Survey says...

It's a pregnancy survey! I found it on a bed rest website. Enjoy if you wish. =) {How far along} 32 weeks, 1 day. {Total weight gain/loss} 23 pounds. I was only mildly horrified when I stepped onto the scale at my doctor's office this morning. {Maternity clothes} Both my mom and Joey's stepmom have been angels and taken me on maternity shopping sprees... however, most of those clothes were more summer-y than winter-y, so I get cold very easily now while wearing them. I guess I didn't realize I would be hugely pregnant during the winter months? In any case, I also didn't anticipate being on bed rest for the last few months of my pregnancy, so now more than anything I just wear Joey's sweatpants and jackets. Or my Snuggie, which I finally busted out today. The good thing about most of my maternity clothes, though, is that they're cute enough that I'll totally still wear them postpartum. Especially the skinny jeans with the amazing waistband... you can't even tell they're maternity unless you pull my shirt up over my belly, and why bother with buttons and zippers if you don't have to? I may never go back! {Stretch marks} Yes, but oddly enough, not on my belly. I've gotten a few on my hips, but they're really not that bad. {Sleep} Couldn't possibly be worse; I dread it every single night. (See my most recent, total Debbie Downer post.) {Best moment this week} My doctor telling me that I'll be off bed rest at 35 weeks instead of 36- and the statistic she gave me that most babies born at week 35 and up get to go home right when their mommy does. Awesome! We can totally make it 3 more weeks. {Movement} It's no secret that I am not a person who enjoys pregnancy, but that is the one thing that I absolutely love and will miss about being pregnant. Every time she moves, I can't help but giggle like a little girl. It's just such a strange- but awesome- feeling. {Food cravings} Basically anything unhealthy that I probably shouldn't be eating. Slurpees, popsicles, puffed Cheetos, Dr. Pepper, Cafe Rio. Don't worry, though. I don't just feed my baby crap. In fact, I now eat more apples and bananas per week than I ever have in the past 26 years. Barney would be proud. {Gender} Girl. {Labor Signs} Well, I've been dilated and having contractions for 2 months now, but this past week contractions have been virtually non-existent! Such a relief. {Belly Button in or out} Still in. Although you should see the scar from my belly-button piercing which I took out years ago. Not exactly attractive. {What I miss} Not having to drink water! I despise water, but I need to get at least 64 ounces a day. Human contact. Going to the store or on walks. Working. (Certainly not at the job I most recently had, just working in general.) Being able to sleep. Iced coffee. My sense of humor. Balanced hormones. Actually being happy and not just anxiety-ridden all the time. The only thing that has been able to temporarily pull me out of my black cloud of sadness and anxiety is watching old episodes of "the Office" on Netflix. Something about that Michael Scott... Joey and I fully expect our daughter to come out humming the show's theme song. But you know what? All of this is so incredibly worth it. The past 7 months have been the hardest of my life, but I have a feeling they will seem like nothing once I finally have this perfect little human in my arms. So no more complaining! {What I am looking forward to} 35 weeks! (Which I will reach the day after my birthday.) Our family dog, Boozer, coming to stay with us for about a week. (Also happening around my birthday.) Thanksgiving! (And reaching 37 weeks, which is happening a few days afterward.) Celebrating Christmas, which I've already started doing. And finally- meeting this beautiful little girl after a year and a half of pregnancy! It truly has lasted at least that long in my mind. (I think the whole bed rest experience counts as an entire additional pregnancy.) {Other Updates} Contractions just started up again. Good thing I have a pill for that!

