36 Weeks

Strangely, this is the only picture that has been taken of the belly this pregnancy! I'm going to have to work on that the rest of the pregnancy and make sure we get some with Nathan b/c he absolutely loves to kiss and hug the belly. Lately he's taken to yelling at my stomach saying, "Baby! Come out!" Too cute! Pretty sure later he'll be wanting to say, "Baby, get back inside Mommy's belly!"

It's been a pretty wild pregnancy so I thought I'd give an update on how things have been going. I've reached 36 weeks, which my Dr. in the past thought would be short of a miracle. Once I reached 32 weeks it looked like I might be able to go the full 40 weeks. To be honest, we would love to go a bit early. Today I had my 36 week appointment and am very pleased to announce that I'm dilated to 1-1/2 centimeters and 25% effaced. With Nathan at this point I was only a "fingertip" dilated and wasn't to 1-1/2 until I was 38 weeks, so we are moving ahead nicely! There's going to be a lot of walking and bumping car or boat (Hey, Parkers!) rides in my future. A part of me doesn't want it to go too fast, but the way this pregnancy has gone, I'm ready to be done.

The first trimester was horrendous. I was continually sick and no anti-nausea medicine worked. I told Dr. B that if I were a chemo patient I'd be pissed b/c that medicine did nothing for me (the drug is used on patients with cancer to alleviate the nausea). I don't enjoy throwing up and all day long feeling like I'm going to hurl at any moment. The couch was my buddy for many weeks.

The second trimester started to get better but by week 12 I was already contracting. I had pre-term contractions with Nathan - but definitely not this early. By week 18 I was already put on Brethin (terbutaline) to stop contractions. We had a trip to Paris planned in April and were getting concerned about traveling overseas with how I'd been doing. Dr. B decided to test me for Fetal Fibronectin (a chemical in your body that triggers early thinning of the cervix). Shockingly, it came back positive! He had me get an ultrasound to check the length of my cervix and informed me that if it came back 2 centimeters or less, I should under no condition leave the country. Great. The next morning we had the ultrasound and prayed for a good cervical length! Praise the Lord it came back at 3.5! We were free to leave for Paris and enjoy ourselves! I relied on the Brethin a lot on the trip but made it through.

Now, well into the 3rd trimester it's all up and down. Before we left for Table Rock Lake my Dr. informed me that I should only travel that far and not continue down to Austin, Texas with Chad and Nathan for a cousin's graduation. I had to have another ultrasound before we left to check the cervical length again and this time it was about 2.75 centimeters. Shortening, but still decent. The worst part has been dealing with horrendous contractions! Overall I've had to go in twice to have them stopped. Having the Brethin to take has alleviated me from having to go in more often - which is nice, but I stopped taking it some time ago b/c it makes me feel so wretched. I figure I might as well just deal with the contractions - they certainly prepare me for labor and delivery. The contractions are very painful and require me to breath thru them and at times lie down.

We're trying to get as much done on the house as we can before our little boy arrives. Chad's been working like crazy in the basement (doing an awesome job!) and I've been busy organizing, cleaning and working in the yard when it's not too hot. I've also been working on the scrapbook and making photo albums online. The nursery is almost complete. Seth and Heather are coming next Friday to paint an awesome fun tree for our little monkey. We are anxiously awaiting his arrival and can't wait to see what he looks like. Maybe one of our boys will actually resemble me a bit... :)