Last Day of August

Well today is officially the last day of August. Why does that matter you ask? It matters because that means tomorrow is September and that means that as of tomorrow I can say that my daughter will be born THIS MONTH! That just sounds really strange but very exciting! Our life is about to change whether we like it or not. I sure hope that we are ready for it! We still have some last minute things we still need to purchase...bottles, formula, etc. But other than that, all her clothes are washed and put away and her room is ready for her arrival! Her swing is put together and her pack and play is waiting for her to use it. We have our diaper bags packed and ready to be put to use :) We just want our little baby girl now.

Thursday I get the pessary removed and hopefully that will speed up her arrival! Without that support I fear she will just slip right out! Haha! Just kidding! Or am I? :) I am so glad that is the last time I have to go to that doctor's office. It is so unpleasant! I like my doctor's office much better!

Well she is kicking me like crazy right now...so that is a good indication that I need to eat something! She has a way of telling me when I am hungry :) Silly girl!

Happy 35 Weeks!

Well we have managed to make it to 35 weeks with the baby still safely inside! Here is the most recent belly shot taking yesterday along with my new haircut (35 weeks):

This baby is truly a miracle...we are not the only ones who think that either. All of our doctors (regular OB's) are calling her their miracle too...it is so cute. This week I had to do a 24 hour collection to check for preeclampsia. What was I collecting you ask --- urine! Haha! Talk about an interesting experience!! It was hillarious walking in to the doctors office with a bucket full of urine! What was even funnier was having to keep it in our fridge!

So the purpose of this was because the past 2 times I have been to the doctor my blood pressure has been a little high and I had protein in my last urine sample so they are checking to see if I am at the beginnings of preeclampsia! I really think my doctor felt so bad even suggesting it after all that we have been though. Good news is that if I do have preeclampsia...the solution to taking care of it is bedrest and I am already on bedrest! So that would mean early delivery of the baby more than likely! The one time I want something to be "wrong" it won't be :) Haha!

Well the pessary comes out on Thursday and I couldn't be more excited! I really hope that by taking it out it will make Alexis come faster! We are very ready to have her here. We will see though. I am having a ton of braxton hicks contractions so hopefully they will progress to full on contractions after the pessary comes out and the medication stops :)

Well I will end this blog with the ONLY pictures that we have of the 3 of us! Our friend Ben was here yesterday to watch the Redskins game so we had him take a few pictures so we at least had something before she arrives :)

I am almost finished with the letters for Alexis' room also. AC Moore only had the letters "EXIS" so we had to special order the "AL." Once the come in, I will paint them and then we can hang up her letters above her crib. They turned out so awesome. It felt really good to get back to doing some crafty things. Especially after not being able to do much of it over the past 5 months. I can't wait to start scrapbooking again. I will have to take advantage of Alexis' naps to get any of that done...but that is okay :)

First Night Out!!

John and I had a great dinner out last night! Although I did determine that the one pair of maternity pants I have are not good for going to a restaraunt and sitting for any length of time! I bought them back in like March and as you can imagine, my belly is much bigger than it was then :) Oh well...they did the trick for the night. I am not going to spend money on a new pair of maternity pants when I probably have at most 5-6 weeks left of this pregnancy!

John went and picked up the pack and play for Alexis yesterday afternoon. We had $75 worth of gift cards so we got it for like $25. I love getting deals! We also had a coupon for diapers and wipes so I sent him with that as well. As it turns out, the diapers were even on sale...so more money saved! I really need to find a place where I can get more coupons. Here are some pictures of the pack and play we got:And as you can see from the pictures below...our little Jingles has figured out how to get in to it! I guess we will need to move it eventually. She just wants to explore all these new toys! She is a smart little kitty for figuring it out! She originally tried to climb it and go over the edge. Quite a nutcase she is!!Well less than 2 weeks until I get my freedom back. Although just last nights dinner tired me out enough that all I wanted to do was come home and lie on the couch. The doctor said that would happen since I have been lying around for almost 20 weeks at this point. My energy and strength are not what they use to be. So freedom may sound nice but it is going to be a tiring freedom. I need to get some strength and energy back though before the baby comes so I will take my freedom in short strides :)

It is funny after lying down all this time that now that I can get up a little bit...after a short time all I want to do is lie down! Ironic!

T-1 Day...

Tomorrow is the big day!!! I am so excited to go to dinner :) I smell a burger coming my way!

Today was my 34 week doctor appointment with my regular OB! I am now on weekly appointments! I cannot believe we are getting so close. We talked with the OB today about my work situation (the fact that I am cutting it really close to risking losing my job) and she said at 36 weeks we will set an induction date! So I might get lucky at get to cut a week off my remaining days! She was completely understanding about the situation so that was cool. So in 2 weeks we should know the latest I will have my little girl in my tummy :) So exciting!

