29 Weeks

29 Weeks

As of today I have been on bed rest for 25 days.  I've gotten out of the house to go to the OB, GI doctor, 2 glucose tests, and labor and delivery, so pretty much not fun stuff!  But every time I go to the doctor someone in my sweet family (Harry, Mom, Dad, or Katherine) takes me because they don't want me driving.  I am such a lucky girl!

I did pass my 3 hour glucose test, thank goodness, but it was not fun.  I had to fast before the test, so I hadn't eaten since 9:00pm the night before and I didn't start the test until 9:30am, so I was starving.  Right before I drank the drink but already had my blood drawn once said, "Don't throw up or you have to start all over again."  I had to get my blood drawn every hour for 3 hours (4 times total) and I get faint when I get blood drawn and have tiny veins.  They have to use the butterfly needle on me every time.  But I'm just glad it is over and I don't have to do it again.  TMI, at my appointment yesterday the doctor checked my cervix again because I was concerned that my braxton hicks are getting longer, up to a minute and stronger, so I was afraid they could be changing my cervix.  But she said it was still closed, thank goodness, but I am going to get an ultrasound on the 2nd, to measure the length and to see how big Ramey is to make sure he is still growing well.

But my doctor said I could take maternity pictures so Harry and I are going to take pictures tonight with one of my former kindergarten parents, Shannon Foster, who is an amazing photographer!  I am so excited!  We were thinking about taking this picture....

How funny would that be?  Not that I would take that picture in a million years, but how funny is that picture?

Anyways, I also finished making our honeymoon shutterfly album and it should be here any day.  I am pretty excited to get it 5 years after our honeymoon.  Now I started a shutterfly album from one of the best trips ever, our 17 day Alaska land and cruise trip, that we took with my parents and sister during our 1 year anniversary, so 4 years ago.  I've also been ordering stuff off Etsy for the baby room and stuff should be coming in this week!  I finished reading Baby Wise today and I am going to start Happiest Baby on the Block sometime in the next couple of days. 

This week was the Festival of the Arts and those of you that know me well, know that it is one of my favorite things to do.  There have been years that I have gone 2 or 3 times.  My mom is an Art History teacher so we have gone as long as I can remember.  She use to work a booth when I was little and it has always been one of my favorite things to do in the spring.  Well this year I can't go.  I was so disappointed.  My dad actually told me not to cry because my mom would feel bad about it, that is how much I love it!  Well my amazing parents went on Wednesday and brought me home my favorite thing from the arts festival, the wonderful strawberry newport.

Doesn't it look amazing?  Normally Harry and I sit in a certain spot at the arts festival and share one, but this year, I ate the whole thing by myself, lol, well I shared with Ramey but that doesn't really count as sharing, I had no choice!

Here is a sweet picture of my precious hubby playing Blackbird by the Beatles to our sweet baby.  It is one of my favorite songs and I think I will have him play it every day so when Ramey is here he will recognize it, I read that in a book.

And I have been telling people that Ramey moves all of the time and here is a little video to show you what he does daily to me!  Watch around 20 seconds for that crazy baby boy!

Yes, I did have my belly button pierced senior year in high school because Harry and broke up and he didn't want me to get it pierced, so I did, then we started dating again a month later, lol.  I kept it for about 5 years, but I wish they would have told me at the time that the scar/hole wouldn't ever go away. Oh well.

And lastly, tomorrow is my baby sisters 24th birthday!!! Happy birthday Sissy, I love you more than anything and you are the best little sister in the whole world!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

The Bed Rest Has Been Extended...

27 Weeks

 28 Weeks

The only reason I have real clothes and make-up on in these pictures is because I had to go to 

doctor's appointments.  I am not allowing pictures on other days, lol.

I got to go into the doctor earlier than expected and I have to be on bed rest for the duration of my pregnancy.  My contractions have gotten better but I am still having them daily, pretty much hourly.  I try to ignore them but it is pretty hard to ignore all of them.

Now since I have to stay on bed rest, I can't go back to school for the remainder of the year.  That is the worst part by far!  I love my kids so much and it makes me so sad that I can't finish out the year with them.  Harry and I purposely didn't start trying for kids until the fall so I would hopefully get pregnant and have the baby in the summer.  We were very lucky and didn't try for long, but apparently God decided that I could plan all I wanted to but he is the one in charge and would decide how this whole thing was going to work out.

