All things baby

Well, I had another visit to the Dr's today for another ultrasound to check fluid and baby. My fluid level was 8.3 which isn't great, but much better than last Thursday's results (5.1)! I did have a few other changes today as well to warrant continuing to keep a close eye on me. So, I go back Sunday morning for another ultrasound. Basically my dr gets the feeling I could go into labor at any time, but if I haven't delivered by 37 weeks (Wednesday, May 30th), then she is going to induce me. This kiddo is measuring on the bigger side (which I know ultrasounds at this stage can be off), but with all the problems I've had we don't want to risk anything, and I am totally okay with that! Obviously I would love to make it to 37 weeks, but I do feel more of a peace now that I've had my steroids AND baby seems to be on the bigger side. I rest assured in the fact that God has it all under control and He hols both mommy and Youngin' in the palm of His hands:). The nursery is really coming together!!! Chris sanded, primed and painted an old desk that we will use as the changing table and we got new hardware for it to add a little POC (aka pop of color). I will post pics as soon as its completed. The next project is to find specific spots for everything. Of course we got a call on Tuesday morning that someone wanted to come that morning to view our house and our baby shower gifts were scattered between the living room and the nursery with no specific homes. So, we, well my mom and Chris, quickly found temporary hidden spaces for the item so the house could look good for the showing. I'm hoping to be able to sit tomorrow and figure out living spaces for all of these new items. My OCD is kicking into high gear :). Bedrest is not an accomodator of OCDers!! I really feel very disconnected from the outside world due to bedrest. It's sad that I get excited about going to the dr just so I can get outside! I am definitely thankful for technology, social networks, and blogging. Oh and of course my iPad that helps me have quick access to all of those! I welcome visitors, but I warn you that I may talk your ear off due to my loneliness! I have found that I talk to myself now....even more, which is kinda scary, and poor Zoe is probably ready for a break from me too! I plan on wearing baby out with frequent trips out (once I feel up to it) after all this bedrest :). I can't wait to meet my lil munchkin!! I'm still not quite sure it's even hit me yet that baby will be here in 2 weeks (at most). I am sure you never really feel prepared, but it just still doesn't even feel real.....I sure hope this is normal! Let me just add this....I've been keeping up with American Idol this year and Phillip Phillips does NOT deserve to be in the!!! Don't get me wrong, he sings good, but he doesn't have the talent that Josh and Jessica do. It's all because a bunch of 13 year old girls think he's hot. Okay, I feel better! Whew glad I got that off my chest! LOL Well, I should probably wrap this up and get to bed since tomorrow I have to.....lay on the couch all day :)I will continue to update everyone on our status, and I may even throw in another blog just because. I hope everyone enjoys their Friday!!

Couch crafting

Since my time on the couch has been an all-day occurrence, I decided last week to have Chris get my sewing machine out that I hadn't used for, oh let's say, about 7 months. Oopps! But I figured what better time to relearn my machine, and work on baby projects. It's been quite fun I'm not gonna lie. I had to find something productive to do. One can only lay and watch movies for so long before you start going crazy! Well, ok truth is I'm probably still going crazy being stuck inside, but it must be done. At least the weather has been amazing so we can have the windows open, so I still feel like I'm getting fresh air. I've become quite familiar with pinterest and tutorials as a result of bedrest. So my first few projects were burp cloths. And then I made a small minky blanket. Next up were pacifier clips. And the final project was a newborn outfit for a girl at the hospital. I already found and bought the cute lil onesie and hat for a boy, so I decided to make one for a girl. I think it turned out pretty cute if i do say so myself. Oh, and I just had to make a matching headband too!!!

So, in the midst of trying to get our house ready for Youngin, I've had to go through my closet and get rid or clothes. But some of the stuff was too easy to keep for craft ideas, so I kept a pile aside just for that. So, last night after making some things for baby, I decided to make a couple things for mommy :-). Definitely not the greatest, but I'm still learning how! Here's a T-shirt I up-cycled by adding ruffles out of an old t-shirt, and then used some fabric that I had to make a matching headband. Again, I definitely don't claim to be a sewing expert, but it's kept me busy and kept my mind off of things.

