Round 2 of Good News

I feel like all I have been posting about lately is my pregnancy woes...but when I have reduced hours at work and modified bed rest for the remainder of my day, nothing exciting really happens! We saw the doctor today and had another good ultrasound. Cervical measurements were above 2.5 cm again and some measured into the 3 cm mark. The doctor was really happy with the results and gave us clearance to travel to Oregon for Christmas!! I have another fetal fibronectin test tomorrow just to reconfirm that everything looks good before I leave. Jared and I were both really excited with how things looked and I felt a huge sigh of relief!

You may wonder what I do during my days on the couch or in bed. Here's a clue:

My friend Annie has been trying to convince me to watch Grey's Anatomy for a very long time now. I never started watching it from the beginning and for some reason never had a desire too. I decided now was as good as time as any, I am almost done with season 1. It is actually really good and I'm excited to start season 2 because I heard it is one of the best seasons. Other than Grey's, I usually read, throw the ball for Addie, listen to online sermons or take advantage of our netflix account.

If there are any suggestions for movies, tv shows or books that I should know about, send them my way. As of now, it seems I will be resting a lot until 34-37 weeks!!

Dr. Update

Good news today at my appointment! Amazingly enough my cervix measured longer today by a significant margin! The shortest length was 2.97 and the longest measurement was 3.88 (which is 2 cm longer than on Friday)! Apparently bed rest and taking it easy works, which shocked both Jared and I. We both had to look again when we saw the new measurements because we thought we were reading something wrong. The longest length at my 20 week ultrasound was 2.4 cm, so we had never seen the 3 cm mark before. The Dr. said that I still need to take it easy and not overdo it, so I am on a reduced work schedule of 20 hours a week. When not working I have to be on modified best rest, I can do simple things, but no running, walking, shopping, heavy lifting, vacuuming, etc. I don't think that will be an issue though since Jared has already warned me about 100 times of how careful I need to be! We are both very thankful and think the Lord is amazing to work in such miraculous ways! I have another appointment next Wednesday to check my cervical length again. We are praying that I measure the same. We are supposed to go to Oregon for Christmas and the Dr. will let us know next week if that is okay.
Thanks to all for your prayers and concerns...it is so nice to be surrounded by such loving family and friends!

Happy Anniversary

Six years ago, I got to marry my best friend. On our wedding day we were full of love, hope and excitement as to what the future would bring. I can't believe how fast 6 years can go! Life has definitely given us both ups and downs. We had no idea that in 6 years we would experience life in both Medford and Boise, multiple moves, vacations, deaths of family members, weddings, births, stress of graduate school, new jobs, lost jobs, months of double unemployment, buying a home, home improvements, getting two puppies, dealing with cancer and the ultimate loss of our dog, reduced incomes at work, pregnancy and now possible bed rest (see post below). Through it all I thank God that He has allowed me to have Jared as my partner. I think it is amazing that God chooses mates for us that He knows will complete us and be the perfect fit. Jared is definitely that for me. He makes me laugh, keeps me grounded, reasons me through my insanity, has a huge heart and ultimately always points us back to God during the good times and bad. He has always led our family in the way of the Lord and I know that decisions he makes always come after prayerful consideration. When we started our journey together 6 years ago I'm glad I didn't know all the highs and lows we would experience, as it has brought us closer together and cemented our marriage. I am confident in my marriage and my husband. I have no idea what the future holds, but I do know that whatever it brings I will have the Lord as my direction and Jared by my side. What a reassurance!!

Here's to many more years!

Dr. Appointments, Ultrasounds, Hospital Visits, and...Bed Rest

Since week 20, I have been checked every two weeks (I am now 27 weeks) to determine the length of my cervix since it measured thin at my 20 week ultrasound. So far everything had stayed nice and steady at 2.4 cm. Yesterday was my fourth checkup and unfortunately we didn't get the same good news. My cervix has thinned and is now measuring 1.87 cm. This puts me at an increased risk for premature labor. So...yesterday Jared and I got to spend the afternoon at the hospital hooked up to a machine that would monitor whether or not I was having contractions.

The machine picked up on slight contractions, so the nurse gave me a shot that is a smooth muscle relaxant to stop the contractions. I am now on a blood pressure medication that ultimately has the same effect. Initially the doctor said that I would have to take it easy and only be up for about 5-6 hours a day. After results from the hospital she put me on full bed rest, meaning I get to take a 5 minute shower everyday and use the bathroom but otherwise I am on the couch or in bed.

Jared and I went back today so that I could get monitored again for contractions and have a fetal fibronectin test to determine if I was at risk to go into labor in the next 2 weeks. Thankfully the test came back negative and there was no signs of contractions today. We got to go home and I am on bed rest until Tuesday when I have another Dr. appointment to check my cervical length and determine a plan of action. The Dr. said with almost 100% certainty that I would have to cut my hours back at work and there is a chance that I will have to continue on full bed rest until baby is born.

