Neil gained a pound over the last two weeks and is now a 5-pound baby. Hurray, Neil! This is a good indicator that he's just small and not "growth restricted." And actually only parts of him are small. His abdomen and femurs are small, but his head is pretty average. I think he's got his father's head, so it may be a good thing for me if he's not too big. I'd hate to have to give birth to a child with a head in the 99th percentile. OUCH! He would have passed his BPP without M&Ms, but I was hungry; so he got M&Ms anyway. Actually, Matt ate some, too. It was a family affair.
My blood glucose test from Tuesday was normal, so we've avoided extra monitoring at the twice weekly BPPs. My blood pressure was 146/89. Dr. Reynolds says that the trend of my blood pressure looks like someone with gestational hypertension, typically someone with a family history of high blood pressure and probably a future of high blood pressure later in life. Sounds about right. Dr. Reynolds doesn't seem to be worried about anything. He doesn't seem to think they're going to come up with a reason to induce and expects that Neil will come whenever he wants to. Hurray!
While Neil was gaining a pound over the last two weeks, I lost 2 pounds. After our appointment I got two cheeseburgers at Wendy's (with some fries, a Coke, and a tiny Frosty). I was really hungry. And I figured Neil would eat one of the cheeseburgers so he can keep gaining weight. We're aiming for a 6-pound baby in 2 weeks. If he's 6 pounds at 38 weeks and is born anytime after that, I feel pretty good about his avoiding the NICU. Go, Neil, go!
Matt and I were talking in the waiting room about how Neil reacts to what I eat. Anything with peanuts makes him dance. My morning raisin bran is similarly exciting. And it's not about when I eat. I had cocoa crispies this morning, and he wasn't impressed. Matt suggested that whatever chemicals/nutrients he gets from certain foods give him more energy. I tried looking for a common theme to link raisin bran and peanut butter. "If he likes Tang," I told Matt, "he sounds kind of like Grandmother Wilmoth." "Who knows? He might look like her, too," Matt replied, referencing the fact that I looked like a little old man (very similar to my 7th grade science teacher Mr. Shoat) in one of my early baby pictures. Later, Dr. Reynolds asked if there are any short people in the family that might explain why Neil's femur is a bit short. I'm not very tall, but Grandma Tanner (daughter of Grandmother Wilmoth) is even shorter. Matt and I smiled at each other and thought about how he might be even more like Grandmother Wilmoth than we thought. She probably wouldn't be the first family member that our clan would want to clone--most people would recommend adding another Grandpa Tanner or two to the family--but there are certainly much worse people he could take after: Granny Singleton, for instance. I'm kind of hoping that if he's going to take after Grandmother Wilmoth he'll be a variation like Grandma Tanner. People who don't know Grandma Tanner would probably think that an independent, creative, scholarly, introverted, slightly stubborn child seems like plausible offspring from me and Matt anyway. :)
I packed for the hospital just in case they induced today, so we're set whenever Neil wants to arrive. Tomorrow we'll go to Elizabethtown and stock up at Aldi again. I plan to do as much cleaning and meal prep as possible in the time I have left before Neil shows up. I'm feeling much better about all of us--me, Matt and Neil--being prepared when Neil's born. It's really nice to feel optimistic after an OB appointment. The extra sunlight since daylight saving time began possibly helps. I felt so good after the appointment that Matt and I played boccie ball in the back yard for a while before I came in to blog. It's been a good day.
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