I am a second-time mother-to-be that is embarking on a journey through uncharted territory. While my first pregnancy was a glorious and complication-free experience (can you believe I didn't even have any morning sickness?!!), this pregnancy has been the opposite in almost every respect. I am already high-risk due to my age, but in addition I was diagnosed as having marginal placenta previa and an incompetent cervix at my 23 week appointment. I was ordered by my doctor to go on bed rest immediately for the remainder of my pregnancy and four weeks later, my placenta and cervix are both perfect! Yay! It seems that the real problem was that I was overdoing it and that with the bed rest, I am doing much better. So I am still on bed rest, but now I am allowed to do relaxing things that I enjoy---like going to church, the movies, the spa. I am so very happy and can't wait to meet my precious little girl!

Monday, Cinco de Mayo

It has been quite a while since I updated my profile and lot has happened. Currently, I am playing the waiting game. I am two days away from being 38 weeks and I am wondering if all my suffering through bedrest and pre-term labor scares was for nothing and this baby is going to come out after my due date just like my son!

On the bright side, I have been able to get so much done. The baby has her crib and changing table all set up. I read all the brochures for all her gear and put everything together. Her clothes, etc are all washed and ready for her. Our bags are packed. We traded in my coupe for a small SUV, so Baby Alexandria even has a new car just for her! The house is about as clean as it is going to get. I handled a bunch of annoying personal tax issues and even finally went to Social Security and changed my name to my hubby's and got my new card in the mail. All my big projects at work have been completed too and I hardly have anything to work on these days. . . I've even sent all my thank you notes for the millions of gifts Baby Alexandria has received and I have addressed and stamped all the envelopes for her Birth Announcements. Now I am just waiting for the stats and a picture so I can get those in the mail too. . . Oh Baby when are you going to come and meet Mommy??!!!!

Sunday, 23 Mar

I had my 31 week appointment on Friday and it went fine. She did not do an exam, but she said she trusts me to be the judge of how I am doing and said that I can finally start doing more activities if I want. I have been begging her to let me do prenatal yoga, so that I can stretch and build up my strength. I cannot wait to start that on Monday.

I am so very happy and excited! I am feeling really great! I only wish my doctor would see me more often for additional reassurance. She still said she didn't want to see me until four weeks, which I think is weird. That would put me at 35 weeks and I did have those scary complications earlier. . . We compromised and she is seeing me at 34 weeks.

Friday, 22 Feb

Yay! I had my 27 week appointment with my doctor today and she said my cervix is closed and my placenta is fine. I am so happy! I can now do some relaxing activities as long as I go straight to bed if I feel any pressure or discomfort. This is so wonderful!

Friday, 8 Feb

Yesterday was hubby `s B-Day, so I cheated a bit and made him dinner and brownies for dessert. We are having a small party for him tomorrow night with about 20 guests. It was originally going to be at a restaurant, but we moved it to our place after I was put on bed rest. I am pretty excited. We moved a daybed into the living room, so that someone else can actually sit and enjoy the living room while I am laying down too, and I am pleasantly surprised by how nice it looks. I thought it would obstruct my big picture window in the front, but it doesn `t and I actually like the way it looks. Last night, my hubby, my son and I ALL got to lay down and watch TV comfortably together. It was so relaxing and fun!

Tuesday, 5 Feb

Today is a good day. Yesterday, my telephone service went out, so I had no Internet service. That was pretty rough. But it was restored first thing this morning. Yay!

I had an appointment with my parentologist yesterday, and of course, he contradicted just about everything my OB/GYN said. He said my placenta looks fine (yay!) and that he would not diagnose me as having an incompetent cervix, because my cervix is still a 4.2, and because I carried my first child for 41 weeks no problem. I don `t want to get my hopes up, because a couple of things he said do not make sense. First, I have read in multiple places that a difficult labor can cause I/C and he does not believe that. Second, he did not conduct a vaginal ultrasound, and I have read that is the only way to really check the cervix for I/C. Finally, my cervix was a 6 when I started, so even though a 4.2 is `normal, ` it still represents a loss of nearly 2 cms in less than two weeks--while on bed rest!

He was adamant about me staying on bed rest and "pelvic rest," which wouldn't make send if he really though everything was so normal. So anyway, it was very good news, and I a am cautiously optimistic. He said to have the fetal fibronectin test done by my OB/GYN so I will do that and also have her do a vaginal ultrasound at my next appt. on the 22nd. Until then, hanging in there! One of my friends is coming for a visit bringing lasagna for us for dinner tonight. Thank God for all the wonderful women in my life. No matter how hard my hubby tries, us women are just so much better at taking care of each other!

Sunday, 3 Feb

GRUMPY, GRUMPY, WEEPY, GRUMPY. . . I have been a real bundle of emotions lately. My poor hubby--I don `t know how much longer he will be able to put up with me. Today, a friend is coming and bringing her girls to play with my son while we chat. Hopefully, it will cheer me up to hang out with a good friend. My husband is not a real talker--we have always enjoyed DOING things together more than sitting around talking about our feelings. So it seems without being able to see my friends often, I am a little too pent up with feelings that have no outlet. Ugh! I have 24.5 weeks under my belt. I will be so happy if the baby and I can hang in there until 30 weeks. It seems like that is such a magic number where you still have a preemie but it is not so bad. 5.5 weeks just seems like an eternity for me right now. . .

Thursday, Jan 31

Today was a pretty nice day. A few of my friends from work took a long lunch and came and brought me yummy Thai food. The food was great, but the conversation was even better. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to sit and chat in a room full of wonderful women!

I have my gestational diabetes blood test tomorrow. It will be my first time venturing out in several days since I have been on bed rest. I am a little nervous about that. I am paranoid that sitting up for any length of time will put strain on my cervix. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, 30 Jan

Day 5 of Bed Rest: 24 Weeks today! I woke up with such a joyful spirit today. I think every day that goes by, I realize that bed rest is not nearly as bad as I feared, and I also feel more confident that everything is going to be just fine. I think at first, it was so hard because I had never even heard of incompetent cervix and when I read about it after my diagnosis I was terrified. But so many lovely women have shared their positive experiences with me since then, and I realize that this is not that uncommon and plenty of women go on to delivery healthy babies. I also have such a wonderful hubby who is quickly adapting to the new routine---by routine I mean that he is doing EVERYTHING--the cooking, cleaning and caring for our five year old when he gets home from work. How lucky am I???!