38 weeks- "Wow Amanda, you are looking HUUUGE!! Aw, gee thanks...you make me feel GREAT!!

    We've made it to the final stretch. Only 14 days to go! This pregnancy has gone by SO fast. I can't believe it's just about over. Although I'm incredibly grateful at this point that it IS over soon. I'm done. It's time for this little man to make his appearance!! And if we base it on the amount of comments being made to me about just how HUGE I am, he better be coming soon. Like now. Before I punch some comment maker in the face. Twice. 

    Back in 2007, I was in a REALLY bad car accident. I broke lots of bones, but the worst part was the two breaks in my pelvis as well as the broken tail bone. Those have caused me some pain and discomfort throughout this pregnancy, but not nearly as bad as I thought they would. I've been blessed with an easy pregnancy. I've bypassed a lot of the symptoms that make pregnancy miserable for most women and that has made working full time much easier. All of that has now changed. I feel like I shouldn't complain, seeing as how I've had it easy the rest of the time. But at the same time, it's hard NOT to complain some when you feel like your PELVIS HAS SHATTERED AGAIN AND THERE IS GIANT BELLY RESTING ON IT AND MAKING THE SHATTERED BONES GRIND TOGETHER. We think the huge jump from discomfort and some pain to EXCRUCIATING AND OMG I THINK I'M DYING has to do with baby "dropping". We don't know the full extent of my previous pelvic injuries with my current pain. However, I feel pretty strongly that there is a BIG connection. Duh. My pain can be broken down to 2 main locations. 

• Tail bone- When I go from sitting to standing, it feels like there is a small explosion where my tailbone is. Sharp, stabbing, shooting pains radiate outwards. If you've ever broken your tail bone, that is how this feels. Every. Time. I. Stand. Up. The longer I've been sitting, the worse it is. The harder the surface is that I've been sitting on, the worse it is. Sitting in different positions doesn't help. Sitting on cushions or special "pelvic" pillows doesn't help. Laying helps, but only until it starts to make my back hurt. But since that pain is way less intense, laying is the best solution. 

• Pubic Symphysis- this is the found where your pelvis comes together in the front. When I broke my pelvis,one of the two breaks happened in the bone next to the pubic symphysis, and misaligned the bones in relation to the pubic symphysis. This causes a sharp stabbing pain RIGHT there in my crotch. I mainly feel this pain when I'm walking, going up stairs, climbing in/out of the car & truck, and when rolling out of bed. Sometimes it's a grinding, stabbing pain. At least there is variety, right? Sometimes this pain also feels like a small explosion has taken place. That's when it brings tears to my eyes. 

    So between those pains, plus the fact that here at the end of pregnancy my body is releasing hormones that tells my pelvis to open WIDER. And WIIIIDER STILL. I have a 5 inch screw holding one side of my pelvis in place. So the other side is really the only side that can open. This inability to open bi-laterally could be playing a large part in my pain levels. Now that baby has dropped, and is putting more pressure on everything (which also encourages my pelvis to open WIDERRRRR) my pain level has jumped from like a 3 to a 20. Sometimes it hurts so bad to stand that when I'm at work I wheel my chair around as much as possible to avoid the pain. I probably look like the laziest person around, but I just DARE SOMEONE TO MAKE A COMMENT TO ME ABOUT IT! They won't appreciate the result. Don't mess with a very pregnant lady who is in a lot of pain. Duh. 
    Ryan and I talked about it, and we decided that it would be good to discuss induction options with my OB. I think that choosing to induce is a personal decision to be made with your spouse. If you don't believe in inductions, that is great for you. But lets not judge each other's choices, yeah? :)  Anyway. So at my appointment yesterday we asked my OB what our options at this point are. She said that in order to even discuss induction, I'd have to be dilated to at least 3cm. I'm only at 2cm. Which is better than the 1cm I was at my last two appts! Progress is good! I asked if she would at least do a membrane sweep and she said she would. I had been warned that it would be really painful, but that wasn't the case at all for me. The only pain I had was from her knuckles pushing on my pelvic bone. She said that there is generally only a 20% chance of the sweep helping you start labor, but that was good enough for me. Unfortunately, it didn't do much. I had more braxton hicks contractions, but nothing painful. But maybe it'll help me dilate more so at my next appt we can talk about inducing. I can hope!!
   

