Hoping for the best.....

Katrina has had contractions every 15 minutes for the past few hours, so we are heading hospital-ward once again. Keep us in your prayers and ask that Asher can hang in there a few more weeks!!

33 weeks

How your baby's growing:This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

We are grateful for another week down. Just three more weeks and then I won't have any restrictions and this baby is free to come. I really feel like we'll make it there.

checking in

My friend Melissa sent me an email today to make sure I'm not back in the hospital or in labor or anything since she hadn't heard from me all week. I figured I'd let you all know that I'm ok. I just haven't been in a blogging mood lately. Jared and I both came down with colds, and as anyone who has ever been pregnant knows, even colds are worse when you are pregnant. Hopefully this one won't last long.

Looking back on the week, I did manage to accomplish quite a lot for one who is on semi-bed rest.

Monday--don't remember.... um, oh yeah... I spent the morning chatting with my friend Rebekah while our kids played. Sadly, her family is leaving us to move to California on Tuesday. :-(

Tuesday-- Doctor's appointment. Things are the same. I'm still on orders to take it easy of course. I gained one pound since my visit two weeks ago, which puts my weight at the same it was a month ago. Sadly, I realized that the reason for my lack of weight gain may very well be that I am losing muscle mass from having to lay around all day.

Wednesday-- Lunch with my supervisors from work. It was nice to see them one more time and get a free lunch. Plus, Darlene gave me two adorable UNC onesies for Asher--one white and one Carolina blue.

Thursday-- did not leave the apartment.

Friday-- Registered the 4 Runner and went to Costco with Jared and the kids. A necessary trip, but probably more activity than my uterus should be subjected to. Consequently, I will probably not be leaving the apartment this weekend, except to go to Church.

Note: When not on my short outings, I was either on the couch, on my bed, or taking necessary potty trips. Except one day when I snuck and cleaned the kitchen. But I laid down again right after. I've definitely had the chance to catch up on some day time TV and to read. And it is nice to be able to nap during the day if I feel like it. But the truth is, trying to avoid preterm labor really sucks. Being forced to sit or lie down all day gets old really fast, especially when there is so much you'd like to do--like put your house in order or do fun stuff with the kids. I'm just really glad that I only have 3 more weeks of needing to worry. Once I get to 36 weeks, there shouldn't be a problem if he comes. And in just one more week, my family will be here and we are going to the beach. So Asher just needs to stay in through that.

weekend update

We did make it out for our date on Friday night to a local restaurant. It was lovely to have some time out of the house together. I made sure we got a photo on our last night as just the two of us. I'm really grateful I'm not on strict bed rest and can get out of the house a little.

Saturday afternoon we had another date--we went to Target and to the movies to see Iron Man. It was a really fun movie! Then it was back home for me, and Jared went to the airport to get the kids.

They have been so cute talking about "Baby Asher" all the time and taking turns pretending to be a baby. They are all very excited to have a baby brother.

It's so good to have them here but it does add to the craziness of our house right now. Because I haven't been able to do much and Jared has been busy finishing thesis revisions, our house is still a mess of boxes. It's starting to get to me, especially with three more people in the apartment. I REALLY wish I could do more to get things organized. And I feel bad for Jared because he has to do so much--cooking every meal, cleaning, unpacking--all on top of his work. It will be so nice to get a couple more weeks out of the way because at that point, I will feel more comfortable doing more. Plus, my family will be here in two weeks! And we are going to the beach! I can't wait.

32 weeks

How your baby's growing: By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, he'll gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks as he fattens up for survival outside the womb. He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth.

We made it another week. The past few days have actually been really good as far as contractions go. Meaning I haven't had as many. Hopefully that trend continues for a few more weeks. The whole weight gain thing has been rather weird for me. I gained the vast majority of my weight in about 6 weeks. Then I actually lost some after the hospital incident and now I think I'm back about where I was a few weeks ago. It's strange. I seem to gain in spurts and then stop for awhile. Hopefully, another spurt comes so Asher puts on some more weight. Although, luckily, when I had the ultrasound at the hospital two weeks ago they guessed he was a little ahead of schedule size wise.

just the two of us

I just realized that tonight is the last night that Jared and I will be just the two of us for a long, long time. Tomorrow the kids will be here for the summer and sometime between now and August, our little Asher will arrive. The reality of this hit me quite suddenly and along with it some strong emotions and then tears. Blame those on the pregnancy hormones. With all the craziness that has been our life the past few weeks, it just hadn't really occurred to me that our time as just the two of us would really be over so soon. And I feel like we haven't really been able to enjoy it. I've been on bed rest and Jared has been working on his thesis revisions. And we still have an apartment full of boxes.

