Belly Saturday

35 weeks 4 days

35 weeks, yall!

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far along? 35 weeks 2 days

Size of the Baby? large cantaloupe.. honeydew melon

Maternity Clothes? today i put on "real clothes" (maternity) and not pajamas for the first time and they make my belly look even BIGGER!! I feel my 10 year old self walking around with a basketball under my shirt just pretending im pregnant.

Gender? girl

Movement? the lower half of my stomach never moves. i was told Wednesday (by the dr) that's bc she's already "dropped" into my pelvis and isnt really able to move her head (locked and loaded) but that from about her chest down she is totally movable (duh!) i get jabs to the ribs all day... her bony butt sits about 4 in. above my belly button and it feels bruised from being stretched out, and i get elbows to the sides a lot :)

Sleep? still bad. this week, there's only been one night i've fallen asleep before 6 am. Sheesh!!!! the other morning I fell asleep at 6 but was up 4 times between then a 9am going to the bathroom. My hips hurt SO FREAKIN BAD. i have to roll over every 30 min or so to get some relief. between going to the bathroom and changing positions, it seems as though i'll never sleep. Luckily, I have no where to be/go every day so I sleep from about 8:30 am to noon. I dont know why it's easier to sleep then.

Cravings? Still eating Philly Swirls (italian ice) a lot. Pancakes. Chocolate chip cookies.

Symptoms? new development this week: carpal tunnel. my left wrist hurts pretty bad. same ol: hip pain. back pain. pressure when i walk (feels like she's gonna fall out, so the waddle is in full effect). some sciatica still (shooting pain down my inner thigh..all the way to my knee!!.. caused by baby pressing against my sciatic nerve)

What I miss? there have been a couple of nights this week I could have definitely enjoyed a nice cold beer.

Milestones? 5 more days of bed rest, yall!!!! Then you BEST believe this mama is gettin OUTTA the house.

Weight Gain? hit the 20 mark this week!!

What I’m nervous about? How big she is getting. She's heavy. and big. and she has to come out, folks. Yikes.

What I’m excited about? My first baby shower that was cancelled is rescheduled for this Saturday and I have another one on Sunday!! Two baby showers this weekend!!!!! Im so excited!!!!

Baby Center Update for Week 35: Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basicphysical development is now complete – he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

nursery update part 2

Monday night, mom and I spent from 5:30 to midnight trying to finish up loose ends in the nursery. Or should I say... Mom did all the work while I sat in the glider and pointed and laughed and consulted. Haha, thanks mom!! All that's really left is to put pictures in frames, over the changing table (this is the only thing i dont have pictures of bc its not really done), mount the camera for the monitor, hang art work her Aunt Kelleigh is painting, and put a baby in there! :)

Here are some pictures from our night:

the new tutu lamps mom got her :) so cute!

showing off her hard work!

the whole wall..

touching up a coat of paint on the door

working on the paper lanters and pom poms over the crib

close to done.. still need to tweak a few things

And Cooper and Annie had to be part of the action, too. Even though they acted incredibly bored

It's looking pretty close (color-wise, anyway) to my ORIGINAL nursery inspiration picture, i think! :)

UPDATE: i am annoyed looking at this post bc the pictures are dark and the walls look green or something. I will take real pics w my real camera (and not my phone) when its all said and done!

34 Weeks :)

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far along? 34 weeks 3 days

Size of the Baby? large cantaloupe

Maternity Clothes? more like matts pajama pants and t-shirts... that's what bed rest has done to me

Gender? girl

Movement? still moving all the time, despite all the pregnancy apps and blogs saying she should stop moving so much due to running out of room. her movements actually hurt sometimes, now. headbutt's to the bladder...sharp elbows in my sides.... heels under my ribs. she is having a grand ol' time in there. feels like shes ready to get out!

Sleep? terrible. miserable. awful. being in the hospital for four nights and on bed rest for the past week have made my sleep schedule pretty wonky in the first place. you aren't THAT tired at night after laying around all day. however, last night was the worst of them all. by this time, my body is producing a lot of a hormone called Relaxin that loosens your joints to prepare for birth. my left hip and shoulder are really feeling the effects. combined with the weight from my belly, it makes it miserable laying on my side at night. but that's the only way i can sleep (not on my back or stomach). so i just switch sides all night long and choose which hurts less. last night i didnt fall asleep til 5:30 am and only slept on and off for 30 min intervals. I guess thats ONE good thing about being on bed rest, i dont have anywhere to be and can try to nap throughout the day.

