Nesting Made Me Do It

Nesting has begun! I went to Greenville last weekend for a birthday party for Lilly's BFF. I made a pit stop at our house to get all of Lilly's baby stuff from the attic  (car seat, bath tub, rock-n-play, etc). It felt really good to have that stuff with me, but when I got home to Sanford I could not unpack any of it because I didn't know where to put any of it! So it's still in the back of my car... But at least it's here. 

I went through Lilly's baby clothes and washed/organized and then I realized I had nowhere to put them... so we went to walmart yesterday and got one of those 3-drawer plastic bins. Now Madelyn's clothes are nicely folded and put away (and they smell sooooo babylicious!!!). Now I just need to get the pack-n-play cleaned and set up and then I might be ready to get the other stuff out from the back of my car. I've been getting very fixated on certain things lately and if I don't get it done then I feel stressed out. I've been struggling with the fact that I'm not able to decorate a nursery for this baby. In reality, I know that Madelyn will never remember that she didn't have a nursery and that it's not a big deal... But part of me still wants to do all of that fun baby stuff. It will just have to wait until we have our own place! All a baby really needs is love, and she will have plenty of that! 

Other than my crazy nesting mood, everything else is going good. Lilly had a wonderful birthday party and Easter. She has grown so much this past year. She is very much into doing everything on her on (getting dressed, putting shoes on, going potty, getting in her car seat). This is SO helpful to me right now. The only thing she does not like doing is sleeping by herself. That will be fun once the baby is here! She talks about how Maddie Lou is her best friend and it just melts my heart. 

I passed my 3 hour glucose test (hallelujah) and the midwife said there was no reason why I wouldn't make it to full term. My anxiety from all of that has pretty much gone away. Madelyn is a very active baby and I love feeling her move. I survived a field trip last week to the life and science museum but boy was I exhausted after that. 8:00 is my bedtime and it's hard to function the next day if I go to bed any later. I really miss coffee (caffeine makes me feel funny), turkey sandwiches, and sushi. I really love milk, cereal, and potatoes. I find myself drinking milk out of the carton at 3 am. I could easily eat 2 or 3 bowls of cereal a day. I go to the doctor on Wednesday and I'm 100% sure that I've passed my max weight that I gained with Lilly but I could literally care less about that. I'm still in the healthy range of weight gain even though my feet are screaming at me by the end of the day. Pregnancy has been a lot harder this time around but I am so excited to meet this little girl. 8 1/2 weeks to go! Unless she comes two weeks early like her sister did.. Then it's more like 6 1/2 weeks left... uh oh... I see another day of organizing in my future! :)        

Pins and Needles

It's 8:49 am and I'm sitting at the doctors office. The 3 hour glucose test day is here. Oh joy! I've already had my first blood drawn and I drank the drink. I chose fruit punch this time. It tasted more like poop punch but I drank it pretty fast because I AM STARVING. No water or food allowed until the test is over. I'm already planning out my food options when I leave here. I think the drink has reached Madelyn. Bring on the jumbo kicks. 

I had to do this test with Lilly too, and I'm praying that I pass this time as well. When I was pregnant with Lilly I had no idea what a glucose test was. When I failed the one hour test I cried, mostly because I had no idea what that meant. But this time I was more prepared and knowledgable so it wasn't a big shock when I didn't pass the first one, although I am being a big baby this morning. My right arm is still all kinds of jacked up and I was up from 2-5 last night dealing with the pain so I wasn't in the best mood this morning. The third trimester has hit me hard! I went from feeling pretty good to feeling not so great overnight. I don't know how my stomach can get any bigger or how Madelyn can be any more in love with my right side. So now I wait an hour until I get my blood drawn again. 

9:30 am... I could literally drink a whole gallon of milk. Straight from the jug. This needs to happen ASAP.

9:45 am... Stick #2 is done... Only two more to go. After texting and complaining with my friends and Mike I'm feeling better. And there are a lot of cute kids in the waiting room so that helps... And a lot of miserable looking pregnant ladies like me. I wonder how long it will take for me to get the test results. I can't remember if it was immediate or if they call you a few days later. 

