Ho Ho Ho from the Hospital

On Monday night, my water broke...at only 26 weeks. But I didn't know that's what happened.  I thought I was having bladder control issues. I called my midwife and was informed that it's very, very difficult to break your water that early on in a pregnancy.  So I went to bed and throughout the next day, kept feeling like I was about to pee myself. Finally at about noon, I called the midwives back, left a message and at 3:00, I got a call back, requesting that I get my butt up to the hospital ASAP.  

I had two exams, one by the resident and then another by one of my midwives.  The two agreed that I needed to be further evaluated and off I went via ambulance to Portland, where I had yet ANOTHER exam that confirmed that I had, indeed, broken my water. And because my little man has no amniotic fluid to surround him, he is at high risk and therefore, I am on bed rest, hooked 24/7 to a fetal monitor when my fluid is low and allowed off for 4 hours at a time when my fluid levels are higher. It's a full rupture, meaning that I'm going NOWHERE.

So here I sit, waiting for Little Mr. Man to decide what his plan is.  Will he come early or will he stay put for the next 8 weeks, when the doctors will deliver him via c-section (because he's transverse breech)? It's completely his call.  I have no say in the matter, I'm just his mother! 

Since I'm not allowed to leave the hospital for Christmas, we had to make Christmas come to the hospital, by decorating my room; my husband brought all the presents I needed to wrap, along with my wrapping supplies down to me; he brought me construction paper to make paper garland and the kite paper I ordered from Bella Luna to make window stars. He ran from store to store, at the last minute, to find stockings and a table cloth for our little tree that my friend sent me. He has also made many trips home to pack things up for my stay, many trips to his parents to take care of our Miss Ripley (Mr. Ted Head is enjoying being the only dog at my folks house) and many trips to get me food. My husband is my rock and I am beyond grateful to have him here. There is no way I would be this calm about what's happening without him. We have an amazing support system, too, between family and friends always checking in and offering to help out! I am utterly thankful and blessed.

The little angel atop my tree.

And right now, I'm good, other than a head cold sweeping over me. I have no pain, no contractions, no bleeding.  Little Mr. Man has a strong heartbeat and is squirming like a wiggle worm. We're just sitting tight, taking it day by day and hoping that he stays put for as long as he can.

So from my family to yours, Happy Solstice, Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas! May your days leading up to the new year be blessed and bright.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

This weekend, I cut the tree to table size and the cats are THRILLED! This is Eleanor's favorite time of year, when we bring her tree in.

And while I was a little curious about what Ory would think, I needn't have been worried. She played with the lights a little, and Eleanor played with the garland, but once the tree was up, nobody really touched it (okay, so Sid touched it, but just to pat at a lightbulb and when it really didn't do anything, she got bored).

Now all four race to be the first to sit under it, to watch out their window on the backyard under their very own tree, next to their buddy, the gnome.

I had enough boughs leftover to tuck under the lights on the deck and use in the house.

I still need to finish decorating.  I was a bit lazy after getting the tree up and the lights on. Pregnancy knocks the wind out of my sails and all I can think of is napping. I can sleep 3 hours in the afternoon, then still go to bed early and sleep all night! Roughly 16 more weeks to go and hopefully this little butterball will be exiting the oven.

Still Rockin' the Room

The kids' room is nowhere near complete, but we're still working.  The lower walls are "hilled." The bookshelves are painted and anchored to the wall.

I have trees started, but not finished, so they look like messy green blobs on the wall and ceiling.  The bookshelves need leaf stencils and tree trunk details on the bottom.  I've also painted Shorty's side table to look more tree stump-like (no pictures yet). 

BUT...Dragon Mountain is pretty well done.  I still think he needs mist around the mountain.  

No, I did not paint the dragon. He is an incredibly well done peel and stick by a company called Wall Monkeys, that I found on Amazon. It was so easy to put this guy up by myself! Nick and I love him soooooo much - we can't wait for Shorty to see him!!

And of course, painting would not be complete without helper cats.  The two older cats came in, checked it out and left (they've been through many, many room repaints and renovations). The kittens (well, they're both a year old now) had to inspect everything, play with every little piece of tape, inspect the paint and brush up against newly painted walls! Sid (the all black one) has blue paint on her tail, on the tops AND bottoms of her feet, on both side. I just shake my head!

Rockin' the Room!

With the new baby on the way, and living in a VERY small space, we've had to get creative with storage and where we plan to stick this kiddo at night.  We live in a two bedroom duplex and unfortunately the 2nd bedroom is tiny and has a terrible slant, due to the fact that the duplex is a saltbox.  When Nick and Shorty moved in, the room was my craft room and had a futon for anyone spending the night. I turned part of that room into her space, since she was only going to be with us on the weekends. 

With the limited space, we realized that the baby will have to share this room with Shorty. This prompted my husband and I to really rethink how we want to do this. Finally a plan was hatched: a quarter of my crafting stuff moved to our bedroom and the rest to the basement. The futon was traded for a twin bed, taking up MUCH less space. And now, the room has been completely emptied, as we prep for new paint, a woodland design, dragons and woodland critters and a whole lot of creative fun!

I'm going with a light blue for the walls, as a base and the green for the very bottom, to create a grass effect.  I will be adding acrylics to create clouds, trees and all that fun stuff. 

I found a really cool peel and stick dragon wall decal on Amazon that will be incorporated on Shorty's side. The baby will have cute little critters: 

Dragons and baby woodland critters - that's how we roll in the Nielsen house!

Be Still My Beating Heart

Yesterday, I heard my baby's heart beat for the first time.  

We had seen the little heart flutter at our first ultrasound, but that was 2 months ago. And despite experiencing nausea, exhaustion, shortness of breath, dizzy spells, hunger, sudden and frequent urges to pee, sleeplessness, round ligament pain and pregnancy brain, I was starting to feel disconnected - like I wasn't really pregnant.  I'm only 15 weeks, so it's really too soon for me to discern movement. 

Yesterday's appointment reassured me though.  My little man is growing and he has a good, strong heartbeat!

The Part Where I Was Pretty Sure It Was A Girl

I was so convinced I was having a girl, so convinced that I picked up an armload of girl clothes at a yard sale. So convinced that I told everyone, "It's a girl, you know it's going to be a girl!" 

Let this be a lesson to you.  You know that saying, "Don't count your chickens before they've hatched"?  Well, if you tell the world that you're sure you're having a girl, expect a boy. Better yet, just keep your mouth shut about your prediction...then nobody will know that you were wrong.

So yeah, our little Squiddy is a little Squirt! I had the MaterniT21 Plus test (because I'm nearly 40) and it revealed the gender of our baby.  Everyone thinks I'm disappointed that it's a boy, but you know what?  I'm just as happy that we're having a boy as I was thinking it was a girl.  It doesn't matter to me, all that matters is this baby is mine.  He's healthy, he's growing strong and I can't wait to meet him in March!

I'm also loving that I've turned the corner with the morning sickness, exhaustion, headaches and dizzy spells.  I guess lucky #13 is the week.  I'm even sleeping for the better part of the night!  No more waking up at 2:00 for a bowl of cereal because the belly is grumbling.

My next appointment isn't for another few weeks, so hopefully we'll have another ultrasound then to see just how much the little man has grown.

A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!

It's official...

  

We're having a little squid!!