The Joys of the Last Month

OH BOY (sigh) is about how I can sum up this past week. I was so excited to finish school and have a few weeks to prepare for Parker's arrival without the stress of a job. Well, this week has not gone exactly as planned....AT ALL. Everything I have tried to do to be productive has been stressful, did not go as planned, and turned into something bigger. Here begins my list...

1) Bought a new couch for bonus room on Saturday. Couch delivered Monday. Couch does not fit through doorway of bonus room. Cannot return couch. Now have two large couches sitting in living room downstairs because cannot get it upstairs. Don't know what to do. Spend two hours and many minutes of stress trying to solve situation. Had awesome movers who helped take couch apart in order to get it in doorway and then had to put couch back together.

2) Old couch (huge sectional) was moved into garage for Habitat to pick up. Habitat does not pick up upholstered furniture. Called Salvation Army. Do not take furniture from households with pets, regardless of whether or not animal has been allowed on couch. Called Goodwill. Driver is injured and can't do a pickup for three weeks. Now have a huge couch sitting in garage taking up whole thing until we can figure out what to do with it.

3) Saturday I got a hemorrhoid. If you don't want to know too much about me, just skip this section and know that I've been dealing with a painful hemorrhoid. If you want to know the details...keep reading. I had been using prescription cream on it since Saturday because I was given this as the beginning of pregnancy when I started getting hemorrhoids. This usually takes 1-2 days to kick in. It did not kick in. On Monday at my doctor's appt, she prescribed me a stronger foam antibiotic. She told me if it doesn't kick in by Thursday, to call back and I would have to go see a proctologist. So it's Thursday, my hemorrhoid has increased in size (about the size of a kidney bean now) and increased in pain. I have an appt tomorrow at 9 to determine whether or not they will need to do something "surgically" to clear it up. The pain from this has prevented me from doing a lot around the house because it hurts to walk/bend over/move.

4) Tuesday we had a maternity photo session. I was so happy to find someone who took good pictures and who was available to take us at the last minute. We were going to do a session that was half outside and half inside. The inside session was going to consist of taking black and white pictures against a black background that really just focused on the belly. I was supposed to bring props for this part (ultrasound, ribbon, shoes, etc.) I had packed it all up Monday night to be ready for Tuesday. On Tuesday I drove out to do the outdoor session in 100 degree weather, walking up and down hills, sitting down, standing up, laying on the ground, etc. I was miserable. We get to the indoor part and I realize that I have left all of the props at home (45 mins. away from the photo session). So...we had to reschedule the second part for Wednesday night and drive all the way back out because I did not bring the props. To make matters worse...I brought everything I was supposed to on Wednesday...except for the ultrasound pictures, which I left at home...AGAIN. After some last minute saving pictures to a disk from our blog at Aaron's office and running to Target, we were able to bring some ultrasound pictures along with us. Here are just a few pictures from the photo session:

5) Aaron and I thought last night was "Go Time." We thought we might be parents today. At around 8:00 pm I started having contractions. Aaron asked if I had been timing them, and I said no. So he got his trusty ol' digital watch and starting timing them. Sure enough, I was getting contractions every 4 or 5 minutes that were lasting anywhere between 1.5 minutes and 4 minutes. This lasted for a good two hours. We didn't call the doctor because I was able to walk, talk, and breathe through them. The doctor said if they are contractions that don't take your breath away and you can breathe through them, you do not need to come to the hospital. We had a "birthing fire drill" making sure our bags were packed (something I finally finished yesterday afternoon) and we had everything that we needed. They started to die down some around 11:00. Then around 12:30 I woke up with very strong pain in my lower abdomen and back. No matter what I did, it wouldn't die down. This pain reoccurred every hour and a half or so, waking me out of a dead sleep. So I then had the bad pain, but the contractions were not happening every 5 minutes for an hour. So needless to say, I am at home, contractions have died down, I do not have a baby (yet), and doctor said welcome to "pre-labor."

6) My ankles/calves are now as big as my thighs...and that is big. I probably have gained 5+ pounds from water weight gain over the past week. No matter how long I put my feet up or stay out of the heat, I have elephant feet. I waddle...not because of my belly(although I'm sure that adds to it) but because my ankles and toes literally cannot bend due to the swelling. I have to kick my legs out and walk flat footed because the water prevents me from bending. Summer pregnancy is awesome!

So there are the most recent "joys of the last month" that everyone tells you about. I have had an absolutely wonderful pregnancy and have enjoyed every minute of it...up until about 2 weeks ago. My son is very big, his momma is very big, and the comfort level is gone. I know Parker needs to stay inside to continue to develop, but he's doing a number on his poor Mama. I guess I need to get used to that....this is only the beginning...

Hopefully there will be a brighter post in the next few days! Keep us in your prayers! We are at 37 weeks (considered full term if I go into labor).

Daddy and I love you tons Parker! We can't wait to kiss those chubby cheeks of yours...