The Day Before the Big Day – the Final Update

Well, friends, on June 14, 2021, the day before LittleFoot made her surprise debut, I had begun another update for you all. Since my memory is now shot to pieces (apparently an effect of motherhood… or maybe just sleep deprivation) I’m appreciative of past Meghan starting this post so I could continue it and at least complete the pregnancy risk factor journey! Thanks, past Meghan. Below is what I had written so far as that update:

We are actually nearing the end of this pregnancy. We are less than two weeks from meeting Little Foot outside the womb and tomorrow we move to be closer to the hospital pre-birth (and yes, we are going to the Ronald McDonald House!). Yikes! So much is still incredibly surreal about this experience.

Age (40)

40 is feeling pretty good, all things considered… like a person sitting on my bladder non-stop… and restless legs at night (magnesium lotion has been a godsend)… and joints aching from loosening… and very little room for food combined with lots of desire for food… But all normal changes. No specific issues surfacing yet.

Congenital Heart Anomaly

I had my third and final cardiac appointment pre-birth, and we are doing great! Not only are things looking just fine, but the Zio patch results came back with no instances of NSVT! Seems likely the little bits of wooziness I was feeling were more likely related to my sinuses being stuffed up (which they have been, interminably it seems) and not my heart. Yay! And the slight expanding of one of my cardiac walls, noticed in my second trimester echo has actually improved rather than worsened. Thus, my cardiologist (bless her heart and strong will) is advocating for us to be able to recover fully in the normal post partum area of the hospital so we can be with Little Foot the whole time (pending all things going smoothly, of course).

Pulmonary Valve Insufficiency

No updates on this front as all is looking good. 

Unicornuate Uterus

I’m now getting weekly non-stress tests. Basically, I, and Little Foot through my belly, get hooked up to a couple monitors where her heartbeat and movements and my heartbeat and uterus are monitored for 20-30 minutes. They are looking to make sure the her heartbeat increases when she moves, as that is a good sign that she is still receiving enough oxygen via the placenta. If her heartbeat did not increase, or went through dips, that would be an indication that she might not be getting the best blood flow. They are also checking that I’m not having contractions (a sign of pre-mature labor). These tests have been coming back just fine, though! We seem to be growing a very good test-taker.

That was it, folks. That brings you up to date on the entire, highly-monitored but overall uncomplicated and dare-I-say, smooth pregnancy. Of course, we had no idea that day, truly, that we were right on the precipice of LittleFoot’s birth; seriously, we took a hike that day. Even though we’d carried the elevated chance of miscarriage and then premature birth throughout the entire pregnancy, never being able to settle into the idea that we would simply stay pregnant from one day to the next… And even though we never held any real expectation that the plan in place would play out as such – really? LittleFoot? just chill in there until her scheduled C-birth as if she was waiting for a pedicure or something? The day we were to move to be closer to the hospital was one day during the entire pregnancy where, for reasons unknown to us, we had full expectations she would just stay put. We now refer to that day as her birthday.

And I promise you a birth story and some aftermath details in another post.

But for now, I’d like to take this space to offer up much gratitude to our wonderful family, friends, and co-housing community who showered us with so much love and support and many blessings during this journey. From fun and connecting Zoom and in-person baby showers to a beautiful, heartfelt, blessingway, we are truly awed by the wonderful people in our lives. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being a part of our lives and for so deeply caring and supporting us and our journey to parenthood!