Still no baby. I did go to L&D on Saturday night, but they sent me home. It was just my irritable uterus acting up and they weren't real contractions. They did check me though and I'm now dilated to 3!! One more cm to go and they will keep me in the hospital and break my water and get things started. Yikes. It could be today, it could be 5 weeks from now. We just have to sit and wait.

The baby has dropped though and it's making my pelvic separation 1000 times worse. I can't wait for this pain to be gone. My hips haven't been too bad lately. I don't know if it's because I'm resting more or if I'm just getting used to the pain. At any rate, I haven't had to take meds before I go to sleep in the past 3 days. It's a record...

We found out yesterday that our new neighbor used to be a midwife in her old country. I think she's from Cambodia. That's good to know in the case of an emergency. We're talking a "the baby is coming right now" type emergency though. I know a midwife in Cambodia is totally different than a midwife in the US, but she would still know more than I would when it comes to delivering a baby, ya know.

In other news...

Austin was selected to be in Junior Great Books this year. He was one of 3 people picked from his class. It starts today and he's really excited about it. I think it will be good for him. He has to read books and then they meet after school twice a week to discuss the books. It's supposed to be for kids who need the extra challenge and will improve his reading and comprehension skills along with improving his vocabulary. I'm very proud of him!

Ok, I lied. Not about the baby, but about the contractions.

They are back and seem to be getting stronger. I'm going to call the doctor when Chad gets here to pick the kids up.

Looks like I'll be in L&D again tonight.

Still no baby.

The contractions have settled down but I'm still feeling crampy. Other than that, nothing new to report.

I was having contractions again today and was feeling crampy and my back was hurting. I called the doctor and they told me that I needed to be seen. When I went in, they checked me and i was dilated 1-2 cm and 50% effaced. The doctor sent me over to the hospital to be monitored and I was having contractions about every 5 minutes or so. They felt different than the BH contractions. They told me they were the real thing and gave me two shots of terbutaline to stop them. They also said I was a little dehydrated and gave me an IV to give me some fluids. The contractions stopped and they checked me again and I was dilated to a solid 2. So they sent me home. But now, the terbutaline is wearing off and I'm feeling the contractions again. It can't be because I'm dehydrated because they just gave me the IV and I had 3 huge glasses of water at the hospital and 2 since I've been home.

I'm going to take a warm bath and start timimg the contractions again.

I'm so sick of having contractions. It's an all day, every day thing now and I'm so bored with it. It was like this at the end of my pregnancy with Ry too. I went to the hospital at 38 weeks because I thought I was in labor and they sent me home. I went back at 39 weeks and it wasn't the real thing either, but they induced me anyways. I don't remember it being this consistent, this early though. Maybe that means I'll go early.

I've been drinking all morning and have been sitting with my feet up all morning. They aren't painful and they aren't regular, so I know they aren't real. They're just annoying.

CB is supposed to come over tomorrow to hang out with me. I may see if she wants to go out to lunch so I can get out of the house. Not that I wasn't out of the house last night, but still. We went to El Chaps for dinner for my birthday. I ate way too much, but it was sooo good. I ended up with a belly ache and terrible heartburn so I didn't sleep well last night. I can make up for it tonight since the kids are with their dad. Just no spicy food before bed.

Happy birthday to me!! And Justin :)

My 34 week appointment

I just got back from my appointment. Everything is fine. I gained 5 pounds though!! In 2 weeks! Makes up for losing weight and maintaining it the prior month. I'm up 28 pounds right now.

My bp is still good at 124/78.

I told her about the contractions and how I thought I lost my mucus plug. She said that Just because I lost my mucus plug, doesn't mean that I'm going to go into labor anytime soon. I already knew that though. She was a little concerned about the contractions though. She said that if I start having a lot of them again to drink a lot of water and lay down and if they don't go away or slow down within an hour to call. I told her that's what I did and it took about 1.5 hours but they finally went away. She said she didn't want to check me because I had already had contractions this morning and she said that it could cause me to have even more. She said they will check me at my next appointment.

I also asked about being induced and since it wasn't my regular doctor, she wanted me to talk to my regular doctor about it when I go back in 2 weeks. She thinks they will probably induce me but probably not until 39 weeks unless I'm starting to progress before then.

Ryan learned how to grind on Tony Hawk Underground 2. He does this move on the airport level where he can get over 90,000 points. I tried to get a picture of him landing it, but my battery died in my camera as I snapped the pic. By the time I changed the batteries he was sick of doing the move. I got a pic of him landing the move but it was only 44K points.

My mom took me shopping for baby stuff today. We went to Babies R Us and to Target. She got me the stroller that we wanted.



