Huntin'

We went egg hunting on Sunday at our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.

Noodle overcame her fear of the Bunny after several conversations that it was not an animal but a "mommy in a bunny costume."

Squash found the elusive "golden egg" -- a yellow egg with a note in it to come to the cookie table, where he was presented with an iTunes gift card.

All in all, an excellent hunt, and we even got a group photo taken of the family...possibly the last shot of our family of four!

No, I Did Not Have a Baby

...last night. I did, however, enjoy many many hours of contractions. Yes, fun.

After timing them on my iPod for about 4 hours with an average time apart of 5-6 minutes, we called my doctor and she had me go into the hospital to get checked. When I got there, I was dilated ONE CENTIMETER. Sheesh, all that for THAT!? I hadn't been dilated at all on Thursday, so at least it was something, but still.

Three hours later, after a bazillion more contractions, I was dilated TWO CENTIMETERS.

So we made the executive decision (at 1:30 AM) to go home. It was a good decision because both of us were able to get some sleep. Thank you to my angel children for letting us sleep in until 7:15 AM this morning.

They would have kept me at the hospital if I had been a little more pro-intervention/medication. But since -- as of today -- I am hoping to have this baby without pitocin or an epidural, I opted to come home where I could (1) sleep in my own bed and (2) eat and drink whatever I want. I am taking it day by day though, and am not unwilling to reconsider the induction issue.

So far today, I'm still having contractions and I've pretty much just been lying in bed. Worlds of fun. I will probably get up and about a little this afternoon and see what happens then. Cross your fingers...today sounds like an awfully good birthday for this little guy!

Labor Cake

I am thinking about making Labor Cake this weekend... follow the link for the recipe on my cousin Rebecca's blog: http://www.itsthejamils.com/2009/01/labor-cake.html

I must admit that I made the cake when I was very pregnant with the Noodle...and got to eat it several nights in a row before it finally "worked." But it is so good that who cares?

Free at Last

I got the most wonderful surprise at my checkup today: I am released from bed rest! I immediately came home and went for a walk. Let's get this baby outta here.

I weigh the same amount as I did with my last baby when I had her (on her due date), and according to my ultrasound, my due date was April 13 (not the 16th, which is what we had been going on up til now). So the doctor said he was comfortable that I am now past 37 weeks...and FREE!

I haven't been this happy in AGES. Eight weeks of bed rest behind me...and now just waiting for one bouncing baby boy.

Really Big Bump

36.5 week bump. Really ready to have this baby!

36.5

I have TEN DAYS of bed rest left, unless of course this baby decides to make his appearance before that. My doctor said that he wants me to stay in bed until 38 weeks (April 2) BUT in the event the baby starts to come, they won't do anything heroic to prevent it. All they would do is give me IV fluids to hydrate me (and if it's real labor, hydration really won't "stop" it). I was happy to hear this, because I DONOTDONOTDONOT want another IV; I can provide myself with fluids all on my own, thank you very much. So I am drinking as much as I can, staying in bed, and trying to keep the stress to a minimum.

Last week, I must say, flew by, because both the boys (husband and Squash) were home on spring break. It was SO NICE to have them here all week. Squash and I played Yahtzee, Scrabble and Monopoly. Noodle stayed at day care all week, although she woke up with a fever Thursday night, so she was home with us all on Friday. GOOD TIMING, NOODLE; she was fully recovered by yesterday. It was a weird illness; just a fever -- no other symptoms (other than being a super cranky 3 year old!). Everyone is back to school today.

And I have been looking forward to tomorrow all month because my SISTER is coming to visit from California!! She is on spring break and I am so excited that she was able to leave my darling nephew and her husband for a couple days to come out and keep me company. I have lots of projects for her...including painting my toes if I can persuade her!

Health Care Reform

I just received a link to this video of our Congressman Dennis Moore, reading an email from a staffer (who is a friend of a friend), about how the health reform bill would affect her, as a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed when she was 24. I think this one-minute video (and really, the underlying email) is very powerful. Please consider watching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TAz_HBAeqE