Another week -- still here!

It's Friday again, so I thought I'd drop a quick note out on the blog. This week has been much less eventful than last -- no crazy visual disturbance, surprising spike in blood pressure, or anything too alarming. But still...at this point, we are starting to just be ready for this little guy to come!

We packed it up last Saturday and headed to Morton for my niece Lucy's first birthday party. My sister had done a great job with cute decorations and food, and Lucy really seemed to like her cake. Maggie enjoyed tearing around the enormous empty hallways just off the church party room, and Dad enjoyed chasing her while I watched. :) She also had a great time with Nana and Grampa -- even pointed at him and called him "Jake" for the first time. Luckily I was feeling pretty good Saturday, so I got to visit with people a bit, and we had dinner with Steve's mom before heading home. Then we spent a nice lazy Sunday recovering from the eventful day.



My blood pressure was fairly constant (130ish/80ish) all weekend, so I headed into work for a while Monday. Thought I did pretty well and tied up loose ends, but Steve was upset I stayed so long. But that was the end of that, come my check-up on Tuesday. My diastolic blood pressure is just not dropping below 84 or so anymore, so they requested I be taken off work. I'm trying to tie up loose ends from the couch, but I think even that's coming to an end on Monday. Just had a few days where I was exceptionally tired and didn't feel right. Even though I'd like to keep up my usual routine until the end, I'm realizing it's just not going to be possible.

So we shall see. I keep telling Steve I don't think we'll go the whole way to term, but at this point...this pregnancy seems fairly similar to last time. Maggie was due August 11th and came the 15th...so look out for May 15th perhaps? I wouldn't mind us going earlier. It doesn't seem like he can get much bigger! Heartburn and sleep disturbances are back, so we must be in the home stretch. Know it will be worth it once he's finally here safely - keep us in your prayers until then!

Three weeks or less?

Just thought I'd post another quick update for anyone following along. We had a pretty eventful Monday here at Casa Easter. I was supposed to have my 37 week check-up at 8 am. As soon as I got up though, I discovered I had light stringing through my vision. We packed a few just-in-case bags, took Maggie to the sitter's, and headed in to my doctor's office.

As expected, my blood pressure was spiking a bit to the 140/90 range. I also had a non-stress test, and the baby wasn't very reactive. And I was having fairly big contractions every 4-5 minutes apart. Between all those things, I was sent to do pre-eclampsia labs and take it easy until Thursday. Luckily, the contractions died down, everything looked good on the labs, and my blood pressure stabilized closer to 130/80. So I have been on "couch rest" this week, as I like to call it. I'm working from home and trying to get everything squared away before maternity leave...and also trying to put off labor a little longer.

We shall see how it goes! Anytime next week or later would be great. My friends from church put on an awesome little shower for Baby E tonight at Kelly's Bakery and Cafe (yum!), where they proceeded to spoil the little guy rotten. Seriously, so many cute clothes and things. Tomorrow is my niece Lucy's first birthday party, so we are journeying over to Morton for that. But after that, all bets on arrival date are off. The only thing it would really make a difference for is the baby's birthstone at this point. Emerald would match with Maggie's green peridot, but I could live with it if we have an April diamond boy too.

Thank you all for the prayers and support, and I will try to keep you posted!

One month to go!

Today is one month from Little E's due date. Obviously my resolution to blog more during this pregnancy hasn't gone so well, but that's probably what having a toddler takes out of you! So at almost 36 weeks, we are doing fairly well.

This pregnancy has been pretty easy, but quite a bit different from Maggie as well. Still no nausea or crazy food aversions. However, a few things have been a little different -- heartburn at something like 12-13 weeks, a really sensitive gag reflex, an intense craving for greasy food. Once we got past 16 weeks, the heartbeat seemed a little lower than Maggie Jo's. About a month later, we found out that old wives' tale had held true for us...it was indeed a boy. Since then, we've had more of the same -- heartburn, kicking in the ribs constantly, lower heartbeats. I'm still a really comfortable pregnant woman though, so I take some comfort in that.

These last few weekends have been a blur of trying to get things ready and not quite succeeding. We've decided to wait on really decking out the nursery until after our company has slowed down a bit. We have yet to order another bed, although we are leaning towards getting a new cherry convertible crib/toddler bed for Maggie. We've got a couple ideas on bedding but nothing ordered yet. In some ways, we've got the second child syndrome in full effect already.

Hoped to get a lot done this weekend, but I ended up getting overheated while shopping at Kohls (trying to finish out Maggie's summer wardrobe). I was actually worried I was in labor for a while, so I ended up taking it easy most of the weekend instead. But it did convince me to finish my birth plan and start thinking about packing for the hospital. We have our last ultrasound and a check-up tomorrow, so we may have a bit better idea about how close we are or aren't then.

All in all though, we are starting to feel ready to meet this little guy. I'm treasuring being able to dote on Maggie a little bit, as I know these relaxed evenings are fleeting, but I think we are excited to see what our family is going to become. Appreciate any extra prayers sent out our way these next few weeks as we finish up all the 'essential' tasks and start to get ready for our new reality!

Easter with a little Easter

Sort of a poor-man's-post I suppose, but here are some pics of MJ's second Easter. As you can see, she looks a lot different than the last set of pictures I posted here!