When the water breaks...

A few days ago I had read that when you think labor is nearing line your bed with water proof padding to prevent ruining your mattress if your water breaks while you are in bed. I being the well prepared person that I am quickly break open a new bag of my babies waterproof liners and quickly insert them under my mattress pad thinking I have just done quite an ingenious thing that I will surely thank myself for later. The first night I fell asleep with my beautiful waterproof plan and awoke in the middle of the night covered in sweat just from the area I had "waterproofed." Apparently, waterproof padding doesn't breath well. I sucked it up and continued to claim that I would be glad I had suffered for the cause if my water broke while in bed.

This afternoon I was passing through my bedroom and began to feel a contraction coming on. These have been very inconsistent and I am beginning to wonder will my baby ever come. I remind myself that he can't stay in there forever and whether it is today, tomorrow or two weeks from now he is coming. I lean back and feel something wet. I think to myself it can't be that my water broke, I would surely have felt that. Soon my had finds something hard and I pick it up and find the water bottle I had half haphazardly thrown on my bed as I scurried out the door this morning to reach my chiropractor appointment on time. However, the water bottle I threw on the bed had the lid securely fastened, at least that is how I remember it. I stand up and find that had that really been my water breaking my waterproof plan would have failed me because my mattress through all my bedding and waterproof padding was soaked. I guess it is back to the drawing board for me. Now I am back to square one where I fervently pray that my water will break in the hospital so that the experts can deal with the impending mess.

Here's to hoping my water will break in a convenient location, of it's own accord.

Tests and Baby breaking news

Mike finished his test yesterday and is feeling really good about it. He won't find out for another 12 weeks if he passed or not but it is good to have the test over and done and not hanging over our heads. He is a whole different person and I am glad to have him back. We went to dinner last night to celebrate it was wonderful to just sit and not have anything to worry about.

At our doctors appointment on Thursday the doctor announced that we probably won't make it to our due date. Baby is on the move and my body is responding to him in turn. The dance has begun. She thought that it could be anywhere from a day to two weeks. She made sure to emphasize that we get our bags packed. So today our home was filled with excitement and the buzz of last minute preparations. We are very excited and ready to welcome our little man into this great big world.

Updates will come when we are able to.

Baby Belly Time Line...

Well with only three more weeks to go I thought now would be a good time to see how Baby Gavin has grown, as well as his mommy.

At my last appointment I was beginning to dilate and was 1/3 effaced so we are starting to make some progress. It could still be weeks but I like to think that it could happen at anytime. Please keep Mike in your prayers his big test for his Professional Engineering license is on Friday. Everyone he knows that has taken the test failed it the first time. We are hoping that he won't be one of those people. He has worked very hard. So at the very least baby has to wait until Friday after 5:00pm to come. My Mom is in Maui visiting family so she would like him to wait until after Tuesday. I am trying to remember that he still has 3 weeks. Which is hard to do when he is considered full term and could safely come any time. I will keep you all posted on how these next weeks play out.

What a weekend!

We got the clear from our doctor last week for me to make a drive over to Issaquah/Snoqualmie area for our dear friends Megan and Troy's wedding. I am so glad that we were able to be there. It was at the falls, in a beautiful resort and the day couldn't have been more perfect for a wedding. The decor was stunning but not to out do the bride who glowed and shined. Their spirits were sweet and the intimate group made for a great evening. Not to mention that dinner was excellent and I only wish I could have made better use of the open bar than a Shirley Temple.

Unfortunately our camera doesn't seem to like weddings. It was acting up again so the few pictures that turned out are here and even one that didn't. Probably user error but we will get it figured out before the little guy comes.


Above is a picture of the falls. By the time we waddled our way out there it was a little dark.

The three amigos trying to capture the last bit of sunlight.

The stunning couple.

This picture doesn't do the cake justice. Beautiful!

I hate this picture of me but Megan looks gorgeous so I will take one for the team and up it goes.

Then there was dancing. I didn't put two and two together until later but a women who was speaking with Megan's Dad kept watching Mike and I attempt the jitter bug to a swing song later approached me and said if I go into labor just to call Rick (the brides father) and she could get me in first thing in the morning. I guess I had her worried like driving across the state and doing the jitter bug would do me in. I am fine for all those concerned.

Congratulations Troy and Megan Hubler!

Only 41 days to go...

