Bed Rest - Good Times

I have officially been put on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy...however long that may be so feel free to call me at home or email me at my Gmail address so that I don't lose my mind at home. Here is how I got here:

Last Wednesday I started having Braxton-Hicks contractions, which happened with Hannah so I really just tried to ignore them. At the same time though this little girl slowed her movement down and by Friday I wasn't feeling her powerful jabs, punches and turns. At first I figured she had just run out of room or the contractions were causing her to slow down but by Friday her movement was quite decreased. So I left work early and laid down to try and really concentrate on her movement and still not that much, so I called Labor & Delivery and of course they wanted me to come in. Adam and I went in and they hooked me up to the monitor and instantly we saw how many contractions I was having...which was quite a lot! I started to freak out and the nurse, while as sweet as she was trying to sound did not make me feel better with this statement, "Honey, we have had so many pre-term labors today that there seems to be a pattern. But no worries you are in the best place for preterm labor because we have a great NICU". I thought that is wonderful but I really don't want to give birth at 34 weeks! I was shaking I was so nervous and then they checked my cervix and discovered I was dilated 1cm. Now while that is not a lot I never dilated with Hannah, they had to induce me after my water broke so I was just freaked out in general that I was even dilated! They tried to convince me that it is normal for a 2nd pg to already be dilate and I could be this way for weeks but it still didn't help me. They decided to have me drink a whole bunch of water and check me again in 2 hours. So 2 hours later I was still 1cm dilated so they sent me home and told me to take it easy.

I did take it easy on the weekend but whenever I got up or when I went to work on Monday the contractions started again. I again tried to ignore them...yeah I know probably not the best thing but I called on Tuesday to hopefully try and get in to see my nurse practicioner. Instead b/c I was getting more the 4 contractions an hour I was sent back to Labor & Delivery to be observed. I did not want to go there b/c I knew it would be a many hour ordeal but I went. Luckily this time I stopped to get a book at the UCDMC gift shop because I was there for 5 hours! On Friday when Adam & I had been there we stupidly did not bring anything to read or entertain us and we were there for 4 hours. When we thought this little one might be coming that night we asked if they had a baby name book since we did not have name yet they laughed b/c while they thought that was a good idea they did not have one b/c it would probably get stolen...great. Anyway, yesterday when I was there they hooked me up to the monitor again and once again the contractions were registering often. This time they checked my cervix and I was now 2cm dilated...great!! The first thing the doctor said was we are taking you off work and you need to just be at home and rest. Since today I am 35 weeks along, while that is premature at this stage they would not try to stop my labor. Again they told me that I could be at 2cm for weeks but I said they told me that 4 days ago when I was at 1cm and now 4 days later I am at 2cm...they just kind of smiled. They gave me an IV bag full of fluids this time and that slowed my contractions down but did not stop them. They again re-checked my cervix and no change so they sent me home with orders to rest until this little one really decides to come.

So here I lay/sit wondering how long this will take. I am in no hurry for her to come b/c 35 weeks is way too early for me and for her too but I am going to lose it just laying here all day long. So fun times for me...write me with suggestions to keep me entertained and hope that she stays in for at least 2 more weeks! Luckily we have wonderful family that will be helping poor Adam with Hannah, which I am thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Nicole's Day & Family Day

On Saturday I had what I call a "Nicole Day". Considering my life will soon not be my own and I will not be without a little baby attached to me at the hip...well not that the this isn't the case now except with a 3 year old...but she is a little more independent. Anyway, at 11:30am I had an hour prenatal massage...wonderful!!! Then straight from there I went scrapbooking for 3 1/2 hours at my friend Tarri's house. After that I went home for a little bit to get my Hannah fix and then that night I went out with 3 other moms (moms of Hannah's friends from school) to Fuzio's. We got there about 7:30pm and left after closing after 11pm! We were sitting outside b/c it has been so nice and warm and just chatting for those 3 1/2 hours. We rarely get the opportunity to talk without being interrupted every minute from our lovely little ones that I think we all quite enjoyed just sitting there for so long and talking. Of course the alcohol helped I am sure...well not for me...I was the designated driver of these ladies b/c of my "condition". They all had about 3-4 mixed drinks each and apparently Fuzio's makes them really strong. I on the other hand had 2 Pepsi's which low and behold were free b/c I was the designated driver!!! Sweet!!! So my whole dinner was about $12...awesome. :) Anyway it was a very nice day.