Here is a little example of why of love and miss my kids so much...  

They made this with my sweet substitute.

This week has been pretty eventful in the land of bed rest.
First, I got an amazing gift basket from the wonderful parents of my kindergartners.  They put magazines, candy, sudoku, a gift card to chilis with a to go menu, books, and a ton of other good stuff!

Tuesday, I had to go to the GI doctor which was a deviation from bed rest and everything there went fine.  Don't worry, I won't tell you about that.  Then yesterday, I had to do my 1 hour glucose test, which I found out today that I failed, which I have heard alot of people fail the first one but pass the 3 hour one.  So I have to do the 3 hour glucose test next week.  Wish me luck that I can pass that one!  My mom failed the 1 hour test but passed the 3 hour test with me, so let's hope I'm the same way!  And I'm also anemic, so I have to start taking an iron pill.

Again this week, my hubby, Mom, Dad and Ellie have kept me company and entertained.  Mom and I have been watching a lot of House Hunters International and I have been doing a lot of searching on Etsy for things for the baby's room.

Here are some pictures of what a typical day looks like.

And we officially have a name for this sweet little baby!  We are naming our sweet boy....
Ramey Michael Harrison.  Ramey was my PaPa's name (my dad's dad) and Michael is Harry and his dad's middle name.  We are very excited that he has such a meaningful name and that it won't be a very common name.  As a teacher, it was pretty hard to think of a name that hadn't been ruined, lol, jk.  But that I didn't associate with another child good or bad and that Harry liked.  He was soooo picky with everything.  I said one name and he said, "There was this kid in 7th grade that I got in a fight with named..." or "So and so's husband is named...."  I told him that every name we thought of would have someone he probably knew at sometime in his life.  I was scared to tell him Ramey because I love it so much and it means so much to me and he had shot down every name I had said up to that point.  But when I said Ramey, it was the only one that he actually said, "Hmm, I like it"  But then it still took another 2 months or so for him to finally agree to it.  Then last night once he decided on it, he was so giggly and embarrassed.  He does that when he is excited or embarrassed about something.  I love my husband so much!

Thanks for reading!!!
Meredith

Ma... The meatloaf

Baby and Mommy Info

How Far Along:  27 weeks

Maternity Clothes:  Yeah but since I am on bed rest I'm just wearing pjs

Stretch Marks:  Nope

Sleep:  Since I have my maternity pillow it is pretty good but my tummy is getting heavy and makes it hard to flip from side to side in the night.  I wake up Harry every time I flip.  Poor hubby!

Best Moment This Week:  Watching my tummy move all over when the little guy is going crazy in there.

Miss Anything:  My kindergarteners and being able to leave the house!

Movement: all the time (just like his daddy with shaking his leg and tapping his foot all the time)

Food Cravings:  Nothing crazy.  I really wanted an icee the other day (that isn't abnormal for me before I was pregnant) and the spinach salad at The Wedge

Anything make you quesy or sick:  Nope

Labor Signs: These dumb contractions every day...

Belly Button in or out: In... But not for long.  Mom and I decided since I have nothing else to do, I can just keep my finger stuck in there to keep it in as long as possible.  I was joking with Harry the other night and said, "I bet I could pop it out right now" and I pushed and it started to come out and I freaked out and pushed it back in.  It was really funny.

Wedding ring on or off: on... I'm a lot less swollen since being on bed rest.

Happy or Moody:  depressed = (  but getting better

Looking Forward to:  holding this baby, but not for another 13 weeks!

Nursery Progress: The bed and dresser are both in.  The rocking chair is in the process of shipping right now.

What I have been up to...
Mom is taking very good care of me and made us meatloaf for dinner tonight.  It was delicious!  Harry even ate a bunch and he hates meatloaf.


Sis came over today to surprise me and bought the cutest little newborn overalls outfit for the little guy.  She is such a sweet sister.


Dad came over the other night to keep me company when Harry was working until 10 and mom was teaching.  I think he needs the bed rest too.  
Note: He is wearing two different things.  He falls asleep every time he is over, lol.

