A+

Not sure if you could pick up on it in those Halloween pictures, but I have experienced some quick water-weightgain over the last week or so (mostly ankles and face). So much so that they were a little concerned, and did some bloodwork on Monday to check into possible causes. But, everything looks a-ok! We also had our ultrasound yesterday, and the baby looks, in doc's words, "BEAUTIFUL!". We have kept the gestational diabetes in check so well that the baby's growth rate has slowed down considerably. As opposed to being "off the charts" a month ago, baby is now around the 75th percentile! This translates to and "estimated" 7 lbs 9 oz.

As for progress, I am a little over 3cm dilated. For those of you who understand the lingo and/or are interested in such things: baby is positioned at -1 (a measure of how far down the baby has dropped/engaged); I am also continuing to thin and soften, but not shorten that much; at the last 20 minute NST, we recorded 5 strong contractions.

As ironic humor would have it, I am quite convinced that all of this work will be done "in vain", as the c-section date is only a week and a half away! I mean, things could progress a lot more quickly at any time before then, but it would be so "me" to produce a scenario where I do a lot more work than I have to... and end up needing to release the reins to God's/nature's/others' (baby's) plans:) I am still thankful (although sometimes simultaneously perturbed) that this baby has been able to experience all this preparation for his or her nearing transition to the outer world. I'm also hoping that all of these contractions and other progressions are preparing and releasing some good hormones for mommy...does anyone know much about this possibility?

So...what to do for a week and a half? I did a little bit of Christmas shopping today since I probably won't have the time/energy/focus to do so later. There are some projects that I'd like to finish before baby (crafts, etc., and grading papers). I am also supposed to take it easy still, and keep my feet up, in order to reduce the swelling. They said to reduce my sodium, but I don't really like salty food that much so I won't have to work that hard. What will be hard is that I should really only do one "big" thing a day (errand, see a friend, go for a walk). I literally gained about 8 lbs in water weight in one week (at least it better have been water weight! I hadn't been gaining at all for almost 12 weeks before that-due to strict diabetes monitoring! I guess I did have a few Halloween candies, though:))

In closing, if you're wondering what the "A+" title of today's post means, it is what the doctor wrote at the top of our baby's records at our appointment yesterday:) Praise God!