Bye Bye Bedrest

Ah, free at last! I have thoroughly enjoyed my first full week off of bedrest. I attacked the weeds by my rose bushes, took Ruby for walks, went swimming and tackled the nursery! The nursery looks quite nice now, if I may say so myself. I wouldn't say it's perfect, but it's definitely ready for a baby. So, now we're playing the waiting game - I told the baby she can come any time...I'm trying to persuade her to come on July 1st. I told her that would be a pretty neat birthdate but not to procrastinate and wait until the last minute - she has to give me a little time to help her out. We'll see what she thinks about that...so far she's just responded with a few little jabs and kicks.

The doctor says I'm 3cm dilated - a good start but it doesn't necessarily mean I'll be going any time soon. My sister was quick to point out that she was at a 3 for about 4 weeks... Anyway, we had an ultrasound last week also and they estimated her weight to be 6lbs 10oz +/- 8 oz They said she's in the 48th percentile. Right on track. All good news! I have to say that I'm not outrageously uncomfortable at this point, so I'm okay that she's still hanging out inside. I still have a list of things I'd like to get done before she arrives, but, really, I think the list could be unending and all the imperative things are taken care of so I guess that makes me "ready"

36 weeks...and 37 weeks (yes, those are biking shorts)

Here's a few bare belly shots....

Outside of the baby watch, Dan and I have been taking Ruby swimming (of course) and tending to the garden - which is doing pretty well... enjoy the pics!

More photos of our dog

So we got a new lens for my nearly obsolete Nikon N50 film camera the other day and we had to try it out, so guess what subject we elected to photograph. That's right, Ruby. We took her down to Reed's Lake, which has become a regularly scheduled event, and Ruby went into action chasing the ball like there was no tomorrow. It took a few days to get the film developed and scanned to disk, but this is what we got.

And just so you all know how Bed Rest is working out for Michelle...

Spring Fever

I can't believe it's June already!! The days are long and the weather is great, spring is in the air - and so is every pollen spore imaginable... I'd just like to say that if you are reading this and you don't suffer from allergies, you should take a long moment to breathe deep and thank the good Lord! This year is different from the past few years because Dan has been getting allergy shots for the last year and thankfully they are working so he can now be outside and enjoy the weather with little reaction - the allergies are still there, but they are FAR better. I still have allergies and they seem worse this year, but I'm pretty sure that it's just because Dan doesn't look like he's on his death bed every day. I've been staying inside...on my couch for the most part but there are those irrisistable moments when the outdoors call and I venture out to enjoy the garden (which is growing wonderfully!), the strawberry patch, the peonies, and the roses - I try not to pay too much attention to the weeds I can't pull... Dan's been doing his best to control them as much as possible with all the other things going on. He did a major overhaul the other day and everything looks so much better :)
Outside of the weather and allergies, I'm getting extremely stir crazy. I just want to clean things up and get all the nursery things put away and have the baby's room ready for the baby! I'm trying to be patient but I have this impending sense of doom that I'll go into labor before the doctor's tell me I can be up and about - which is at 36 weeks...2 weeks from tomorrow. I see the little countdown on the blog and try to tell myself that maybe I'll have the 40+ days left. We have a carseat (thank you gma and aunties) so she can come home and I'm sure it will all work out but I still have a little panicked feeling. I'm certain I'll be a flurry of extreme nesting-ness once I get the "ok" from the doctor. Well, maybe not a flurry... but definitely motivated.
Enjoy the pics!

Down by the water

DSCN1064
Originally uploaded by dmmodz.

Michelle's parents came in from California on Friday and took off on Tuesday morning. Michelle had her baby shower on Saturday and it was nice that her mom was able to attend. While the girls were at the baby shower Michelle's dad and I made our way to the farmers market to get fresh asparagus, Sevens paint store to get paint for our rental unit, and then we went to a couple greenhouses to get vegetable plants for the garden. When the girls returned home Michelle perched herself onto a lounge chair in the back yard and began to dictate where each of the plants was to be planted. Sunday was a little less active. We went to church service in the morning and Michelle's mom put together a couple dinners and froze them so we'll have them at a later date, she's great like that. I found a little time to do some prep work for painting at the rental and we later found time to play a few games as a family. I took Monday off from work and spent more time with Michelle’s parents, we played yet a few more games and in the evening we took Ruby over to Reeds Lake. There’s a section near the south end of the park where we always let Ruby off the leash and let her swim. There seems to be nothing that dog likes more than to play fetch in the water. She fetched for about ten minutes until the ducks started to tease her. Believe it or not, she was retrieving the ball when a duck flew in and landed right in her return path. She stayed the course and brought the ball back to me but she really wanted to go back in after the duck. A short time after that, another duck came over and before you knew it there were four ducks swimming around in circles right where we were playing. She behaved pretty well, for a while. I left her off the leash and we played fetch on land and she was great. Then the ducks came in closer to shore and I too was having a hard time restraining myself from letting her go in after them, finally we all had enough, Michelle, her dad, and I all agreed we would just see what happened if we let her go. She made a run for it. She hit the water and the ducks lifted off, flew about ten feet and landed and continued to tease her, she closed in on them and they would just lift off for about 10 more feet and land again, trying to get her to follow them towards the center of the lake. I've talked to several people at Reed's lake that have had to have their dogs rescued by boaters because the ducks had led them out to the middle of the lake and would not come back on their own, but Ruby didn't fall for their game, she came back in as soon as I called her. She's the best!