Today I started a shutterfly album of our honeymoon.  It is only 5 years since our honeymoon, but if I don't do it now before the baby, it won't get done!  The bad thing is the only pictures I have from the honeymoon are on facebook because the computer crashed and I lost everything, but at least I had posted them on facebook.  
This is one of my favorites of us from the honeymoon.  We are at the top of St. Thomas and that is our ship, The Freedom of the Seas behind us.

I am also knitting a little blanket for the baby.  Mom went and got me the softest blue yarn with little brown specks.  It is looking really good so far.

And of course Ellie is still keeping me company.

                                     She already loves the baby and wants to cuddle with him.

Bed Rest and the last few weeks...

My bed rest partners... 

Well, I decided to do a blog because everyone has been asking how I am doing, what I am doing, and how am I feeling.  So I thought this would a good way to keep everyone updated on me and the little guy and give me something to do while I lie in bed.
I was put on bed rest on Tuesday, April 3rd.  I had taken the day off of school just to relax and rest.  Well I called the doctor because (warning TMI) I thought I had lost a little bit of my mucus plug on Monday and I casually mentioned that I was still having braxton hicks contractions (which I had already gone into Labor and Delivery for on March 20th to be monitored.)  The nurse told me to come in to get monitored and see what was going on.  Well apparently I was having more contractions than I thought because I wasn't feeling some that were showing up on the monitor.  My doctor decided to put me on procardia, which is a blood pressure medicine, to help relax my uterus and slow down the braxton hicks and to put me on bed rest until I see her next on April 20th. The good news is that all of these contractions haven't done anything to my cervix and we got to see the little guy on the ultrasound 2 more times!
Well on Friday, the 6th, I was having quite a few contractions and then had 6 in an hour (that is the magic number when I have to call the doctor).  So I called Labor and Delivery because it was past doctor hours and they had me come in again to get checked.  It is always scary to go in to L&D but I am glad they are conservative and want to make sure everything is okay.  Well 4 hours later, I had been hooked up for a long time to monitor me and the baby and a test (for the 2nd time) that determines if there is a certain chemical present in my uterus that predicts if you are going to have the baby in the next 2 weeks.  The test came back negative, thank goodness, so he should still be cooking for at least 2 weeks and I was having contractions when I was there.  I started having alot, so they made me go to the restroom and they slowed down significantly.  I am just a person that is going to have braxton hicks my whole pregnancy and have an irritable uterus that is going to give me problems the whole time.  The nurse told me to relax and not stress about trying to feel the contractions which I was doing because sometimes I couldn't tell I was having a contraction unless I pushed on my stomach and could feel them.  So basically, if I can't tell without touching my stomach then to not worry about those contractions.
It has gotten alot better and I'm alot less stressed about them.  I do still have a couple of big ones every hour or so, but I try to ignore them unless it seems that they are getting closer together.

While I have been on bed rest, Ellie has been glued to my side.  She loves to sleep on the bed anyways, but she is enjoying this bed rest much more than me!
Mom has been coming over almost every day and is doing laundry, cleaning, making me lunch and/or dinner, and anything else I need.  She is being a great mom and really taking care of me.
Dad comes over when he can and takes care of me as well.
Harry waits on me hand and foot when he isn't at work but I know it is stressful on him too because he is having to do everything for the house that I can't do now.
Harry did go out and get me a DVR for the bedroom so I can record stuff and have more channels, which has already been so nice!
Katherine is very busy with school but still calls and texts every day to see how her big sister is doing.  Katherine and Ryan came over for dinner a few nights ago with Mom and Dad and Harry of course.

I have been pretty depressed but it is getting better.  It is just very frustrating to be stuck in bed (I can really only go to the bathroom and take showers) when I want to be at school with my kids and getting everything ready for the baby.  There is so much to do and I can't do any of it.
Some days are better than others but being a person that doesn't really cry, I have had a handful of crying bouts, which isn't helped by the hormones.  I know laying here is best for the baby but it is hard when I feel okay and want to be up and doing things.  But I know this won't go on forever and I will have a sweet little baby boy in my arms once it is over!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day!