Sick as a dog

3:30 AM is a wonderful time to post on my blog. I took some robitussin at about 3 so it's starting to kick in, then I will go back to bed. This has been a rough couple of days.

Friday night, I was feeling fine (not great, at eight months pregnant you never feel great). I had an appointment with the chiropractor, and Nana and Papa were watching the children, so I made a trip to the grocery store to buy vegetables (Linda and Cheryl were here to visit this weekend) and a few other necessities. After checking out I called Paul to see when he was getting off work, and we made plans to have Mexican food for dinner. Then I drove back to Nana's house to wait for Paul.

By the time I got to Nana's I was feeling pretty ugh! but that's typical from late-term grocery shopping. I didn't think much of it until the contractions started getting really hard and really close together. And then I was puking with every contraction.

When Paul arrived I told him I wasn't ready for dinner. Then a little later I told him to eat dinner himself. Then I said "call the doctor".

The Dr. on call told us to go the hospital which we promptly did. Paul dropped me off, and it was all I could do to hobble in the door and sit down. The ER attendant found a wheelchair and as soon as Paul got in she wheeled me up to the labor and delivery unit (if you're more than 28 weeks pregnant they automatically take you to L&D no matter the complaint). When I get there, they were expecting me but didn't have any rooms available so they took me to the breastfeeding room where they asked a bunch of questions while I proceeded to moan and puke.

When they had a room ready they took me in and had me change into a hospital gown (designed by the famous Seymour Hiney). I was really limping and having trouble moving. I tried to pee in a cup but couldn't. So they put me in the bed, examined me and hooked up the tocometer.

I didn't take them long to figure out that I had stomach flu and was having contractions from dehydration. So they put me on an IV and administer nausea meds. The pains softened. I continued to have contractions for a couple of hours, but by 2 AM they had almost stopped entirely. If I had not gone into the hospital when I did the labor probably would have been irreversible, but fortunately we arrived on time.

At 3 AM they sent me home. I was still too weak to walk very far, so they wheeled me down. By the time I got home the nausea meds were starting to wear off. And I could tell it would be a long weekend.

Paul called the doctor Saturday morning got me some nausea meds. Linda and Cheryl arrived Saturday morning. We had not really warned them that I was sick. We probably should have told them Friday night. But at that point we didn't really know what was going on. And because of the relatively high likelihood that I would have the baby this weekend we thought it might be nice for them to be here. Plus with the doctors orders to stay off my feet I needed their help

But fortunately, the baby stayed right where she belongs. Hopefully, she can incubate at least another week.

The nausea mostly left by about 1:30 yesterday, but not before I somehow developed a cold. The coughing and the sneezing wouldn't be so bad if I weren't so weakened already. So popsicles and jello for me for awhile longer. Although I can no handle chicken soup too.

Now I am just praying that I get myself recouped before I have real labor.

Happy Birthday Kathy!

Today is Kathy's Birthday. I'm not sure how old you have to be before it's impolite to say how old you are. But I'll just say that this is the car insurance Birthday. Possibly the most meaningful of Birthdays. At least until you reach the retirement Birthday in another 40 (or more) years.

So have a great Birthday, and eat plenty of chocolate.

PS. For those of you who don't read Manda's blog, yesterday was her Birthday, too.

P.S. Ever wonder why there are so many Birthday's in mid November? If you haven't figured it out look at a calendar nine months back.

PG

So runner Dave and Leanne will be arriving within the next couple of hours, so the children are helping to ensure that the house is as messy as possible for their arrival. Paul will be getting home from work around the same time they arrive. And I convinced him to bring some Arby's home for dinner. I love my husband!!!!!!!!

So as well as finding that I am writing a blog for the scholarly, I also checked up on my blog's rating. Keeper of the Cheerios is now PG instead of G. The reason given was three instances of the word breast and one of the word sex. I will grant that the post in which these words were used is somewhat illicit and not appropriate for very small children. However, I really do not believe that sex or breast are bad words.

I could have been writing an article about how the doctor had easily determined the sex of our baby by doing so many ultrasounds. Or I could have been discussing sex as the Latin number six and the root of the word sextuplet. Speaking of sex, is that also the root of sexton?

Then again I could have been writing a recipe which called for breast of chicken or breast of turkey. Or I could have been discussing how I plan to breast feed the baby because breast milk is the absolute best nutrition for baby. Breast is not a dirty word! I wish our culture was more understanding of the fact that God designed breasts for the purpose of feeding babies (and perhaps with other mating purposes in mind).

Post grad reading...

Running the home stretch

I saw the OB today. The ultrasound shows that Naomi is nice and plump. She also has hair!!! The Dr. couldn't get a good printout of her though, because her head is so far engaged. Although I'd have liked a better picture, I'm happy to hear this.

After my appointment, I took the kiddos to the BMV to renew my driver's license. The lady did not want to update my weight. So it still says I weigh 124. Perhaps she figured you shouldn't change the weight of a pregnant woman. But the amazing thing is that there was no wait at all. I guess I picked a good day and time. The new BMV is actually very nice too. So I suppose I'll eventually have to stop being bitter about all the changes they've made. The children behaved themselves wonderfully through the whole ordeal. I received many compliments on them.

The word of the day today is humidifier. I don't know why but Abigail has been saying it over and over again.

And Sammy has learned to count to ten.

My nesting energy left this afternoon, so now I am back to feeling dead tired.

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!

The longer time goes, the less it seems to take to get me really excited.

Right now, I am celebrating the discovery of my long lost phillips screw driver. Yes, the very same one I couldn't find over labor day weekend. :) Finally!

Braxton and Hix

Nana is watching the kids tonight so I can get some cleaning done around this house. Bible Study is here tomorrow night, so I should make it look at least sort of decent. So why, you ask, am I typing on my blog? Is Shaelin procrastinating? For once no. I actually have a lot of cleaning energy today, the nesting bug finally hit. But thanks to Mssrs. Braxton and Hix I needed to take a break.

For those of you who don't know what that means: Braxton Hix contractions are contractions that prepare the uterus/cervix for labor and delivery. They cause effacement but not dilation. Women usually get lots of them in the month (or two) leading up to delivery. Most of my pregnancy advice books say they are painless (this is a complete lie --they sometimes are really terrible). But if you are actively doing something when they start (e.g. walking, chasing toddlers, or cleaning the house) they almost always stop when you stop. Conversely if they start when you are laying in bed, becoming active stops them.

Hopefully this has been a long enough break, so I will get back to work.