Week 34...almost there :)

So, I waited a day to write this because my sister has a theory. If anyone saw her status on Facebook yesterday, you may have been wondering why she told me not to update the blog. For the last few weeks, whenever I get on here and update everybody, something happens that night. For a while, I would have a bleed, and then last week I contracted like crazy. Lauren is in nursing school at USC and has been very carefully following every move I make (which is why she called herself a paranoid amateur nurse - haha) so she wanted me to wait this week before I updated. However, this has become part of my weekly routine and it's difficult to stay away. I figure that we are now in a "safe zone," so here goes! :)

Last Sunday night around midnight(after I updated the blog!), my abdomen became really hard and did not go down. It's normal that during a contraction your stomach gets hard, but after a minute or so becomes soft again. Well, this time it didn't go down for like 10-15 minutes. Matt was with me, and we had no idea what to do, so we called the nurse. She put me on the monitor, which showed I was having contractions less than a minute apart - explaining why my stomach would not soften up. It got a little crazy...they thought I could be abrupting, so I got bloodwork done and a second IV port just in case I needed a blood transfusion. The doctor did an exam and I wasn't dilated or effaced, so I wasn't "in labor". They started pumping IV fluids into me and that definitely helped slow the contractions down. I stayed on these fluids for the next 24 hours, and ended up looking like the Michelin Man - I was soooo swollen! Thankfully, the irritability and contractions stayed away for a few days, but Matt and I definitely got a taste of what will happen if I do have an abruption.

Things stayed pretty low key until Sunday. I woke up having contractions and on the monitor they were showing up at 7-8 an hour. I was put on fluids again, which calmed everything down - for about 2 hours. I started contracting again and had tons of irritablity. It stayed this way until about 5pm, when they finally gave me some morphine to calm down my uterus and let me sleep. That night, I felt soooo much better, and I haven't had any major issues in the last two days.

The plan as of now is that I'll get to 37 weeks and we'll do a c-section. If I go into active labor before then - contractions with dilation - or if I have a major bleed, then Benton will make his arrival! Mom and I are betting/hoping that I just naturally go into labor. My ultrasound from yesterday showed Benton as weighing 6lbs 3oz and measuring at 35 weeks and 2 days! We think that I'm really a week ahead, but the doctors don't ever change due dates this late in the game, so I'm still technically 34 weeks and 1 day. The baby is still doing so well. Even through all of the craziness of the last week, his heartbeat and movements have been perfect. We watched him practice his breathing on ultrasound and he gets the hiccups ALL THE TIME. :) It's so funny...I think it scares him at first because he starts moving like crazy, then settles down once he realizes the hiccups aren't going away.

Thank you again for all of your support and prayers. We've been doing going through this since I was 24 weeks pregnant and back then, it was hard to believe that I'd still be pregnant at 34 weeks. This was a huge goal (especially for my dad, who has now moved his goal to 36 weeks - haha) and my entire family is thrilled that we have made it this far. God is good!!!

Y'all have a great week...it won't be long before I post pictures of our little boy! :)