What a Relief!

Okay, so the last month or so I have been having intense pain in my back and my hips along with having really painful irregular contractions. I thought maybe is was because I'm a little older this time around, or maybe I'm not in as good of shape. Well, I decided to go get checked at the hospital yesterday because I was having really painful, sharp contractions. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't progressed at all, and the baby's head is still up high. AAAHHH!

Bless my wonderful sister, she talked to her friend who is working toward being a doula, and she thought my irregular contractions may have been due to the baby being in the wrong position. She told my sister to have me try a yoga type position to get the baby to adjust to the right position. I tried it last night, and I can't believe the difference. For the first time in weeks I have no pain, and my contractions feel normal again. I'm so glad that I didn't go into labor for real with her head in the wrong position. My labor would have been excruciating.

Now I am just waiting until Tuesday or until my body decides to go into labor. All I can say is I am thankful for my sister, and for the wonderful advice of doulas.

Things are Progressing

Well, I had a Dr. appointment today, and things are progressing. I am dilated to 4 centimeters, and my Dr. has scheduled me for an induction next Tuesday August 4th. So I should have my baby sometime on Tuesday if not sooner. My Dr. also stripped my membranes, so it's likely that I won't make it that long.

I'm really glad to finally see some progress and be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I'll get some pictures up as soon as she gets here.

Pain and Frustration

Okay, I'm going to have a little venting session here. I don't normally like to complain, but today I need to just vent a little bit before I eat all the junk food I can get my hands on to make me feel better.

I have been really uncomfortable the last couple of weeks, and have had several active contraction sessions. Well, last night I had contractions 4 minutes apart for 7 hours straight. I was totally exhausted, and I was really looking forward to going to my doctor appointment today to see how I'm progressing and to see what she had to say about all of my contractions.

Well, I got to my doctor appointment and waited in the waiting room for an hour while my doctor was at a delivery. That's fine, I'm a patient person. I can wait. I finally got called back there, talked to the nurse, got my blood pressure taken, and waited for another 15 minutes until the doctor came in.

She talked to me for about 5 minutes. She didn't check my progress, and told me that I'll know when I'm in labor and left the room. I waited for almost and hour and a half to have my blood pressure taken and for her to tell me what I already know? What a waste of time! I went to the trouble of finding a babysitter, and arranging my schedule all for a bunch of nothing. I hope I go into labor this week so I don't have to go through that again.

Phew, I feel better now! Thanks for letting me vent.

Pregnancy Update

By popular demand, here is a picture taken at 36 weeks. According to my doctor and the ultrasound I had this week my baby is already well over six pounds. That means that if I go full term I will have one big baby. I also have about twice as much amniotic fluid as most women. So, if I'm looking a little bigger than I should at this point, that would be why. I feeling good though. Just a little tired and hot.

Terrible but Adorable Twos

Believe it or not, the first picture is Justin's ornery face. He hates it when I'm on the computer because he wants to play with the mouse. If I don't let him this is the face I get followed by squealing and shrieking. This age is so much fun. The really funny thing is that no matter how angry he gets or how bad the tantrum is, he is just so cute.

The thing that drives me crazy the most is the fact that he throws things when he gets mad. Most of his tantrums are centered around food for some reason. If he's not in the mood for something, or if the presentation isn't just right he throws it across the kitchen. This is really hard for me because one of my biggest pet peeves is cleaning up sticky food messes. One thing he hasn't really figured out yet, though, is that I'm more stubborn than he is, and I don't negotiate with toddlers.

Here is the result of a temper tantrum he had last week during breakfast. I'm not sure what was wrong with the cereal, but it ended up all over the table. I think he wanted something else, but I didn't give in to him. After his fit was over he ate every bite of his cereal off the table. Isn't he cute? The little stinker.

St. Louis Trip

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week our family made our final trip to the St. Louis Temple before the baby is due. It ended up being a really hard trip for me, so I don't think I'm going to be planning any more trips in my last trimester. Brad's sister, Renee went along with us to help watch the boys so that we could both go into the temple at the same time. It cut out some time and some extra stress from our trip, and it's always good to have extra adults around when you're taking kids on a trip

We decided that with me being very pregnant and traveling with the kids, it would be easier for us to go up Wednesday night, stay over and go to the temple the next morning rather than doing an up and back in one day. When we got to the hotel Brad and the boys took advantage of the pool. I sat out and took pictures since there is no way I would wear a swimming suit at this stage in my pregnancy. YIKES!

They had a great time playing together!

After a "good" night sleep we made out way to the temple.

The boys sat in the waiting area across the parking lot and watched movies while they waited.

After the temple we decided to have a little bit of family fun at the St. Louis Science Center. I took tons of pictures, but something weird is going on with our camera and these were the only two that came out half way decent. They have a lot of fun things to do there like learning about computers, dinosaurs, the human body, space travel, and geology. Zachary had a blast. He has always had a natural love of learning new things. He was definitely sad when it was time to go home.

It will be a while before we get back to St. Louis, so I'm glad we decided to go, but boy am I worn out today. I think I'll take a couple of days off to rest.

Off to School

I finally have a quiet moment to sit down and write about Zachary's first day at school.  I thought having him in school would give me more free time.  I guess it doesn't work like that when you are sick and you have a sick toddler to take care of.  Plus, I've realized how much help Zachary gives me during the day.  I'm really missing him.

Well, he started school on Monday.  They have a summer program in our school district called Kick-off 2 Kindergarten.  Since the regular school year starts a week after I am due, I decided it would be good to have him start in June with the summer program to get us both used to the school thing.  

So far he is loving it.  He gets to ride the bus to and from school, he's meeting lots of new friends, and he is loving the "circle sandwiches" (Uncrustables) that he gets to eat for lunch.  What a funny kid.   I'm glad we decided to go ahead and start school early.  This will make August much less stressful.