Progress?

I awoke this morning at 4:30 to some pretty decent contractions. They aren't super regular, but they're fairly intense. My doc checked me (I was scheduled to see her today anyway), and I'm dilated to a good 2 cm. Not that it gets me too riled up, because I could hang out at 2 for weeks. But it's something. Apparently now everyone's into predicting when I'll go. So far I have a "before Christmas" from Kim; "definitely before your due date" from Sherry; and "soon" from Rob. Anyone else?

I guess the question now is, am I (and is the baby) ready? I'm 36 weeks tomorrow, which is practically full term. 37 weeks would really be better, but we won't be stopping any labor that starts on its own at this point.

At least my BP was a little better today. A little. And I've got 10 days off now, so there's no excuse for not taking it easy, I guess.

By the way, contractions hurt!

The countdown is on!

Yesterday was December 13th, so that means less than one month until D-day! I know, very few people actually deliver on their due dates, but there's got to be some day to count towards. At this point, if I went into labor spontaneously, we'd just let it go. Crazy! Next Saturday (the 23rd) is when I'll be officially full-term (37 weeks).

So maybe I got a little too excited about being off bedrest and having good blood pressure. I made the mistake of checking my BP yesterday, and Sherry happened to walk by, and of course it was up again. No symptoms, still no proteinuria, but I've got to take it easy again. But only one half day of clinic left tomorrow, and then I have next week off. I guess it's okay; I was getting behind on my knitting anyway. I've just got to get back to behaving myself. yuck.

Christmas shopping

is 90% done! Yay. Just a few more things to pick up, but we're darned close.
And (although I hesitate to say this) we're pretty much ready for the little guy, too. At least shopping wise, I think we've got almost everything essential on our list that we'll need immediately. Not that it's helping to keep me from being completely terrified. Someone asked me recently what exactly I'm scared of. My response is, what am I not afraid of? Seriously.

The fruits of bedrest

Our Christmas stockings are done, except for embroidering the names.

The baby's stocking (just in case)

Gipper's

My stocking

Dennis' (actually knitted last year)

Good news

Well, I had another check-up today, and it went very well. My blood pressure was normal and everything else looks great. So I can do some light duty now--a couple of half days of clinic, and otherwise I can do most of my Practice Management rotation from home. So I'm feeling much better about things. I just need to keep behaving myself, and maybe the babe will keep cooking for another 5 weeks. I'd be very happy with that.

So I'll still be on partial bedrest--when I'm not at the office I plan to keep my feet up and rest as much as possible. But it's do-able.

ND vs. LSU

To the Sugar Bowl we go.
I hope we don't embarrass those Tigers too badly on January 3rd!

I believe a trend has been started.

It seems like everyone we know is pregnant now.

Jef and Krista (February)
Will and Stacey (May)
Joe Paul and Kristy (June)
Sarah and Dean (June)
Tim and Kathy (June)
Sean and his wife --sorry, we haven't met her yet--Sean, you could at least fill us in on her name! (June)
Robin and Jeremy (January)

And we're officially 34 weeks in now. Which means that if I had to deliver tomorrow, it would be safe to do here at our hospital--not that this would be ideal, but the baby's lungs should be pretty mature. I don't think we're going to make it to January, the way things are going right now. I mean, everything is fine, but I can only be on bedrest so long. I imagine we'll probably induce once I'm full-term (i.e., 37 weeks), as long as everything is still going pretty well. But we shall see. That's just a VERY tentative prediction. So far everything has been less than week-to-week, more like day-to-day. I'm still hoping to get back to work at least part-time.

Right now the diagnosis is still pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH). The thing to be more worried about is that it might develop into pre-eclampsia (aka toxemia), which is more dangerous. Basically the difference between the 2 is that PIH=blood pressure over 140 systolic or 90 diastolic, pre-e is that plus significant protein in the urine. In fact, just for those of you who love too much information, I had to do a 24-hour urine collection the other day. That was fun. Especially since you have to keep it in the fridge. The good news is that the results were fine and well below the cutoff for pre-e. But, we'll probably repeat the whole thing in a week.

Other than bedrest, I've been having twice-weekly non-stress tests (NSTs) at the hospital along w/ BP measurements. The NSTs basically involve putting the baby on the monitor to watch his heart rate and make sure he looks good. So far he's in great shape, but it's pretty standard to keep them up 2x/week until the end. Not that I'm too worried about him at this point--he won't stop kicking me! Of course my BP is always up for a while after I get to the hospital, since I've been up and around, but then it comes down after 30-60 minutes or so of rest. Which probably means bedrest is working somewhat.

Anyway, if you want to read up on the stuff I'm talking about (MOM), check out this link to WebMD:
http://www.webmd.com/hw/being_pregnant/hw2837.asp

One good thing about bedrest is that I've managed to knit a Christmas stocking for baby and me, and now I'm at work on the Gipper's. (Dennis' was done last year.) Although I'm starting to get some carpal tunnel!

Bedrest is fun!

Okay, I'm kidding. It's boring as hell. But I am getting a ton of knitting done. And we've made it through Season 2 of 24. Only 2 more to go to be up to date (since I saw Season 5 actually on television).

