Four Pounds of Awesome

I had my growth ultrasound today and little Emma bear is 4 pounds already, which is above average! She's always measured ahead on her ultrasounds so I wasn't surprised but I was greatly relieved that she's still growing just fine. Good job, kiddo! Mommy and daddy are very proud :) I tried to find a list of other things that weigh four pounds, but the only thing I could really find is an ostrich egg, which doesn't really put it into perspective for most people. Well, unless you have an ostrich farm or something. My dog was supposed to be about four pounds... she turned out to be 12. Fat or not, I love her anyways! I also got to find out exactly how she's positioned: head down, lying on her left side. Her little bum is above my bellybutton towards the left side of my abdomen and her legs and feet are to the right. I figured that much because of how often she explores my right hip bone and ribcage with her toes. At one point during the ultrasound, she grabbed her foot and was playing with her toes. So stinking cute!
So now I present to you: There Can be Miracles, in bulleted format! Because I typically write a novel and maybe it'll be an easier read if it's broken up a bit...

• My morning monitoring went well! Baby girl's heart rate looked good and I had a few contractions, but nothing major.

• I had my favorite day shift nurse today... she's awesome. She always goes above and beyond to make sure I'm comfortable and happy. The girl from the lab woke me up at 5am for blood work and I told her I didn't think that was right because I usually have my blood work done the day my 24 hour urine collection is done, not the day it starts. She looked at the label and said that the label said 9am, so she would just come back. I think she could tell by my facial expression and tone that I was seriously less than amused at being woken up at 5am to be poked again- I just had blood work done on Monday! So I asked the nurse about it, and she said she would take care of it. The OB later explained that she put in a standing order for blood work every Monday and Thursday per the MFM, but would change it to Tuesdays and Fridays so on Fridays they can just do the whole shabang at one time. I can't imagine how I'm not going to look like an IV drug addict after I'm done with all of this... two blood draws per week! Insanity. It makes me worried that something isn't quite right... why else would they want blood work that often? I'm going to ask the MFM tomorrow.

• So, yes- I'm peeing in a jug for the fourth time since I've been here. I think I'm going to majorly twitch any time I see an orange jug for the rest of my life...

•  I think I'm getting some stretch marks... and I am so OK with that. Seriously... no joke. I see them as tiger stripes and they'll be a visual reminder of this process. For me, pregnancy means something much different than how others probably view it... sure, it's been trying, magical, crazy, painful, frustrating, wonderful, and memorable. But I've also learned so much through the whole process of getting pregnant and now staying pregnant. So I feel like these little stretch marks will serve to remind me of this time and the lessons I've learned. And since this is the only pregnancy I'm going to experience, it'll be a reminder of this special once-in-a-lifetime event. I'll embrace these marks as my badge of courage :)

• I was on the monitor for two hours tonight. All hell broke loose on the unit tonight- a nurse told me that they had five admissions in less than two hours right at shift change. Emma's heart rate was much higher than normal in the beginning of the session and I was contracting every 5-7 minutes or so. Her heart rate dropped significantly over and over... she recovered well, but it wasn't necessarily good. I was told to lie on my side, so we tried the right side first and things didn't improve. I rolled on my left, and her heart rate improved pretty quickly. I kept contracting, but we don't care about that anymore. The on-call OB came to the hospital to look at the strip from the monitoring, and decided that things were looking alright so she wasn't worried and I finally got off the monitor.

• And now for a quick list of things I won't miss about this place: wearing an armband constantly. I feel like the 21 year old who's so proud of getting into a club last night that I'm not taking the wristband off for a day or two. Other things I won't miss: the lack of peace and quiet, the uncomfortable bed, the awful wallpaper, the sound of the helicopters coming and going (makes me sad, as they are usually carrying sick babies and preemies), being poked with needles (by my estimation, I've been poked about 22 times so far), cold ultrasound gel from monitoring sessions and the subsequent gel belly effect, and not seeing my hubby every day. Among many other things.

• The things I will miss (yes, I'm really going there): having breakfast, lunch, and dinner served bedside every day, having an excuse to do nothing all day long, not having to work, not having to do laundry, having someone else bring me fresh towels and change the linens on my bed, hearing my baby's heart beat for at least 20 minutes twice per day, and spending plenty of time feeling my little wiggle worm dancing around in my belly. Of course I can't wait to give her hugs, snuggles, and kisses... but I also enjoy feeling her moving around in my belly. It's very special :)

P.S.- in case you haven't noticed, I don't proofread my blogs. Call me lazy, but I'm just too lazy to do it. So forgive me for the occasional typos and whatnot... I'm not illiterate, I promise!