37 week update

Well this has been a very eventful week! I went to my doctors on Tuesday for my normal weekly checkup and everything checked out normal. My doctor checked my cervix to see if I had made anymore progress as I have been having nightly contractions up to that point and I had a minor change! I was now 2cm dilated! I left that appointment and almost immediately started feeling cramping and by the time I made it home, started having contractions. The contractions were not horrible, but enough that I noticed them. I just kind of mentally kept track of them until after supper, and then sat down and used a contraction timer to time them. They were coming nice and steady in a pattern. I timed them from a little after 7pm until maybe 10 or 10:30. At that time, Hans was wondering if I wanted to head into L&D, but I decided that I would try and take a shower to see what that did to them. The shower was nice and relaxing, but I continued to contract the entire time at the same rate as I had been all evening. I was just still hesitant to head in because not all of them were super painful, so I didn't know for sure if they were doing anything. So after my shower I decided to lay down and see if I could get some rest.

I was able to fall asleep and only wake up a couple of times. Sometimes I woke up because I needed to use the bathroom, and a couple of times I woke up because of the contractions. Shortly after I woke up for the day, I started to time the contractions once again and they were back to their normal pattern. I did have sometimes that they would back off for 30 to 45 minutes at a time, but they would start right back up and get back into a normal pattern. Around 2pm, I had finally had enough painful contractions all together that I called Hans at work and said that I thought we should head into the hospital to be checked.

We got to the hospital and checked in around 2:30pm. The nurses got me all settled in and checked me. I had progressed to 4cm! That was a nice change from just 24 hours earlier. They got me hooked up to the monitors to see how little man was doing and to monitor my contractions. They did this for 24 hours and would normally have me on the monitors for 1 hour then off for an hour. While I was not on the monitors I was up walking, sitting on a birthing ball or using the jacuzzi tub! After 24 hours, my insurance required that they either fully admit me to the hospital for delivery or send me home (I was still just in the hospital as an observation patient) Since I had only progressed another CM and my contractions were still doing the weird patterns of coming and going every hour or so they send me home and told me to come back when the contractions were strong again or my water broke.

So we have been home since Thursday afternoon, and I have been constantly contracting. It isn't fun, but I am dealing with it as best as I can. We went on a nice long walk last night around the neighborhood and then again today to see if that would help kick up the contractions. So who knows, we might end up with a baby in the next couple of days and he might just be causing me lots of problems already and not come until closer to his due date! Only time will tell!  

36 week update

What a exhausting few weeks it has been since my last update. I have officially hit the "I am ready to be done with this pregnancy business" and ready for my baby to be in my arms. :) This past week especially has been a little trying as I have landed in the hospital 2 times and on top of that Hans has been out of town for work!

Sunday morning, I headed to L&D as I had been contracting all night and thought that my water had possibly broke up high at the top of my placenta. After going back and forth on if I should head in to be checked, I finally decided to go in and get checked. I figured it was better to be safe than sorry, so I packed Jacob up and dropped him off at my moms and headed in. They checked me in, hooked me up to the monitor and collected a urine sample. They also took the swab to check for amniotic fluid. After being monitored for a few hours, the tests came back and didn't show any fluid present so they were confident that my water had not broke and decided to send me on my way.

My second visit to L&D was a little longer of a visit and a little more scary. I was getting ready for bed last night. I had gone to the bathroom and when I stood up, there was lots of blood all in the toilet. It scared me right away, and I immediately called L&D to let them know I would be on my way back in (my doctors office doesn't have after-hours calls, you just have to call L&D or go in). However this time I couldn't just pack up Jacob and take him to grandma's as my mom had to also leave town for my grandpa's surgery that is today. Because my mom is out of town, my sister Sara is staying with me, so for the night I could at least leave Jacob home with her as by the time this happened he was fast asleep. I called his daycare provider and gave her a heads up that I was headed into the hospital and I might need her help come morning if they kept me overnight as Sara would need to be leaving for school by 7:30am.

So I headed into the hospital and was checked in and in my room by about 10:50 (mind you the bloody incident happened around 10:30) They needed the usual urine sample and hooked me up to the monitor to check out the baby and to make sure I wasn't contracting. After being on the monitor for maybe 45 minutes to an hour, they had my results back from the urine test and it showed that I had a bladder infection, and they were pretty confident that this is what caused my bleeding. My doctor ordered a dosage of antibiotics and for me to stay the night for observation so they could monitor my bleeding and to make sure that I didn't end up in full labor. So I settled in as much as I could for the night and tried to get some sleep. Thankfully by around 4am my bleeding had stopped, and the nurses and I were pretty confident that my doctor would release me when he came by to do rounds in the morning. Unfortunately once I woke up just after 4am, I was unable to fall back asleep, so I was running on about 4 hours of crappy sleep. Once 6am rolled around, started the worry about making sure Jacob would have someone to pick him up or come stay with him at home once Sara was gone for school. Thankfully after about 45 minutes my wonderful daycare provider was able to secure a safe ride for him to her house, and he would be picked up by 7:15am. Once I knew he was taken care of my stress level went down just a little.

Thankfully my doctor came in a little while later, checked me over and felt like it was safe enough for me to head home. I am now on a 10 day course of meds to take care of the infection. Hans will thankfully be home tomorrow, so I am also just crossing my fingers that little man stays put until after he makes it home. I have now been home for a few hours and was able to get one nap in. I plan on trying to take another before it is time to pick up Jacob later in the afternoon.

How far along are you? 36 weeks 2 days - still measuring ahead by 2 weeks... Only 26 days until my due date!
How big is baby?  Estimated weight is around 6 + lbs (I have not had a growth ultrasound since I was 30 weeks, so I am just going by the general estimates for 36 week pregnancies. Since he was already so big then, I am guessing he is still on the larger side)
Maternity Clothes? All the time...getting down to just a few things that still fit comfortably.
Weight - loss or gain? Up just a couple lbs.
Sleep: Just OK. Some nights are bad and some are good. Up multiple times a night to pee and to turn over due to the hip/pelvic pain.
Movement: All the time! He is head down, with his butt usually on my right side however he likes to move it side to side when stretching which is kind of on the painful side. He also likes to try and stretch out which is painful for me!
Food Cravings: Nothing specific, I just eat what sounds good and stay away from what doesn't.
Food Aversions: I don't really have aversions, I just can't eat that much at one time due to my stomach being so squished.
Belly Button In or Out? Neither...it is still pretty flat most of the time.

What do you miss? Energy, and being pain free. Crossing my fingers that this hip and pelvic pain goes away quickly after birth!

And here is an updated bump picture of me and little man from last week. :)