32 weeks = bed rest. :(

The Saturday before Easter Kadence was having some attitude issues (shocking, I know), and threw herself on the ground in a tantrum...the problem with that being (other than that she was throwing a tantrum), I was holding her hands at the time and didn't let go in time. End result, low back/pelvis issues. I stretched, iced etc and figured it would be ok until I had time to see my Physical Therapist...and then I didn't think about it again since Mom was here the next day, and I didn't have to be doing as much after that.

Wednesday night after a trip to the bathroom, I started having really bad Braxton Hicks contractions...and was awake for several hours because of them. I counted 6 in one of those hours, and 7 in another. My lower back and pelvis were killing me when I got up the next morning, so I called my PT to set up an appointment. There wasn't a time that day that worked for both of us, but I ended up going in Friday morning...and continued with erratic and painful BH contractions until then. After she spent a good deal of time getting my issues worked out, I went home. Things went back to normal, and the contractions stopped being an issue...until Monday when they started back up again. Some of the pelvic pain had come back as well, and thankfully I already had another PT appointment scheduled for that afternoon. After I left, once again everything was pretty much back to normal...until that night when Jack Black finally decided to finish turning head down. He spent a good deal of time doing so, and continued that level of activity the next morning (which Kadence was greatly amused by). All the extra activity had started the contractions back up.

We went to our 32 week check up, and Kathleen checked Jack Black's position and confirmed that he had moved where he was supposed to be...and also noted that I had a large amount of amniotic fluid. I had a BH contraction while she was palpating me, and I told her about the issues with the last few days. Because it's not normal to have that many contractions at this point, we agreed that she should check me. The exam showed that I am already 50% effaced, due in large part to the amount of water causing extra pressure, and my own activity level probably wasn't helping. I shouldn't be effaced at all at 32 weeks, so this is something of a problem, since labor is imminent at 100%, and we TECHNICALLY still have 8 weeks to go. I've known he was coming early for quite awhile now...but this isn't exactly what I had in mind.

So I'm now taking an extra liquid calcium/magnesium supplement to help bring the contractions down to a minimum of 2 per hour. I'm also on partial bed rest for at least 2 weeks (I can be up for an hour after being down for 2), and at our next appointment if that has slowed my progress enough, then I won't be AS restricted...although the gym is now completely off limits. :/ If that hasn't slowed the progress enough, I will continue the bed rest another 2 weeks until I'm at 36 weeks...at which point I can resume all normal (moderate) activity and let things progress how they like.

Mom is staying to take care of Kadence (and me) since that's not something I can really do now. Poor Mom...she just came to visit...she's already been here a week and a half, and now might be here until after the baby is born. I don't think she was planning on moving when she decided to visit. :)

I'm now on day 2 of bed rest...and I'm already going a little insane. There's a house being built across the street, and another a few houses down...the noise from the construction isn't helping. There are things to be done, and I can't do them...although the majority of the essentials are taken care of. I have the bedding, the cloth diapers, some newborn diapers, car seat, double stroller, and the crib will be here tomorrow...so I suppose the rest can wait.

The pool does open on Saturday, and I figure I can rest in or by it just as easily and effectively as I can in bed...so I'm hoping that will help the time pass easier...otherwise I'm very likely to get very cranky since inactivity doesn't agree with my by any means.

Here are the 30 and 31 week pictures. I'm not actually 32 weeks until tomorrow, so I haven't taken 32 week pictures yet...so I'll post them later when I do.

 

 

3rd trimester....and other stuff. :)

I planned on updating at least weekly, but so far it seems to be more like a monthly thing.

Things have been progressing well with the pregnancy. I've actually been doing so well in Physical Therapy, that I am now just going in as needed, rather than scheduling an appointment every week. I've managed to continue going to the gym regularly, which has helped quite a bit....with everything EXCEPT weight gain. At my 28 week appointment I had gained 28 lbs. Apparently, not going to the gym = less weight gain. Seriously. The one week I didn't go AT ALL because my hips were hurting, I only gained about half a pound. Next week I was back in the gym, eating the same amount, and gained twice that. Should be interesting to see how the backwards progression happens after he's born. :)

I currently have a 4 inch separation between the edges of my abs, so that's making things difficult...it's not being helped by the baby in the least. He insists on lying transverse at this point...which wouldn't be a problem, except that when he's stretching out, he's pushing the edges of my abs further apart.

Health wise, other than allergies I couldn't be better! I've had no edema at all so far. My wedding rings (which were on my necklace LONG before this point last time) are still loose and easy to remove. My blood pressure has stayed roughly around 110/70 give or take a few points...with the exception of one evening when it dropped to 102/62 causing some dizziness, but adding more salt into my diet took care of that.

