33 weeks 5 days

For a mama on bedrest, it's been a very hectic 30 days since my last post. With the help of wonderful friends and family, we got through a fabulous birthday bash for Miss Olivia as well as the Hanukkah/Christmas holiday. It was interesting being slowed down by the situation. In the end I think it was really helpful because, out of necessity, I wasn't able to engage in the crazy hustle and bustle of it. Next year, I hope to be on my feet, but retaining some of the calm that this season brought for me.
Everything is looking great with the baby and me! Last week, I did have one monitoring session where it appeared that my uterus seemed "irritated" although they never said "contractions" and just advised that I slow down a bit. That was two days before Christmas Eve and was just the reminder I needed.
I'm happy to report that as of Tuesday, my uterus seems very quiet and the baby seems healthy and very active! It's weird to look at my belly now when he is moving inside me. He's so big, it looks like there's an alien in there! LOL!
We are having fun setting up the baby's things and I'm giving more thought to the delivery day (although purposely trying not to give it too much thought, lest I get my nerves rattled).
As the New Year is upon us, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all the blessings this year has brought to our family, one of the biggest being our baby boy still cookin'! xoxoxooxxoxoxooxox

Week 29

There is so much to be grateful for! Help continues to come from every direction. People have been bringing meals, doing our laundry, cleaning our house, donating and helping us organize a Christmas plan, and even dealing with the most unpleasant of tasks in helping us eradicate an unfortunate bout of head lice. The generosity and kindness is overwhelming!
We also had a lovely Thanksgiving, thanks to spectacular cousins who prepared almost every part of our feast.

We are enjoying the presence of my mother-in-law, Hyacinth, who EVERYONE calls Mama. It's been six years since we saw her last (she lives in Jamaica) and everyone is having fun reconnecting. I go to bed every night listening to the sweet sound of my hubby and his mama laughing together! We'll get to enjoy her for a whole two weeks!

We had a doc appointment on Monday and everything looks fantastic! It was so much fun listening to baby's heartbeat and hearing the monitor react to his bopping around. Mama and Olivia were with me and O was happily dancing around to the rhythm of his heart beat...so sweet!

I'm trying to resist the urge to move around. I keep feeling so good about every passing day, and am delighted to feel like we are exiting the scary woods of serious prematurity but.....baby is also getting bigger and that means heavier and more pressure on things so I should probably do even less rather than more now. I am going to ask the doc about getting a wheelchair since I figure there will be some small holiday outings that I'll want to participate in.

Dennis keeps telling me how big my belly is getting...as if he needed to remind me!lol! Gonna get some pics soon before it goes away. One of the many perks of this situation is that rather than feeling badly about all the bodily changes, I am actually relishing them. I never got a big belly with my first pregnancy so I'm wearing this one proudly. Life is sweet!

Almost 28 weeks now!

Just returning from the doctor's now and thank goodness all is well! I will be 28 weeks on Saturday and babies born at this time have a 98% survival rate. Of course, we are hoping for 10 or 11 more weeks but each little milestone feels like a victory.
The doc told me that they are not going to be checking my cervical length anymore and will begin with non-stress tests bi-weekly, checking for contractions. At this point, he said, it is a better indicator of how things are going.
I think we can really do this!

Good news!

Another great doc visit! All is well! Very grateful!
I'm now more pregnant than I've ever been in my life!
Hoping for 12 more weeks of the same!

Update

So t.hings have been good with my pregnancy since leaving the hospital on Saturday, although much of the rest of life was topsy-turvy over here!
Dennis and I got home at around 1pm on Saturday. I got through the door and settled quickly into bed and about 10 mins later we lost power! Losing power at our house means no water (since we have a well) no heat and no lights and stove. We did ok but it was a bit stressful til the power was restored around 6:30 on Tuesday eve.
I had a doc visit on Tues afternoon and was so nervous in the office that I was feeling flushed and shaky. Doc delivered the good news that my cervix seems about the same, measuring at 1.9, with minimal funneling (thats the cervix opening from the inside out) and not much change when he applied pressure. He told me to come back in a week.
I'm feeling quite hopeful in this moment about everything! Yippee!

Going home today!

Great news! I am being discharged from the hospital this morning!
Cervical length has returned to 2.3 and I have had great blood pressure readings.
Going home to strict bedrest...a tough challenge made much easier by the knowledge that I'm doing my part to keep this little guy cookin!

Adventures in pregnancy 24 wks 5 days

So I never thought of myself as the blogging type, but when life situations such as this present themselves, it certainly simplifies things. Here goes...
Yesterday was rough. After a visit to the doc, they decided to admit me in the hospital due to a cervix that seems to have shortened even further, this time reading a 1.6.
I had also been complaining of weird fluttering feelings in my low abdomen that they were concerned could be contractions.
We are all being very cautious, especially considering that I'm so close to the 26wk mark, which is when the s**t hit the fan last time around.
I've been on the monitor all night and it looks like those flutterings are just the little guy moving down low. My blood pressure, which had been on the high side, was fantastic, and I'm not on any meds for that at the moment. I am another medicine called "indisin" (sp?) that helps quiet contractions and hopefully prevent dilation of the cervix. I'm receiving several doses of steroids that help baby's lungs mature. I will get my second dose this afternoon and will likely get to go home tomorrow.
So things seem pretty settled for the moment and I'm feeling positive. Visualizing keeping this babe inside for many, many more weeks!
Thanks everyone for all the continued prayers and support! Love is always!