Hospital stays are no fun

So Sunday night Steven and I went to the emergency room because I had been spotting all weekend. We left the house at around 1 and we're in bed by 5 a.m. They checked me and did a bunch of stuff and decided that I had a bladder infection AND that I'm dialated a cm already. For those of you who don't know much about pregnancy things, when you are in labor they want you to be dialated 10cm, so 1cm doesnt seem like a lot... except that I'm 29 weeks and a full term pregnancy is 41 weeks. So I still have 11 weeks to go and begin dialated 1cm all the way through isn't a good thing at this point. Anyway, they gave me medicine for the bladder infection that I have to take for the next two weeks and sent me home. Easy, painless hospital stay... wasn't even a stay really, just a visit.

So We're back! I had to call my doctor the next day and let her know that I was at the hospital and let her know what they said. So she and I made an appointment for Tuesday at 3:30 so she could check me herself and see what's she thought. So Tuesday morning I was a work and I bled a lot so I called and she told me to come right in. I hurried as fast as I could and tried to stay as calm as I could and made it to her in one peice. The baby measured exactly where she needed to be (28.6 weeks) and they checked the placenta to make sure that it hadn't detached at all and it hadn't. Everything looked perfect as it always had before. She checked me and said I was a cm dialated and that my cervix was pretty soft (too soft for her to be comfortable) so she wanted me to take these steriod shots (there were 2 of them). The shots help Annberlynne's lungs and brain develop so that if for some crazy reason she decides to make her entrance early she has the lung and brain capacity to survive. Dr. Carter said that after 28 weeks 90% of all premies go on to have no long term damage so we're at least in a clear(er) zone. Idealy we want to make it to AT LEAST 34 weeks.

Anyway, Dr. Carter told me she wanted to observe me for a few more hours so she sent me over to labor and delivery and had me hooked up to a monitor and IV. After being on the monitor for a while they noticed that I was having some contractions called irritability. They are not real labor contractions but Dr. Carter doesn't want there to be any because after enough irritability contractions they may turn into real contractions. So she checked my cervix again and I hadn't dialated anymore but there was some bleeding so she told me she wanted me to stay over night so she cold watch me some more. I've been on an IV and pain killers since she saw me last and it has helped me not have any more of those irritability contractions. I had some this morning but my medicine had also worn off, so I was given more and haven't had any since. I took one of those steriod shots in the butt yesterday and it wasn't bad at all but I took the other today in the other hip and I wanna cry! She hit a nerve. I remember talking in my anatomy class about how many nerves run over your butt muscles and how it's pretty common to hit one when taking a shot on your butt cheek. So I'm planning on being sore there for a few days... good thing I have some ice packs at home.

So I've been here almost 30 hours and I'm so totally ready TO GO HOME!! I can't get up and walk, this bed is not really that comfy (my back is KILLING ME!). The only really great thing about being here is that 1) my dad came up from Muskogee to visit and I was so happy to see him (even if I'm too grumpy to express it right now), and 2) Steven has been super boyfriend and done everything about as perfectly as possible. It's been amazing. He's tried really hard. So ya, now I'm just waiting to go home. I'm more than ready. I don't wanna have a preterm baby. Everyone needs to tell her to stay in there for a few more weeks!! But I also hope I don't have to stay in the hospital again until it's time to hold my daugher in my arms.

Father's day weekend

Well, I figured I would blog today since I haven't had time in weeeeeeks. I usually spend my lunch hour working or managing our future (read: bills, bank, looking for a bigger place) BUT, since yesterday was fathers day I wanted to make sure and take time out today.

For the record, I love being a daddy. lol. Its my favorite thing about being alive really. I wish it was all I had to do. The only reason I work is for Logan and soon to be Annberlynne. If there were no babies I think Elizabeth Ashley and I would be content just to squeak by and explore. I will never be one of those people that works late every night of the week. I want to work a set schedule, get home and play. Thats it. Well that and sing. I think if I lost my voice I wouldn't know what to do with myself. lol.

