Any day now!

It's almost time to meet the man, the legend, the Robobaby!  Amanda is a couple days shy of her 39th week of pregnancy.  She is full term.  The baby can arrive at any moment now.  (The sooner the better, as far as Amanda is concerned!)  The baby is growing like a weed and punching like a boxer.  He is very active.  Today he had another one of his hiccup sessions.  

38 weeks 2 days
He's got his dad's big cheeks!

Amanda's mum arrived from Australia two weeks ago and has been a huge help in getting our home prepared for the baby.  She has been busy washing nappies (diapers), preparing meals, and getting the nursery ready for its new arrival.  It has been wonderful having her here for logistical and emotional support.  She even helped throw together a second baby shower with Andrew's mum and a dear friend Jen Otten.  The second shower went wonderfully, and everyone was incredibly generous.  We now have a mountain of baby clothes, toys, and other supplies.  The house is now ready for the baby.

We had a little bit of a scare on Thursday.  During a routine tummy check and non-stress test, the baby's heart rate was racing a bit high, and it wasn't fluctuating like the doctor said it should.  The obstetrician sent us to Aultman Hospital where Amanda underwent further tests to monitor the baby's heart rate.  They also conducted an ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid levels.  As it turns out, our baby gave us a false alarm.  He performed perfectly at the hospital.  His heart rate was normal, and all of his measurements were perfect.  Whew!  Amanda had to be hooked up to the fetal monitor for over three hours, so it was a long, back-breaking night for her.  We were very relieved to hear that the baby was fine, though.  Otherwise, they would have induced Amanda right then and there, or they would have performed a cesarian.  

We have another appointment with the obstetrician on Monday and then another on Thursday.  They're just making sure that the baby's heart rate is normal and healthy.  Meanwhile, the little bub continues to kick, punch and generally abuse Amanda's insides.  We suspect he's perfectly healthy.  We both predict that he will make his appearance at the end of this week.  We think labor will begin on Friday.  

Stay tuned to the Robobaby blog!  Any day now we will deliver the big news.

The home stretch

35 weeks and counting!

Well, we are almost there! We "graduated" from baby classes last weekend and toured the birthing center at Aultman. That made it all very real! We are looking forward to going back there for the big event! They have a very nice facility and we are very impressed with their philosophy and procedures there.

At almost 36 weeks, Mandy and baby are both healthy and getting perfect results at every doctor's visit. We have started going weekly, and they will be monitoring the baby's heart rate and checking for any contractions. The results of the first "non-stress test" were perfect, showing the expected heart rate accelerations and no contractions yet.

Mandy is feeling as good as can be expected, but the discomforts of late pregnancy are starting to set in. She is glad to only have 2 more weeks of work left and although leaving will be sad, she is also ready to take it easy for a few weeks before baby arrives!

We are excitedly awaiting the arrival of Mandy's mum from Australia this week. She will be here for 7 weeks. It has been almost 2 years since we saw her, so we have a lot of catching up to do before the little one arrives! It will be great to have her here after the baby comes, too, as I'm sure we will both be nervous and overwhelmed!

The nursery is complete now, it just needs some cleaning and organizing. We have a lot of clothes and diapers to wash! Mandy had a baby shower organized by her work friends, and everyone was very generous. We now have quite the library of children's books, which we are already reading to him!

We are all hoping that this little guy decides to make his appearance on the early side, rather than being late! But we are on his schedule now.....so......Ready.....Set......Wait!

Click here to see an ever-expanding photo album documenting our pregnancy.  We will continually add photos to this album, so we encourage you to bookmark the link:

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A8JtdOXmJqDHLp