Countdown: ONE/7

Okay okay okay. I said I was going to update last week and I totally didn't. And I do apologize. I just wasn't in the updating kind of mood I suppose.

I left off with that I was 38 weeks. I had my 38 week appointment last Wednesday I believe. I went to the doc and after doing the exam he said I was 1 centimeter dilated and 80% effaced. He also said that the baby was head down (yay) and that he could feel the head. BUT, during that appt, my blood pressure was up so he scheduled me for the first appt on my 39 week day (which was today) and sent me off to labor and delivery to have my blood pressure and the baby monitored. Jackson was doing great and proved to be a very happy baby. And, of course, my blood pressure went back down to normal. Go figure. So, 45 minutes, two tubes of pee, and two tubes of blood later I was sent home. It was kind of funny though because I knew Justin had a meeting, and I told him if I texted to just ignore it until after the meeting but if I called to answer, and of course I called to tell him what was going on which made him think maybe that was the day. Anyway, afterward I got my school schedule for the fall, which isn't too bad and is way earlier than we got it last summer so I was very pleased with that. Then my friend Julie and I were off to target where I picked up a shelf to go in our back room which I was excited about, and a fan for the baby's room to circulate the air. Here's my 38 week pics:


My thursdays and fridays are getting mixed up but one of those days my sister and my mom came over and we went to a couple stores. I picked up some curtains for the baby's room which we've been needing to do. My mom used the pattern on the bed set to make valences to hang. Here are pics of those with the new curtains:

On Friday night while Justin was working I decided to try some more natural induction tricks. After my very spicy cheesesteak (with hots AND jalapenos) I went to the store to pick up a big container of fresh pineapple. To much dismay, it didn't work, but it did flush my system out VERY well. I was very tempted to try some castor oil, but I've yet to get that desperate. I've been following a thread online about women attempting castor oil and 400 some odd posts later, not too many have actually given birth after taking it. So I don't really think it's that effective.
I did however start with a pretty bad headache and some nausea Friday so I spent the rest of the night laying down.

At some point during the week, we also had our friend Krysta stop by. She was out shopping one day and found a diaper pail similar to the one we wanted so she bought it for us. The boys (Jiff and Carlin) LOVED having new company. Carlin still thinks he's a lap dog and made himself comfortable climbing all over her.

On Saturday, Justin and I ran errands all day. Our closet door in the hallway is one of those fold open doors and it came off of it's swivel thing (not really a hinge) so we bought some hinges in an attempt to attach it to the closet frame. Unfortunately when we tried to dril the screws in we found that the frame is metal so our project was put on hold. We also bought a plank of wood to put a shelf in the closet that I just installed a new rod in. This actually worked out very well and now I have even more storage space in the baby's room. And we finally put up the Lennox Noah's Arc clock that Justin's parents got us for Jackson's room. We originally had a cross there that his parents bought us, but, lucky us, there are a lot of screws and nails up around the room so we were able to find another place for it by the door. Saturday night Justin and I drove down to Savage, MD to the Ramshead there for a great (and of course spicy) dinner. I've been drooling for one of their burritos and their crab dip so I was in heaven. we had a great meal and then headed off to Catonsville for a small get together that Justin's work friend Damon was having. It was a pretty good night out for us and i was exhausted on the way home.

On Sunday Justin was up early to work the Federal Hill Festival. I had all intentions of going to church but woke up with a HORRIBLE headache. I ended up sleeping in until almost eleven and the headache still wasn't gone. I wanted to go see my grandma who was just getting out of the hospital and I was supposed to have lunch with a friend, so I took the tylenol and ventured out. My friend Sarah and I met in fed hill for lunch and walked around the festival for a bit and then I headed off to my grandmother's house. She went to the hospital on Father's Day for a possible stroke. They said at some point she had a mild heart attack and, after a week in the hospital, she was finally able to come home. She was still pretty upset about being in the hospital (apparantly the nurses weren't as good as she had the last time) and she was even more upset that her feet were so swollen and that my dad, aunt, and uncle moved her bed to the first floor since she wasn't able to move around a lot. But, she was doing a lot better than when she went in obviously, and she was starting to feel better too.

