26 weeks

Blogger sucks and I am lazy.  I couldn't get the picture feature to work so I haven't made the effort to even write a post.  All my appts. last week went well.  Apparently that Ffn test was the only reason I wasn't admitted to L&D that Thursday.  I asked if they would repeat the test and my OB said not unless we are faced the admit or don't admit choice again.  I almost made it 2 weeks with no contractions, but I had one last night and have had BH off and on all day today.    I also had some godawful round ligament pain yesterday afternoon.  So bad that I almost called my OB just to ask WTF I could do to help it go away.  It lasted almost 20 minutes and all I was doing was resting and reading a book when it started.  Horrible burning pain all over.  Ugh.   I felt sore and yucky for the rest of the day.    My guess is it has something to do with the sudden jump in temperature....it has been in the 80s the past 2 days, up from mid 60s-70.   Doesn't really bode well for the rest of the summer.

So 2 years ago today we were heading in to L&D thinking we'd get sent home in a few hours, only to be admitted until C was born 2 days later.  There was a big heat wave that weekend too...pretty sure if I was farther along now and this LO was in the 5-6lb range I'd have made another trip to L&D this time too.   Only a few more days until 3rd trimester.

25 weeks!

Still pregnant!  Overall I'm feeling better, both physically and mentally.  Friday I still had contractions throughout the day, but not frequently enough to call...closest were about 30 minutes apart in the evening.   Saturday evening I had 5 or 6 contractions and haven't had any since, so that is good news.   I am still taking it easy of course, but I am not as panicked that the littlest thing will be the tipping point.    I spoke to the nurse at my OB's office this morning, just to clarify what I should and shouldn't be doing, and she seemed pretty happy with my update on lack of contractions.   I can do light activity, such as washing a few dishes or folding laundry, just as long as I take breaks.  I still need to avoid lifting Colton, which is of course the hardest part.   Today was a little better, but I feel like I'm missing out on time with him since I can't do anything...and it has only been 3 days!   He is growing up so quickly right now, more and more I look at him and see a little boy rather than a baby and I don't want to miss a single moment of these last baby days.   I guess this is my first taste of balancing two children.

In finding a silver lining in all this mess, my sciatica pain is all but gone.  I am almost positive she is transverse now, and I really wonder if that could be what set this all off in the first place.   Right now she is getting some kicks up near my ribs, but her hands are definitely down on my left now rather tucked far to right sitting on that nerve.  I feel about as big as I did at 30 weeks with C though....like I'm already running out of room when I sit down.   The other fun thing the last few days have brought is sore boobs.  I don't know if the steroid shots have any side effects for me, but holy hell I feel like I've been breastfeeding for a few weeks they hurt so much. 

Haven't taken a weekly bump pic yet, but I will. 

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24 weeks and a trip to triage

This post might be a hot mess I'm going to try usethe speech to text feature on my smartphone ....yeah..its not so smart.

this morning I woke up with sharp pain in my lower abdomen it came and went last for a couple hours so I put in the usual call and as suspected was sent into labor and delivery from monitoring was really worried because I wasn't feeling contractions and the first hour I was in there pretty much confirmed that but then the doctor came in and did a fetal fibronectin test along with a cervical check which must have kicked something into gear bevause up those contractions started.

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Yeah...that was too much effort last night, though maybe not as much effort as fixing whatever gawdamn keyboard issues my laptop seems to have developed.

