30 Week Appointment and Beana's First Trip to NYC

Last Friday morning (Jul 16th) was our 30 week midwife appointment.  For a simple appointment, with no other 'procedures' scheduled, it took a long time.  Just over 90 minutes...but we got a lot accomplished.

In short, all is well with the Bean.  My blood pressure is still really low, which is fantastic news for someone with chronic hypertension!  Beana's heart rate was in the high 130s, and several times during counting, Jellybean had very noticeable heart rate accelerations.  Again, a very good thing.  Belly measurement was right on target.  We reviewed the report from the last Maternal Fetal Medicine appointment (since I saw MFM after midwifing last time, instead of before), and she confirmed that Bean is measuring in the 61st percentile.  Again...very reassuring.

So, as things stand now, I am scheduled to see MFM again on July 29th, as well as the new midwife.  We have added a non-stress test to the string of appointments for that day.  After that, I will go twice a week for non-stress tests; one of those appointments each week will also include an ultrasound and a midwife check.   These appointments are scheduled out through August 20th, with the anticipation that I will see MFM again on August 26th, unless they decide otherwise next week.

After the appointment, we hit the road for Beana's first trip to NYC.  We visited with friends from college and did some 'touristy' things in the city...we did the Rockefeller Center observation deck, the Brooklyn Bridge, Little Italy, the Bodies Exhibit  (this exhibit is set up in various cities across the country...if you have the chance to catch it anywhere, I highly recommend it!), and a Yankee game on Sunday.  When I was pregnant with Gracie, Jeff and I somehow managed to not have our picture taken together, so we never really had a 'family' photo.  (We also did not do one together after she was born, either.)  So I made sure that we got a 'family' photo of the two of us with Beana while we were being touristy.

Each day we get a little closer to Beana's anticipated arrival.  Each day a little more anxiety and angst starts to creep back into the picture.  Balancing preparations for Beana with our emotions is turning out to be kind of  difficult some days.  Based on everything from our multitude of appointments thus far, we have no reason to suspect that there are any problems...but it goes way beyond that at this point...especially because we had no reason to suspect that anything was amiss with Gracie until the very end.  So please bear with us from this point forward.  If you get the sense that we might not want to talk about something baby or pregnancy related, you are probably correct...but that is not to say that we will feel the same way the next day or even the next week. 

There are several questions that I/we are getting on a regular basis at this point, so I will throw those up here with the answers to save the rest of you the trouble of asking.  :-)

• Should you be doing that?  I really do appreciate the concern that everyone is showing with regard to me 'overdoing' things, but please remember that I am not broken...just pregnant.  Please also remember that overdoing things had nothing to do with Gracie's outcome.  I have been very good about asking for and taking help when necessary and setting limits for myself.  It's all good.  Really.  :-)
• How are you feeling?   I am tired, but otherwise feeling fine.  I have been working too hard since October, which has a lot to do with being tired.  I am pretty sure that I would still be tired even if I wasn't pregnant.  I am carrying a little bit of extra fluid in my hands, feet and face, but nothing to get excited about.  Otherwise, things are great.
• Are you still running ambulance calls?  I am cutting back on ambulance calls for now - primarily because we usually run with a crew of two people and I am not really any good for lifting.  I am still running occasional ambulance calls, and I am running fire and rescue calls, as well.  I am able to be productive without having to physically exert myself too much on most fire and rescue calls.  Sometimes I just need to do something other than work and try to clean the house...
• Have you picked a name?   Nope.  Beana is just Beana for now.  We have a short list of about 10 names right now, but that's as good as it gets, and there is no guarantee that our final choice will even come from those 10.  Once we have finally decided, we will not be sharing the name until she is born (unless, of course, we don't decide until after she arrives).  Sorry.  
• Do you know anything else about whether or not she has Down Syndrome?  Nope.  We elected to not do any invasive testing to find out, so that will be a surprise for all of us when she is born.  
• How are you guys really doing?  We are okay.  Good days and bad days, which will continue for a long time.  If you want to know more than that, check out this post from earlier in Jellybean's blog.  
• This is not really a question, as much as it is a statement....Please don't rub or pat my belly without asking or warning me first.  For some reason, I did not deal with much of this when I was pregnant with Gracie, however it has become an issue over the last couple of weeks of this pregnancy.  Several strangers have patted or rubbed my belly during chance conversation, and a few people that I know have done the same thing.  I am not opposed to letting someone feel Beana moving if the timing is right, but I would really appreciate if you not just arbitrarily rub or pat my belly without permission.  It may not bother some, but I'm not a fan.  Sorry.

As always, thanks to those who are following along.  Thanks to those who leave us little messages and comments.  Thanks to those who are still praying for us.  More updates as they are available.