Busted!..... Well, Almost....

No shopping on Black Friday {although I did do some Amazon shopping the night before}....
BUT
When Ryan got home from work {gotta push that Coca-Cola} we went to see the second to last Harry Potter!! {snif snif... what will I do when there's no more HP to look forward to?!?}

I dropped him off at the front, so he could stay in line for tickets, then drove around waiting for the best "Expectant Mother on Bedrest" parking spot....  I found a pretty decent one.... then I got my giant bag with my water and Sprite {plug for Coca-Cola, again} and proceeded to theater...

But, just then... WAIT... OMGosh....  {bp rising}.....
Who do I see walking towards the ticket line from the other side of the parking lot.... DR WINFREY!!! {and her daughter}

What did I do you ask? Duck and Hide of course!!  I jumped in front of the giant columns at the ticket booth... where Ryan was just perfectly placed in line... I tell him.... "Dr Winfrey is at the back of the line!!" We giggle...
The girl in line behind him, looking at me quizzically... I say "I'm on bedrest and my doctor just got in line for tickets." She giggles.  I say to Ryan, really thinking out loud many thoughts,  "What if she's here to see Harry Potter?... Oh, but Brit says it has some scary parts, surely her daughter is too young... I don't know, it IS Harry Potter!"

Ryan says go hide in the arcade... I say {in my head} "I'm not a teenager, I'm not hiding in the arcade."  But I do run {I mean... walk} inside and sit on a bench and wait for Ryan... Sitting is rest, right?

He comes in with tickets and I send him to wait in line for snacks.... I can't forgo popcorn and candy because I'm on the lam and about to get caught!!  I mean, I HAVE MOVIE STANDARDS...{I say as I have drinks stashed in my giant bag}

Just as we are discussing Milk Duds or Whoppers, Dr Winfrey and her daughter come speeding through the door and off to their theater, so stop at the concessions... I assume now they are there to see Tangled... seems more appropriate...

WHEW! That was close....

I have said all my life, that I try very hard not to do things I am told specifically NOT to do, because I have the worst luck... I will always get caught... my car will breakdown when I am somewhere I'm not supposed to be or something of the like....

I'm sure that I wouldn't have been hauled away and grounded right then and there....  especially because I'm not exhibiting all the other symptoms of Preeclampsia, just that my blood pressure is being monitored... but still.... I don't want the one person who is trying to take care of me and my unborn to think that I am not working WITH her and doing what she says....

Harry Potter was great, btw.  It was worth the drama!

Luv you all!!

Black Friday.... on Bedrest..... Yay...

I am not the type to get up at 3 am for a $5 toaster or $100 giant television., all the while fighting hundreds of people for standing room only.....  although I do like a good bargain.... I much refer my sleep...

It seems like, all of a sudden, I want to go shopping SO bad...  OH... but I can't!  Bedrest for this bargain hunter.

Some of you may say, "but you can shop online."

Part of the fun is the hunt and to be able to touch and feel and pick what you want.

No shopping for me this year...  this is probably best anyway, since I AM off work on bedrest... gotta make the savings last so we don't go baby broke when Callen gets here!

Happy Shopping to You All!! I hope you don't get wounded in the crowds, I will be on my couch thinking of you!

34 Weeks... {and counting...}

Since we have weekly doctor visits, today is just one down a bunch more to go.... here's the update....

We had a sonogram first, Jenny {or favorite sono tech}  took measurements and hes a little boy, but not below average - given that there is margin for error in the estimates they make- he'll prob be just under or just about 6 lbs if we make it to 37 weeks.  He is all balled up in there still, his knees are smooshed up to his chest and his feet are in his face {poor thing!}.  His heart rate and breathing movements are good. He still looks like he has super big smoochers...  

I've been losing weight, 5 lbs at least {I say 8 lbs}, but Dr W thinks its because im "moving fluid" - peeing alot - you wouldnt believe how skinny my feet and ankles were this morning!  I forgot there were bones in there!!! Bedrest may suck... but I dont feel like i'm floating in my own skin anymore...