Sunday night when I came home from my parents, my headache was back. I had already taken tylenol twice that day and didn't want to take more. Since I was also feeling sick, I decided to check my blood pressure and of course it was high. I checked it every half hour for two hours and it didn't go down until the last reading which was right before bed. I told Justin I'd check it in the morning and if it was high again, we'd call the doc. Monday morning I woke up with a headache again and my blood pressure was high. I checked it every half hour for two hours again and it stayed elevated so finally we called the doc. I told him about my pressure, the nausea, and the headache and he told me to head over to L&D and that he would more than likely induce me. So Justin and I got everything together, loaded up the car, even took the trash out and headed off to the hospital. When we got there and got all hooked up to monitors my blood pressure dropped back to normal. They did a few consecutive readings (and took more pee and more blood) and because my pressure was fine while I was there and there was no protein in my urine, they wrote me a prescription for the headaches and nausea and sent us home again. So if you're keeping count, that makes THREE visits to labor and delivery for blood pressure and THREE times being sent home, still pregnant of course. We spent the rest of the day at the gym to try to speed things up, I got my toenails painted blue to entice him to come take a look, Justin cut the grass and then my sister in law came over to help me put the closet door back on (she has drill bits and we don't, ha ha). Despite the start of the day, it ended up being productive. I kind of have a feeling that Jackson knows there's things I wanted to and still want to get done before he gets here (like the hall closet, putting the shelves up in his room, laundry, weeding the garden, etc.) and he's holding out until they're all done because every day that I expect him to come and he doesn't we end up marking something else off of our to do list.

Anyhow, on to today.

TODAY, June 30th, marks 39 weeks for us and the last official chance for Jackson to have a June birthday. And if for some reason he was born at 11:59 tonight (which nothing is impossible I suppose) I would laugh so hard I'd pee myself. But I think that's not in our future. In fact, for us today marks a new countdown: our 1 week countdown until Jackson's due date. So were starting at seven and working our way down with high hopes that we only make it to six, ha ha. Today at my appointment my doctor said that I'm 2 centimeters dilated, 90% effaced, and at a -1 to 0 station (the scale is -3 to +3). What I need to be at for birth to be imminent is 10 centimeters, 100% effaced, and +3 station. So, where I am in the pregnancy, I'm right on and progressing well. But well is not quick enough. I'm becomming extremely anxious to meet our little guy and I'd really like him to come sooner than later. My doctor did strip my membranes today, which I looked up and learned that stripping the membranes is done during a vaginal exam when the doctor inserts his finger all the way into the cervix and pushes the amniotic sac away from uterine wall and the cervix. This is supposed to influence the body to release hormones to help the cervix ripen and thin out and sometimes contract, and it can only be done if you're dilated some already. While it caused a little cramping afterward for me, I haven't had any really contractions from it. I actually just started about a half hour ago with a few braxton hicks contractions, but they don't really mean much and are never really consistent with me. The only real contractions I've had came last Wednesday after my appointment. They were pretty strong but they weren't close enough together and they were gone completely by bedtime. Since then, we've been trying everything to get this kiddo out: sex, spicy food, walking, pineapple, accupressure, vacuuming TWICE in two days ha ha. We'd like him to be here within the next day or two so we can make it to the annual fourth of July party that my family attends because there's a lot of people who would like to meet him there. Unfortunately I don't see it happening. Unless something goes on tonight, I think he's going to wait a little closer to his due date before he comes. That would make him punctual like daddy, which is okay. But we are PRAYING that he is not like mommy.... late to everything! We shall see.

Anyhow, I spent the day with my sister shopping for bed risers for my grandma, which made her extremely happy. I bought square ones but the legs to her bed are round and didn't fit. So I told her I'd go out and get new ones. I don't think she thought I'd be back with them today, so when I showed up and we put them under the bed and she saw how she wouldn't have to bend over to make the bed or struggle to get in it since it was so low, she had a huge smile which was worth the headache and nausea I suffered through while out shopping for them. Unfortunately, because I was gone all day I didn't take any pictures for my 39 weeks, but I will be sure to do that in the next few days. Here's to hoping I won't have to take 40 week pictures, ha ha.

To end the post, we must congratulate another couple on their new edition. My brother's friend Lenny and his fiance Jess gave birth to a gorgeous little girl on the 27th. They named her Isabella Christina and she was born just one day before her due date. We have yet to meet her, but we hope she and Jackson will have a great time playing together at future game nights at my brother's house! So congrats to Jess and Lenny and we hope everyone else has a great and exciting week. Pray for some baby news soon :)