32 weeks preggo.

Hello, December! Where is the snow?

Well, I updated last week on a Tuesday. On Wednesday, I ended up back in the hospital having contractions and generally feeling uncomfortable. I figured since it had been 48 hours of contractions, I should probably go in. They hooked me up to the monitors and of course, was contracting. They were a lot more obvious on the print out this time around than last time. Last time I went to the hospital my contractions looked like mole hills on the printout. This time around, I had a few rocky mountains. There were a couple that actually went off the chart. I felt a couple contractions in my knees which scared me. When they did a physical exam, they noticed that I was having some active bleeding. Although I went to the hospital pretty sure it was just another scare, I was a little more concerned once I was hooked up to the machines and watching my contractions and noticed the bleeding.

They contemplated keeping me over night to monitor me, thought about doing an amniocentesis to check my amniotic fluid to determine whether or not bacteria was present, whether they should give me steroids for his lung development and medication to stop the contractions. Through my urinalysis and blood sample, they saw that my white blood cells were high. While they were not for sure, they decided to conservatively treat me for a bladder infection with an antibiotic. They ended up letting me leave the hospital and I was on bed rest until my appointment on Friday.

It is now almost a week later and I am still contracting on and off. I also get uncomfortable pretty easily. I do not know how much longer I am going to last at work as I am very uncomfortable while there, especially after about 2pm. I've been having a lot of lower back, vaginal and general pelvic pain from sitting in a chair for so long. As well, my abdomen stays consistently tight throughout the day. But, I am doing my best and will continue working until either I can't anymore, or am told that they won't let me anymore.

I do have to say, after feeling the way I have for the last week, I will be surprised if this baby makes it to the new year. I've been advised that 34 weeks is sort-of our short term goal. At that point, we will no longer need to do steroids to ensure/accelerate lung development of the little one. As well, beyond that point, they will no longer stop labor if it happens. They measured my cervix and said that it was 2.3 and they would like it to be 2.5 or longer at this point. They also said that it was a lot softer than it should be. So, with that information and how miserable I am feeling, I think I will be really surprised to make it past 36 weeks, which is NYE.

We had our baby shower on Saturday. Janine did such an amazing job. I couldn't have asked for anything else for my shower! I am very grateful for all of her time and effort that she put into planning our special day. I was able to spend time with some real quality people and received some really nice gifts for the baby. I was really sure that I would not cry but cried on the 2nd or 3rd gift when I opened a pair of baby Carhartt bibs from my coworker Kathi. Then, I opened a card from Morgan's brother Tim and his girlfriend Jordyn, cried and basically couldn't talk because it was so special to me. I posted a picture of it above. It is all of our animals with the lil one riding Sammy's back. It is so dear to my heart. We are going to get a frame for it and hang it up in his nursery. My mom came out for the shower and it was really nice to have her here for it. We went shopping with gift cards on Sunday and bought some additional items off of our registry. I feel like we are finally starting to get ready but I am pretty confident I will never really feel READY READY.

While I do think that we will be having a baby this month, it is still crazy to think that if not, we will likely have a baby NEXT MONTH! WHAT!? Pretty crazy. I admit that I am not ready on a lot of levels, but am so ready on other levels.

I should be getting a call tomorrow to schedule my ultrasound. They are going to do one last ultrasound to measure growth to ensure he is still on track. I will be curious to see their weight estimation so I can know semi what to expect if we end up going early.

So, at this point my short term goal is to make it to 34 weeks which is December 17th. But a better goal than that is 36 or 37 weeks. Maybe I will have a 01/01/11 or 01/11/11 baby after all! Guess we shall see.

Well, that is about it. Enjoy the pictures from my shower.

See you next week.

xo, mommy to be.