Needs Good Vibes!

Or prayers, your choice! :) But I'm off to the doctor tomorrow, with being so close to "full term" (Technically 2 days from now) I'm really hoping she has some good news for me tomorrow... I'm in full blown "Severe Pregancy Congestion" mode, and let me tell you - this is NOT fun. I blow my nose - literally - every 2 minutes. All. Freaking. Day. LONG. Oh, and all night long too. AHHHHHH. Benedryl does nothing, Sudefed does nothing (yes I tried a dose even though it's class C - anything to help at this point... but nope, nadda.) *SIGH*

So here's my thoughts on it all, Lizzy was 7 lbs 11 oz... my doctor that delivered her informed me that had she been any bigger I would have had to go to a C section as my body was not made to deliver big babies - she got stuck on my pelvic bone for 2 1/2 hours and we nearly had to have an E-Ceserean. No fun. Having said that... Madeline measured 6 1/2 lbs last Tuesday - nearly a week and 1/2 ago - and if memory serves me right, babies gain about a 1/2 pound a week the last 5 weeks... well... if thats true (and from her most recent "bruise the heck out of mommy" events, I think it is) then that means she's approaching 7 1/2 lbs... which is fast approaching Lizzy's weight - which means, should I go much longer, I'll likely have to have a C. And I REALLY don't want to. Sooooo I'm going to beg and plead that they remeasure her tomorrow - if she's 7 1/2 or so then I'm hoping the'll plan an induction soon... very soon. I really want a normal delivery if at all possible.

AND I tested positive for group strep B this time... (odd as I didn't last time) so they want me on the antibiotics for a few hours before I deliver... I live about a half hour from the hospital and would likely take a few hours getting there when I go into labor as I'd need to get Lizzy to my MIL's (Opposite direction 20 minutes adding on 40 minutes to the trip) meaning if they don't induce and I go naturally, then there's a good chance I'll have Maddy before they have a chance to get all the antibiotics in me... which would be bad for both her and I.

AND (not that this really amounts to much) I'm ready to have her. I'll be full term on Sunday so seriously, let's just get the show on the road shall we? I'm going to beg... and plead... and beg... and plead... and beg some more... so lots of prayers and good vibes would be wonderful. Let's hope she (my doc) gives me good news tomorrow. :)

Jay gave me free reign today to go pick up everything else we needed for Maddy... that was FUN! :D I also shopped for my sister today, but I won't post what I got her as her shower's not until next week and she reads my blog. LOL (hi beth.) :D

Anyways, got all my shopping done for sis, and I picked up a diaper depot (it attatches to the changing table - or for right now the cradle) and holds diapers, wipes etc. It's great for keeping things handy and will be very useful for those middle of the night explosions that are soon to come. :) I got some ribbon and finished Maddy's artwork for her room - I need to take some pics and upload it, it turned out SUPER cute. I can't wait to see it on the walls! I got our changing pad, and some other small things like cradle sheets, lap pads etc. Nothing too big... (our shower is Saturday so I'm going to see if we get anymore blankets or our diaper pail before picking those things up) but it was nice finally feeling almost ready for Madeline. I'm so excited to meet her! I think about it constantly. LOL

So that's that... y'all pray for me tomorrow! Thanks! :)

Over it...

Can I just say that I'm pretty much over being pregnant? Yeah, Madeline is more than welcome to come tonight... would I be prepared for her? No. But at this point. I just don't care. LOL I haven't packed my bags yet (What for? It's only going to get my hopes up.) We have lots of things we still need... the cradle is set up by my bed but is full of books and bedside items... with no sheets. We don't have a stroller yet (though I could make due with my Snap and Go as long as Liz isn't with me.) And I have one small pack of newborn diapers - yep, that's it. However... I am very excited to meet my little girl... I worry constantly that something might go wrong in the next few weeks and I have such a hard time dealing with that. I'd just rather have her here where I can check her breathing, make sure she's being fed, and know that she's okay, rather than keep reading and hearing about late pregnancy losses from other mom boards. Ooooh how I struggle with that. I just read about one mom who lost her baby at 38 weeks, and they have no idea why. Still born, perfectly formed, beautiful baby at 38 weeks... I can't even begin to imagine. I woke up this morning shaking and worrying that I hadn't felt Madeline move much over night - fortunately she answered my thoughts with a swift kick to the ribs as if to say "if you want me to give you something to feel mommy, I can certainly do some damage."

