Today was the best day in a long time

Wow, today has been an amazing day! Morgan didn't have any patients scheduled, but did have an ortho appointment & some lab work to do, so I went to school with him so I could do a swim work out while he did those things. I've been wanting to go swimming for a while, especially knowing this is something my body can tolerate lol. I had a great swim work out & ended with 15 min of treading water. Just in case you were wondering, as a 9 month preggo - yes I can still do flipturns! Wooohoo! Wow, I realized that my abs haven't been used very much... in a long time. At least I'm pretty sure it was my abs :) Then I just read my breastfeeding book while waiting for Morgan to finish up. While waiting, a guy asked me if I could donate blood. Which really surprised me this time because I definitely look pregnant... ha ha

On the way home from school, Morgan was telling me about the lab work he did - he made some bleaching trays & a retainer. After some more talking about whatever, out of the corner of my eye I noticed Morgan looked a little different... I saw more white in his mouth than usual. I started staring & the next time he opened his mouth I noticed that he didn't have braces on!!! I have been smiling ever since & keep staring at him because I can't believe it! He could only laugh. He was hoping to make it all the way home before I noticed. And then he told me, well I told you I made a retainer & whitening trays - for himself. How funny!

Today was the best day in a long time. And I still can't stop staring & smiling about Morgan's beautiful teeth :)

38 wks

Wow so I definitely didn't think I'd make it this far. I was convinced as soon as I hit 37 wks the baby would come. She has a mind of her own & her own plan I guess. Well, I've been doing things to encourage baby to come, but she won't give in. Now I really have no idea when she will make her debut. My contractions will still pick up to being 4-6 min apart for even a couple of hours at a time, sometimes even lasting that way through the night & will wake me up because of the cramping. But beyond that, no progression to more of an active labor phase... Can you tell I'm impatient? I've never been very good at waiting. I'm noticing all the fun uncomfortable things that happens at the end of pregnancy. Like this relaxin that my body secretes to loosen my joints & make it easier for baby to be born - it actually makes it hurt to walk & makes my hips & pelvis feel really off. Like unless I'm laying down my back really hurts a lot. Like because baby's head is at zero station, I waddle when I walk & always feel that pressure when I'm standing or walking. Like everytime I get a contraction, I feel like I need to go to the bathroom, even if I just went. Like to get out of bed, or get off the couch, I have to do this sideways roll thing or have Morgan help me get up. Like if I want to wear socks or put shoes on (instead of just flip flops) I have to be a little more creative because it's really hard to reach my feet. Like shaving my legs is a little more difficult than it should be. Like sitting in my low beach chair is really awkward, especially when I need to get up. Like laying on my side to sleep has been getting uncomfortable because it's starting to hurt my hips. And finally, these contractions are more bearable when I'm lying down, if I'm sitting up/standing/walking they hurt quite a bit to where I almost want to stop walking.

This week Morgan's best friend Evan came to visit. He's here for a rotation for medical school & stopped by. It's been 3 1/2 yrs since they've seen each other! Here are some candid pics of them checking out his car before he took off :)

Pembroke Pines Baby Shower

My pembroke pines young women threw me a baby shower! It was so fun! They decorated the room super cute & had some great food. The games were fun & there was even a pinata at the end = perfect! They made some great burp cloths & the most adorable baby blanket with their names signed on the back corner :) That was the most special gift - made with lots of love. Oh how I miss them!

2 1/2 wks to go

i am getting so bored!!! i have been crocheting, but can only take so much of that before my fingers start cramping & then i need a break. i am completely caught up on all of the general conference i missed between work & childbirth classes. we had 2 childbirth education classes at the birth center. i really liked it - i felt like it touched on a little bit of everything. they gave us ice cubes to hold in our hands & practice breathing techniques. then just the women held the ice cubes & our partners tried different ways to comfort us. well i definitely started to realize things i like & don't like when i'm extremely uncomfortable lol so it was some good practice. they gave us a picture of a pregnant woman/side profile/anatomy type pic with lines. it was like a pop quiz. morgan & i did the best...of course. in fact, morgan started sounding like the teacher when he pointed out that one arrow didn't just point to the pelvis, in fact it was the pubis symphysis - a ligament that holds the pelvis together & relaxes as the hormone relaxin (secreted in pregnancy) is released in preparation for childbirth. it was pretty funny he taught the childbirth instructor quite a few things in fact. my most favorite part of the childbirth class was day 2 - the instructor had all the partners/spouses sit on the floor with a baby doll & a blanket. they learned how to swaddle the baby. i was laughing so hard i was crying. morgan thought he knew what he was doing - he knows how to make burritos.... he kept covering the baby's face with the blanket & didn't realize it. i couldn't stop laughing. we might need to do some practicing before this baby comes...

