A Glimpse of Baby!

So today I got to leave the house ... and go to the doctor!! Due to all the recent difficulties and to the fact that I measured a bit small, my doctor decided to have me come back later in the day for an ultrasound! 

Here is our baby girl!! Isn't she sweet?!

I've been so tense, so anxious these past couple of weeks. Things haven't been exactly easy emotionally. Any contraction could be the start of labor. Any twinge could be an indicator that something is wrong.

So I cried many, many tears of joy and relief at the sight of our healthy, beautiful, baby girl! Everything about her is just perfect, and our ultrasound technician even helped us see her HAIR floating around in there! 

This is just a reminder of why, as a pregnant mommy, we do everything that we do. Why we give up some of our favorite things, why we deal with the day-to-day discomforts that might come about, why we get up to go to the bathroom every hour of the night, why we spend days in the hospital, and then many more days glued to the couch! It's for our babies, so that they can have the best beginning in this world that we can give them.

Despite everything happening on the outside, our baby is still thriving and growing on the inside. We could not be more happy or more thankful. 

We love you baby!! Hang tight, just a little longer!

Lyla's Second Birthday Party!

We had such a fun day yesterday! It was Lyla's second BIRTHDAY!! I can't believe how fast these two years have gone by. Lyla has already grown up into such a great little person, I can only imagine what she will be like in another year! She is so sweet, loving, funny, smart... we are so proud of her and everything she has learned in the past year!

For the big day, we had originally planned a party at the cottage, but we had to move the party to the bed rest lady so we had it our place! I'm so glad that people were still able to make the trip up to spend Lyla's special day with her.

Here are some pictures from the party:

Opening presents is sometimes a group project

Lots of Dora in this picture....

Cousin Wyatt! Check out those blue eyes!!

Lyla's new BIKE!

Lyla was a bit apprehensive of the candles, which I'd say is a good thing!

Cupcake time! In Lyla's case... frosting time!

More frosting....

Trying out Abby's signature move!!

Such cute little cousin buddies!

Yay! We did it!

Lyla-isms

Some of my favorite Lyla-isms that I wrote down on August 11!

When I go get Lyla in the morning, she says.. "Lotta buddies in here, huh?"

Here are all the buddies she sleeps with, and in the morning she says, "buddies sit." And she sits them all up together.

"Uppa-side down!" (Upside down)

She made Dora and Diego hug each other and then said, "Love each other!"

"YOUDOITLYLAYOUDOITYOUDOITLYLAYOUDOIT!" This is Lyla panicking if she thinks you might try to help her with something that she wants to do herself. Hasn't got quite the use of "I" down yet!

Lyla loves making words plural. Even words that are already plural. "hats-es," "beads-es," "leaves-es," "Meatloaf-es"

When she is doing something silly or wearing something pretty, she says, "Look at you!"

"My daddy!!!" How could that not melt your heart?

"Miss him." Accompanied by sniffles. This could be about daddy being at work, or if a character on a TV show suddenly leaves the screen. 

If Lyla is feeling slightly sad about something and I go over to her, she says, "What's wrong Lyla?" And when I pick her up she says, "Shhh it's okay, mommy's here."

"Deevaday!!!" This is supposed to be "actívate!" which is something Diego says. She puts her arm up just like him! 

"Ta-da!"

And here are some more bed rest livin' pictures.

Sweet serenades from my favorite people !

Reading with Grandma!

Lyla at the "cottage home!" Mormor sent me this picture!

Having a sammie at the beach! Lucky girl, wish I could be there!

Being hilarious and suctioning the cup to her face!!! 

LYLA IS TWO TOMORROW CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?!? I SURELY CAN'T!!!!!!!!

Me & My Irritable Uterus

Lyla is at the cottage with family today... so just me at home with my "irritable uterus." This is actually what the Dr. said that I have, although I'm not sure if it's as much a medical diagnosis as an annoying characteristic of my uterus. Basically it means that my uterus might contract for any number of reasons that aren't labor or braxton hicks. Examples might be having a full bladder, being stressed, being hungry, having gas, not drinking enough water.. etc etc. I was told that my contractions would likely not go away and might even be painful! So Tuesday I had a bit of a horrible day because of some.. er.. stomach troubles.. and had 42 contractions total, but not with any sort of pattern or regularity. At 9 pm, they finally stopped. I had been sure that I would be calling in to the Dr. by that night! Yesterday I only had 8 throughout the whole day. It was a much happier day. Hoping that today is another good day! I've only been up an hour and a half, and I'm already bored. I'm not a big TV or movie watcher, but I guess if I find something good on TV that will help pass the time. I started re-reading the Harry Potter books. I just finished Book 3, and I'm not sure where book 4 is so I have to wait for Erik to go to the library for me later. Anyway, I'm already feeling sad and weepy for all the characters popping up who are eventually going to die... wahh!!!!!!! If anyone has any suggestions on things I can do to pass the time while lying down.... that would be great! Erik's suggestion is to play Settlers of Catan online and to text him whenever I win or lose haha! He's a litttttle obsessed with that game right now! Alright, off to enjoy this quiet day!!