We also picked up Alexis' swing today. I sent John with the name of the one I wanted and he did a good job. It is absolutely adorable! Now I just hope that Alexis actually likes it! We got a great deal on it to. It was normally $129.99 and with gift cards and discounts we got it for $21.00!! Here are some pictures of it:We also got an amazingly wonderful gift bag of stuff for Alexis from John's co-workers at the ICU. It included some cute onesies, a very soft blanet, and some other cute outfits. There was also a few things for John and I in the basket as well. One of the onesies is absolutely adorable!!! Here is a picture of the basket and the print on the one onesie that I just love (all the clothes are adorable but there is something about these little zebras that just melt my heart!):I forgot to mention that Alexis had a great strong heartbeat today at our doctor appointment...150 bpm! She is completely lying on my left side! It is so hillarious. Her head is down...and has been for about 10 weeks. She is ready to arrive!

T-2 Days...

Well today should have been the day I would have returned to work. I can honestly say that I am sad that I am not going back. I really miss my job and all of my kids. I know that what I am doing is for the best, but after 4 1/2 months of lying around, I just want to get back to some sort of normalcy.

Tomorrow is our appointment with the doctor for my 34 week check-up. Wow I cannot believe how close we are getting. It seems so very surreal. I am definitely starting to get more nervous...I guess that is common with every first time mom. I hope that I can get through this whole motherhood thing without going completely insane.

I am getting very excited about Friday's dinner out!!! I really wish I could get my hair cut before we go out because it is soooooo long but that will have to wait I guess. Hopefully soon I can get a haircut...probably in 2 weeks. It needs it so badly!

Well off to start my day with a nap! Then maybe some reading or a craft or two.

We love you Alexis...

T-3 Days...

We are getting closer to our dinner date and I can't be more excited!!! Yesterday we had the pessary cleaned only to find out that it has caused an infection! Even after having it cleaned every 2 weeks like he said, I still get an infection. So now I am on a 2nd antibiotics. As soon as he told me about the infection I was so worried about the baby. I asked him if it would affect her and he wouldn't give me an answer I felt comfortable with...he just kept making jokes. So we decided to walk down the hall to our normal OB and ask her about the infection and medication.

They were able to squeeze me in and I am glad they did. My doctor made me feel so much better about the infection and the meds. She actually gave me a different medication than what the pessary doctor gave me. I felt a lot less stressed after talking to our OB. Although you would not know that since I pretty much broke down right there in the exam room. I think it has just been a rough few days. After 19 weeks of bedrest and now 2 infections in 3 days...I was due for a breakdown. It has just been such an overwhelming pregnancy. I am very much ready for our little girl to be here. I feel as though we take a step forward and then 2 steps back...she will be worth it in the end, it is just getting to the end that is so tough.

Today will be filled with watching tv and reading my book. But first a nap! I didn't sleep well last night...I was so tired but just couldn't fall asleep. So I will start the day off with a nap :) Thursday we head back to my regular OB for our regular appointment. Will be nice to get out of the house again. It is the little things that make me happy!

T-4 Days...

4 days to go!!! That's right...there will probably be a post every single day this week :) Today I have an appointment with my other OB to remove, clean, and replace the pessary. This is the last time I will have to do this!!! The next time I see him in 2 weeks it will be removed for good! I am so excited to have it removed. That means that I will also get to go off all of my medications. That will be nice because it makes me feel like crap. It will be nice to not have to watch the clock all day to make sure I get my meds in on time too.

Besides the appointment, I am not sure what is going to be on my schedule for the day. I will probably read more of my book "Good Night, Sleep Tight." Apparently this is a highly recommended book for helping your baby get to sleep and stay asleep. I have learned some stuff already by reading it. John and I watched the DVD "Happiest Baby on the Block" last night and it was actually quite informative as well. We both feel like now we have some techniques to help calm our little girl when she is upset. Which is more than we had a week ago :)

I am going to try and work on my cross-stitch at some point today. Maybe after the appointment. I haven't worked on it in a couple of months. I will definitely not finish it before Alexis comes, but I can at least try and get close. I really want to start scrapbooking again. I haven't been able to scrap any of this pregnancy. I will start soon though...sometime in the next couple of weeks. I really am excited to be able to use my craft room! I do need to get a chair though for my craft room. That and a light is the only thing that is missing :)

46 days until our due date...getting soooooo close!!! We love you Alexis!

T-5 Days...

5 days until I actually get to see the inside of something other than my house, car, the hospital, or the doctor's office!!! I get to go out to dinner on Friday! I am so thrilled and very much looking forward to our little adventure! I am going to eat so slowly so as to enjoy the outing for a longer time :)

Friday night we ended up at the hospital for 6 hours. The first 3 were spent in the ER due to more pain in my left leg. My OB wanted to check for a blood clot again. We got there at 7:00 p.m. and finished up around 10:00 p.m. Just when we thought we were being discharged, the doctor came in and said that my OB wanted me to head up to L&D to monitor the baby for a few mins to make sure she was okay. So up we went...thinking that nothing was going to be wrong. Well with this pregnancy, we definitely should have known better. Sure enough, they hooked me up to the heart monitor and the contractions monitor, and lo and behold I was contracting every 3 minutes. I could definitely feel them, but being as I have never been pregnant before, I had no idea they were true contractions. After eating a sandwich and drinking some water they gave me an injection of terbutaline to stop the contractions and it worked! It worked almost immediately. However, my body didn't not like the terbutaline and I began to feel sick and very very dizzy. The nurse came in and my heartrate had dropped from around 100 to around 70 in a matter of seconds. They also checked my blood pressure and it too was low. So they laid me down and within a few minutes I was feeling better. After 3 hours of being in L&D, they sent us home around 1:00 a.m. with instructions to begin antibiotics the following morning for a UTI.

