Happy 30 Weeks!

Hi everyone!

I had my first doctors appointment since being the hospital and I like to think that we got good news. I am going to be on my "modified" bed rest for the next four weeks.. That's kind of crappy news.. But, I know it's all for the best.

Basically, since we don't really know what caused the contractions last weekend, we need to err on the side of caution. At this point in my pregnancy my cervix should still be hard, closed and long. Right now I've got two of those three points. The one that I'm lacking is hard.. So my cervix has softened. It's not the end of the world, but since it is soft, I have to be careful not to do too much and put too much pressure on it. Meaning little standing and sitting if I can help it. I'm basically allowed to be up and moving for about three hours a day. So I can shower, fix myself food and go to the bathroom.

So, the goal is to keep the baby in for at least four more weeks. I was told that 34 weeks is a big milestone for the baby and if I can make it that long, our little one won't have to spend TOO much time in the NICU. When I hit 34 weeks, assuming I'm doing well and am not dilated at all, I'll probably have some restrictions removed for the next two weeks. If I don't go into labor in those next two weeks, I was told that at 36 weeks I can start doing cart wheels on my front lawn (don't worry, we'll sell tickets for you all to see that!).

Obviously this is mostly guess work right now. There's no telling how fast I may start to dilate or anything, but it sounds like there is a really good chance we'll end up with a June baby instead of a July baby.

I'm not really sure how Josh is feeling about it, but I'm starting to feel quite overwhelmed by everything. I was really hoping that I'd be doing wonderfully enough at my appointment today that they were going to tell me I was fine and didn't need bed rest. I was definitely disappointed... So there's a good chance that in 4-6 weeks we'll have a baby and I'm not allowed to get out of bed to help get ready for it! I'm just going to keep praying that we have more than 6 weeks. Six weeks.. It sounds so close!

So that was basically my appointment today. I'll be going back every single week from here on out and they'll be checking my cervix for any changes. I am allowed to drive myself to my appointments (it's also the only time I'm allowed to drive.. but hey- at least it'll save on gas!) but since my mom is off on Friday's I made the appointments then. It's helpful to have someone else at the appointments to help remember questions and answers. I'll try to update every Friday or Saturday to let everyone know how things are going.

I am going to leave you with a belly shot tonight. In the last week the baby has definitely gone through a growth spurt. I certainly feel huge! (Seriously, compare this to the last pictures I posted... um.. HELLO BELLY!)

Hope this finds everyone well!