Sunday, June 27, 2010

Not me Monday for June 28, 2010

Mckmama- Not Me Monday


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

We are not ecstatic that we have reached 34 weeks with Gracie.  We are not happy that we will be meeting her soon and we are NOT ready for this!  Nope not us!  The Kids are not anxious while awaiting for her arrival either! I did not think that I needed to work against Murphy's Law and decide to pack my bag as well as Gracie's for the hospital "just in case" right before going in for my check up. I did not get it all packed 95% with a list of the other 5% to put in when running out the door.  It did not only take me 15 minutes to do what I have been contemplating doing for the last 3-4 weeks.

I did not wake up on Saturday thinking I had a Graduation party to attend; only to find out that the party was actually scheduled for Sunday.  Oh and I really honestly did not know I actually had a Grad party AND a Bridal Shower scheduled and already confirmed that I would be at AT THE SAME TIME.  Nope, did not do that at all! I mean I have pretty much cloned two of the three kids to be like me but I just would not feel comfortable sending one of them in my place!

We did not have some wonderful days with the kids helping with chores through the house and we did not decide to purchase something for them for the PS2.  We would never just let them play it pretty much all say on Saturday and let it drive us nuts either. I ALWAYS limit their time!

I did not go up to the local Historical Society Fundraiser - a Flea Market Day.  I did not have a good time, and did not talk with others in the area that I know.  Never bought a hot dog, candy for the kids, homemade soap powder for the washer, nor pick up an Avon book.  We did not run into my parents, and my dad was not just off work.  I could not be any happier when I was having troubles walking through all of the vendors and then having to leave before seeing my friends one last time before packing back into the van to come home.

Our 11 year old child was not stung by a bee while trying to climb in or out of our pool in the back yard.  She also did not come into the house screaming that she needed my help and that she was stung.  I did not have to pull a stinger out of her foot and it did not start to swell immediately.  We did not watch her breathing just to make sure that she was not allergic to the point she could not breathe, nor did we treat her with Benedryl and Motrin to cover all basis.  In the morning when she got up, it was still not swollen and she was not treated with another round of meds. 

Sunday was not full of fun and excitement.  I don't recall having gone over to the house after the grad was just born and no I don't feel very old seeing her after she just graduated from my Alma Mater.  I never enjoyed seeing anyone I have not seen in a long time.  Fireman DID NOT take my oldest out to teach him how to golf (the party was held at a golf course), and of course they did not enjoy themselves. While eating my father did not suggest that they start a pool as to when the baby would be born and he did not suggest that he thought if I made it to July 2-4 I would be lucky.  My kids were not on their best behavior and showed no signs of having a blast!  It was not almost 90 degrees and you could not feel all of the humidity in the air.  The sun was not out and Grandpa was not watching one of the ponds and trying to fish out a great big fish he found facinating with a fishing pole that he chose to bring along "for the drive". My girls did not follow Fireman and oldest boy around the golf course, coming back to report all of the balls they did not lose; which I was very impressed with the numbers.  I did not try to hide the laughter when one of my Uncles decided to seek revenge against my youngest daughter with a bottle of water and I did not think she would really take him seriously when he asked if she could swim.... in a lake and not a pool!  Oh and there was not one chin that dropped on anyone around what was happening.  I never laughed when she was standing next to me and I took another bottle and got her wet twice more, and she never even tried to think about opening her bottle to get me wet.  Uncle did not get a really serious look upon his face while she contemplated attempting to cool off mom and mom was in no way really wishing she would do it just to get her body to cool down a smidgen. 

Oh and by the way, we did not just "leave in time" so that we just got home before a nice storm rolled through the area. The baby was not kicking by the time I got settled into a cooler house than it was outside. I really think she hates hot weather!
We did not have to come home to look at DD's foot again- only to find that the swelling in her foot was twice the size as before and also extending up to her toes.  We did not have to treat it again with topical spray, a little bee swab, baking soda, Benedryl, motrin and off to bed.

