You have got to be kidding me....

First and foremost, my appointment today was great. My cervix is still measuring 4cm and the medicine seems to have my contractions under control for the most part. I am still on super strict bedrest until next week. If everything remains the same then I can tone down the bedrest slightly. Currently I can only get up to shower and go to the bathroom, so it will be nice to see outside my bedroom on a regular basis. And now for the intersting part---Little Bean is BREECH!!!! So if I go into labor soon not only is it way too early, I will also end up with an emergency c-section. Awesome. My midwife sent me home with some instructions on different positions I can lay in to try and turn the baby. I go in next week for another ultrasound, so hopefully the bean will have flipped by then.
On the home front, everyone seems to be adjusting to Mommy on bedrest. We did have one instance that involved Nate, the dryer, and one of my favorite dry clean only shirts but overall things have been going well. Nate's Mom is here to help with the boys (and by help, I mean totally take care of them) through the weekend. The boys are so excited she is here. Jack doesn't seem to be permanently scarred that I will not be attending his party on Friday night. That makes one of us. ;)
Thanks for all of the emails, phone calls, etc... over the last couple of days. It really helps the time go by faster.

Jack is 7!!!

Yesterday was Jack's birthday. The one good thing about his bus coming obscenely early(6:55!!!) is that he was awake at exactly 6:33 am, which was the exact time he entered this world. I can't believe he is already 7. Time has flown by so fast with him. My parents came over Sunday night for birthday pizza and brownies. Nate was working from home yesterday, so he and Ben went to school to have lunch with Jack and take his class cupcakes. As you can see from the pictures, he and Ben enjoyed making the cupcakes! His party is scheduled for Friday. It is supposed to be at the pool, so hopefully we can get rid of all of this rain before then! Jack has already racked up with fun presents! He has been enjoying waking up to his brand new Bulldawg alarm clock, sleeping with his new Incredible Hulk blanket, playing Mario Cart, and playing with all of his fun new toys.

Greetings from Northside :(

Well apparently I spoke too soon on Wednesday. My test that diagnoses preterm labor came back positive on Friday. Essentially this means I have an increased risk of going into labor in the next two weeks. I was 29 weeks on Thursday so this baby definitely needs to stay in much longer than two weeks. We checked into Northside on Friday night and the first thing they did was measure my cervix which is thankfully still long. The baby looked perfect and is measuring at 3 pounds and 3 ounces. I received a steroid shot for the baby's lungs and they began to monitor my contractions. I made it a whole 30 minutes on the monitor before the nurse came in with the brethine. For those of you who were around with my previous pregnancies,I lovingly refer to bretine as "crack pills" because it literally makes me shaky and feel like my heart is coming out of my chest. However, it works. My contractions have slowed dramatically. I get to go home tonight after receiving my final steroid shot to mature the baby's lungs. I am on strict bedrest for the remainder of the next two weeks. WHEN I make it past those two weeks it will be a week by week thing to determine my activity level.
I had my major freak out on Friday but have been ok since I got to the hospital. It is such a weight off my shoulders to have someone else determine what contractions I should be worrying about, what I can/can't do, etc... I am sure these next two weeks are going to be hard and I am going to have to resist the urge to call the doctor with every twinge. Please keep not only little bean and I in your prayers, but Nate and the boys as well. Jack turns 7 on Monday and I won't be able to bring cupcakes to his class or attend his party, which is making me cry even thinking about. Nate as been awesome, but I think it will be an adjustment for Ben.
I wanted to thank everyone for their emails, text messages, facebook messages and phone calls. It means the world to me knowing that so many people are thinking about and praying for us. I will keep you posted as much as possible.

An Eventful 29 Week Appointment

I would like to first say how much I LOVE my midwife. Yesterday I decided to re-organize our closet while Ben was at preschool. Since we are not doing a nursery until the little bean gets here, I need to find something to occupy my nesting urges. It was a big project, so I knew I would probably have a couple more contractions than normal that night. (I have been contracting since 18 weeks. Super Fun). Well I had about 15 in a two and a half hour span. Against Nate's wishes, I decided not to call since my appointment was at 9 this morning. When the nurse came in to give me the horrible glucose drink for my diabetes test, I told her about the activities from the night before. That in combination with the fact I had preterm labor with both the boys, earned me a trip across the hall to monitor my contractions. I only had one in the thirty minutes they monitored me which was fantastic. She checked me and said that I was not dialated at all, but she wanted me to have an ultrasound to check my cervix length to make sure it was not shortening/funneling. After getting those results her response was, "You have the longest cervix ever." She wanted it to be in the 3 to 4 cm range. Mine was 5.8! Yeah me! She told me I need to make sure I am resting for at least an hour in the afternoon and drinking lots of water. But (and this is the best part) NO BEDREST yet. My weight gain was perfect, bringing my total to 18 pounds so far this pregnancy. I get the results from my iron, diabetes, and preterm labor tests this week so hopefully they will come back normal. I went in very nervous, but left feeling so relieved!