i had another appointment at the birth center this week. they didn't check me again - they don't want to do anything to stimulate labor, so i don't think they'll check me again until my appointment in another 1 1/2 wks, unless something significant happens. well honestly, at the beginning of being on bedrest (days 2 & 3) i didn't even really notice any contractions. yeah of course i was still getting braxton hicks, but those are no big deal. since then, i still will have at least a couple hours a day of getting 2 min long contractions 7-10 apart, occasionally 4-6 min but not consistently. i've called my midwife a couple of times, but really when you keep hearing the same advice over & over (and you're already doing those things) it gets kinda old. so i'm just chilling & am only going to worry if i get down to 5 min apart.

i had an ultrasound this week. i guess everything looked good - haven't heard anything from my midwife so i guess it's pretty unremarkable. which is good. my last ultrasound they noticed some placental separation - and honestly i was kind of worried that was the reason for all the contractions & preterm labor. so i feel better now that we've had another ultrasound. they estimated her weight to be 5 lb 1 oz. she's getting pretty crammed in there!! but i need her to keep growing & getting that cute baby fat.

so i guess while on bed rest this is a great opportunity to put on the pounds. now i feel like the definition of a couch potato. but since i'm probably burning less calories than anything else i would be doing, maybe i'll actually start gaining some weight now that i'm at the end of my pregnancy & start looking like how far along i actually am.

bedrest...

Over the past few months I have had lots of braxton hicks contractions - these have picked up in frequency over the past few weeks. Especially on my days on at the hospital I would get contractions every 4 or 5 minutes, when I started feeling back pain & they would get really uncomfortable I started to get worried. However, after having midwifes tell me to go home, lay down, drink lots of water, etc. I was beginning to think that was all they would tell me to do. So I just kind of did those things on my own for a while, because the frequency of contractions were still there - I probably should have been calling almost every day though (since you should call if you get more than 4 contractions in an hour). This past weekend I called again because it was happening on Sunday & I hadn't done much that day besides go to church. I was told similar things once again - which I was already doing.

The next day (Monday) I went to work to see how it would go. The morning started off ok - I wasn't noticing too many contractions, but a couple hours into the shift I started feeling pressure - everytime I stood up or walked around (which is a lot as a nurse lol). The contractions started picking up & I thought I should probably go home & call my midwife. So I did. My midwife had me come in the following day so she could check me.

Tuesday I went into the birth center to discover that I am 1 1/2 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and baby's head is at station 0. Yikes. So this little baby's plan has been discovered - she has been trying to come early. Naughty naughty. So I am on bedrest now. Today has been good & I've stayed down all day & haven't really noticed too many contractions. Another appointment & an ultrasound tomorrow - we'll see how everything's going!

Baby Shower

Was this one really a baby gift? Seems to fit me better... maybe I'll have to try it out :)

This was my favorite game - everybody got a piece of chewing gum to mold into a baby. I was really impressed with a lot of the babies - some had pacifiers in their mouths, bows in their hair, bibs, etc. My favorite was actually a ninja baby made by my friend Jessica - she had a ninja headband on & a ninja sword :)

Ok so this game may look disgusting but it's actually pretty fun - candy bars melted in diapers & you guess which candy bar it is....

In August, my good friend Bethany threw me a baby shower. It was perfect! Great food & great friends! Thanks to everyone who came - it was so fun!!

Graduation

The baby bump is still there - just hiding!

This post is way past due but I just got the pics from my mom (lol my mom made my brother send all the pics to me actually :D thanks Sam!). So I finished nursing school in April & of course Nova didn't have us walk until August. So here I am finally walking. Yes, I had to request work off so I could graduate :)