Pregnancy Week 30: Preterm Labor and More Dresser Updates

This has been the most eventful week of this pregnancy so far. Three visits to labor and delivery (L&D) as well as one visit to maternal fetal medicine (MFM). Before I get into the details, here are my progress pictures. It's kind of hard to compare this week to this pregnancy with E because of the angle I took the picture.

30 weeks with this pregnancy

This pregnancy on the left, E on the right. 

So, back to the busy week I've been having. Hubs left for a work trip about a week and a half ago. The next day (a week ago Thursday), I started to feel really weird. I didn't have an explanation for it, I just felt off. I even called my midwife's nurse about it, but it's not like they can test me for off-ness. I had an appointment scheduled for Monday, so we decided I would wait until Monday.

On Sunday around 1:00 AM, some contractions woke me up. I have contractions all of the time. Sometimes they get regular, but they are not very strong at all. These had a little more pressure behind them. It was enough to make me want to get out of bed and move around because lying down wasn't very comfortable. They only lasted for about 45 minutes, so I went back to bed. I figured if it was the real deal, I wouldn't have been able to make them go away by moving around.

Later that morning, I started bleeding heavily and passing vast amounts of mucus blobs. My friend and her husband came and stayed with E while I went to L&D. When I got there, they triaged me. They noted my OS (external cervix, essentially) was about 1cm dilated and funneling down to about 1/2cm. They also felt I was a little effaced, at about 20%. They brought in an ultrasound tech to try and find the source of the bleeding, but they couldn't locate it. They noted my cervix was 3.3cm long, which is still a decent length. They wanted it to be closer to 4, but anything over 3 would keep them happy. Based on what they saw coming out of me, they believed I had lost my mucus plug. Thankfully, that reforms over time.

After a couple of hours of monitoring, they let me go home since I wasn't progressing anymore. They told me to follow up with my midwife. I went into my Monday appointment, and my midwife agreed with the dilation/effacement assessment. She decided I needed to start meeting with an OB ASAP. She also put me on nifedipine to try and shut down my contractions since she couldn't be sure which ones were causing the issues and which were harmless Braxton hicks contractions.

I met with an OB the following day and she wanted to check me to get a feel for where I was. She asked me to clarify what my midwife and L&D had told me. At some point in the 24 hours between seeing my midwife and seeing the OB, I had dilated and effaced more.

She sent me back to L&D, which was a bit of a process. Since hubs was out of town, I couldn't exactly drop off our daughter. After placing a few phone calls, one of hubs' coworkers was able to come get E for me. His wife came and stayed with my in L&D so I wouldn't have to sit there alone, which was nice. The nurse checked me and said I was almost 2cm dilated and 50-60% effaced. My OB ordered a massive amount of tests to try and figure out what was going on to make my cervix dilated and effaced this soon.

Everything has come back normal, so they are at a bit of a loss. I've had the steroid shots to rapidly develop baby girl's lungs as a precaution. My OB also rushed a referral for me to be seen by MFM. I was allowed to go home since my contractions weren't changing my cervix. The next morning, I started bleeding, passing blood clots, and passing mucus globs again. I called hubs' coworker again and he came and got E. He and his wife really, really helped us out. I don't know what I would've done if they couldn't watch E for me.

When I got to L&D, I had the same nurse as the day before. This was great because she was already familiar with my cervix. When she checked me, she noted I was still just shy of 2cm dilated, but I was now 70% effaced. Baby girl had also dropped to -2 station. I was also contracting about every 6 minutes by that point. I assume the nifedipine was helping reduce their intensity or something because they were not causing me to dilate.

I got an appointment to be seen by MFM and L&D let me go after giving me the second steroid shot. I was not particularly impressed with the doctor at MFM. She acted like she couldn't be bothered with my case. She wouldn't tell me how long my cervix was at first. She kept saying, "It's plenty long. It's fine." She also said she wasn't sure why I was referred to her and she would not be accepting me as a patient. She said there was nothing unusual about my pregnancy. What a load of horse crap. She finally told me my cervix was 2cm long. So from Sunday to Wednesday, I lost 1.3cm of cervical length.

At this point, I would rather see my OB and midwife anyway. They have never once made me feel stupid or acted like I was being ridiculous for feeling concerned. The reason they wanted me to go to MFM is my hospital doesn't deliver before 34 weeks. They wanted MFM to take me until I got to 34 weeks then they would have me come back after that point.