On Sunday Adam let me sleep in and got up with Hannah and he had to come wake me up at 9:30 to let me know they were going to the store. First of all I couldn't believe it was 9:30am! So I decided to get up. Now lately I have been extremely swollen, especially my lovely ankles which I now call cankles. When I got up on Sunday I could actually see my ankles again! I was shocked! They looked so nice to have a defined shape to them...either it was all the sleep and being off my feet for that long or my lovely relaxing day on Saturday. Whatever it was it was great! Sadly though only a few hours later I lost my ankles again to my cankles and they have been back every since. :(

That afternoon we had our first family Mondavi performance that we will be seeing this year..."The Velveteen Rabbit". It was a 3pm performance and I couldn't wait to take Hannah to it. It was a production by a dance group that included some acting and singing as well with the dance. Hannah loved it! She sat straight up on Adam's lap the whole time and was just mezmorized. I knew she would but I was worried something would scare her but it didn't. The first portion was 50 minutes long then we had intermission and then another 25 minutes and she did beautifully through the whole thing. At the end when the curtains went down she said "Let's watch it again!". Poor thing she did not understand that this is not like a DVD or video at home where you can replay it as many times as you like, this was performance and that was it. So that is when the tears started on the way out because she was so sad we were leaving and wanted to see it again. We had to reassure her that we will be going to 4 more performances this season and the very next one is on Dec. 2nd to see Dan Zanes. Regardless I am glad she liked it so much, it was good. Then we went out to dinner as a family and then headed to Ben & Jerry's for dessert. Hannah got her very own chocolate ice cream scoop on a sprinkle & chocolate covered cone and was in heaven! She was covered with chocolate from head to toe! I searched and searched my purse for my camera but did not find it...so no picture sorry but trust me she was covered.

Anyway, that was our lovely weekend...now back to more getting ready for this little one to come. :)

Trick or Treat

We had a great Halloween here in Davis. Hannah dressed up as a fire truck and loved every minute of Halloween this year. She was so excited about the costume, about trick or treating and of course the candy. Everytime she got a piece of candy in her basket she asked if she could eat, that was a little bit of a battle but non the less fun. We went downtown Davis first in the afternoon for their annual trick or treating of the downtown businesses and here are some pictures:



There was volvo driving around downtown made up to look like "Ecto 1" from Ghostbusters and they were blasting the Ghostbusters music:



Here is Hannah getting down to the music from the Ghostbusters movie:



We ran into her friend, Dylan from school who was dressed up like a fireman and they enjoyed checking each others costumes out:



After we finished up trick or treating downtown we went home to eat dinner and then after dinner Adam took Hannah out trick or treating around the neighborhood for the first time ever. I stayed home b/c I was too tired from the afternoon trick or treating. Adam and Hannah had great fun though and Hannah came home with even more candy!



Then Hannah really enjoyed handing candy out to all the trick or treaters that came to our house. She was even yelling at people from our doorway to "Hey, come over here for some candy!". At one point we were on the sidewalk with our basket of candy and a car drove by and she yelled at the car "You want to stop for some candy!?". We had to explain to her that cars don't trick or treat.

