Oh the difference a year makes!

I have had an illness for the past week that I'm going to call Sore Throat Disease. No drainage, no cough, just a KILLER sore throat. I envision little people hanging out in the back of my mouth, juggling letter openers. I sat in the doctor's office twice this week and nothing definitive was wrong with me. I was not a treatable case. Today is the first day since last Saturday that I haven't started out by googling "throat transplants."

The thing that prompted me to write a post today is that one year ago, I started my 4-month period of bed rest when I was pregnant with Samson. I remember feeling so bummed out and defeated, but look at what a year can do! Now Sammy is almost 8 months old, he is supremely handsome and smiley and he leaves a trail of slobber with every turn of his head.

Sam, I thank God for you every day. I love how cuddly and warm you are after a nap and how much you love your brother and the way you laugh when Daddy "eats" his Sam Sandwich. I love you, Sammy Jammy!

Still no news

I had my weekly appointment today and not much has changed since last week or the week before or the week before. After my doctor asked me, "Are you having any contractions to speak of?" again (seriously), she said that things ARE progressing, just not quickly. I'm still not dilated at all, but my cervix is changing shape. She said she wouldn't be surprised if I called her at 8:00 tonight or if I saw her again next week. It's anyone's guess!

I'm still in disbelief that I have made it this far (almost 38 weeks!). I'm beginning to wonder if the past four months of bed rest were even necessary. I think that will be one of those things that I will always wonder about but never know. Oh well.

37 weeks!

This is me taking photos from the driveway with my new lens and Elijah doing his usual reading on the way back from the park with Dan.



As of today I have reached the 37-week point in my pregnancy! Thirty-seven weeks is considered full term! I truly never dreamed I would make it to this point. I feel a lot of different emotions as we await our new arrival. The main feeling for me this week seems to be grumpiness, but I am also feeling grateful and happy and weary and scared and anxious all at once.



I have been on bed rest for sixteen weeks! That seems like an eternity. I have gone through such a spectrum of emotions over the past four months. Part of the reason for this week's grumpiness is that even though I have permission to move around a bit more now, I really can't. My contractions are keeping me from doing much (they are getting quite uncomfortable, but still are not regular), so I really won't be free until after I have healed from my surgery. I can't remember what it is like to be physically active and to not be in pain or discomfort when I exert myself even a little bit. Once all of this is over, I will never take that for granted again!

I got my last progesterone shot last Friday, so right about NOW is when my body should be figuring out that it's not going to get any more shots. I'm bracing myself for possible craziness in the very near future.

36 weeks, 5 days

Elijah thinks we got the infant car seat out for him to use. :)



Well, I'm in a bit of disbelief, but nothing has changed since last week aside from my increasing frequency of contractions. My body is still (aside from the contractions) showing no signs of labor. I'm a bit confused as to how my uterus and cervix are sending such conflicting signals.

I am contracting a lot, and it is pretty uncomfortable to be doing anything but lying down when they hit. I haven't been sleeping well because I even contract all through the night on most nights and I just lie awake and count them. This may be part of the reason I am so tired and grumpy lately.

The plan is to go back to the doctor in a week. I'm not sure I will last another week without going into labor, but who knows?! This could be a 39-week delivery after all. Body of mine: you confuse me!

35 weeks, 5 days

Elijah always asks me to make faces for him. The three most common requests are, "Mommy sad!" "Mommy happy!" and "Mommy mad!" :)



I just got back from my weekly visit with the doctor, and like last week, everything checked out great! Aside from the contractions, I am still showing no signs of labor. Maybe this baby will surprise us and make his appearance at 39 weeks?



My tummy feels HUGE. I am bigger than I ever was with Elijah and I feel uncomfortable and...well, huge! It's all worth it, though.



My doctor wants me to stay on bed rest until I reach 37 weeks and after that I can start to move around a little bit more. I am so very happy that I have almost made it to 36 weeks. Fifteen weeks ago, it seemed impossible that I would get this far!

35 weeks, 4 days

If you know Dan, you'll know that Elijah stole this face from him. I love this picture.



Not much to report today! Things are about the same. We just keep waiting and wondering when Not-Zooter will make his appearance. I am being extra cautious about not moving around too much this week because I would love to make it to 36 weeks. I'd love it even more if I made it to 37 weeks. We will see how it unfolds!

