Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween 2008! We are praying to make it past today and then we will be full term and 37 weeks! YAY! I mean who really wants to have a Halloween bday anyways. That would get old after awhile I think. Well it has been a great week around here. My labs came back yesterday after having to be redrawn on Monday due to some lazy courier that let them defrost but good news is they are NORMAL! What an answer to prayer and good medicine! So we will officially be meeting Bronner McKee Junkin on Monday November 10th! I had my appt on Wednesday and everything was great. My 2 monitoring sessions at work went well this week too! My cervix has changed again thanks to contracting all the time and now I am 3cm/80% effaced. What a great way to start an induction. We are praying for a short and sweet labor. Maybe even before the scheduled day would be nice!

We are going out tonight with Dyana and Jason to supper. The last time as just the 4 of us. It is starting to get a little weird thinking about that. I mean in 9 days we are going to meet our little man! So we will be celebrating Halloween out and about the mall and picking up the last few things before Bronner comes. Next week is my work baby shower and Christmas village which I really want to be able to go to. So hopefully he will hold out until then. My next appt is Thurs morning and then off the Christmas village with the girls from work and then my shower. I can't wait! I work Mon, Tues, and Fri next week ... only 3 days left and then off for 12 weeks! I can't wait. This is the perfect time to have a baby. Be home and recovered for Thanksgiving and then be off all the holidays! It's crazy that I really didn't think about it or plan it this way but I am really thankful it worked out. We will be thinking about that in the future! Well I guess that is all for now! Thanks for checking on us!

Belly Pics

So Jerms and I were playing with the camera this week and we got a few cute belly pics. If belly pics gross you out I'm oh so sorry but I think preggo bellies are so cute and such a miracle! I am trying to talk Jerms into painting it like a pumpkin for halloween but he thinks it is a little weird! We'll see! Look back as I have added pics to some previous blogs too!

I finally figured out how to add a cute background! YAY!! I'm so proud of myself!

Appt News

So just a quick update as I promised! I went to the doctor yesterday and everything is going great. Of course I am still itching so I got some more steroids and they seem to be helping. She offered to induce me at 37 weeks if I wanted and my cervix was cooperating but I really wanted to wait until 38 and she agreed that is what she would prefer as well. We talked about the bile acid levels and since research proves that there is no fetal harm until they are 3 times the normal amount (about 75ish) we would wait and see what mine came back as. Of course if they come back on the high side we will induce at 37 weeks, which would be November 3rd. Hopefully they will come back still elevated but only minimally and we can wait until November 10th at 38 weeks! I am praying that we can wait especially since it is a boy and they develop slower. This was all depending on my cervical check since of course we both didn't want to induce with a crappy cervix! Well she checked me and said "You would call yourself 2.5cm and 70% effaced". It is a long time joke between her and some of her labor and delivery nurses that use her as a doctor that she checks on the very generous side! Which is encouraging to the patient but really funny when they come in and say she called me 4cm and they are really like 2.5! So she would probably have normally called me some where in the 3cm range but we are going with the true nurse exam at 2.5cm! Still at 35 weeks that has some promise too it! Hopefully they contractions that I have will continue to do something. Now I would love to labor spontaneously but she said the chances are slim but we will see! My next appt is on Wed and hopefully we will have more cervical change and my labs will be back! We are planning on hanging out around the house for the weekend, making some chili!, watching the alabama game, and I am going to try to get into the nesting/cleaning mode so our house will be clean for all the people that will be visiting soon! Hopefully 2 weeks and our little miracle will be here! Thanks for checking on us!

Week 35

We had a great weekend! Jerms mom, dad, brother, and sister came over for the day yesterday and hung out with us. The boys went to a gun show and then came home in time to watch the alabama game ... yep they won (barely) again and are now 7-0!! Us girls went the Trade Days at the park down the road and had so much fun. It was a beautiful day to be outside and enjoy the crafty sales! Dyana we sure missed you! We came home and cooked out and finished the game. And added bonus my sweet mother in law weeded my flower bed during the game and it looks great! My mum is blooming and you can actually see it now! YAY!!! We went to church this morning and of course enjoyed our weekly mexican afterwards. We also got around to the Carter's outlet and returned some duplicate items we had received and have a $50 credit! It has been a great weekend after a little bit of a stressful week!

