Another good week!

Last week was another good week for us. I am feeling better and having fewer real contractions. The medicine hasn't been needed nearly as much; which is great news. I am getting bigger and the baby is moving all the time. Ryan's movements have gotten much stronger even though I thought that was impossible. I can tell knees from feet and elbows from fists. And I can tell we are going to have one active little guy. Jonathan gets quit a kick out of feeling Ryan's knees roll over my stomach. I took it pretty easy at the beginning of the week. I did have lunch with a friend, Erin, on Wednesday. It was nice to see her and catch up. She is just a couple of weeks behind me and is having a little girl. Then I went to my niece's birthday party on Thursday night. We were suppose to go to a child care class; however, it wasn't one you had to register for so we decided we would take it at a later date so I could go to my niece's party. My niece, Jessica, turned 15; very hard to believe. I still remember her being just a little thing with these big blond curls and always wanting to sit real close to me when I was down to visit. I had a great time at her party and it was so nice to see my family. It had been awhile since I had been able to visit them with everything going on and my activities being limited.

On Friday I had two doctors appointments. I met with my regular OB in the morning for my glucose screening test that checks for gestational diabetes and a regular check up. Everything went well with the check up. But I did have abnormal results on the screening test. I have to go back next week for a longer test. The first screening test was pretty easy but this one is longer, I have to fast for 8 hours before and during the test and they will draw my blood four times (once every hour). I am really not worried about the fasting but I am kind of nervous about going almost 12 hours with no water. Being dehydrated can cause contractions. Plus, this test causes a lot of women to get sick since you have nothing in your stomach but the high concentrated sugar drink they have you drink and if you throw up you have to do it all over on another day. Anyway, I am sure everything will go just fine. My level was just a little high and I have never had a problem with sugar.

My second doctor's appointment was with my high risk doctor; where we got to have another ultrasound. Everything from it turned out great. The baby is getting big and growing fast. They estimate he weighs in at 3lbs 3oz right now. The doctor said that was a little on the high side but not abnormal. But since the baby seems to be taking after Jonathan on size that doesn't seem to surprise me. Jonathan's mom said all three of her boys weighed over 9lbs. I am just hoping Ryan doesn't get too big for me to deliver him. The brain, heart and lungs all seem to be still growing and developing well. Plus, my cervix is still thick. The doctor was very happy with that but I asked if I could increase my activity level and was told no. He said to keep doing what I am doing since it is working. At this appointment we got to have a couple of 4D pictures taken. These are amazing and show so much detail. It was so nice to be able to see these pictures of his face since we hadn't gotten very good pictures of his face yet.

Saturday I was able to have lunch with my friend Heather. I really enjoyed seeing her and visiting; once again, it has been several weeks since I have been able to see her. Sunday we were able to go to Sunday school and church service. I haven't been able to sit through both since I started having problems 6 weeks ago. Jonathan has made us leave every time I have started having contractions, no contractions this week! Great progress! We were even able to go over to his mom's for lunch after church. But I did sit with my feet up and reclined while we were there. I have been pretty tired from all the activity that I did do over the last couple of days so I am taking it easy for the next couple of days. We start our child birthing classes this Thursday (which we won't be missing) and I am excited about getting those started. And then on Saturday is my family/friend baby shower. I am very excited for my shower and can't wait to see everyone!!

Here are the ultrasound pictures we had taken on Friday. This first one is a regular 3D picture. If you compare this picture with some of the previous ones you can tell he is getting bigger (the picture isn't any closer up then the others).

Here is the first 4D picture. All of them are of his face. He still has his right arm up by his head and you can see some of his fingers in the pictures. You can also see he is moving his mouth.

28 Weeks

Not much has changed within the last week. I am now 28 weeks; which puts me in the third and final trimester. I am still feeling pretty good. I do think I am getting bigger every day though. We have another doctor's appointment on Friday. I will have to do the glucose screening test then. And we will have an appointment with the high risk doctor that day as well so we will have another ultrasound done. I don't think anything has changed and I have a feeling they will just tell me to keep doing what I am doing (which is almost nothing). I have realized that about 3 hours of light activity every other day is about as much as I can handle without having too many contractions. This past weekend Jonathan put together the glider and dresser. I am pleased with both and really excited that the room is finally coming together. We still need to decorate but that will wait since I can't decide what I want to do with it or the arrangement of furniture. Poor Jonathan spent almost 5 hours putting together the dresser because there were tons of parts to it and the directions were horrible. He said he realized that this was just the beginning of putting things together though and that he is looking forward to the many years to come of putting toys and stuff together for Ryan. Thursday we start our round of classes we are going to take. This one is just a basic child care class. Then the following Thursday we start the child birthing classes. We did meet with a pediatrician's office on Wednesday. They have a free orientation that they do and give a tour of their office. We really liked them so we will probably use them, its nice to have that crossed off the list. Everything is starting to come together and now that we are in the final trimester we can actually start thinking about the baby being here instead of in my stomach.

