another false start

I went to the hospital last night with contractions happening every 5 minutes. I had been timing them for over 2 hours so I was pretty confident in calling my doctor. I was given the go ahead to be admitted to check my progress.

Dust and I had been spending some time with his college roommate. We had a nice sized dinner at Chili's. I had a sirloin steak. We had some ice cream later at Dairy Queen. I was distracted during our social time because I was timing my contractions every 5 minutes. We had to cut the evening short with Dust's roommate.

I started having lower back pain. It made me think that maybe this is the real thing. My dilation was checked and I was at 3 cm. The nurse told me to walk around the hallway for 40 minutes and she would check me again. So, from 12 midnight to 12:40 am, Dust and I walked the floors of the maternity wing. Unfortunately when I was checked again, I was still at 3 cm. The nurse told me to go home, take a shower, and get some rest. So, here we are in the waiting game again. I am supposed to call the doctor back when I have contractions that take my breath away. I shouldn't be able to talk through my contractions. The doctor still thinks I am going to have the baby sometime before the 4th of July, though.

Have a good 4th of July everybody!!! and think of me possibly going into active labor at some point.

striking a chord

Do you ever have a quote or message from a movie stick with you the next week after watching it? Kind of like how something from a sermon will strike a chord with you. I seem to grow more personally and spiritually by quotes/themes/messages in movies. Here are a couple that I have been thinking about recently.

I watched the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" yesterday. Lena reflected about how two people in her life who had lost a parent at a young age seemed to have so much love to give to others. Lena realized that she had lost nothing and yet held back on loving others. I realized that I hold back on loving others also. It is hard for me to tell people that I love them.

In the movie "Underworld: Evolution", Selene made a comment to Alexander about how he could have killed his son before his son got that evil. Alexander had just been stabbed by his son Marcus and was about to die. Alexander said that he couldn't kill his own son. It made me think of how we might "kill" Jesus with the things that we do yet He will not harm us. With me having a son on the way, I can't imagine harming him no matter what he does.

Choices

I have always tried to make wise decisions throughout my life. Growing up I was always worried about screwing my life up by making bad choices. I would hear family members talk about other people or other family members and how they had messed up their lives by either drinking, smoking, drugs, pre-marital sex, being an unwed mother, dropping out of college, not going to college, not keeping a steady job, etc.

At this point in my life, I can say that I have no regrets. I have a college degree, a wonderful husband, an ok job, a house, and a baby on the way. Nobody has really disagreed with my decisions. I know that it is inevitable that some day my family or friends will disagree with my choices. Most likely it will be with how I raise my children. I know that it will be very hard for me to have an opposing opinion on how I should run my life.

If I disagree with a choice someone has made in their personal life, I usually don't say anything. Who am I to judge what is right for them? I don't like to get into debates with people so I never start anything. It is probably bad that nobody ever knows how I truly feel about a subject. Only Dust knows my true opinions. Maybe that is how things should be.

the waiting game

I will be full term-37 wks starting this Sunday. So, I am in the waiting mode right now. My hospital bags are packed and all the baby stuff is in place. I feel like I have been playing the waiting game for the last 3 wks with the false labor scare. It is starting to get real old.

I don't feel comfortable being at work anymore knowing that I could go into labor any time now. Today I was having about 2 0r 3 contractions per hour and that got me worried. I was the only one in the office. (My boss was out of town and my coworker was at a Quickbooks class) I was trying to get some work done at my desk and didn't really have a good place to put my feet up. I rested them on the computer tower underneath my desk. I am going to talk to my boss tomorrow about wanting my last day to be Monday. I really don't want to work much next week.

I didn't want to blog about my pregnancy again. I have had a one track mind lately focused on the baby. I couldn't think of anything else to write about. I can hardly think straight at all anymore. I am getting some major bags under my eyes also!

remembering a friend

A friend from college called me a few days ago. I have been thinking back about the fun times we had together. We used to work together cleaning the Academic Building. It was a work study job. You would pick a partner and pick a floor to clean. Everybody wanted the third floor because the science labs obviously didn't have carpet to vacuum. Anyway, once we were done cleaning we would find a place to hide to goof off until time to clock out.

We would find another one of our friends that we worked with and we would prank call people at the dorms. I had never realized that prank calling could be such fun. We would laugh about the stupidest things. Our friend Sonya would call people and say that their llama was running around her room and to come get it. I may have mentioned this on a previous post, but the three of us would take a poop at the same time once the bathrooms had been cleaned. We thought that was hilarious!

This friend was also a good friend of Dust's. She hung out with us a lot when Dust and I first started dating. She can be very blunt sometimes, and that always made me laugh. We loved being lazy together. One of the first conversations I had with her and Dust was about the "process" of getting ready for bed. Dust said he hated getting ready for bed because of having to brush his teeth and change clothes, etc. I told them the same thing--that it took me too long to get ready for bed. Our friend said that she just plopped into bed without doing any of those things. She didn't change clothes or wash her face or brush her teeth. We got a good laugh out of that.

new restaurants

Dust and I went to a pizza place that we had never been to before on Saturday. It was called Stonewall Pizza and it wasn't too far of a drive from our house. The restaurant was in an old house. There was another house next door that was a restaurant called Stonewall Inn. They served BBQ. In front of the pizza place was several picnic tables. The majority of the customers ate outside. It was a real cute mom and pop type business. They served New York style pizza by the slice or by the pie. The combo came with a side salad, drink, and slice of pizza for $5.50. That's what Dust and I got. It tasted good and it wasn't greasy or oily like some pizzas can be.