So Week 34 was a little eventful with learning that I actually do have cholestasis and learning about a rare complication of pregnancy. If your interested an easy to read and understand website is itchymoms.com. It explains it way better than I ever could. I finally got my lab results back on friday night ... well only after I called the lab myself and got them. It helps to work at a hospital where you can just say "hey this is so and so and I need these lab results on a patient please!" A little fib never hurt anyone right! Well I haven't talked to my doctor about them yet nor do I even know if she knows what they are. They were a little elevated. Normal bile salt levels are 4-24 and mine were 30. At almost a week later and with the potential of doubling very quickly, I am praying and will ask that she redraw them this week. I am taking meds to keep the rate of them increasing down and hopefully it is helping. The itching is about the same which leads me to believe that the med is working. So we will see. I am not scheduled to go back to the office until Thurs but surely they will call me the results on Monday since they don't know that I have them already and I will be able to talk to her nurse. So just pray that 1. they aren't increasing to fast and 2. my doctor will want to get the labs redrawn so I don't have to beg for them to be (even though I know she would do whatever I wanted her too). We will probably decide a delivery date on Thurs at my appointment which is looking like November 3. I will be 37 weeks and some change and all literature that I have read doesn't recommend going much farther than that. I have also had some steroids to help the itching which will also help develop his lungs a little faster. Now if you remember a few posts back I am really anti-induction but God has a way of laughing at our plans now doesn't He! I really don't have an option so maybe next time I will have a complication free pregnancy and can spontaneously labor but unless Bronner decides to make an even earlier appearance it doesn't look like that will be happening. Hopefully this week will be a little less complicated!! Thurs should be fun as I will have my first routine cervical check ... I'm thinking I will be 2ish and my group beta strep test done. So I will update more after that! Thanks for checking on us!

Our night out!

So Friday night we went out for our anniversary! We had so much fun on what could potentially be our last date night before becoming parents. Kinda scary! We went to Macaroni Grill which was great as always and then walked around the Summit for awhile since I was so full I didn't think I could sit all the way home. Well, while walking around we decided to go to Babies R Us and pick up the car seat since we had time! I can't wait to see Bronner in it! It truly was a blessing just to spent time together and prepare for our growing family!

On to baby Bronner news, I have been itching since Thursday, which most wouldn't worry about but it is so annoying. There is also a complication of pregnancy having to do with elevated bile salts and your gallbladder that is really rare but the only symptom is all over body itching. Well Thursday I didn't think much about it but Friday as we were driving to Babies R Us I decided to call work and see what they thought! What was weird though is that only my hands and feet were itching at that point. So it happened that my doctor was on call this weekend and happened to be in L&D delivering a baby. So a friend talked to her after she got finished ... yeah I wasn't going to bother her about some mindless itching at 8pm on a Friday night when there was absolutely nothing she was going to do about it anyways. So onto the story we decided that it probably was an allergic reaction to something and to use some cortisone cream and benadryl and if it didn't get better by Monday to come in an we would draw bile salt and liver function tests just to rule out cholestasis of pregnancy. Well on to Saturday and Sunday ... I am itching all over my body like crazy. It is hard to sleep because as I lay there all I think about it how bad I want to scratch this or that! So, I guess I will be calling in the morning so I can move my appt from Wed to tomorrow. Hopefully it will turn out to be nothing. You can look up cholestasis of pregnancy if you are interested but the main thing that makes me upset is induction at 37-38 weeks for safety of the baby. NOT that I am saying induction for safety of the baby isn't great and wonderful and I am so glad that we have modern medicine for this reason but I just really didn't want to go that route. We will see what happens tomorrow. (I will update more when I know something but sometimes it takes a few days to get lab results back.) Just pray that first and foremost Bronner will continue to be a happy healthy baby and the delivery ... whatever the time frame ... will be a wonderful experience!

Our 3rd anniversary!