Cravings? Phillie Swirls (they are italian ice cups from bilo) ive eaten a whole box in three days. so good! strawberries. orange juice and apple juice.

Symptoms? haha. everything in the book? leg cramps. sore and achy joints. contractions. shortness of breath. headache occasionally. back pain to the max. HEAVY belly, haha. she feels so big in there!

What I miss? sleeping comfortably. sitting comfortably. putting on my shoes and socks easily.

Milestones? making it to 34 weeks was a great milestone after all thats happened! the doctors kept telling us 34 weeks is a great milestone, 36 weeks is an EXCELLENT milestone. So I hope she'll stay in until February 1st!

Weight Gain? 19 lbs. wheeeewwww

What I’m nervous about? i had a nightmare that i hemorrhaged after delivery and all the blood loss made me pass out and i didnt get to see the baby for a long time. i woke up woozy. this is my worst nightmare. i already cant deal well with blood, particularly blood leaving my body (like giving blood, or cutting myself). the blood that is going to be on the baby and come out with placenta and everything, i am prepared for. that is normal and supposed to be there. but excessive or unexpected blood loss would for sure make me pass out so i am PRAYING my placenta detaches normally and everything goes smoothly.

What I’m excited about? Finally a baby shower this saturday!!! my first one got postponed bc i had just gotten out of the hospital and we were unsure what was going on. Think it's been rescheduled for next Saturday and I also have one next Sunday! So that will be a fun weekend!

Baby Center Update for Week 34: Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers – which she'll need to regulate her body temperature once she's born – are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

is there a stronger word than thankful?

Just a week ago today, we were in the hospital, being briefed by the head NICU neonatologist on what to expect should Mary Tyler arrive within the next 48 hrs (as they were expecting). You can imagine the panic/excitement/nervousness/worry/etc. One of my stressors was that the house wasn't clean... the nursery wasn't ready! She would most likely have to stay in the NICU for at least a week, but still. NOTHING was done!

I didn't even have to say this out loud, my mom knew. The new carpet for the nursery had to be installed Tuesday morning, so monday night while I was in the hospital, Mom, Trav, Tyler, and Janey came to the house to take care of some things for us. We had been planning on painting the baseboards Sunday night then moving the nursery furniture out so the carpet could be installed. So they came over and worked their tails off to get the carpet ripped up and boards painted and furniture moved. Also, the cleaning ladies we hired we going to come clean Wednesday morning and I was going to have to "de-clutter" in order for them to deep clean everything. SO, my family had to do that, too.

Luckily... they all took some pictures of each other to document their work for me:

here's the nursery once they got all the furniture out...

our bedroom with all the nursery furniture moved in

tyler and janey ripping up the old carpet

mom taping

Janey getting ready to paint..

new carpet.... (bad lighting)

the nursery should be completely finished by Sunday and I will post pictures then. In the meantime, I needed to give credit where credit is due and THANK my Mom for the endless work she's put in and help she's given me not just in the past 11 days but since June 17th when I found out I was pregnant. I really, seriously don't know what I'd do with her!! She keeps telling me as long as I do the same for Mary Tyler one day, she doesn't mind doing it for me. I hope I can be even half as good of a mother to my baby girl as my mommy has been to me :)

And to the rest of my family and friends who have been here for me, any little thing I need. Trav, Tyler and Janey for doing all that work... Cindy for bringing me Hardees in the hospital three mornings in a row so I didnt have to eat nasty hospital food, Kelleigh for coming over two days in a row and cleaning my entire upstairs, Dad and Susie have brought me dinner and offered to bring anything we need, truly EVERYONE has been so great. Mary Tyler is so incredibly blessed to be joining our family!

Don't even get me started on Matt, he deserves much more than a blog post. There are still two weeks of this bed rest left and I'm sure he's going to blow my mind even more than he already has As most of you know, my husband isn't normally the most patient person. He has a very short fuse before he becomes easily frustrated and irritable. These past 11 days he has been the most cool, calm, and collected I've ever seen him. Although I know there have been a few times he's been panicking inside or nervous or irritated, he hasn't shown it. He's been a wonderful caretaker, grocery shopper, dog nail trimmer, laundry man, pharmacist, masseuse, pack n play assembler, refrigerator cleaner-outer, shoe and sock putter-onner, chef, etc. He still melts my heart and I know he's going to even more when I see him with our daughter.

