Just a day in the life!

So goes another day on bedrest. On and off since the beginning of the pregnancy I have been having mysterious cramping. Now I don't really know how much cramping is a normal part of pregnancy and at what point it would be considered contractions. Most of the time I drive myself crazy trying to figure out if I should call the dr. or just suck it up and face the fact that my uterus is expanding daily, stretching muscles and ligaments that are not normally stretched. And every time my lower back is sore, which happens frequently what with laying down all day, I wonder..... is it labor or just a consequence of being a forced couch potato??? Being that I have never experienced a normal pregnancy and never will I may never know what is normal. Every week when I go to the dr. the nurses ask me if I have had cramping or bleeding. I say no bleeding, but cramping.... most of the time. I guess they figure that as long as my cervix measures within a good range that the cramping is of no concern. But it still concerns me. Especially being that the dr. does not seem to want to assure me that things are going to be ok. All he can say is that they have gone ok so far and that all we can do is hope.

I suppose I have resigned myself to the fact that I am going to analyze every twinge and pain until the day this baby comes, which hopefully won't be until at least 32 weeks, preferably longer. Seems a long way down the road, as tomorrow is only my 17 week mark. But I have made it to another mini-goal. Next on the list.... appointment on wednesday.

My new puppy....

I got a new pet.....
A chocolate lab puppy named Pokey. The pokey little puppy, I loved that book when I was a kid. This puppy is no doubt the smartest, most obedient dog I have ever had. No joke. I promise. He is already house trained, he knows how to sit, lay down, roll over, shake, and spin. He got third place in an obedience competition and first place in a disc catching competition, and won prize money in both. He sits still when I give him a bath and comes right to me when I call for him. I have never been so proud! All this and I have only had him for 2 days.... he was not even trained when I got him.... what a smart little puppy, for a Nintendog.

A few weeks ago my sister J was playing with her new Nintendo DS (don't ask me what DS stands for.... maybe dual screen because when you flip it open there are 2 screens?) and she showed me her 2 puppies. I fell in love with the game immediately. Now I have never been much of a video or computer game fan. I played my share of Atari games back in the day.... Jungle Hunt, Pac Man, Barnstorm, Breakaway, Pinball, and a few others. I have even played some Mario Bros. (the original, of course) as well as some Duck Hunt. But since the childhood days I have never been interested. Not a bit. I had heard a little bit about these Nintendogs, but until I saw the game myself, I didn't really care. But this game really is fun. It is like having a pet without the mess. Keep in mind that you do all the things that you would do with a real dog, only there is no physical effort involved. Just time. You take the dog for walks and you even have to touch the little poops with the wand to pick them up (it is the law, after all). You pet the dog, but do it too much and he/she will get annoyed. You teach him tricks, and he/she will even recognize your voice! But ignore the dog and they won't come to you as easily. These dogs are spoiled. You buy their food and water (it's distilled) in individual portions. If you don't feed them soon enough, they might even run away. Don't worry, they'll come back. And to earn money, you enter them in contests like agility, disk catching, and obedience.

So I now have my first handheld gaming system. David knew I had liked the game when I saw it, and also knew I had weeks of bedrest ahead of me, leaving plenty of time for mindless tasks when my brain got too tired of thinking or reading (I do like to exercise the mind once in a while.... it IS the only part of me that I can keep in shape for a few months!). While he was on the computer the other day he decided to check out the DS system just to see how much it would be, and we did have a little extra income this month, a rare occurrence with me not working. So why not check it out? He looked for where we could get one for a pretty good price, and depending on where you get them, they sometimes come with a game, so he got mine with a game called Animal Crossing, I haven't tried that one yet, but it is a virtual life kind of game where you get jobs, go from city to city, meet and deal with people, etc. Should be interesting. And of course he got Nintendogs, too, so I could have a puppy. He came home with the gaming system proudly in hand and said, "happy bedrest day, honey!" What a sacrifice. I know he has been wanting to get another computer game or upgrade for himself, so I appreciate this even more. I have a wonderful husband, no doubt about it.

But really, isn't every day Happy Bedrest Day? They should make a national holiday. If they have one it will be on this website. It shows you what national holiday is on every day of the year. Pretty funny, really. I got this email from a friend asking me to find out which holiday is on my birthday. Turns out my birthday is National Answer Your Cat's Question Day and National Blonde Brownie Day. My amusement for the day was looking at all the weird holidays. Happy I Am In Control Day!

Good news

I am good to go for this week! My cervix seems to be cooperating with the cerclage, measuring today at 2.9 cm, which the tech said was really good. Last week I think it was 3.2 or something like that, but she said it was really normal for it to change a bit because it is a dynamic muscle....

After the urine sample, BP, weight check (still no pounds gained after being sick in the first trimester), and ultrasound, my specialist came in and talked to me, saying that everything still looked good, and that he had decided on doing the weekly progesterone shots, that he didn't care which thing worked (the shots or the cerclage), all he cared about was that this baby came out healthy and not too early. The progesterone shots are for people who are at a higher risk for preterm labor, so he essentially is covering all the bases. Fine with me! I am actually really glad he is being super cautious.