Mama's Day

My boys were extremely good to me for Mother's Day today (as they always are). I woke up to breakfast in bed and Dan gave me a Mother's Day gift that I didn't expect at all. He gave me a new lens for my camera! I can't wait to play with it a bit. I have the best boys in the world. I think I heard "Happy Muver's Day, Mom!" from Elijah about fifty times today and it never got old.

I did make it out to brunch with Dan's family, which was yummy and of course, fun. I considered not going since my contractions are a little bit out of control right now. If I weren't so well-versed in the subject of contractions, I may have considered going to the hospital in the middle of the night last night, or at least calling my doctor. I had contractions every 6-15 minutes or so from the time I went to bed until 4:00 am. And then they just stopped! Hmmmm. It didn't worry me enough to call the doctor, but it did worry me enough to get serious about doing some packing today. Elijah's little suitcase is all ready for him to go to Grandma's house for a few days. It's crazy to think that we could be having a baby any day now!

Have a good week and Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful moms!!!

I'll end with two of my recent favorite Elijah words:
carnival = "caramel"
parrot = "carrot"

Getting ready

Elijah got a new suitcase! He is ready to pack up some of his things and go to Grandma's house for a few days, whenever the baby decides to arrive. (And could he possibly look any cuter in these pjs?)



Looks like he will be a self-sufficient little traveler the next time we are traveling through an airport.



I'm at the 35-week mark today! There have been times over the past few days when I have wondered, Could this be it?! My contractions get a little crazy in the evenings and they are getting more and more uncomfortable. I have no idea how much longer my body will hold out. Sometimes I feel like it could be a few more weeks and sometimes I think it will be much sooner.



Elijah has had two really good days in a row as far as his behavior goes. There is such a difference in the mood in our house at the end of a good day. We don't have many weekend plans, besides maybe a Mother's Day outing (if my body is behaving) and just trying to keep this baby where he belongs. Have a great Mother's Day weekend, all you awesome mamas!!!!

34 weeks, 5 days

This is what I do when Dan tries to take a picture of me. I suppose I should allow him to take another belly shot soon.



I have said this a million times and I will say it again: This experience is SO DIFFERENT from my last pregnancy experience. Do you know how weird it is to leave doctor's appointments without receiving terrible news? I have reminded myself all day today that I should actually be thankful that the doctors don't remember me from one visit to the next because it means I have a healthy baby and a (relatively) normal pregnancy.

I did get to see my doctor today and she asked me, "So, are you having any contractions to speak of?" Uhhhhh, are you kidding? Isn't this something she should probably know by now? That I've been on bed rest for 14 weeks because of my many contractions? When I answered "yes," she actually looked a little bit surprised. I would be lying if I said that didn't frustrate me, but there isn't much I can do at this point.

My contractions have been kind of crazy today, but everything checked out great at my appointment. Aside from the contractions, I am showing zero signs of labor. I go back in a week for another check-up and we will go from there. I can practically taste the end and it feels unbelievable to know there is a good chance I could deliver a FULL-TERM BABY!

Dan and I (mostly Dan) have been chipping away at our To-Do Before Baby Arrives List. We have just a few things left to do and then we will be ready for Baby! I think this is the first time I have really let myself get excited. I can't wait to meet our new little man!

Check-up at almost 33 weeks

(I had someone mention to me recently that I get "too personal" on this blog, so now I feel like I should give a warning any time I talk about personal issues. I guess I don't know what is considered "too personal," so read at your own risk..)

Because of the complications we dealt with during my pregnancy with Elijah, I was seen at a high-risk perinatal clinic for all of my prenatal care. They were the best of the best, as specialized as they come and ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL doctors. I assumed I would be able to continue to see them with subsequent pregnancies, especially considering my age and history of complications, but nope! I have been going to a regular old OB clinic this entire pregnancy and it has been quite a different experience in many ways. The doctors at this clinic aren't bad doctors, they just are not what we are used to so it is sometimes difficult when we had such super high standards from our last experience.

"My" doctor is rarely running on time, so I always opt to see another doctor in place of her so we don't have to sit in her waiting room for two hours. I see different doctors all the time, and either they don't know who I am or what my history is or they say, "I think I've seen you once before, right?" This is frustrating because I come with some pretty heavy pregnancy baggage that I think is important to know and remember. At yesterday's appointment, I saw yet another new doctor because again, my doctor was "running way behind," and I got frustrated. I just didn't feel heard and I didn't feel cared for, especially since the end is in sight. No doctor has ever talked to me about a "plan," which I find a little bit frightening.

