New Year's Eve = Big News

I'm going in tonight to start being induced!!!!

My peri appt was this morning and to no surprise my bp was 152/108. I was 1cm dilated and 80% effaced. I was sent for another NST. They found 1+ protein in my urine and decided it was time to get this baby out!

I'm going back at 7 pm tonight and they will put cervidel (sp?) on my cervix to get it dilated even more. Then tomorrow, if I don't start labor on my own, they'll start me on pitocin. We're hoping for a speedy delivery (obviously) which would give us a New Year's Day Baby!!!! My brother's bday is today so we'll have this holiday surrounded. And plus, New Year's Day is sweetie pie Katie's (of The Happy Hours) birthday and I'm sure she wouldn't mind sharing it with EJ :)

So send me all the quick-delivery vibes you can spare!!!

In case you're wondering how I'm doing...I'm excited, happy, nervous, scared, nauseous, etc. all rolled up into one.

I just hope it doesn't hurt too much (LMAO)!

I'm too impatient for this.

My NST started out as the others...blood pressure 160/106 and protein in my urine. I had the blood draw, new IV put in, lying on my left side, yada yada yada. After two hours my blood pressure was normal and my blood work all came back ok. So they sent me home and back on strict bed rest. My next peri appt is Wed (New Year's Eve) and I'm hoping to get some answers from her. I am losing my mind and getting very stressed and I need her to put my mind at ease that my high bp isn't harming EJ in anyway.

Oh, and before I left L&D, the nurse said to take it easy to avoid any seizures with my blood pressures spiking high so much...um, way to freak out a hugely pregnant lady!!! LOL.

So now I'm off to bed. Well, at least until I have to pee again in 40 minutes :)

But please leave your comments and let me know what is going on in the outside world!!

Laughing out loud

I love your comments about the penis-shaped hat! So, for fear that Kristin would kidnap EJ, I promise you all I will not let him wear such a thing! Although, the "willie warmer" sounds great. LOL.

Lisa, bed rest is getting a bit boring, but it could be worse. I could be stuck in the hospital on bed rest. The worst part is having to stay on my left side. After a while, my leg gets numb and I want to roll over. Being on my back makes my bp go up, so it makes me nauseous. And being on my right just isn't the best place to be. So, I whine a little to Ed about it, but overall I'm doing ok. I am just so anxious to get EJ out here.

I have another NST today and I'll let you all know how it goes. I would love to hear the nurse say the magic word "INDUCTION"!!!

More on the hat situation

Some of you who read Newt's and Katie's blogs may have seen a bit of conversation about an "I have a penis hat". Well, I told Ed about said hat and this was his reply...

"Hell, I'd let him wear a hat in the SHAPE of a penis!"

You could just feel the testosterone oozing out of him while he said that. LOL.

Send off the fireworks

I am...

FULL TERM!!!!!!!!!!!



Ok, back to the couch for more bed rest.

"Strict" Bed Rest

My NST was yesterday and we did not pass with flying colors. Well, I didn't, but EJ did. His heart rate and movements were great! I, on the other hand, was a disaster. My first blood pressure reading was 163/106. Seriously. The nurse almost admitted me immediately. She rolled me to my left side and it went down to 142/103...improving slightly. Then it settled around 136/94...at least the bottom was under 100 at this point. And I had trace protein in my urine, so the dr was called. She ordered all the blood work necessary.

In the meantime, I was given apple juice and told to try to relax. My bp ended up going all the way down to 118/67. AMAZING! I was there for two hours in total and I was a nervous wreck the whole time they were going to admit me for hospital bed rest. In the end my blood work came back great so I was sent home with the orders of "strict bed rest".

And that means no Christmas for me. Ed and I will just stay at home and watch the "Christmas Story" marathon. I'm pretty bummed as this is my favorite day of the year, but I have to do what is best for me and my little nugget.

Christmas Eve Ed will run over to my parents' house and pack up some dinner for us and I think he's going to make Christmas dinner for the two of us. I can only imagine what the kitchen will look like when he's done. He's one of those "chefs" that has to dirty every single pot and pan while making a meal and the floor is never able to remain clean. It someone always gets sticky. LOL. But I love him for trying so hard. I guess a nice quiet Christmas would be good. I can only imagine how crazy next Christmas will be with EJ and my new niece around.

And at least I don't have to share my Christmas cookies with anyone :)

I have an appt with my peri tomorrow (Christmas Eve) and I have a ton of questions for her. Hopefully she has the right answers for me.