Did I mention I am not having a problem sitting because the baby is THAT low?  Nope..... NOT ME!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

34 week update

June 25, 2010 was the 34 week check point for us.  Gracie is still hanging on!  The weather has been kind of weird.  Nice warm days that all of the sudden we have downpours of rain; the sun out for part of the day, temps in the 80's.  Tornado conditions in the afternoons and evenings.

At the Doctor's appointment this week I have had all restrictions relinquished.  After the situation that put me in the hospital for the night of June 3, then the bed rest for almost 1 week following I lost 6 pounds.  I hear that is not uncommon, so at the next appointment I thought I had gained but I was at the same weight as the week before.  I am getting to the point that anytime I have an appointment I get nervous.  With that said, the last appointment for this past week I gained 2 pound.  I was never so happy to hear that!

Gracie sits REALLY low; so when it came to measuring her she is now not showing measurements of the stomach on the week range.  The Doc does not have really any worries about this; she just thinks I am all baby and that her head is so low it's throwing the measurement off.  I honestly have to say that I don't think I could have found a better OB.  She scheduled an ultrasound for in two weeks just to check her out and make sure that she is positioned right and to see her sizing.  I can't wait to see how things look going into my 36th week.

 I do have to say though that the last two days I feel like she is really packing the weight on.  For instance, baths are really fun when soaking.  When I turn to the left or right on my side all of the sudden I feel her shift weight in my stomach.  I have been having my restless leg acting up 100% more while pregnant, so usually I take a nice warm bath to calm my legs down.  Efficiently, she calms down when I do this also, so hey I don't really mind killing 2 birds with one stone. 

Tonight while eating dinner Gracie decided to start really pushing and tugging all over the place making it difficult to finish eating dinner.  I ended up having to take a break from dinner and go back after she decided that she was going to cooperate.  I figured that she would be big enough to take all the room up in my stomach so that she would start calming down, though I am finding that this is not the case.

The kids- as soon as I start making a gesture around my stomach start smiling and teasing Gracie about giving me a hard time.  Sometimes she presses so hard that I actually make a noise.  They laugh!  They are excited to be so close to having their sister here.  I think it's going to be an amazing event having a younger sister that they can mentor and play with.  They are really starting to ask questions, looking for things to buy for her to play with and making sure that I am okay.  I will be excited when they finally get to meet her and I give her to them to individually hold and coo all over.

Even though I have been through this 3 other times I am finding that every pregnancy has their likeness and total differences.  Almost everything that has happened through the other 3 are totally different than this one.  I am not sure if it's all due to my age or just the type of children I have / will be having. 

I guess it all remains to be seen!






Thursday, June 24, 2010

Spoilin' the kids?

For a couple of weeks now my kids have been doing "fairly" well on getting "most" of the chores done on their lists every day. We decided to splurge after seeing how much fun and "therapy" we have had with the Guitar Hero in the house, and decided that in order to show the kids that they do "earn" things for their good deeds, We decided to look for an entire band for the PS2.

Fireman and I tried to keep it a secret.. then the kids started proclaiming that they were doing all of these chores and not getting what they want for it. I kind of let the cat out of the bag that I ordered this off ebay and that I checked when it was supposed to arrive... TODAY!

With the girls room being a mess I got a lot of slack from the kids regarding cleaning it. With the baby on the way and going to be staying in their room; we have been working on getting them to actually clean up every day so that we can start really keeping it clean to keep the smaller things up and away from the baby in months to come. Yes, there was a lot of fighting, yelling and screaming between the kiddos, and I ended up reminding them that this item was due in today and that they would not be allowed to play it if BOTH rooms were not cleaned and swept. Yes! It worked. Poor dear boy wanted to play so badly that he went in and helped the girls clean their room because he soon found out that even if his were clean, it did not give him time to play- ALL three kids were in that room and within a half an hour had it cleaned and swept to my specifications (only for mom to get company and go dragging out all the baby stuff to show to mom's girlfriend.)