I'm trying to let it go. As long as they know what they are doing when it's time to deliver our baby I guess that is what matters. Next time (ha!) I will force my way back into that perinatal clinic. I wish I had been more persistent this time.

Anyway, everything checked out fine at my visit yesterday. The baby's growth was excellent! He is now in the 52nd percentile (up from the 40th!) and weighing 4 lbs, 5 oz!! My cervix looks good (is that too personal?) so the doctor wasn't too concerned about the increase in contractions I've been experiencing this week. I got the first of two betamethasone shots and will get the second one today. This will help the baby's lungs to mature in case I go into early labor. The doctor we saw yesterday thought I should easily be able to make it until 36 or 37 weeks, which would be wonderful!

As I said, my contractions have increased in frequency this week. I am now getting about 3-4/hour instead of the 1-2/hour I was getting for basically the first 12 weeks of bed rest. The doctor is comfortable with that number and doesn't feel medication is necessary beyond my regular weekly progesterone shots. I thought for sure I would be on the "big guns" meds by now, so it is a nice surprise that I have been able to avoid them. I remember not liking the side effects from them at all.

That is all for now! I go back in two weeks to get rechecked (maybe by a doctor I've yet to meet?) and by that time I will be getting very close! Yikes and woohoo, at the same time!!

Patience

I already knew that we had the best friends in the world and then we received a package in the mail from Kathy and her boys that confirmed this. She made, BY HAND, this adorable little Zooter piggy for Elijah. It could not be more perfect! "Zooter" has such a fun, special meaning for us, so it is a very meaningful little gift.



I'm pretty sure I will always think of 2010 as the Year of Patience. Bed rest has required a lot of patience (and will continue to do so, I'm sure), Elijah is in a phase where he is constantly searching inside himself for patience, which requires even more patience from Dan and me. We literally pray for patience at each meal and before bed each night and all three of us repeat "patiencepatiencepatience" as we walk around the house or eat dinner or lay on the couch or do whatever.

Today I realized that it's not really that Elijah is overall behaving worse than he normally does. It's just that his highs have become higher and his lows have become lower. When he is a good boy, he is really really good and when he's not, well.. No matter what, though, I love every minute I get to spend with him. I'm so grateful for him and for his health. We love our little (sometimes very impatient) boy to pieces! He's the best.

I reached the 32-week mark in my pregnancy yesterday, which is a huge milestone. My contractions have maybe gotten just a little bit worse, but nothing too alarming yet. I am so happy to have made it to this point and I'm still hoping for a 39-week delivery. Stranger things have happened!

I'll end with my favorite recent Elijah translation:
"bundled up" (as in, wearing layers of clothes) = "buckled up"

30 weeks, 5 days

As you can see in my Easter photos, Elijah adores being outside. It is the new love of his life. And it is a good match because sunshine does wonders for him. Vitamin D works some sort of magic, especially after a long winter. When he is able to spend time outside, he is a much happier little person and he sleeps better and is just overall more enjoyable to be around (not that he is ever not enjoyable to be around).



My pregnancy and bed rest are going fine. Not much has changed, which is a good thing. Every once in a while I will have a scary day of contractions, but a restful night of sleep always gets things back under control. One thing that has been annoying is that I have become clumsy. In the past two weeks I have had two refrigerator catastrophes. The first time I knocked a jar of jelly out of the fridge and the shattered glass flew EVERYWHERE. Ugh. The second time I knocked an entire shelf off of the door of the fridge. The only thing that broke was a jar of vinegar, which we could smell for days. Both times after my disasters, Dan walked around the corner and said, "ELIJAH!" Nope, not Elijah, just clumsy, pregnant ME! :)

As my delivery date gets closer, the more anxious I find myself getting. There is a lot to think about even though I can't do anything about any of it. It's a little bit strange to be having "normal" pregnancy worries/anxieties this time. We had such heavy heavy things to mull over last time, so these normal worries are pretty new and different for me.

Our wonderful friends, the Rollers, sent such a sweet sweet care package in the mail for us. I cannot wait to show you what Kathy made for Elijah!! Photo to come soon!

Easter

Today has an overall feeling of sadness. A new friend of ours (who I have asked for prayers for before) had a baby who went to Heaven on Friday. My heart aches..

----

On a different note, we had a nice weekend. My contractions have been staying in a comfortable zone (usually no more than 1-2/hour still) and that makes me very happy. I was able to tag along with Dan and Elijah to Dan's parents' house for a bit yesterday for Easter dinner. I snapped a bunch of photos of Elijah from the deck (you will be seeing lots of these this week) but otherwise didn't move around a whole lot and when we got home I felt like I had just finished running a marathon. My body definitely is not used to anything but being glued to the couch!

