baby shower

today was supposed to be my baby shower...

instead, Josh and I are setting up camp at Sibley Hospital. We came by yesterday after our doctor's appointment for what was supposed to be a quick trip to get steroid shots to help with the development of the baby's lungs in case she decided to come early. It now appears as if we are going to stay here for the long haul...

I was having pretty regular contractions and there was a few hours when Dr. F. thought our little girl was coming. After many doses of various medications we were able to abort labor for the time being. However, I am now on official hospital bed rest.

So much for diaper cakes.

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fairfax finest: virginia really is for lovers

I'm in awe..and in love with the Fairfax Fire Department. I called them this morning to try to set an appointment for Josh to go have our car seat (which he has not yet installed) inspected..after some discussion we realized Josh can't make it during their hours.

Given that I'm at home ALL day with no one to talk to, my propensity to talk to strangers has increased...so I told the nice fireman on the phone that I was on bed rest and didn't know how we were going to accomplish everything we needed before imminent baby's arrival.

he paused for a moment...and then he said "I'll tell you what..I feel bad for you..." and at the point I knew I'd hit the jackpot! Tomorrow a Fairfax fireman is making a house call to inspect my (soon to be installed once Josh gets home from work) car seat.

the amount of relief this has given me is probably unrelated to the fact that I feel useless in being to accomplish anything these days-right?

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overwhelmed

so it's been almost a week since we were told the baby might definitely make her debut early and here are the things we really should have done but have not yet got around to...(I think mainly because despite *her* being ready to come out..we're not quite ready..since in our heads we had it that she was only coming mid August..end of summer..)

still to do:

• install car seat and have Fairfax Fire Department inspect it
• buy a diaper bag
• attend childbirth preparation class (no longer an option since I'm a prisoner in my own home...)
• wash all her clothes before she can wear any of it
• buy health and hygiene items for baby...includes diaper rash ointment, baby tylenol, baby mylicon, diapers, diaper wipes...the list is endless
• determine what items are still needed from baby registry (have now come to the conclusion that no normal person would want to buy us the gift of a breastpump..they just wouldn't want to be remembered for that--and they would--forever!)
• ....

the last item I didn't even want to type it out...but it includes packing the hospital bag! see..it's not included as a list item--it's not real.

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the real joys of bed rest

sunday morning was mostly devoted to getting more things ready in the nursery...we finally made the daunting decision about the dots--we kept them! there were also pictures and shelving to be hung, and I must say..not being able to help, I was quietly enjoying sitting on the glider telling Josh how to best position everything as he did all the heavy duty work. Perhaps that's why it was more amusing to me than him when there were a few hiccups along the way (all minor and readily solved!).

once I made my way downstairs for the day at 4pm, I was ecstatic to sort through the mail and realized that the cookies my sister sent me last week are actually part of a cookie of the month club--so now I don't feel like I need to 'save' the cookies because I know there are more coming next month..and the month after...and then some!

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bed rest: day 18

the joys of bed rest never faze to amaze me...this morning I came downstairs before Josh woke up to have my cereal with milk. I was trying really hard to be good, so I figured I'd attempt to eat my cereal while in a recline/laying down position so that I could obey the doctor's orders to stay in the laying down position as much as possible.

Well..so much for that. I ended up spilling a good amount of my soggy frosties down my shirt and had to wait hours until Josh brought me a clean shirt to wear. That was the beginning of day 18..another 60 some days to go.

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jon and kate plus 8

Someone please tell me what's wrong with this show description for an episode of jon and kate plus 8:

"Jon takes the boys to a golf course for a day of fun; Kate and the girls head to the grocery store."

Seriously?? Maybe I have too much free time on my hands now that I find myself on the couch all day, and I'm reading too much into this--but for a day of fun, why do the boys get to go golfing and the girls go to the grocery store? What about the hair salon? Or shopping?

I'm not happy...the one show I allow myself to indulge in on daytime TV has disappointed me.

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more nursery pictures

as I mentioned..the nursery furniture arrived..but we have still not made up our minds whether or not we want the dots or not. Here are some more pictures as we await the delivery of other nursery decor items, including curtains, shelves, and artwork.

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...and the bed rest continues

...or we can call it 'taking it easy at home' as the doctor prefers refers to it. I went in to my morning check up with a long list of questions of what I could and could not do if the stay at home routine was prolonged. Things are looking better and it looks like my cervix has lengthened by 1 or 2 mm, and so to make sure it gets even better I'm to stay home 'taking it easy' for the next 6-8 weeks. So after asking my questions we've established that I can:

-go to the movies if I'm dropped off at the door

-go out for dinner if, again, I'm dropped off at the door

-fix myself some breakfast/lunch as long as it's not an elaborate meal

-go up and down the stairs in moderation and when doing so, very slowly

And I can't:

-do any housework that requires me to be on my feet for long

-take the dog out

-go to the gym (!)

...and the list of can't continues on and on. The saddest part was going to the gym and freezing my membership for 6 months! All in all, it's not bad since things are improving down there, and hopefully I can keep myself entertained for the next several weeks without going crazy!

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furniture delivery!

