Doctors appointment...

My appointment today went well. Since we are 32 Weeks now I am starting to get non stress tests. Basically they check for contractions, listen to the baby's heart and make sure he is moving around well, and measure the fluid around baby with an ultrasound to make sure it is were it needs to be. My next goal now is to make it to 34 weeks. 34 weeks is when Nicholas was born so I would consider that a huge success.

I am however starting to feel ready to deliver in the sense that I am done with being in bed all the time. My patience with being stuck in bed is running thin, but at the same time I know it is too early for the baby to come now. I guess I am just starting to get bored finally.

On a home note, we did finally get our wood stove installed completely. We have been test burning it the last few day. It is going to be great this winter. We had to do a few burns now to burn off the smell new ones have, kind of like breaking it in.

Unfortunately not all of the hard work is done, even with the stove installed. We got a really great deal on a lot of wood, only issue is, the wood needs to be stacked in the shed before it gets to be winter, and it's a lot of wood. Here is a picture and keep in mind there is already a bunch stacked in the shed.

I am hoping I will be able to help stack once the baby comes, but if I go to term it maybe too late for me to help. Unfortunately for Jeremy this means he needs to stack it all himself. It's pretty crazy, but needs to get done, but over all I think we are both happy we won't need to rely on oil heat this year. Although we may fill the tank once before the season starts to have it as a back up if needed, but I think we would almost use electric back up before oil this year. We haven't decided if we should make the investment or not yet. I am sure we will make up our minds soon. Winter weather isn't that far away.

32 Weeks and still counting...

Today is an exciting day...I am 32 weeks pregnant today! This is really a very comforting feeling. Today the baby moves into a percentage that if it came today, and lets hope it doesn't, but if it did it would have the same chance of survival as a full term baby. I feel like having a party in my room today to celebrate. I am still hoping to get at least 2-4 more weeks before he comes, but today is a big milestone. With less then 60 days until my official due date it is starting to feel a lot closer then it has. I added a tracker to the top of the page as well. My doctor told me last week if I make it to 35 weeks my medicine I am on can stop. The medicine is to stop contractions. So I have a feeling we'd have it shortly after that if we make it that far. We shall see.

Nicholas got to go visit with Thomas

Jeremy got to take Nick to see Thomas the Tank Engine at Strasburg Railroad. You can see a few pictures Jeremy put up on his blog here. You can also see some videos of it on here

31 Weeks today

Well made it another week. We are 31 weeks today. Nothing exciting going on for me. My good friends Steve and Doria are in Labor and Delivery. It looks as if her twins are coming with in the next day or two. She is 34 weeks, which isn't too bad, but I know she was really hoping to make it full term. I just want to keep them in my thoughts and prayers. The she is fine and the babies get here happy and healthy.

Check up went well.

So I am 30 weeks and 2 days today. They checked me out and I am still holding strong at 1.3cm. They also checked the baby's growth, he was in the 61.7 percentile for over all growth, and 3 pounds 12 ounces. All looked well, and they don't even want to see me again for an ultrasound at this point until mid October. I will still have weekly prenatal visits to check blood pressure and for contractions etc. It is starting to feel like we are in the home stretch. We have single digit weeks left (9) until our due date so I guess really it is getting closer. I just hope we can make it at least another month, that would get us to when Nick came and I feel comfortable things would go well at that point. Of course 2 months be better. I have a lot less anxiety and stress as each day goes on, and feel for secure each day the baby will be fine, but as with anything in life, you don't know what you will get till it's here.

30 Weeks Today!

Today I am 30 weeks pregnant, what that means is today if the baby were to come it would have the same chance of surviving as a full term, 40 week old baby. It be more likely to have other health issues, but it could possibly be fine as well. It is little to hold on to, but it is something. Every day past today is a blessing and means the baby has that much more of a chance to be healthy.

Some Random yet Adorable Pictures of my Son

We did a lot this summer...

Jeremy and I knew it was extremely likely for me to end up on bed rest again with this baby so we packed a lot of stuff into this last few months.

