36 Weeks

So, here is my BIG belly at 36 weeks! And the marks on my side towards my back are from my tank top and shirt that I'm wearing, NOT stretchmarks - I've been really paranoid about getting those and since I've taken the picture, they're not there anymore because I checked! I take a look at all aspects of my belly after showering to see if I have any and not that I would know what to do if I did get them, but I wouldn't be happy.

Anyway, I had a doctor's appointment this morning and I'm back home on bed rest for the remaining week. I am still dialated to 4 cm and not much else has changed. I've still been having some contractions and am therefore still taking the medication they prescribed to stop them. The instructions from the dr. are now to stay on bed rest through the weekend, but to stop taking the medication after Friday. On Friday, I will be 37 weeks and considered "full term" with the pregnancy so, it's ok if William wants to come after that point. Our next appointment is next Tuesday and they said if I'm dialated anymore, they'll go ahead and admit me - that is, if he doesn't come after I stop the medication. So, our little boy could be here by next week! :)

So, since I've been on bed rest, Will has set me up an "office" here at the couch so I can keep up with emails, contracts, etc. What do you think?

I've stayed busy and had plenty of things to do, which has been a good thing! My assistant, Zoe, goes from her bed on the floor to my bed on the couch, either at my feet or up at the window so she can keep watch on the street. She had been napping when I took this picture:

Will has been continuing to keep things going at the shop doing tastings, baking, making icings, etc. And has also been running here and there to take care of the other things in life...grocery store, banks, the post office, his townhouse in N.Chas., taking me to the dr., taking Zoe on walks, etc. Needless to say, he hasn't been napping! My bed rest would not be possible if it weren't for him!

And, lastly, here are two of the cakes we did last week - Will did baking, icing, crumb coating, and some of the decorations, and I sat and finished them:

We have a few more cake orders this week that we'll do the same way.

And, if we don't get to an update next week, everyone will know why - we'll be at the hospital - ahhhhh!

35 Weeks

So I missed an update for last week, but I've got a really BIG announcement to make for this week: I'M OFFICIALLY ON BED REST!!!!!!
To give everyone the update, here's how it all came to be:
Last Thursday I started not feeling too well. I just felt real achy all over and my stomach started hurting, like intestinal cramping hurt. I took it easy Thursday afternoon when we came home from work and just laid around until we went to bed. Friday morning when I woke up, I didn't feel any better, but I started going to the bathroom. Not that anyone wants to hear about bathroom issues, that's what it kind of turned into. I went home early on Friday and took a nap thinking I was just coming down with something. Saturday morning I woke up with the same thing again. At this point, I was getting worried so I made a call to the doctor. Since it was the weekend, I had to speak with the doctor that was on call. It just so happened that it was the one Will and I aren't crazy about that we had to see while our Dr.Gregory was out on maternity leave. I told him what was going on and he said I probably just had some kind of intestinal bug and he prescriped a medicine that was for a spastic colon. I took one of those and got no relief.
Sunday morning I woke up and didn't feel as bad, but still had bathroom issues and some cramping. Will and I went about our day as usual...we went to church, went to the beach, to Wal-mart, had some work to do at the shop, etc. The whole day I kept feeling like William was kind of pushing down and felt pressure, but I didn't think anything of it.
Well, to keep my long story long, I was up every hour Sunday night going to the bathroom and noticed that my entire stomach was hurting. By the time I woke up on Monday morning, I was having a totally different type of pain. It was in my lower abdomen and back and just killed. I actually had a scheduled doctor's appointment so it was great timing. After being in the room with Dr. Gregory, explaining all that had happened, and still having those pains that were coming and going, she said I think I need to check you out. To our surprise, I was already 3 cm dialated and my cervix had started thinnning! I was having labor contractions! Obviously freaking out at this point, I was crying and we were on our way to the hospital. Dr. Gregory reassured us that if I was to deliver this early in the pregnancy that William would be completely fine because he's just packing on weight these last 5 weeks and all of his organs are completely formed by now. That was a relief to hear, but still didn't change the anxious/scared feelings we had.
So, all day Monday I was monitored and kept having contractions. They were giving me different things to try to stop or at least slow them, and we would have some luck for a while, but then they would come back. They ended up keeping me overnight and eventually got the contractions to slow down enough to send me home. Dr. Gregory check me out one more time and said I was still a little more than 3 cm dialated and 100" efaced, but should be ok to go home and be on bed rest for the remaining time. So, here I am only 2 days into it and it's driving me crazy. I do have a prescription that I'm supposed to take every 4 hrs to keep the contractions from coming and it's fine except it makes me feel really jittery and shaky.
Will has been the energizer bunny through everything, which I'm so very thankful for. He's been going strong with taking care of things at the shop because we did have orders lined up for this week. He's baking off all the cakes, making icings, and "crumb" coating all the cakes. He's going to bring everything home and I can sit here and do the final decorating sitting. So, if something happens between now and getting the cakes done? He has contacted other pastry chefs that have agreed to take and finish the orders for us.
Will has also set up an "office" here for me at the couch so that I can keep up with emails and still get invoices/contracts sent out. Aside from work stuff, he's been taking care of me, making sure I have everything I need and keeping me on schedule with taking my medicine and drinking my water. It's all been a BIG, unexpected adjustment, but it wouldn't be possible if Will wasn't the great husband/business partner that he is.
Everyone keep us in your prayers and hope that William can hang on a little longer! Dr. Gregory said she would like for him to stay put for another 2 weeks, but doesn't think he'll last that long. The best thing of all is that he has been perfectly healthy through everything and all the nurses kept saying how strong he looked on the monitors. We'll see what the next blog brings!

33 weeks

Check me out! Here at 33 weeks I've managed to maintain my weight gain of 30 lbs and I can't believe we have less than 7 weeks before William arrives! I've been more tired, had some swelling in my feet (and the infamous cankles only a few times), and I've had heartburn a couple of times. Other than that, I've been fine.

We had an appointment this week for an ultrasound to check out everything with William and myself since I've been measuring smaller, which I mentioned in the last blog. We are glad to say that both William and I are healthy and progressing normal! They estimated his weight at about 4.5lbs right now and said he will probably gain another 3lbs before he's born. Again, we were amazed at how much bigger he looked this time with the ultrasound! We even got a sneak shot at his "goods" and they looked gigantic! He seemed to still be a little camera shy, though, because we only had one quick face to face look - too fast to get a picture. Here are a couple of side profile shots we got: It makes us wonder even more what he's going to look like.

We've gone to two of our baby classes now. The first was the breastfeeding class, which lasted

2 1/2 hrs! Who knew there was sooooo much to learn about that! It seems to be a little intimidating with the whole getting them to latch correctly, but all I can do is try.

The other class we've been to has been the Special Delivery Lamaze, which will be 3 consecutive Mondays. At the one we just went to we learned about the signs of labor, when the baby drops, and some breathing/relaxation techniques. Will and I couldn't take the breathing/relaxation techniques too seriously and got the giggles - well, I got them so bad I was crying. Anyway, we'll see what we learn at the next class and hopefully, won't get too laughing so bad again.

We've also finally managed to get our furniture situation taken care of for William's room and have all the pieces put together now. Here are a couple of pictures of the room so far. We still have some things to finish...my mom is making curtains for the windows, a cushion for the rocking chair, etc. The squares on the walls are decals that can later be removed if we want to switch up the room. I'll post more pictures as we finish it.

And lastly, here is a picture of the construction themed cake we made: It took a lot of time to make and we thought it turned out great! We made all the pieces, including the dump truck.