They had instructions in the box regarding how to put the equipment together, but very vague instructions on how to actually get it to work on the PS2. Yes it took almost 2 hours to get it working correctly (sorry, mom is PS2 impaired) and yes Mom took the first spin on the drum set.. But the kids were ecstatic with playing it. New songs and even some of their favorite songs were on there and they played until 10:30 tonight with Dad mostly, since he already had played drums before. He took time to get them acquainted with the drum set and let them each have a round on that too.

The house was very loud and noisy for a while, but I made sure all of the windows were closed and it was actually nice listening to all of the four of them enjoying themselves and laughing. I liked the music that was developing from the living room while I frantically got dinner done and on the table in the kitchen. I enjoyed cooking with a smile on my face just watching them happy.
 The kids were really into the game!

Steven was really getting into the singing part.  They thought that this was awesome!

 Dad was in on the gig too!  He was all excited to come home and be my replacement on the drums while I made din-din.  

The most special part of the night was that on their way to bed  with all the pretty smiles upon their faces each one stopped in my room and gave me a big hug and kiss and thanked me for getting this for them.  I love when I can do things like this and they appreciate the gesture.  I wanted to smile and cry at the same time!


On another note; after the kids got to bed I finally went off to bed, I was able to conquer Fireman's full attention so that I could get the parts to go on three ends of wires that needed to be repaired and replaced on our Air machine.  About 10 minutes later; Fireman plugged it in, and I was really close to going to fetch our kitchen fire extinguisher "just in case".  LOL!!  We plugged it in and turned it on before putting it back up on the top of the computer desk and it was refreshing to smell that fragrance of just walking through the summer thunderstorm.  So refreshing!  I am now purging my house and hope that it helps with the hacking I do at night.  

It is sometimes difficult for me to show how much I love my kids; but today was such a wonderful feeling.  I actually got to spend time with them without having larger issues holding over my head and was very heart-lifting.  I only hope to have more days like today.



Monday, June 21, 2010

Not Me Monday

Mckmama- Not Me Monday


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I am not 33 weeks pregnant as of last Friday.

I had no doctor's appointment on Wednesday.  Hubby came home and we all piled into the van and took off for the appointment.  We did not hit a black cat while dodging another black cat, both crossing the road.  And that said cat did not get up, shake it's tail and head and walk away with me not crying "We gotta go back and check on him" with tears building up in my eyes.  Nope never happened and this was not a bad sign of what was to follow.  We got into the office with all three kids, and no it never happened that the Husband was the one causing all of the problems, getting into things and being a nuisance (see posts from last week to see the explanation on this).  We were not nervous on what the doc was going to have to say either.
I did not breathe a sigh of relief as we all walked out of the office, waited for the elevator and exited the building. No blogging on the subject either!

Friday was not rather eventful with Fireman taking a load down to Columbus wondering if he was going to be stuck for a while since the President was coming into town.  I did not fret; and I did not ask his buddy to call the dispatcher and thank him for sending him down there in that mess.  The dispatcher did think I was being grumpy, and of course the dispatcher did not understand I was actually in one of my smart assed moods. 

Saturday came along; and I was sleeping quite peachy on my living room couch (you know the one that probably wont need replaced because I am killing the springs in it) while Fireman was not trying too awful hard to wake me so that we could go do our errands that day.  We picked up our angel food order; pulling dinner out while we put the food away, then loaded back into the van to go gallavanting over in a nearby township at their Farmer's market opening day for this year.  Fireman found some white bread, me a hot dog, the boy found a sausage sandwich, and when we went back for some other things we were looking for they were difficult to get when they had sold out!  It was very hot and humid and I did not waste any time finding my way back to the van and asking Fireman to get me out of the heat.  I (of course) would never come home and fall asleep again due to being in the nice cool house.

