Labor & Delivery, Take 3

Yesterday was pretty scary for me. And this post may be TMI for some of you.

I got out of bed around 8 am, went right to the bathroom and my pantyliner was full of blood. Red blood. Like the first day of a period. Cue my head swooning and me gasping in fear. I called Ed right away and since he left for work only ten minutes earlier, he turned right around to come home. I called my peri and they said to get right to the office. He did an internal and my cervix was closed - yeah!! He then did an u/s and EJ looked just fine. He's no longer breech - double yeah!! And his head was below my placenta so they ruled out placenta previa. Yeah again. Just to be on the safe side, I was sent to L&D for my third non-stress test to be sure I wasn't having contractions. The monitors showed I wasn't - phew - and EJ's heart rate and movement were great. Big exhale.

So I was sent home to be on 24 hours of bedrest and to go back for another check today. All is fine today (just passing some old, dark brown blood) and I'm on orders to just take it easy for the next few days until the bleeding stops completely.

So Ed will be making our contributions to Thanksgiving at my Mom's tomorrow. I'm sure he'll do a great job! And then my second shower is on Friday and I'll just sit and take it easy the best I can there. We have a family party Saturday night, but I'm sure I can find a comfy couch and camp out there during the party. And then Sunday I can get some real relaxing in and stay home on the couch all day.

My nerves handled things pretty well, and knowing that EJ could survive now if he was born this early is a huge relief. I just need a few more weeks to get everything in order, like washing his sheets, buying diapers, etc.

Hang on just a little while longer little fella!!!

To my lovlies...

This is for Katie and Patty. If I was to know you in real life, I think you would be best friends with my Mom and me. We seem so similar and you two are just too sweet to pass up :)

The other "ER"

For the better part of the past 3 years, the letters "ER" have meant the Egg Retrieval part of the IVF process. This weekend, I went to the other ER...the emergency room.

I woke up Saturday morning and my right arm was numb from my elbow to my finger tips. I figured I slept on it funny and would give it time to come back to normal. 2.5 hours later it was still numb so I called the on-call doctor. With my blood clotting disorder, I immediately feared that I had a clot in my right arm, and she thought the same thing. She ordered me to go right to the ER and they would do an u/s on my arm.

Hours of waiting later...

My neck and arm were all clear and they dx'd me with just having a pinch nerve of sorts. They said as long as it doesn't get worse, not to worry. All of my veins were clear and flowing properly. Still scary though as my fingers don't feel quite right yet. I go to see my peri this Wednesday so I'll chat it over with her. My next best guess would be carpel tunnel, which is apparently totally common during pregnancy.

As a side note, while I was in the ER, my blood pressure reached 201/93. Holy shit! I have never heard of bp being that high! They had me wait until it went back to a more normal 150/92 before they sent me home.

As a way to relax, Ed and I put up some Christmas decorations yesterday. We have VERY busy weekends for the next month and we're hosting his family Christmas party this year so we had to get a head start to be sure the house would be ready by then. Our tree is up and I just love it. Filling the house with Christmas is the happiest time of year for me :)

Where does it all come from??

I was up F-I-V-E times last night to go to the bathroom. Where in the world does all that pee come from? I certainly didn't have anything to drink from 2-4 am so why did I have to pee like a gallon??? LOL.

And why can't they make Gaviscon taste better? It's right up there with the terrible consistency of Tums and I nearly gag on every dose. Why does it have to taste like liquid chalk with a minty aftertaste? It should be nice and smooth like milk, with a flavor of chocolate or strawberry or something else that is yummy.

And for my third "compliant"...
my friend who was baking the cake for my shower in 7 days canceled yesterday. My Mom didn't quite get a good explanation from her email, but we spent the entire afternoon driving around town looking for a baker who could do it on such short notice over the holiday weekend. We didn't find anyone so we're going back out today. Apparently the day after Thanksgiving is HUGE for weddings and all the bakers we found were already full of their quota for cakes that day. Hopefully we can find someone today who is available and makes good cakes. There isn't much worse than getting all excited for a slice of cake only to have it taste like cardboard. Or maybe I should jump on Newt's and Katie's bandwagons and just make dozens of cupcakes??!!!

Showered with Love

My first Baby Shower was yesterday and it was great. My SIL hosted it at her house for all of Ed's side of the family. And my Mom, brother's wife and my niece went too. It was nice to have them there. My SIL decorated the house in blue from top to bottom. It was so adorable. She made cute little favors and there were special little touches all over. The food was great and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The family knows what kind of journey we've been on so they're all super excited to FINALLY have a shower for me.

We got so many great gifts. Most were off my registry, and then many people also added a cute little blue outfit, bib or hat. EJ is going to be a very well-dresses little lad :) Everyone was super generous. A few people are sending me their pictures so I'll be sure to post them as soon as I can.

