Misc.

Here's Charlie on Day 3 of his stomach bug last week. Poor guy. That morning he just cuddled with me on the couch, but after he woke up from a morning nap, he was crabby all day. But I would be, too. I'm so glad he's feeling back to normal now.

And here's Charlie with one of his favorite Christmas presents, his football. He's signing "Thank you" to Grandaddy for getting it for him. In fact, he slept with it last night.

38 weeks

We had another check up today, and everything continues to look really good. Nothing new to report from last week. We're just hanging out and waiting for this baby to come. Today I realized I'm starting to get a little impatient and just can't wait to meet this baby.

We survived Dave's last road trip before the baby comes. We knew we were tempting fate with his last two trips, but now we're in the clear because he won't travel again until after the baby is born. That is a big relief to know that he will be here for the birth.

My mom chose to stay on with us for a little while longer, so she's here until the 8th. But then she returns again on the 16th for my parents' previously planned trip to meet the baby. I'm hoping it will come before she leaves because goodness knows she's invested all this time being here, so I'd hate for her to miss the birth by just a couple days. But I'm so glad she'll get to go home and rejuvenate for at least a little while before coming back. She has been a huge blessing to us.

We had a good Christmas with my family staying with us, despite most of us sharing a stomach bug (thanks Charlie), and it seeming like every day there was something needing tended to (light bulbs, smoke detector batteries, car "service engine soon" lights). I'm keeping my sense of humor about all the little things that keep going on around us, and remaining thankful that merely annoyances and not anything major.

I'll try to post Christmas pictures soon, but I wanted to be sure to post a baby update, because I cannot tell you enough how much your thoughts and prayers have meant to me.

Rocking Horse

Christmas with the Keeneys

Charlie's Obsessions

Charlie loves football. I mean he LOVES it. He "reads" the sports page every morning to look at the football pictures. He points the remote at the TV and asks to watch football. And when we are watching it, he signs "more" when it goes to commercials. We always hoped he would be a football fan with us, but we got more than we bargained for! :) He recently found a chip and dip container we have that is in the shape of a Cowboys helmet, so now he carries it around and likes to wear it:

He seems to like basketball, too. Here he is watching Daddy work.

He's also fascinated with the vacuum. To be frank, he hasn't seen much of it in a while, but now that my mom has been here to help us out, he's getting reacquainted.

Here's his helmet again, but you can also see the Christmas canister. He loves seeing pictures of Santa and will say "Ho, ho, ho" when he sees almost any Christmas decoration.

37 weeks

I had another great check up today along with a sonogram. Everything looked perfect on the sonogram, and it's been almost two weeks without bleeding, so we're very thankful that we feel like we can put that all behind us. I've been cleared for all normal activity, including picking up Charlie. So now I'm picking him up and snuggling him every moment I get. Which is especially good now because he came down with some kind of stomach bug and was vomiting this afternoon, so I was glad that I could pick up my poor boy and hold him close.

Baby is head down and I'm 4 cm dilated, so my body seems to be getting ready. And since the baby is technically considered full term now, it would be safe to deliver. This is a strange stage to be at, because the baby could come any day, or it could still be weeks. The waiting is definitely exciting.

Another update

I thought I'd do another quick update, although there's really nothing new to report. Everything has still been going well this week with no bleeding and no signs of labor. I'm thankful to be up and about and have even gotten out for an errand or two. So I feel like I can be relatively "normal," just putting my feet up every time I can and not lifting Charlie. Yesterday I started really missing holding Charlie, but he does well sitting next to me on the couch, so we still get some cuddle time.

Tomorrow marks 37 weeks, and while it's still three weeks from my due date, it is considered full-term, meaning the baby should be completely developed and ready for life on the outside world. I'm still hoping to make it a couple more weeks, but mainly just because I don't want this poor kid to have a birthday so close to Christmas. My due date is close enough as it is, but I'd really like to avoid the week before and after Christmas, although it would make for an exciting Christmas this year.

