The last one before Bryce comes

I’m probably getting ahead of myself, but I’m going to go ahead and say this is the last post before Baby Bryce is here.  This morning’s appointment included an ultrasound, an exam, and a stripping of the membranes.  I don’t really like the term membranes. I don’t really like using the word “stripping” along with it, but I suppose if that’s what they call it, then we’ll go with it! 

First the ultrasound, Bryce looked good. His head is measuring small, like Reed’s.  She did all the measurements and the computer told her he was 7 & ¾ pounds. She also said this could be plus or minus a pound, so the top end is basically 9lbs.  But, if I compare this pregnancy to Reed, as I’ve been doing all along, then I’d say he’s much smaller.  The last couple weeks with Reed in my belly, he hardly moved around.  He was apparently running out of room, which I read was common.  
They say you need to be counting kicks to make sure the baby is still active. I actually had to find a dark place to lie down after drinking orange juice to get Reed to move around. He made me very nervous! Bryce is still quite active and there is no need to be counting his kicks. He moves around like a man on a mission!

I expected to be much more uncomfortable during and after the membrane stripping.  Sitting here, a few hours later, I feel fine.  But, when I get up to walk around, I really don’t feel that great. It’s been increasingly more uncomfortable since the procedure.  Manually separating the amniotic sac from the uterus helps to trick the body into thinking it did it on its own and is supposed to produce the prostaglandins that start contractions. My hope is that I get to go into labor on my own, I’d like to wait until after the football game on Sunday to leave for the hospital so I can see my Giants win the divisional playoffs game.  Then I can cancel the induction, labor at home, and have the baby on my own!  My mom will be here Saturday night, so it would be great for Reed to have her home with him and she can bring him back and forth to the hospital to see us.

I’ve spent this week getting ready and doing my nesting.  If my nesting had anything to do with it I would have had this baby on Tuesday evening! I exhausted myself cooking up meals to freeze for later and cleaning the house. Everywhere I look I see things to throw away, donate, and organize.  I’ve been checking off things on my list like crazy, but it never seems to get any shorter. There are still so many things to do.

Of course we’ve been talking to Reed about being a big brother.  Besides the fact that I have a baby in my belly, we’ve told him that the baby is going to sleep next to mom in the moses basket and sometimes when we see little babies I tell him that we are going to have one at home soon.  He loves pictures of babies and the word baby, so I hope that he is more accepting than the average toddler.  Mike and I know that we need to be very conscious of spending quality one on one time with Reed when Bryce is here as well as making him feel involved as a big brother.  He’s a great helper already, so I’m optimistic.

If fact, I think I’m pretty optimistic about the whole situation in general.  For some reason I’m just not having a lot of negative feelings about how hard it will be, or how overwhelmed I’ll feel.  I just can’t think that way and I don’t know if being naïve is going to help or harm.  I can’t change it now anyway, but I’m trying to keep my thoughts in a positive place and just believe that I can handle it.

I am so looking forward to my mom’s visit and for Mike’s parent’s arrival a week later. Reed is so amazing, I can’t wait to show him off!  Bryce is going to be so tiny in comparison.  The other day when I was getting his diaper changing station stocked- I held up the newborn size diaper and balked. It’s so mini! It looks like it would be a banana hammock on Reed!