My BP isn't fantastic, but it is stable where it is... so off to another week we go!!  Have to do another 24 hr pee collection this week... {this is also one of the fantastic facts left out when people talk about pregnancy... collecting one's pee and putting it in an orange jug}  I have to start this 8 am thursday.... so i cant be gone long if we go somewhere to eat for thanksgiving...  I have another sono (a bpp) on friday morning at the hosp {since the clinic is closed for the holiday}.

I did ask her what the criteria/threshold we had to meet where I wouldn't risk being sent away to Fort Worth again - Ryan and I agreed that we would prefer to deliver here, and take the risk that IF he needed a NICU that he could be sent to Cooks Children. I just have this feeling that he is doing well and I have confidence and comfort in my doctors and nurses here that I want to deliver in Wichita Falls.  Feeling all this, I also feel that the nursery at United Regional, combined with our pediatrician can take perfect care of Callen if he's earlier than full term {37 weeks being the goal}.

Anyway.. Dr W said that this week, 34 weeks, is that milestone.  Especially since we had our steroid shots last weekend and that his measurements show that he is growing within a normal range.  So, as of today, whenever we deliver, however we deliver, we can do it in Wichita Falls.  I am ecstatic over this.. I bet my bp starts looking better and better - since I wont be thinking about that each time i take it!  

We are moving on to making it towards 35 weeks.. yeah!!

I am taking these positive feelings and allowing myself a few outings... but not up on my feet outings I assure you!


Tomorrow - Hunan's for the annual Secord & Lebow thanksgiving feast on fried rice!  Then a PEDICURE... I can't reach my feet... and I can get Ryan to run errands while I sit in the fantastic massage chair with Aunti Nichole!


Thursday - Thanksgivng some place where someone else is cooking. Something with Lance & Wendy or over at Laura's with Aunti Tiffany.... letting Ryan decide...


Friday - I'm also going to see HARRY POTTER damn-it!! I missed the midnite showing when it opened with Aunti Brittani....all i have to do is sit and enjoy, right?

Where's My Lap...

It's hard to use a "laptop" when you have no lap...

And furthermore, when it's placed past the bump... it's usually out of reach of my short person arms...

My Wilde Ride....

{yes, I meant to spell it that way....}
If anyone feels my slight disappearance lately.... it would be because I had quite a wild ride this past weekend and am on bedrest.... just another notch in my pregnant belt for weird things.  **warning** The following story will be lengthy and descriptive, in true Jessica fashion....but hopefully you will get a chuckle imagining me in all this mess.

I have been monitoring my blood pressure {yea... that's where i'm going with this} for a few weeks.  My nurse gave me a level at which I am to call if it gets over.... either over 140 on the top or 90 on the bottom.  So I continued with my life, working and whatnot... taking my bp daily.

Last Thursday, somewhere around 4:30, whilst sitting and computering at work, it reads 141/94.... shit.... So I call Rene, my nurse....  she says "Do you have a headache....?" huumm....  I say, "Now that you ask, a mild one, AND I took Tylenol this morning AND I took a long lunch break for a nap... and it's still there."  She says, "Have you had any visual disturbances...?  {have I had what?}  I say, "Well, the other night at my Breastfeeding Class I kinda had those sparklies, kinda like when you get up to fast..."  She says, "Let me go talk to Dr. Winfrey, hold please."  ......shit.......  Rene comes back, "Ok, Dr Winfrey says to go ahead a go to Labor & Delivery."...... SHIT!....

I call Ryan, we go to L&D. They triage me.... no emergency room necessary, our L&D has their own personal triage area.... nice.... esp. if you image a flu and throw up ridden ER when you are pregnant looking for assistance..  When the nurse there takes my bp its like in the 170's/110's!  {I am in the hosp. afterall...}

Turns out Dr. Winfrey is on her way out of town to go run a half-marathon, so they call the doc on call at my clinic..  Dr. King...   she orders me to STAY OVERNITE.....surely bp is up now too...  I get my fashionable gown {that has a pocket on the front chest.... still can't figure out why}... I get hooked up to monitors... I have to  pee in this thing and put it in a jug for 24 hrs {yea me!} and they draw blood to check my liver counts... Of course they are checking me for pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) or further preeclampsia - which are similar, if not the same.

