Bed Rest Is OVER!

The Little Mister was finally born at 5am on
Tuesday, March 22nd 2011
8lbs 14oz 20in

I say finally but, just like his big brothers, he did mamma a favor and came 2 weeks early, sparing me additional bed rest. I didn't have to be induced, yea! I avoided an epidural, I didn't want this to be my first, but I did go a new road and opted for some IV drug to take off the edge. And thank goodness for that, Little Mister was in the "Sunnyside Up" position (facing up instead of down-the easier way) making him a doozy to birth, even with the drugs. And again, just like his brothers, he was very considerate and was born swiftly. Even with trying to arrive extra early, not waiting for 5 min contractions, we were only in the hospital about 3 hours before his arrival. What a wonderful date to be born. As my good friend pointed out the numbers are 32211, super cool! And it's my maternal grandfather's birthday, making it a day with extra special meaning.

Final bed rest count: 3 weeks to the day. Thanks to my mom-in-law I survived with sanity mostly in tact and a clean and fully stocked house waiting for us when we returned from the hospital. If only those three weeks of rest could be stowed away and used during these first few exhausting months of newbornhood. Unfortunately the body does not stock pile rest and I'm blissfully exhausted.

Happily Ever After

My Prince Charming took me on what he called a micro mini date after our good session of NST and BP checks this morning. Every time he goes to Starbucks he picks a new alias because he thinks it's funny to hear the barista call out a random, complicated name. Usually they are plausible names, these were his picks today.

The Bed Rest Club

I have been blessed by two of my fellow book clubbers sending me books and am pretty quickly working my way through the stack. When 'Bed Rest' the novel was brought to my door it was just too fitting not to read immediately. I wasn't sure through most of it whether to feel good that I could relate or doubly depressed because I was going through my own bed rest doldrums and reading about hers!

Yesterday marked two weeks on bed rest. Two solid weeks of sitting on my butt, getting up only to pee (ok, that's quite often these days actually), to refill my water and when I just can't stand the numb feeling in my back and tingle in my legs anymore. That is an amazing amount of immobility! The highlight of my day is getting to take a shower, you know I'm dragging those out as long as the hot water heater will allow. My other daily pick-me-up: the deliveries that have started to come in of all the baby goodies I ordered online like an agoraphobic shut in since I can't venture out into the real world.

The fantastic thing is that I know the Little Mister won't be sticking in there through the entire remaining three weeks until his due date. Dr. already said if he hasn't decided to enter the world on his own within two weeks then we'll talk inducing him in the 39th week. So two weeks tops and I get to meet my little guy! I'm still hoping he comes on his own in the 38th week like his big brothers. If he does that means in mere days I could be freed from bed rest and holding him all wrapped up like a little burrito in my arms!

Are We There Yet?

Are We There Yet? Ceramic Travel Mug by Lenny Mud on Etsy

Today we are 3 weeks away from our due date! That also means 1 week from when I usually have my babies and with all the craziness this pregnancy has brought who really knows. I wouldn't be surprised if this little booger made us wait until the due date.

Bed rest has been a strange experience. The days have been going very quickly, which really surprises me, and yet the feeling of being trapped can be suddenly overwhelming, especially when trapped in with a chatty five year old! My mom-in-law has been incredible though and the other morning took him on an outing to Walmart for awhile to give me some blissful quiet time. I didn't realize how desperately I needed it until the door shut behind them and it was like my whole body sighed in relief! Then yesterday she took both boys to the movies so my honey and I both could have a peaceful afternoon together.

I think one of the toughest things to let go of for me has been the fact that I will not be able to go out for the post baby shower shopping trips I like to go on before baby arrives where I stock up on anything we still need or want. It helps me get my mind on baby and get excited that he's actually on his way. Then I can meticulously place everything in the nursery and go in and out of it dreamily thinking about him being there. Without that I've felt a little stuck in pregnancy, like this is just my new state of being and there is no place where it ends in a fantastic bundle of joy. So yesterday I just bucked up and did some serious online shopping! Not instantly gratifying but I'm trying. And again, my super fantastic mom-in-law organized the shower gifts into the nursery and brought me all the clothes and things to sort and unpackage so I could feel part of the process. For a gal on bed rest I've pretty much got it made, now all I want to know is "are we there yet?"

Virtual Baby Shower

My husband is a youth director and his kids had planned to surprise me with a baby shower Sunday night. Since the bed rest verdict was going to stick they decided to Skype me into the party so I wouldn't miss out! So sweet! They all sat in front of the computer and two of the girls would open the gifts and then bring them up to the webcam for me to check out. Later that evening one of the guys put a picture of the cake on Facebook for me to see, since about cake time they lost video feed, and they sent me home some pieces. Isn't technology awesome?! I also loved that when I asked if someone could take notes on who was gifting what one of the girls grabbed the gigantic dry erase board, put it across her lap and notated away. Most unique baby shower ever!

