Now what?

In the morning, when we have just woken up, Ethan has his morning milk while watching cartoons with us in our bed. He insists on bringing at least 2, sometimes 3, of his own blankets into our bed. It's cute because he wants us to snuggle with "Ethan's blue blankets" and likes to snuggle into "Mommy and Daddy's covers and pillows"...When pregnant, I sleep with a ginormous body pillow called the snoogle and sometimes when Andy gets up to go shower, Ethan will climb over the pillow so he's snuggled right up next to me...today was one of those mornings. He grabbed his 2 blankets, climbed over the snoogle pillow and was laying right next to me with his head on my pillow...then looked at me and said, "Now what?"...I laughed and said "Just lay here and snuggle"...he cracks me up.

I need a tissue.

I'm trying to keep my pregnancy hormones in check...who I am kidding, I cry really easily when I'm not pregnant too. I'm just emotional.

Ethan has been working at my heart strings...this evening he was telling me who he loves and who loves who..."Mommy loves daddy"..."I love Ethan"...then he said "Mommy Daddy Ethan happy"...it's too much. Good tears.

31-week appointment recap

Contractions, contractions, contractions...the bane of my existence! It's all I do, counting contractions...and somewhere in there, I do some cross-stitching.

Wednesday night was really bad. I was up nearly every hour with painful contractions. A couple times I thought "it was time"...but after counting two contractions over 15 minutes, I fell asleep. Must not have been that serious. Since I made it through the night, I proudly stated to my doctor at Thursday morning's appointment that I had made it a whole week without making a trip to Labor and Delivery (my last trip was Wed Nov 5)...I was no longer her "problem child"...at least for that week!

My appointment yesterday went well. I gained another 1.8 lbs over the past week...total weight gain = 38.8lbs; my blood pressure is good; I measure over 40 weeks for singletons; baby's heart rates were 140 and 145; cervix is closed, but she can feel someone's (probably A's) head right there; did another fetal fibronectin and I found out in the afternoon that it was negative again.

We talked about my continuing contractions and since they are not in any sort of pattern, she is not alarmed. Most are not painful, I can just feel the tightening, but some have been doozies. I have read, and have been told by my doctor, that this is just my uterus practicing for labor...to that I say "Uterus, you have mastered this skill...please lay off." I asked for a prescription for Terbutaline and filled that yesterday at Target...I haven't taken any yet since my contractions since then haven't been painful and didn't wake me up last night much...Terb has a lot of yucky side-effects, but it's nice to know I have it nearby just in case. I'm sure I was quite the spectacle at Target...my hips are shot so I'm a full-fledged waddler...and the pharmacist told me I looked like I was going to pop any minute. Nice.

I think my MetLife claim is moving in the right direction. My doctor had received a faxed medical form from MetLife that morning (still pissed that it took until Thursday, from when I called for the second time on Monday, to get a request to my doctor) and she confirmed my last day of work with me so we were on the same page. She promised to fill it out and fax back yesterday afternoon. So I'll call MetLife next week to make sure they have it and are reviewing. There will probably be a lag for my next check (still got paid in full yesterday since my first week of bedrest was required to be PTO), but I'm hopeful the rest of this process will run smoothly. I've alerted HR that I'm having issues and they confirmed I'm taking the right steps...but it's so irritating still.

I brought up delivery options again and now I'm back on the C-section train. I go back and forth, weighing the pros and cons of each...for the babies first, and for me too. I have too much time on my hands to think about this stuff. I think we'll play it by ear, but she did confirm that it is our decision and we can make it up to the last minute.

I have several appointments next week...Shot on Wed, doctor appt on Thurs, biophysical US on Friday...Next Thursday will be 32 weeks...wow! Today I am 31w 1d...this is right around the time I went into labor with Ethan the first time. So, even though I'm getting into my "comfort zone", I hope these guys aren't in as much of a rush as their older brother. My cervix being closed and negative results for the fetal fibronectin could certainly lead to 1-2 more weeks, or more if we are lucky.

Yesterday, Gamma Leslie brought over some treats to celebrate our making it one more week. Each Thursday will be celebrated as a "non-Birthday"! They are chocolate-peanut butter bars and are delicious...Ethan celebrated the non-Birthday yesterday and exclaimed..."I love this non-Birthday cake"...."More non-Birthday cake, please!"...too funny! (see pic below)














I was encouraged after yesterday's appointment and was motivated to do some serious cross-stitching yesterday afternoon. Since I have the feeling now that I will make it at least one more week, I think I could actually finish this thing. Yesterday I finished all the cross-stitching and just started the back-stitching at the end of the day...after that will come the names, weights, and birthdate and then over a hundred dollars worth of matting and framing...voila! (see pic below)

30-week pic

Eek, I'm so veiny. I noticed this the other day while checking for stretch marks (none yet, knock on wood) in the mirror...but you can really see my blood vessels in this picture and it's really creepy. It's fall/winter in MN...and I have not seen a tanning booth since early May...it is what it is.

Ethan speaks and speaks and speaks....

Ethan has been saying so many things lately...this list doesn't even capture 1/10th of them...

He's really into saying who he loves and who loves him..."Ethan loves so and so"..."So and so loves Ethan"...with emphasis on the "loves"...He's now saying "Everybody loves Ethan" and "Ethan loves Ethan"...

Gramma Nanna and Grampa Dode sent him a fitted Cars sheet and Cars pillow case. He is so excited about it and when it was put on his bed this morning, he saw it and said "Ooooooo!"...and later he said "I love it!" He is excited to have his own pillow too...when he has his morning milk with us in our bed, he loves to snuggle into "Mommy and daddy's pillows and covers"...now he has his own pillow and thinks it's great. When I asked him who was on his sheets he said "Mater and Queen" (Lightnight McQueen)..."Another Mater and Queen...Another Mater and Queen"...the pattern repeats itself on the sheet so there are lots of Maters and Queens.''

He repeats almost everything we say and is so proud of himself. I laugh until I tear up a lot. Some favorites from this weekend... "Whatcha doin' daddy?" and "That's alright"

He is also getting good at telling stories or recounting what happened that day or the day before. I am amazed at his memory. He was telling Gamma about visiting Mommy in the hospital and then said "Mommy loves Ethan"...too cute.

There are full sentences too. We were watching Mr Rogers on Sunday morning and he kept saying "At the mall...at the mall" when they were at a store. Then he said, very deliberately...."They. are. at the mall"...that's a full and proper sentence! Hurray!

But one of my favorite things is when he wants to snuggle up with us and says "Oh, mommy...oh, daddy"...I've got to catch these things on video...writing them can't even begin to show the cuteness around here.