29 Weeks Home Sweet Home :)

How far along? 29weeks 4days

Total weight gain/loss? +23

Maternity clothes? yoga pants are my best friend!

Stretch marks? Around my belly

Sleep? Who needs it? So overrated... You'd think being on bed rest I would be able to sleep all day. That doesn't happen.

Best moment this week: Moving into our new home

Miss anything? Being able to get up and do whatever whenever. Bed rest is hard.

Movement: Since Tuesday evening this kid has not stopped rolling around! She literally moves my entire belly!

Food cravings: Flamin' Hot Cheetos

Sypmtoms: heartburn, achey hips, exhaustion

Gender: Still a girl

Labor signs: Contractions

Belly button in or out? Still in

Wedding rings on or off? My set is too tight, but my fake set is still too big

Happy or moody most of the time? Happier these days :)

Looking forward to? Getting Kendall's furniture in so we can set up her nursery!!

 And here's a little photo of our house this week with the snow and ice :) 

I'll have photos of the inside once we are able to get to Kirkland's to fill the couple of empty spots we've got.

28 Weeks and a little too exciting for us ;)

The vast majority of our weekend has been and will be spent like this ^. But all is well, and we will be home soon! 

On Thursday morning I woke up with with what I assumed were UTI symptoms. This being my 5th UTI this pregnancy, I am not naive to its symptoms! I started getting the symptoms on Tuesday night, but I assume it was just our precious girl making room in there. When the symptoms increasingly got worse each day I knew I had to call my OB. So I called Thursday afternoon and they told me to get to the office or to my PCP to be evaluated as UTIs are not something to mess with in pregnancy. They can cause preterm labor quickly. I knew this, but as late in the afternoon as it was I really didn't want to drive to Fayetteville. So we went to the Promed walk-in clinic in VB. The usual doctor we see there wasn't there and we had to see an older doctor. He was very nice and very quick, but clearly didn't cross all his bridges. He took a urine sample and informed me that my urine was very clear and my test was negative for UTI. He said it was probably baby pressing on my bladder. So we went on our merry way. 

On Friday morning I woke up in excruciating pain. My entire pelvis and bladder area were throbbing, burning, and intense pressure felt in the whole area. I called my OB office and they wanted to me to come up to Fayetteville to see them immediately. I informed them I was in extreme pain, couldn't sit without being in intense discomfort, and couldn't void. They told me to be there as soon as I could, as this wasn't worth messing around with. When I got to my doctor's office I gave them a urine sample and waited. The doctor came in and measured by belly and listened to Kendall. My belly is only measuring 29cm now (which is only 2 weeks ahead) and Kendall's heart rate was a healthy 149bpm :) However, my urine was NOT clear and before even having it cultured she could tell I had a nasty UTI. She immediately prescribed me an antibiotic and pyridium for the pain. She told me to go get it filled now, take it, drink a bottle of water, wait an hour and if I haven't been able to void and the pain has not improved any to call her back and she was sending me to L&D to be monitored. After an hour of waiting I was in even more pain, my back was throbbing, my legs were aching and throbbing, and my entire stomach, pelvis, and bladder area were aching and throbbing. I was still unable to void after chugging 23oz of water. So I called her office, my nurse asked how much I had to drink, what time I drank it, had I voided yet, and how was the pain? After answering all her questions she immediately said go to L&D, we can't mess around with the not being able to void and the pain. 

I went on up to L&D where they got me situated on the fetal monitor and blood pressure monitor. At this point they had to use a catheter to obtain a urine sample as I was still unable to void. I was in extreme pain and the nurses were fantastic about getting everything they needed to get done quickly so they could get me comfortable. Once the urine sample was taken I was able to have some pain medicine. They told me I'd probably be knocked out in 15 minutes. They ultrasound tech came and got me to scan my kidneys and bladder. After scanning my both they sent me back to L&D where Josh was finally there waiting for me :) The pain med never knocked me out. It never even touched the pains.
After about 20 minutes of sitting around and waiting the nurse came in and informed me I was having contractions! Which was news to me! haha!! I just knew I was in a lot of pain and couldn't feel the contractions over the other pains. She said we needed to get them stopped before they became full blown. She also said I was pretty dehydrated so they started fluids through IV and gave me a cocktail of pain meds to relax me and my irratible uterus. They also wanted to perform a Fetal Fibronectin test. This test indicates whether or not you are at risk for delivering (preterm) within the next 2 weeks. Then they checked my cervix. After the test and cervix check my contractions finally seemed to slow. My cervix was still long and closed (praise the Lord!) so we assume the fFN test would come back negative. While we were waiting they told Josh to go ahead and get me something to eat, since I hadn't eaten anything all day at this point. 