I'm still spotting, but it is nowhere near the level of bleeding I had on Sunday and Wednesday. Hopefully that stops soon. If it increases, I have to go back to L&D for another evaluation. My OB and midwife are going to trade off appointments so they can see my weekly rather than biweekly. I am hopeful that all of the eventfulness is over and that I can go back to regular third-trimester complaints like backaches and sore ribs.

Dresser Updates

In my last post, I included pictures from the DIY dresser refinishing project. While bumming around Hobby Lobby and TJ Maxx, I found some knobs I liked, so I swapped out the originals. I also finally put a picture of E in the carriage snow globe (only updated in the final picture--it's her strawberry costume picture because it's adorable). Only took me a year, hahaha. 

I also hung up E's shadow box and another picture from her hospital newborn shoot under the main picture on her wall. it looked like a big blank space because she used to have a chest of drawers rather than a dresser

Pink glass knobs on top, cream colored rose knobs with gold accent on the bottom.

Filling in the blank space. I need to update the picture in her shadowbox so it's not identical to the one next to it, haha. 

I also finally replaced the knobs on the TV stand in the basement. It is a heavy, solid piece of furniture, but I never cared for the tiny little brass knobs. So I updated those as well. 

The nursery is also arranged how I want it. It has no decorations yet, though. I'm supposed to be resting, so I can't really go shopping like I want to. I'll post pictures of it once it's complete. 

Pregnancy Week 29: So Much Nesting + Dresser DIY

The theme of this week has been nesting. I can't concentrate on anything until I get at least one project done per day. Some of these projects require my husband's help since I can't lift heavy furniture or paint. We are a little more than one week into the second trimester. I still can't believe it. This is the most pregnant my husband has ever seen me. He deployed shortly before I hit 29 weeks with E, which is why I look less than thrilled in the pictures on the left.

I am carrying way lower this week with this pregnancy than with E. I'm not surprised since baby girl has her head crammed into my pelvis. My current pregnancy complaints are vomiting in my sleep, back pain, pelvic pain, and pain in my heels. However, E balances out my pregnancy complaints with her cuteness. She is ecstatic about being a big sister. I'm sure she will be less thrilled once the baby gets here and she has to share attention, but for now she loves the idea. She gives my belly kisses and asks me about her "sisser" all the time.

Nesting Projects 

I bought a dresser from a neighbor with the intention of painting it. Hubs had to do that. Poor dude. All I could talk about From Friday through Monday was his progress on the dresser, finishing the dresser, etc. He also took apart the old guest bed and put it back together in E's room. Then he put the crib together in the nursery and moved E's old dresser into the nursery as well. After that, he brought in the painted dresser and I put away E's clothes, made her bed, and all that fun stuff. He also put together the new guest bed frame. 

E's room is done enough for my liking, the guest room is ready, and all the necessary furniture is in the nursery. I still need to figure out how I'm going to arrange the nursery, but if I had this baby today we would be ok. No major movements need to happen from here on out; everything is small projects. This makes me feel so much better. I'm not sure why, but it was making me absolutely insane not to have these things taken care of. I still have months to go before the baby is born, but the nesting urge apparently does not care hahaha. 

Here is the before and after of the dresser. It looks so happy :) A fresh coat of paint (or two) makes all the difference.

Here is E's new bedding on her big girl bed and another view of the dresser. E absolutely loves her new bed. She wanted to go to bed the second it was put together. Seeing as bedtime was still over an hour away at that point, she had to wait. She stayed in it the entire night, though, so that is an improvement over the toddler bed.

She likes to do anything to be more like mommy and daddy. She went on and on about our bed, her bed, and how she's a big girl now. It was really cute. I'm really glad she's liking the transition. For now, we removed the box spring so she can get in and out of the bed on her own should she need to. It also makes for a much shorter fall should she accidentally roll out of bed. She's been sleeping dead center in the bed so far, though. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

For kicks, here is the new guest bed. We upgraded our guests from a double to a queen. Fancy.

Pregnancy Week 28: Third Trimester + Life Insanity

The week leading up to the third trimester was hell bent on dumping as much nonsense on us as possible. It started with hubs' credit card getting compromised right before he had to leave for a week long business trip. The CC company obviously would not be able to get him a new one in time, so that was fun.

The day after he left, it snowed half a foot. I had to shovel out our driveway so I would be able to leave for my chiropractor appointments later in the week. This did not do any favors for my back, which the chiropractor noticed right away, haha. I've been having stomach troubles as well. This forces me into the bathroom for extended periods of time.