Ben's First Day of School

Ben started preschool last week. You know how for the first time ever, I did not cry on Jack's first day this year? Yeah, not so true for Ben's. ;) He did awesome. He was so excited, especially to wear his "school shoes". He was up in time to walk Jack to the bus stop at 7, so we made a breakfast stop at Waffle House on the way to school to kill some time. We pulled up to the carpool line and he hopped right out. I cried the entire way to Wal-Mart. I just don't like them getting older. I am sure the pregnancy hormones had nothing to do with it! ;) He had a great first week last week. His favorite "class" is music and movement. His music and movement teacher Ms. Kerri remembered Ben from carpool days when she used to have to get Jack out of the car. Ben wasn't the biggest fan of the car ;).

My Buddy

With Jack at school last week, Ben and I had a lot of quality Mommy-Ben time. Even though I stopped working in June, I have always had a problem being a "stay-at-home" Mom (much to the displeasure of Nate, my Mom, and my Doctor ;)). Ben and I do much better if we have places to go, people to see, and things to do. So last week we went grocery shopping, to Old Navy, to Target, the park, and Home Depot. On Friday we went to Ben's preschool and got to meet his teachers Miss Jennifer and Miss Elisa. Afterwards we went to McDonald's for lunch. He is really excited about school, especially after he got to see the music room with all of the fun instruments. He will go Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I am not sure what I am going to do those days! I will post pictures of his first day tomorrow.
My neighbor Darby of Darby Rose Photography (see sidebar) took the picture above. Isn't she talented!

"How do you zoom out on this thing?" --Kelly Hilands

We had a super fun birthday dinner for Erin/meet Ella Grace party last night at my friend Karley's. Ella was such an angel and it was so great to see her nursery in person. Karley is the first out of my four college friends that I was pregnant with this time to have her baby. Erin is due in 5 weeks and then it will be my turn!! Some days I want October to hurry up and get here. Other days (those days when I am chasing Jack and Ben around) I realize this baby is a lot easier to keep track of on the inside. ;)

Jack's in FIRST GRADE?!?!

Jack started school today. I cannot believe he is in first grade. He was so excited this morning. He really enjoys school. We met his teacher, Ms. Williams, on Friday and she seems super nice. He has two really good friends from his kindergarten class in his class this year so that will be nice to see a couple of familiar faces. I did really well this year, no tears for the first time since preschool. I did however tear up a little during school supply shopping. I blame the pregnancy hormones.:) The crowd at the bus stop grew this year with the addition of our new neighbors Lane and Olivia. Plus Hannah and Ally started school this year as well. Ben has been walking around for the last hour asking where Jack is. This is the first time Ben has been without a playmate for two years. When I was at work, he always went to a neighbors house and played with his friends until Jack got home from school. Ben starts preschool next Tuesday.

Braves Game

We wanted to do something fun before Jack went back to school today, so we decided to go to the Braves game. We loaded up the cooler with as much water as it could possibly hold and then headed downtown. First there was a stop off at The Varsity, an Atlanta landmark. The kids enjoyed their lunch, complete with Frosted Orange. We headed down to Turner Field and were able to get the best parking spot right across the street from the entrance. Our seats were down the first base line and temporarily in the shade. Ben was more interested in the binoculars than anything else. We also found the Cartoon Network area and spent a lot of time there. We made it to the 7th inning, which is pretty impressive for a three year old and a pregnant chick. We got home and Nate took the kids to the pool to cool off while I got everything ready for Jack's first day.

Uncle Michael came to play!

We had such a fun week with Uncle Michael last week. He came to visit before he moves to South Dakota for a year. It was heavenly to have help around the house during the day. He took the boys to the pool one day so I could go to lunch with my old office. He took Ben to the store and came with me so I would have company at Jack's football practice. Nate was jazzed to have someone in the house who could have a couple of beers and stay up past 9:30. :)
Thanks again for everything Uncle Michael! Hope to see you soon!