Sunday was Father's Day.  Lots of things to do around the house, while the kids decided to jump into the freezing cold pool since we had just spent 3 days of running the water into it an hour at a time taking breaks to give the water pump a break and trying not to drain the water out of the well.  This is actually the first year we did this, and I believe next year we will have it trucked in again.  The kids were actually quite chatty over at Grandma's and Grandpa's while we went to visit for Father's day.  My parents got workout equipment that is on their back porch and I am actually amazed that I let Katelyn go and go on that machine while Grandpa sat there looking at me and telling me that she is going to be hurting in the morning while I just looked at hime and said that I guess she would find out all about that tomorrow.  I also explained that no matter what I say she has to experience it herself because if not she won't believe me.  My son did not whine a good part of the time there that he was hungry, and he did not try to be overbearing trying to get me to buy things he wanted while getting a few items at the store afterwards.

I made dinner after getting home; and I was actually shocked the kids ate pretty well!  Of course having them help prepare the dinner by having one make gravy and the other one make crossonts did not help matters any. 

While the kids went to bed and I was getting ready to start cleaning up the kitchen I thought it would be a good idea to open the windows and turn the air off since it cooled off some outside.  I did not think about all of the nats outside being sucked into the house through said windows just because I had the whole house fan turned on to suck that air in.  I did not have to throw leftovers out just because of all the dead nats all over them, causing fireman to have to change his plans for lunch for the Monday workday. 

I was wiped out after tackling the loading and unloading of the dishwasher and for some reason I did not still keep going; wiping down cabinets, cleaning out the over zealously filled with leftover food in the refridgerator.  It did not look like I needed to go to the store at all after that was accomplished and I did not fill a complete 30 gallon trash bag full of debris that was being kicked out to the curb to be picked up in the morning.


Sunday, June 20, 2010

Happy Fathers Day

A Dad is

A Dad is respected because he gives his children leadership.
A Dad is appreciated because he gives his children care.
A Dad is valued because he gives his children time.
A Dad is loved because he gives his children the one thing they treasure most - himself.

~ Author Unknown

I am very blessed to have a wonderful father and husband whom are the father to my 4 children.  They have been there for me and our kids and continue to have fun, love and support for them.  If anything today is a day for us to remind those in their lives of what support and leadership they share but all of the things they have shown us as well as for us to reflect back on how they have effected our lives.  Fathers lead by example and teach kids right from wrong.  It is an important part of growing up.
 
I am grateful for having such a wonderful father who is always a phone call or a short drive away.  He has the wisdom and knowledge to guide me through my life and I am happy I still have him with us upon this earth.  He has strengths that I admire.  He is a wonderful Father and I will always have special memories of things we have done together.

I am grateful that I have a husband who is there as a Father for our children; and who is also very excited to meet our fourth child due soon.  He is there for me and the kids in sickness and health and tries so very hard to help teach the hard life lessons that I am sure the kids do not appreciate now, but will so many years to come.

I would hate to see what me or my children would become without their support. 

                                                   Happy Father's Day.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Not Me Monday

I am going to start this Monday off returning back to a fun adventure on Mondays.  This will be the only days these will be posted, MONDAYS!  A special thanks going out to MckMama for starting this.  When I first started the blog I did start to join in but I don't think I really understood what I was doing and got lost in all the hustle and bustle of working on the blog itself I actually lost track on doing it.  I hope to prove my past wrong and continue with this as it is actually very fun to do and it looks back on the last week to see what we can look at that may have been serious before, but after looking back I can poke some fun at it. 

If you are interested in participating in this feel free to check out MckMama's site at http://mycharmingkids.net/2008/09/not-me-monday-the-complete-rules/ for the details and rules in playing. 

I hope to make your Monday's wake up more special for you with some laughter!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

More changes coming to the site...

I have come to the conclusion that this blog is mainly about my children, and some of the most craziest things that happen in my life. The one that always get's blamed is "NOT ME" so therefore since we have already attempted to evict "NOT ME" from the household I have a new button in the progress of being made that I believe will suit the "NOT ME" situation really well.