You would think I could get my Christmas shopping done online or something, but I'm so not motivated. I actually like shopping in person.

One of the main complaints I have about not being able to go anywhere is that I can't have any sushi! I know, it's silly. And I've only been able to eat the wussy rolls with cooked fish/shellfish in them, but it's amazing how addicted I've become. Maybe if we get some Chinese food I can convince myself it's the soy sauce I'm craving. I thought about sending Dennis to BG to get takeout sushi, but the one time we tried that it just wasn't any good once it got here. I think it would be a major disappointment.

Hmm, so nothing really happening here--no big surprise. I did make a third trip to L&D yesterday, just for a non-stress test and some BP measurements. Everything looks fine. But I'm tired of being there. If we'd just stop checking my blood pressure, I could go on about my business! I do feel pretty guilty about everyone else at the office having to take up my slack and all. It's just crummy. Maybe I can find a way to make it up to them later... Too bad I can't even bake cookies for everyone this year. Pickles it is then!

A couple of shower pictures

From way back on October 7th!

Mom, Nannie, me, Aunt Marie, and Cat

Maw Gladys and Maw Bill

Yummy cake!

Me and Sarah (and cake)

Update

I know, I've been neglecting. But for a while there nothing was happening--then a couple of days of crazy--now more of nothing. Last Wednesday I had to go to L&D because my blood pressure was up. We ran all the labs, etc, and everything looked good, except my blood pressure. Baby looks great, I'm not contracting. So I was sent home on modified bedrest. Then Friday my heart starting racing, and I had some chest discomfort with it, so we went back. Repeat the labs, monitor everything again...same results, but now I'm on strict bedrest for the week. Hopefully next week I can work a couple of half-days of clinic and work on my rotation stuff from home, but we'll see how that goes.

And bedrest? Boring as hell! I've just about knitted my fingers off over here! Dennis is dragging me through all the seasons of 24 on DVD, but I can only take so much of that at a time--it's sort of a stressful show.

The Gipper doesn't know what to do with himself either. He just got done with a visit from my parents, so it's a letdown to just have us here now, plus he has to stare at me up in the bed all day. He's a sad little puppy. And it's confirmed: babies crying on TV will make him bark his a** off! I guess eventually he'll get used to it, and maybe it will be easier for him to understand when he can find a source for the noise.

But D is taking very good care of me: getting me Sonic slushes every day, fixing all my meals, grabbing me drinks and snacks. And yesterday he trimmed the tree all by himself (well, under my lazy supervision).

Exciting, huh?

Perhaps the sexiest thing I've ever purchased...

...so hot!

Third trimester blues

There's no denying that I'm officially in the third trimester (29 weeks yesterday). Of course it's awesome to have passed the viability cutoff. But everything is getting more and more exhausting. And I've got to admit a couple of recent blows to my pride:
--the rings don't fit anymore--so D bought me a bigger band (I will not walk around preggo without a ring!)
and
--I broke down and bought support hose yesterday--so attractive, but better than huge sock dents in my calves I guess.

We did win 2nd place in the costume contest Friday night. We were beaten out by the pregnant Britney Spears (Robin did quite an excellent job at that, and she throws a great party). I have to give Dennis a lot of credit. Even though I made his hat (which made the outfit, by the way) he found the shirt and white pants and the frappacinos, and pulled it all together beautifully. No one had to ask who he was. I was supposed to be a housewife, but I couldn't see going out with my milkman with house slippers and curlers--not cute enough. (That's the look for the husband.)

We start our prenatal classes this Thursday, another sign that we'll be having a baby soon. It's hard to stay in denial! I have been feeling the beginnings of the nesting instinct. I've made a couple of lists for stuff we should have before the baby's here, and the list for packing the hospital bag. Plus there's the "things TO DO before baby gets here" list, that I haven't quite put together yet. And don't even mention the million other things to do coming up with the holiday season. ugh.

Anyone want to come over and help?

Happy Halloween!

At the annual Halloween party tonight, I was the housewife all dolled up for my milkman. Don't tell Dennis!

Go Irish

The Gipper loves to support his team.

Our first family ND game

And the Irish didn't let us down!

Halloween is approaching,

and the Gipper is ready!

He'd make one heck of a dinosaur if we could get the whole outfit on at one time.

Darth Tater!

Yes, this is actually a real toy! And I love it.

The belly

Well, our ultrasound printer has been down, so no new baby photos to share for a while. Here's a shot of the big belly, though. (Blame D if the quality is lacking.) I'm now 23 weeks and 1 day, if anyone is counting. Second trimester is coming to a close! And thank goodness it's getting cooler outside. I'm like a freakin' baked potato!

Gratuitous puppy photos...

Gipper loves his daddy!

Gipper was all cute and clean when he came home from the kennel.

He's so tired after all that fun that he can't manage much but napping for a day or so!

It's a puppy burrito!

19weeks 6days

These are our most recent pictures from August 25th, the first day I felt the baby move! He's kicking the heck out of me. D can't feel it yet, but we're waiting for that next.



His head is down on the left, and the belly in the middle of both shots. So far, his head isn't really any bigger than it should be. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...if anyone's baby will have a huge noggin, it will be mine and Dennis'!