A Quick Trip to Labor & Delivery & A Room Update!

Well, we had our first trip to Labor & Delivery on Friday of last week and hopefully it will be the one and only trip until the big day is here! Luckily, we were back home shortly after arriving but it was a bit too close to how Emma came into the world for us! I woke up Friday morning exhausted and with some pretty sharp pains very low in my stomach (like where you get menstrual cramps) but it was only on the left side, so I was assuming it was round ligament pain or "lightening" as Jackson drops lower. Finally, after about an hour the pain went away so I decided to head into work anyway because of how much time I have already had to take off because of doctor's appointments.

Jackson ended up being pretty quiet the rest of the day, all through the morning, after breakfast and even after lunch which was out of the norm for him so I started to get worried. With Emma, I stayed at home from work one day and ended up calling the doctor because I hadn't felt her move much that day. They told us to head right to Labor & Delivery and that's when we found out I had pre-eclampsia and they started the induction that day. So, after trying to get Jackson to move more and drinking cold water, eating something sugary, and even leaving work and laying down for a while, I made the phone call to my doctor's office knowing where we were headed. Sure enough, 5 minutes later, we were making the phone calls to the parents to coordinate things for Emma and Shamus and we were off. And just like with Emma, Jackson started moving up a storm pretty much as soon as I got hooked up to the monitors! What a stinker! But this time, my blood pressure was okay and I didn't have any protein in my urine so we were okay to head home.

Apparently, I still am not drinking enough though (this is getting ridiculous) because the nurse asked me if I wanted some water (after knowing we were heading home) and I said no thanks, but about 2 minutes later she came into the room with a tall cup of water and said "I brought you one anyway." Dang. I was more nervous about sitting in rush-hour traffic on the way home after drinking a big cup of water but down the hatch. Turns out, I was actually having contractions that I couldn't feel every few minutes (they were pretty regular too) but once I drank the water, they stopped.

So although we were relieved to be headed home, I was also very frustrated that here we were again, right after things had settled down, worried and not knowing what was about to happen. I am now definitely to the point where I just want to be holding our new baby because at least then, we won't be so on edge and certainly because of what happened with Emma, and because of having pre-eclampsia with your first baby and being more likely to have it again with your second baby, I am very nervous and constantly worried and looking for signs this time around. But, although I am VERY ready to have this baby, I am also thinking about the fact that this could very well be the last time I am pregnant ever. So with 3 weeks left, I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible. Despite the back aches, swelling, contractions, lack of sleep, and inability to move at a normal pace. :)

But, we were home by 6:30PM Friday evening and had a good "practice run" with having my mom pick up Emma from school, coordinating with Shamus, etc for the big day, so I think we are ready!

We also made some more progress on Jackson's room this weekend (and by "we", I mean The Painter Lady, ha)! We ended up hiring Ann once again to help us with Jackson's room for a couple of reasons. The first being that she painted almost our entire house a few years ago (because we have some open areas that are two stories, etc that we couldn't do) and we loved what she did. The second being that if it was up to us to paint stripes, it would not only take 3 weeks, but would end up all wavy or crooked. :) So this way, we got the painting done faster, maybe not exactly cheaper, but we love it! We actually had a couple other things on our original list for Ann to paint (bedroom, bathroom, etc) because we were going to do a few small remodeling things, but that was right before Shamus's surgery hit our budget, so we put the painting on the back burner. Plus, my mother in law (Hi, Meredith!!!) is an amazing painter and always willing to help us with some home projects during visits so we figured some of the other things could wait.

So here are a few pictures of how things turned out! I took these pictures with my phone so they are pretty dark but you get the idea. :) I'm waiting for the room to be a little more finished before breaking out the big photography guns. (I'm only about $50 away from my Speedlite that I have been dreaming about so I'm thinking I may just have to splurge since I got the rest of the money through Christmas and Birthday presents and have been waiting for months!!) :)

I ironed one of the curtain panels that we have but decided that its a bit much to have two panels on each window, and one on each window wasn't doing it for me either. So I am going to return two panels, and make a valance out of the ones that we have already! Other than a few small things, like hanging a little shelf and getting some pictures hung, we are all set for baby!

Now, I just need to figure out what to hang on the walls! Since Daddy is such a big baseball fan and has been dreaming of being able to teach his son to play baseball, I am thinking about doing a little photo-shoot with baseball themed things. Wes has a ball and glove that I can take pictures of, and we got a super cute baseball "All Star" outfit that I could take some shots off too, but I think I need one or two more things.