Speaking of allergies, they've been making me completely miserable. Yesterday Kadence asked me if I was ok. I told her not really, because I couldn't breath, and my head and tummy hurt. She said "Ok I will build you a purple airplane with sparkles, and take you to the hostible (hospital), and the doctor will make you feel better." :)

I've mostly been taking pictures every 2 weeks. Now that I'm in the 3rd trimester though, I'll be doing it every week.

Kadence has started asking repeatedly if her baby brother can come out now...and usually gets upset with me for being mean and telling her no. She interacts with him a LOT...always rubbing my belly, singing to him, talking to him. One morning she crawled in bed with me asked to watch a show, and kept her hand on my belly for an hour waiting for him to wake up and move so she could feel him.

She and I were talking about him the other day, and I referred to him by one of the names we've been considering. She looked startled and very confused and asked "What did you call him?? I thought his name was Jack Black!!" I told her that his name wasn't really going to be Jack Black...that was just a nickname we were calling him right now. She thought about it the rest of the day, then came back with some alternatives. Flynn Ryder, Bad Guy, and Alishus Gary. Yeah....we're just as likely to use Jack Black as we are one of those 3. :)

She found my nursing wrap one morning, and I found her "being a maker food" for her baby.

There's a local farm where I get my eggs and honey. They have a strawberry field, and they let you come pick your own strawberries. Kadence and I went and picked a boxful, and she had sooo much fun. Granted, she squished quite a few before she got the hang of it. :) Between the picking and the eating after they were washed, she was covered in red...and refused to eat anything else that day...not that I blame her...they're REALLY good.

We were on our way to the gym a few weeks ago, and I received an indignant lecture...from my 3 year old. I had to slam on the breaks and go around someone who stopped in the middle of an intersection. Kadence asked if we were on a roller coaster, and I said "No, someone was just being stupid." Her response? "Mommy, we don't say that! We don't say stupid!" then she muttered disgustedly "Someone was being stupid." and then resumed her lecture...."We don't say that! I'm not upset with you, I'm just 'pointed with you. Don't say that ANYMORE!" Getting through that without laughing was actually painful.

At one of my appointments with Kathleen (our midwife) Kadence had to go to the bathroom with me, so she was in there when I used the strip to test my urine for glucose and protein. The next day she was in the bathroom and told me "I need a stick. Can you go find me a stick to pee on?"

She has quite an active imagination. She brought me one of her play plates with a rubber floppy frisbee disc that has "hair" around the edges. She told me "I made a tomato hat. It's not for looking at. It's just a tomato hat. It's for God." She also makes up quite a few of her own songs...one of which went something like this..."And I will shout! And I will shut my mouth! And I will born the baby! And I will cut the baby, because I'm Spiderman!" I asked why she was going to cut the baby, and she said "Because that's how you born it." Apparently, she meant the cord...but I never did figure out how Spiderman was involved.

Speaking of Spiderman and her imagination...She was pretending to be Sleeping Beauty the other day...and she was waiting for Spiderman to come save her.

For that matter, she wanted to be Superman when we were at a playgroup, and since there was no Superman outfit, this is what she came up with.

I was letting Patrick sleep in a little one Sunday morning...but Kadence had other plans. She went and woke him up rubbing a handful of cold lotion on his back. The resulting reaction had me laughing the rest of the day.

We were on our way home from the gym, and Kadence was playing with a piece of paper. She folded it up all nice, and then held it up for me to see...and informed me "This is 20 bucks for Starbucks and the bookstore." She's only 3, and she's already blowing all her (fake) money on books and coffee...good girl. haha

She FINALLY had her 3 year checkup...4 months late. She had to get one booster shot, after which she informed me that her blood hurt. She kept trying to play me with it...whenever she wanted something and I told her no, she'd say "But I have a boo boo! My blood hurts! It will make me feel better!" I'm not that easy...but I do appreciate the effort. :) Her excuse for not taking a nap that day was "I got shot. Taking a nap will make it worse."

We were in the car, and Patrick had given Kadence a licorice stick. She started misbehaving shortly thereafter, and he told her "Dad gave you candy, so you at least need to be a good girl." I told him "Yeah, you can't bargain with her AFTER the fact." and Kadence said "Stop trusting me." I think we got him straightened out. lol

I overheard an short adorable conversation...

Kadence: Daddy, I want you.

Patrick: What do you want me for?

