The price of keeping a pregnant woman on bedrest sane.....

Laser Pointer = $15
Rachael Ray Magazine = $3.99
Internet = $20/month
Text messaging = $5 (unlimited)
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Price of keeping a pregnant woman sane = Priceless


I am now 38 weeks pregnant and have been on full bedrest for 2 weeks! I was supposed to have a doctor's appt. this afternoon but they closed the office due to inclement weather. So now I wait patiently (or something like that) for my rescheduled appt. in the morning. I didn't sleep well last night as I was having contractions and couldn't get comfortable. I kept thinking that maybe the contractions would get worse and I would go into labor, but obviously nothing happened. In fact, Jason decided to sternly tell the baby this morning "I'd appreciate it if you would come out today" as he gets woken up by my tossing and turning. So far we can say that the baby has inherited one personality characteristic that both Jason and I have: The gift of being STUBBORN!

The price of keeping me sane has been relatively inexpensive...I'm easy to amuse. My newly discovered time passing device is the laser pointer. Jason ordered it for himself to tease the cat with, but it arrived yesterday while he was at work. It has been quite amusing and I think Buddy is enjoying the exercise. I have also had wonderful family and friends stop by to see me, which has been awesome. My mom is back for a second week here after returning to MD for the weekend. Today she made homemade meatballs and chocolate chip cookies. Surprisingly enough I'm not gaining any weight.

We'll post tomorrow after the appt.!!!

The baby's already messing with me

Heather and I spent the late afternoon, and early evening at labor and delivery last night. We went to the OB's office to have Heather all checked out again. Heather's blood pressure was little high so she laid on her side for a few minutes. After a few more minutes they checked her blood pressure again and it had gone up a little bit. So, the baby decided to raise Heather's blood pressure and so we were sent us to the hospital.

We met a wonderful nurse at the hospital who took wonderful care of Heather. So we sat there for a couple hours while they did a non-stress test on Heather and the baby. Every once in a while her blood pressure cuff would go off. It was nice just spending some time together.
That LB decided to get me all excited about meeting us, and then our little blessing allowed Heather's blood pressure to go back down, so the doctor sent us home. No baby for us, yet. We did get some nice Braxton Hicks contractions to watch on the monitor, so that was exciting. Suffice it to say, I'm really really excited about the baby coming and can not wait to meet the baby.

So Heather and I are resting peacefully in the bedroom watching season 3 of the office. It's a lot of fun just getting to hang out.

Note: LB is a term of endearment & respect in my family.

37 weeks

I had a doctor's appointment this morning and I am exactly 37 weeks today! I was somewhat excited before going because I started having contractions two hours before my appointment and they were regular. But, when the doctor checked me he said that I am not dialated and today is probably not the day....which I was kind of thinking. My blood pressure is still elevated and they sent me for more bloodwork. Apparently they need to keep checking how my liver functioning is due to the elevated blood pressure and will most likely do bloodwork every week until I deliver. Although I am somewhat dissapointed that seeing the baby isn't as close as I would like, I am happy that I can rest a little more as I'm feeling pretty tired today.

Bedrest continues....

I had a follow-up doctor's appt. today from the one on Tuesday. The doctor just wanted to check my blood-pressure again and make sure everything is a-ok. After checking it initially it was elevated and they had me lay on my left side (the usual procedure at this point) for a few minutes and they checked again. At that point it had gone down a bit. She said that I am responding well to bedrest, but I am to continue until the baby makes his/her appearance. The doctor also did a non-stress test and I was able to hear the baby's heartbeat for a good 15-20 minutes or so....that was great! The little one is doing just fine and my bloodwork came back good too. Overall, we are doing well! I am hoping and praying that I deliver next week for many reasons including:

-my mom will be up from MD
-my doctor is on-call
-I don't want to "waste" my leave time from work on time without my baby..I rather spend it getting to know our little one


That's it for the update! Thanks for all your emails, calls, thoughts, prayers, etc.

36 weeks

This first picture can be seen earlier in our blog! But, we wanted to show you a comparison of then and now. The second picture was taken last week (35 weeks).