For now, we are stable. Never fun though to add yet another medication to my daily routine. I have had a few contractions on and off this weekend, but nothing major like Friday night. I still think that once I go off the contraction prevention medications and the pessary come out (at 36 weeks), she will come in to the world shortly after. I am completely okay with that!!! I am ready to see my little miracle baby. I want to hold her and tell her how much stress she has already caused mommy and daddy :)

Today's Appointment with High Risk Doctor

I just got back from my visit with the high risk doctor! Today is a great day...finally! :) At 34 weeks, 8 days from now, I can get up and go to dinner or a movie once or twice during that week. At 35 weeks I can walk around a store for a few minutes (nothing too strenuous). So for like 15-20 minutes. At 36 weeks, my pessary comes out, I go off the Procardia and Prometrium, and the restrictions are minimal!!!!!!!!!! At that point I can sit up, walk around for longer periods of time, I still have to take it easy, but at that point they aren't worried if I go in to labor. Then at 37 weeks, if I am still pregnant, I will have my last and final visit with the high risk doctor!!! :)

The end is finally in sight! I cannot believe it! I can't believe my due date is only 7 weeks away! It is starting to feel more real with all the baby stuff around the house. I had my 2nd shower yesterday and got more awesome stuff for Alexis. We got the boppy lounger which I hear is really great! We also got her changing pad and tons of cute clothes :) Now all the room needs now is a little baby girl!

We got the video "The Happiest Baby on the Block" today from Blockbuster. People swear by it so we are going to watch it and see what we can learn from it. Anything to help our little girl sleep more at night :)

The Nursery - Updated Pics!

Okay so I actually managed to get pictures of the nursery taken before the weekend was over :) It looks absolutely amazing now! The only thing that is missing is our crying/pooping little baby girl!

I cannot believe how beautiful the nursery turned out! I am sooooo glad I went with purple instead of pink. The purple is so soft and light...it is very pretty! I still want to get the lamp and the hamper for the room...but other than that, her room is complete. Actually I do have to hang the valance over the window but we have to get a rod first. We want to find a wooden rod that will match her furniture. THEN the room will be complete! :)

New Belly Shot! 32 weeks 1 day :)

We are now officially 32 weeks! I cannot believe we only have 8 weeks to go! It seems so surreal. We are now finally beginning to wash some of her new clothes in preparation for her arrival. I have picked a couple of her newborn outfits that I want to take to the hospital for her. We will be washing them today. Here is a new belly shot taken this morning:

That is one big belly! It is so crazy to see it grow! :) I was looking back at some of the early belly shot and it really is amazing to watch it grow!

I hope to post some pics tomorrow once her dresser is in her room and all the stuff is put away. It could take a while to put all the stuff in her dresser though so I am not promising a new update just yet :)

Baby Shower #1

This past Saturday was my first of two baby shower's. This one was thrown by my sister-in-laws, Peg, Courtney, and Kari. It was absolutely perfect!! I had been looking forward to it for a couple of months and I couldn't believe that it was finally here. My friends Dana, Katie, and Jen showed up, along with my sister Cristina, my cousins Katherine and Rachel, my Aunt Fran, and also my mother-in-law. It was so awesome! Alexis was so spoiled! She got so much awesome stuff. Some of the things she got was her convertible car seat, bedding set, activity center mat, boppy, monitor, bumbo, and tons and tons of clothes, pacifiers, accessories, and socks!

Here is a picture of the beautiful diaper cake that they made for her! It was absolutely gorgeous! There are so many diapers for her in this cake. Not to mention the bottles they used to make it and the pacifiers they used to decorate it.

I was so very excited to see my cousins and my Aunt at the shower. I haven't seen them in forever and it was so great to see them! I will not go that long again without seeing them. It was so sweet of them to drive down from Connecticut and Hershey to attend my shower. Here is a couple of pictures of me and my cousins Rachel and Katherine.

I have more pictures that other people took and when I get them I will post some of them. Right now I just have these few pics. My other shower is a work shower that my friends Karyn and Ashley are throwing for me with a few work people here at my house. It is next Wednesday. I cannot wait to see them and everyone else who shows up!

Tomorrow is week 32!! Yeah! I cannot believe we only have 57 days to go. I see the high risk doctor next Thursday and we are hoping that at that point he will give me the okay to go out to dinner or in to a store at 34 weeks! I really need to get out of this house occassionally. I am surprised I have done as well as I have for this long...17 weeks of bedrest...that is a long time!!! I will try to post an updated belly shot this weekend as well as pictures of Alexis' nursery. Right now it is a mess because of all of her gifts :)