She also got us the Fisher Price Take Along Swing which is kind of like a bouncy seat and a swing in one. She also picked up some little things that I needed. I took her out to lunch as a thank you for buying all of that stuff. I was shocked that she spent so much. I planned on getting the stroller and when I went to pay for it, she said she wanted to buy it. I still have a few more little things to get and then it's just sit and wait for him to get here. It shouldn't be too much longer. I doubt I'll go to my due date and I'm 34 weeks now.

Evan had day 2 of chemo today and will have a day of radiation tomorrow and then should be good to go for the transplant on Monday. Hopefully his body doesn't reject it. His cousin donated the stem cells today. They had to put her under and take a hollow needle and get it from her pelvic bone. She said it wasn't so bad. I'm just glad things are going well so far.

I've been having contractions a lot lately. I don't know if it's the whole irritable uterus thing or stress or being too active or what. I had them all night after I went to WalMart with Corinne and then I drank lots of water and rested and they went away. I didn't have many yesterday, but I really didn't do much. Today I've had them all day and I really haven't done much, but I had a long talk with my mom which stressed me out and I don't know if that did it or what. I've been drinking tons of water and I've been resting since about 6:30. I'm still having them but they aren't regular and they don't hurt. My back has been a little achy for the past couple of days and I think I lost my plug a week and a half ago or so. My friend Liz said she thinks I'm having this baby early because she's noticed a certain "edge" to me lately. I don't know what that's supposed to mean. I just don't want him to be born so early that he will have to spend time in NICU because if that's the case, he'll be transported to U of M after he's born and I'll be at St. Joe's. Stupid insurance.

Last night I found out that one of my friends 4 month old son has lukemia. Her name is Amanda and I met her on a message board that I post on. We IM eachother and sent eachother Christmas cards and well, some people think online friends aren't real friends, but I beg to differ. Amanda is such a sweetie and he's always there when you need her. Well, her son got a cold when he was 2 weeks old and never really recovered from it. They took him to the doctor and they found some problems with his heart. He had 2 murmurs, mitral valve prolapse, a hole in his heart and regurgitation. He went in the other day for surgery to correct those problems. He came through surgery like a champ, but when he was in recovery, his lung collapsed. They ran all kinds of tests and found that he had lukemia and needs a stem cell transplant. If he doesn't get a transplant, he only has about a month left. How can your heart not break? I was in tears over this. Well, yesterday everyone in their immediate family was tested and no one matched. I did some research on the U of M website and they say that there's only a 25% that someone in your immediate family will match. So they had extended family tested and found a match with Amanda's niece. Thank God. I just hope he can come through everything. I can't imagine what that family must be going through right now.

Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

In other news I made the pork chops that Jen made and they turned out awesome. Everyone loved them!!

I woke up this morning with a terrible cold. It's all in my sinuses and it's already driving me crazy.

My mom is avoiding me and I have no idea why. I called her yesterday and as soon as I got on the phone with her, someone knocked at my door. So I put the phone down and went to the door and it was Marla and she wanted to talk to me about Austin. So I told my mom I'd have to call her back. I tried to call back a little later and it was busy. I kept trying and finally got through, but got the machine. I know she was home. I left a message explaining why I didn't call her back right away and asked her to give me a call. So about an hour later, I called back and it was busy again. I kept trying and got the machine again and didn't leave a message. She has caller ID so she would know that it was me who called. Well, she still hasn't called me back and I'm not calling her. I'm not going to beg my own mother for attention, I shouldn't have to. I have no idea what her problem is. There's more to the story, but I'm not going to get into it on here. I just hope she at least calls me back by next Tuesday. If my mother doesn't at least call me on my birthday, I'm going to be pissed.

I can be stubborn.

I'm supposed to go to Walmart with Corinne today, but it's so rainy and yucky out that I don't feel like leaving the house. I probably will though because I really want to get the stuff to make a sling and to make the curtains for Jacob's room. It will give me something to do at least.

Jen hooked me up with the recipe for Pork Chops in Spiced Apple Pan Sauce from the Rachel Ray cookbook. I think I'm going to try it for dinner tonight. Last night I made Chicken and Broccoli and Rice and sort of made the recipe up as I went along. It turned out good and it was something different.

So the menu tonight will be:
Pork Chops in Spiced Apple Pan Sauce
Brussel Sprouts
Broccoli Salad
and I'll have to figure out something good for dessert later.

Well, I have to get this house picked up before Ryan comes home from school and "astroys" it again. I don't know why I bother.