So anyway, I know that sounds like a very selfish thing to say - I should be grateful that I'm holding this little miracle... but I admit. I'm very very anxious for her to arrive.

My Chunky Monkey

So today was a fun morning! We had a 3D ultrasound at MUSC this morning, just a final check to make sure everything's looking good. Madeline is reported at being a little over 6 1/2 lbs already - WOAH. 4 more weeks and she'll be a horse!

Everything is looking great and the girl even said she's fully using her lungs now which means she can come at any time now and under normal birth circumstances won't need any NICU care. Awesome news! She has a good bit of hair they said - it's almost touching her neck on the back - same as Liz. All her measurements look good - due date looks to be some time the 3rd week of February still...

now for the fun part... Look at my big lipped baby! The girl couldn't get enough of those lips - she said her nose is squished b/c the cord was in front of her face - but those lips alternated between pouty and a half smile while we were there... So no premie clothes or diapers for us! If she came today she'd be in newborns - if she comes in another month we'll be out of those 0-3 month things in No time at all! LOL

Suprise Shower! :D

So Charli invites us over for Dinner last night... it HAD to be last night. And we weren't allowed to bring anything because she came up with this long story about inviting her family to dinner and them not showing up so she had Tons of food to get rid of... yeah. sure. ;) Turns out we had a suprise baby shower last night! We showed up at Charli's and the whole house was decorated with It's a Girl stuff...
Ashley and Charli had spent all day decorating and making food just to surprise me! It was so much fun!!!! The girls wanted to plan something for me but didn't know want to wait around for everyone who kept talking about planning something - so they said heck with it, we'll just suprise her. LOL

Anyway, here's a hilarious pic - right before Jay was going to take it our kids all started bickering so here's the 3 mom's yellin at our kiddo's...

And here's the pic 10 seconds later after the mom's have had their say. ;)

I love these girls... these were the two that brought us dinner after I spent the morning in the hospital 2 weeks ago - love them love them love them. Such sweethearts!!! They got us this HUGE basket over flowing with baby items - it was so great, everything we could possibly need when Madeline first arrives - all the little things you rarely think of but they covered! I was seriously so blown away...

Here's some other pics from last night...

This is Lizzy and her cupcake - notice the cupcake part is still there while the frosting is mysteriously gone. ;)

Charli's son Trev and Lizzy eating dinner and chatting away... so funny to listen to our little people carry on a conversation now. LOL

Okay these cupcakes were SO yummy. I almost sneaked a second. :P

This last one is Emma Jane - the kids broke into the fridge right before we left... Liz and Trev were probably looking for sweets but cutie pie Emma just went for the carrot. LOL

When It Rains It Pours...

Well of course, since Jay got hurt, I got sick, and Madeline was having issues - Lizzy just couldn't be left out. Last night was Mom's Night In, Ashley brought Emery over to play with Lizzy and Linda (MIL) came over to help Jay take care of the girls while Ash and I enjoyed a mom's night out with no kiddo's in tow... Ashley ended up making dinner for Linda and Jay - so sweet - she brought meat loaf and corn over, Jay asked if we would go out more often. LOL Anyway, so Ash and I had two parties last night- the first, a baby shower for Jacquie from small group (she's due the week before me) and then we scooted over to the Mom's Night In where we all brought appetizers and got in some great conversation for a few hours. The baby shower was fun, and the MNI was a blast... but when we got home I noticed Liz was really warm - Linda had left about an hour earlier and Jay had just let the girls play and run around so we thought it might be because she'd been running so hard. I put her to bed as it was 11pm and she knocked right out... 45 minutes later she woke up screaming. I ran in and she was on fire... 103.5 tempature... I couldn't find the Tylenol (it's been a LONG time since she's needed it and I couldn't remember where we put it in the move) so Jay went to go pick up some Tylenol at midnight... he finally got back about 45 minutes later as he had to drive all around to find some place open that late at night and as soon as we gave her the meds she projectile vomitted all over her bed, pj's, hair, carpet, blanket, ect. So I had to give her a bath at almost 1:30 in the morning, she screamed and shook violently the whole time. I called the pediatrician's after hour service and the nurse told me we HAD to get Tylenol in her or else bring her into the ER if it got to 104.5... great. I pulled her out of the tub and wrapped her in a towel and rocked her for almost 2 hours until I saw the red starting to leave her face - I kept a cool towel on her forehead and that seemed to help a bit... I finally put her back to bed around 4 and then got up every 30 minutes to check on her... every time I'd walk in she'd sit right up and talk to me as if she hadn't been sleeping at all - but then I'd tuck her back in and let her sleep for 30 minutes before checking on her again... around 5:45 she woke up crying really hard so I put her in our bed (a first for her since she was about 2 weeks old) and she asked for some milk, while she was drinking I sneaked in some Tylenol and Benedryl as she was also all stuffy... she didn't throw it up this time, instead she just rolled over and fell asleep - so we all piled in our bed and knocked out until I woke up around 8:30 - Jay slept for another 2 hours and Liz slept until 11:30. I can see why some parents do the whole co-sleeping thing, there's something comforting about having your baby right next to you where you can just roll over to check their breathing and make sure they're all right... but it would never work for us on nonsick nights - not to mention I like having room to stretch out. LOL