During one of these bathroom trips, E obtained a marker and colored three walls, a door, the floor, the fridge, a book, herself, her clothes, and some of my socks. At some point while I was in the bathroom or cleaning the marker, the cat took it upon herself to crap at the bottom of the stairs. E decided to help by rolling my yoga ball down the stairs and using it to hide the evidence. So I got to clean that up as well. I also managed to cut up my ankle. Thank goodness for my friend Tracy. We had set up a visit for that day, so I got to vent/interact with another adult. We also got oreo McFlurries, which always make life better.

Hubs was due home late Friday evening. On my way home from my chiropractor visit, I stopped at TJ Maxx to looks for nursery storage. When I went to leave, I saw I had a flat tire. I called roadside assist at 11:20. They told me it would be about 45 minutes. They got to me 90 minutes later. Then it was another hour at the tire place just to be told they could not fix my flat nor did they have the type of tire I needed. I finally got home at 14:10 with a hungry, grumpy, sleepy toddler.

The next day (my birthday, woo!), hubs and I went with E to where I originally got the tire. They said they could repair it and that it would be about 30 minutes. After an hour, they told us it would be another 15 minutes. Oh, and my battery was completely dead. Oh really? Completely dead? THEN HOW DID I DRIVE IT HERE? On magic battery fairy farts? We got a new battery since the print out did show it was very low. So our half hour tire repair turned into a 90-minute tire repair and battery replacement.

I try to remind myself that things can always be worse, but that was my limit for bullshittery. Here are my 28-week pictures :). E on the left; this pregnancy on the right.

Nesting Update

Holy urge to nest, Batman! I don't know why the urge to nest is kicking in so much earlier with this pregnancy. I feel restless and antsy not having the nursery ready or even close to ready. Some aspects I can't rush, like the crib. E is now using it as a toddler bed. Soon, we will take off the rail. Then we will move her to the big bed and hubs and I will be able to get the crib set up in the nursery. 

However, there are plenty of things I can do. I got E's toys moved out of the nursery and down into the basement. I also rearranged some of the furniture to accommodate my office desk, so that is out of the nursery now as well. Not having a dresser is also bothering me. I'm going to look at some tomorrow. They'll need some refinishing/painting, but hubs is on board with some DIYing. 

Normally, I would do that kind of project myself, but pregnancy dictates otherwise this time around. Once we have the dresser situation taken care of, I can get E's baby clothes out of storage and put them away. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with all my shoes in the nursery closet, hahaha. The master bedroom closet is kind of a joke. I may just leave the shoes in the nursery. I didn't start needing closet space for E until she was a toddler. Once this baby is that age, we will be moving again anyway. 

I've also been cleaning up clutter. I went through our mail holder, hubs' random stuff basket (holds his wallet, keys, glasses, etc), and our junk drawers. We have three, hahaha. I could probably consolidate it to two now that I've cleared them out. I just don't feel like it since I don't need the drawers for other stuff. I also organized the master bathroom vanity drawers. I still have a little work to do in there, but everything is much more organized. I also hid my bedside table stack of books in a decorative box. It has a hollow under the drawer, so it looks much neater now. My next clutter area to tackle is on top of the fridge. 

Pregnancy Weeks 26 + 27: Chiropractor and Ultrasound Pictures

I can't believe I am almost into the third trimester. I feel like this pregnancy is flying by. I also have an intense urge to get the nursery set up, but I have to wait until E is fully transitioned into her big girl bed. We recently took the front off of her crib and attached the toddler bed rail.

She's rolled out a couple of time, but she puts herself right back into bed. She mostly enjoys the freedom. Soon, we will take off the rail and let her get used to the bed with a completely open side. Then, we are going to switch her to a regular big girl bed. She talks about her "big gull bet" at the time, so hopefully it will be a smooth transition.

Belly Updates

I feel like my 26-week belly comparisons were about the same. However, I look smaller in my 27-week comparison photo. I actually think my 27-week belly looks smaller than my 26-week belly with this pregnancy. Maybe baby girl changed position? 

I started seeing a chiropractor since my back pain has gotten out of control. Sneezing or coughing takes me down to my knees from the sudden sharp pain. The chiropractor said my left SI joint is absurdly inflamed, so that explains that. I am really hopeful that he can help me reduce or get rid of this pain.