At first I decided to open my blog with notmedidit.com, with the name of Boo's Corner because I was once nicknamed BOO. However with the latest turn of events I think changing my blog to Not Me did it... well that's just a good idea as to what it's all about. Sure, there are good things that my kids do, and I am very proud of them, but sometimes a mom just needs to vent a little along with applauding them and this is so much cheaper than therapy. I can actually look for funny things that the kids do to make me laugh and it makes me think "out of the box" as to how to deal with it. I certainly hope that it will lead to you having some kind of pick me up through the day; a laugh, a smile, and thoughts that maybe, just maybe your life could be a little worse! LOL

Since everyone in my house ( and yes I am admitting guilt here too) eventually has a "not me, I did not do it" method of thought, I thought that changing the name to that would only be fitting.

I certainly hope that you will continue to read and laugh right along with me. For me, it is a way to look at life and hope to get "not so serious" about everything that happens; a comedy if you will. Please continue to read and comment and have fun! You only get one life to live so I may as well look at these happenings and learn how to grow from them.

Enjoy!

What do you do when your kids are better than your Husband?

I had a check up with the OB yesterday just to make sure things were still going okay. I ended up taking the kids with me with their DS Lite's and they sat in the waiting room playing their games while Fireman and I went back to the appointment. I was weighed, then BP was taken, then had to go to the restroom to leave my "specimen" at which time Hubs was laughing. As I was walking to the bathroom I noticed he was laughing at me and the Nurse said something to him about laughing and at that point I knew then that Fireman was feeling ornery and I had to keep an eye on him.

Right I was! I came back to my room and got ready for the Doc to come in for her visit. While sitting on the examining table; Hubs decided to be ornery, taking a purple glove and blowing it up like a balloon and playing with it. He let the air out, played a little more with me getting after him for it. They had a calendar on the corkboard slightly above his head where they have the current calendar posted; well it was not safe... as Fireman decided that he did not like the June calendar and changed it to July. With me showing my feelings, asking him to change it back, he waited a few minutes and then flipped it back. They had the box of gloves and the box of tissues in the room sitting right next to each other and if I had not caught him he would have removed the gloves and tissues and flipped them into the opposite boxes. After stopping that ordeal; I was pretty nervous when he started over to the other metal counter on the opposite side of the room where all of the testing supplys were kept. Before he touched anything I offered my oppinion that "he just needed to leave that table alone". I was saved when Doc knocked on the door and he had to go sit down.

All I can say is how can I have such great kids that sit out in that waiting room and not one nurse even knew they were there, and then my 46 year old Husband who was in the same room with me be so much trouble? I know he was nervous; I also know that he was doing his best to keep me entertained, but SHEEESH!!!!!

The good news is that the last and final Fetal Fibronectin test came back negative for any preterm labor or delivering before week 34/35. wooo hooo!!! That takes me up to July anyways! I was very happy they called with that news today.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Smores in the making...

While out an about this weekend, we found something I thought the kids would enjoy.  It's a Smore's maker that you actually can plug in and make smore's at any time during the year.  We always try to get time to build a fire and do things like this over an open fire, but you know what they say about Ohio- If you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes!  It will change!  With us having somewhat of a wierd weather cycle this year it makes it more difficult to prepare a fire and keep wood dry. 

We of course had to stop for all of the fixin's for Smore's on the way home and after dinner we fired the Marshmallow heater up.  Steven decided he just wanted graham crackers and chocolate; something so un-american!  I made it manndatory that everyone had to have showers beforehand which made this task so much more easier to get the kids manipulated into doing. 



I think the Smore's maker was a hit!  We are planning to do this at least once a week (providing we can keep the Hershey's bars in the house) We all had one and I found that once the Heater is started and heating for a short while that it makes the marshmallows so squooshie and melts the chocolate very nicely!  The cleanup was awesome.  I just unplugged the unit and let it cool off while I ate my Smore and when I came back put it back in the box.  The two sticks for roasting the soft fluffy white Marshmallows actually washed up nicely too!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Pregnancy does not just effect the mothers

At 32 weeks; there are still plenty of things to so and get ready for. Maybe for this household it's just a little bit more than what one would think.