Ryan's off to the house to gather some things - this is the beginning of his being on his own to get us ready for this kinda thing.  {he's been doing a fabulous job, by the way, hes a great partner, and going be a great daddy}

All night my bp is still high... hello.. I'm in the hospital.  Callen's heartrate is great, and apparently I was having contractions {although irregular and insignificant}.

The next morning, Dr. Winfrey comes back to check in on me, on her way out of town.. says that I may have to go to Ft. Worth...  that with bp and preeclampsia things can happen fast and change within a few days.... but that Dr. Horth (also from my clinic) is in the hospital for a cesarean and will be checking in on me. Ok, great....let's start this day.... {my nurse for that day was fro Nacogdoches, btw, and her husband went to high school with Ryan...whoa... weird...}

Dr. Horth comes in to check in, says that she is concerned that my blood pressure hadn't dropped while there on rest and that my headache hasn't subsided. She said she was going to call a specialist in Ft. Worth to see what his opinion was.  I was feeling alright, other than not having slept all night, so this was not scary, I felt alright.....    Yea, well.... next thing I know their freaking scheduling me a careflight to Harris Methodist in Ft. Worth!  {yeah, I said it... a HELICOPTER!!}  First thing I ask.... "Does my insurance cover that?!?"   I ask Dr. Horth what this means and she says that Harris is connected to Cooks Children's Hospital, and that if I had to deliver early, they would rather have me there, instead of having to send Callen there from WFalls....  geez..... I felt ALRIGHT!!  Off Ryan goes, home, to get things ready to be gone 'til Sunday at least.  Oh... the doc in Ft. Worth did say to go ahead a give me a beta blocker for the high bp - which did some good.

Oh and... I was supposed to have a Baby Shower on Saturday!!  I was NOT A HAPPY CAMPER! Missing a party I'd been looking forward to, in a breezy gown, about to be helio'd to Ft. Worth....

Let's just say that my favorite man upstairs must have realized that a panic attack would not be good for my bp or my baby.... and in comes a cold front, bringing rain and snow from the west, so the pilot's cancel the flight.... {whew!}  They took me by ambulance instead.... embarrassing, I must say to be wide awake, alert, and FEELING ALRIGHT, and in an ambulance lights flashing the whole way.... oh yeah... in a hospital gown...texting ....  {they let me keep my phone with me... picture that}

Got to Ft. Worth, got checked into my second hospital in 24 hours.  Ryan makes it there alive, suitcase and pillows in hand.  I was starving.. hasn't eaten or had anything to drink for 4+ hours... and then they wanna wheel me up {no walking when you have high bp in the hosp} for a sonogram.  I meet the specialist, Dr. Thigpen, he's a high risk ObGyn.  He checks me out, and determines that I am pretty low high-risk and that he doesn't see any reason to deliver me this weekend.  {Wow.....  I needed a high priced ride to Ft. Worth to hear that?!?}  He does say that I will be staying 'til Mon for monitoring and more blood work.

I get moved to another room, where i get to eat and shower.... so glad for this...  just wanted to get comfortable.  I started to get slightly home sick for United Regional....  I surely wanted to be home to deliver this baby not out of town.  I thought that if I could just go home, take this bp pill, I would not work anymore, I would site around, and do whatever they wanted... I just wanted to go home.  Although I knew Ft Worth was closer for everyone else, to see Callen when he was born... I already felt like I knew people at United Regional and was comfortable in the hands of the doctor's and nurses I already knew... plus... it is far less likely I would have to be there with out Ryan if we were at home... We ca only afford so much time away from work....

The next morning, Dr. Thigpen's partner comes in to let me know that all my tests were ok and that there was no reason to keep me in the hospital, that I could follow up with my doc when I got home.  I was already scheduled to see Dr. Winfrey the next week, so on with the discharge paperwork they went.    There were already people on the way to see us, since we thought we'd be there all weekend {thanks girls from work - i luv u mucho; thanks Mom [g-ma, for those of you who don't know] & Aunt Robin - so excited to see you; thanks Joel - Ryan surely appreciated the break from the hosp}.

