Passed with Flying Colors.

Yesterday afternoon I headed back to the doctors for a couple of fairly routine tests - the amniotic fluid check and the nonstress test. Normally these are done later in the pregnancy (if at all) but me and my "high blood pressure" got pegged for it at week 32.

The amniotic fluid check just involves a quick ultrasound to measure the amount of fluid around the baby. Low fluid can indicate that the mom is having trouble keeping hydrated, but since the baby is responsible for making most of her own fluid (via swallowing and peeing) it can also show whether or not the baby is in distress. Sequins is showing no distress, and peeing like a champ. The tech was also able to see that she's making breathing motions in utero, which is good, and shows that she's moving right along.

For the nonstress test, they have you sit in a comfy chair and hook your belly up to two monitors. One measures the baby's heartbeat and one checks for contractions. The best part of the test is that you can hear the baby's heartbeat the whole time, which I love. When she moves, it sounds like radio static (at first it was me moving and apologized, and the nurse assured me it was all good.) Basically, the idea is that when the baby moves, their heartbeat should spike - much like when adults exercise their heart rates rise. If the baby's heartbeat dips, it's a concern. Also concerning if you can't get the baby to move in an hour. I was only hooked up for about 20 minutes, and Sequins scooted around like a champ and had her little baby heart beat jump every time. I only saw my doc for about two minutes - he walked in, looked at the ticker tape and said "she passed!" and then headed out (he was in scrubs.) The only bad part was when she tried to jam herself up into my lungs - normally I would have gotten up or moved around to try to push her elsewhere, but since I was stuck in the chair I just practiced my lamaze breathing and willed her to get out of my rib cage.

In other good news, my favorite nurse is back after a medical leave. I hadn't seen her since my 16 week check up, and I told her that I'd missed her, and had been pretending that she left to go go med school. She laughed and said thanks. ALSO, my blood pressure at the appointment was 128/80, which for me (at the doctors) is GREAT. I'm showing improvement! Friday I have another u/s to measure the size of the baby. The doc is saying that he wants to run all of these tests every two weeks from here until the end of the pregnancy. I think it's a little overkill, but I just want to get cleared to go to Chicago and then we'll figure it out (and by the time I get home from Chicago, I'll be 35 weeks along, and if you go into labor at 36 weeks, they don't try to stop you from having the baby. So, it'll all be a moot point sooner rather than later.)

Last night we took Baby Sequins to see her second live concert. Tim's friend and coworker Ed had emailed earlier in the summer about getting a 4 pack of lawn seats to see John Mayer at Irvine Meadows. I like John Mayer okay, and LOVED him when I was in college, back before he spent time constantly wooing starlets and running his mouth like a total idiot in Playboy magazine. But I also like Ed and Erl and figured it would be a fun night, so why not. Sitting on the lawn wasn't too terrible, and the show was good (when Mayer wasn't telling stupid stories.) But yes, his music is definitely a phase that I have enjoyed and passed through. Ed seemed to have the most contempt for Mr. Mayer, so of course we all made fun of him nonstop for suggesting that we get tickets.

What else? We found out this week that Thor is absolutely terrified of fans - both the overhead kind (we have one in our pretty room) and the stand fan that we bought to cool down the living room. Poor Thor - he's going to be real excited when we get ceiling fans installed in all of the bedrooms this summer. He spends most of his life in our bedroom as is (hiding under the bed, hiding in the closet, and sometimes sleeping against the slider) but recently I've walked in to find him with only his head and front paws hidden under the bed, with his back legs hanging out. He looks like the Wicked Witch of the West with the house dropped on him. I also think he's pretty sure he's invisible. That's because he's not very bright, that boy. Lulu continues to spend most of her day on the baby's changing table.