No Baby!!

Last Saturday I was admitted to the hospital for preterm labor. I had been spotting mildly on Friday, but woke up Saturday morning with pretty bad cramping. I called the dr. and she said come on in to check things out. About an hour after I got there, I started having painful contractions that were 3 1/2 minutes apart for about 4 hours. They decided to admit me and see what was going on. They did an ultrasound to check the baby and placenta, which were both doing fine. The baby measured about 3 1/2 pounds. Since the contractions were getting worse, they gave me IV magnesium to stop them. That was pretty awful. It causes you to feel like you have the worst flu ever. And the nausea is intense. I was on an IV magnesium drip for 48 hours. The contractions eventually disappeared, so it was successful! They also gave me 2 rounds of steroid shots for the baby to increase his lung maturity just in case. I was released on Tuesday to come home on strict bedrest. My mom stayed the entire week as I could do nothing but sit. On Friday I saw my OB and everything looks pretty stable at the moment. He has me on modified bedrest which means I can get up and walk around, but that is about it. No housework, laundry, grocery shopping ect, for 3 weeks. Our goal is to get this baby to 34 weeks. They say babies born after 34 weeks don't have as many problems with breathing or maintaining blood sugars or body temperatures.

The kids have been great little helpers during this time. Its nice to see them help with what they can.

I've never gone through anything like this before during my last 3 pregnancies. I've had c-sections that were scheduled (for various reasons) so I have never had any sort of labor experience. I always just walked in and had a baby!!

Hopefully this little guy will decide to stay in until 39 weeks now. And be uneventful until then!!

An Answer!

I got a call today from my OB's nurse. I thought maybe I had failed my glucose test I took last week, but gladly I did not! She said I am low on iron. However, I have been taking iron supplements since around week 12. So, I have to double up on them. Kelly says I just need to eat more steak...

Hopefully getting my iron levels up will help with the fatigue I've been feeling lately.

Fatigue setting in...

Being pregnant at my 'advanced maternal age' is quite different than my previous pregnancies. Right now I feel tired most all of the time. I'm not sleepy tired, just physically tired by 4pm most days. I am exercising some, walking to school and such, but it doesn't seem to increase my energy any.

The baby is getting big - obviously. I had yet ANOTHER lady say to me yesterday "Wow, you look so big for having 2 months left." What am I supposed to say to that? Its my FOURTH child woman! Some people are so rude...and need to keep their mouths shut.

Show 'n' tell....

This is a picture of my brother and I. I even took him to show 'n' tell at school! What a cool thing to share! My daughter will be about the same age as me in this picture when her new brother arrives, I wonder if she will take him to show 'n' tell??

Baby Timeline

Names...

Anyone got any good boy names?
Has to fit with our other names: William, Caroline and Jackson
Not to common, and you know that its a BOY name and you know how to spell it.

Don't send 'Douglas'. No Douglas McArthur.

Last assembly....

Kelly put together yet another changing table this weekend. Last time he will be doing that. Too bad we used the last one for a fish cleaning station.

I guess we really are having a baby!

We set the crib up in our room last week. The boys don't really want to share a room at the moment, so we'll put the baby in our room for awhile. I hope he isn't a noisy sleeper!

Oh, so true!

This cartoon is not funny. -Katherine

Webkinz...

All the neighborhood kids with their Webkinz. They play with these critters constantly. They take them for rides in the wagon, walks, and fling them in the air. The Webkinz all have their 'best friends' which seems to change every few minutes. I'm sure this newest phase won't last long, but it sure is cute!

Baby Dash

Last weekend we saw our newest family member - Dashell Clay VanDyk. He is about 2 weeks old now and is as cute as a button. The kids really enjoyed seeing the new baby. They all fought over holding him, and watching diaper changes! The visit made me really think that I need to start preparing for our new baby - while I still feel good and can bend over somewhat!