Our last weekend with just the two of us.

Our last Sunday Funday with just the two of us!

Go Bears! Yes, our little princess will be a Bears fan!

38 Weeks

First I want to start by congratulating my sister Jill, brother-in-law Ryan and niece Ella Jean for their big news of having baby #2 on the way! We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet our new niece or nephew come March 3rd 2010! Baby K will only be 7 months older than her cousin so it will be fun to watch them grow up together.

This picture is how I found out they were expecting, read Ella's shirt!

Baby Sunderbruch taken yesterday at 13 weeks!

So I am 38 weeks, so hard to believe all my hard work has gotten me this far! I actually had a pretty bad day yesterday because things keep changing and I haven't been feeling very well. I have had some time to process it and am feeling better today. First, I found out the baby still looks great from the ultrasound and monitoring I had done on Wednesday. She has been super active this week and has had some pretty powerful kicks to my ribs.

Last Thursday I was told by my OB that this baby was coming and she was coming soon and then on Sunday evening I lost my plug. So since then Scott and I have been on stand-by just waiting for her arrival. Now here we are a week later and I am still dilated to a 1 but the OB said my cervix has softened considerably since last week. My blood sugars have been pretty bad the last two weeks so my diabetic doctor upped my insulin to 4 shots a day. Also since being off bed rest I have started swelling quite a bit. My OB thinks it would be a good idea with everything that I have going on to get things moving and to not have me go to 40 weeks. She still thinks that the baby could very well come on her own in the next few days but feels assisting with the "ripening" of my cervix due to the scar tissue from my LEEP last year would be a good idea.

So if the baby doesn't come on her own before Tuesday/Wednesday next week, I will be going to the hospital to have some gel put on my cervix to help it dilate. This gel will usually put you into labor with in 6 to 12 hours but may require a 2nd dosage the next day. The gel is a more natural way of inducing labor than actually being induced with the drug pitocin. I am really hoping that she comes on her own before next week because I am just more comfortable with that.

So I guess no matter how this little princess enters this world she will be in our arms by the end of next week!

4th Wedding Anniversary

Seven years ago this past Sunday (8/16) Scott and I had our first kiss and started dating. Four years ago today Scott and I exchanged our wedding vows and had the most magical day as we started our life together. One year ago today Scott and I walked into the fertility specialist after 1 1/2 years of trying to get pregnant with little hope but striving for a miracle. Little did we know where the past seven years together would bring us but our love for each other has stayed strong. Today we anxiously await the arrival of our precious little girl to make our twosome a family of three and triple our love.

Yesterday I had my weekly BPP and NST and the baby looks great. We actually found out that this little princess has hair which came as a shock to me since I was bald until I was two. The ultrasound tech showed me her hair as it was flowing in her fluid. Today I met with my OB and found out that I am a full 1 cm dilated. My OB informed me that because of the LEEP procedure I had 7 months before I got pregnant I probably wouldn't dilate any more until I was actually in labor. The scar tissue takes a little more time to dilate but when it starts it opens quite quickly. I told my OB that I was having quite a bit of hip and tailbone pain along with sharp pains in my cervix and cramping that feels menstrual in my lower abdomen and lower back. She said that this little baby was coming really soon because of all of this! So now we just wait! Scott and I think that she is going to come Saturday but only she knows.

Today is the day the doctors wanted me to get when they put me on bed rest so I am excited not only to celebrate my anniversary tonight but also all the work I did to keep her in as long as possible. Today I start my 37th week and know that if she were to come now she will have no problems related to being premature. Today also marks the day that I am able to get off bed rest which gives me a little more freedom and hopes that gravity will take place and she will come this week.

Almost there!

I have now been on bed rest for 39 days and it has really paid off. At 31 weeks I was so worried that I was going to have a premature baby and now I am 3 days away from where the doctor wanted me to get, a full 36 weeks! I found out last Monday that I have started dilating so it shouldn't be much longer. Scott predicts this Saturday and I am thinking Friday, either way it is super inconvenient for my family because it is my cousins wedding in Chicago this weekend and it would be just like this little drama queen to come on her terms!

We were in Labor and Delivery on Saturday for most of the day because there had been a big decrease in fetal movement and they wanted me to go in to be monitored. I was hooked up to the monitor for 2 hours and it took some time to get her moving but we did and they were happy so they sent us home.

I have another ultrasound and NST on Wednesday and meet with the OB on Thursday for another cervix check. I am hoping I have continued to dilate and that things are progressing and that this little lady will soon be in my arms!

The start of 35 weeks!

Ok, I have a pretty long blog entry today but it is filled with cute pictures! Most importantly I had my doc visit yesterday and was given pretty good news. If you follow this blog you will notice every week I am given completely different information. The reason for this is that I belong to a big practice and because I go so often I don't get to see my OB every time and every doctor is different I am finding out. Yesterday I met with my favorite of the OB's and he was very positive about me, the baby and the pregnancy. What I found out is that my cervix is shortening which it is supposed to do but it isn't as short as the doctor last week reported. My OB yesterday said he was very happy with the length and hopes that it keeps shortening every week. He told me that I am 40-50% effaced and he was happy with that too and hoped that each week I would continue to efface. The doctor also told me it is ok to move around a little more than I have been. He said I am still on bed rest but he wants gravity to take place with the baby so moving around is good for natural labor. He even said I can go on walks and be up an hour at a time. Unfortunately he said I can't go back to work which sucks but I guess he knows best. The baby also looks great and for the most part I am feeling pretty good. He even said that I am turning into a pretty normal patient!

Baby Ketcher had another friend born this summer and her name is Madeleine Elizabeth and she was born on June 13th. She is the 2nd daughter of our good friends Elizabeth and Chris Allen. I just know that our baby and little Maddie will be great friends as they grow up with each other just like their mommy's!

