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Warning: Extreme Sappiness Ahead

9:41 am CDT April 10, 2008
The abdomen pain that I mentioned last week continued to get worse, so Eric and I ended up staying home from work and making a trip to my doctor's office. I've been good about not being "that pregnant lady" so far -- you know, the one that calls the doctor every time she feels something funny. I mean, I AM pregnant. I realize that this is supposed to feel a little funny. But something felt wrong last week, and I wanted to have it checked out before getting on a plane and heading to NY for the weekend. It turns out I had a pulled muscle and/or torn ligaments in my abdomen. Painful, yes, but luckily not serious. The doctor told me it should feel better in about a week and that I should take it easy and take as much Tylenol as I needed. Sure enough, it stopped hurting over the weekend. And now I'm back to feeling great again!
We had a wonderful time in New York over the weekend. On Friday night we stayed with our friends Marc and Brett and finally got to meet the adorable 2 1/2-month-old Kyle, who was in a surprisingly good mood after having received his shots that day. On Saturday, the boy's Grandmere (Eric's mom) hosted a baby shower for us, and we were able to see a lot of our friends and family members. I only wish we had had more time to spend with everyone. The boy got so many wonderful gifts -- I can't believe how lucky we are to have friends and family like ours. While the traveling situation could've been much worse, I'm definitely glad that that was my last flight for a while. We only have one more trip coming up for our friends' wedding in Orlando, but we're driving for that one. I know it's going to be a long trip, but at least we'll be able to stop and stretch, eat what/when we want and use normal-sized restrooms.
We had our final ultrasound on Tuesday, and everything looks wonderful. The boy scored 8 points out of 8 (2 points each for general movement, reflexes, growth/size and amount of amniotic fluid). He's currently weighing in at 3 lbs. 12 oz., which is about a week ahead of where he should be, but not so big that we should be alarmed. Whew! The nurse commented on how active he is. He was doing what Eric calls his "rock 'em, sock 'em" moves (which is basically just punching me and kicking me all over), and whaddayaknow -- we could see in the ultrasound that he actually had his arms raised up by his head like he was training to be the next Evander Holyfield.
When Dr. Stone came in, he said that the boy looks "wonderful" and "perfectly healthy." I can't begin to explain how much relief those words brought me. It's not like I've been worried at all, but everything in this whole process feels like such an unknown. I mean, the last time we had an ultrasound and actually got to see the boy was 3 months ago. Anything can happen in 3 months -- and there's nothing, aside from being as healthy as possible, that I can do. It's just a lot of hoping and assuming that everything will be fine. So when you finally get assurance that everything is, in fact, fine, it feels like a really, really big thing. Every time we have an ultrasound and get the "all good" report, I end up a little hormotional (I'm still using your word, Rach). I just feel so incredibly lucky.
And speaking of incredibly lucky, have I mentioned lately that I have the best husband in the world? I'm sure those of you who know Eric well will agree with me -- unless, of course, you have husbands of your own, in which case you probably think that YOU have the best husband in the world. And while I would agree that all of our friends are/have wonderful husbands, I personally think that Eric takes the cake. He's been taking care of me in a way that is not at all annoying or suffocating. He constantly encourages me and makes me laugh and tells me that I'm beautiful (despite these extra 20 - 25 lbs. I'm lugging around these days) and that I'm doing an amazing job, and that one day the boy will realize what an amazing mama he has. And he says that if the boy takes after me, and it takes him a little longer to realize what an amazing mama he has, that he'll be there to tell him and to show him and to make him see it.
One lovely side effect of this weight gain is that about once a week or so, I wake up screaming in the middle of the night with horrible leg cramps. At first, this really scared Eric, but I think he's gotten used to it. Yesterday, around 5 a.m. or so, I woke up with a string of expletives pouring from my mouth. In about half a second, Eric had kicked off the covers and was down by my feet, massaging my calves as carefully as he could. He managed to work the cramp out, only to have a second one kick in about a minute later. And again, he was down there massaging and assuring me that it would be over soon. And he calmed me -- because that's what he does. I remember thinking that, while a couple of leg cramps can't really compare to labor and delivery, I am so lucky to have this person next to me to calm me and coach me through it all -- through the leg cramps, through the labor and the delivery of our son, through life -- all of it. I just can't believe how lucky I am.
And on that sappy note, I'm going to sign off. I'll update sometime next week and will try not to be such a girl next time. :)

30 week ultrasound

at our NY shower with the boy's Grandmere

Eric loves cake more than anything in the world (except the Yankees)

POSTED BY meaganhop

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