Oh and Austin made it sleeping in his bed the whole night for 7 nights in a row. I promised him I would buy him a set of mini pennants for NFL and MLB so I guess I should order those from Amazon.com. The only catch is that he has been sleeping in Ryan's bed and Ry has been sleeping in Austin's bed. Ryan's room is across the hall from our room and now Austin wants to trade rooms. I still don't see why he wants to give up the cool room for Ry's small bedroom, but oh well.

I'm home today with a sick kid. Austin had been complaining of a sore throat for the past couple of days and I was blowing it off because I thought he was just faking in order to sleep in my room. Well last night he had pizza for dinner and only ate a little bit which is not like him. Then this morning, I made him his usual waffle with peanut butter and he ate a couple of bites and then threw up. He doesn't have a fever or anything and I'm almost positive that it's sinus related. He is also complaining that his ear hurts and when I touch under his eyes (where his sinuses are) he says it hurts. So I've been giving him cold medicine and tylenol. He's just been pretty much laying around all day. The joys of being a mom.

Tonight we are having a little birthday get together for Ry at the Race Track Inn of all places. Ry is excited and Jason picked out some pretty cool presents for him. Tomorrow I'm actually going to get out of the house for most of the day. We are going to Denise & John's to celebrate Ry's birthday and then going to Lansing to watch Julia's indoor soccer game. I don't know how well I'll hold up during that. Since it's at an indoor place, I'm hoping that it's not just bleachers because I won't be able to sit on those for long and I won't be able to stand for long. I may bring some sort of pillow to sit on to keep me more comfortable.

The bursitis in my hips seems to be getting worse. I'm debating on whether or not I want to go in and get more steroid shots or not since the one I got didn't do any good. I'm going to take a warm bath and then have Jason massage my legs and then I'm going to ice them. I hope that works. With the exception of Wednesday, my pelvis has been doing pretty good, but I haven't done any walking to speak of and I really haven't done much around the house. The resting definitely helps with that, but when I'm active, watch out. I'm not looking forward to how it's going to feel tomorrow. I may bring my Vicodin and take it if it gets too bad.

Well, I have to try to get Ry down for a nap. He's getting crabby...

I was bored out of my mind today so I went downstairs and found a bunch of stuff to list on eBay. I have a lot of kids clothes listed and a couple of books and a set of burp cloths that I had made and never listed. The burp cloths already have a bid. WoOt!

I figured that I have the time so I might as well weed through the bags and bags and bag of old clothes and make some money off of it. That will help offset the baby stuff I have to buy.

I was going to post something about Jason in here but he said I'm not allowed. Justin, you would have liked it.

I almost want to get a membership to the Ann Arbor YMCA (so I can whip my boob out) after reading this article about a woman who was kicked out for breastfeeding her 6 month old baby in the pool area. In Ann Arbor of all places.

Busy day today. I had a doctor's appointment this morning. BP was good at 106/78 and I hadn't gained any weight in the past two weeks. I'm up 23 pounds at 32.5 weeks.

After the appointment, we went to Chili's for lunch. Ry got to pick where we were going and that's where he wanted to go. After that we went to Babies R Us and picked up the pack n' play and looked at strollers. I really like the Combi stroller they had there. It was lightweight and inexpensive. I also liked the Jeep Overland Limited Jogging Stroller. It has speakers on it so I can hook my iPod up to it and it also has an odometer on it. It will come in handy when I get back to running and walking. After there, we went next door to Target to pick up a few baby things that are cheaper there than at BRU and we needed to scope out the toys to see what Ry wanted for his birthday (Sunday). We ran into one of my bosses while we were there. Last time I went shopping (ran into Mervyn's) I ran into one of my other bosses. It figures, the two times I go out shopping...Now they probably really think I'm faking.

The kids are with their dad tonight, so Jason and I get a break!!

I'm super sore from walking around the stores, so I think I need to get some rest...

Oh yeah, the bedding arrived yesterday. I didn't order the quilt or the bumper since you're not supposed to use those anyways. The blue blanket is the one that I made. Notice Ry under the crib...

I think I either lost a filling or cracked one of my molars. At any rate it's very sensitive to cold. Hopefully it will be ok until after the baby is born.

They are putting the siding on the house across the street today. Guess what color it is, guess...You're right, tan. My house is still the only house back here that is not some shade of tan.

I finished the Anne Rice book. It was really good, but so different from all of the vampire books she's written. I hope this book leads to another. Now I think I'm going to read the newest David Sedaris book. I still need to find my box of unread books. It's downstairs somewhere and I looked for it a couple of months ago and couldn't find it. I need to have Jason go down and move some boxes around for me.

