New Addition

What a fabulous new addition to our family just in time for Christmas!! Micah David was born at 12:14 am on Dec 12, weighing 6 lbs and measuring 19 inches. He is SO cute. Of course I would have to say that, but he really is!!! We came home from the hospital on Dec 14, and as I am writing we are finishing out our first full day at home. I don't know if it will ever sink in that he is ours, but I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of my time with him.

It's way too early!

Way to early to be awake, that is...I am at 37 weeks and I know my sleep is so precious right now as I anxiously await my little bundle of joy, but I seem to hit a wall around 3 or 4 every morning, and today it wasn't even worth continuing to lie in bed looking at the ceiling...
I know I need to be trying to get as much sleep as I can right now, and I do try, and required bed rest has helped with extra naps during the day, but then at night, when I want to be sleeping...in the wee hours of the morning when my bed is cozy and there is really nothing exciting going on in the rest of the world......that's when I want to be sound asleep!!
So I have a snack, play on the internet, pray for a quick labor and delivery and a healthy baby boy, maybe read a little, and count down the time until my husband wakes up and I can have someone to talk to (and vent to about not sleeping!)
until then...

false alarm!

So monday was fun (in a sense) but i wouldn't have asked to do it again...and i didn't...ask, that is...
so yesterday i had to go in for some follow-up testing for what i had done in the hospital on monday, a better look at my baby and his condition, plus my regular appointment to follow. i was excited to see my little guy again on the ultrasound and hopefully get some news from my doc that i had dilated even more...
well, i did get to see more of my baby (and besides getting a little sick from the position on my back) it was fun and he passed all of his "tests" with flying colors: breathing, swallowing, moving, he is such a good boy!!
and i did get news of more dilation, from 2 cm on monday to 4 cm yesterday! that's some nice progress!
so i figure that is it, now i go home and continue to try and figure out exactly what a contraction feels like, i mean, obviously my body is getting ready and i need to make sure i am paying full attention!!
BUT, my vision is still weird, my blood pressure is still high (of course they took it while i was not feeling well during the ultrasound) and they are also worried about the ratio of blood flow from me to the baby, so my doc says go home and get your bags and head back to the hospital. you mean, my bags! the ones i am supposed to take when i am going to deliver? yes, those, because if nothing changes, we may try and get this little guy out today. TODAY?!
i mean, i want to have him early, definitely before Christmas, but i don't think i was quite mentally prepared...
but we did as asked, and then headed back to the hospital, only to be asked by every single nurse that saw me what i was in for and what tests were supposed to be done to me??? for some reason i thought they should know this info and should not be going off of my lame terms that i might have overtly picked up from my doc, like, i don't know, something having to do with fluid and blood and baby???
well, confused or not, the tests were eeeevvveennnntttuuuaaalllyyy done on me, my blood pressure was monitored, the baby was monitored and after a lllooooonnngg and boring stay once again we were sent home...
so, i think we are a little more ready for the real thing now. the process of staying calm while loading stuff in the car, the route we have decided will be best to take, finding our way to the right floor and getting a room...it's like we're pros! let's do this!!

crazy vision, crazy day...

ok, so i am not fond of going to the doctor's office, never really have been and i feel like they never truly know what it wrong, they just say "maybe this or maybe that" and prescribe costly medicine and send you home...most likely the reason i don't like spending the time or the money to go in in the first place!
but right now in my life, i have to remember that i have a baby inside of me, and thus i am not just trying to take care of myself, but i have to take care of the little guy too...so.....after seeing double progressively got worse over a few days, i decided it was best to call and not wait a couple more days for my next appointment, which led to me seeing a midwife about my issue and thus being sent to the local birthing center at the hospital to get blood taken....now here is where it got interesting, because i had gone in for the appointment quickly just trying to get in, but then ended up just waiting in the waiting room for about an hour and then assumed i would get some answers and then go home to eat lunch, but, NO...
i was told i needed to go to the hospital to get blood drawn and that way they could get the results right away, no waiting until the next day...so this became our "dry run" visit to the birthing center since we had never been...and it's a good thing we did it, although at the time i had no idea how close it would be to the real thing...through some confusion and misguided directions, we finally ended up on the right floor and in the right ward, where i was given a "room". what!? i thought i was just giving some blood. then, no you need to get undressed and put on this robe while i get your bed ready...NO, you don't understand i am just giving blood...
well, i guess they had other things in mind, i ended up with the robe on, in the bed, being monitored for a few hours while the baby was also monitored and they happened to take blood at some point in there, while my poor husband (who has been sick over a week but is still the most supportive husband ever!) tried not to fall asleep while flipping through tv stations...
and remember, i have not eaten lunch and i had to give blood and they wouldn't let me eat anything until after the blood work came back...and i am a hungry, pregnant woman!
so, all of that to find out the baby looks good, my blood pressure looks good (except when they brought the needle in to take blood!) and my blood work looked good...and i am 70% effaced and 2 cm dilated...but i have also been put on bed rest! i think they just can't totally figure out why my vision is bad so they say bed rest and hope it gets better, but what does that look like when i am just weeks from a due date and trying to get everything for home and work in order while i still can??? ugh! plus, it is just boring!
i know there will be a time soon when i have a screaming baby and all i want is bed rest, but that time has not come and i am not really interested in laying around doing nothing for the time being...so i think i'd like to just go ahead and give birth as soon as possible:):) a cute little early christmas present, i'd be ok with that!!!

Turkey Day

I know! It's about time for pictures!! It has been more than 5 weeks, and since I feel as though I am getting bigger by the minute, I am quite certain that I have grown over the course of 5 weeks!! Well, today is Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for my big belly because it means that there is a healthy baby inside who we will all soon get to meet:):) Although Matt has been sick for a few days, for some reason he got really excited to take pictures of me yesterday, so here are a couple of the growth.

it's all in my head!

I've had a headache for 4 days now! It started in my neck as usual, then became a headache, followed by an overnight, full-blown, all the extras, no sleep at all, migraine! no fun! and I still have it and I am hoping and praying that it goes away soon. I don't know if it's the baby, but I definitely don't want it to last for 5 more weeks!!

It's for real!!

I know it has been for real all along, and I have been carrying this baby in my stomach now for over 7 months! But with actually filling a room with toys and clothes and necessities, with having a car seat and a bed and lots of diapers around..it is feeling even more real! In less than 2 months (hopefully!) I will be waking up at all hours of the night (to feed instead of using the bathroom like I am already), carrying a baby with my arms and not my stomach, and looking into the eyes of a beautiful baby boy created by God. CRAZY!! and EXCITING!!! WOW!!!