Well, it seems that life is, indeed, cyclical here at Chez Dressed Up. Apparently, I only grow the over-achieving babies who don’t feel like they need a full 37 weeks of gestation. Thank goodness this is our last kid.
Here’s where things stand presently: I’m at risk for pre-term labor. I’m home on bed rest until 34 weeks. Luckily, it’s the “light” kind of bed rest in that I can still do things around the house and sit in my recliner instead of lying in bed on my left side all damn day. I’m taking a medication called procardia to ward off contractions. It works unless I’m too active, but it’s got some shitty side effects like racing heart, dizziness, headache, and shakiness. Plus, I already have pretty low blood pressure to begin with so this stuff lowers it even more and makes me feel like ass.
Those of you following along at home will remember that I started a new job a little over two months ago. Queen of Horrible Timing? Yeah, that’s me. Anyhow, the good news is that my job is totally work-from-home-able and management would much rather me work from home then do my work themselves for the next however long. I’m going into the office tomorrow to meet with them and go over the details. And if for some reason that all goes to hell in a hand basket, then I’ve got short-term disability that will cover me. The fact that I’ll still be getting paid means that Maddie can continue to go to daycare during the day. We’ve reduced her hours to 5 hours a day, 5 days a week and I feel like it’s a win-win. She gets to sleep in since we don’t have to be there until 9am, she still gets the benefit of playing with other kids and learning new things, and I can rest/work without feeling guilty for ignoring her.
Most importantly, The Boy is doing very well. At my last sonogram on Wednesday, he weighed 2lbs, 8 oz and was in the 69th percentile for size. This is a relief since I’ve lost another pound, putting me at gaining just 7 pounds for this entire pregnancy. All of his parts are accounted for and seem to be functioning within nominal parameters. He’s extraordinarily active which is a blessing and a curse. I’m guessing he’s going to end up being a total spaz like his big sister but it’s reassuring to feel him kick the shit out of me and know he’s still in there and doing all right.
The big downside to the whole bed rest debacle is that I’m crazy nesting and can’t really do anything about it. I’m trying to limit myself to one chore per day so that I feel like things are still being done and my house is still clean without overdoing it. I’m DYING to put together the nursery and start buying things, but that has to wait. The Boy’s room is currently our guestroom and last remaining bedroom. (Note to self: Go back in time and choose to build the bigger house. You’ll thank me for it.) Gerald’s mom will be here next week for a follow-up on her heart valve replacement, so we need a guestroom for her. Then, we can at least set up most of the baby’s furniture. Gerald’s mom will be coming back again when The Boy is born and staying for a few weeks, so she’ll need a place to sleep. We’ll leave her bed in there and then move it out when she goes home. We’re most likely going to move it into Maddie’s room and move her out of her toddler bed. (The guest bed is a twin trundle, so if we have guests we can expand it and boot Maddie out to sleep with us or whatev.) All in all, we’ll be in pretty good shape. I’m just so anxious to GET GOING, ALREADY!
GAH! This post is rambley and all over the damn place, isn’t it? I go for months not posting anything worthwhile and then BAM! Overload! Well, you’d better get used to it, my pretties. I have a feeling I’m going to finally have the time to blog again on the reg. Now might be the time to manage your Reader subscriptions, if you catch my drift.