Baby Update

I had another ultrasound at 26+3 because my midwife was concerned about the excessive contractions I am having. She got to see them in person and wanted to check to make sure they weren't doing too much to my cervix. She said my cervix is shorter than when they saw me around 20 weeks, but it is still a good length. She wants me to come back next week (two weeks from the ultrasound) to check again. 

To try and reduce the frequency of the BH contractions, she has asked me to not vacuum or grocery shop. I am also supposed to limit how much I pick up E. Transitioning her to a toddler bed has helped in that regard since I don't have to pick her up to put her in bed. She also recommended trying magnesium phosphate to reduce the BH contractions for my own comfort. They don't hurt, they're just annoying. 

The ultrasound tech snagged some great photos for me. Baby girl is still very much a girl. The tech grabbed a 3D image for me as well. I'm not sure why she did it, but I'm not complaining :) I got to see my baby's sweet little face. I know the 3D ultrasounds freak out some people, but I love it. I was 26+3 when I went in and baby girl measured spot on at 26+3. She weighed 2.2 pounds. 

Pregnancy Weeks 23-25: Visiting Family for the Holidays

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. We flew home to visit family for the holidays and stayed for three weeks. We spent well over a week of it battling various illnesses, so we didn't get to visit with as many friends and family as we would have liked. E got an ear infection and strep within days of our arrival. I came down with the world's longest cold shortly after (I still have a bit of a cough), and then hubs got the flu.

We had a very nice Christmas, though, as E had just gotten over her illnesses and I only had mild cold symptoms. My parents got her plenty of toys and shoes. Girlfriend loves her some shoes, haha. When she opened up a box with two pairs of shoes in it, she exclaimed "Ooooooooooo!" We had to ship back a good deal of items and we left many of the toys with my parents so the kids will have things to play with when we visit in the future.

Here are the progress pictures I took for 23-25 weeks.

23, 24, and 25 weeks with this pregnancy

23, 24, and 25 weeks with E

23, 24, and 25 weeks with this pregnancy

23, 24, and 25 weeks with E

It looks like there was a big jump in belly size from 23 to 24 weeks with both pregnancies, which is interesting. I look softer/fluffier at 24 weeks than 25 weeks with this pregnancy.

E is starting to get very interested in babies. Hubs and I have been telling her for months that I am going to have another baby. Sometimes she seems to get it, other times she does not seem to care. However, my sister in law had a baby while we were visiting and now E is very interested in my belly. She carries her baby dolls around and asks about the baby in my belly often. She also likes to lift up my shirt and give my belly kisses.

This weekend was a little more eventful than I would have cared for. We got back from our visit on Friday, so I was looking forward to recovering from jet lag over the weekend. Saturday evening, I started having some Braxton hicks contractions. I don't normally pay these much mind, but they started getting really close together (every 4 minutes or so). I tried drinking a metric ton of water, and that helped for awhile, but then they came back.

I called L&D, and they told me to come in for monitoring. By the time I got there, the contractions had slowed to every 20 minutes. The nurse decided to check me and noted my cervix felt short and that I am now about 50% effaced. She thought maybe that was just my normal since this is my second pregnancy. Then she pulled my anatomy ultrasound results and decided this was not the case. The tech specifically looked at my cervix length since I had just been in a car accident. The tech noted at that point (about 19/20 weeks) that my cervix was not effaced at all and of the appropriate length.

I saw my provider on Tuesday, and she asked me to monitor any future contractions. She wants me to come in for more monitoring if I get more than 6 contractions in an hour and she will order an FFN and an ultrasound to get a more accurate measurement of my cervix. Hopefully, it won't come to that. I'd like my baby to be a little chubbier before starting any more contraction antics.

Speaking of which, at 25 weeks baby girl measures about 13.5 inches and weighs about 1.5 pounds. She is about the size of an acorn squash or a rutabaga. I had my glucose tolerance test, and that came back normal.

We're creeping up on the third trimester, and it's making me anxious. I feel so unprepared even though I have 90% of the things I need from my first daughter. I really just want to get the nursery set up, but to do that we have to transition our daughter from her crib to a big girl bed. Our plan is to take the front off her crib this weekend and attach the toddler guard rail.

After a few weeks of that, we are taking off the rail and making it a day bed. We are also bringing the double up from the guestroom downstairs and putting it in the office. The office will eventually be the nursery, but for now I want E to get used to seeing the big bed. I'm also going to try and get her to nap in it if at all possible. Eventually, we will move the double into her room and put the crib back together in the nursery. Here is to hoping for a smooth transition!