I am still plodding through a cold I have had for over 2 weeks and I had the flu for a few days as well. I think this is what led to my last weekend freak out. Friday and Saturday I had nausea and contractions that went from every 4 hours and progressed until I had 3 in an hour. I called my doctors office and the on call doctor suggested I go into the hospital and get checked. Of course when I arrived I stopped having contractions and they could find nothing wrong with me. Since then I haven't had any contractions. I am still nauseous leading me to believe I had contracted the flu. The hospital in the end was very nice and said they would rather see me a hundred times and tell me nothing was wrong then have me not come in and have something be wrong. Well, I agree. Although I don't want to become a frequent flier, as the nurse said they call the ones who are in a lot. She didn't blame them though because as she pointed out being pregnant for the first time is a scary deal. I have to agree.

Thursday night Mike stopped in Colfax on his way home from Pullman to fill up with gas. He called me when he was well over half way home to inform me he just realized that he had gone into the store to pay for his gas and get a little snack but while he was getting his snack he got really dizzy and nauseated and felt like he was going to pass out. He paid for his snacks but not the gas. I immediately called the gas station to let them know what had happened. Then when Mike got home I went crazy trying to make sure he rested. Mike never gets sick but when he does it is land him in the hospital kind of sick and with him studying for his big test we couldn't risk it. So 12 hours of sleep, a bottle of Gatorade, some orange juice and Ziacam he felt a lot better the next day. Thank God!

Now I sit alone at home again while Mike is at Starbucks, his preferred place of study and think about how many days I have left until our due date. I realize that a due date means nothing I could have to wait a whole extra week for the little guy to come. It has been wonderful to not have to work but I must admit it has a tendency to make the days drag on and on. I have cleaned my house, decorated rooms, I sew, I get together with friends and ponder the pains of having to actually give birth to this thing that just gets bigger everyday. I have read a million books. Help something has to make this next several weeks go by faster!

P.S. - For those of you like my mother who think pregnancy was the most wonderful time in your life. I love you but I can't say I agree. Ask me again after Gavin comes and don't remind me I said this when I go to have the next one.

You can just call me Auntie Laura

It is official. As of September 25, 2007 my niece was born 7lbs 50z and 20 inches long. She and mama suffered from a fever due to the fact that they didn't go into the hospital soon enough after her water broke but everything will be fine. She is a beautiful little baby girl with a thick head of dark hair just like her Auntie Laura, although I think I picked mine up a little later in life. Congratulations Nathan and Hope!

The mother of all colds

So about a week and a half ago my neighbor friend comes to my door with her two month old. She is winded and looks frantic. I look like I just got out of bed, because I did. She quickly explains to me that she needs to get her oldest son to Kindergarten, like 5 minutes ago, and that she went to put the youngest of her 3 boys into the car seat only to find that one of the new kittens (as if her life wasn't crazy enough about 2 weeks after her youngest is born her cat has 3 kittens) has taken its first poop in the babies car seat. Well, I grab my little 2 month old friend shoo her back to her minivan and begin telling baby Ian how he and Gavin will someday rule the neighborhood and be best friends. This is met with the newly learned skill of smiles and cooing that only proceed to make my heart melt and long for the day that it is my baby that is smiling and cooing at me. After a monster spit up from Ian his mother comes knocking on the door to retrieve her little one. This is when I learn that she has been sporting a horrible sore throat for about a day. I wave it off saying it is probably sinus problems, which Mike has had a lot of lately, so I feel I should be the expert or something.

Sunday night rolls around and I quickly realize that it wasn't sinus problems but a monster cold that seems to have infected half of the Valley. By Monday morning I am canceling my chiropractor appointment in an effort to not infect the other half of the Valley. I am miserable. Yet, I insist that by the time my birthing class comes around at 6:00pm I will feel as good as new. How I thought I would do this I still have yet to figure because being pregnant there aren't a lot of options for medication. By 5:00pm I am swollen, achy, sneezy and I swear I sound like Darth Vader. But still I insist that I could go to my birthing class until I realize just how miserable I am and that if I made a whole entire room full of pregnant women sick, well I probably wouldn't go back to the class if that happened because I would either be beaten by a room full of pregnant women or feel so guilty that I just simply couldn't show my face. Monday night I sneeze and pull a muscle in my stomach and come to the revelation that there is sick and then there is pregnant sick and the two are on very different playing fields.

After a few nights of not sleeping I call my doctor and near tears explain that there must be something I can do. She lists a few drugs I can take tells me to drink lots of water and get a humidifier. Humidifier turns out to be my best friend I begin sleeping as well as a pregnant woman can and breathing better instantly. However, over a week later as I sit here still hacking, coughing, sneezing, achy, stuffy and I will spare the other gross details I just read that it takes pregnant women much longer to recover from viruses than most. Tonight will be the second out of four of my birthing classes that I might miss if by tonight I don't miraculously recover. Despair has set in and I fear that I will never be whole again. The worst part is I paid $65 for this birthing class.