Big Sister and Little Brother.

I had my 36 week check up this morning, and got what is probably my final ultrasound for this pregnancy. This time, both Ellie and Eileen got to come with me (usually I just do them alone - I made Tim come to the two most important ones, but otherwise, it's just me and the tech staring at the baby.)

I thought Ellie would be more excited about it than she was. Mostly, she was concerned with the ultrasound gel that they squeezed all over my big fat stomach, as you can see:

(excuse the lighting. And the blurriness. I can't really tell what they're looking at either.)

And here she is, listening to his heart beat drum away. It's funny because her big obsession with visiting the doctors office is listening to someone's heart. She wants them to listen to my heart, and hers, and sometimes Smelly Cat's. I get it - it's a common thing for little kids to do when trying to play doctor. Lots of times, she'll press her hand against my chest (or my throat, she is terrible with anatomy) and tell me "first, I'll listen to your heart."

All is well with Lambeau. They're estimating him over six and a half pounds, so odds are, he'll be around his sister's size at birth if I go until my due date (she was 8lbs, 6oz.) Everything looks great in my insides, so he's got a nice home to hang out in until then.

Here's his foot. It's about the only decent picture they got:

Then Eileen and Ellie went over to the mall while I had my check up with the doctor, and went and got some blood work done for my endocrinologist. The doctor spent a total of about two minutes with me, because we're at the stage now where everything looks good, the baby is big enough that if he decides to come out, he can come out, and other than that, there's not really anything more to say. Obviously, I am monitoring my blood pressure at home, keeping track of the baby's movements, and taking care of myself. But in terms of predicting labor or anything like that, there's nothing they can do. It's sort of funny - all of this fancy technology allows me to know so much more about my unborn children than my mom or grandma ever knew (I mean, forget just knowing the gender - I've seen the blood pumping through my unborn child's four chambered heart and looked at all of his major internal organs) but the rest of it is hit or miss. The weight ultrasounds are just estimates and he could be a pound more or less when he comes out. There's no test they can do to predict when labor is going to start. So we're waiting, just like generations of preggos before me.

In the meanwhile, I really need another burst of nesting energy so that I can get all Lambeau's clothes washed. Otherwise, in addition to swooping in to take care of Ellie, I am going to have to beg Mimi or Gigi to do a couple loads of tiny laundry while I'm in the hospital.