Poor Fireman! Lately he has been very frustrated trying to keep up with mowing the yard, helping me around the house and fixing things. Yesterday he worked on the Jeep. I can't remember exactly what it was he replaced; but they were parts that he had to take the drive shaft off of and bange the parts out that needed replaced. He ended up getting it all torn apart, got the parts out for each side; got one side in, then ended up calling it a night at almost 10 PM because the parts store sold him the wrong part. He got up this morning; ran to get the other part and had the Jeep back together by noon.

Now while this is all hunky-dory, It seems to have put him behind on his tight schedule. A friend of his is giving us a 16 X 12 deck that needs to be cut down and brought over, then we will have to set it up in the back yard. We are very excited as our back yard has a really a lot of water and I would love to have a nice deck to put the beautiful picnic table that dad made for us on, along with the grill. Fireman's friend at work has a nice big gazebo type tent that we are looking at getting and anchoring down on the deck to have some shade too.

Anyways, it just seems like he is really frustrated and trying to get everything done that he would like to get done. I keep asking him to breath and calm down a bit. When he gets like this he gets very agitated and it usually means he is going to get the chest pains from the anxiety and then here we are going back to the hospital to be evaluated once again.

How do I know it's usually anxiety? He has went through all of this with our first born. He has so much he wants to do and really with working 14 hour days no time to do it. Katie has been hounding him left and right about setting up the pool and getting that going so things like this don't help. He wants to get the deck moved so his friend don't give it to someone else.

I think he is actually doing something like a nesting of his own. Trying to do sooo much and he knows I can't help, so he takes it on for himself. I feel bad for him. And I can't help other than to hopefully talk with him to take the anxiety away.

In a way I know exactly what he is going through. It's rough! I just hope we can get some things checked off of his to do list and then hopefully he will be able to take it easier.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

New things happening on the website..

With time to sit around and think... I have done some update work to my website. I have added Wibiya to the bottom of my blog to make things easier for me as well as you, the readers. I have also created a Fan page for the site that set up to bring more of my blog to you on Facebook. I'll probably be piddlin' around more with it and seeing what else I can add/subtract/modify to make it easier for everyone.

I was also told that there were some problems with people leaving messages for me under my postings on the website. I hope that I have them resolved as of tonight and if anyone still has problems please let me know!

So Before everything goes haywire on the site I hope you all can accept my apologies in advance.

32 weeks 1 day

Hooray!! We hit 32 weeks. It's funny to be sitting here typing as the baby is Hiccuping. Kind of difficult to be sitting here trying to type, but she keeps on practicing her breathing with the hiccups! She has been doing this more.

I am very happy I have made it this far. I have been told that every day that she stays "in" that it takes 2-3 days out of the NICU. I am very happy with that as I really would love to bring her home with us.

With me being on Modified bed rest, I have been **trying** to take it easy, only doing smaller things and trying to depend on the bigger things being done by the kids and Fireman. The hardest part is I have always been able to do it, and it is very frustrating to sit around seeing all the little things that need done, and if I get the incling to do them they will be done; or I just may sit there and leave it be.

I had bedrest with Steven, but I was the only one home and really the only place that got destroyed would be my bedroom because I had no one home with me. This time it's different; I have 4 others in the house and 3 like to do things and just leave it lay where it ends up. This morning with my hourly jaunt to the bathroom, I found that "NOT ME" ended up brushing their teeth and had toothpaste all over the mirror, counters, and 5 toothbrushes scattered all over the counters amongst the hair ties and hair brushes. Within 2 minutes, with a bottle of window cleaner and paper towels stashed under the sink and a quick catch of an old rag from the bottom of the towel closet I had it all picked up, cleaned up, wiped up, and polished to see yourself in the sink. So why is it I am the only one that sees this in the house? No, the bathroom is not totally cleaned; but at least I know something in that room is clean and that eventually after Gracie's arrival things will start to get into shape around here again.