So, after about 10 weeks of placing our order, our crib and changing table/dresser has arrived! It all looks absolutely beautiful, and the delivery guys assembled everything and even brought up the glider that had also arrived from Babies R Us. The room finally looks more like a room now...but we still haven't decided on the dots. Almost 31 weeks, have to make a decision soon!

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After a week of bed rest, Josh let me outside for a few minutes yesterday. Granted, the outside was our own backyard, but it did feel nice. Bridget and Aaron came over for dinner, and there were brownies...so it was definitely a nice break from my first week of bed rest. Today hasn't been too bad either since I had a batch of brownies keeping me company.

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nursery

As we anxiously await for the arrival of the furniture due late next week, we've had plenty of time to stare at the nursery and ponder...dots or no dots-that is the question.

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daddy's little girl

I knew there was a reason for the title of this blog of mine...my little girl has taken to having several hiccup episodes a day! Josh felt them for the first time last night and he was really quite amused...though he said he felt bad for her--he gets the hiccups often (like father, like daughter!) and gets annoyed by it--or rather...I get annoyed by his hiccups, especially because he won't do anything I suggest to make them better. Such as holding your breath, or drinking water upside down--and scaring him doesn't work either.

At least her hiccups don't annoy me, it is definitely a weird feeling, but I'm getting to enjoy them, it's a constant reminder she's in there. And should stay in there for several more weeks! My dad was somewhat concerned that all the nursery furniture arrives next week because he doesn't want her to think just because the room is ready she should come out. He said to leave the bed unmade..no sheets...so there's an element of 'not ready' present. I've got my fingers crossed it'll work!

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fashion show while on bed rest...

A little after lunch UPS dropped off my latest order of maternity wear. Two cute dresses from Target which I saw online, and figured I could also get away with wearing it post pregnancy...which I felt helped justify my purchase. Well..that was last week...this week I don't believe I have any reason to wear such dresses. I could put them on and just bask in the knowledge that despite my inability to go out and be with the world, I still look half human in a pretty sundress. But really, sitting on the couch is not nearly as comfortable when you have a dress on. So I tried them on, thought about all the different shoes and accessories I could add to the outfits to spruce them up, and immediately went back to my comfy pants and t-shirt.

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hiccups

Today the baby had not one, not two, but three bouts of hiccups. It was entertaining for a while, but definitely started to get annoying as I kept trying to concentrate on work and I could feel my belly jiggling all about. I did some googling and read about one woman who actually tried to pat her belly to see if that would make the hiccups go away..she was trying to burp the baby in utero, I guess. I though it sounded a bit ridiculous, but worth a try during the third round of hiccups olympics. Yep, you guessed it--doesn't work.

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and so it begins...with a bang!

Today was officially my first day of bed rest. I have to admit...being able to turn off the alarm after waking Josh up, and hearing him in the shower while I knew I could stay in bed even as the clock read 6:30am...that felt pretty good.

I wanted to establish a routine to make sure I can continue to get my work done..my bosses are being pretty wonderful and understanding about letting me work from home...so in order to be able to actually accomplish such a feat, I figured a routine was in order. I left showering for later, hoping it would break up my day, but I did get dressed in what I consider semi-cute attire. Form fitting track bottoms and a tank top that accentuated my growing mid-section. After breakfast (frosted flakes, bananas and milk) I managed to get in a good 4 hours of work before our remodelling contractor showed up for the final walk through.

After lunch, I though I'd be able to put in my next 4 hours of uninterrupted work..but restlessness got the best of me and at around 2:30pm I decided I needed to shower. I was still naked when I heard the phone ring and Josh told me I needed to get my ass to our neighbor's house to get to the basement because of the tornado warning. Outside it wasn't raining yet, so I thought he was being a bit overly dramatic...but once I managed to get dried and dressed, and was out the door, the skies were so dark, and the rain had started. I made it to the neighbor's right before the rain and wind got bad, and the lights went out for a while. It was a quick storm but I waited it out until 4:30pm to come home.

One would think one tornado warning a day would have been enough adventure for my first day of bed rest...but a little after 7:30pm, after I had managed to get back in the groove of work, I found myself following the orders of the TV weather man and taking cover in 'an interior room' for the second tornado warning of the day. My interior room was my bathroom..and the dog thought it was very odd that we were both sitting on the bathroom floor for 25 minutes while the tornado touched down some 25 miles from us.

Josh got home a little while after that and we figured it'd be a good story to tell the baby when she comes out...

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bed rest?

So, after making it through 29 weeks of pregnancy we were tripped up by what to many, at first, could seem like a pretty cool deal: bed rest. The doctor said my cervix length is a little short, and so in an attempt to try and prevent preterm labour, he suggested I 'take it easy' which doesn't sound that bad.

Trust me...if you have idyllic notions of wonderful lazy days--full of freedom--bed rest may not be for you. But, at first thought..I mused...hmm..bed rest..not a bad gig.

That was my Tuesday morning..early daydreams of bed rest. I went to work after the doctor's apointment, picked up enough work to keep me busy for the next 10 days when I'm due back at the doctor's to determine exactly how long this 'vacation' will last..and made my way home after picking Josh up at work. He asked if I could drive the way home, and I was more than eager..figuring this might be the last time in several days.

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