Labor & Delivery is really quiet in the middle of the night

I can't believe it's March!! We're having a BABY this month! Whaaaat?!? Our little man is also excited for it to be March, and let us know that with another one of his theatrical episodes. Silly boy.

So Saturday was March 1st. Ryan worked for FedEx, and I cleaned a little and ran some errands. It was a normal day, nothing exceptional happened. Except I made a minky blanket with satin binding. If you don't look too close, it actually turned out cute. That was exceptional, since I know nothing pretty much about sewing. But I digress.

We went to bed like normal, fell asleep like normal, and a few hours later I woke up to pee like normal. That's when I discovered I was bleeding. Again. Not so normal (although it seems to be turning into a normal thing for us. Good grief). It was just like when I started bleeding back on January 1st when we came home from California. This time, I didn't start to panic since I'm so close to being considered full term. Whereas before, if he had been born then he would have only weighed between 1-2lbs. That would have been scary! Anyway, so I went back to our room to quietly get my phone and call the emergency line for my OB before waking Ryan. He heard me though and asked if everything was ok. I sighed and said no, that I was bleeding again and was going to call and find out if we needed to go to L&D. I called the doctor on call and explained what was going on. I told him that this had happened once before, but the circumstances were different. He said that he wanted to be safe rather than sorry, and wanted me to go to the hospital to get checked out. So I went back to the room and told Ryan that we needed to go to the hospital. We got dressed and headed out at 3:45am. There was no one on the roads, which was convenient. We parked and walked slowly (cause I waddle. A lot. And slowly) to the maternity ward. We got taken to a room and told that the doctor I had spoken with told them I was coming in.

I got changed into their lovely hospital gown, and then hooked up to the two monitors. One is for baby's heart beat and the other is to monitor contractions. Then the nurse said that she needed to check my cervix at the instruction of the doctor, since that may have been the cause of the bleeding the last time.

*I had my first cervical check on Thursday at my OB appt, and she said then that I was 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. I had no side effects after the check like some women do (ie bleeding, contractions, etc)*

When she checked my cervix, she said that I was still only 1cm dilated, but I was now 70% effaced. So in a matter of 2.5 days, I'd progressed 20%. I'm ok with that! She said that it did look like the bleeding had stopped, and couldn't determine the cause for sure. Again, sounds like last time. She said that sometimes having the cervical check can cause bleeding, but they only expect that in the 24hrs after the exam. And all of this was happening well beyond the 24hr mark, so she didn't think that was the cause. She said that they were going to monitor me for 20-30min and then let me go.

About 45 minutes later, she came back in to let us know that they wanted to keep monitoring baby and me for awhile longer. Apparently baby's heart beat wasn't showing the "accelerations" that they were wanting to see. She propped me on my side to see if that made any difference, and said she would be back in awhile. I just read my Kindle while Ryan took a cat nap. After we had been there for a total of 2 hours, the nurse came back and said that they were going to release me. She said that at one point I was having regular contractions and they had started to wonder if I was going to go into labor, but then they slowed and spaced back out. Ryan and I looked at each other and were like what contractions?! I had a teensy bit of cramping at one point, but that's it. Baby was moving like crazy, and I hadn't noticed my stomach getting hard. I'm ok not feeling contractions until I have to! As long as when I really do go into labor, I have enough time to get to the hospital. That's my only condition for it. Haha. She said that baby's heart beat looked great, most of the time. She said that every so often it looked like there was an arrhythmia or a murmur that had them slightly concerned. The doctor on call said that I need to go in once a week for a Non-Stress Test (NST) so they can monitor his heart. Then they unhooked me and sent me on my way.

Now, normally I worry about *everything*. Way more than is necessary (or healthy probably). But this time, I'm not overly worried. I figure if there was a big enough issue with his heart beat, they would have kept me. But they didn't, so I shouldn't stress. I'll being seeing someone twice a week until he's born (between the NST and the weekly OB appt), so baby will be closely monitored. And if it so happens that he comes now, he may not even have any time in the NICU at this point. So everything is going to be ok. And more than anything, I've had many reassurances that Heavenly Father is aware of us and everything will be ok. :)