Baby Update

We went to the doctor today and everything continues to look good and he told me to stop taking the medicine and let the contractions be. So it's ok for the baby to come anytime now! YEA!! I just can't explain how good it feels to not worry about those silly contractions anymore. I have been one continuous Braxton Hicks contraction tonight, but that's ok! I didn't have to count them or try to stop them! It is a bit of a reality check though that the baby could come any day or I could continue being one big contraction for another 3 or 4 weeks! But that is ok!

Keely's Baby

Keely has never been interested in stuffed animals and dolls...until...yesterday. The vibrator seat has been set up in Keely's room and she was playing with it yesterday. I decided to show her how it worked with her cabbage patch doll. Jacob started this thing when I left the room one night to distract Keely and he pretended to cry and then asked her to give him a hug. I made the doll "cry" and she hugged her and then her best buddy suddenly was the baby. She and the baby read books in my lap, watched Veggie Tales together and rode together in the backseat to dinner (and was very upset when the doll couldn't go to dinner with us).

Keely and her baby watching Veggie Tales

Keely giving her baby a hug when she "cried"
(still entranced by Veggie Tales though)

While we were cleaning up-- Keely was putting books on the shelf while I put other toys up-- I suddenly hear Keely go "Wa, wa, wa" and she runs over to her doll sitting on the chair to go give her a hug! We'll see what she is learning from this or if she now is going to think someone needs to give the baby a hug every time she cries!! HAHA! The things they pick up and learn quickly!!

However, I told Jacob I think I picked the wrong doll because I'm not sure we were planning on taking the cabbage patch doll to the states--especially on the plane with us!! I sure didn't think this "bond" would grow so quickly either!

35 Weeks

I made it to 35 weeks yesterday! Last week I had some rough days and some okay days until yesterday I had this burst of energy and am feeling really good! Several people have been like uh-oh. So, we'll just see!!

35 weeks

Last pregnancy at 35 weeks

I'm carrying pretty different, huh?

Catching Up

Since I have been suppose to rest, you would have thought I'd have been better at updating the blog with pictures!! However, I've been pretty tired during Keely's nap time and have been finishing up her first year baby book. Guess what? I finally finished it! I just have to resize it for printing.

The front cover of Keely's baby book

Today, I went through the photos I hadn't downloaded and I'll just do a mass posting of them to catch up! Then hopefully we'll take more pictures than we have this month (the camera just always seems to be on the wrong floor!) and do better posting them.
(The pretty green bruise on her forehead in some of the pictures was from banging her head on the concrete wall! Sometimes she likes to body flop onto her cushion and she miscalculated and hit the wall!)

A friend took some pictures of Keely at the beach and just sent them and this one was cute. Boy she is covered in sand!!

Keely posing for pictures for our Mother's Day gifts to our moms

Keely and Mommy

Keely playing "where's Keely" behind the curtains

Keely and Daddy

Keely playing with her puzzle

It's Still a Girl!

Friends have been giving us doubts about this little baby being a girl, so today at the ultrasound we were excited to see in the 4D ultrasound that it is a girl! Jacob has been a proud daddy showing our friends the CD of the ultrasound. The ultrasound went well and things look good. She seems a bit squished in there with her foot and hand over her face. The technician tried really hard to get a good face shot, but I may have another independent child and she wasn't willing to change her position! I am at 33 weeks and 5 days today and her measurements averaged out to being 34 weeks and 5 days and estimated at weighing 2.6 kilos or 5 3/4 pounds (though I know that is just an estimate)! The doctor felt I was doing well and that I just need to continue to rest or take the medicine when rest doesn't ease the contractions. So, I have two weeks until I'm at the "safe" zone. My doctor always does or says something funny and today it was when he turned the page on his calendar and ran his finger down each week and told me I could have the baby any day in June, I just have to wait until June! Though I keep kidding that after all of this I'll go late! HAHA! As an update to how I have been feeling...Thursday thru Sunday were really good days and then the past 2 1/2 days have been a bit rough with lots of contractions while I am standing and even some while laying down. It has been a bit difficult on Keely, especially yesterday when I insisted on playing and reading laying down! All in all. though, we are all doing well!! We are just counting down the days!

Baby Update

Monday night we thought the baby had dropped. Tuesday I continued to feel "blah" and the back pain seemed to change a little and was pretty bad. Then that evening I had quite a few contractions right after another before the medicine should have worn off, so I quickly took some more and laid down. This morning we decided for peace of mind to go ahead and go see the doctor 2 days early. Plus Jacob wanted to go and we had a friend call this morning and say she was free this afternoon. It worked out perfectly to go today and have someone able to stay with Keely while we went. The doctor did an examination this time and everything looks good. No dilation, no effacement and she isn't engaged and her heartbeat is strong. I just feel so much better now. He reminded me that having some contractions now is normal, which I understand that but did give me some more medicine if they continue to come too much and told me to continue to rest. It looks like I am already on my weekly visits though, but that is ok with us at this point. So next Wednesday we will have our last ultrasound, which will be the 4D ultrasound. That will give us some more peace of mind, but I'm thankful to have the peace that was brought with this visit. Thank you everyone for thinking of us. We are really grateful, at least at this point, that we don't need to head down to Bangkok! There was a lot of anticipation among Jacob and I as we were waiting to see the doctor wondering if we were about to make hurried preparations to go to Bangkok! We are grateful we are not!

Excitement in Our Lives

This new baby wants to make sure that we don't ever get bored and have plenty of excitement in our lives! Not like we have a shortage of excitement going on!

Thursday night I started having contractions and some abdominal pain. The contractions weren't real painful, so I didn't pay a lot of attention to them until they began to be accompanied by lower back pain, which reminded me of my back labor with Keely. So, I started timing them and until I went to bed they were about 6 per hour. I woke about every hour with some pain and by 3am couldn't go back to sleep because of the back pain. I was just asking Father to get me through until morning. I finally fell back asleep at 6am but woke again an hour later with contractions accompanied with nausea and back pain. We went to the doctor and he said that the baby seemed as strong as the last time and she didn't seem to know anything was wrong...I'm just having contractions! He did confirm what I had thought that she had moved done a bit--she had been really high. He sent me home with some medicine and to rest. The medicine is not fun to take at all...it makes me shakey, out of breath and fills me with adrenaline, which makes me on edge and nervous! It also doesn't take away those pesky and often painful back pains. Friday night and Saturday night I had the back pain, but Sunday I felt really good and he told me not to take the medicine if I didn't have contractions--so I didn't. Later in the afternoon I felt nauseous and had a bad headache though...but no contractions and not very much back pain! However, this morning I felt like I was right back where I started! I did start feeling better by the end of the day and this evening hasn't been as bad as some of the past ones--but as I finish this post my back is beginning to hurt again! Off to a hot shower after I post! So, lots of fun! Our American doctor friends are a bit concerned because this is not the ideal city to have a preemie in...so we are just asking Father for wisdom as to what to do! We just aren't really sure how concerned we should be, or if I just need to continue to rest and take the medicine. Just wanted to let everyone know what is going on with us and ask for you to be talking to Father with us as well!