No news is good news

at least for now! The status quo has been maintained, which really is great news.

They would expect her to be growth restricted by now, but she's been keeping up with other babies! (We simply can't assume that this is a competitive streak she may have inherited from one or both parents!)

Her practice breathing is very good (babies inhale the amniotic fluid and then pee it out!). Isn't it wonderful that they practice this most important skill in advance!

Her movement is also good, in that she is clearly happy (sick babies, like sick adults don't move much!) And apparently I don't even feel it all. When I was on the monitor yesterday she kept moving, and moving and moving! Great? Not when you can't get a base heart rate when the baby is still! It took a little longer than normal, but once the cookies and milkshake I'd just eaten had worn off, she slowed down!! (Until the ultrasound technician tried to see the bowel, then she was off again!)

As for me (Debra!), I am well. My ankles, which until now have been 3-4 times their normal size (no joke, ask Scott) have actually deflated to a relatively normal size, most likely due to all the laying around Im doing on maternity leave! This is day 3, and though grateful that i do not have to work up to the day of delivery, this seems somewhat of an anti-climax!

For the past 10 or more weeks we have prepared ourselves for an early arrival. I wasn't even sure I'd make it to the maternity leave start date! Yet now, at 36wks and 6 days the baby seems content to stay put!

Pregnancy in itself is possibly the most challenging time for patience, and the last weeks especially because you feel like the baby must be ready to come out, they can't possibly get any bigger! However, most first time pregnancies run late, and you can somewhat expect that. To be told it will end early and then not, is much the same thing!

She will come early, as they'll induce before 39 weeks (I hope!), but not the 32 weeks we had feared!! Emma may make an even earlier arrival naturally, which would be desirable and less stressful for her, so let's keep praying she does that.

I do hope that this enormous exercise in patience has lasting results! It would be a shame to not gain anything from the practice. The social worker did tell me that I will need patience more than anything while Emma is in the hospital, so I am praying that God will give me all I need - I'm really not good at being patient by myself!!