Dave gets home tomorrow night, so we're thankful we're almost done with this road trip. We have a check up again on Monday with a sonogram, so I'm excited to see the baby again. I feel him/her moving a lot, so I'm getting excited to finally meet this person. Oh, and I don't think I've mentioned it, but we do finally have our names. Of course, we're keeping them secret, but it's nice to have that figured out.

My dad joins us on Tuesday, I'm so grateful that he has loaned me his wife for almost two weeks, and can't wait for him to be here, too. And then Sue and Doug and the kids drive down on Christmas Eve day. I'm so excited to have my whole family here for Christmas in our new home.

Charlie loves to wear his Santa hat and say "Ho Ho Ho."

Quick update

This will be a super-quick update because I've been doing some work tonight, and hope to go to bed soon. But I definitely wanted to thank everyone so much for all your well-wishes, prayers, calls, visits, meals... I cannot express enough how loved I've felt over the last week since this all happened. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We had a check up today, and there are no signs of distress, labor, bleeding...anything. My doctor said she was very glad she didn't hear from me this weekend. So we're optimistic that the next few weeks will continue as normal. I am able to increase my activity now, which I'm very thankful for. Whoo hoo!!

Thank you again for all your prayers. Now you can pray that the baby doesn't come while Dave is gone for the next six days! We have no reason to think it would, but even without all this stuff going on, we've hit that point in the pregnancy when we get a little nervous any time he leaves town. We've made arrangements for him to be home closer to the due date, but as last week showed us, you never know what's going to happen.

Blogging from Bed Rest

Yep, I'm now facing the thing pregnant women dread: bed rest. Ick.

Here's the Cliff Notes version of how I got here. I had a normal checkup and sono on Monday (35 weeks), and there were no signs of trouble. But Tuesday afternoon I started bleeding. It was pretty heavy, so it was very scary. I called my doctor and she had me come in to the hospital. The bleeding was slowing down by the time I got there (it pretty much completely stopped by that evening). The nurse got me on the baby monitor, and I was obviously very relieved when we heard the heart beat. I'd been having just a few contractions, but when my doctor checked me I was dilated 3-4 cm. We did a couple more sonograms and the baby looks totally fine.

They were able to determine that I had a small placenta abruption, meaning it tore away from the uterine wall just a little bit. My doctor used the analogy of old wallpaper that starts peeling at the corners. The sonograms were also able to show that the baby was still getting plenty of blood flow from the umbilical cord. So once we knew the baby was fine and still being "fed" normally, they determined that the baby was not going to be born that day.

They kept me in the hospital two nights for observation and rest, and I got to come home yesterday morning. I'm on bed rest for now, and we'll just wait and see what happens. Being on bed rest should help the tear heal and prevent future bleeding. I'm technically a month from my due date, so we still need to keep the baby inside as long as possible. I have weekly checkups from here on out, and I may be able to add slight activity as we go along.

I am so thankful for all the help we received. Dave's family jumped into action to help with Charlie, his coworkers accommodated him having to miss the broadcast on Tuesday at the last minute, and my mom flew in Wednesday to stay with us at least through Christmas. It was great to come home yesterday, but it was also strange to just be sitting here watching everyone else buzz around me. It breaks my heart that I won't be Charlie's primary caregiver for a while. When I first got home yesterday, he seemed a little fussy because I think he was confused as to why I wasn't getting up to play with him and why I wasn't picking him up. But eventually he had fun rolling around next to me on the hide-a-bed in the family room.

So keep us in your prayers the next couple weeks. Pray that I can carry the baby as long as possible, and pray for Dave and Charlie, as this impacts them the most.

Bruiser

OK, last post for the night, and then I think I'm caught up!

This morning, Charlie tripped over my feet and hit his head on the door hinge (OUCH!), literally as our church playgroup was ringing the doorbell for our play date. The playmates helped distract Charlie from the trauma, but he managed to get a big goose egg. It's by no means his first (in fact, it's not even his first in that exact spot), and it definitely won't be his last. Poor guy. He's such a trooper!

Thanksgiving with the Keeneys