37 weeks

This pregnancy, I stand facing my left. I like to mix things up. Keep it interesting. My public demands it.

 

I am 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I had to look up effacement on my internet because I can't remember these types of things. It's the thinning of the cervix. And because I am clearly now a biology major, after dropping that kind of knowledge on you, I would also like to inform you that I learned yesterday, during what was an exceptionally enthusiastic pelvic exam, that my cervix is apparently located somewhere around my neckbone. They really should just offer you an epidural from 36 weeks on. You hear that, Obama?

 

I came down with a sinus infection last Tuesday night. I remember joking that of course I was getting sick, because Rick was about to leave for three days. I need to learn to not joke about things like that. I was miserable, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't breathe, and when I wasn't crying from being so miserable, my eyes continued to water from the ongoing sinus pressure. Annie and I survived and Rick returned home on Friday to rescue us all. He took Annie to the store to purchase provisions, which involved candy for me (I only want candy when I am sick). When some Nosy McLoserface made the comment "nice dinner, dad" (as annie was no doubt frolicking around in the cart surrounded by skittles and peanut butter M&M's) Annie looked up and screamed at the guy "My MOM IS SICK!!!!!!"

 

I love my people.

 

We are on the road to recovery here. I am weaning myself off the afrin. And the candy. John seems to be as lively as ever (probably from all the candy) and remains in the head down position. He switches from laying on his left and right side and I can feel his little feet around my ribs when he tries to stretch. We set a date for induction of 12/16 if there is no development prior to then. 

 

Really, we just need to make it through this week with no baby as the Erwin support staff is running on a skeleton crew, and I don't want to eat a hospital's version of Thanksgiving. We will continue to lay low and let baby J continue to cook and count the days until 12/16.  



The sick

We had our first Emergency Room visit with Annie on Friday night. Here's how it went down:

 

Thursday was special person day at school. Rick was Annie's special person. 100% symptom free.

 

She woke up on Friday morning after a bit of a restless night and her cheeks were flushed. By the time we were supposed to be getting ready for school, she had a 99.4 degree temperature. I debated sending her, but those cheeks were a dead give-away that something was up so we stayed home and snuggled.

By noon I was convinced I had been played. But whatever. We tried on jewelry and new hairstyles and ate endless amounts of yogurt. It was a nice afternoon. She did seem pretty worn out by naptime so I thought she might have a little bug.

 

She woke up about 45 minutes into her nap with a horrible cough. Since it was Friday and I had never heard her cough like that, I figured it would be better to err on the side of caution and I took her into the doctor to get her checked out. She had 101.5 fever when we were there, but was her usual energetic self whilst in the doc's presence. She didn't cough once and the doc proclaimed that she just had a cold and this was probably as bad as it was going to get.

 

She seemed to get worse almost instantly after leaving the doctor's office. She just seemed lethargic and looked really sad (as you can see above). But a little motrin and Daddy coming home seemed to make everything better.

 

We put her down for the evening at 7:30. I made a snide remark to Rick that I felt like we were in for a long night. I am so smart, sometimes. Or I should learn to not make negative confessions. Either way....at about 9, right when all the urgent care places close, Annie started coughing again. And wheezing. And gagging. It was horrible. She had 104 temp. I called our pediatrician's exchange (only because Rick reminded me that it actually exists) and the nurse asked to listen to Annie breathe. After a determining that Annie had "stridor" (wheezing sound on both the inhale and exhale, which is a sign that there is upper respiratory swelling), she advised us to get Annie into a steamy bathroom while we got everything ready to go to the ER.

 

SIDEBAR: We have one bathroom in our house. I have been complaining to Rick about the lack of hot water in this bathroom for, oh, EVER. Since he doesn't have much hair and doesn't take baths, he thinks it's fine. Here's the actual exchange with the nurse on call:

 

Nurse: Get her to the bathroom and get it really steamy in there. That should help her for the ride to the hospital.

K: Ummm, we have horrible hot water pressure. It will take 10 minutes for the water to just get warm and even then, I am not sure it would be enough.

N: ok, well, how about just running hot water in the sink and putting a towel over her to collect the steam?

K: Again, it takes a long time. And there's not much hot water pressure. (at this point I do start the water in the sink, just so she can hear that I am trying to be a team player)

N: What about your other bathrooms?

K: We only have ONE BATHROOM!

N: Oh really? Oh. Ok. Well, then just probably best to skip all that and get her to the ER.

 

I resisted the urge to defend our decision to live in a house that is so clearly not equipped to handle a family of three, much less any medical emergency. But at least now I have all the ammunition I need to justify fixing our hot water situation. I mean, at this point, it's practically a matter of life and death. Rick is on board.