The next morning when she woke up she came into our room and started crying and asking "Why we were giving out her candy to the people that came to our door?". I think she woke up and started replaying the night in her head and it occurred to her that she got candy and we were giving out candy so we must have been giving out her candy. I quickly explained to her that we were not giving out her candy but rather a separate bowl of candy that we bought special for the trick or treaters. We would never give out her candy! Although now both Adam and I can't wait for that candy to be gone b/c she has been on a sugar high all weekend. I think in the next few days it will magically disappear. :)

And the little one rolled over and bumped her head

Sunday night was the first night Hannah slept in her big girl room and therefore her big girl bed. She had a little bit of a problem going to sleep because it was a new environment. She didn't cry or anything just laid there awake for a good hour before going to sleep. The only "rough" patch we hit the first night was when at about 2:30am she woke up screaming "MOMMY!!!" as if though she was completely terrified. So I went running in there as fast as an 8 month pregnant woman can move and I come to find out she just didn't like the blanket I had put on her after she fell asleep to keep her warm...go figure I thought it was that she was confused about her surroundings. Anyway I put a different blanket on her and that fixed that problem.

I also don't think she has figured out she can get out of bed her on her own b/c in the morning she called to me saying she wanted to come in Mommy and Daddy's bed, so I told her to come on in but she said "you have to come get me". That is when I realized that she doesn't know she can get out of bed yet on her own and come in so I thought I am not going to clue her in yet, so I went and got her. Pretty smooth night.

Last night on the other hand was a little different. It took her a long time to fall asleep again but she just laid there quiet until she fell asleep. At about 12:30am I hear a huge THUMP! and screaming for Hannah "MOMMMY!! MOMMY!!!" and then crying. I knew that she had fallen out of bed. So I woke up Adam, who by the way has slept through all of these screams from night one and two to please go pick her up and make sure she is o.k. He of course found her on the floor...she wasn't hurt but she was shaken up b/c she has never fallen out of bed. We had thought about putting up a guard rail to keep her in her bed but our doctor had said that at 3 years old they have pretty good control of their body and it shouldn't be a problem. Plus, this bed is not that high of the ground and we have a soft carpet so I thought if for some reason she does fall out of bed it won't hurt too much. So after Adam picked her up and put her back into bed she fell right asleep. About an hour later she yelled to me b/c she needed to be covered up again so up I went to fix that problem. After taking about another hour to go back to sleep at 2:30 in the morning I hear again...THUMP!! and this time she yelled out "DADDY! DADDY!" b/c he had picked her up before. This time Adam lined her bed with pillows so she wouldn't fall out a 3rd time but it again took me a while to fall back asleep b/c I kept worrying about her.

When she woke up in the morning she said "Daddy put these pillows here so I wouldn't fall out of bed"...poor little girl. Clearly this girl sleeps like my brother where she is all over the bed at night and not like me where sometimes you think I am a dead body b/c I haven't moved at all. So needless to say Adam is going to go out and buy a rail for her bed today so we don't have the "fall out bed and bump your head" problem again tonight.

Happy 3rd Birthday Our Little Hannah!

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to our little Hannah who turns 3 today. We had quite the busy weekend with the football game, her party and then today her actual b-day. I have many pictures to post and stories to tell but those will come later. In the mean time...HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY HANNAH! :)

In addition I cannot forget my brother who today is also celebrating his birthday so "HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY MISA!!" I cannot believe he is 25...considering he is 8 years younger then me I always considered him so little...but not so much anymore.

Moving Mania!

This week we have been playing musical rooms at our house and clearing out our front room to change into our room, so that we can clear out our room and change it into Hannah's room. Let me tell you it has been craziness!! I don't think we realized how much stuff was in that front room that just accumulated over the last 6 years. For the most part we had to move all that stuff into living room/kitchen area which created complete disaray in those rooms so that Adam could paint our room. We choose the color "creme" which at first seemed more of a goldish tan but turned out more of a goldish yellow...it is nice though...it really brightens up the room.
I have been busy organizing and sorting all our crap and finding a proper place for it while Adam has been busy painting, cleaning carpets, and moving furniture. We have had a few late nights and we are tired but we must keep going!! I am determined to get this done by Hannah's b-day. Last night we completed the move into our new room and spent our first night in there which in turn has made Tulip so confused. When we finished emptying out our old room she walked down the hallway and looked in there and then looked at Adam putting together our bed in the new room and gave him a look as if to say "What the hell is going on in here?!". We realized that for 6 years and all her life we have been in our old room so this is obviously super confusing to her. All night long she looked really stressed out and confused.
When it came time to go to bed it was really hard convincing her to go lay on her bed in the new room. On top of it her bed as always been at the foot of our bed and Adam's dresser with the TV on top of it but since this room is shorter but wider she cannot fit in between the foot of the bed and Adam's dresser and now has to be on the side of our bed and next to my dresser...this has caused her additional stress. When I told her to lay on her bed she kept walking over to the foot of the bed and in between Adam's dresser and looking at me like aren't you going to move my bed over here, this is where I am suppose to lay down. I finally convinced her to get on her bed in the new spot but you could see she was not comfortable with it or relaxed. If we did not have the baby gate to keep her in there she would be out of there! I just felt so bad for her b/c you can't explain it to her.
Tonight the move into Hannah's room starts and will continue over the next few days as we make it her own. I plan to have her spend her first night in there on Sunday so she wakes up in there on Monday, her birthday. Pictures will come when the move it complete!