Anyway, I kept her on tylenol all day and she seemed to be alright - her fever broke about 45 minutes after she took the first dose this morning (6'ish?) as I noticed her sweating and finally all the heat left her hands and neck... I never gave it a chance to come back today as we were pretty faithful with keeping her on the meds... SO hopefully she'll sleep better tonight - she went right to bed and seemed to be in good spirits. We shall see...

*sigh* My family needs to get better... ALL OF US!!! We're all on meds now - GEESH. All I want to do is get us all better so we can function and have a life again - it seems like all we do right now is try to rest and take medicine. I'm trying to keep this in mind: This too shall pass... I'm just hoping it passes sooner than later.

Health Update.

Okay, so back from the doctor. Boy am I just a mess. LOL At least we figured out what's going on... I have a viral infection in my ears. (Basically an ear infection but not really???) I have what's called "Pregancy Congestion Illness" aka... super bad sinus infection that reaches the ears and can't be cured with anything safe for pregnant women to take. Great. So all they can do is treat the symptoms not the infection... sooooo I'm on some sort of seasickness drugs to help the neausea and diziness, and ear drops to help with "pain relief of the throat and ears" and Ambien to help me sleep. Geesh.

lol I'm in pretty good spirits though I'm really sick and tired of being sick and tired. Seriously. The last two nights in a row I've slept aproximately an hour and a half each night... and for some reason I can't nap during the day anymore, so basically I'm running on virtually no sleep during the day. I'm not supposed to drive until this thing has cleared up as I keep having dizzy spells that take away my vision and all I can see is spots...

SO. The baby has a viral infection as well... which makes no sense to me, as I thought they were surrounded in fluid anyways??? So what would a little more fluid do to her? But they said it was a residual effect and that's why she's so lethargic right now. Whatever. They're also going to be watching me closely for preclampsia as my blood pressure has gone up, I'm seeing spots and I've noticed an increase in swelling in my hands, face and legs... all warning signs - fortunately none of it is too high at the moment, so they're just going to watch me carefully and then we'll go from there.

Oh and the only cure for preclampsia? Delivering the baby. *sigh* I'll be 35 weeks on Sunday, so my next visit is next Thursday as long as the swelling and vision loss don't increase... when I go in on Thursday if my blood pressure has gone up, they might induce next week... or once again, if it all stays the same - I might be pregnant for another 5 weeks. UGHHHHHHHHH.

BUT the good news is, tonight I'm taking Ambien so I WILL be sleeping whether my body likes it or not. YAY! I need sleep... I've cried twice today over the most ridiculous things - my doctor telling me to hang in there... *bawl* and Jay telling me he was going to go pick up my meds *bawl* again... no clue why either time. Stupid hormones. I know it's also because I need rest... Jay even took Lizzy to run some errands a little bit ago but when I lay down my brain starts thinking of all the things i have to do before Madeline get's here and I'm wide awake again... Tonight I'm cutting of my liquid intake by 7 so that I can take my meds at 8 and sleep as long as my body will let me...

