Well, I am closing in on my 37th week of pregnancy and my 17th week of bed rest here in the next few days. I can't believe I have almost made it to my goal! God has been so faithful in taking care of me and the baby and our entire family throughout this pregnancy, and I am so grateful. I pray he continues to take care of us, although I am sure he will.

On Wednesday, I found out that the baby was measuring a bit on the small side, so I've been going in for non-stress tests (NSTs) and monitoring this week. My doctor also ordered another ultrasound for next week to see how much the baby grows in the two weeks between the ultrasounds. I'm hoping she'll grow enough and that it will have just been an error that she was measuring small. But we'll see... I'm being monitored closely, so I'm sure the doctor will catch any issues that arise. I have an NST appointment on Friday, an ultrasound on Tuesday, possibly another NST appointment on Tuesday as well, and a regular doctor appointment on Wednesday.

Of course, I may or may not make it to any of those appointments. It's crazy to think that I could go into labor anytime now and it would be pretty much okay. I'm anxious to meet my little girl but would still like her to stay inside for a little longer, especially now that I know she is measuring small. I want her to grow as much as possible before she arrives!

34 weeks

Well, we've reached our big goal. Yesterday marked 34 weeks in this pregnancy, and I have yet to go into labor. Yay for us! Although the baby's lungs are not quite mature yet, my doctor said that this was the point where we could all breathe a sigh of relief that she would be fine. To celebrate, I have been having contractions and cramps all day long. Er, I mean, to celebrate we had some yummy chocolate cake, but I really have been having a lot of contractions today. I don't think they are progressing me into labor though--more of an annoyance than anything, I think. I am still on bed rest and hoping to make it another two or three weeks before delivering. Even two more weeks would be longer than I carried Ashlinn for, since she was born at 35 weeks and 5 days. Anyway, that's the update there... On to other exciting news now...

Today, Ashlinn said "I love you" back to me when I told her that I loved her. Oh my gosh, it was the greatest moment ever. I've been trying to get her to say it back to me for months! She also showed off her intelligence when my mom said, "Okay, Ashlinn" and she answered back, "Okay, Gramma." She didn't just repeat what my mom said but actually replaced "Ashlinn" with "Gramma." Smart girl. She's also added "hippo" and "necklace" to her repertoire of words she knows and uses. I'm pretty sure her vocabulary is at about 130 words now--probably more. She amazes me every day! Yes, I know, I'm a proud mommy. :)

A little bit restless

So I've now been on bed rest for 11 weeks. That's 77 days, but who is counting? Most of the time, I'm all right with this. Ashlinn keeps me entertained when she's awake, and work keeps me busy when she naps. At least, when I'm inside all day I don't have to deal with summer's heat too much, right? And of course, tons of people have made this a lot easier than it could have been as they've brought meals, visited, taken me to doctor appointments, etc. So yeah, it hasn't been too bad.

But sometimes I do get a bit restless, like right now. My back hurts from being in the same two positions all the time, and my hands and feet are starting to tingle a little bit throughout the day. And I really want to get out and go barbecue on the beach for some reason. I feel a little bit bored when everyone else in the house is busy and Ashlinn's asleep and I have no work to do, and I'm just sitting here with my computer in front of me and wondering what I should do.

It's not forever, though. I'm really close to being done with this whole bed rest business. And then I'll have a newborn baby and absolutely NO time to get bored or restless, I'm sure. :)

Well, I've made it past 29 weeks, and I don't have gestational diabetes after all. I have had more contractions though lately. I was supposed to have a doctor appointment tomorrow, but the office just called to cancel and move the appointment to next week. Until then, I'll just hang tight and be as careful as possible and hope that the contractions are not doing anything to my cervix. They are not progressive or regular like they would be if I were actually in labor, but I do have quite a few each day, so we'll see... Maybe my doctor can give me a different prescription to keep my contractions down.

Other than that, not much is going on over here. I did stay up alllllllll night working a few nights ago, so I've been pretty tired the past few days. But things are pretty good. My parents will be visiting this week for the 4th, and we'll celebrate my next milestone, 30 weeks, then. So that will be fun. I'm thinking the occasion calls for some more chocolate pie. ;)

Gestational diabetes

I swear, this pregnancy has been one long drama. Last week, the doctor I saw said I was measuring 2-3 weeks behind and so he ordered another ultrasound to measure the baby that way. I wasn't really worried because this happened with Ashlinn and everything turned out fine. Using a measuring tape to my stomach is not exactly the most accurate way to make sure the baby is growing on schedule, and the baby's position during the measuring often affects how big my stomach is at the moment. So I had the ultrasound today and, again, everything was fine. I'm not complaining though--I got new pictures of the baby, so that was nice.

