36 Weeks

Wednesday, July 23 - 36w, 5d
Friday, the day I hit 36 weeks, I had a CF clinic appointment. Prior to the appointment, I expected my lung function would probably be around 70% still just because I didn't feel completely different from my appointment six weeks before. To my surprise, my PFTs were no where near 70%...

That's right, an FEV1 of 83%!!!! I'm back to my pre-pregnancy baseline!! I was ecstatic! My first round, my FEV1 was 79%, the second is shown above, and the third one was around 80 or 81. I am so happy! It's a relief knowing that I'll be heading into labor & delivery with my pre-pregnancy lung function! I have to attribute this major increase to you dropping (didn't happen overnight and have a huge 'relief' feeling, but I can tell you're sitting lower) and me starting Cayston about a week before I did this test.
My doctor was pleased with the results, of course. We also discussed my lack of weight gain and thankfully, she's not as concerned as I thought she'd be. She said it's just going to have to be a threshold thing, see if I can tolerate the frequent bathroom trips and extra gas/bloating for another three-ish weeks. I told her I've gone this long, I can make it until you're born. Plus, there's not much else I can do...I've already increased my enzymes to the max amount and I'm taking two probiotics a day. They suggested adding Ensures back into my diet to try to add in extra calories, so we'll see if that helps at all.

After my appointment, I stayed with Auntie Catie for the weekend while Daddy was at Uncle Tony's

bachelor party. Catie and I caught up, pampered ourselves (she got a manicure, I got a pedicure) and visited with her family - my second family before moving away for college. It was a nice, relaxing weekend. Monday I spent a couple hours working in my classroom, and went back again on Tuesday for several more hours to meet with my sub to finalize things for the beginning of the year. My plan is to have everything completely ready to go for her (and my sanity) by the end of the day tomorrow. This way I can enjoy the wedding weekend and be prepared to have you any time after & not be stressed about what still needs to be done at work.

Pregnancy-wise, I really can't complain. You're still moving a lot every day (not at night when I'm sleeping, thank you!) but your movements are different now. You like to shake your booty from side to side on the top of my uterus, right near my belly button. Sometimes, I'm guessing when you're stretching, you stick it out really far and my belly gets super hard in one spot & we can feel your butt! You also like to stick your little hands/elbows/knees/feet out on my left side. We're never exactly sure what we're feeling, but it's usually a little, hard, round thing poking out from time to time and it's so cute. My Braxton Hicks have noticeably picked up this week, so I'll make sure to let the doctor know tomorrow...hopefully that means my cervix is starting to ripen, even just a little. And thankfully, I've still been able to sleep great each night. Some women have trouble sleeping this far into pregnancy because they're uncomfortable and/or because their babies will move around a lot overnight. You don't move from the time I fall asleep to a little after I start waking up in the morning - let's hope that means you'll be a good sleeper! Occasionally I'll feel you shift when I'm in the process of rolling over for the 100th time, or when I lay down after getting up for the third time to pee, but you seem to fall right back asleep like mommy does. :)

Oh, and how could I forget, your cousin, Alayna, was born today!!! She's so cute, looks a little like Isaac and has lots of hair! I can't wait for you two to meet and to watch you grow up with all of your cousins!


Thursday, July 24 - 36w, 6d
I had another OB appointment today. They did the ultrasound first where you did everything you

Here's the back of your head & that white blob on the back, top
left side is your hair flowing in the fluid.  

needed to do so that I didn't have to get a non-stress test. Your heart rate was 153bpm, you moved quite a bit, practiced your breathing a little bit and were way head-down. After the ultrasound, I met with the doctor (weight: 129). She's extremely happy about my last CF appointment and there really wasn't much to talk about because everything's been going so smoothly. I asked her when they typically start checking my cervix, and she answered that usually they don't on most women because in their clinic many women don't make it to term. But she said she'd be happy to do it if I was curious, but she wouldn't change how she was going to treat the pregnancy and didn't think I'd be dilated yet. Of course I was curious, so I asked if she would check me anyway. My cervix is about one centimeter dilated and is about halfway thinned out, which the doctor was happy about because it showed that my body is slowly getting ready (I have been absolutely amazed at what my 'sick' body has been able to do this pregnancy!). She said she could also feel that your head was way down low which was a good sign because it indicated that you'll most likely fit through my birth canal, yay!