34 weeks and 2 days ...

Sorry it's late, I don't know why I didn't take pictures and post them on Thursday, but here they are now. I am measuring 42 in around my belly button. 1/4 in bigger than last week.

Here is another picture for you too ...

"Now Hmmm..." you wonder. "Why is there a hospital bracelet on her arm that says her name?" Well, that was my wonderful Friday night adventure. Ok, so maybe not so wonderful. I was sitting in the movie theatre waiting for the movie to start, and started getting what I thought was Braxton Hicks contractions. However, they were feeling like mentrual cramps and I was getting pain in my back as well. (for those of you who don't know, this is theoretically what "real" contractions are supposed to feel like in the early stages of labor) So I figured I would just sit through the movie and see what happened. Well, throughout the movie I got probably 3 more contractions that only had the back pain, not the cramping.

I went home and got in the shower & laid down so I could try to relax my back. All the while getting contractions, but I wasn't really paying attention to them, because I didn't think it was anything. I dried off and was standing in the bathroom and felt something drip out of me. Well, this may be TMI, but I was afraid I was leaking amniotic fluid. I sat down on the toilet and leaked some more, so I called the Dr's office and talked to the on call Dr. She told me to go to the hospital so they could tell if my water had broken or what was going on.

Well, I went in they checked me out. They took a sample of what came out of me so they could look at it under a slide. It was not amniotic fluid, (thank goodness) so we had no reason to believe that my water had broken after that. However, I was contracting every 3 minutes, and at 34 weeks along, that's not a good thing. They called the Dr and they told them to give me a shot of turbuteline to stop the contractions. Now this can be given up to 5 doses, 1/2 hour apart each, and if the contractions didn't stop by the 5th dose, I would still be there, probably getting ready to give birth to my baby. They ended up giving me one, which stopped the contractions for a while, but then they started back up again. So they gave me another, which made them stop, but they were still wanting to give me a third, but my heart rate was too high. Turbuteline makes your heart race, and my heart rate was almost as high as Tayson's. (I was concerned before so I just though I'd add ... it does not affect Tayson's heart rate, just mine) So while I was laying there with my heart beating out of my chest, they couldn't give me a third shot, so they gave me a pill version instead, some ambien to help me sleep (which also is completely safe for Tayson) and sent me on my way. We got into the hospital probably somewhere around 8pm and were out of there right around midnight.

Anyway, it's a good thing that the Turbuteline worked, because if it didn't I would have had to stay. I'm also glad they felt comfortable letting me do the third dose in a pill and sending me home for it. I was tired, and by the time I got home with that pill and the ambien in me, it was all I could do to brush my teeth and make it all the way to my bed. I actually don't remember getting in bed. Shane said I was snoring pretty loud too, and I didn't have to get up to pee in the middle of the night, so I slept pretty well last night. Now they said I'm basically on bed rest for the rest of the weekend and I have my appointment with Dr. Beck (my ob) on Wednesday so we'll see what he says about it. Anyway, everything is fine, Tayson was hooked up to a fetal monitor the entire time and his heartbeat was strong and at a good rate. I can't wait to meet him, although I want him to be healthy and fully developed when he comes to meet us. And I want to be a little more prepared for everything as well.