Anyway....yesterday was long and exhausting to say the least.  I woke up with a low sharp pain that came and went....kind of like the old implantation/stretching pains I had in the beginning, but combined with feeling off the past week I made the call to my OB.  I thought they'd bring me in to rule out a UTI first, but they said to go to triage.  Since I had no actual contractions at that point, I wasn't really worried, but at the same time it was frustrating to be in pain  with no answers.  My urine came back clear, and the Dr. came in to do a cervical check and a Fetal Fibronectin test.  I am not sure if that triggered something or baby was just sick of the not so comfy position options I was in on the triage bed, but shortly after contractions started registering regularly.   At that point they were no different than what I was told was "practice contractions" at 34 weeks with C.  They went up to around a 4 on a scale of 1-12 (though I am pretty sure that isn't reliable strength wise because of monitor snugness errors, positioning, etc).  It was now about 3 hrs in to my visit and of course my phone was near dead so I just sat there wondering what the next steps would be.  The answer came when the nurse walked in with an IV.  Up until that point they'd been talking quick discharge, so that was my first oh shit moment.  And of course they couldn't find a stupid vein to get the needle is so they gave up and waited for the next check by the doctor.   Contractions never really went away for the duration of my stay and even spiked to an 8 once or twice, but cervix was still closed and an ultrasound with the specialists down the hall that I see regularly showed it was still above a 4.  FFN test was negative and even bloodwork came back great, so I was discharged with "Threatened Preterm Labor".  While waiting for blood results, my on call OB decided that I should go ahead and get the steroid shots now...which was my big oh shit moment and by then I thought I'd end up being admitted.

Last night was a rough night, between being on edge and being sore from 5+ hours in a hospital bed with sciatica pain, I just didn't sleep well at all.  I've had a few small contractions and some low back pain, but nothing like yesterday so I am hoping it was just a freak thing that we won't see a repeat of anytime soon.   .I was semi-mentally prepared for complications as I got further along, but not this early.  I figured 30 weeks would be my mark for increased swelling, back pain, whatever.   6 more weeks...ugh.   Today puts me 10 weeks from the day I was admitted with Colton exactly.   And I thought 5 weeks early left us unprepared....I spent half my time in triage trying not to freak out about the medical health aspects and freaking out about all the stuff we haven't done yet instead.   Poor C will be 2 in just over 2 weeks and the kid will be lucky if his cake even slightly resembles cookie monster. 

So the comfort of hitting 24 weeks and viability, while still a great milestone, isn't that reassuring right now.  Here is my pic from monday (tuesday?).  I think it is time to find a new shirt for pics.

23 weeks

Well, 23w3days to be exact.   We had our fetal echo this morning and everything looked great.  As I mentioned before I wasn't really worried, and, just like with C, it was all I could do not to fall asleep during parts of it.  Some extra good news (I think) is that she is only measuring about a week ahead right now, going off of what I wrote down for C at this estimated weight.  C weighed 1.7lbs at 22w3days and this little girl is about 1.8lbs at 23w3days.  They weren't concerned about C yet this early, but I'm hoping if she isn't as far ahead as he was she won't have her own plans to come as early either.  My cervical length still looked good....down to about a 4.7, but still plenty long.  As long we don't see a continuing drop we are good (me saying this, the doc just said it looked totally normal).    This scan was the first time someone has brought up my tilted uterus since we went through treatments for C.  The tech said it was a hard cervix to measure and that baby's head was actually tucked down behind it.   So the lowest part of my uterus is actually below the cervical opening, putting pressure on my lower back and SI joint, which is killing me.

I'll upload pictures later...maybe even later this weekend, because the sciatica/SI pain is so bad right now I have trouble getting up off the sofa.  And going up and down stairs, to the bathroom, getting in bed, etc.   I went to change C's diaper on the floor earlier today and was seriously in tears because I couldn't figure out how to get back up because even crawling to the couch was excruciating.   I did go back to physical therapy this morning before my u/s, and she said I was way out of line in my hips and really inflamed, so it might take a few days of rest before seeing any improvement.    Meanwhile, I think I'll have to move into our spare bedroom because it really is too hard to get in our master bed (mattress is about waist level with our 4 poster bed frame, I use a step stool while pregnant).  I'm struggling with this because I feel like it is the beginning of the end and we'll just cycle downward to barely feeling like a couple those first few months after baby arrives.   I don't know if I've ever mentioned it here, but looking back I realize I had PPD to some degree, in that I had irrational levels of resentment toward R at times, and it changed just like that when I weaned.   I really need these last few months of normalcy to help make sure my head is in the happiest spot possible before I'm smacked with whatever hormones may come.

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bump pic!