Anyway, we go home Sat... and I sit around.... til the Tuesday morning appt with Dr. Winfrey.  She tells me that she is actually surprised to see me there without a baby... whoa....  I didn't tell her, but I was just happy to be home and back in HER care... I like my dr's and nurses....  She puts me on bedrest....  no surprise there...  I wasn't planning on going back to work, and honestly, the boss's wouldn't let me anyway.... no need to risk my life and callen's for the sake of work, we can work out the details later... {THIS is why I love my  job, i don't change the world everyday, or make beautiful spaces everyday, but I have a fabulous extended family everyday}

I have to see her every Monday and have two BPP's (biophysical profiles - a sono) every week.  She says our goal is 37 weeks....  She says, "...looks like you're gonna have a December Baby..."

Seems like as long as my headache {yea - I have one, big, long headache} doesn't get worse or I don't get dizzy or have any more visual disturbances I guess we are just going to wait it out 'til then.

So... my shower was cancelled...  the most important information of all this... OF COURSE...   between the girls and I, we decided to have a Welcome Baby party early in January instead...  MAN! I was ready for friends and cupcakes!!

Can you imagine me.... ON BEDREST.....  man o man!!  TV, computer, books, magazines, animals... thats my day....  everyday....

Ryan has been WONDERFUL.. there aren't enough descriptives or him... I'm so glad I found him way back... He's been great at last minute preparing and getting things together.  He's bee shopping and running errands for me.  He's been keeping up with the house.  He's been making me sit down when I get up to do anything.  He's been just great - he's going to be a great dad - he IS a great dad.  I think that I would be a totally different person in all this if I didn't have him - a big stress ball for sure - which i was/am NOT.  I have been calm and ok - still making lists like crazy, but ok.

Love you all... Feel free to email me.... cause I don't have lots else to do right now! :)

Pregnancy Eating...

I was STARVING when I left the doctor's office this morning...

The only breakfast food between the clinic and my office is.. McD's.....

So, I pulled in.. ordered a McMuffin or something like that... with an OJ... yum.. yum...

Then...

I proceeded to park my Jeep and eat...  I felt like I was doing something wrong... like I shouldn't be eating McD's.... like I should be going straight back to work.... like I knew I was going to get heartburn.....

So...

If you ever see a pregnant chick on the side of the road or parked in a parking lot somewhere.... EATING.... just let her be....  eating is a very important task.....

No going back now.....

Well...

We went to our Prepared Childbirth Class today.  The condensed course, all in one day.

I think that I probably could have done without knowing all this information.  Normally, I like to be "in the know,"  to curb my anxiety... but in this case, it seems to have made the anxiety worse.  I'm not into gross, dirty things.... and well... having my undercarriage mangled and whatnot.... seems kinda gross...

I guess there's no going back now.....

On the bright side, the L&D/Postpartum department at our hospital is shiny and new... and the nurses seem really nice...

31 Week Belly Pic

Brittani made me do it....  So here it is...

Everyone say high to baby Callen Jax and Mom!!

Still growing... Still tired.. Still hot...  9 more weeks to go!  

Snuggie

I got a Snuggie at my shower in Houston... right now i'm like a million degrees hot all the time... so i'm not using it...

OH.... BUT... RYAN IS!!!

He called me the other day at work {since he gets home so early some days} and he says... "Guess what I'm wearing!?!".... I couldn't imagine....  "THE SNUGGIE!!" he proclaims....

Here he is.... all robed up in his Snuggie.... i know it's backwards.. it depends on his mood..... we were lounging around all weekend....

You see the two computers.... he was getting my work laptop from the dining room.. since he won't share the Alienware.... he has picked up WoW {World of Warcraft} again..... needless to say.. I am not happy with this habit....  I HATE video games... he LOVES video games...  what can I do really?