of course, they have to come into the restroom with me, too.  And they want to flush the toilet a thousand times, then scream at the loudness of the flush.  They sure do add a little something extra to appointments at times.  I came armed with books, toys and Playdoh, and they were still more interested in the paper on the exam room table and the industrial “swoosh” of the toilet.  Fantastic. 

Anyhow, this appointment went great – nothing new to report there.  We’re starting to go every-other week now that we’re 27 weeks.  For those of you who haven’t been pregnant recently, this is the start of the 3^rd trimester… so we’re 2/3 of the way to delivery.  Celebrations!  That also means that I have my glucose test in 2 weeks – which really isn’t as bad as some people make it sound.  Or, maybe Dr. Dev just has a better drink for me than others get.  Mine tastes like orange soda… can’t complain.  Dr. Dev did go over the report from Dr. Luby (cardiologist).  He said that Dr. Luby indicated that there should be no contraindications to carrying full term and having a normal delivery.  She doesn’t anticipate that Ellie will need cardio intervention at birth.  Dr. Dev said that because of this, we have the option of delivering at Upper Valley Medical Center in Troy.  This is much closer to home, and has a Level 2 nursery, but it’s something we’ll want to chat with Dr. Luby about next month.  While I hope and pray that Ellie won’t need any intervention at birth, I would be heartbroken if she had to be transported to a hospital where I was not staying.  So that’s up in the air right now.

Today (Tuesday), I went back down to Vandalia to Perinatal Partners.  I was happy to see Lara welcome me back to the ultrasound room for another 40 minute exam.  I love ultrasounds, so this is fabulous.  Lara and I laughed uncontrollably at the shenanigans that Ellie was doing.  She sure moves around a lot.  Ellie now weighs 2 pounds 3 ounces and is measuring exactly how she should at 27 weeks.  Her head is more round than oval, and her belly is measuring at about 28 ½ weeks… chunky little thing.  When we flipped to 4D (shhh… I’m not supposed to tell you we did this), we could see puffy little cheeks and a button nose.  Ellie’s eyes are open now and we could see those alien-shaped little peepers opening and closing.  We saw her yawn and admired her full, beautiful little lips.  Ahhh – can you tell that I’m totally in love?  She posed with her hands behind her head for a bit, and then folded herself in half with her feet over her head.  She stuck out her tongue a little and rolled around all over the place.  Amazing!

Look at that face!  Perfect little lips, chunky cheeks... ahhh!  LOVE!

And this is the one that inspired the title of this post.  

She's either about to pick her nose or do a field sobriety test.  

Little stinker.  This makes me giggle.

Lara also took a look at all of her organs and such – we watched the blood being pumped from the placenta through the cord, we checked out the veins and arteries around her heart, and watched the blood pump around her heart again.  I’m someone who always asks questions, so I had Lara freeze the screen so that we could look at her heart together.  Last time, Lara was scoping things out and I had to wait for Dr. Sonek to give a diagnosis.  This time, I already knew the diagnosis, so Lara could chat with me and show me where the septum was and wasn’t in Ellie’s atria and ventricles.  She showed me the A-V valve in action and showed me where the blood was going as it exited through the pulmonary artery and aorta.  Again, I was totally amazed and so thankful for this technology and for people who use it that are so caring and informative.  

Dr. Sonek came in and said that everything looks consistent with what we saw last month and that Ellie is growing perfectly.  He went over the report from Dr. Luby as well and I talked to him a bit about where to deliver.  He said that he thought Dr. Dev had delivered in Miami Valley (in Dayton), but wasn’t sure if he still did.  So, we’ll check.  That would be the ideal situation.  Either way, we’re going to do what is absolutely best for Ellie – and I haven’t been one bit doubtful of what our doctors have suggested so far… so I know we’re in good hands.  We'll also need to make sure that we're going to a hospital where the pediatric team has BCMH certified doctors.  I know that no matter where we go, I'll be just fine... so this decision is all about our baby.

I really feel like I got to meet Ellie today – and see her beautiful little face.  I’m amazed at how much she resembles our boys in these pictures – which as you know, is one thing I was super concerned about.  I left this appointment with a smile and a giggle, more excited to meet this ornery, chunky little girl than I had been yet.

Thank you for reading along!  Here are some more pictures of our ornery little turkey for ya - feeling pretty spoiled to get to see her so much more than we got to see her brothers:

 Seriously - those cheeks!

 Here is her right footprint - the left one is lifting off here.

And the classic profile :)