Carole has been feeling better overall, but still has many discomforts.  Her restless leg syndrome is constant and it usually flares up at bedtime, so full night sleeps are very rare!!  Carole has also perfected the art of snoring!!  So we now race to see who can fall alseep the fastest...and the loser ends up sleeping in the recliner in the living room.  We even have an alarm clock out there so that I'm not late for work.

Sydney is already listening to me and she's still in the womb.  I'll ask Carole if the baby is awake so I can feel her moving around and the answer will be "No, she's being very quiet now".  I'll then talk to her belly and say "Sydney....Kick your mother" and less than 10 seconds later she'll wake up and start her kicking!!  This has happened every time I've said this....so I think it's hilarious.  (Mom has other opinions on exactly how "funny" this actually is)

Little Sydney at 32 weeks 3 days

Frank breach baby at 32 weeks

This ultrasound above and to the left was taken at 32 weeks 3 days (Jan 25, 2002).  As you can see, she is growing fast!!!  Today we found out that little Sydney is in what's called a "Frank Breech" position.  What this means is that her head is up, and her feet come up the front of her body.  See the picture above and to the right for a better 3D view of this position.  She weighs about 4 pounds 7 ounces from the ultrasound tech's estimates and her heartrate was at around 150.  We were able to see the 4 chambers of the heart, liver, kidneys and bladder.  Everything is going well...except for that breech thing!!  Looks like we'll be going back for yet another ultrasound to see if she turns into the proper position.  After some reading online, we found out that 7% of babies are breech at 32 weeks, but that only 3% will deliver breech.  We have a few more weeks to coax her to turn upside down.  Carole is secretly hoping for a C-section!!

We went to the emergency room and when they found out that Carole was almost 34 weeks pregnant, the triage nurse said "Oh...we dont want you here!" and pointed the way to labour and delivery.  Once we arrived there, the nurse said to Carole "Are you in labour?" and I said "Ack!  She better not be!!" haha.  Anyhow, after a short exam, the OB on call said "Well, she's not breech anymore".  In Carole's words "the little stinker flipped!".  They hooked her up to a fetal heart monitor for a half an hour and then we were told that little Sydney was doing just fine and that we could go home.  All that activity was our little daughter doing everything she could do to flip into the proper position.  With this new found space for her feet, she took advantage of the situation and showed mommy how good she could kick. (0ver and over and over again). We still have an ultrasound scheduled for later this month. 

All we can do now is wait...wait....and wait!  Carole has said on more than one occasion "Come on...I don't wanna be pregnant anymore!!".  Our recliner is still Carole's bed, but at least that offers some relief from back and rib pain.  The restless leg syndrome is still hanging around, but we found some bath pillows that help support her back and neck, so at least baths can be soothing and relaxing once again.

It's a little difficult to see, but our ultrasound tech was nice enough to label the features.

You can see little Sydney's arms and hands to the left and her mouth is open like she's trying to talk to us.

You can see her chin, lips, pudgy cheeks and nose.  Her eyes are hidden in this shot.

This picture shows her yawning.  I guess our conversation at the time wasn't all that interesting to her!!

It's now March 10 and we are only 9 days from the due date!!  Things have been pretty rocky for mom at times.  Sydney is now so big that there is not much room left inside of Carole.  We keep reading that we may notice a decrease in movements because of this, but not to worry...things are still just fine.  Well, lets just say that she is still as active as ever!! Because of the decreased space in there, she manages to find pretty painful places to kick and punch (and knee and elbow).  Carole arms herself every night with her nausea pills, flexall for her leg pains, Gaviscon for heartburn and a heating pad for her sore back.  Needless to say she cant wait til the day she can sleep back in our bed.

In the past few weeks, Carole has experienced the wonderful pregnant feeling of swollen ankles and feet.  Even though we know this is normal, it's a bit frustrating for Carole.  Her socks leave large impressions in her legs and we've had to buy shoes 2 sizes bigger than normal!  Click on this link to read about what's normal and whats not, as well as things you can do to try and reduce the swelling.   See pictures of mom's ankles before, during and after the pregnancy.  Sleeping is incredibly difficult for mom at this time.  At one point, she went 2 nights without any sleep at all!  She even went out at 4am one morning to get some grocery shopping done and to fill the car up with gas.  Insomnia is common in the first and third trimesters.  The previous link has some tips on what you can do to keep yourself comfortable and relaxed for sleep.

On Friday, March 22, Carole had her final OB appointment before Sydney's birth.  We went in, with a list of questions
that we wanted to ask.  Carole had her blood pressure taken and we then sat and waited for about half and hour.  When she went in to be examined, we were told that there wasn't any real improvement over last week.  I was thinking "oh great...we'll have to wait til Tuesday."  He had already read in the chart that her blood pressure was a bit high, her feet and ankles were still swollen and she was suffering with insomnia.  He did an internal exam, said that there was no progress, and then asked "So, what are you guys doing this weekend?"  My heart jumped with excitement and when I looked at Carole, her face widened into a smile I hadn't seen in months.  That list of questions we had no longer mattered!!  We have to go to the hospital tomorrow morning at 8am for the gel they use to soften the cervix.  When she's dilated to 4cm, he'd break the water and if labour isn't progressing quickly enough, then he'd use pitocin to aid in contractions.  I'm not sure how much sleep we'll get tonight ..... we are all very excited!!

Hurry up Sydney!  There are lots of people who cant wait to meet you. (especially your mommy and daddy and your big sister!!)