Okay, so just a little update in case anyone missed out. I went back for an ultrasound on Saturday morning, and my fluid level was up to 7.7!!! I was SO relieved. I thought I had come to peace with the fact that we may have been making a trip back to the hospital after my baby shower for induction if my fluid level had been any lower than 5, but once Saturday morning rolled around, I realized I wasn't ready at all. And not so much "house ready", but mainly mentally and emotionally!! But God worked it all out! So, now I'm just waiting to hear back from the office as to when my appointment for this week will be. I'm trying my very best to keep everyone updated, so I'll do my best.

As for my baby shower, wow am I a blessed girl!! I got so much great stuff!! I can't even begin to thank everyone enough for coming, and my family and friends that help put throw the shower! I loved the decor, and just.....everything!!! I had so much fun sitting on my couch going back through everything Saturday night! Chris did just as I predicted and walked in, stopped dead in his tracks and said "where in the world are we gonna put all this?!" LOL! He's managed to find places for most things already. He Laundered all the clothes, blankets, towels, rags, and burp cloths and I sat and folded it all last night. I wish it was as fun to fold our clothes as it was the baby's!! Instead of buying a crib and changing table set, we decided to have a modge podge variety of furniture. So we are taking my old desk and Chris is refinishing and painting it antique style and we are going to use that as the changing table. Saves us money, and gives the nursery a unique look at the same time :-). He will be painting it this evening and then I can post pictures as soon as its finished. I forgot to take before pics....ooops! That's where the imagination will have to step in! Things are coming together and baby will be here before we know it. Well, it's time for my medicine and then I'm back to more crafting. Happy Monday everyone!