While Fireman works his long 14 hour days Monday through Friday I have been trying to do things with the kids to wear them out, get them out of the house and actually rest. One of the things we do is attend a free lunch program in a neighboring township. This gives me the opportunity to keep the kitchen cleaner; they get to eat a nutritious lunch, and after they eat they get other "friends" they get to meet and they get to run around in a large area. they can play baseball and other games depending on what equipment is available for the day. It allows the kids time to get the independance they so love. It provides social skills training; and it provides a time for mom to step in and correct improper social happenings.

Yesterday after visiting the lunch program we found an allotment sale. Figuring that we have been locked up for a while, I figured me and the kids could do a "drive through" the sales and pull up to each one so I did not have to walk so far. We had $20.00 on us and after finding some deals I came back home with almost $3.00 in my pocket!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Bed rest is NOT FUN

Yes!!! I have been very quiet. Very quiet because I have been dealing with things with Gracie. Last Thursday I went into the doctor's office for a routine ultrasound visit; only to find out there was something to cause concern. It was then followed up with a visit with the doctor, which everything was moving so fast that my head was spinning and only caught bits and pieces as to what was actually going on. I went to check out of the office after she requested I go next door to the hospital (office was in the same building as the hospital) to be monitored for an hour. After making the appointments she requested; At this point while the wheelchair was waiting, I remember looking at the nurse and saying "I really don't need that I can walk!". I got the "limo" ride over to Labor and Delivery.

In the room they set me up in,they got me undressed; hooked me up to the monitors, and about 15 minutes came in asking how my pain was. What pain? My chest from all the hacking? "No hun, you are contracting every 2-3 minutes!" OMG!!!! Now everything clicked, the swiftness of the Doctor's decision, the Wheelchair ride - EVERYTHING, But I was still confused!

Ended up they gave me a shot in the arm of Terbutaline to try to calm the contractions down.. I was one day shy of 31 weeks! Unfortunately it did not work, so they talked to the Doctor and she decided to admit me and use the Magnesium Sulfate. I also got a shot of steroids for Gracie's lungs "just in case" (and yes, the bruise is STILL where they injected it!). I needed a booster of the steroid 24 hours afterwards too.

The Magnesium Sulfate made me feel like I was going through hot flashes, and I felt like I was drunk before the small "larger" dosed bag was over. I was giddy. Fireman began to worry. My mom and sister came up after the shock of the drug started wearing off. My mom was ever so wonderful taking the kids until things calmed down.

That next morning I ended up still on the Magnesium, not sleeping hardly at all through the night with restroom breaks and coughing from the bronchitis or whatever crud ended up in my chest. They ended up putting me on Oxygen and also fitted my legs with these blow up bags that they said was to help keep blood clots down before actually letting me get comfortable to sleep. I was so hot from the effects that they ended up putting a fan on my bed and for a while I slept with it blowing on my face.

Ended up about 11 AM the Doc came in and did a fFN test (fetal fibronectin) to check for preterm labor. The test came back in about an hour showing negative for preterm labor within the next 7 - 14 days. Good news! I could go home! Everyone agreed I should stay at least until time for the second Steroid shot that was due at 6:00 PM. I got the second shot, was discharged with strict warnings Bedrest only with only being up for the bathroom. I seemed to remember thinking "how in the heck am I going to accomplish this!!?" I knew I had at least two days home with Fireman to take care of me and then Monday morning I would be home alone with the kids while Fireman worked. While going over discharge papers and then being wheeled down to the van, the nurse shared with me a website; sidelines.org. She said that she was on bedrest for 10 weeks with twins and if it had not been for this site she would not have made it(I ended up checking it out after getting settled in at home). Sidelines.org is a great place to get support for high risk pregnancies! Lots of information...

Fireman brought me home, and the first thing I wanted to do was get a bath. I could not do so in the hospital, so as soon as walking into the house guess where the first place I went? well... In my lamen's terms; the bathtub IS in the Bathroom, and since I am obliged to use the Bathroom, then it should be okay to take a bath! LOL

Mom and Dad decided to keep the kids another night; it was already kind of late and they probably were afraid I would have to go back into the Hospital. They kept them until Mid-Afternoon. Saturday was Katie's 11th birthday and I ended up calling and cancelling her birthday party with her friends. There was no way I could have girls over to the house with me on bedrest and what would happen if I ended up needing to go back in? My sister was so wonderful; she took Katie out shopping and out to lunch. I felt I could see a big change in her by the time she came home. She brought her loot from her shopping with her Aunt home and was very excited! We felt bad for her missing out on her party that we agreed to have all of the girls over after Gracie's arrival and before school for a sleepover. Fireman went and bought an Icecream cake to celebrate that night.