Ok I just saw an itty bitty newborn. My hormonal self almost cried. Just 10(ish) more weeks. I can do this. 

Newborn is now sitting beside me. She's 4 weeks old. Trying not to lean over and kiss her. This is a great distraction from the grumbling sounds coming from my tummy right now. 

The lady on the other side of her is now holding the baby while the mommy gets her bottle ready. The baby's name is Ivy. She has a head full of beautiful dark hair. Im extremely jealous of this lady. Come to think of it, her head is starting to look like a giant cheeseburger... Maybe I should move seats.

10:51 am... Stick #3 is finished! Just one more to go! She said it can take up to 10 days to get the results back. So that means I'm totally getting a milk shake after this. And maybe everyday until they call me...

8:30am Friday morning... Well, I made it... But this is where the story turns crazy. After my test was over I grabbed some food and went to my grandparents house. My grandmother had just been to the grocery store and offered me tons of food (fried chicken, cookies, strawberries). I love her. I laid on their couch for an hour before I went to Lilly's school party. I was not feeling well at all. My tummy was hurting and I had some... ugh... Diarrhea... I was drinking water though and just thought it was from my glucose test. 

I went to Lilly's party but we didn't stay too long. By that time my tummy was really hurting and I just wanted to get home. I had more tummy issues at home and the absolute worst stomach pain ever. It wouldn't go away no matter what I did. My mom came home and by that point the pain was moving into my back. We called the hospital and they wanted me to come in. That's when I started to feel very worried. I knew something was wrong. Mike got home just as mom and I were leaving and he took Lilly. The whole way there I prayed that it was just a stomach virus. 

When I got in a room the nurse hooked me up to monitor the baby. Her heartbeat sounded good (music to my ears) but she wasn't saying much else. A few minutes later she gave me a shot to calm down my uterus. She said I was having major contractions. She left the room to go get my IV stuff and she was going to check my cervix when she got back in. 

I lost it. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life. I was not ready to meet this baby. I'm only 29 weeks pregnant. I had no idea what was going on. Mike dropped Lilly off at my brothers house and came up there. When the nurse came back in she checked my cervix and it was completely closed. That was best news anybody had ever told me. So the problem now was that I was extremely dehydrated due to my glucose test and the stomach bug, and that was making me have these contractions. 

The next part flat out sucked. Since I was so dehydrated my veins were basically non existent. The nurse stuck me twice with no luck. Another nurse came in and stuck me twice with no luck. Then they got the expert in there. He had an ultrasound machine for my veins. He used it to find a good one. He stuck me 4 more times before he had any luck. By this point there was blood on my hands and arms, pillow and sheets. Between that and my glucose test I had been stuck 12 times total. I would be totally fine if I never saw another needle as long as I live. 

Once they got my IV going and the shot kicked in things slowed down a lot (except for Madelyn.. She was moving around like crazy). I still had bad stomach pain but the contractions were not anything like they were when I got there. I started to calm down and feel better. They reassured me over and over that I was not having preterm labor since my cervix was still closed. Once my body caught up with the liquids they said the contractions should go away. My Aunt Judy and Liz came up to see me along with my daddy. I was still in some intense pain at that point. By midnight I was on my last IV bag. Based on my contractions they said we could go home. I was nervous about going home, but once again the sweet nurse assured me that I was ok and everything I was feeling was normal. She said it would take a while for my body to catch back up and for the pain to completely go away. 

So here I sit this morning trying to take it all in. I'm still having pain but I'm hoping I feel better by this afternoon. I have my huge bottle of water that I'm gulping down. Lilly's birthday party is tomorrow but I've been given strict orders by Mike to not worry about anything. I'm going to stay in the bed and keep hydrated. I hope that I have no more hospital visits for at least 10 more weeks. I'm so glad that this didn't turn into anything more serious. I do feel like I'm on pins and needles now but maybe that's a sign that I need to take it easy this last little bit. I go back to the doctor on Wednesday and I'm praying for a good checkup! You still have some cooking to do Maddie Lou!