I guess we're not having an April baby...

With no signs of labor on the last day of April, I think Tom & I are resigned to the fact that the baby won't be here until Monday when I am going to be induced. The induction process will actually start Sunday morning where the doctor will begin the process of opening up the cervix so that the Pitocin used on Monday morning will be more effective. The process should help bring me into the induction on Monday morning at 3-4cm dilated. This should hopefully expedite the labor process (it can take up to 48 hours otherwise).

We'll keep the blog updated (even on Monday).

A great day!

Well, we may not have a baby in our household, but today brought my company (Dendreon) an FDA approval for the first ever immunotherapy for cancer! When the FDA approval letter came in at just before 10am this morning Pacific Time, the champaign & company-colored Jell-O shots came out in full force! For a good hour no work happened in our office as news crews decended into our offices & champaign corks flew. It was really exciting! Yes, I even indulged in a glass of champaign to celebrate! And as expected, with the good news it sent our stock price soaring (where the SEC temporarily suspended trading before opening it up several hours later).

She's still not here...

If you were hoping to read something like I started to have labor pains last night, you'd be wrong. No signs of impending labor & I am at work again this morning. I never really understood until this week what people meant by being "sick of being pregnant", but I'm there. My back hurts & my belly is just flat out in my way. With the baby sitting so low in my pelvis (for all intensive purposes she's right on my bladder) I am not comfortable for long before I have to go to the bathroom again. I'd love nothing more than to see her make an exit before May 3rd, but I'm not very confident that will happen.

Tom & I had both put in guesses on her date of birth, weight, length, and the time she'd be born. Tom guessed today...I'm guessing he's wrong. I guessed May 1st. I'm guessing that I'm wrong too, unfortunately.

40 week appointment

Baby Malchow is apparently too cozy in her quarters! She has made no further progress to exit (aka my cervix is still dilated at 1.5cm). I had an NST (non-stress test) and an ultrasound this morning. Everything looks good. The baby is doing well (obviously too well - she doesn't want to leave!). An ultrasound at 40 weeks leaves very little to "see" as she's big enough now that you can only see parts of her.

Her head is VERY low. The doctor was surprised by how low her head is, so she's basically at the cervical opening (if it would just open!!).

So Sunday morning the plan is to have me go into the hospital where they will place a catheter into the cervix to open it (unless by Friday I've dilated to at least 2-3cm). Then on Monday morning (5:15am) they'll start Pitocin. At 8am they'll break the amniotic sac to further things along. From there...well, let's just hope my body & baby Malchow cooperate in getting her out in a timely fashion!!

The ultrasound today estimated her weight to be 7lbs 2oz currently. So, no news really...just that in all liklihood I'll be induced on May 3rd unless she decides her quarters in my abdomen are too cramped & she'd like to get out sooner.

And we're waiting...

As promised, I'll do daily updates until baby Malchow appears. I am at work today & will have to put in a full 10 hours at the office (there's just no escaping the tremendous amount of work that has to be done as we head into our final 5 days before we hear back from the FDA).

I'm exhausted - having not slept much last night (but more than poor Tom). I'm torn: I really want the baby out, but I also want to be at work when we hear back from the FDA - which should be a fun & exciting day at work. The only problem with that is that day is almost for sure not to be until Friday...so we'll see if I make it.

Doctor's appointment tomorrow - so I'll post an update then!

D day is here...but she isn't!

I figured I'd post this here to keep everyone updated since we are here on D day. Our little one has decided (not surprisingly) to stay in the incubator (that would be me) a while longer. No real signs of labor either...so off to work I'll go tomorrow. We'll keep you all updated on the blog when she does make her appearance though!

There is WiFi at the hospital, so we'll have the camera & the laptop and will be able to update the blog the day (or night) she arrives!

39 week appointment

We have made forward progress toward getting this baby out into the real world. I am 1.5cm dilated (cervix opened), and about 75% effaced (cervix thinning). At this morning's appointment I'd actually lost a bit of weight (um, no complaints here) which is common toward the end of a pregnancy as women tend to carry less amniotic fluid since there's more baby in there. Her head is low in my pelvis (the doctor could feel her head when checking my cervix this morning), which is a good sign. She didn't mention the station she was at to us however.

The doctor offered to "strip the membranes" & I happily obliged. While it isn't the most comfortable thing in the world, it can stimulate labor IF (and it's a big if) your body is essentially ready to go into labor. If my body isn't ready, well it won't do a thing! We'll know if it helped to egg this thing on in 24 hours or so, and if not...well, we'll just be hanging tight until our next appointment in a week. I actually have 2 appointments scheduled for next week. The first is on Tuesday & the next is on Friday. Both appointments will consist of an NST (non stress test) for the baby where they just monitor her to make sure she's moving, and an ultrasound to check on her & my amniotic fluid levels. If any of the above indicates a problem they'd likely induce sooner than later. This is all of course assuming I don't go into labor on my own.

So that's all from our end...we're in a hurry up & wait mode here. We'll post any updates (should there be any) on the blog, so until then I'll go back to my incubator mode...