We tried out RJ's BBQ or Bob-B-Que today with friends. I had had the meat once before but not the whole meal deal. My burnt ends sandwhich was pretty good. The cheesy corn bake serving was very small though. I still like Jack Stack and KC Masterpiece better, but this was a nice cheaper alternative. And without a waiting line.

back to work

Yesterday my doctor took me off bed rest and said I could go back to work. I have to admit that I was a little dissappointed--I was enjoying being at home. Anyway, I went back to the grindstone today. My co-worker had a list of questions and problems for me to answer. We went through each mistake, so now she knows how to deal with it in the future.

I was hoping for a stress-free day. My co-worker is behind on doing my daily tasks. (which is now her tasks) I usually get all the invoicing done on Fridays. She only got half of it done on Friday and finished it yesterday. My boss did the bank reconciliation today and had some questions for me. I told them both that I only could work three or four hours and I ended up working five & 1/2. I was weary and having a hard time staying awake. I finally got out of there and went home to crash on the couch. I had been napping for about five minutes when I got a phone call. My co-worker had another question that my boss wanted answered immediately. I know that I have explained to her how to fix the problem several times. She has even written it down in her notes. The extent of the solution in Quickbooks is Edit, delete payment. How hard is that? My co-worker had entered a deposit twice.

I am hoping for a more relaxing day tomorrow. But, I won't hold my breath.

the last few days

I have somewhat enjoyed my time at home these last few days. Despite going to the bathroom every 30 min. to an hour and the occasional contraction. I have watched a couple of movies--The Family Stone and In Her Shoes. I finished my thank-you cards from the baby shower. I have even opened the baby's gifts and organized them in his room.

Dust went to the grocery store for the first time without me yesterday. I made a list for him and tried to put the items in order according to the layout of the store. He called me three times while he was at the store with questions. "What is the sour cream for, and what size of container should I buy?" "What flavor of hot pockets do you want?" "There isn't a Dove brand deodorant in travel size is the Secret brand ok?" He did a good job though with buying groceries.

Dust did a great job doing the laundry, getting the trash together and taking it out, and mowing the lawn. He even had time to relax on the recliner with his laptop. I didn't like the recliner. My belly was putting too much pressure on my back being reclined. I have been on the couch.

hospital stay

If you have read Dust's blog, then you know that I was in the hospital yesterday. I have never been admitted to a hospital before. It can be scary. Especially, when they ask questions like, "Do you have a living will?" Or, "Are you an organ donor?" I know those are just routine questions, but still.

I realized yesterday that you really have to take your own life into your hands. The squeeky wheel gets the grease. I had a hard time convincing two nurses on the phone that I was having contractions every 5 minutes. They said it was just Braxton Hicks and just wrote me off. I finally got an appointment and the nurse said, "Wow, it was just like you said." You really are having contractions every 5 minutes." "Duh," is my immediate thought. It was interesting being hooked up to a fetal monitor. The baby's heartbeat was fine. The graph that showed my contractions had consistant spikes every 5 minutes. The good thing through all of this was that I had not dialated. Because I was not going into active labor, the hospital released me after about 4 hours. I was dehydrated and I have a UTI, so that is the likely cause of contractions.

I am on bed rest until Monday. My doctor will re-evaluate me then. I can do light activity around the house. I plan on finalizing my hospital bag with everything. I am glad that I will probably have a little more time to get prepared for baby. There was a real chance that I could have had the baby yesterday. The nurses had prepared me mentally for that scenerio.

Keep me in the little one in your prayers!

is it or isn't it. it is.

I found out something today that kinda surprised me. My doctor asked me if I had been having any Braxton Hicks contractions. I told her that I didn't know. She said that I was probably having them without knowing it. She looked at my belly and said that I was having one right then. I had thought that it was just the baby stretching out. Apparently not.

It kinda scares me that I didn't realize that I was having a contraction. I am glad that it happened at my appt. because otherwise I would still be clueless. I had noticed my belly tighten at times though. I just thought the baby was growing or sticking his butt out at me. I enjoyed the thought that my son might be mooning me. : )

My doctor now thinks that I will have no trouble having the baby on my own (no inducing) around the first week of July. She thinks I will most likely be two weeks early. She didn't use the words that the baby has dropped, but she said that his head is probably as low as it can get right now. And she said that means that I would probably have the baby in four weeks. Wow.

showered

I was showered with baby gifts yesterday. Our church has a baby shower for all moms on the first child that they have while attending the church. I felt really thankful for all the efforts put into the shower, the gifts, and the love and support from friends. I was humbled by the number of women that did attend the shower. Not to mention the many gifts there that were from women that could not attend. I have verbally thanked a lot of people and I will also send out thank-you cards.

It seems like this summer is filled with wedding and baby showers at our church. It can really put a crunch on your budget/finances. I kinda feel bad about accepting gifts because I know it can be a great sacrifice.

Thanks to T, Wah-Wah, and Vernal for everything they did for me and gave to me!

jell-o fruit salad

Does anybody actually eat the jell-o fruit salads that you find at the beginning of a cafeteria style buffet restaurant? I know my grandparents do and sometimes my parents will get the fruit salad. Do people in my generation eat the fruit salad?

I was thinking about this recently because my new co-worker eats a jell-0 fruit salad almost every day. It looks like she makes it herself in individual tupperware servings. Every day she has a different flavor of jell-0 along with various fruits. I have seen pecans and something that looks like cottage cheese in one of her salads. When I look at the jell-o salad it makes me want to puke. It does not look appetizing at all. It actually looks like something someone threw-up. There are items in the salad that I cannot identify.

My co-worker asked me if there were certain foods that made me sick/throw-up with my pregnancy. I wanted to say, "Well, your jell-o salad makes me want to throw-up just looking at it."