Waiting for Baby

34 weeks 1 day. Today is a hard day. My mom got on an airplane this morning from Taiwan to Houston. She was planning to stay a day or two at home and hang out with her dog/family dog, Angel, who is 12 years old. She has been getting weaker the past few months, and my mom had felt torn about enjoying Taiwan before the baby comes and spending time with her. She was looking forward to seeing Angel today as Angel is very attached to her. Late morning, my sisters called to tell me that Angel had passed. My mom still doesn't know and is just about to land... I feel sick to my stomach that she didn't get to say goodbye. She is going to be so heartbroken. Lu women do not do well with death of any sort..... After several phone calls and tears, I got to eat lunch with some friends and visited a few people around in the hospital. Got some work done, went outside for a little bit (the weather was so nice), and now settled back into the room. Another stable day- no fevers, no changes

34 weeks 0 days. Today, we celebrated! 34 weeks - major milestone for the baby. This is the first day that a baby won't necessarily have to go to the NICU (although many still do) and their lungs are considered more mature. We had a large dump of fresh snow, and I forced Charles to head up to Alta for one last ski day. Although he was nervous about leaving me, I wanted him to enjoy this day on the mountain for the both of us. He said it was the best ski day he has ever had as he was knee deep in powdery snow the entire time with very few visitors. I was pleased he was able to do this today... I will miss the snow a lot after we move from Utah. Didn't do much today - worked on some stuff on the computer, credentialing stuff for my job in the fall, listened to stuff about breastfeeding, cleaned my room. In the afternoon, Charles brought Darko in our cat backpack to see me at the front of the hospital - and I was SOOO HAPPY!!! I got to sit in the car with him and just hold hi

33 weeks 6 days. Lazy Saturday. Spent a lot of today in the room looking outside the hospital window. It was expected to be a pretty rainy day. Started that way, and then the sun came out... which made the hospital stay harder. The storm rolled in and now it's snowing...might be the last snow I will see before leaving Utah, which is sad to think about it. Worked a little bit today, but did more lounging around than anything. Not much to report. Spencer and family came to visit today ... and I loved seeing Kellie and the kids. They made me a cute little card and brought me a small present. Really sweet visit. Got to talk to some friends on video chat / text/ phone... and watched the day go by from my large windows. Being at the hospital is getting easier... things are falling into a routine (and I like routines). I get vitals, fetal heart tones, and or meds every 4 hours from my RN / HCA. The nutritionist brings me a tray for every meal. I talk to my housekeeper a little when

33 weeks 5 days. This morning started off with a beautiful sunrise - pink tinged sky. And it went by so fast! I woke up to my adorable husband sleeping next to me on the hospital couch. I sent him to work and spent the morning finishing one of the projects given to me by Dr. Draper (and got it done! yay!). And I continued to get visitors throughout the day. Christina H came by and gave me a yummy bagel. Emily dropped by a present, including a cat coloring book with pencils. I LOVED it and can't wait to start working on it this weekend. I enjoyed the conversations I had with my visitors today so much and had a great time just seeing everyone. Jen K spent a few hours working in my room and we both just worked on our computers - felt like we were in a library studying and I was grateful for that. Funny story - my RN said that another nurse on the unit asked her if "the patient in 2309 was really sick. I just see so many doctors and people going into that room!" She

33 weeks 4 days. I felt most like a resident today. I was able to get a pretty good nights sleep, and woke up in time to attend Pre-op conference... something I would have done if none of this PPROM (premature rupture of membranes) stuff happened. Wearing my Aggie T-shirt and pregnancy jeans... it was fun to defend the list with Alli and just learn from the upcoming patients and cases. I came back, worked on stuff, and then got to go to chief meeting and M&M conference. What a great conference today too! Jess and Karissa did a really good job. It was the most "normal resident day" of this week. And I was thankful. Still getting visitors throughout the day, and love it! And phone calls! I also got to talk to my close friend Sandy today for awhile on video chat, which always brightens my day:) I'm thankful for: - Another stable day. Baby had a beautiful non-stress test today and he has been moving a lot! - Baby is head down, GBS negative (no need for addition

33 weeks 3 days. Today was by far the best day since I have been inpatient. It all started when I got my IV out of my arm.... at 0300 AM. As a resident, I use to be such a huge advocate for IVs in patients (you never know what emergency can happen!!!)... and now... I completely understand why they want them OUT. After my IV was removed, I was able to get 4 hours of solid, good, drooling sleep. Charles left about 0630 or so, and I got up shortly after. I was already in a much better mood compared to the two days before as I met a milestone...I had gotten through my steroid window (ideally, a 48 hour window to let the Betamethasone shots help mature the baby's lungs). I changed out of my hospital gown for the first time in 2 days and into a XL Yosemite shirt and leopard PJ pants. It was a huge step in trying to "be normal" again for me. I started to "work" at 0800 until 1300 on my assignments given to me by my wonderful program director. And then I went to