All in all, I'm just glad to I know what's going on... I'll watch all the symptoms carefully and call my doc if anything get's worse on the P-C stuff, and next time I post I'll hopefully have had a good nights sleep... (so please excuse any spelling errors and rambling. I blame my body for those.) ;)

My funny kiddo.

Well this is a fitting post for my 100th post on this blog... it's an upbeat and positive post. I figured I need more of those in all the messes that have been going on. LOL

So here's my funny kiddo moment for the day... Lizzy was running around the house in her PJ's this morning playing with her Little People, (she's at the age where she's really into imaginative play... so cute!) Anyway, so I was sitting on my bed checking my email, just relaxing when she walks in with her hula skirt and crocs on over her pj's... she didn't realize I was sitting there so I just watched her, she walked over to my sink - looked over, nodded her head, walked back out of the room where I hear her rustling in the hall bath, she walks back in with daddy's step stool and plants it in front of the sink, steps up, grabs her toothbrush and toothpaste, flips on the water and proceeds to brush her teeth... I was dying inside - she's never done this before, usually it's a fight to get her to stand still long enough to brush all her molars but here she was just a scrubbin like a big girl. The funny part came when she had to rinse - she looked around, mouth all foamy and didn't see a cup to rinse with so she just bends over the sink and sticks her head under the faucet...

She still had no idea I was behind her so I grabbed my camera and snapped a quick picture before I finally had to bust out laughing. She quickly dried her mouth and looked over at me to see if she was in trouble, when she saw me holding out my arms she ran over and said "I hada bwush my teef mommy." It just melted my heart... I realize a little more every day how grown up she's getting... my 2 year old, brushing her teeth all by herself. *sniff*

So to update the last few days, I swear I have the best friends ever. After reading my blog one of my girlfriends called a couple other girls and they made us dinner the last two nights in a row... that was SO sweet. I appreciate being off my feet and just resting as much as possible right now and they just blessed me to tears suprising us with dinner, not once but two nights in a row! Part of me feels bad when someone reaches out like that but the other part of me is learning to be humble and say thank you. It's helped me so much... I'm not sleeping well at all right now and I'm afraid if I was to cook for my family we'd all end up in the ER with food poisening. LOL These last few meals have been a welcome change from all the fast food we've eaten lately.

Madeline is moving more, though I still worry about her constantly, she was moving enough that I didn't have to go in on Tuesday - but I go in tomorrow for my regular scheduled visit, they're going to retest my iron and take a look at her on the ultrasound again to make sure she's still breathing right and using her lungs like she should. It makes me so nervous - but I know I'm at the best hospital in the area so if anything should happen - no one could take care of my baby better than these people. Still... I'm praying hard that nothing happens and she continues to grow like she should. I've been feeling better from all the OJ and milk I've been drinking, so I'm hoping that her body is responding as good as mine. I think it is as she's given me a few good kicks and jabs the last couple days - definately a good sign. I'll update more once we get back tomorrow, but for now I'm just trying to enjoy my last few days alone with Lizzy and not fall on my butt from sheer exhaustion. I literally sleep less than about 3-4 hours a night right now - the rest of the time I'm wide awake with a ton on my mind... oh, and that's with 2 Tylenol PM - if I don't take those I'm up every hour on the hour without fail.

SO I'm definately ready to have this baby as soon as she's done bakin! I'll probably get more sleep after she arrives than I do now. haha. (Yeah, sure... lol) Life is crazy, but good. Charlie came over with her kids last night to drop off dinner and said (and I quote) "Your house looks beautiful!" I almost started crying - we still have SO much to do on this house, but to hear someone really appreciate all the hard work we've done to it lately just meant the world to me. It made me proud of my house, which is something I've not really had before - we've always been blessed, but often times we've lived in not so hot neighborhoods or tiny little peanut houses that are terrible for entertaining. Spreading out in this house has been so fun, and the neighborhood is great too so together that makes me excited to host some great parties in the coming months, be it birthday, just for fun or whatever - I love to entertain, so I can't wait to finish up these last few projects and host a big get together for all our friends who've supported us during the last month or so of craziness in our lives. :)

Anyway, that's all for now, I'm headed out to dinner with a friend tonight - just us 2 girls. I'm looking forward to a couple of hours of me time with Karen. :)