I can’t wait to meet this little boy!

But I’m afraid it probably won’t be in the very near future…

Here I am in all my pregnancy glory 🙂

Tomorrow is my due date and I’m still very much pregnant. That’s ok I guess my little baby just isn’t quite ready to meet us yet. 🙂 However, this weekend would be a great weekend for him to decide to come! I am doing everything I can to induce labor on my own…well, everything except castor oil. I did that with my first pregnancy and vowed NEVER AGAIN. It’s the most horrible, disgusting, vile thing EVER.

This pregnancy has been an eye opener for me. I’m a little bit disappointed in how my body has held up. I thought for sure since I was in such great shape before hand I had this pregnancy in the bag. Boy was I wrong. I can handle the physical changes my body has gone through such as more stretch marks and the gnarliest varicose veins. However, I wasn’t prepared for the stress of a few other complications this time around. I developed what I think is a blood disorder called Gestational Thrombocytopenia which thins my blood platelets out quite drastically. Normally a person’s platelets (what clots your blood) should be around 150-400 and mine have dropped down to the 59-69 range. It’s really not too concerning unless they start dropping below 30 I think. But then the OB Doctor wanted to test me for HELLP Syndrome a few weeks back because my bilirubin levels were elevated and HELLP is scary. HELLP is a severe form of Pre-Eclampsia I believe and it starts shutting down your liver and kidneys and is extremely life threatening if not caught in time. It was a very stressful week for me waiting on the diagnosis.

I believe everything is working as well as can be expected though, other than my low platelets. I’ve had people asking if the Doctor will induce me if I don’t have my little guy soon. I haven’t discussed it with him yet because I really, really, really do not want to be induced and as long as my baby is doing ok I will wait a few more weeks. I can’t have an epidural with my platelets as low as they are because the needle could cause bleeding in my spine and I’ve heard contractions with pitocin are horrible so the thought of having an even harder labor than I’m already planning on doesn’t really appeal to me.

That being said, Dr. Chalmers guessed last week that baby might be around 8.6 pounds already which is almost a pound bigger than his brother was! And babies can grow up to a pound a week in the last month of developing! I could be delivering a toddler if he keeps taking his time!

I think our little boy just knows his brother is finishing up school this week and maybe just giving us a little bit more time to prepare for his arrival. Which is great! I needed to scrub my floors and bathrooms one more time and I thought it would be a good idea to get down on my hands and knees and scrub the tile and grout for two reasons:
1. The grout was filthy and needed some TLC.
2. I’ve heard crawling around on your hands and knees is good for trying to get the baby to drop into your pelvis.

My tile looks amazing but my back is killing me! I was really happy with how my nails looked after I was done though…check it out! Picture perfect!

I call these my lucky labor nails because they are the last ones I am doing before I have this baby 🙂 I did two extra thick OPI GelColor top coats on this manicure to ensure it holds up really well.

Also, my dear grandma went into the hospital last night with a huge blood clot in her leg. They put her on blood thinners but at 94 it’s hard to say how she will hold up. Life can get so crazy at times.

I am just so grateful for all the blessings my family has received and I know that everything works out for a reason and to try to be as patient with those reasons as possible.

Let me know if you have any off the wall ideas on how to start labor!

Thanks for reading!

Tootles–Anna