This Week at the Doctor's Visit...

No change at all, even though I've been feeling rotten for a few days now. (I'm actually feeling better today.) Since nothing has changed, nothing has been scheduled except my next office visit, which we are going to do on Monday. If things are "favorable" then, then we will schedule the induction. If there is still no change, we'll have another appointment toward the end of the week. That's about it for now.

On a humorous note, Mary Joyce just told me that when Baby Malcom gets here, he'll just knock on the door. If only it were that simple...

37 Weeks!

Today I'm at 37 weeks and had my doctor's appointment late this morning. Everything is still looking good. No big, significant updates to report. :-)

Making Way for Malcom

We are still waiting for work to begin on the addition to the parsonage, but it looks like the official church vote to do the work will take place next week, and after that, the work should begin fairly quickly. For the time being, we are having to improvise. Malcom would be sleeping in our room in the bassinet early-on anyway, but we have also had to make room for his dresser and the glider rocker in our master bedroom, which called for a major rearranging project. Of course, most of that fell to Chet, as I am in no shape to be moving furniture around. I also cleared out the coat closet in the family room--we are a bit past winter coat season in Florida--so that we would have a place for Malcom's hanging clothes. So, here is some of our prep work...





For the sake of comparison, here are a couple of "before" shots of our master bedroom...

Update on the Thumb

Mary Joyce had her follow-up doctor's visit today, and her thumb is looking better, but there is still some swelling. This leads the doctor to believe there is probably a hairline fracture there that just didn't show on the x-ray. We could have had it x-rayed again, but it wouldn't have changed the treatment at the moment. For now, she is still to wear the bandage and splint for part of the day and have it off for part of the day, just like we've been doing. After about 2 weeks, if there is still swelling, we will need to follow up again and possibly do another x-ray at that point if the swelling is still there. Since baby is due around the same time (and the doctor we saw today has a newborn at home and knows exactly what we are looking at in the next couple of weeks), he suggested that we not schedule a follow-up appointment, but call them if things aren't back to normal by then.

On another note, the office guy handed me paperwork to fill out for Malcom so we don't have to sit in the waiting room and do it on the day of his first visit. We are really getting close...

Little Girls in Orange

Awhile back, my mom sent a package of baby clothes for Malcom, and it included some cute summer outfits for the girls. I finally remembered to make pictures of them in their outfits, so here are our little sweeties in their orange and khaki.




For those who have asked, Mary Joyce is actually doing well with her bandage. She wears it from after bath time at night until lunch time. Her follow-up doctor's appointment is on Monday, and her thumb is looking MUCH better already.

Shower of Blessings!

Our church family blessed us with a wonderful baby shower last Sunday for baby Malcom. Thanks to them, we are much more prepared for our little boy's arrival. It was a joint shower with another expectant mom from the church. Baby Micah is due within a week of Malcom, and we have a running joke that we'll be neighbors at the hospital. :-)

Last Week's Tummy Picture and Baby Update

I'm a little behind with the blog. This tummy picture was actually made last Friday, when I was at 35 weeks. (I'm now at 36 weeks, but haven't made a new picture this week.)

At my last doctor's appointment on Wednesday, everything was still looking good. It looks like there is a very strong likelihood that my doctor will go on and induce during the 39th week. We are all for that for many reasons, not the least of which is it will give our out of town family a little more advance notice for travel. Also, we live 40 minutes' drive from the hospital. Thankfully, he is not going to let me go past my due date this time around. (Katherine was 9 days late.) So, that's where we are for now.

Mary Joyce's New Boo-Boo

Tonight as we were getting ready to go to church, Chet and the girls were on the couch, and somehow, Mary Joyce fell off of the back of the couch and onto our stone tile floor. It was one of those "slow motion" kind of moments, where you see it coming, but you just can't stop it. She got up crying, so we knew she was hurt--she's a tough little thing, unless something is really wrong. Her right thumb started turning colors and swelling. We put ice on it, and immediately called our pediatrician's after-hours clinic. Thankfully, they said they could do x-rays there, so we did manage to avoid the hospital emergency room. Being Wednesday, Chet had to be at church, so we dropped Katherine, Chet, and the food for the covered-dish supper at the church and picked up one of our wonderful church ladies who agreed to ride along. The after-hours clinic is actually in the next county, so after a 20 minute drive, we made it in, and then had to wait on the x-ray tech on-call to arrive. (I was so glad I took someone along, because it dawned on me at the time for the x-ray that I couldn't go into the room with Mary Joyce since I am pregnant. Thankfully, the lady who was with us is one of our regular sitters, so Mary Joyce is very comfortable with her.)

After all was said & done, nothing was broken, but Mary Joyce does have a sprained thumb, which is now sporting a nice splint and an ace bandage. After we got home, we also discovered a big goose-egg on her head. I don't know how 2 parents, a doctor, and a nurse missed seeing that, except for the fact that her bangs covered it up. That led to another call to the doctor's office, of course. All seems to be relatively okay at the moment. Let's pray that tomorrow is a much less eventful day.

Doctor's Appointment (Almost 35 Weeks)

Tomorrow, I hit the 35 week mark, and today was my regular doctor's appointment. They did the standard strep-B screening today--not the most fun thing ever. Everything seems to be measuring well, and Dr. S seems to think that Malcom is going to be a bigger baby than Katherine was. I know my tummy is bigger now than it was at this point last time around. (I know that a few weeks ago, Dr. Y mentioned that it looked like Malcom would be a small baby, but he and I have both gone through quite a growth spurt since then.) Malcom is still a very active baby. He kicked the doppler so hard at the doctor's office today, that the doctor and the nurse both jumped. Yep, I think he is going to be "all boy." :-)

The church is giving us a joint shower on Sunday afternoon with another expecant mother from the church. (We are due within a week of each other and keep joking that we are going to be neighbors at the hospital.) Anyway, we are looking forward to that.

I'll try to remember to get Chet to make a current belly picture within the next day or two. I'm on weekly appointments, starting next week, and as the doctor said, right now, we're just waiting for something to happen