35 Weeks!

Yesterday marked 35 weeks! 

Week 34 was my fourth week on bed rest, but my second week of partial bed rest.  I was happy to see that as the week went on, I felt better and could do more.  I'm still nauseated quite a bit, but I don't often feel like I over do it and physically pay for it, like I did in the first week of partial bed rest.  Some days, I can get a few things done around here.  Some days, like today, I get nothing done.  But hey, that's an improvement from last week, so I'm happy!  I can sit at the sewing machine longer too which thrills me since I'm nesting in a crazed type of way.  :)  Acid reflux has joined forces with the nausea, making eating harder than it already was.  I'm sticking to my "if it goes in it must be healthy" plan, and my sweet husband cooks very healthy meals every night for dinner.  My staples are snacking on edamame, Greek yogurt, hard boiled eggs, and sharp cheddar paired with popcorn.  :)  Arrow feels very high, so I'm assuming that's the reason behind the acid reflux and nausea.  I don't expect him to drop before labor.  Only Logan did. 
One more week of partial bed rest and then I'm free......though I wonder if I'll have the energy to do much more anyways.  :) 

I don't have much to show for this week because I've been able to sew at the machine more which means I have a stack of projects half finished.  I did finish up this little set though, for my niece's birthday.  I have a "UFO box" (unfinished object box) that I've been picking away at on bed rest.  I figure if I'm in bed, I might as well be working on birthday and Christmas presents.  Anything I can make will save money.  In that box I found this apron I started YEARS ago.  I'm thinking 11 years ago!!!  I stopped because it ended up really small, even though it was an adult pattern.  All it needed were some ribbon ties.  My niece had so much fun on her recent visit, playing in Lissy's kitchen.  So I slapped some ribbons on the apron, and spent some time in bed hand sewing the felt food, and now she can have a little set of her own, just like Lissy's.

HIS name

Psalm 127: 3-5
Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from Him. Like ARROWS in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

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Baby boy's name is

 

Arrow Matthias

 

We lovingly call him Ari.



A New Experience

Remember that ultrasound I mentioned having recently?  Well, we did something we've never done before.  We had the Dr. put the gender in an envelope and seal it.  Why?  Well, honestly, I think this little one will wait to come until after 36 weeks.  BUT, when I faced the fact that baby could come early, I really didn't like the idea of giving birth, and then having baby and Zac taken away to the NICU while I laid in a hospital bed soaking in the gender without baby in my arms, not being able to look at baby and call it by name for the first time, etc.  I just thought that would be too hard.  So, this time around, I wanted to know the gender ahead of time.  Just in case. 
The morning after the ultrasound, we woke up to Kian already in our bed, and called for Felicity and Logan to join us.  Once we were all there, in our jammies, morning breath, and bed hair, we opened the envelope together.

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IT'S A BOY!!!



34 Weeks!

Today I'm 34 weeks!!!!

I saw my midwife a week ago, and she gave me pills to take if ever the contractions get out of hand again. That will hopefully make them stop without another trek to the hospital. And I haven't had to take them yet. :) On that visit, I graduated from strict bed rest to partial bed rest. No going for walks, no taking the kids to the park, but I can get up and do a few things, and then lay back down for a bit. My midwife said my body would be sensitive at first and to go slow. Boy was she ever right! Not knowing what would over do it, I've ended one day with some contractions, and one day throwing up (sorry if that's too much information...just logging the pregnancy for the baby). But, I'm thrilled to be able to get up here and there and do things for my kids a bit. We also had an ultrasound this week to make sure baby was growing on target (due to the 2 vessel cord thing). Not only is baby NOT inhibited by the 2 vessel cord, baby is big! Baby measured 10 days ahead, is thought to weigh 5 lbs and some ounces, and "has a big head". :) Baby's big head was also covered in fuzz! Oh, I just LOVE baby hair and I can't wait to caress baby's sweet fuzzy head.

33 weeks

Feeling HUGE!

