Sitting Down

It's less than a month until Baby Luke's due date and I'm stuck sitting down. Last week I began having a lot of Braxton Hick's contractions (prelabor contractions). They would occur every time I was on my feet for any length of time...and by any length of time, I mean like a minute or even thirty seconds sometimes. This is still the case. I went in to see the doctor last Thursday and was placed on meds to help calm my uterus to prevent early labor and told to rest...stay off my feet as much as possible. Nothing else was wrong with me or Luke. They hooked me up to a monitor for twenty minutes to check his heartrate and activity and they were impressed with his excellent read-out.

On Saturday I was more uncomfortable than ever. I was quite emotional and was feeling strange feelings in all sorts of places like my lower abdomen. On Sunday, I was still having the achiness and I also developed a horrible, throbbing headache. It was similar to a migraine but without the light sensitivity or nausea. I went to bed with the headache and it returned the next morning so I called the doctor's office and told them about all that was hapenning with my body.

They called back within twenty minutes and wanted to see me ASAP. Scary. I got cleaned up quickly and drove to my husband's office and he drove me to the doctor's office. Well, everything with Luke still looked good. I was good too...urine good, blood pressure good, etc... I had started to dilate, though. I was at 1 cm. I guess that is the cause of the achiness I felt and am still feeling.

Doctor wanted me to continue taking the meds and continue staying off of my feet as much as possible. After this coming Monday she wants to take me off of the meds and let nature take its course since I will be 36 weeks. As of today, I am beginning my 36th week. I am not happy with just letting labor occur this early, so I intend to continue sitting down for a little while longer.

Being stuck sitting down really stinks, though. For one thing, it's uncomfortable. My neck, hips, and back hurt from just sitting or laying and Baby Luke is getting so big that finding a comfortable sitting or laying position is difficult. He is still trying to dig up under my ribs, but as long as he's way up there, he's not trying to come out! When he finally drops, my worrying about him coming too early really is going to go through the roof.

Secondly, because of my procrastination, there is a lot left that I wanted to do before Luke's birth date and now that I can't be up moving around, it isn't going to get done. The house may not be as clean and organized as I want it, I may not have cooked some good food and put it in the freezer, and I may not have completed all the cute projects for Luke's room, but none of this is end-of-the-world type stuff. Luke is not going to know the difference, and Lee and I will manage. But, it stinks that my nesting instinct is kicking in and I can't really act on it.

Sitting down has given me time to read and re-read some parenting books like Happiest Baby on the Block and Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. I guess I need to get a copy of Babywise too because I hear a lot of parents rave about it. At this time I can also be thankful for the return of fresh television programming and my friend and neighbor Marilyn who brings me lunch and watches movies with me on occasion. And, I'm actually posting on this blog again :)

Maternity Photos

A few weeks ago Lee and I did a maternity photo session with Amanda Campbell of Chasing Daylight Photography. She did our amazing photo session back in the Spring as well. I've already booked her for photo sessions to document Baby Luke's first year. If anyone needs some good photos taken, Amanda is your woman!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the shoot:

10 Weeks Left

Eeeek, only about 10 more weeks to go! And that's if Baby Luke stays in there full term! There is still so much to do before he makes his appearance. I'm getting overwhelmed and scared.

At least I'm feeling better this week. My iron was low so I went on supplements, and I guess they have kicked in because my energy is back. I was up at four o'clock yesterday morning putting away clothes. I then went to the gym for about an hour and then walked each of the dogs (it was really nice and cool).

I failed my first glucose test so I had a gestational diabetes scare, but my test results from the 3-hour test came back great, so I celebrated with sweet tea for lunch and a Peanut Buster Parfait from Dairy Queen in the afternoon...pass the sugar :)

I've been thinking a lot about Luke's baby book the past couple of days. I bought a lot of stuff from a scrapbooking kit called Forest Critters before I even became pregnant. My plan was, and still is, to make Luke a homemade baby book from the kit. It is so cute...owls, squirrels, deer all in the bright colors of his nursery. That is a huge project in and of itself. At least it doesn't have to be done before he gets here. I would like to get a good start on it though.

Let's see, what else do I still have to do: FINISH THE NURSERY! I still haven't cleaned out either of Luke's closets. My goal is to get one completely cleaned out for him and finish cleaning out the other one as needed as he grows and accumulates more stuff. Speaking of stuff, my first baby shower is this Saturday so the stuff is going to start pouring in. Where to put it?

Both closests are filled with crafty stuff like scrapbooking supplies, photos, and wrapping paper and gift bags. I plan on moving most of the scrapbooking stuff to the office area in our mudroom. I've already cleaned out those cabinets, but now what do I do with the stuff I cleaned out of them? Eeeek!

I have a few projects I want to do in the nursery as well such as making fabric-covered letters to spell out "Luke", hanging floating shelves, and getting picture frames with mats that I can cover in the fabrics from his room. So much to do. Oh, and I want to make custom items to hang from his mobile. The good news is that he will be perfectly fine if I don't get those things done.

Eeeeeeeeek! Did I say that already?

Mango Smoothie

I had a little bit of a scare at my last doctor visit. Turns out I might not be doing as well healthwise/eating wise as I thought I was. My iron was really low and my blood sugar was really high. So, I thought I better go ahead and start watching my sugar intake and eating better overall. I'm hoping the sugar reading was incorrect. I'll find out for sure tomorrow when I go in for a more intensive test. As for the iron, I guess Baby Luke is really starting to grow and is taking more and more nutrients from me. I did feel him kicking a little higher on my belly early this morning.

At the beginning of my pregnancy, before the "morning" sickness got really bad, when I was just a little queasy first thing in the morning, I was making mango smoothies for breakfast. Yesterday I really wanted ice cream, but instead I made a mango smoothie. So yummy and it satisfied my ice cream craving and even gave me a little ice cream headache because I used frozen mango. Here's how I make it:

Mango Smoothie (serves one)

handful of frozen mango chunks

milk, 1/8-1/4 cup

plain yogurt, about 1/4 cup (I used 3 oz Greek low-fat yogurt)

1 pack Stevia, or you can use Splenda, some honey, or other sweetener of choice

drop of vanilla extract

ground flaxseed, about 1/2 tablespoon or so (great brain food for baby!)


Put mango and milk in a blender (I use a Magic Bullet for my smoothies) and puree/pulse until mixed a bit (you may have to add a little more milk depending on how frozen the mango is and how stubborn your blender is). Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Enjoy. Mine is usually a bit thick at first so I eat it with a spoon like ice cream and then slurp the rest as it melts.