Yeah, Still Pregnant.

I'm pretty over being pregnant.  Work is rough, as I'm either on the floor playing with kids, picking kids up, or holding kids using my whole body strength most of the day.  I'm hungry but can't eat more than a little bit at a time, thanks to a baby taking up my entire abdomen.  It's hot.  And I mean HOT.  My back hurts, I have no energy...blah blah blah...I'm just done.

Two weeks ago we had our 35 week ultrasound to check on the baby's position and size.  I was a little sad we didn't get to see his face since he was turned around backward, and we didn't get a single photo as a souvenir.  Baby boy was head down (which is good news), and was measuring at around 5 pounds 12 oz, which was a little big for his gestational age but that's how Sam was too.  I go to the doctor every week now, which gives me something to look forward to.  Most weeks are boring.  Takes all of 5 minutes. 

The most excitement we have had so far was last Thursday.  I had actual contractions (painful) for about 3 hours that night.  They never became regularly spaced, and slowly faded away.  Sigh.  It was a new experience for me though.  With Sam, my water just broke...I wasn't having any contractions.  The only contractions I got to experience were the ones brought on by a big bag of pitocen, and those contractions SUCKED. 

As far as the rest of the family goes, Chris participated in a Warrior Dash in North Georgia this weekend - an off road race with a lot of obstacles.  He had a good time, and Sam and I kept busy with our own adventures while he was gone.  I took Sam to Monkey Joes - a kid's playplace with a bunch of blow up moon bounce type stuff.  Sam was a little small for most of the stuff, but he had a blast just running around and watching other kids bounce and play. Parents are allowed to get in and help kids under 4 climb in the bouncers, but I didn't exactly want to go into labor at Monkey Joes.  Today, we went to our neighbor's daughter's birthday party.  They had a blow up moon bounce-like water slide.  Once again, Sam was a little too small for it.  It was a double slide, and they had once side with water and one without.  Sam was content with me shoving him up to the top of the dry side, UNTIL he saw the kids in the water.  But it was unusually cold today, and when the water would spray on him he would shy away.  I shoved him half way up the wet side a few times and he would chicken out as soon as the water would start to hit him. Finally, one sweet little girl coaxed him the rest of the way to the top and slid down with him.  Of course, when he hit the freezing pool of water at the bottom of the slide, it took his breath away and he started screaming!  He recovered quickly, and moved on to throwing water balloons at his own feet.  Needless to say, he went to sleep so easily tonight.

A few prayer requests:  A heart friend from north Alabama is having a very rough time with their child, who has a very serious complication in addition to HRHS (Sam's defect).  He is in the hospital awaiting their next move.  Another heart friend from Daphne with HLHS (opposite but similar to Sam) just had his Glenn (Sam's surgery), and is recovering.  And a prayer of thanksgiving for Amelia - niece of a friend of mine.  She was born at 24 weeks gestation the Sam weekend as Sam's emergency surgery 2 years ago.  She stayed in the hospital almost a full year, and has been struggling at times to reach milestones.  However, in the last few months, she has really started to thrive, and their most recent victory is that they are starting to gain ground with getting her to oral feed vs her G-tube.  It's been thrilling to hear her progress recently, and I've always been impressed with how well her parent's have persevered and helped her get to where she is today. 

~Kathy