Day 9 Of Captivity

Whale Tissue Holder by Gnomes Sweet Gnome on Etsy

"I feel like a beached whale waiting around for someone to shove me back into the ocean." That is the way I'm feeling about bed rest, in a nutshell. My twice a week appointments are not a nuisance, they're my salvation. We drive through town and I ooh and ahh that spring is happening in the world. I heave and huff to get myself in and out of the car, up the stairs, in and out of buildings and that's ok because I'm actually moving!

Today brought us another good report. This was the second appointment in a row where my blood pressure was back into normal range and Three passed his fetal non stress test right away so life is good and bed rest is doing what it's supposed to. My husband even took me to Starbucks for a tiny outing to celebrate. I couldn't talk him into allowing me a caffeinnated beverage so I was basically bed resting in public and it boosted my spirits with no harm done. Last appointment also brought us news that we are making some progress, I am 1cm dilated and 25% effaced. I'm feeling much relief that this baby may come on his own after all and extremely torn between wanting him to spend some more time fattening up before he enters the world and just wanting him to hurry the heck up!

Her Majesty Of Bed Rest

Still in the womb and this child is already giving his mamma troubles! Tuesday's appointment brought less than stellar news...bed rest. I went in for a regular 'ole appointment at 9:15am but high blood pressure and a high fetal heart rate got me rounds of monitoring and a sonogram that kept me until about 2pm. Above is a picture of me on the morning of my second appointment where I was still hopeful to receive good news and have the sentence lifted, no such luck. So it looks like I'm doomed to finish out my pregnancy on my butt...my ever numbing butt. I actually didn't think it would be so bad because I felt I had already entered the end of pregnancy mega lazies, but man, I was really underestimating how much I was still getting done.

Now we go back in on Monday to test for Preeclampsia, oh but first another new experience, collecting a jug 'o pee in my fridge for an entire 24hrs. There's just nothing quite as humbling as pregnancy, childbirth and the embarrassments brought on by rearing children. Anywho, if I test positive then we'll be induced immediately. If I test negative then it's a waiting game. I'll go in twice a week for monitoring and I'll go with bags packed because any of those appointments could lead to the surprise news that we have to induce right away. Personally I'm saying a little prayer for negative test Monday and this baby coming on his own in a week or so!

My sentence allows me to do anything I want as long as I'm sitting or laying down, which encompasses surprisingly few activities. Thankfully I'm allowed to shower, but no housecleaning, no leaving the house and no morning cup 'o joe...gasp, no shopping for baby things, ok that one choked me up a bit. But look at my sexy help! The day before I was sentenced my fantastic husband brought me home this gorgeous apron and a rose, just because. I was really excited to wear it and get some work done, maybe even some cooking, oh well. My husband did a stellar job through the first two days of bed rest but we thought we'd better call in heavy duty reinforcements, mom-in-law! She swooped in on Thursday and by the end of the day Friday had the house back in shape. A true blessing because it was going to be torture to spend the next days or weeks glued to a chair and staring down all the things that needed picked up and cleaned!

One of the many side effects of having a giant pregnant belly and little boys is the belly is likely to be used as a ramp for cars. Hey, Spitfire is just anxious to play with Baby Brother. Actually he really really is excited and Golden Curls too. Spitfire is also my exposed belly police, he's at just the right height to be able to see my tummy peak out if my shirt rides up even the tiniest little bit. He likes to encourage me to correct this atrocity by gasping loudly, pointing at the offense, and whispering urgently "Mamma, your tummy!" A few days ago Golden Curls caught sight of my confused no longer an innie, not really an outtie belly button and disgustedly blurted out "Ewwww, that's gross!" Sweet, sweet memories.

Book Club Baby Shower

Saturday was our first baby shower, put on by my beloved book club gals. The fantastic hostesses did such a great job, just look at that adorable tub full of goodies. It had blue tulle and plastic bubbles, so cute! Baby showers make me so happy, it's a signal that the end is near and it always gets me so excited to meet my little man when he has things that were given just to him. I've been sneaking lots of peaks at all those cute things now sitting in his nursery!

I was especially honored to have my mom, mom-in-law, sis-in-law and niece there with me. I just can not believe I forgot to get a picture of all of us together! My niece is 8 and it's really the first time I've gotten to hang out with her away from the 5 boys that are usually around when she is (her 3 brothers and my two boys). She's one cool little lady. She sat so sweetly with her tea cup of punch, played with the baby and came up to me and almost whispered "I'm having fun." Then my princess niece went out into the hostess' yard, threw a ball for the dogs, kicked around in the dirt and accidentally started a fire in the old burn pile. Now that's my kind of gal!

Me with the fantastic hostesses.

Paper lover that I am, you know I was loving that banner!

Opening gifts on the throne. There is one large baby bump underneath that gift bag!

One of the faves of the day: baby eating hoodie towel