L&D, Take 5 = Bed Rest for Me

TMI Warning

I woke up Saturday morning feeling perfectly fine. I put bread in the toaster and went to the bathroom. Yikes. I was bleeding A LOT. It was bright red and very new blood. I was almost frozen with fear. I cleaned up the best I could and went to tell Ed. I could barely get the words out of my mouth...we have to go to the hospital now...bright red blood...lots of it.

I called the on-call OB to let them know we were coming and she sounded a bit alarmed by my description. As soon as we got to L&D I was hooked up for an NST, and EJ's heart sounded great. Big exhale. Then the dr. did an interal - holy hell why does that hurt so much?? Actually, it's not really "pain", it's more "pressure". But still, VERY uncomfy. She got a concerned look on her face and had the nurse squat down to see too. Nothing more pleasant than two people staring up your girlie parts with quizzical looks on their faces. She said the blood was not coming from my uterus, thank goodness, but it was from the surface of my cervix. And it was pouring out. She had giant q-tip looking things and she was soaking up the blood with like three of them at a time. She had the nurse get some magical clotting solution. It looks like gross brown mustard, but it worked in a heartbeat.

I stayed hooked up for about three more hours and EJ was doing excellent so we decided he was staying put for the time being. My blood pressure was through the roof, but my blood work came back ok, so another signal that he could stay in there for now. I've been ordered to be on bed rest until further notice. I have another NST today so my fingers are crossed he's still doing well and my blood pressure can chill out a bit. I'll have to ask at what point they decide to induce/do a c-section if my blood pressure gets too crazy. I can't imagine having high blood pressure during labor is anything desirable. LOL.

Needless to say, I'm a nervous wreck.

I <3 Mr. Sandman

I have been having a terrible time sleeping at night. Heartburn pesters me all night and it never really seems to go away totally. I try to sleep sitting up, but inevitably, my body slides down to try and get comfy. After the past week of waking every 40-60 minutes at night, all night long, I knew I had to try something different.

So I slept on the couch.

And I slept all night.

I didn't even get up to pee!!!!!

Can you believe that, Internet world???

I slept SOLID from 11:30pm to 6:30am.

And the only thing that woke me up was the stupid light that is on a timer. Lesson learned...I will unplug that darn light tonight! I feel so refreshed it's amazing. Jimmy did keep me company, so with the two of us and all of my pillows and blankets there was no room for rolling around. I woke up in the exact position I fell asleep. Now that's being a sound sleeper :) I've got so much energy today I don't know what I'll do with myself. Oooohhh...I know...I'll bake some Christmas cookies :)

Weekend Recap

Early last week my godmother passed away. She was one of my Mom's oldest and dearest friends and we called them family (she was "aunt", he was "uncle" and their kids were "cousins"). She was only 59. She and my Mom always felt a silly connection as they shared the same birthday and wedding anniversary (same days and years). She suffered from COPD for a few years and yet continued to smoke a pack of cigarettes daily. Her doctor said that was her death sentence. She was also on pain medicine for a recent back surgery and her body just couldn't handle all the stress and her organs started to shut down the day before Thanksgiving. She had been in a coma since then until she passed peacefully in her sleep last Monday night. The funeral was Saturday morning and it was very difficult. She has four grandchildren (and one more on the way) and they're old enough to know what's going on so it is always so hard to see children so upset. She was one of those people whose sense of humor was very sarcastic, but I found her hilarious and I will miss her greatly. I'm so sad she won't get to meet EJ. She'd said countless prayers over the past three years for us and she was so excited that things were going so well this time. Hopefully she'll be smiling down on us when EJ makes his grand entrance :)

In lighter news...Ed and I hosted his family's Christmas party this Saturday afternoon. There were about 35 adults and 15 kids so we had a pretty packed house. My Dad came dressed as Santa and the kids just about lost their minds with excitement. I can't wait for those Christmases with EJ!! The food was great and everyone was in the Holiday Spirit so I'd like to say the party was a success...thanks in huge part to Ed for all of his cleaning and decorating to get the house ready. The house looked amazing with Christmas touches everywhere. I love a home all decorated for the holidays!

We then spent just about all day yesterday napping and watching movies. I was exhausted and I'm still a bit tired today. I'll slowly get everything cleaned up but I don't want to overdue it. My body feels increasingly heavy and with sporadic contractions I'm trying to rest as much as I can to keep those contrax at bay.

Five more weeks to go...only 2 more till I'm full term...hang on little man!!!

Labor & Delivery, Take 4

I feel like the girl who cried wolf. I had my FOURTH trip to L&D Saturday night.

Since I'm on Lovenox, the OB's are pretty adamant about doing kick counts every day. I noticed on Saturday that EJ wasn't moving around much at all, nowhere near his 10 kicks during an hour. I would poke and shake him like I normally do, and he wouldn't react with his normal tap dance. So I called the on-call OB and he told me to get right to L&D...immediately. Ed was hunting two states away with his BIL so my Dad took me to the hospital. My Mom had to stay home since my niece and nephew were spending the night.

