18 days

That's how long I have been on bedrest. I'm not gonna lie. It's been rough...on everybody. 4 more days, and the Dr will let me stop my medication and go into labor.

So, here's the story...

Friday night, a couple of weeks ago, Jim and I were going to go on a date night for our 14th anniversary. Well, I had been having contractions all day, but that is so common for me, we decided to go ahead with our plans. But, we decided to hit a restaurant close to the hospital, just in case. So, we are sitting in the parking lot of the restaurant, debating if we should go in, and we decide we better just head up to the hospital. So, we grab a quick bite at Taco Bell (Happy Anniversary)and head to labor & delivery.

I am always reluctant to go to the hospital, because I can never tell when I'm really in labor. I have contractions all the time, and I hate spending a couple hours in the hospital and then have them send me home with a false alarm.

So, I get all settled on the monitors and the nurse checks me and I'm dilated to 4cm. An hour later, she checks me and I am at 5cm. I just get tears in my eyes and think, "Why?" I am only 32 weeks pregnant. I do not want to have a 32 week baby. They decide to admit me and put me on magnesium and steroid shots. That might have been the worst experience of my life. The magnesium makes you feel so crappy, and what's worse is you have to be on it for 48 hours. Ugh. Glad that's over.

I ended up spending 4 days in the hospital. I could not wait to get out of there. I was tired of the IV's and my belly itched so bad from the monitors, that I just wanted to be free. So, the morning I'm supposed to be released, the specialist comes in and tells me he wants me to stay in the hospital for the next 2 weeks. Um, no. I practically begged my doctor to let me come home and I told him I would be sooooo good, and hardly ever get out of bed. So, he let me come home, and for the last two weeks, I have hardly been out of bed. No matter how hard it is on EVERYONE, I know that this is the best thing. We want our baby sister to come home with us and not have to stay in the hospital.

This is the 3rd pregnancy in a row that I have had to be on bedrest. I guess I was hoping that it would be different this time, but it was actually worse than all the rest of the pregnancies. I think this is the last time I can do this.

Jim and the kids have been amazing!They have really stepped up and taken care of things. They have all pitched in and kept up on the house and the laundry. My mom and Jim's mom have been over here trying to keep up on the laundry, too. We have a lot of laundry. I have the best friends, too. They have brough meals and helped with the kids. We feel really loved and blessed to have so many people who want to help us. Thank you to everyone!

Saturday, I will be 36 weeks and I will stop my medication and resume normal activity. I am counting down the hours. I never had a chance to "nest", and I need to get a few things done. I don't know how long I will last after Saturday. I am going to have to watch my contractions very closely, and head to the hospital at the first sign of labor since I'm already at 5cm. Because I've had so many kids, it doesn't take much to push me all the way to 10cm. Also, I will be VBAC-ing. Which means that I have previously had a C-section (Stinkin' Lincoln). I don't plan on having a c-section ever again, so my doctor legally has to hang out with me for my whole labor, in case of complications. I hope everyone is lucky enough to have such a great doctor. He has VBAC-ed me my last 3 babies. I love my doctor.

I know this is a long post, but I just wanted to give a little recap of what's happening at our house, since Mom's been down.

Jim gets 5 of the kids up at 6:30am and sends them off to school by 7:25. Gets a little bit of work done before Levi wakes up. He feeds Levi,puts in a couple loads of laundry (while texting and answering his phone for work stuff). Then Dylan gets home from Kindergarten and he feeds me and the kids lunch, more laundry, runs to the store (sometimes more than once a day). There is no shortage of fruit loops and cheese balls at my house. Makes sure Lincoln's uniform is washed for baseball. Kids get home, Jim gets Lincoln going on his homework before baseball (which he has almost everyday). The girls do their homework without being told. He chases Levi around pretty much all day long cleaning up his messes which include: throwing things in the toilet...every toilet, dumping the garbage can out, unscrewing spray bottles full of water, helping himself to hot cheetos and dumping them out everywhere, putting legos in his mouth, throwing all 100 of Lincoln's trophies onto the floor from his dresser, etc. You get the picture. On top of that, the girls have activity days, young womens, piano lessons, student council meetings, Jr. honor society meetings, volleyball, and the list goes on. So, basically it has been a struggle for Jim to actually get any work done the past couple weeks. Usually, there are two of us to split up the running around. But, Jim is doing it all on his own. I try to text friends, and arrange rides for the girls when I can, but Jim has been running ragged. I love him so much. He is really making me look bad with how well he is keeping up with things :)

Yesterday, Levi went to spend a few days with my sister-in-law. Usually, he is not that big of a pest. He and I hang out and spend a lot of time together during the day. He is not used to me being down, and I think he has just been bored to death. He is having fun with his cousins across town, but the kids miss him like crazy.

My mom has been a huge help. She washed my huge bin full of baby girl clothes and organized it for me, and then picked up a few things I needed which wasn't much at all. Turns out, we have a lot of girls stuff. Preemie stuff, too, since Brooklyn and Dylan were both under 6lbs when they were born. So, we are in good shape.

I am still in denial that I am having another baby. Even after all that we have been through. I don't think it has really hit me that we will be carrying around a car seat, diaper bag, bottles, formula, and a newborn. I don't know if it will really sink in until she gets here. We will love her, though. We still haven't decided on a name...the end.