Things Are Looking Up

I figured out why I was feeling so cruddy the day of my last post! I forgot to take my prenatal vitamin the night before, which always makes my energy level go down significantly and it makes me more emotional and irritable. I had to clarify, I don't want people thinking this whole blog is a cry-fest.

Anyways, today was better than days before!

My boys, all ready for church!

I was able to go to part of church, but I was kinda shot down after the second hour because my head started spinning and my Braxton Hicks started kicking in again. I realized as Josh was driving me home that I totally forgot to bring my water jug (I sip out probably 4-5 full cups a day... I'm pretty sure I'm part fish...) so I was getting dehydrated, which causes more BH contractions.

These cups are the best cups EVER! I was completely addicted to the one I got after Lincoln's birth, before I accidentally warped it in the dishwasher 

I got home and browsed Etsy for some fleece fabric that I'm gonna make a new blanket with, with no success.

Okay, that's a lie.

I found seven or eight options I liked but I have a major problem with indecisiveness. I can't choose between red hearts print, pink zebra print, frogs wearing galoshes while holding umbrellas (no, seriously!) among other options.

Luckily, Josh offered to just go to the craft store and pick me up two yards of some fun fleece so I wouldn't have to wait for the order.

After church, my mom-in-law made an AMAZING lunch/dinner, which I had two helpings of almost everything. She even made homemade cheese biscuits, I only wish all of you could taste the magic of them.

I was able to fold the diaper laundry Josh finished washing yesterday, which was the first real task I've accomplished since being put on bed rest. I've never had so much joy in such a menial job! I'll tell ya, its a hard adjustment going from chasing a toddler, doing laundry, doing dishes, keeping things tidy and finding time to myself on a daily basis to sitting on my butt doing practically nothing all day. So whenever I see something small I can accomplish, I totally jump on the opportunity to help!

How we store our cloth diapers! We've affectionately named it the Caterpillar.

I told Josh that since I can't actually load and switch the laundry that I'd happily fold it for him, since that's the step he hates the most and folding laundry is one of the few things I'm actually allowed to do.

I think packing for Provo will start tomorrow. Going through my maternity shirts should be SUPER fun since half of them don't even fit my belly. I think I'll be bringing less clothes than I'm expecting since Noah is getting so big so fast!

The picture on the left was taken today. The picture on the right was taken when I was 33 weeks last pregnancy. I can't believe just how quickly baby is popping out this time around!

I think things are looking up from here and I think the next 11 weeks (hopefully we'll make it that far!) will be easier than I'm expecting!

Thanks for reading!

Mackenzie

A Hard Second Day

Today was a little rough for me, I'm not gonna lie.

The worries of moving in with my family for a few months, putting the responsibility of watching my son for me when I feel like I should be able to do it myself is pretty hard. Feeling incapable of taking care of my kid is probably one of hardest things I've had to accept through this process.

We've decided to not move in with them tomorrow, but next week on Saturday. My mom-in-law was able to extend her time off work to help me and Josh get our stuff together without having to majorly rush. I'll just say, it was a huge blessing because all morning I was crying and stressing myself out because I wasn't ready to leave my house to go and be taken care of when I feel like I should be able to do that myself.

My head started pounding and my heart was racing like I'd just ran a full marathon without stopping. The on-call doctor from my doctors office told me to just relax because my anxiety was turning into a panic attack. So I've been doing just that; kicking up my feet and relaxing.

Since I couldn't go grocery shopping on Wednesday as I'd planned, we were kind of short on food today. Josh kindly picked up a few things, enough to cover the weekend but neither of us felt like cooking. He got us dinner from Five Guys and, lets just say, Lincoln LOVES Five Guys.

I think things are looking up after today's meltdowns. I feel a lot more calm and prepared to take on the concept of depending on others to pick up the slack while I grow the baby.

I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such a strong support system of friends and family who care so much about my son's health and my health that they're willing to do what I can't.

Thanks for reading!!

Mackenzie

Getting Started

So if you read the posts I mentioned before, you know the situation that happened on Wednesday. My body started going into labor, luckily without anything major happening. They were able to get my contractions under control, and they haven't really come back since. 

I've had some Braxton Hicks contractions on and off, a few painful since Wednesday, but nothing super serious.

Yesterday, Josh had the day off and he was helping me with Lincoln. I needed a steroid shot in my hip the day before and I was instructed to go back to my regular doctors office at 9 AM yesterday morning to finish the dose.

If you've never had a steroid shot, its NO FUN. It felt like someone punched me in the hip, followed by a stiff leg, shakes, and a headache. 

I called the hospital after having all those weird symptoms that didn't happen after my first dose, and I was told that the only thing that was normal was the punched in the butt feeling. 

Anyway, my best friend Shallise came over to keep me company, help me watch the baby, and to get my mind off of the day before. Lincoln went down for a nap at 12:30 and Josh had a physical therapy appointment at 1:00 so he left just after Lincoln laid down.

Shallise and I were chit-chatting when a less intense version of that unknown phantom pain and nausea returned. I tried to push through it and ignore it but it began hurting so much I couldn't talk through the discomfort.

After being instructed by a nurse to come back to the hospital, I called Josh not 20 minutes into his appointment and asked him to pick me up and take me back. Luckily, Shallise was able to watch Lincoln for a while when we went.

The phantom pain went away while we were on our way to the hospital, but I felt like we needed to go to the hospital anyway since my labor contractions started the day before after the pain went away.

We were there for a while without any kinds of tests being done. I was frustrated, emotional and angry that they couldn't tell me what those pains were. 

After they got my blood drawn and tested, they came to the conclusion that baby and I were fine and that we could go home.

Shallise dropped by the hospital to pass off Lincoln on her way home.

Last night was extremely emotional for me. We got the baby ready for bed, laid him down for the night and I couldn't hold in my emotions anymore. I started crying because I feel confused and stressed about all the changes that were in all of our immediate futures. 

I am so blessed to be married to a man who gets me and who knows how to handle my meltdowns.

He told me to not focus on the next three months, not to focus on the next month, not the next two weeks, not even a week ahead of now. He coached me to only focus on tomorrow. 

That advice helped me not only lower my stress and anxiety levels, but it helped me realized that I can't prepare for the future as much as I'd like to. I can't control my situation as much as I'd like to but its okay. All I can do at this point is to do a minimal amount of work around the house, kick my feet up, keep praying for mine and my son's health and grow a baby.

Everything else will fall into place and be taken care of.

Thanks for reading!

Mackenzie

Welcome To My Blog!

Welcome to my blog! I thought it could be somewhat of a stress reliever to share my experiences as a moderately bedridden pregnant woman, and I hope you all will enjoy following my journey, through the good times and bad, during this challenging two-three months until my pregnancy is over.

For those of you who are new to my writings, I do have a less emotion packed blog, here's the link:

mackenzieandjosh.blogspot.com

The posts I wrote on my normal blog regarding the current situation I'm in are called "Things Have Drastically Changed" and "Post Hospital Update", both written in March of 2014.

Thanks for reading and I hope you stick around to join me until my little guy makes his appearance into this world!

Mackenzie