Things seemed to have went well. I was staying calm and dealing with the bicering and fighting that sometimes reared it's ugly head from the couch and not getting up. Monday morning; my hips were hurting from laying on my left side so much and the kids were up fighting over the TV. I seemed to let them do whatever they pleased as long as it was safe just to keep a fight from happening. I had a ton of Legos all over the floor; along with Littlest Petshops. Steven donned himself into his DS lite for the day; staying pretty happy with that. As soon as Fireman called and told me he was on his way home I started thinking about ways to get the kids to help him clean up the house. Instead of telling them what needed to be done; I asked them to name three things they could do when dad gets home to help get the house cleaned up. After those items were done, the house was looking better than it had all day (at least from my view LOL)and they were rewarded with WII time.

Tuesday when I woke up to the kids in the Living Room and fighting over the TV, I was starting to fret some. How can I deal with this and deal with it without getting up and not being stressed? It was a difficult day. I was sore. My back hurt. No matter how I laid I could not get comfortable. My link to the world was my internet on my laptop; my big investment this year, a used laptop! I was curious about some of the things that were mentioned with everything going on searching endlessly for someone who went through it too. With the research and the kids I was to the point that I was not being very happy with how things were working out but I was thankful to have the research to keep me from exploding. The kids decided to try to make a run of the house getting into everything they thought they could because "Mom cannot do anything about it".

Fireman once again came home; but the house was beyond trashed. I felt terrible to have to depend on Fireman as much as I was; I knew he was tired and I knew he did not even know what to start with or what to do. He brought dinner home; and since he did not know how to prepare it I had him set everything up at the kitchen table and I sat there and made dinner; telling him what I needed and asking him to take this to the oven or get me this or that. Later that night; awarded with Wii time again and getting strict instructions that they were all to get up and get showers in the morning; they went to bed.

Wednesday was the first day that I actually slept through the night; waking up when Fireman called. I was shocked; up at 8 AM and no kids up? they actually slept until 9:30 or 10:00 and got their breakfast. I did not say they cleaned it up though! I had to push for them to get showers and reminded them I had a doctors appointment. It was actually a good day; they were all into their DS lites and while there was a slight mess throughout the house, it was better than in the past.

Fireman requested at work to get off work early to get me to my Doctor's appointment, which we made with 10 minutes to spare and three highly threatened children that they were "to be on their best behavior". No complaints from the nursing staff.... :O) That is where we were told that while I need to take it easy and given other instructions - I did not need to be on such a restrictive rest plan! WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

My mind was going a mile a minute. I can do things with my kids! I can help keep house and get little things done with their help and help my husband in the process in keeping up with things. I can make his life easier!!! Excitement was in my blood then. I was actually looking foward to doing little things that once I thought was a pain in the ass.

While I am no longer on bedrest; I am still taking things easy. I need to at least get past July 16, 2010; my Grandmothers birthday. The more I think of things, the more I am thinking that Gracie has my grandmother's attitude and wouldn't it be something if they ended up sharing that special day? I am in no way going to provoke it into happening though. Gracie needs to stay put as long as she possibly can to "bake".

Anyone who thinks bedrest is easy needs to rethink their thoughts. It is rough. It is difficult. It is something that you don't think of or plan for. It is something that you need to remember that "this too shall pass". If it were not for friends and family I am not sure how I really would have dealt with this. I am not one that accepts help and assistance very easily but during this time I found myself leaning on people I hated to burden, and I had to really let myself do that. I am grateful for all of the help I recieved, even though I am not really sure how to show that to those who deserve it.