Halfway Point!

19 weeks and in the background flowers from Stefan!

We are officially halfway there! We had our latest appointment this morning, just shy of 20 weeks. The blood pressure was finally steady, so we just have to see if it can stay that way for the second half. Hopefully it will! The baby's heart rate was strong, so I'm picturing a happy little munchkin in there.

I had a prenatal massage yesterday with one of Stefan's massage therapist colleagues. It wasn't a relax/calm down massage but a "sports" massage to work on some of those really tight spots. With a little consistency, I'm hoping this will keep them from flaring up to full blown back spasms. Thanks again, Donna!

As you know, we are using this blog as a pregnancy journal, too, so you gets lots of details! Through the new year we will have monthly appointments with our regular doc. That puts our next appointment in early November. Then we'll have our follow up growth ultrasound on Nov. 14 with the high-risk doc.

20 weeks, amazing how the camera angle
and the fitted t-shirt make a difference
in how big the bump looks!

Despite our due date being February 21, it looks like we'll be meeting our little one by Valentine's Day at the latest!!! Given our situation with the blood clotting disorder, the anti-coagulant shots and other considerations we will be having the baby between week 38 and 39. After much research and discussions with our doctor and other professionals, this is the plan. What we are good with is there is no set date because my doctor will take into consideration how ready my body is come that time. I think we've finally come to terms with the fact this will be safest for the baby and for me. The goal is to have a healthy baby and mom in the end, so we can't get hung up on "wanting" to go the full 40 weeks if that isn't what is best in our situation. I know there are a few big days around there like Grandpa Macocha's 91st birthday, Erin and Ryan's anniversary and Allison's birthday to name a few- so we'll see if we share someone else's special date!

I'm still "approved" for all our travel plans the next few months. Orders are to stop and walk around for five minutes every hour though (yikes!) and fidget the legs during most of the trip to keep the blood moving. With being on the Lovenox though, she thinks I'll be just fine.

First up we have a road trip to North Carolina for Stefan to be a groomsmen in our friends' wedding in a few weeks. Then I'm heading to MI around Thanksgiving while Stefan visits some of his family out east. In December is the big road trip to IN/MI over Christmas. We don't even want to think about how long that will take with all the stops!

I know many of you subscribe to the blog to get the email updates and have kindly requested some pics so this post should satisfy that for awhile :)

Stay tuned for a sneak peak of the nursery theme!