almost there

I am 33 weeks along now; just 7 more till her due date and just one more till our goal gestational date.  It's amazing to think I've lasted almost 9 weeks with a funneling, 1.5 cm long cervix.

I've done extremely well with the modified bed rest. My doctors said it was ok to use stairs every now and then, which has given me a little more freedom, so I've been able to check up on our basement bathroom remodel. We went through Home Depot (24 month financing!) because it required a lot of underground plumbing work and it has taken much longer than expected, but it's a blessing in disguise as I've been able to work from home while the workers are here, allowing me to rest more and not have to rush in the morning to get ready for work.

I've done some shopping too, both on my own and with Keith or a friend. I allow myself to go into the smaller stores, like CVS, to pick up a prescription or something quick without using a wheelchair or scooter, but at bigger stores like Target and JoAnn's I definitely use one. I kind of feel like a dork (or some other appropriate term) when I am riding around a store by myself. I am extremely self-conscious and can only imagine the thoughts running through peoples' heads as they see the lazy pregnant lady scooting around the store, bumping into things (still getting a hang of maneuvering!), yet can get up and walk out to her car no problem. Yes, it is stupid to think these things but we all know it's not easy to turn off our minds. I just keep reminding myself that it's for baby girl (whom is currently hiccuping) and you have a perfectly valid reason to be riding around in a scooter!  I also feel awkward being pushed around in a wheelchair, mainly because I'm inconveniencing the person who's pushing, but at least I have some company. Many many thanks to Jenn and Keith for pushing me around JoAnn's and Buy Buy Baby and to Liz for taking me to an art fair and pushing me around in 90 degree weather. That is friendship!

Health-wise I am doing pretty well. My cervix has not changed length nor has it funneled any more. What's interesting is you can actually watch my cervix fill with fluid during a transvaginal ultrasound - the u/s tech will have me bear down, which I assume pushes all the fluid out, then a minute or two later it fills back up again. She says it's not amniotic fluid, but just regular, whatever's-up-in-there fluid. Not her words. Around 28 weeks I had my glucose test and happily found out that I do not have gestational diabetes (my level was 86, whatever that means). After the test I had some bloodwork done and the results said I had a slightly high white cell count. My doctor was going to brush that off at first, as it's normal for pregnant women to have a higher white cell count than non-pregnant women, but when I reminded her that I had a really high white count with Aidan and no signs of the BV that was ravaging my uterus, she decided to put me on a week's worth of antibiotics. Good thing, because just a few days later we found out I had a UTI! I had never had one before, and after reading about the symptoms I suppose I had some of them (very minor, though) but I attributed everything to the many side effects of pregnancy. The UTI is all cleared up now, and I'm doing my best to be more aware of my body.

Because my cervix hasn't changed, my doctors moved me back to bi-weekly appointments instead of weekly, and we stopped doing the cervical ultrasounds (although I did have a measurement u/s and got some cute 3D pictures out of it). So now we are really just in a waiting game. My dad, who knows things, keeps saying she will be born in October, so I am keeping hope that my little pumpkin baby will hold out until then. With everything that's been going on, she'll probably stay in past her due date and I'll need to be induced!

There are a few more things I could write about but this post is long enough. I will try to update more often, but I've been pretty decent at doing minor updates at An Caisteal, so feel free to check that out if you don't mind reading about the happier side of things.