our little hospital test run

we will call it a test run to the hospital, because it has a more positive connotation than calling it a motherly over reaction or paranoia.

on saturday i started getting a little concerned that i wasn't feeling the baby move as much as he normally does. it seemed like throughout the week he was decreasing in how often he moved around. the doctor told me weeks ago that the protocol is usually "10 and 2"--10 fetal kicks in two hours. i have never had a problem feeling the baby that much! in fact, at first i thought she meant ten times in two minutes :) that's how active he is!!

so when i felt like he wasn't acting normal, i did the 10 and 2 test. i laid down on the couch for two hours and counted movements. i got to about six... which isn't bad. we were on the fence about whether to call in or not, but my motherly genes have started to kick in. i much preferred playing it safe.

so david called in to the hospital and the labor and delivery nurses suggested that i come and be monitored... they said this is very standard procedure for a mother feeling decrease fetal movement.

david had a shift in the ER about this time anyway, so it worked out wonderfully. he took me to the ER, then to labor and delivery, at which point they monitored me for an hour. the baby's heart rate looked great, so we were relieved. david then went to work, and my mom came in the room to stay with me (we were grateful she was in town early!) they did an ultrasound, monitored me for another four hours (mom and i sat through parent trap and mean girls) and around 11 pm i was discharged, with the docs saying that our baby looked good.

its very possible he wasn't moving around a lot because there is simply not much more room in there for him!! i'm small, he's big... you can do the math. also the doc said babies have sleep cycles of 20-30 minutes and he was sleeping for most of the ultrasound. perhaps he just didn't want to be bothered!

we are glad we went in for the reassurance it gave me. and also, it was a nice practice run of what the real thing might be like. they had me in a hospital gown, in the hospital bed, etc, so i quickly discovered what being a patient will feel like.

the resident on call that worked with us was so nice and the nurses were amazing. i was grateful for that and it makes me less nervous about my upcoming visit. we didn't want to over react or be "those parents" but we were happy in the end that we were reassured everything was fine. after five hours of monitoring, our baby looked great, healthy, and very cozy in there!!

now just waiting on him to make his first apperance!!

engagement

As if we didn't have quite enough going on this month, david and i added to the excitement by getting engaged! we are so excited!

we've wanted our focus the past few months to be on all the crazy changes---including moving to wv, david starting his residency, and most importantly, preparing for the baby. but we are glad to have added one more important life changing event to the table. we have no idea about a wedding date (everyone's first question!!) because we still want to focus on the baby for now... he will be here sooooo soon!!

our engagement night was very special. we drove up to pittsburgh and had dinner at a nice restaurant downtown... the kind of restaurant that has nicer toilet paper in their bathrooms than we do at home (sad, but true :) it was special, as we very rarely treat ourselves to that kind of place.

after dinner, we decided to take a ride up the pittsburgh incline. it was very neat! we rode up an enclosed cable car and when we got to the top, we had a great view of the city skyline.

ride up the incline....



of course i needed to use the restroom, so atop the incline we stopped at the first restaurant we saw, called the georgetowne inn.

we just planned on using the restroom, but the atmosphere in there was so nice we decided to get a table and have drinks (him) and dessert (me). the inn was soooo nice and cozy. since it was a sunday night there was hardly anyone there. the waitress sat us right against the window and we had the best and most private view of pittsburgh (see below). it was nice.

i enjoyed the best strawberry shortcake i think i have ever had. then, i went to the restroom (yes, again). when i came back, the waitress brought us both champagne flutes. i was just excited to see champagne, as i haven't had any alcohol in the past nine months!! i took a sip and mine was ginger ale :( but the good news was what was in it.... a beautiful ring!!

then david took it out of the flute, got on one knee and proposed. it was so perfect. we stayed there for awhile and talked, just enjoying the privacy of the room and such an amazing view.

we treasured the peace and quiet, realizing this could very well be our last "date night" with eachother for awhile!! soon, everything will change!! but we can't wait!