Elijah had a fun time playing in the dog kennel (that no dog lives in). He opened and shut the door to the kennel about 4,367 times. Opening and closing doors is a favorite activity.



Of course I had to get a few pics of my gorgeous hubby, too.



This is his fake mad face:



Elijah is still really hesitant about walking on bumpy surfaces. He will walk on grass if the surface is fairly smooth, but he will not walk on grass if the surface is uneven. This is what happens when we encourage him to try it:





I have spent two of the past three Easters at home, so I was worried that I would be spending this Easter at home, as well. I am extremely thankful that I have a little bit of freedom these days so I don't have to be cooped up 100% of the time.



I loved being able to spend a little bit of time with Dan's family yesterday. As always, Elijah got a ton of love from Grandma and Grandpa and his cousins. And his new word of the day was "resurrection," which sounded more like "wezzuweshin." :)



Many more Easter pics to come this week! Have a good week, everyone.

29-week tummy and 30-week tidbits

My tummy last weekend, at 29 weeks..



Today marks 30 weeks of pregnancy! Somehow that seems like a huge milestone and I am so happy to have gotten to this point. I have nine weeks of bed rest under my belt and I am praying hard for nine more weeks! My c-section is scheduled for June 4th, which is exactly the 39-week mark, so let's hope that is our day to welcome Not-Zooter into the world.

My contractions have gradually over time become more frequent, but they still are nothing compared to what I was experiencing at this point in my pregnancy with Elijah. I usually get no more than one per hour, sometimes two per hour depending on the time of day. I have been able to move around MUCH more during this bed rest (compared to Bed Rest of 2007) and I am so thankful for that. I usually take it easy for most of the day and if I have had a good day I get up to play with Elijah a little bit in the evenings and even sit at the table with my boys for dinner. I have even been making one or two small trips out of the house every week if my body is cooperating (and with my doctor's blessing). This little bit of freedom I have helps immensely!

Nine weeks ago I was a pretty huge emotional wreck, so I feel really good about how things have panned out so far. Bed rest is limiting and frustrating at times, but I'm incredibly thankful that my body seems to be responding well to the progesterone shots (and that I haven't needed any medication aside from the progesterone).

Here's to nine more weeks!!


p.s. Last weekend I got out of the house for a photoshoot we had been planning for Elijah. It went great! We strolled around the sculpture gardens in Minneapolis while the talented Gwen snapped photos of our munchkin. Anyway, please check out her blog post and leave a comment (if you haven't already) so we can get a free print!

Aaaalmost at 29 weeks!

Yes, these are big boy underpants, but don't let that fool you into thinking progress is being made because it's not. Sometimes a boy just isn't ready to be potty trained! And that is ok.



Now that some of those evil steroids have worked their way out of Elijah's body, he is acting much more like the sweet, calm Elijah that we know. We certainly still have our 3-year-old moments, but Dan and I have stopped pulling the hair out of our heads.

I had an appointment with my doctor yesterday and everything went well. The baby has dropped in his percentile for size a bit (he is up to 2 lb, 9 oz!), which isn't a huge surprise since I can't see myself ever having a huge baby. He went from being in the 50th percentile four weeks ago to the 40th percentile. The doctor likes to keep a close eye on any baby lower than the 50th percentile, so I will continue to get ultrasounds every few weeks. The 40th percentile still sounds HUGE to Dan and me. I don't think Elijah was ever once above the 10th percentile for size.

Everything else looks great with me and with the baby. My cervix is still long (3.9 cm) and my fetal fiber-nectin test came back negative. I am currently at the same point in my pregnancy with Elijah where I tested positive for the fetal fiber-nectin test. When a person tests positive for that, it means there is a very good chance labor will start within 2-3 weeks. That is why I still thank God for the miracle that allowed Elijah to stay in my belly for SEVEN weeks beyond that positive test. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I heard that I still haven't tested positive for FFN in this pregnancy. This is a very, very good sign.

My contractions continue to bewilder me. I have great days and bad days and there still appears to be no pattern. They are nowhere near as bad as they were when I was this far along with Elijah. I am at the same point that I was when I went to the hospital for the first time with him because I was having contractions every three to six minutes. Yikes! Thank goodness I haven't experienced anything close to that yet. I'm still holding out hope for a 39-week baby!