Here is a picture of our glider. Its a bit small; which is fine for me but Jonathan does look funny sitting in it. I find it comfortable; which is good since I will be spending plenty of time there.

Here is the dresser. I like the over all look of it. I hope it has enough room for all of Ryan's clothes as he grows.

A picture of the dresser and crib together.

And here is a picture of me at 28 weeks. I thought it would be neat to put on the same shirt I was wearing at 20 weeks to see the difference. I could barely fit in it.

27 Weeks!

Yeah, we made it another week and things seem to be going well. I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday and my doctor was very pleased with how I was doing. I am down to taking my medicine once a day; much better than the last couple of weeks where I was taking it two and three times a day. I am gaining weight right on schedule now. And he is still doing well. He has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks. I can now feel him kicking my ribs, honestly not a very pleasant feeling. This week was as busy a week as someone on limited activity/bed rest will probably have. Jonathan was not happy with everything I did and I honestly probably did over do it. But I don't know until I try. Wednesday Jonathan worked a half day at work so he could drive me to Frankfort. While he worked I checked out a couple of day cares, visited my Grandmother and had lunch with some of my co-workers. All in all in was a really good day, I was happy to get out of the house and see everyone. Jonathan went to the last day care with me after he got off work and we really liked that one. We are now on the waiting list and are hoping we get a spot before I have to go back to work. Saturday I went to the St. Joseph Maternity Fair at my hospital. Once again, it was nice to get out of the house. My friend Amanda went with me. We sat through a couple lectures, walked around all the vendor booths set up and of course signed up for all the prize give aways there. I ended up winning a picture package. I am very excited about that. It includes a maternity session that we will do in a couple of weeks. I have a feeling even though we won a package we will still end up spending a ton on pictures (Jonathan is very worried about me going over board on this and I can completely understand why). Our glider and crib mattress came in yesterday; however, we are still waiting on the dresser. Hopefully it will come in some time this week so Jonathan can put those together this weekend. I think that's about it. Since I was so busy last week I am trying to rest up this week. We are going to an orientation tomorrow at a pediatrician's office to hopefully find a doctor for our little guy; which is the only thing I have scheduled for this week. Hopefully next week I will have some pictures of the dresser and glider put together and in the room.

26 weeks

Yea! We made it to 26 weeks yesterday! It's hard to believe that it has been this long. After trying for almost a year to have a baby we are so excited that we only have 14 weeks or less to go. Week 25, this past week, was a pretty good week overall. We had a little scare on Tuesday and had to make a trip to the hospital. I started having contractions around 7:30 and took my medicine. The contractions stopped shortly after; however, they came back a little before 9. I went ahead and took another pill because the contractions were coming about 8 minutes apart. After that they stopped for about a half hour and then started back up again and were consistently 8 minutes apart. That has never happened before so we were a little nervous. I had been instructed by my doctor that if my contractions hadn't stopped after taking two pills or if I had more than 6 in an hour to go to the hospital and since I had both of those we went. Once at the hospital they hooked me up to the monitor and I had a few more contractions and then they stopped for no apparent reason. They did a fetal fibronectin test; which predicts if you will go into labor within the next two weeks based fluids, my test came back negative so they let me go home. Since then I have been doing very well. I haven't had to take my medication but a few times; which is much better than last week where I was having to take it two to three times a day. We are very hopeful that what ever it was that was causing the contractions has worked itself out of my system. I have taken it pretty easy all week and have done very well.

My big activity for the week was to go visit Jonathan's grandparents on Saturday. We drove down to Russell Springs with Jonathan's mom and had a nice visit with his grandparents, who got to see the ultra sound pictures of their new great-grand baby for the first time. My body handled the car trip pretty well but I did have a few contractions that night; however, the medicine did its job and they stopped. Ryan has been kicking and stretching like crazy lately. I think he is going to be a very long baby or maybe it just feels that way because there is not much room in there for him to stretch. He has been pushing at my sides and stomach trying to make more room. And you would think that he would like it when I eat so that he could get some food as well; however, he does not because then there is even less room in there for him. But its an amazing feeling to get to feel him move around and see him move as well.

Jonathan put together the crib and a bookcase this weekend. I was very excited to get those put in the room. It is actually starting to look like a nursery. We are now just waiting for the dresser and glider to come in to get those set up. Well, that is about it for now. This week will hopefully be a good week. I am going to work on finding a day care for our little guy and lets hope we can find one that is not only affordable but also safe and clean. Here are a few pictures I took this week of our progress.

Our crib in the room!

The crib with the comforter.

The bookcase we got for Ryan's room.

The nursery as it is now. Still waiting on the last two pieces of furniture and more decorations but it is starting to come together.

And an updated pictured of me at 26 weeks. I am getting bigger and bigger every week.