What a weekend!

Where to begin...so much has happened this weekend. So, on Friday I had my regular 30w ob appointment. All was well. I was informed though that starting at 32w (so in 2 weeks), I'd need to come into the office TWICE A WEEK!! AH! I did know that at 32w I would need to have a NST (non stress test) on Grace, but I thought it was a one time thing. Nope, I'm getting it twice a week until the end. I will pretty much lay there with a fetal heart monitor on my tummy recording Grace's heart measurements for about 20 minutes. They'll make sure that her heart is responding normally, she's not in stress, etc. My work has been very flexible with appointments and things, but twice is a week is tough. I know my obs work out of another office and I'm going to call to see if I can go there for the NSTs....it's much closer to my work and I can take a bus there and back. To get to my ob's office I'd have to take a bus all the way home (about 45 minutes with the walking and the bus) and then drive about 15 minutes to my ob's office.

So, then on Friday, we drove to Frederick, MD and stayed at a hotel for the night. In the morning James went to check out breakfast (to see if I could eat anything there) and then go out to car to get something I forgot to throw in our hotel bag and he ran into 2 of his clown friends from West Virginia. Small world!

Anyways, then we got on the road and drove the remaining 2 hours to Elkton, MD. Later that day we drove to Malvern, PA to have a 3d/4d ultra sound. What a neat experience :-) We are very thankful that we could schedule it when James's parents were able to go with us. It was nice to have them be a part of our pregnancy. So, lately Grace has been spending her time head down...I know this because I get strong kicks high up...but the day of the ultra sound I was getting low kicks...so I had a thought she may be sitting upright. About 45 minutes before the u/s I ate something small and drank some pop to get her moving. Well, it didn't work. She was breech and soundly sleeping curled up with her arms in front of her face. The first 45 minutes of the ultra sound was the guy poking my stomach and making me flip from side to side. He left the room twice and told us to do what we need to do to get her to wake up. So James yelled at my stomach...we shined a flash light....put our iPhones playing music on my stomach....I drank freezing cold water...etc. Finally she woke up! We got to see some yawns and stretches...and got some face shots without her hands in front of her face. This one is my favorite!

It was pretty funny watching her sort of wake up and then just ball up more and roll over. She did not want to be woken up.

So, then on Sunday we had our Baby Shower #2! It was so nice to have everyone together. We hadn't been to Elkton in 2 years--so there were plenty of people who we have missed in that time. My mother-n-law and sister-n-law did a fantastic job pulling everything together. The Cooper men did a wonderful job at getting the back yard cleaned up and other heavy lifting :-) Here are a couple of photos :

Our cake--we loved the message, but dear baker--there's just one baby in there!!

This is the pastor that married us almost 6.5 years ago. It was very special to have he and his wife join us!
and the Cooper kids hanging out in the tree in the front yard. It's always nice when we can all be together with my parent-n-laws too.

So, then finally we made pretty good time returning to Pittsburgh on Monday. Then we were up early on Tuesday for a 6:45am ultra sound appointment. This was growth scan #2 for Grace. She's still perfect! She is now up to 4 lbs 6 oz and in the 77th percentile. My ob said as long as she's under the 90th percentile we are doing well and will be able to wait until 39 weeks to take her.

The funny part was...at this ultra sound she was super active and move around. When the medical ultra sound people need her to stay still she's moving everywhere. But for the ultra sound that is just for fun, she's super still.... OH Grace...learning disobedience early :-)

We can hardly wait to meet her...just 8.5 weeks left! Tonight is our hospital tour :-)