We are so excited to have the kiddos with us. It's very hard to have them so far away, but we've also been really lucky to have so much time as just the two of us to enjoy our "newlywed" time. And now here we are at the end of it. Tonight is the last night we can go out without kids or a babysitter. Crazy. The sad thing, and I think the reason behind the tears, is that we are quite limited in what we can do because of my overactive uterus. But we decided we'd go out to dinner. Now I just need to decide where.

tag

Melissa tagged me a few days ago, and since I have pretty much all the time in the world right now, I thought I'd play along.

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

June 1998--I was 15 and had just finished my first year of high school.

2. List 5 things on your "To Do" list:

Pretty much I only have one thing on my list right now: Keep the baby in!

3. What snacks do you enjoy?

1. Hard boiled eggs with spicy mustard
2. Ice cream, especially milkshakes
3. Cookies
4. Almonds
5. Toast

4. What would you do if you were suddenly a billionaire?

Pay off husband's student loans and other debt. Invest. Give to charity. Decide what to do with the rest later.

5. List 3 bad habits:

1. Procrastinating
2. Ignoring messes
3. Leaving the TV on even when I'm not watching it

6. List 5 places you've lived:

1. Bountiful, Utah
2. Shaker Heights, Ohio
3. Zanesville, Ohio
4. Provo, Utah
5. North Carolina

7. List 5 jobs you've had:

1. Administrative Assistant
2. Television News Producer/Assignment Editor
3. Executive Producer for University News Show
4. Teaching Assistant for News Writing class
5. Dry Cleaners

8. List 5 things that people don't know about you:

1. I like stale twizzlers. Something I was reminded of when we discovered a 2 year old package of unopened twizzlers during the moving process. They are perfect in my book.
2. I've recently become addicted to Food Network. Some of my favorite shows: Iron Chef America; Throw Down with Bobby Flay; Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
3. Jared and I went through a gallon of hot sauce in only a couple months. We put it in everything. (Or did before the heart burn started recently. Now Jared doesn't put so much on my food.)
4. I sang "You've Got a Friend" at my high school graduation. (Obviously people from high school know this, but most people reading this blog do not.)
5. I still haven't put together my wedding photo album. Perhaps that should be my bed rest project. If my uterus cooperates, I may do that.

finally

photo from new york times

It's been real, but I'm glad the primaries are finally over.

moved

Well, we survived the move across town. I can't express enough how grateful I am for all the people who helped. Between packing and the moving, more than 20 people helped us. There is no way we could have done it without each of them. It is very weird to be in a new home having done so little of the work to get us here. Now that we are here, it's especially hard that I can't do the unpacking and organizing. I have to sit nicely and tell Jared what to do. Things are just going to take a little longer to get organized.

I'm still having contractions throughout the day. I'm just doing my best to keep them to a minimum by staying put as much as possible. I did go to church yesterday, but only for sacrament meeting. I still need to figure out a time to go into work one more time, but I want to wait a few days and take it really easy.

And the kids are coming on Saturday! The plan had been for us to meet them in New York next week to visit Jared's family, but since we can't go anymore, they are coming straight here instead. We are very excited to see them and spend the summer with them. The other day their mom told Jared that Isaac talks about Baby Asher every day. He is so excited to have a little brother. We just don't want their little brother to come too soon!

31 weeks

How your baby's growing: This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

Every week has new significance now that our baby might come early. Fortunately, he's probably a little bigger than the average for 31 weeks based on the ultrasound they did last week. So if he does end up coming early, hopefully he won't be too, too small. He's certainly having fun in there moving lots.