So this weekend we helped Chrystan move, Elizabeth supervised :) Then we went downtown and explored the KC park scene. I don't know why they call this place the city of fountains, because it has more parks than any place I have ever been in my life. While we were at the park I ran into some guys Logan and I had met at the renaissance festival last year running around with their families. It shocked me to see them in the real world because they had occupied this other place in my mind. I guess I thought that when the renaissance festival was over the town disappeared under a rainbow until next summer rofl. Anyway, Koi has some of the best scarification I have ever seen. It was odd because I have been telling Elizabeth I wanted to get to know these guys ever since I moved here. Check out some of their show stuff here. Anyway, we had a blast playing and wading in the little public wading pool. We love to meet new people and people watch. After that we went home and I grilled steaks and apples and we swam until it got dark. Then, Sunday the fam made me some breakfast, we screwed around the house for a bit and went to Dad's for homemade po'boys. Logan is really into baseball right now so we played baseball in the basement. His giggles were infectious, soon he had all of us pitching to him and chasing him around the pool table (the bases lol). As I put him into bed last night he asked me when was Sons Day lol.

We are all getting really excited for the baby to be here. Logan keeps asking when summers gonna be over and he can have his baby sister. We are all anxious for her to get here, but I'm scared Logan is going to start turning into a big boy :)

Too soon little man, too soon
Summer will be gone again too soon
I know that you're excited
and things seem always slow
but for your daddy passing summer days
means that soon you'll go
Everytime I look your way
I think you've grown some more
But, you promised me you wouldn't
And I believe you so...
Lets celebrate all the coming things
and take them day by day
I promise she will be here, for now please lets go play

Too soon my little man too soon
Summer will be in my memories
Every day of your youth are summer days to me

95 days left!!

The network of nerves in Annberlynne' s ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. She may now be able to hear both me and Steven talking!! She's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of her lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when she's born and takes that first gulp of air. And she's continuing to put on baby fat. She now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (the 14 inches thing... that's just an average. I still think she's either now only about 10 inches if she's like daddy or like 18 inches if she's like mommy, hee hee).

At my last appointment (May 15th) I weighed 140 lbs... which is not good according to my Dr. In January I was 134 lbs. so I had only gained 6 lbs in almost 6 month (which if you're not pregnant is a lot, but with a babe in tow I should've gained more). Anyway, she wanted me to gain AT LEAST 4 lbs. by my next appointment (June 10th) and, yay for Annberlynne and I, I've gained 6 lbs!! I never thought I'd be excited about gaining weight.

She kicks a lot and moves around. Her kicks are considerably stronger (you can see my tummy jump an inch or so when she's moving). She's even had the hiccups twice that I've noticed. The first time I noticed them we were at the movie theater with Logan watching Speed Racer on Memorial Weekend. Her hiccups were really cool and kinda tickled. She had them for a few minutes and then they were gone. Supposedly she won't be able to get the hiccups until she's 27 weeks, but all babies develop a little different and she may be ahead in certain developments.

The most exciting thing for me right now is that my parents have both pitched in so I can get a 3D ultrasound!! I'm really excited about that because then I can actually see her face and hands rather than just her bones. Soon (most books say at 27 weeks) she'll be opening and closing her eyes... I'd like to get the ultrasound after that so that maybe we can catch her with her eyes open. I can't wait to see the face of my baby girl!! I can't help but wonder what she'll look like. I know those ultrasounds don't really show what she'll look like when she's born because she still has quite a few more weeks of developing AND she'll loose her newborn look after a month or so of her birth... but I'm still super excited!!! I promise (to all those who read this every now and then) that we'll post her first photos!

Times are changing

Things have been changing so quickly. Last weekend Steven's twin brothers moved into my apartment and I (obviously) moved out. They moved in so that I wouldn't have to break my lease (how nice of them). So, I'm not completely moved out and they are not completely moved in... that won't happen for a little while longer. They're trying to find a place (that's bigger than a 440 sq. ft. studio) and Steven and I are trying to figure out what we're gonna do. He already has a bed (duh), so I can't move mine yet and just things like that. We spent all last Saturday and Sunday driving around looking for homes to rent and apartments that will allow a 50+ lb dog. We've found lots of neat places but we've not made any decisions on whether we're gonna move or just stay where we're at. But I do know that we'll have to decide soon because his lease is up at the end of this month and his brothers have already told us a few times that they want to move in more of their stuff, which means I have to remove mine.
So this whole last week has been really good, seeing as I moved in and we kind of had to make the adjustments immediately. Really, there weren't many adjustments to make. We were pretty used to each others little habits anyways, and the ones that we weren't used to haven't been so big that there's been any problems, yet. We both work all day and then he plays and I take care of Logan and then after Logan goes to bed and he's done playing we hang out until we're so worn out we can't stay up any longer (and with me being pregnant that seems to come sooner than later for me). But all in all things are actually moving pretty smoothly. There are some little glitches here and there but they've all seemed to work out some how... maybe not the way we were planning, but they work out none the less. I know I'm happy. I feel at home.