Bedrest Blogging

Okay okay I know it's been forever, but time just kind of got away from me each evening. But rest assured, now that I'm on bed rest I have some time. I'm trying my best to keep myself busy to help the days go by fast, so I figured it was time to get back into my blog. So, a LOT has happened since I last blogged in February....A LOT!!!! So I will try my best to hit it all. My pregnancy was going fantastic, I felt great, and time was just zooming right along. I remember feeling my first few contractions at 23 weeks, but nothing regular or worrisome, just some tightening. But all my drs visits went well, and all of my unofficial ultrasounds in th office I work in looked great! And then Thursday, April 26th came and everything just kinda went south from there. I had some pretty consistent contractions starting that evening, so being the good nurse that I am, I didn't bother my dr and put myself to bed with a big jug of water. I woke up feeling okay the next morning (Friday 4/27), but still feeling some contractions, so after some convincing, putting myself on the monitor at work, and not feeling the greatest I called my OB. She started me on some medicine and said "check in with me Monday to let me know how the weekend went". She even gave me the okay to go to the Cardinals game with friends that Friday night, and I did so good. Even though they scored 13 runs, I cheered from the sitting position. Saturday rolled around and I spent all day cleaning our house and getting it ready for our open house the following day. And when I say all day, that's only because I had to stop and take so many breaks. I think I'd clean for about 10 minutes and then rest about 20. It was quite the experience!! So that evening we packed up and headed to my parents house to spend the night where I lounged the entire evening. And I honestly felt great, just tired. I woke up Sunday morning feeling good and I even took my medicine a little later so that it would be in effect while I was at church. Everything was hunky dory, and then all the sudden I was sitting in Sunday school class and felt a contraction (approx 10:45), and then another. So at 10:56 I decided that I better start recording them for the day since I knew I'd be checking in with the dr on Monday. I went into morning worship in the sanctuary and sat down and they just kept coming. Within about 20 minutes I had 6 contractions. So, I told Chris I was going to go lay down in my dad's office, drink some water, but to keep his phone handy in case we had to leave. So I went and got a bottled water, laid down, and they still kept coming. In about a 45 minute time span I had > 10 contractions, so I thought I better call the exchange to see what I should do. So, I did just that and after saying " yes, I did that" and " yah, tried that too" the on call dr felt it was best for me to go to the hospital to and I quote "get some Terb and get these stopped". So off to the hospital we went. Due to a really LONG story, and an emotional journey that I'm not quite ready to address quite yet, I will try to just hit the highlights of the week. So, after attempting medications by mouth, a shot, and a fluid bolus to try to get the contractions to stop, they just kept coming. So the decision was made to admit me, give me steroids to help the baby's lungs, and IV magnesium to try to stop this preterm labor. I ended up being on Magnesium until Friday, and then getting to go home on bed rest on Saturday. To say the least it was quite an emotional week for me!! But through it all baby looked great on the monitor, so that was very reassuring!!! So, backing up a little bit, I had an ultrasound on Friday after they stopped the magnesium and disconnected me from my IV. Baby looked great, but that is when we discovered another issue...my fluid level was low, 7.7 to be exact. So Dr.Ladd decided that she wanted another ultrasound done Saturday morning before I left to go home to measure the fluid again. So Saturday's level ended up being 8.9, still on the low side but better than Fridays so I was hopeful. I was out the door about 10ish....hallelujah!!!! We had to go to my papas house bc we had 2 scheduled viewings on our house that day, of course. But I honestly didn't care where I was going, I was getting out of the hospital!! So I rested there and then mom and papa cooked me a home-cooked meal after a week of hospital food and eating out, and it was delicious!!!! So we finally made it home late Saturday evening, which made it a full week since I had been home. Sunday came and we got another phone call that afternoon that someone else wanted to come see our house, so we scurried around to look appropriate and charades out the door with Zoe. All this week has been pretty uneventful going between the couch and the bed. Thankfully I've had some visitors to help keep me sane, and mom has been here with me everyday. She really is the bet!! Which brings me to today. I get a wake up call from an agent telling me that someone wanted to view our house at 12:45. So I quickly called mom to tell her I needed her sooner rather than later since chris was at work and there was some picking up/ cleaning up that needed to be done. I hate not being able to do anything!!! And poor Angela who thought she was just coming to visit me got conned into washing dishes and help put some stuff away while I entertained Ava on the couch. Thankfully, we had already planned to be out of the house during that time frame bc I had an ultrasound scheduled at 12:45 and then an appt with Dr. Ladd, and Zoe had a groomers appt, so that all worked out great!! So, now about the appt. ultrasound came first and I got to have that done in the OB office I work in, so it was great seeing all my coworkers, AND they got me flowers for nurses week. So sweet!!!! Ok, anyways so my fluid level measured at a measly 5.1 today, but baby looked great and we got a couple pics. So off to my OB I went feeling very nervous and scared not knowing what she was going to say and more importantly what she was going to do. I "prepared" myself for getting admitted to the hospital again, if not for induction at least to get IV fluids to try to get my levels higher. All along praying that the right decision be made!! After some talking and doing her normal routine, she wanted me to go home but come back Saturday to have my fluid checked again. I was so relieved! I sjust wasn't so sure I could emotionally handle another week of sitting in the hospital not knowing the outcome. But I can honestly say that if she said that was the best plan and best for 'Youngin, I would have done it in a heartbeat regardless of what I wanted. So, the plan as of now is that I will go back on Saturday morning at 9am to have another ultrasound, and if it's any number above 5 then I'm good until Thursday when it will get checked again. BUT if it's lower than 5, she said I could leave and would be able to go to my shower, but then to come back to the hospital to most likely have a baby. So, needless to say, I'm nervous,scared, excited, unsure, etc.....kind of crazy how many emotions one can feel all at once. I just keep telling myself that God has everything under control and He has a perfect plan. This is obviously not at all how I planned or thought my pregnancy would go, especially after such a great first 2 trimesters. So, bags are packed, baby clothes are washed, crib is up, and that's really about it. I'm somewhat "prepared" if it's this Saturday or 3 Saturdays from now. Prayers are of course appreciated for the right thing to happen and Gods peace through it all. Sorry this was a rather lengthy post, but I guess that's what happens when one doesn't blog for a couple months and has a crazy last week to catch everyone up on. Oh, and did I mention that having our house up for sale has proven to be quite interesting while on bedrest :-). I have spent a lot of time learning how to use my sewing maching and craft the last couple of days so I'm hoping to blog about that tomorrow and post some pics of my crafts. Hope this wasn't too boring for y'all!! Hope everyone enjoys their Friday tomorrow!!