The nurse hooked me up to start my NST and we immediately heard EJ's heartbeat. PHEW. I stayed there for about 2.5 hours and had 2 contractions while I was there. I can't believe we're getting close enough that I'm having actual contrax!! This is just crazy!

We also heard tons of kicks, which I couldn't feel. The nurse felt my belly and we believe EJ is facing backwards so that makes it less likely for me to feel him kicking. That makes total sense. My blood pressure was through the roof and I had some protein in my urine. That's a sign of pre-eclampsia and I'll discuss it with my peri at my appt this Wed. My hands are really swollen and sore so it's making me a bit anxious that I'll have Pre-E. I'm so thankful to be 34 weeks already so I know if we had to deliver EJ early, there is a great chance he'll be healthy and strong. I pray that anyway.

Other than that, my blood work came back ok and they sent me home around 1 am. I was so exhausted and trying to stay calm to keep my blood pressure low. When Ed came home on Sunday I just cried with such relief that he was there and our baby was ok. It was a scary few hours at the hospital and while I was glad my Dad was there with me, I of course wanted my husband. I don't think Ed will be allowed to travel anymore until EJ arrives!

Tagged

Lisa has tagged me - I have never been tagged to list seven random thoughts about myself, so here goes:

Rules:1. Link to the person who tagged you.2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about you.3. Tag 7 random people at the end, and include links to their blogs.

1) I'm 30 years old and love Christmas like a child.

2) My dog Jimmy is one of my best friends. He has an ability to make me laugh like no human could.

3) I love to shop. If I had enough money, I'd buy a new pair of shoes to match a new outfit for every day. And get a new purse too.

4) I love getting my hair done. There is something so relaxing about it.

5) I'm addicted to reality TV. If it's on Bravo, I watch it :)

6) I have a juvenile palette. I'd order off the kid's menu if it wasn't so embarrassing. LOL.

7) I love the snow, as long as I don't have to shovel it. I leave the shoveling for Ed.

Now I tag anyone who feels like doing this :)

33 Week Growth Scan

Since I'm on daily Lovenox injections, I get an extra ultrasound during the pregnancy they call a "growth scan". It is just to be sure our baby is getting the proper supply of goodies from the placenta and that no blood clots have formed there inhibiting his growth. Everything looked great today. EJ is now at 4 lbs, 6 oz. That is in the 36th percentile, which means he is a bit smaller than the average baby at this point, but I have always heard IVF babies have a lower birth weight. The doctor said he looks perfect, and everything else going on in my uterus is great (amniotic fluid, head down, etc). And EJ is on track to be about a 7.5 baby...my birth canal likes the sound of that. LOL!!

As always, it's so great to see him wiggling around on the screen. It's so amazing to see how big he is. Just a few months ago he was like the size of a peanut and his whole body fit on the screen. Now just his head fits, or his body, or his legs, not all at once.

We're getting so close to the end and yet I still can't believe we may have a healthy baby at the end of all of this. And as I type this I can feel EJ squirming inside me, something that I treasure every single time I feel him.

I can't wait to meet our little guy :)

Turkey Day weekend

We had quite a busy Thanksgiving weekend. We spent the holiday with my family and it was a great time. The food was excellent and everyone was in a great mood. My brother came down from RI and his wife is 21 weeks pregnant. He could not believe how huge my belly is. He hasn't seen me in about 3 months and he just kept touching it and going "Ree, you're HUGE, seriously huge! How do you fit that body anywhere". Gee thanks, Mike...once a big brother, always a big brother!!!

Friday was my baby shower for my side of the family. My Mom picked a great place to have it and the food and cake were fabulous! My family and friends were super-generous and they just couldn't give me enough hugs and say how excited they are to FINALLY meet our little guy. I'm not one to shy away from being the center of attention, so I enjoyed every minute of that day ;)



Then Saturday night we went to an engagement party for Ed's cousin. She and her fiance dated for like 8 years so everyone teases them about FINALLY getting engaged. Although, their wedding isn't for two more years. Apparently it will take her parents that long to save up and pay for the extravaganza they want.

Sunday I spent almost the whole day on the couch. I was so exhausted and dealing with terrible heartburn from the array of foods I splurged on for the three previous days. I have tons of leftover cake and I'm determined to eat it all before it goes stale...hee hee.

So it was a pretty great holiday weekend, but it has left me pretty tired...although not too tired to go shopping today and take part in some of the great deals going on. It's always a good shopping day when you come home with two pairs of shoes for the price of one!!!