Around 6:30pm the nurse came in and said, "Well your fFN was positive so you're not going anywhere." She also explained that this test is great when you test negative, but it gives quite a few false positives. Meaning I *could* deliver within 2 weeks, but I also *could* go full term. Unfortunately there's no way to tell 100% so they have to keep me for observation and to give Celestone, steroid shot to help mature K's lungs. The steroid must be given immediately and 24 hours later. 

So they moved us to a room and got us comfortable for the night. At this point my pains were beginning to get better and were more uncomfortable than anything. I was given the steroid shot and one last dose of pain meds before bed. 

When I woke up this morning I could immediately tell I was feeling much better. The pains were no longer there and mostly just dull aches, I was finally able to pee and feel relieved after almost 3 days! 

My contractions started back up this morning, but still not progressing the cervix or anything and they stayed very small, so no real worries there! Kendall is nice and active, happy and healthy and being quite obnoxious on the monitor ;) 

Doctor Smith came in this morning and asked how I was feeling. I told her much better! She said she could tell :) She said K and I were looking great today and as long as we stayed this same way all day we could go home after my last steroid shot tonight. She offered to keep me another night since the shot won't be until around 8pm, but we are so ready to get back to VB and in our own bed tonight! I was taken off continuous fetal monitoring and only monitoring every 4 hours now :) 

I will be on modified bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy, but at least our girl is healthy!! 

Now, I'm starving! Time for lunch :) 

27 Weeks :)

 How far along? 27 Weeks 3 days

Total weight gain/loss: 21+ lbs

Maternity clothes? Wearing lots of hand me downs that have been too big up until now :)

Stretch marks? around my belly 

Sleep: Pretty hit or miss these days. Some nights my hips throb all night, other nights I sleep well.

Best moment this week: Seeing her sweet little face in 3D!!

Miss Anything? Being able to sleep on my belly and eat a turkey sandwich from Subway!!

Movement: K is a mover and groover!! 

Food cravings: Lucky Charms and Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream

Anything making you queasy or sick: No sickness anymore :)

Symptoms: Heartburn, achey hips, exhaustion

Gender: Still a Girl

Labor Signs: None :)

Belly Button in or out? In for now

Wedding rings on or off? Getting snug, trying to switch over to my fake ring but it's still too big.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Pretty moody these days :-/

Looking forward to: Seing our sweet girl again in 3 more weeks!

I had my 27 week checkup and my glucose tolerance test this week! Everything checked out well. My belly (by fundal height) was measuring 4 weeks ahead at 31 centimeters or 31 weeks. I immediately assumed the worst and thought it was either because I have gestational diabetes or polyhydramnios. Both of which could be pretty serious. My doctor didn't seem too concerned at the time and said to come back in 3 weeks when I'll be 30 weeks and we will check K's measurements by ultrasound. So we left and I immediately started googling why my fundal height would be so far off...of course I started getting freaked out. Josh offered to take me to get an elective 3D ultrasound the next day for Valentine's Day, but it was really so she could check measurements and AFI and put my mind at ease because he knew how stressed out I was about it. So I called Brenda Shafer and she said she would absolutely get us in the next day and check our sweetie out. The next morning my OB/GYN office called and said I passed my GTT but I am anemic. Easy fix, just add an iron supplement. So that was great news and I could check one thing off the list! We went and took a few pictures with Drew Lacy, Josh's awesome cousin :) Here's one below. 

 After pictures we went and did a quick walk through of the house, which will be done and closed on in 10 days!!!!!!! Then we drove to Sallisaw to see our sweet girl :)

 So our ultrasound started out like this ^ Tiny girl has her head down, butt in my left upper abdomen just under my ribs, legs and feet going across to my right upper abdomen under my ribs. But, she likes to get all balled up with her feet in her face a lot. THAT, my friends, explains why my fundal height was so off. She gets balled up and pushes her butt up against my belly causing it to push out more than normal. 

 We got a few good shots of her cutie face :) She's precious. Has my nose, for sure!

 Her legs are measuring 2 weeks ahead! Girl is going to be tall!!

She is only measuring about 8 days ahead of her due date, as opposed to my belly measuring 4 weeks ahead! She is weighing about 3lbs 1oz already!! She'll be a healthy size lady when she's born! AFI was completely normal, so no ploy. She said my fluid levels were good, but not in excess. All her organs are still perfect. :)

One last photo showing that sweet tiny nose :) It looks just like mine! 

We are so smitten with this tiny girl and all her little features! 

I'll go back and see my doctor in 3 weeks for an ultrasound and to start my biweekly appointments. My prediction is they will move my due date up a week, which is fine by me ;)