Bed Rest & Lyla

I was a little nervous about how Lyla would take everything.. just last week, she was crying and throwing tantrums if Daddy tried to do anything with her instead of Mommy. We've had a couple moments, but I'm so surprised at how well she seems to be taking everything. She will often say something like, "Mommy hold you." "Mommy get you." And I'll just tell her that I can't because I have to stay on the couch, and then she says, "Dr. S____ says." She is amazing. It's very frustrating... just the other day I was thinking about how special this last month or so would be for Lyla and I, and how I was really going to cherish this last bit of alone time with her. And now I'm not even allowed to be home alone with her, not even allowed to pick her up. I just get to sit on the couch and watch her play with everyone else. Not how I pictured these last weeks. But she has been such a sweetie and has adjusted so well to everything! She comes over and shares her snacks with me. She gives me the biggest hugs, kisses and eskimo kisses. Once, she wanted me to sit on the ground with her so I said I could sit on a pillow for a little bit. The next day, she brought a pillow over and put it on the ground next to her for me to sit on. When I had a bit of a breakdown, she snuggled with me on the couch until I felt better. I'm so proud of her, and I love her so much! And now she can have special bonding time with daddy and all the family that has been here helping out! I'm so thankful for all the help I've been getting. As I said, I'm not supposed to be here alone with Lyla at all, and I'm not allowed to lift her out of her crib or anything... so someone has been here with me 'round the clock. Erik leaves for work at 6:15 so someone is over then! My doctor said that if I make it to 34 weeks, she MAY lessen my restrictions a bit. So far the days are passing by pretty slowly. I'm cycling through some of the various side effects of the medication, but I'm feeling pretty good this evening so that is helpful! This is the most important thing I could be doing for our little girl, so if I have to feel like crap for however long, then so be it! Here's to hoping for many more days of bed rest!

Bed Rest Life

So bed rest is going alright so far, although I feel like a useless lump on the couch, and my medicine gives me horrible night sweats. Yuck. Here are some phone pics from the past 5 days... can't believe it's been 5 days already! We are now 33 weeks!

Meds at the hospital

Settlers of Catan in the hospital

Erik's sleeping situation.. clearly very comfortable..

view from the couch of Lyla & Daddy play time

A picture Erik sent me from the park today! Looks like a beautiful day out!

My instructions are to be lying on my left side as much as possible.. clearly baby has noticed and has settled in on the left side of my belly.

I'm also supposed to drink a glass of water every hour. So far my day mainly consists of laying down and peeing.

home!!!

Oh my goodness, my own bed has NEVER felt so good, even if I'm confined to my left side... (this makes typing difficult).

Today it was concluded that my contractions were not making labor progress, so despite having some, I was still allowed to go home. They are really irregular, so I just have to go back if they start coming with any regularity or increase in pain. So far we're in good shape. I'm keeping a record of all contractions and their pain level... on a scale of 1-10. So far a 3 is "uf" and 5 is "ouch"... haven't gotten beyond there fortunately.

My doctor told me that women will have an increase in contractions between 6 and 10 because of the "moon and tides." I actually had a couple contractions an hour during this time and the last one was at 9:55, and I haven't had one since! Pregnancy is literally the weirdest thing ever.

I've noticed that contractions kind of correlate with my mood so I'm trying to stay upbeat and optimistic!

I also keep catching myself thinking.. "I could make it to 33 weeks... to 34 weeks....." But I am trying to keep small goals... truthfully, when I go to bed, I just want to get another night under our belt. Day by day!

Anyway it's weird to type on your side. Off to bed after a nice dose of medication!!

I don't know who reads this blog, but a million thanks to all the prayers, messages, calls, texts, etc!!!

Also today we were reunited with our Lyla baby!!! She is a little bothered that mommy can't get off the couch, but she is doing better with it than I thought she would!! So glad to have the family back together!