Well October 8 was our 3rd anniversary! Can you believe how fast time flies! We didn't get to see each other for more than 3 mins on that day ... just a passing "love you" as he got home and I left for work but tonight we are going out to celebrate! Now it is supposed to be a surprise so we we'll see but I have been craving Macaroni Grill so hopefully that will be included in the plans! We are finally over the bug that has been around this house for the last week and actually feeling like doing something. Baby Bronner turns 34 weeks tomorrow so we are going to try to get some things done around here. I guess it is time to wash some clothes and get organized! People have been asking for weeks so there is your answer .... I am finally getting around to it! HAHA! Pics to follow after tonight's surprise night out!

1st L&D Admit

So after having the stomach bug this weekend I thought I could go back to work on Monday. Everything was going fine until about 1100 when I started contracting. Not anything new so I didn't really worry about it. I have been contracting forever and honestly just thought I was a little dehydrated and was fine. Well midnight came around and it was time to eat so I tried a grilled cheese thinking a little food and some extra water and gatorade would help the situation. Well about 1245 everyone kept bugging me to get on the monitor since I "looked" so uncomfortable. Well of course I didn't want to do that because I knew I was going to have to call my doctor. Well she happens to be on call on Mondays so that worked out great for me. Unfortunately for her she got woken up at 0115! Well I was contracting every 2-4 mins so we called and I got some fluids and they spaced out some but didn't go away and then I started throwing up again so I got checked. Yay for that! Haha! Anyways I had changed a little bit but my cervix is still very thick and he is not anywhere near my pelvis so with that news they called her back. I got a total of 2L of fluid and some nausea meds and got to go home even though I was still contracting. There are some benefits of knowing what is going on I guess. She trusted me to call if something changed. So I went home, took some Phenegran and went to bed. I decided to stay home tonight even though I feel much better I didn't want the same thing to happen again. So hopefully I can return to work tomorrow so I only end up using 1 sick day this week! So it was weird being a patient and not a nurse! Thanks to Kelley for taking such great care of me and everyone for encouraging me to monitor myself! Hopefully this will be our last time as a patient until Bronner makes his debut!

32 week fun!

Week 32 was great around our house! The week started with a great BAMA win over UGA!! YAY! Unfortunately I had to work that night but Jeremy enjoyed the game and I got to see highlights during my pts labor! Sunday night we finally decided for sure that Bronner's middle name is going to be McKee!! I am so excited. Jeremy is still not loving it but oh well. He will get over it! Mom came on Tues, my checkup was on Wed, Thurs we went to MS, Fri was haircut and eye exam with cute new glasses coming soon, and the beginning of week 33 was baby showers galore! Mom flew into Bham for the shower and Caitlin brought her to the hospital on Wed to meet me for my appt. It all went well except for the 4 lbs that came out of no where! I swear, I couldn't gain weight in the beginning and everyone said "don't worry ... you will make up for it!" They sure were right! My sweet doctor did an u/s for mom so we could see "if he was head down" even though we already knew, just so mom could see how he was growing! She is so sweet! Bronner looked great and is growing well. We didn't have time to measure or anything so no new weight update as of yet! I got to get my haircut on Friday and get new glasses! Cute pics to come when they get here! Sat we had my family baby shower and it was so much fun! We got lots and lots of clothes, our packnplay, highchair, swing, bath stuff, homemade blankets, swaddling blankets, pic frames, and gift cards!! Sat night we had a surprise bday party for my grandmother who got a new computer! Who new that 60 year old grandmas loved new laptops!! We love that she is learning so she keeps up with our lives through emails and pictures! Unfortunately Corbin, my littlest boy cousin, had the 24hour bug on Fri, none of us thought much about it and just hoped we didn't get it. Well Sat night I was sick and it started to run through the fam. Today, Monday, Jerms came home from work (a first I think), sick and is sleeping the day away in bed. Hopefully no one else will get it!! Sun we had Jeremy's family / church baby shower! I was sick but still went (hopefully I didn't infect anyone) and we had so much fun! We got tons of clothes, diapers, wipes, a coat rack that is oh so cute, his first pair of crocs, blankets, towels, our exersaucer, and diaper genie, and tons more I can't think of! So all in all we had a great week! Hopefully Jerms will make a full recovery in the next 24 hours or so and I wont catch it back from him! This week is just work and rest! Hopefully next weekend we can wash Bronner's clothes and get them organized ... He is going to be here before we know it!