Kadence: I want you to be a prince.

We had a short, but very bad storm the other night, which included a lot of hail. Patrick went up to Kadence's room to get her when it started hailing so that she wouldn't freak out when she woke up. She was perfectly calm, and cuddled with him in the living room until it passed, and then went right back to sleep when he put her back to bed. The next morning I asked her about it, and she said "I was scared cause it was really loud, but Daddy was a good saver. He came and got me." Guess Daddy is her prince after all. :)

Baby update

We had our 2nd sonogram on Friday, February 18th at 21 weeks, 1 day. It's a boy!! Poor Kadence...she really wanted us to have "Princess Sparkle," not "Jack Black." (Those were the names she had picked out for the baby.) When she called Grandma Patsy to tell her that she was having a little brother, she told Grandma that "It's Jack Black, but I'm sorry it's Jack Black."

I looked at the sonogram picture of Kadence from the same time...and compared the two. Looks like he has a bigger head.

Kadence alternates between being upset about "Jack Black" and being happy about him. Not too long after we found out, Patrick was carrying her up to bed and she yelled back downstairs "Goodnight Mommy! Goodnight Jack Black!"

For an entire day she kept telling me "I'm so sorry I have a brother." I told her that it was OK, Jesus really wanted her to have a brother...to which she responded "But WHY??"

We were at Children's Place and I found this shirt...I read it to her and she kept grinning, and said she needed it. Some day's I'll be getting her dressed, and she specifically asks to wear it.

When she's happy about him, she sings to him, and talks to him...and blows raspberries on him. We were cuddling in bed one morning and he was kicking, so I put her hand on my stomach so she could feel it. He kicked her, and she pulled her hand away and told me "Don't put my hand there! Jack Black will kick me!" She also told a lady at the store that "Jack Black is in my mommy's tummy."

She was sitting in my lap earlier (which doesn't have that much room anymore) and he kicked her back. She turned around and said "Baby, stop kicking me!" Then sighed and said "OK, you can kick me."

I've been making such a big deal about her having a little brother that she's finally getting excited too...the other day we were in the car and she told me "I'm so cited to have a baby brother." She's been telling me she's going to teach him how to play, and asking him to come out. "Baby, come out! Baby, come out!" I told her he couldn't come out yet because he was still growing. So she turned back to my stomach and said "Grow baby, grow! Grow!"

I started Physical Therapy last week...specific issues being pelvic rotation, and my sacrum not moving the way it's supposed to when I walk. However, I made it longer this time before ending up in Physical Therapy than I did last time, so yay for that. :) Because my pelvis is being kept where it's supposed to go now with the appointments and exercises, it's basically made more room for "Jack Black"...and since my first appointment with the physical therapist, his activity level increased significantly. It may be unrelated, but the Braxton Hicks contractions have also gotten more frequent and more uncomfortable. 

Speaking of BH contractions, I didn't feel them until the 3rd trimester with Kadence. This time I started feeling them around 20-21 weeks. So things have continued to happen WAY earlier this time around, so I'm still hoping for earlier delivery, and shorter labor. :)

"Airman Natie"

Not a single post in February...that's just wrong. :)

The first weekend in February we went down to San Antonio for Nate's graduation from Air Force Basic Military Training. He made honors graduate, which we are all proud of.

When we were on the way down there, we stopped at Target and got her a "big girl" seat. She's been much happier in a booster seat, and being in the car with her isn't nearly as much of a headache.

 

 Kadence was thrilled to see her "Airman Natie"...but not so thrilled that he didn't have any hair.

 They were being serious...or rather, trying to. :)

Goofing off and eating Thin Mints.

Kadence: Why did you shave your hair?

Nate: I didn't. Someone else did.

Kadence: But why?

Nate: Because they said I couldn't have hair.

Kadence: I have hair!

We had a good weekend with the family...with the exception of my severe germophobia kicking in whenever we were at the hotel. Every time Kadence touched something, it bothered me more than I can say...I really could have used some Xanax...haha. Big surprise, once we got home, I washed EVERYTHING we had taken with us, including dolls, and stuffed animals. lol

We were a little concerned that Kadence wouldn't sleep in the hotel with us in the same room. It was a little rough the first night, but she settled down fairly quickly the next night and it wasn't too much of a problem. Once we were on our way home, she kept asking if we could go back to our room, or back to the hotel. When I told her we were going home, she told me she didn't want to go home, she wanted to go to another hotel.

Nate is at Tech School in Balitmore now, and hopefully we'll get to spend more time with him after he graduates Tech School before he gets sent to his first assignment.