 

 



Pregnancy stats;
* As of last week, I'd gained back the pound I lost last month.
* There's a HUGE divot in my bed where I sit while in bed.  Sleeping in the divot is not comfortable so when I go to bed at night, I lay the opposite direction, with my head at the foot of the bed.  :)  Once bed rest is over completely, we'll need to flip the mattress for sure!
* I've started getting uncomfortable at night.  Shifting a lot, getting up a lot, getting up early just to be done with it.  Oh I remember these feelings well.  :)
* All cravings are now gone.  I still love lemon in my water, and cucumber sandwiches, but I don't crave them.  I don't crave anything.  Quite honestly I have no appetite at all.  I just try to make sure that whatever passes my lips is healthy, since I really don't care what I eat.  I haven't even had the need for an Oreo binge lately.  Sad day. 

Felicity's Room

Felicity wanted one thing for her birthday, a bunk bed.  She's talked about it for MONTHS.  Thanks to IKEA, we could afford to grant her this wish.  :)  We were happy to do it because she was under the impression that she'd only ever get a bunk bed if she had a sister.  We didn't want her to think that her desires would only be met based on the gender of the baby, so I'm glad her birthday came before baby's due date and she now knows that we wanted to give her a bunk bed because we listened to her, and not just because of circumstances. 

Zac picked up a simple, unfinished bunk at IKEA and painted it white.  The night before Felicity's tea party, he put her to bed in the boys' room, and worked until 2am putting together her bunk and touching up paint here and there.  I came in towards the end and made things cute.  Originally I'd wanted to make her some wall hangings, but of course, those plans had to be nixed.  I did hand sew her some buntings which will hang from her curtains, but they were used to decorate the tea party and are still hanging up.  :) 

The next morning, still in our jammies, we revealed our gift to her.  She was thrilled!  And it was done just in time for 4 sweet girls to play in during the tea party, which they did....a lot.

Here's a little peek into Felicity's room.

Felicity's Tea Party

Remember how I said in the last post about Felicity's birthday, that we usually keep things simple?  Well, we do, but you wouldn't believe me after seeing the following pictures.  My two wonderful Mama friends, Cheri and Elisa, and I have been wanting to throw our girls a tea forever.  Finally, I jumped in and said it would happen for Felicity's big fifth birthday, and I started planning.  When bed rest orders were given, we decided the party MUST go on.  By that time, the girls already knew about the plans, talked about it every day, prayed about it, and even had outfits picked out weeks before the event.  There was no question about it.  There would BE a tea!  Elisa had to be out of town so Cheri stepped up to the plate and not only picked up Elisa's daughter and brought her to the tea, but also supplied all the party needs AND came the night before to get it all set up in ADDITION to feeding my family dinner.  Have I mentioned I have amazing friends?!  Ok, ok, I think I added 3 bunting banners, a few hankies, a vintage sheet, and the party favors to her FOUR bags of beautiful vintage wonderfulness.  But there wasn't much I could do for set up except watch Cheri work her magic.  In addition to her two friends coming, Felicity was very excited to have her cousin Audrey in town to join the party.  The girls had a blast, but I'll stop "talking" now and let the onslaught of pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

I'm so thankful for this amazing girl, her sweet friends and cousin, their 3 wonderful mamas who have all helped me enormously while on bed rest, and for this amazing day that I'm sure my girly will never forget.  Such fun!

33 Weeks! (and a few days)

Another week down.  Yay uterus!

So what did week 32 hold for us?.............

This last week started off eventful with another trip to the hospital late at night.  The contractions I was having were stronger than the ones that sent me to the hospital the first time, and they were consistently rolling at only three minutes apart.  Needless to say, I was pretty nervous.  My body was shaking and I couldn't tell if that was from anxiety, or my body reacting to labor (I've gotten the shakes in labor with all 3 kids).  Those contractions rolled for almost two hours and just as we were walking out the door, they stopped very abruptly.  ????    My midwife still wanted me to come in, so we made the hour drive to the hospital, late at night, dropping off sleeping kids along the way.  Thankfully that visit was much less eventful than the first visit.  Contractions still showed up on the monitor, but they were inconsistent and no meds were needed. 

Thankfully, the rest of the week was very uneventful!  However, I kinda feel like a ticking time bomb. 

I hand sew a lot in bed so here's some of my views from the last week in bed.......

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