Now I'm excited for the shower my Mom is throwing for my side of the family. It's the day after Thanksgiving so that will be a very fun weekend!

3D Ultrasound, Take 2

EJ is now totally transverse and is covering his face with his hands so today's 3D was a total bust. I'm so happy we got some good pictures last time so at least we have those. I'm not too bummed, I'm too busy being happy that he's growing strong. I just worry that this will mean a c-section in my future. No big deal really, I don't care if they need to take him out through my nose as long as he's healthy :) LOL.

But since his feet are dangling around inside my ute, we were able to get this cute picture of his little piggies...

Assvice

I'm sure there are dozens of times in our lives where we get "assvice" from people for any given situation. But why does it seem so more frequent when it deals with pregnancy and rearing children?

We went to a wedding on Saturday for one of Ed's cousins and the couple has an 8-month old. While the bride was making her rounds greeting everyone at their tables, she stopped for like 15 minutes to talk to us about what our lives will be like after our baby comes. And there was no candy-coating going on. She talked about sleep deprivation, the woes of breastfeeding, fighting with your spouse, teething, crying fits, vomiting, etc. I hate when people dwell on the negatives. I'd rather talk to someone like Ed's aunt whose son is 30 an only talks about the joys of motherhood. It's like the more distant someone is, the fonder the memories.

In happier news, I'm now 30 weeks!! Only 10 weeks to go. Time is seriously flying by. My symptoms seems to be pretty mild compared to some. I have terrible heartburn still. I stopped Tums (they made me way too constipated) and I moved to Zantac. I don't think it works as well, or as quickly, but at least I can go to the bathroom now. LOL. I still have a crazy sleeping pattern and I get up 2-3 times a night to pee. My backs aches every once in a while, but it's nothing too bad. And that's about it. Sometimes my belly feels really heavy, like he's rolled up in a ball at the bottom of my uterus, but after a while he'll stretch out again and everything feels fine. I am just so anxious to meet this little guy!!!!

Sibling news

My brother and SIL are expecting a baby in mid-April and they just found out yesterday afternoon that they're having a baby GIRL!! Yeah!! EJ will have a girl-cousin just 3 months younger than him.

And as silly as it sounds, I'm glad they'll be different genders. Then there is less likely an opportunity to compare them since most people say girls do things first...walk, talk, potty train, etc. I know, I know, I'm ridiculous. But still. LOL.

Aches and Pains

My body has been feeling so beat up lately. The front side of me hurts from the extra weight in my belly, and my back hurts from the over-compensation in my posture. I really need to start paying extra attention to how I sit and stand so I don't do my body more harm that good

For all of you ladies who have been pregnant...how do/did you sleep through the night? I toss and turn constantly and can never find a comfortable position. And just when my body is comfy, my heartburn flares up and I have to sit up until it goes away. Ed and Jimmy have taken up residence in our spare bedroom so I have the huge king bed all to myself, but I'm still so restless. First, I wake up around midnight to pee. Then, I usually wake up around 3 am too pee again and I'm so hungry I get a bowl of cereal. Then I'm wide awake and watch TV Land - Designing Women, Murphy Brown, etc. Then around 6 am I pee one more time and I'm ready to go back to sleep, but I try to get up by 7 am so that I don't sleep the day away and repeat my insomniac pattern.

I'm getting so anxious to meet EJ. My neighbor was due with her first on 11/18, but the little girl came early on 10/30. She is just precious. I held her for so long and I just can't imagine having to wait 11 more weeks for my little guy. I think her birth has made my anxiety a little worse this past week. Seeing such a tiny baby is making me crave holding my own. Then there are moments like this morning when I can feeling him kicking up a storm. I love having this all to myself and I know I'll be sad when I have to share him with the rest of the world. I'm enjoying every minute of this pregnancy (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and I pray to God that He blesses me with another child and I get to go through this again.

Bummer

My MIL called me Thursday night to say that my glider/ottoman arrived and she and my FIL would bring them over Friday night. YEAH! I was so excited. It was the last of the furniture that had to go into the nursery. Once we got the big pieces situated, I could figure out where to hang the pictures and stuff. So they came over last night around 6 pm and guess what. WRONG CHAIR. Figures, right?

I was so disappointed b/c I waited 6 weeks for it to arrive and I know I'll have to wait at least as long for its replacement. Ed and I went to BRU this morning to find out what we needed to do. It's a big chair that won't fit in the back of my car so I wanted to get exactly what we needed to do before we borrowed my Mom's car and lugged the thing all the way to the store. We're going to take it back tomorrow morning to return it and reorder the correct one. So, more waiting. And we all know how I feel about waiting. LOL.