We had our 36 week appt. today and I am now on full bedrest. I can no longer work and I am allowed to either be on the couch or in bed. I was also told I can do the stairs twice in one day. Not fun! I have now been on bedrest for a few hours and am wondering what else I can watch on TV (especially with the writer's strike....why now?). I do have books to read and thank-you notes to write, so at least I have some options. Also, my sister is coming up from MD for two days and my mom will come up next week. Those visits should help pass the time. As of today, the baby's head is still down but nothing is happening (no dilation). I have another appointment on Thursday in order to check my blood pressure again. We'll see what happens...I now have plenty of time to update you...don't worry :-).


This picture is my happy place :-)! It was taken on our cruise back in May and I love how it captures just how happy Jason and I are together. This is probably what our faces will look like once we meet our little one too (add some exhaustion to that I'm sure).

Getting closer....

Tomorrow marks 35 weeks for us...only 5 more weeks to go (who knows, maybe less)! Our hospital bag is packed and we have had one of our birthing classes. We have two more this week and then we're done. We're both beyond excitement and anxious to meet our little one. We had been thinking the baby was a boy the last time we posted, but then we switched to a girl and back and forth. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Everyone has their own opinion too and we have about 50% people saying boy and 50% saying girl. Good thing it's a 50/50 chance....that means some of you will be right.

We had a doctor's appointment on Friday morning and everything checked out well except my blood pressure. They checked it when I first got to the office and it was "slightly elevated". Then, they decided to check it again a few minutes later and it was the same. Finally, they had me lay on my left side for a few minutes before checking it a third time. After that my blood pressure went down a tiny bit, but not enough for them to not do anything. So, I am now on modified bedrest. I am still able to work and go places. But, when I am home I have been given orders to be a "couch potato". On one hand the past few days have been tough as I am still nesting and want to clean/organize more. However, I have taken a nap the past two days which was absolutely wonderful. I might just take one today :-)!

The baby is continuing to move around like a crazy person. The greatest was last night....I woke up constantly feeling him/her move around and kicking. Jason kept waking up too as he would either have his hand on my belly and feel the baby or I would be up against him and he could feel the baby kicking him. Maybe we should start teaching our baby manners. We watched Raising Helen last night and we both thought this quote was funny:

(Pregnant woman talking to her pregnant belly) Sweetie,



what did Mommy say about kicking when she's having a



conversation?  You need to wait until she's finished.     



Thank you very much. 







(Her sister, Helen) Did you just boss around the unborn?



     



      



(Pregnant woman) It's never too early to start learning



manners.

 Pictures of the Nursery:

Doctor's Appointment

Today I am technically 32.5 weeks pregnant! Almost there...woo hoo! The question I keep getting (even from the doctor) is "How are you feeling"? Honestly, since this is my first pregnancy I have nothing to compare it to. But, my pregnancy has been very uneventful....thank God for that! I am to the point where I try to keep going and realize that I may be pushing myself. I'll wake up in the morning feeling ok and within an hour I feel as if I haven't slept at all....crazy. If that's the worst thing in my pregnancy then I have a lot to be thankful for....which I definitely am.

The doctor said I am measuring right on time and everything is going well! When I asked her if she thinks the baby is going to be huge (i.e. - around 10 lbs.) she said probably not......that caused me some relief as the last ultrasound said the baby was 2-3 weeks bigger than my due date.

This little stinker is moving a lot, which entertains Jason and I often. We keep referring to the baby as "he", which means that if we end up having a girl we'll most likely have to pay for therapy for her at some point. Although, who am I kidding...no matter what we do the child will blame us for something :-). Jason is already plotting ways to embarass our child....inlcuding (but not limited to) singing and dancing (which is quite a sight) in public, making obnoxious appearances at school, and telling embarassing stories to his/her friends. Being the therapist in the family I try to remind him how bad our child could be scarred but it seems to just add fuel to the fire.

I have definitely been nesting and Jason is wonderful at reminding me to slow down...not something to which I am accustomed. On New Year's Day we got a ton accomplished but at 9 at night when I was ironing the baby's curtains I told Jason my plans to hang the curtain rod before bed. At that point he left it up to me but strongly suggested that I relax for the rest of the night. I was thankful the next day for this, but that night I was really wanting to get more done. We are just about down in the baby's room. We have the closet doors to hang and the curtains. Hopefully we'll get those two things done this weekend and will post pictures and maybe a video next week. We'll see!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's! Let us know how you are doing...we'd love to hear from you.