Fetal Stress Test Completed

Just got out of a visit at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital to make sure everything's OK with mommy and Pookie Cub and that it's fine to continue the pregnancy without inducing yet. As they did on Wednesday they hooked up sensors to monitor baby's heart patterns and mommy's contractions. Baby was very active the whole time and showing healthy patterns. Mom had no contractions. :) So we still have a green light to let the pregnancy continue naturally. Barring any onset of labor the next doc appointment would be on Wednesday morning to do final checks before commencing with induction on Wednesday evening.

Throughout the pregnancy we've always gone to Menlo Clinic for regular check-ins with Shu's OB. Today's visit was our first to the LPCH Labor & Delivery ward where we'll be delivering the baby. So it was nice for us to become familiar with the environment in which we'll soon find ourselves albeit in more excitable dispositions. Our nurse today was most helpful and obliged us with a mini tour of the triaging rooms, the nursery, and a sample delivery room.

Now we're simply relaxing and enjoying what is certainly our last Saturday of Life As We Know It!

With much appreciation for your continued support and prayers for our amazing adventure!

Love and hugs,
Paul & Shu

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Estimated Due Date Demystified

So these days whenever Shu or I bump into any friends or co-workers on the street or at the water cooler we are met with big eyes and cries of near alarm that the baby hasn't arrived yet! This is because all along we've been tracking for an Estimated Due Date (EDD) of 5/19, which was 7 days ago. Well first of all the EDD is just that, an "estimate", and in fact only 5% of babies are born on the due date but 80% are born within +/- 10 days of the due date. Secondly, the questions of whether baby is late and when to become concerned and think about inducing are based on a premise that we have a reasonable EDD.

As it turns out there are different ways to estimate gestational age of the fetus and consequently the EDD:

1) Using an ultrasound to measure fetus size and estimate date of conception
>> See Calculating Your Dates: Gestation, Conception & Due Date

2) Computing from first day of mother's last menstrual period (LMP)
>> See How to Calculate Your Pregnancy Due Date

In our case, our OB performed the first ultrasound on 10/14/10 and measured the fetus size. With this measurement she could then estimate both date of conception and a resulting EDD of 5/19/11.

However, using the second LMP method above we independently determined based on an estimated LMP of 8/19/10 a reasonable alternative EDD of 5/26/11, which is today!

(In fact, at the time of the OB visit on 10/14/10 we cluelessly failed to tell our OB the LMP date of 8/19/10, so she reasonably used method #1 above to arrive at the 5/19/11 due date.)

So we can all rest easy now knowing that 5/26/11 is just as reasonable a due date and a delivery up to 10 days beyond that (by 6/5/11) would still fall within 80% of band of pregnancy terms.

OK, now go back to sleep!
Paul & Shu

p.s. The picture above is of all parents earlier tonight. Yes, the parental units are now all in town and on at the Orange Alert level!

Check-in with doc on 5/25

So we went in for a routine check-in with the OB this morning just to make sure all is well with mommy and baby. Still no progress or contractions for mommy indicating labor is anywhere close. They also stuck monitors on Shu for an hour to track fetal heart rythms and any contractions. Baby seems to be perfectly healthy. As for mom there was one barely noticeable contraction within the hour. OB also did an ultrasound to confirm baby has plenty of amniotic fluid. Everything checked out fine. Since we're past due date OB wants us to come in twice a week. Our next appointment will be this Saturday morning followed by Wed morning. If labor doesn't start by then we will start induction on Wed night (6/1).

Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

Hugs,
Paul & Shu

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Post-due date update on Pookie Cub

Dear Family and Friends,

We thought we'd send a quick (yeah right!) update since many of you know that our expected due date was this past Thursday, 5/19. So mommy-to-be has been to weekly check-ins with her doctor the past few weeks leading up to the due date. Thankfully the whole pregnancy has gone perfectly on-track for both mommy and baby with no health complications or concerns. We know that labor could start at any time within 1-2 weeks before or after the due date. But we had been hoping baby would not come early so we would have more time to prepare and also relish the last few days as carefree, childless newlyweds! :)

One week ago the doctor said there was no dilation and predicted the birth would happen sometime past our due date. This was welcome news to us since at the time we had yet to acquire a glider (aka "rocking chair"), changing table, or dresser for all the baby's clothes we've been given. So last weekend after a flurry of visiting two different maternity flea markets and following-up on a few Craigslist ads we locked-in fabulous deals on a nice Dutailier glider, a Pali crib, an armoire / dresser, and natural wood changing table. All told we shelled out $560 for excellent condition furniture we estimate would have cost over $2000 new!

In our defense we had delayed the furniture purchases partly due to not knowing if our home would sell before the baby comes. Having received no offers we have suspended open houses for the week before / after the due date. And believe it or not Shu has discovered her internal interior designer and enjoyed setting up and decorating our mini "baby room" with whimsical monkey decals pasted on the walls.

This past Friday at the weekly doctor check-in they conducted a more extensive monitoring of the baby's heart rhythms just to make sure she's still happy and healthy inside. Little "Pookie Cub" (our working title for the baby :) appears to be having too good a time in there and in no hurry to come out! Again there is no dilation or indication that labor is imminent. Our doctor generally likes to give the baby an extra week or so to make her grand entrance in her own timing. After a week past the due date she would discuss with us potential of inducing labor.

We are definitely very excited about the baby coming any moment. It's an interesting time now of being in a constant state of readiness after 9 months of ramp up. For those of you familiar with the weeklong summer foster kids' camp I've led the past 10 years, I've likened my experience now to completing all the months of preparation leading up to camp planning all the activities and coordinating and training all the counselors, staff, and kids only to find myself on Sunday before camp not knowing if it would start on Monday or Tuesday or a week from now!

Thanks for your continued love, support, advice, prayers, and well-wishes as we are one the verge of life as we know it changing forever!

With love and gratitude,
Paul and Shu