Madeleine Elizabeth Allen
Mommy Elizabeth and Maddie

I had three beautiful showers this summer to celebrate my pregnancy and our little princess to be. The first of the showers was in Naperville on June 27th and thrown by my mom, sister Jill, sister Cara and niece Ella. The food was great and the house was filled with family and family friends that were generous to baby K. The second of the showers was moved to the party room where I live because of the bed rest situation. This shower was on July 18th and thrown by my girl friends that I met while working at Billy's, Elizabeth, Katie and Nicole. My mom was even able to come up for the shower which was great! It was funny how things have changed so much with these girl friends because just three years ago at one of our baby showers we drank all day and were out until 2am (not the mommy of course). My shower was filled with babies and the wine wasn't even finished. I guess we are all getting old! The third of my showers was moved to my apartment July 25th again because of me. This shower was thrown by Scott's mom and sister, Bonnie and Jesse. They threw a couples shower so that Scott could be a part of it too. It was so fun to have all of Scott's family over to our place because we haven't had an opportunity to have them all over before. We were all entertained by baby K's cousin Claire who was 3 months then and talked babies all night because two of Scott's cousins are also pregnant, Bethanie and Gina. Below are pictures from all three showers.

Chicago Shower: Ami & mom

Grandma Hepler and Ami

St Mary's girlfriends Sheila and Frannie

Hepler cousins

Schumacher girls: Jill, Ella, Ami, Cara and mom

Childhood friend Kim and her daughter Keira Noelle born May 13.

Aunt Ami and Ella

Girl friend shower: Katie, Nicole, Ami, Elizabeth and baby Maddie.

Ami and Nicole showing off our baby bumps. Nicole is due 3 weeks after me.

Ami and mom

All the Billy's girls from the shower.

St Mary's girl friends Kelly with baby Avery and Laura with baby Finley.

Scott's family shower: Ami and baby Claire (Scott's cousins baby)

My favorite outfit for the baby from Grandma Bonnie.

Bonnie, Ami and Jesse

Scott and Ami

Last week I was having a bad week feeling pretty lonely and sad. Thursday I was sitting on the couch watching TV again and my door bell rang. And there before my eyes was my sister Cara! She said surprise I am here for a week! I instantly burst into tears because she will never know how much I needed her. While here she worked like a dog by cleaning my house and getting all the baby stuff organized, washed and put away. She took care of so much that needed to be done I will forever be grateful! She left this morning which was sad but I feel so good about everything that was done.

I haven't taken a profile picture since the one my aunt took of me at 29 weeks so Cara took one of me next to the baby's bed. (Pictures of the nursery are still to come as soon it is finished.)

Ami @ a full 34 weeks!

33 Full Weeks

Yesterday I had my NST and BPP (see previous blog for what these stand for) and the baby looks great. She still has a strong heart beat and her heart looks good. She is also very active and doing great with her practice breathing. All wonderful things which makes everything that I am going through worth while.

Today I met with the OB and found out everything that I was told last week was wrong. I told the OB today how the bed rest is working because my cervix had lengthened. Today's OB told me that the cervix doesn't do that and that it was just a bad measurement. He said that the medical profession has not all come together on how to measure the cervix and that there is lots of research being done now to fix this. He checked it himself and said that the top knuckle of his finger is 2cm and that my cervix is showing 1.8cm. He said one thing he knows is that woman that have measurements less than 1.5cm go into labor within 7 days. So with the rate my cervix is shortening this baby is coming sooner than we would like. He said ideally they would like me to get to a 36 full weeks which is our 4 year Anniversary Aug 20th.

I asked the doctor after he measured my belly how big he thought the baby was and he wouldn't answer me. I asked if she was 3 lbs and he said getting there, I asked if she was 3 1/2 lbs and he said getting there. He said that we are all caught up on size with babies and that it is the gestational weeks that is important, especially with someone with gestational diabetes. He said that the baby could be at good size but the lungs not be developed so the longer she can stay in the better.

So not the greatest news today but I am still positive and believe that every day I don't go into labor is a good thing. She is coming whether we are ready for her or not and we will take whatever comes our way. God blessed us with this baby and I know He will take care of her.

Finally some good news at the doctor!

I had my weekly appointments on Monday that consisted of the NST (non-stress test) where they monitor the baby and my contractions, the BPP (bio physical profile) which is an ultrasound that they measure the amniotic fluid, baby's movement and breathing and score it out of 8 points, and then review everything along with a cervix check with the OB.

I was lucky enough to have my mom in town this past weekend and she came along to the appointments. The NST was good because the baby had a strong heart beat along with a lot of movements. Going into the ultrasound I told the tech that my mom had never been to one before and she went above and beyond to show my mom every angle of her newest grandchild. Baby Ketcher was so cooperative because she looked and smiled at us the whole time, it was a great ultrasound and she passed with 8 out of 8. The OB gave my mom and I so much time and answered every question we had. We found out that my cervix lengthened and the OB was very happy about that because it means the bed rest is working. The OB wasn't super game about letting me get off bed rest at 36 weeks because they don't necessarily want me to deliver at 36 weeks. He said we will see how I progress over the next 3 weeks before he makes any decisions.

I am still having contractions and the baby's head is still resting on my cervix and pushing down so bed rest is still crucial. After hearing the doctor tell me that the bed rest is working it makes everything that I am doing worth while. It makes the fact that I am not working or making any money totally worth while. Hearing that the baby is doing perfect makes everything worth while. This doctor's appointment helped relieve so much stress because I know Scott and I are going to get through all of this and have the most beautiful, healthy baby girl in a few short weeks.