31.3

It's funny that I literally have all the time in the world, and yet I still don't blog very often. Oh, well. I guess the biggest thing to report is that Joey & I are now officially engaged! It certainly wasn't done the traditional way; we ordered the ring online since I'm on house arrest, and we've been practically engaged ever since we found out we were going to be a family. Even though it wasn't a surprise, it was still very special. I truly couldn't be luckier! The wedding itself won't be until next August or September. By then, my little brother Ryan will be home from Denmark, and Noelle will be old enough for us to leave with Grandma & Grandpa for a night so we can do a mini-honeymoon. Oh, and that'll give me time to lose this lovely baby weight I've been packing on. Fitting into my wedding dress and actually feeling pretty will be a definite plus. Speaking of positive things, in 4 days we will officially "qualify" for delivery at LDS hospital! (They can't deliver preemies under 32 weeks there.) So on Tuesday, I'll breathe my biggest sigh of relief yet. In about 2 weeks, we'll stop anti-contraction meds. 4 weeks, I'll be off bed rest. And 5 weeks- full-term baby! I know I can survive one more month of bed rest. At least, I hope I can. When I first received my "sentence", I thought, "This won't be bad at all! I literally am under doctor's orders to be lazy." It was nice at first, I'll admit. However, I reached my breaking point just this past week. When Joey is home, I'm fine. He is my best friend and always makes me laugh. The problem, though, is that he is a server and works nights. So we hang out together all day, then he is gone from 3-11. Those are my "dark hours". In the good old days, I could nap like a pro. Now that all I do is sit around 24/7, it's next to impossible to be tired during the day. In fact, all of my 1st and 2nd trimester fatigue has been replaced with 3rd trimester energy. Which is highly ironic, considering I'm not able to do anything with it. If I could, I'd just sleep away the hours that I'm alone. But sleep is far from my friend these days. I dread it even at bedtime when I actually am tired. I hate having vivid dreams every night, especially since they're never good ones. I have restless legs and can't take Melatonin for them. RLS is torture, and I am not exaggerating about that. I also can't ever sleep for more than two hours at a time because that is how often I get up to pee, and it takes me a good 20 minutes to get back to sleep after each bathroom trip. Everyone says, "Enjoy your nights of uninterrupted sleep while you can, 'cause you won't be getting any sleep once that baby comes!" Oh, please. My sleep is interrupted at LEAST ten times a night already by my overactive bladder, restless legs, squished lungs, scoliosis-plagued spine, & the pills I have to take 'round the clock. And none of those things are remotely cute. A screaming, poopy baby would be music to my ears right now, even at 3:00AM. Obviously, I'll probably be eating my words in a couple of months. I've never been a mother before, so I can't say how I'll handle it. But at this point in time, I just want her in my arms so badly, I'm probably not thinking very rationally. This entire post has been nothing but rambling and complaining, but I needed to get it out. Being cooped up all day every day is taking its toll. Not being able to contribute to society or really be productive at all is taking its toll. The pregnancy depression I've been suffering from for the past 7 months is taking its toll. (That's a very real thing, by the way.) I'm just glad the end is in sight. I know it will all be more than worth it. Some days are just harder than others. This would be one of those days. I'll end this with an excerpt from Dr. Seuss's "Horton Hatches the Egg": {Sighed Mayzie, a lazy bird hatching an egg: "I'm tired and I'm bored And I've kinks in my leg From sitting, just sitting here day after day. It's work! How I hate it! I'd much rather play! I'd take a vacation, fly off for a rest If I could find someone to stay on my nest! If I could find someone, I'd fly away- free..."}

30.1

We made it to 30 weeks! Not without a few bumps in the road, though. Last weekend we took another trip to the hospital. I had been feeling contractions on and off most of the day on Saturday, but by 9:00PM, they were actually starting to scare me. (Painful, etc.) I called Joey and my doctor. Doc said to go to Labor & Delivery. Joey rushed home from work and we got to the hospital pretty quickly. Of course my contractions slowed way down as soon as they got me hooked up to the monitor, so I felt like the girl who cried wolf. But it's so much better to be safe than sorry. We ran some test, including the fFN test, which is incredibly painful and I hope to never experience again. Anyway, that test came back positive, which is a little scary. (It has something to do with the presence of amniotic fluid in the test swab and indicates a possibility of delivery in the next two weeks.) I'm not a doctor or anything, but I do have one, and she tells me that the test can have false positives. So that makes me feel better about things. Luckily, this last hospital visit only lasted a few hours. So that wasn't terribly fun, but you know what was? Last Tuesday, when my mom & I went to get a 4-D ultrasound of the baby. Joey isn't really a fan of the 4-D pictures, so we went while he was at work. However, he seemed to change his mind as soon as my mom sent him one of the pictures after our "session". He loved the pictures and now has one of them set as the wallpaper on his phone. We're so in love with this baby and can't wait to hold her. (When she's full-term & ready to come out, of course!) While I was getting the ultrasound, as exciting as it was, my mom and I kind of felt like it was torture to see that beautiful chubby face and not be able to smother it with kisses. Let's hope these last two months fly by! (Yeah, right.) We had another check-up today and decided that we don't really need to do any more non-stress tests, as the baby is extremely active and I am FINALLY able to feel those movements regularly. Only took 30 weeks! I'm pretty convinced that I have the world's most anterior placenta. Case in point- at our last NST, the baby was so active that she wouldn't even stay still long enough for the nurse to monitor her heart rate. Yet I could hardly feel her myself, even though I was watching her squirm around like crazy on the ultrasound screen. Crazy stuff. My doctor also told us today that once I get to 34 weeks, I can stop taking the anti-contraction pills every six hours, which will be so nice. They also apparently won't try to stop labor after week 34. Although I will still be on bed rest until 36. But after that, it's fair game. I'd much prefer she stay in until at least 37, but once I'm off restrictions, it's likely she'll show up pretty quickly. So I guess we have yet another countdown- 6 weeks! In some ways, I feel like I've been pregnant my entire life. Truly. But in other ways, I just can't believe that we're almost to the finish line. Oh, life. What a journey.