I have a regular doctor's appointment tomorrow and I need to stop at Babies R Us on the way home because I have some stuff that I have to get before the baby is born. I can't believe I only have 8 weeks left. Yikes. I don't know what I did last night, but I was in bed on the computer and went to get up to put my computer away and could hardly walk because my pelvis hurt so bad. It hasn't been that bad since I was working. I took a Vicodin because it hurt to just sit there. I slept terrible because of that and my bursitis last night and I'm still really sore today. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary yesterday, so I don't know what the deal is. I'm going to rest for the rest of the day today and see if that makes it any better.

Well, my cats are dying for my attention right now. I'll update again soon.

I'd update this more if I had any kind of life and had anything to write about.

The past week has been very boring and I haven't really done anything. I cheated and drove a mile to McDonald's with Ry one day just to get out of the house. How sad is that? I know I'm not supposed to drive, but it was a mile. So shoot me. Last night I had the most excitement that I've had all week when Jason and I went to WalMart to get groceries. I was in a lot of pain by the time we left there, but it was worth it to get out of the house. I'm still paying for it today though. Tonight we are going out to dinner with Mike and Kathy which will be nice. I'm looking forward to some good Chinese food and some adult interaction. After dinner we are going to run to JoAnn Fabrics to see if they have the wooden letters to spell Jacob. WalMart didn't have them and I want to get them painted. I might buy the stuff to crochet another blanket since I finished the one for Jacob. Maybe I'll give it away as a gift or sell it on eBay or maybe even keep it. You can never have too many blankets.

I'm bored out of my mind!!

My house is clean, my laundry is done, the kids are at school and at Kara's, there's nothing on TV, there's nothing to eat. I decided that I was going to start making some burp cloths for Jacob since I don't have any and I laid all of the fabric out on the kitchen table and started cutting and I think the position I was standing in made me sore. So I got the fabric cut out to make 2 burp cloths, but I'm too sore to sit in one of those chairs and sew. That will have to wait for another time.

I need to get out of this house, it's driving me crazy. I need some fresh air and I'm desperate to go for a walk, but I can't. I did walk across the street to get the mail, but that was it. Jason said he didn't want me getting the mail because he didn't want me to have to walk out there but I think that rule only applied to when it was snowy and icy out.

At least tomorrow I can take all of the ornaments off of the tree for something to do...

Could one more thing happen. I mean, really, when do I get a freaking break?

Austin is having major bedtime anxiety issues right now and it's stressing me out. For the past week, every single night we have to fight with him to go to bed. He ends up hysterical and totally freaks out. He wants to sleep with us or in the hallway right outside our door because he's afraid to be away from us. I don't know what to do. It's to the point where I'm in tears and my blood pressure has to be through the roof. I can't take this. I'm calling his therapist tommorrow to see if we can't get him in to talk to her. I really wish I could drive. Now Jason will have to take time off of work to take us to my doctor's appointment and now Austin's therapy appointments. Jeez, it never ends does it? Jason's in there right now trying to reason with him. We've been at it for over an hour and a half tonight. I needed to come here to vent!!

So, for the last 2 days I've been having a new kind of pain. I still have the pain from the bursitis and from the pelvic separation, but now I have pain in my sacroiliac joint area. The sacroiliac joint is at the base of your spine where it connects with your pelvis. When I went to the chiropractor it was tender in that area and when I went to the pm&r doctor it was too. It hurt quite a bit when they pressed on it, but since it didn't hurt unless it was pressed, we didn't worry about it. But the pm&r doctor said if I had any problems with it to call. Now, when I walk, I have the pain in my hips and the pain in my pelvis and pain in my lower back/butt area. I am going to call my pm&r doctor and see if I can get in sometime soon so they can check it out. Sitting hurts, laying down hurts, standing hurts and walking hurts. I can't win. The good thing is that I have less than 9 weeks left.

I will be having a baby in less than 2 months...

I really wish I could drive because I have a million things I need to buy yet for the baby. I wish I could walk around a store for that matter. I ordered the bedding online today and also ordered the replacement parts for the pump. A lot of the stuff I still need, I can't really find online. Stuff like lap pads, diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream, etc. A lot of the stuff I can find online, but I know it's cheaper in the store and some of it is big and I'd have to pay an arm and a leg for shipping. Stuff like the swing, stroller, pack 'n play, bouncy seat, ear thermometer, grooming set, hamper...

I asked my mom if she wanted to take me somewhere today to pick up a couple of things and she of course said no. I really didn't expect a different answer. So I'm just going to sit here and obsess about it because I'm bored out of my mind and there's nothing else to do. UGH...

At the rate I'm going, Jacob will be here and I still won't have anything that I need.