Babyb was looking good and moving around in there..... BUT still crossing those legs. Now I am wondering if the baby is ever going to reveal the sex. One of these days she/he is going to let the legs flop open at the wrong time and we will actually get a peek! With weekly ultrasounds it is bound to happen. And the cutest thing to me is that babyb's comfort position seems to be one hand sticking up over/beside the head and one hand near the mouth (see posted photo for example), as he/she was laying that way again this week. No 3D photos this week, but I am sure we will get plenty more as time goes on. I can't wait for DH to be able to come to the appointments with me..... Daddy wants to see the little munchkin, too!

Off to the weekly appointment.

In a few minutes I will be leaving to see my perinatologist. I didn't even know they existed before, now I could never get through a pregnancy without one! My mini-goals (it is too overwhelming to have long-term ones) are my weekly appointments, which are mid-week, and my week marks, which are on Saturdays. So there are only a few days in between each goal, it makes it more bearable. Hopefully he gives us some good news this morning, maybe my cervix is deciding to be a bit more competent now that the stitches are in?...... one can always hope!

How about a date, honey???

So today my husband and I had a lunch date.... on the couch! I know, it does not sound particularly glamorous, but it is the highlight of my week at this point. Not like I get out much right now for many exciting things to happen to me.

You see, I have been craving the seafood portofino from Olive Garden for about 6 weeks now. If you have never had this and you like seafood and pasta, it is a must-have. Believe me! It is linguini pasta with a white wine/cream sauce, with lots of shrimp, scallops, mussels and mushrooms. Sprinkle the romano cheese on there and you are good to go. Now I have never gotten Olive Garden to go, but I am very satisfied with the experience. The portion is hefty, which surprised me being a lunch menu item (they do have this at dinner time, too). And the salad is a big box of it, I imagine because when you are there the salad is bottomless so they give you A LOT... like I would say it would fill 4 little salad plates pretty full. I ate about half of each item. Of course you get 2 breadsticks and the little chocolate mint. So aside from the view being slightly less romantic, it was nice.

David and I sat together eating out of plastic containers with plastic forks, opening the little packets of romano cheese onto our salad and pasta (I tried to close my eyes and just imagine there was somebody grating the fresh cheese right on there). What a guy. So after lunch I am sitting here at the computer and all of a sudden just have to tell him how wonderful it was, and how happy I am that I finally got to eat this food I have been craving.....

I am happy for the moment. Just waiting until the next highlight of my week..... the visit to my Perinatologist on Wednesday morning. Hopefully the baby won't be crossing his/her legs like last week, we want to know what the sex is!

ooooh, a cutie patootie picture!

Here is our little BB at 15 weeks, 3 days, just a little peanut..... maybe more of an avocado or something like that.....

Breakfast in bed...

It has now been three weeks since the placement of my cerclage, and so far things have gone pretty well. I was in the hospital for only a day. We got there in the morning and they asked me about a bazillion questions, started the IV and after a couple hours off we go to the operating room. Fun. Now personally, when I get nervous I shake like a leaf, so they wheel me in, teeth chattering away, and do the spinal anesthesia. Let me tell you, that is the wierdest feeling. The surgery was over within about 20 minutes and I go to the recovery room. Originally they tell me I should only be in there about an hour, or until I can move my toes. Not to mention I can't eat anything until after that either. So an hour goes by and nothing, not even a twitch, two hours, I can't wiggle my toes, but I can move my ankles and kinda roll my feet back and forth, so 2 1/2 hours after I am done with surgery they let me go back to the room, BUT have to use the body board thing to move me to the bed. They let me order some food, my choice being a turkey sandwich.

Mind you, by the time I get the turkey sandwich it is about 2:30 in the afternoon and I have not eaten anything (or had a drink) since the night before, which does not mix well with morning sickness. I have never been so happy to meet a sandwich. I got to go home by 6:30 that night... 11 hours total, not bad at all. The recovery was a bit more painful that I bargained for because I cramped for about 2 days and those cramps were pretty bad. But since then it has been smooth sailing. I was ordered to bedrest by the specialist for the next 2 weeks until my follow up appointment, after which he said he would be seeing me weekly, and possibly gradually increasing my activity level.

Appointment day I was pretty nervous, being the first time up and about since the "stitch" was put in, and I was about to find out how well it was working. Every appointment now they have to do an ultrasound to measure how long the cervix is, and see if it is nice and closed. IT WAS! And it was longer than it had been before the surgery. I am thinking I just might be able to get up and around a bit with the good news..... but the specialist comes in and quickly tells me differently. Even though everything looked good, he will not trust my cervix until I am full term. Evidently, the day he did the surgery, my cervix was already beginning to open and the tissue was as soft as it should be at the very end of the pregnancy. Not good. So the verdict: full bedrest until they take the stitches out, which as far as I have read should be at about 36-37 weeks, more likely 37. So counting from today, that would be.... 3 weeks of bedrest down, 21 to go. And if things start looking worse, I could end up in the hospital for a lot of the pregnancy too. I hope they have internet access!

I had better like breakfast in bed....
and lunch....
and dinner....