We went to the Baltimore Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Shives and my cousin Tracker.

We took a day trip out to Hershey area and visited Indian Echo Caverns and Zoo America.

We took a trip to Pittsburgh and went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and the Pittsburgh Children's Museum

Nick got to play in the water area, and got to play with "trolley" from Mr. Roger's

We took another day trip out to the Strasburg railroad and Dutch Wonderland

and Nick even got to hug a Princess

We have had a really good time, and done lots of other things too. Now we just need to get his new brother here safe so we can share all these wonderful things with him too.

My Mother's Day Gift

Jeremy got me a new necklace for Mother's Day. Not something everyone knows, but when we lost Grace, the hospital gave us a memory box with a DragonFly hand painted on it, since then the dragonfly is a nice reminder of her. So I though this was very nice.

More Baby Hats

I found this really cute pattern for a baby cabled hat. I decided to make one for all the boys. The new baby to come, nick and even Jeremy. The smallest one I followed the patter for newborn size, for Nick's I use a larger yarn and needle to make it big enough for his head, and for Jeremy's (which I haven't started yet) I will use the same large yarn and needles, and just add some length so it will fit on his head.

Oh yeah, isn't he the cutes damn kid you ever seen...LOL

Nick's splippers

I made these a while back, they are felted slippers. He really enjoyed them last winter. Not sure why I never uploaded the pics. I had them.

Sue's project

Before Sue left for Florida she asked for a winter set, a head wrap, slippers and a scarf. I am done the head wrap and slippers, not sure what I want to do for the scarf yet, so haven't started it yet. But here are the slippers and headband. The slippers need felted still, but I am waiting to do that with Sue so they will shrink to the right size.

Knitting Backlog

With all this bed rest it's a good time to catch up on some things that have backlogged a bit. This was a hat I knit for Heather's new baby and it ended up being too small, more a preemie size then a newborn, so I held onto it for now.

Doing nothing can be hard.

It's amazing, we work all our lives to achieve a life a pure leisure and then then it's forced upon us it's quite a different story. I guess my case is a bit different because I have the fear to deal with. Everytime I sit up, or go to the bathroom, take a shower all I can think about is that my water might break, and the baby would come too early. If he does come early will he be okay? If I get a tickle in my throat,I dread that I might have to cough, and will it be too hard and make my water break, and forget about sneezing. When you lay in bed all day you get sore, your back, neck, hips, legs, even your feet hurt because they can swell a bit from laying. I you get so weak, turning over becomes a monumental act and you start to wonder if all this is worth it. I hate my self for questioning that. With Nicholas I was so scared I never had a chance to doubt. All I was focused on was getting him here safe. Now I have Nicholas and we are past the first danger zone for the baby it's hard to focus on anything. I am scared, and I want a healthy baby, but I can't do this again. The weird thing is I want more kids, but I think adoption will be the way we go if we do this again. We can't take this down time as a family. It's hard on all of us. Jeremy is basically a single parent right now taking care of two kids, Nicholas and me. I can't do anything by myself. Even a simple shower I need his help to get set up. He is taking care of the house, all the means, and all 3 of us. His Grandmother and Aunt Nancy came to visit the other day. It was really nice to get a visit. It helps break up the time of constant nothing. You can only watch so much TV, read so much, play games, etc before it all becomes the same thing over and over. They did bring some pre-made food which was really nice. It helps Jeremy a lot to have quick things he can just pop in the oven to feed all of us. So Wednesday will be 29 weeks. we are making progress, but it seems like the days are each a week long. Jeremy doesn't get to spend a lot of time with me, between working, cooking, cleaning, taking care of Nicholas, the house, shopping I don't really get to see him that often. It kind of depresses me, and I feel at times like he is avoiding me, but I know it's irrational. I know it's just all Te crap he needs to do in a day, but I guess being alone all day and night for weeks at a time can cause some irrational thoughts. Ok enough of my insane rambling, just glad to still be home, and making it a day at a time. Hopefully this baby will get here and be as happy and healthy as our last.