Needless to say this isn't the information that we were hoping for as I was prepared to work up until I delivered. The financial situation is a concern but we have been through periods of unemployment and low income before and we know that the Lord has been faithful and will be faithful now. Overall, our spirits are good. I feel like God has given us both a real peace and sense of calmness. We are relying on him to take care of my body and the baby. Thankfully the baby looks GREAT and continues to grow and move and be healthy. Jared has it much worse than I do as he is now responsible (hopefully only until Tuesday) to cook, clean, do laundry, do the grocery shopping, take care of Addie, work, and help me with the things I need. Bed rest sounds wonderful but surprisingly it is difficult to literally do absolute nothing! It is an adjustment for our family but has been smooth so far. Jared is definitely stepping up to the plate and I am soooo thankful that he is my partner during this.

We know the Lord has a plan through all of this and will be faithful to see us through whatever is in store for us. We are thankful for the support and prayers of our friends and family. I will do my best to update!

Baby Room

This past week my parents were out to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. We were definitely thankful for them!!! The baby room was previously storage where we kept boxes and random "treasures". I was feeling really overwhelmed to go through and organize everything, so my parents helped us while they were out. It is amazing what four people can accomplish as compared to two! We were able to clear everything out and get things organized to where we feel like we actually have more room than before.

Jared has been hard at work being Mr. Handyman, putting together the crib, dresser, glider and shelf organizer. We feel really blessed because we have been able to find some really good deals. We even got up at 4:30 am to get a glider/ottoman combo half off at Babies R Us black Friday sale (I realized I'm not a happy camper at 5 in the morning!)

There are some finishing touches we want to add but overall the room is almost done! We are hoping that it looks neutral enough...

We thought this shelving organizer was really cute and we can get more girly box colors if we need to!

View of the valance

View when you walk into the room...we were really excited to find the Chinese lanterns at Zurchers!

Dresser and Glider...we are planning on getting a memory board to put above the dresser.

It feels good to have most of it done and no longer hanging over our heads...kind of crazy that a little one will be the final touch in 3 months!

Belly Pics and New Moon

I feel like all I have done lately is post about baby and pregnancy...unfortunately that seems to be all that is really going on in our life! Time is seriously flying by, it seems crazy to me that my parents are coming into town this Friday for Thanksgiving and then we will be going to Oregon for Christmas!

It has been awhile since new belly pics have been posted, so enjoy:

Week 20: Size of a banana; 10 1/2 oz. and about 10 inches long (head to heel)

Week 22: Size of a spaghetti squash; almost a pound and about 11 inches long

Week 24: Size of an ear of corn; about 1.25 pounds and just over a foot long

In other news, I don't know how many Twilight fans are out there, but I am going to the new movie in the Twilight saga this Friday night..."New Moon".

A girl that used to work at my work is obsessed with the books and movies and threw a party last year for the "Twilight" movie. It was pretty fun to see it on opening night with a bunch of girlfriends. Well, this year she is completely going crazy (I will go into more detail after the party) and we are doing dinner again and then seeing the 10:30 showing on Friday. It should be pretty fun...unfortunately I'm not quite the die hard fan that others are! I will post pics from the night afterwards...as long as I don't get made fun of (I get enough ridicule from Jared about it!)

Baby Bargains

Last weekend I registered for baby gear. I went with a friend who just had a baby, so I could use her knowledge, and had a lot of fun (thanks Shannon)!! Then Jared and I found a killer deal on a crib and dresser online. I have been obsessed since last weekend to find the right bedding. Everything I see either looks too boy or too girl, which has caused me to look at hundreds of bedding sets and a ton of websites. Colors were really important since we wanted it to be neutral but not overly boring. We FINALLY found a bed set that we both really liked, but unfortunately it was out of our price range (I can't believe how much bedding costs!!!!)

We went to go to a couple of stores tonight to see what we could find and here's where the exciting part of the story comes in...

We went into Baby's R Us (where I registered last weekend and found nothing for bedding) and to my surprise and excitement they had the bedding set we loved on CLEARANCE!!! It was so crazy because they don't even show that they carry that particular set online! We were able to get the bedding set, extra sheet, window valance and a matching blanket for significantly less than what the bedding set (only) was selling for online!

I finally feel excited to begin the baby room (something I must admit I have been dreading)

I will post pictures once the room gets done, in the meantime here is what we decided on:

Crib

Dresser

Bedding Set

Comforter

Bumper

Skirt

Sheet Pattern

Blanket

Window Valance

Woo Hoo for clearance!