 

Back to the story....

 

Annie vomits on our bed for good measure right before we leave for the hospital. We threw out our only pair of spare sheets last week during the great basement purge of 2013 because who needs spare sheets? Between this and the bathroom situation, at this point I am seriously questioning every life decision we have ever made.

 

Rick drives because I want to be in the back with Annie. I resist the urge to comment when he brakes at a yellow light.

 

After clarifying that we were there for Annie and not for the hugely pregnant momma/me, we were swept away into the pediatric ER and seen almost immediately. Of course, I had to make some "unless you have a two for one ER special" remark that was met with a tight smile and a shake of the head. No one gets me.

 

Thanks to Doc McStuffins, Annie was the perfect patient. Possibly a little too perfect. I am sure they went back to check her file to verify that they didn't have some sort of Munchausen's by Proxy situation on their hands since she knew the whole routine: listen to the chest, listen to the back, check my ears, check my throat, lifts up her arm for temp check. Maybe we just have a future doctor on our hands?

 

The doc confirmed that she did have "classic croup" and that we were right to bring her in. Since her stridor wasn't constant, we avoided breathing treatments and she was given steroids to reduce the swelling and that was that. I am sure that saved us $1,500.00.

Annie coerced the nurse into giving her a "pop pop" at midnight. This is probably the only thing she will remember about this visit-that she got to have a pop pop in her PJs while it was dark outside. I knew she was feeling better when she looked at me and said "you not funny, Kawee (Kaly)". Like I said, no one gets me.

 

After sleeping a little too soundly for my liking, resulting in me checking on her approximately 75 times in the night, she woke up and was all better. Still a little hoarse and had a touch of a cough, but nothing a few days in her Sophia dress won't fix.

34 Weeks

Greetings from the longest pregnancy ever!!!! There is something so strange about being pregnant almost an entire calendar year. But, that was the plan so no complaints there (at least none that I will document here).

 

We had our 34 week checkup yesterday. I have about 7 pounds until I hit where I was with my final weight with Annie. I feel like this baby is just a huge ball right out front, which now makes it necessary for me to sport a belly band under all my clothes, lest people get a peek at the underside of ye ol' bump. 

 

Belly Band hiding about 4 inches of what would be exposed skin in most of my maternity shirts.

 

The logical solution would be to buy new shirts, but I absolutely refuse to spend one more cent on maternity clothes. My advice to any new moms is to stock up on your maternity basics early. Maybe even when you are trying to get pregnant. Just buy it and wear it and get your money's worth. Sure, you will look like a crazy person, but think of how comfy you will be with all that spandex and billowy fabric floating around you. Hear me out.

 

The temptation is to try to wear your "normal" clothes as long as possible. This will inevitably backfire because you WILL get to a point where those clothes don't fit and it's time to cuddle up with an elastic waistband. In reality, you probably should have stopped wearing your normal clothes about 5 weeks ago, but you were determined to make it work. By this point you are 25 weeks in and you start thinking, "well, I just have 15 more weeks, I don't want to buy a bunch of clothes for that short of a period of time." So you think it's ok to just have a few shirts and a few pairs of pants. And you will wear these same shirts and pants every damn day for what will seem like an eternity and you will feel like crap and daydream about your normal wardrobe and loathe getting dressed every morning in your gray/black/brown/darker gay cotton t-shirt and jeans. So buy all that crap early and wear it out, pregnant or not. If someone asks you why you are wearing maternity clothes if you are not pregnant, just wink and say "you never know!" or "just in case!" or something equally vague and bizarre and that should be the end of that conversation.

 

But back to where we are with the pregnancy....two more weeks until John is no longer considered premature. Two more weeks until we start going every week for checkups. He's about 20 inches long and about 5 pounds. Annie was 20 inches long when she was born, so he's about as long as he's going to be, he just needs to plump up a bit. We think he's head down, but arms and legs are sunny side up, when they should be facing down (ideally). Dr. J says that's an easy flip to make so he's not worried about it. We will confirm his position at the 36 week checkup. My belly was measuring at 35 weeks at this visit, but Annie always measured a bit ahead, if I recall correctly.

 

I organized his clothes this weekend and we have a fairly respectable wardrobe for the little fella from newborn through 2 years, thanks to some generous loaner clothes from Team Botanical and some co-workers. We got the swing, bouncer, play gym, and bassinette back from my friend and those are all ready for action. We'll probably get the car seat out after the next appointment. His crib is all ready to go and only sometimes is used as a storage facility for Annie's dress-up clothes.

 

42 days to go!