I've been overwhelmed several times this week just thinking about how blessed I am and how I can never express to all these people how truly grateful I am for everything. I wish there was a word stronger thank THANKFUL, but for now, that will have to do.

Thank you EVERYONE for the prayers, the meals, the phone calls and texts! I love you all and can't wait for Mary Tyler to meet you :)

-B

back to the hospital...

doubtful we will forget, but i just wanted to note for future reference:

we went back to the hospital friday night. (jan 13) i started having contractions around 9 pm and tried to ignore them, around 1030 they got so close together that we decided to time them and I had 14 in an hour. so we left and went around midnight. i got to triage and they monitored me for a while and then gave me another shot of Brethine. gah that stuff is bad. makes me feel like im going to shake out of my skin. and heart races. then they checked me and i was still at 2/3 cm (same as when I left the hospital on Wednesday) so they let me go home.

Obviously those contractions werent progressing me, so from now on im just kind of ignoring those contractions. The doctor said she really doesnt think ill go full term. I'm still not sure what I think. Somedays I think she'll come really early and some I think ill be lapping the neighborhood on my due date trying everything I can to get her to come out. :)

we've got a baby prankster on our hands!

Dear Mary Tyler,

You are just like your Daddy, you think you are very funny :) I am pleased to announce that I'm writing this blog from my own bed, at home! You've kept Mommy in the hospital for the last 4 days, threatening an early arrival.

On Sunday afternoon, Aunt Janey and Uncle Tyler were here helping your dad and me get some things done around the house, for your arrival. Janey and I were cleaning out the laundry room and Dad and Tyler took some old guest room furniture to a storage unit to make some more room for you. While they were gone I started feeling the "cramps" in my lower abdomen again and getting some radiating back pain. I really didn't even want to call the OB on call. I had a lot I'd planned on doing that day and felt like it'd be a false alarm type thing. When the contractions just got worse with more movement and activity, I called the dr. They told me given what had happened a few days earlier, I should head back to the hospital.

We arrived and they hooked me up to the monitors to see what my contractions were looking like. They gave me a shot of brethine and did something called a Fetal Fibronectin test. Here's a little info about the test: Fetal fibronectin is a protein that acts as a "glue" during pregnancy, attaching the amniotic sac — the fluid-filled membrane that cushions your baby in the uterus — to the lining of the uterus.

Fetal fibronectin is often present in cervical secretions during early pregnancy. Fetal fibronectin also shows up later in pregnancy, about one to three weeks before labor begins. If your health care provider is concerned about preterm labor, he or she may test a swab from your cervical canal for the presence of fetal fibronectin. A positive fetal fibronectin test is a clue that the "glue" has been disturbed and you're at increased risk of delivering within the next 2 weeks.

So, after the shot and the test we waited for the results which were going to take about an hour. The shot calmed the contractions during that time, but after about an hour they were back and I had about 8 contractions in 30 minutes. They decided to admit me, even though we still didnt know the results of the FFN.

We were admitted to the labor and delivery floor and the nurses were so great. They told me I would be hooked up to magnesium for the next 48 hours to slow contractions enough that the steriods they gave you would work. (They gave mommy two steriod shots to help develop your lungs, in case you did come early). The magnesium was terrible. It made me feel like I had the flu. It made me so hot that the nurses declared my room an "igloo" and everyone that came to visit us had to bundle up in a big furry blanket. The FFN test came back negative, meaning there would only be a 5% chance you would come in the next 2 weeks, but the next day, when I started having contractions again (9 in 30 minutes) they were thinking you were in that 5%. They said they'd no longer try to stop you from coming bc you were 33 weeks and have a great chance of thriving and having a healthy life, but you'd have to spend a few weeks in the NICU. The head doctor from the NICU came in to talk to mommy, daddy, uncle tyler, aunt janey, travdaddy, gmommy, grandy, and grams. He made us all feel very comfortable with what would happen should you arrive. At that point there were some nerves, but more excitement at thinking we may meet you so soon. although it was not the ideal situation. What a roller coaster the past three days had been!