The Pacifier Fairy

The Pacifier Fairy came to our house this weekend! Now Hannah calls her pacifier her "pac", pronounced "pass" so that is how I will refer to it. Being that Hannah is almost 3 years old, and there is a hole in her pacifier and we didn't want to buy a new one, we have been wanting to get rid of it for a while now but have not had the best idea on how to go about it. We definitely wanted to conquer this problem before her little sister comes too. About a month ago on "Super Nanny" I learned of "The Pacifier Fairy"...here is how it works:

We warned Hannah that this weekend "The Pac Fairy" might be coming and so on Sunday before nap time we decided that this is when she would come. We told Hannah that the "Pac Fairy" comes when she feels boys and girls are old enough to give up their pacifiers to babies and smaller boys and girls that need it more then she does. What we do is we place it in an envelope, address it to the "Pac Fairy" and put it in the mailbox. If Hannah managed to get along without her "pac" and be a big girl and take a good nap without her pac the "Pac Fairy" would know leave a present for her. So before nap time we addressed our envelope to the "Pac Fairy" and Hannah for some reason remembered some little boy at the pool that she thought needed it so we made a special request on the back for the "Pac Fairy" to give it to that little boy. Here are the pictures of us going out to the mailbox before nap time to place our pacifier in there for the "Pac Fairy":

The front of the envlope:


The back with our special request:


And Hannah putting it in the mailbox and putting up the flag:




Then we went back inside and I read her a few stories. Normally I sit and rock with her a little bit but she wanted to go to sleep right away so the "Pac Fairy" could come...great!

When she woke up from her nap about 2 hours later she started to cry b/c she didn't think the "Pac Fairy" had come. Apparently she thought she would see her. We had to explain to her that the "Pac Fairy" is really quick and that she would leave the present in the mailbox for her. So off we went to check the mailbox and low and behold there was something in there for her!!

Getting ready to open up the mailbox:


The package!!




Hannah was so excited she was jumping up and down in Adam's arms and gave him a big hug! Then we had to quickly go inside to see what she brought to Hannah:



Hannah had a great time pulling out each of the 3 books and then of course we had to sit there and read them. We were so proud of her and she did such a great job without her "pac". Granted the last about 1 1/2 years at school she has been sleeping without it b/c they make them give it up in the Toddler Room but she had never done that at home. We even let her choose a special dinner last night and she chose pizza with olives of course...her favorite. Then we had special family movie night and watched "Lady & the Tramp" in Mommy & Daddy's room.

All was going well until she had a rough time falling asleep and she kept saying she wanted to go sleep in Mommy & Daddy's room. She didn't fall asleep until about 9:30pm and I was beginning to worry it was due to her lack of the pacifier. She even got up in her crib at one point and looked around on the shelf where her "pac" was normally kept but she never mentioned it at all. She finally fell asleep and slept until about 8am this morning only waking up maybe once last night...so overall I would say her first official night without her "pac" was a successful one! Let's hope it continues, but much thanks to Super Nanny for the wonderful "Pacifier Fairy" idea!