On the other hand, I also took my glucose test today and failed miserably. My blood sugar level was 186, and they like to see it below 130. So now I have to take the 3-hour test. Great. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of taking a glucose screening test, let me tell you how much fun it is. You get to drink this orange soda-like substance that has 50 grams of glucose in it. You have to drain it within 5 minutes and then come back an hour later for blood work to determine how well your body broke down the glucose during that time. You cannot eat or drink anything else (including water) until after you've had your blood drawn. Sounds fun, right?

Well, the 3-hour test is tons more fun. You get to fast for 12 hours, go to the lab and have your blood drawn, and then drink the soda substance with 100 grams of glucose in it this time. Then you get to have your blood drawn again an hour later, then again an hour after that, and then yet again an hour after that. Of course, you still can't eat or drink anything else until after you've finished the last round of blood work. So you get to slam your body with sugar after fasting for a long time and then have blood drawn several times and still stay away from any food or drink for three more hours. I can hardly wait...

If this next test shows that I do have gestational diabetes, I will probably get to cut most of my favorite foods from my diet for the rest of the pregnancy. Sigh. Of course, I will do whatever I must to take care of this little one. I'm just throwing my own little pity party here, don't mind me... ;)

Back again

Well, so much for writing more consistently. It's been more than a year since I last posted, and I again feel the itch to regularly blog. We'll see how long it lasts, but I'm hoping to stick with it longer this time around.

In the past year and a half, my life has changed drastically. First I became a mommy. My sweet little girl will turn 18 months in a few days, and she is growing faster every day. I can't adequately express the joy I find in watching her learn new skills, make mental connections, and expand her vocabulary. She is a busy girl with more energy than I would know what to do with, and boy, is she smart! She's also extremely sweet...most of the time. She has a bit of a stubborn streak that appears from time to time. I love her more than I ever thought possible, and I genuinely look forward to seeing her each morning.

I also became a freelance editor. Well, I already did some freelancing before this, but in September I signed a contract with a company that creates online educational courses. It's a great setup for me. I have pretty tight deadlines, but I can work while Ashlinn naps or after I put her to bed at night. I work by the project instead of by the hour, so I don't have to worry about working quickly when I'm not able to give the work my undivided attention. I can also always decline a project if I don't have the time to accept it (which I haven't done yet). I don't get a lot of work, but it's still regular enough. The main downside is that I don't make much money doing it because I tend to spend a lot of time on each project, which drives my hourly rate down quite a bit. But it's still worth it. It gives me the chance to be something other than just mommy all day, and it keeps my brain stimulated. It also helps me feel like I've accomplished something, since so much of what I do all day has a cyclical nature to it and I rarely can stand back and feel satisfied that I finished something and did a good job with it.

In October, I turned 26. This brings me closer to 30 than 20, which is a bit daunting. Am I where I hoped to be at this age? I don't know...mostly yes, though.

On New Year's, I found out that we are expecting #2! We're extremely excited about this addition to our family. The ultrasound tech who did our big ultrasound said that she thinks it's another girl, though she didn't sound all that sure, so we'll see. We have not chosen a name yet, but we have a boy name picked out just in case. This pregnancy has been way different than my pregnancy with Ashlinn. I had morning sickness this time, was/am far more tired this time, and had a host of other pregnancy symptoms I barely felt if at all with Ashlinn. It's really not as easy the second time around when you already have a toddler. It's not really as magical either, though it's still exciting.

The biggest difference, though, began five weeks ago. I went to labor and delivery with cramping from (I thought) a urinary tract infection that was not responding to medicine. The on-call doctor and on-call midwife never found out why I was cramping, but they thoroughly examined me just in case. In the process, I found out that my cervix was a little soft. They then did an internal ultrasound to see what was going on and found that my cervix was also rather short and funneling in under the pressure of the growing uterus and baby.

So now I'm on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy--however long that might be. I'm 25 weeks along today, and we're hoping to make it to at least 34 weeks. Needless to say, it's going to be a loooooong summer. But I've already made it through 5 weeks of bed rest, and so far my cervix hasn't changed any, so the bed rest seems to be helping. That's good news! So we're praying and trying to trust God that He knows what's going on and will take care of us no matter what. Sometimes I get anxious because so much is unknown and the situation really is serious, but mostly I'm staying pretty positive about things. It helps that a lot of people have come by to visit me, help me with Ashlinn, and bring us meals. God has really blessed us through friends, family, and church family during this time. He's also taught me the importance of asking for help...something I'm not good at and hate to do. But He's really blessed me in that too, and I'm praying He blesses everyone else for their generosity too.

Staying at home

Well, I am officially a Stay At Home Mom now. My last day of work was last Friday (though I was still home and using up vacation time after my maternity leave ran out), and on Tuesday I went to the office to pack up my belongings. I am pretty excited about staying home with my little one; it's something I've always wanted to do once I started having kids. I love that I get to see her smiles throughout the day and that I'm the one around to calm her down when she's upset. It's tiring work for sure, but it's so worth it.

Now I just have to find some contract/freelance work to do from home so I can help make ends meet...