Luckily, over night, the contractions spaced out and slowed down. They let me come off the monitors all day yesterday and made sure you and me were ok, and we were. They decided to let us come home under one condition, strict bed rest. That means for the next three weeks you and me will be doing a whole lotta' nothin. I'm also on a medicine called Procardia, to control the contractions. It makes me feel a little weak and funny bc it's a medicine for high blood pressure, and I have low blood pressure, so it lowers it even more. My cardiologist said I wouldn't be able to take it if I were going to be allowed out of the house because it would probably induce my passing out, but since I'll be in bed, I should be ok.

You are so active since we got home last night. Bumping and nudging me constantly. You feel SO HEAVY in there. I think it's because I was pumped full of IV fluids all week and my amniotic fluid is just full to the brim. It's crazy to think that in just 3 weeks you may be able to make your debut into this world. I'm allowed off bed rest on Feb 1st and you are due on Feb 29th. Mommy and Daddy both think you have decided to stay nice and cozy in there, though. I'm expecting you to arrive around Feb 22nd, just one week early, and Daddy thinks you're going to be born in March. Either way, we are so excited to meet you, but more excited you decided to stay in and get a little bit bigger over the next few weeks (hopefully)!

Love,

Mommy

32 weeks...

Instead of my typical pregnancy update I'll fill you all in on what happened today..

Last night, I was cooking supper and kept feeling a lot of pressure/cramping in my very lower abdomen, it felt like a bad period cramp. I had a regular doctor's appt yesterday and I asked him to feel what position the baby was in and he pressed pretty hard, down low, and grabbed Mary Tyler's head to confirm she was head down. So when I was feeling those cramps I thought maybe it was from him grabbing around down there or something. (how do i know??? haha) i kept feeling it on and off for about an hour but there was no way to "time" it as they weren't coming on immediately intense, just gradual. and my stomach was getting tight but nothing crazy so i wasnt even sure they were contractions. I told matt if it was still bothering me in the morning I would call the phone nurse.

so i woke up this morning still feeling questionable. i took a shower and sure enough, ever so often i was feeling the cramp sensation. i decided to call the phone nurse, after trying to talk myself out of it all morning. i just felt like they were going to have a good chuckle and shake their heads at me saying "that's braxton hicks, sweetie, everyone goes through it." the nurse told me to come in just to be safe. the whole way driving over there i was like "ughhh why am i going, im about to feel so stupid!"

I got there and they took a clean catch urine specimen then i waited on Dr. Beck to come in. When she did, she said there were a lot of ketones in my urine, proving that i was dehydrated and I needed to drink more water. Which was kind of disheartening bc after checking with some of my fellow mother friends last night they all told me to drink water and I DID!! I drank a lot between last night and this morning. Oh well, she said she wanted to check my cervix just in case but was pretty sure she'd send me to the monitoring room to check and see if the contractions were real. she checked me and right before she took her hand out she gave the nurse a wide eyed look. I knew right there something was off. She looked me right in the eyes and said "I'm going to send you to the hospital right now. Don't go home, dont stop at mcdonalds or the gas station. go straight there." Then I think she realized I was terrified and explained "everything should be ok. but you are almost 2 cm dilated and we need to get a shot in you to stop you from progressing any further. they will also start and IV and pump you full of fluids to rehydrate you." I stood there in shock for a few seconds as she told me to get dressed while she called the hospital.

mom was on her way there already bc i'd called and asked her to come meet me on my way there. (they took me back the second i walked in the door, and naturally mom was running late) matt didn't go bc he was on an important call when I left and I was fully expecting them to send me right back home. I called Matt and he left to meet us at the hospital. Mom got there and drove me.

We checked in and they got me in my room and gown. Waited for my heart rate to go down some, bc i was nervous, and then gave me the shot of Brethine to stop contractions. then got my IV started. We ended up only being monitored and hooked up to the IV for about 2 hrs and then I was good to go home, after checking my urine again and making sure the ketones were gone. I'm just instructed to take it easy this weekend and to call immediately if i start having consistent contractions again. Otherwise, I go back for my regularly scheduled appt on Jan 18th.

Today is the first day (of many im sure) I felt like a bad mother. Bc it wasnt baby girl trying to come out on her own, it was her being forced out due to my lack of hydration! I will be chugging my smartwater from here on out, Mary Tyler, I promise! :) I did ask a silly question... if my cervix would close back up now? They laughed at me and said "no, you'll be 2 cm from here on out." That is kind of nerve racking but I guess not too big of a deal, since they didnt put me on bed rest!

thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. hopefully the next 7.5 weeks go smoothly and I can finish her nursery and have some super fun showers and relax!