Double Duty

I hit both doctors offices today and the results are somewhat the same as last time. First up was my OB - relatively uneventful. I'll be seeing her again next week and then every 2 weeks until 36 weeks - then I will see her every week until I deliver. Of course on the "off" weeks I'll be seeing the specialist. The specialist was 2nd in line yesterday. I had an 11am appt - they were running on time (which is noteworthy- I think they are all great, but they do tend to run late - very late.) Anyway, I got in right away and they started the standard work up. There are certain things the ultrasound tech (Dana) checks at every appointment (1) baby's heart rate - in the 140's today, which is good! (2) a measurement of the amniotic fluid - which was good. (3) blood flow rate to/from the placenta-also, good- (4) and, she always tries to find the baby's face and get a good shot for me to take home - I don't know that she ever has to do this, but I think she just likes to spoil me :) Anyway, all that went great, the doctor came in and said my effacement and dilation was essentially unchanged since last visit, but it looked like I was having a contraction....so, they stuck me in a lazy boy with (2) monitors strapped to my belly - one for measuring the baby's heartbeat and the other to measure contractions. This was fine with me since it was essentially the same as the bedrest I was doing at home. I grabbed a magazine and started browsing... 1/2 hour goes by and the nurse comes in, takes a look at the paper, rips it off and tells me she'll be right back. I figured she was just going to come back in and let me go. It's now about 12:30 and I'm starting to get a little hungry, but no big deal. So, the nurse returns and opens up a drawer and proceeds to tell me that she needs to wake the kid up, so she's going to stick this little instrument on my belly and it vibrates and makes a loud noise - fine - I thought it was a little cruel and I'm worried about future payback, but I wasn't really going to argue. So, now, baby is doing flips and jumping all over. I figured I'd be in for another 15 minutes or so...nope, 45 minutes later the nurse returns - note: I'm pretty darn hungry now and completely finished with the magazine in the room - she rips off the paper and asks if I can feel any slight cramping or discomfort...I really can't feel anything but the baby moving like crazy. She leaves the room and comes back with a little pill. Apparently, my uterus looks unhappy (can you blame it?). There appear to be mild contractions and so I get to take a sort of muscle relaxer to calm it down. She added that I might feel a little shaky or feel like my heart is beating fast... well, I was already shaky from the severe sugar low and by now I just wanted to get out of there and eat! Normally, I listen to potential side affects and think that they are just that - a possible side effect. So, I take the pill and have another 45 minutes in the chair. Yeah, they weren't joking around about those side effects. It was like having a caffeine drip when you're dehydrated. Apparently, they have me on a low dose - I can't imagine how I'd feel on a normal dosage. I already feel like my heart's about to beat out of my chest and I'm shaking like a recovering addict. Supposedly, your body adjusts to this and the side effects go away in a couple days....I'm really hoping they aren't lying about that. I got out of there around 2:30 and headed straight to the border....Taco Bell. I don't even feel a twinge of guilt about it.

30 weeks

May Days

It has been, for me, an uneventful week - as it should be. I try to remind myself that benefits are truly that....benefits, despite the multitude of phone calls, annoying hold music, automated call answering services and numerous transfers from one person to another and yet another. I guess since I'm on bedrest I really have the time. It seems like since I have the time it would cease to aggravate me, but that simply isn't the case. I'd rather be mulling over whether I should be putting an 8 or a 2 in that specific box of my Sudoku puzzle. Lucky for me, I had some friends stop by on Tuesday and had the opportunity to catch up....AND they brought lunch!

Dan and I visited my doctor Wednesday - there is no new news to report, which is a good thing. Baby Modz seems to be getting around more than her mom these days. I find it so amusing to see my belly deform and know she's just kicking around in there without a care in the world.
Dan's been busy with all the wonderful things that Spring brings - fertilizing the lawn, roto-tilling the garden area, planting grass seed, walking the dog, trying to keep the dog out of the seeded area... added to all the house chores that I'm no longer helping with. He's been great about it all and I'm so grateful for such a wonderful husband :)
~Michelle~

Rest

As of Tuesday, the doctors decided it was necessary for me to be on bed rest...
We went in Tuesday morning for a growth ultrasound and the (now routine) check up. The ultrasound was good - the baby is doing very well, she is healthy and all the measurements show her right in the middle, the 49th percentile, for growth. They estimated her weight to be 2 lbs. 11 oz. She's definitely active and moving around more these days. However, the doctor said I've begun dilating and with the cervix shortening and funnelling open from the inside it adds more risk of preterm labor and ruptured membranes. So, down I go. I tried to wrap up everything at work as quickly as possible and get home to serve out my sentence. Luckily, I have a great companion to keep me company during the day - that would be Ruby :)
So far I haven't gone too crazy. I have quite a few books and there's always daytime TV (ok, so I've avoided the hideous daytime TV thus far, but maybe I'll tune in to A Baby Story...or some other women's channel I'll never get Dan to watch!)
I'm sure I'll be checking back in soon... to keep everyone posted and maybe add a belly shot for kicks. :)