Seven

Today marks seven weeks of bed rest for me. I really cannot believe it has gone so fast. The seven-week mark is significant because that is exactly how long I was on bed rest when I was pregnant with Elijah. Last night I laid in bed and tried to remember the details about my bed rest three years ago. Some things are similar, but things are also much different this time.



My body continues to perplex me. I had three of my worst contraction days yet last weekend (more than 15/day), but the past three days have been much better. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to these silly things, so I think I will stop trying to figure them out. I have been trying to get up and move around a bit more on my good days because I don't know when the good days might come to an end. If/when they do, I will literally be stuck to my bed like I was for the entire seven weeks during Bed Rest #1.

I have so many funny Elijah things I want to write out, and I will do that soon. Thanks for checking in!

27 weeks, 3 days

Isn't this happy face the best?



Well, my contractions have officially stepped things up a notch. Over the weekend they went from Mildly Worrisome to Moderately Worrisome (my own classifications). I am having a lot more of them, so I am hanging out on the couch as much as possible. I'm hoping I can stay out of the Seriously Worrisome stage for quite a few more weeks.



The time change did wonders for Elijah's sleep. He is now sleeping from 8:00-6:30, which seriously feels like HEAVEN. Speaking of Heaven, I'm still reading my Heaven book (by Randy Alcorn) and I love it to pieces. It is, as you said, Jesse, a life-changing book and and I think everyone should read it at some point. It has gotten me thinking about a lot of important things and it sure makes me think twice about some bad habits I have in my life. It is startling, yet GOOD, to be reminded that the road to Heaven is narrow and challenging, while the road to Hell is wide and easy.



Dan and I made a lot of progress with our house organization project this weekend. It's mostly all Dan. He does 99% of the work around here these days. We are almost ready for Not-Zooter to arrive, although we are still praying he stays where he is at for another 10-12 weeks. We have our cluttered garage and cluttered storage space yet to deal with and then we will be done with the big stuff!

Thanks for checking in on us! Have a great week, everyone!

26 weeks, 6 days

Our little sticker face got some good news yesterday: He has tested out of speech therapy! This is wonderful news!! A year ago he was not talking even a little bit and I never imagined we would be at this point today. I'm so proud of our amazing little boy.

My contractions in the past week have been super unpredictable. One day (like yesterday) I will have only four contractions all day and another day I will have 12+. The doctor told me yesterday to just keep doing what I'm doing. Everything checked out great at the appointment, minus the fact that I have already gained almost all of the weight I gained in my entire pregnancy with Elijah. Ugh. Oh well.

Elijah is loving preschool! He usually comes home utterly exhausted, but he has not cried once about going there. It is so cute to listen to him sing the songs he learns during circle time. Again, so so proud of my little preschooler.

That's all for now!

Bye bye, Gammie

Check out the tickle gloves ("glubs") and tickle monster book that our friend Cara dropped off for Elijah! There is not a better kid to receive tickling paraphernalia.



We said goodbye to "Gammie" this afternoon. Elijah is going to need some adjustment time. He has enjoyed every single moment he has gotten to spend with her. Paula, thank you for everything you did for us while you were here!



I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and the rest of our week we will be getting back into the groove of our normal routine.

I forgot to say THANK YOU to everyone for the great reading recommendations and for the ice cream recommendations, too! I will update both lists again in a few weeks!



My awesome cousin Trevor stopped by last night to drop off three of my favorite Ben & Jerry's flavors (could not possibly have been more thoughtful and perfect..thank you so much, Trev!), so I'm going to go dig into those now while Elijah finishes his dinner.

26 weeks, 2 days

My stepmom has been here since Thursday and we are enjoying spending time with her. Elijah is absolutely in love with "Gammie." I think he says her name about 4,000 times per day.



Dan and I have gotten spoiled. Meals are being made for us, our walls have been cleaned and we have been able to sleep in and take naps. The help has been wonderful!



My contractions have been inconsistent, which is slightly worrisome. Friday was a record day (not in a good way), but yesterday and today have been a bit better.



We have been spoiled by other family members and friends in the past couple weeks, as well. Last night I cried after opening a thoughtful card from my cousin and aunt (thanks, Jayne, Duke and Cathy) because it was just too perfect (ha, no pun intended!). We have had people stop by with meals and gifts and it all has meant so much to us.

We are going to eat dinner now and watch the movie Up for the second time this weekend. Have a great week, everyone!