Another Wednesday and all is well with the baby and me. My blood pressure was 100/70 and the baby's heartrate was about 135, though hard to capture because this little bundle of energy would not stay in one place. That's pretty much par for the course--lots of kicking and wiggling, sometimes in such rapid succession that I feel like a punching bag. All welcome signs though.

Dr. Kennedy was very excited today about brand new research that shows that steroids are effective in enhancing lung maturity with planned c-sections like mine. I'd asked about this a few weeks ago after one of Will's doctors mentioned that his wife did this instead of an amniocentesis to check for maturity. At the time Kennedy was iffy, saying she understood the preference to avoid the amnio, but no one had demonstrated benefits of steroids after about 34 weeks. Now there is research to support this so it looks like the path we'll follow. Assuming we both stay healthy, I will get two steroid shots 24 hours apart (just like I did before Will was born--standard care for pre-term deliveries) then wait another 24 hours and deliver. It looks like we'll have a choice of whether to do this in the last week of December or first week of January, again all contingent on our health.

Also, starting the week after next I'll have a non-stress test at each appointment--precautionary only, not because of any signs of impending problems. It's basically a fetal monitoring test that measures the heartrate and uterine activity over a period of about an hour.

It's winter in Iowa--first snow this week. Typical of our weather, of course, the Tuesday/Wednesday snow came on the heels of a 70-degree Saturday. At least that means the ground is still warm enough that nothing accumulated. Also discovered this week that two winter coats--one dressy and one casual--still fit around my expanding girth. I suppose that doesn't say much for the fit and stylishness of either coat if it still fits around me at nearly 30 weeks. Oh well, 12 years of uniform-wearing ensured that I would never be a fashion maven.