crunch time

It's Friday. Do you know what this means?

It means that in approximately 66.5 hours I'll be arriving at the hospital to start the process of delivering the littlest girl. Well, that's IF she chooses not to come before then and as of right now it seems she's dead set against it.

I can't believe we're actually reaching crunch time. This is it. 3 more full days of spending time with my first baby, being a family of three, doing the last of the laundry, cleaning things up, organizing AK's room one last time (I can't stand clutter and toys that don't have a place), showering as much as possible since I'm sure I'll have a hard time getting one after child #2 arrives, rechecking my hospital bag to make sure I have everything. Whoa. Honestly, all I can think about doing at this very moment is sleeping. I'm super tired. Maybe I can just sleep until Monday. Haha!

It's.almost.time.

P.S. Still waiting to hear back from Kansas folks. Hopefully TODAY!

sweet moments

This picture makes me smile.
Daddy reading to Anna-Kate about being a big sister.
SO precious!

doctor update

I went to the doctor this morning. I started having contractions at around 4:50 this morning and had them consistently until around 8. Of course, once I call the doctor to tell him that I've been having them anywhere between 5 and 9 minutes apart they pretty much came to a halt. I went in anyways for him to check me to make sure all was a-okay. I'm dilated to a 3 now. Since the doctor visit I've had a handful. Hopefully they'll pick up again tonight and send me on my way. That would be AWESOME! He told me to keep my appointment for tomorrow morning just in case I'm still having contractions or something comes up. If not, I'll just call and cancel in the morning. I sure hope it's sooooon!!!

38 weeks

Thirty.eight.weeks. I honestly didn't think I'd make it to this point but I have and I'll keep on waddling along. I'll just say that braxton hicks contractions STINK and I don't like not knowing what my body is doing. Obviously, it's preparing for the real thing BUT I never know if they're going to continue and I'll actually be in labor (FINALLY) or if I'll have six in an hour and then they'll stop. I wish it were more clear :-).

I'm feeling like a mega blimp these days although my wedding ring is getting too big. I'll tell you that this time around I am definitely all baby. I'm okay with that because as soon as she comes out I should be on a fast track to NORMAL again...actually...hopefully smaller than normal. THAT would be AWESOME!

I guess I'll continue the waiting game. I go to the doctor on Tuesday. I'm interested to see what progress I've made this week. It's so irritating to be walking around dilated and almost fully effaced but still nothing be happening. I'm sure a lot of women have felt this way so I'll get over it. I'll be as happy as can be once I can see her sweet face and that will for sure be exactly a week from tomorrow! THAT I can bank on :-).

playing catch up

I haven't meant to leave anyone in the dark on the Kansas job opp. We know just as much as you do at this point :-). The director said he would LIKE to know by last Friday but still hasn't made his decision. Hubby emailed him yesterday and we got a response today saying that he had some other applicants and is now in the decision making stage. We're just praying that whatever God wants will happen and we pray that God will honor our intentions in fighting for what we want because that's what we have felt we should do. I'll keep you updated.

I mentioned yesterday that Anna-Kate hasn't been feeling well. I was hoping it was nothing contagious for I'd hate to bring a little one into the world with a sick big sister. Not ideal. Last night her fever started going up and up and Motrin nor Tylenol would assist in breaking it. We really started worrying when she was pulling on her right ear and screaming her head off. I called her doctor and she called in a prescription for an ear drop pain reliever. We were reluctant for a while to give it to her because we knew it would be a HUGE fight and I really didn't want to hear her scream anymore. Eventually around 1 or so we broke down and forced some drops in and she fell fast asleep. Those things are amazing. I looked at what exactly it was and it's basically a local anesthetic mixed with something else. Numbs the baby right up!

Not too long after she fell asleep she was up again and wanted to go to her room (she had been in the bed with me). I took her in her room and we ended up turning on Bob the Builder. She LOVES that show. Since my hubby was up I asked him to hang out with her while I went to sleep because I knew my night was going to be short already and he sleeps in since he works at night. So he hung out with her and eventually put her to bed. Around 6 AM she woke up, came to our room and wanted to lay down with me. I could feel that she was blazing hot. Way more hot than she had been the whole time running fever. I checked her temp and it was 103. I gave her some medicine and laid down with her and she was sleeping again within minutes. She slept until 10 something! I'm so glad she got good rest.

I called and got an appointment for her to see the doctor at 12:45. When we got there there was this super sick kid in the waiting area. When I say super I mean I was cringing at the thought of even being in the same room with him. His eyes were puffy and outlined in total redness, his nose was running everywhere, he was coughing and sneezing and insisting on sharing books with my kid. AAHHHH! I seriously was about to have an anxiety attack. I think his mom sensed my panic because she told him to leave her alone because she doesn't need to be sick like him because her mommy has a baby in her tummy. Whew. I was sanitizing AK up!

Eventually we went back. The doctor came in and tried to look in AK's ears. My child DOES NOT like doctors and doesn't like them coming at her with foreign looking objects ESPECIALLY when that foreign object is threatening to touch her hurt ear. Of course, she started wailing away and I had to hold her hands and head as still as I physically could. She couldn't see anything because her ear was so swollen on the inside SOOOO she stuck this thing in her ear to "clean it out" and that was just torture I tell you. My poor baby was hurting! Then she had to look again after that :-(. Once it was over with the doctor said her ear is really really swollen and she is going to need different ear drops. She asked if I had brought the ones we got lastnight because obviously she just stirred up some major pain and felt bad. I told her I didn't have them with me so she gave her some she had there. She was immediately better. I told you, those things are kick butt. So, to the pharmacy we went with two prescriptions. One is a new ear drop that contains steroids to help kick the super swollen-ness and the other is an oral antibiotic to assist in a bacterial infection. I hope she's better soon. I hate to see her so miserable.

This is what her dresser looks like :(

Here she is looking mighty cute-ready to leave for the doctor (she had just gotten her kitty out of the swing-SO PRECIOUS!)

And here she is watching the fish thing- "momma fish, baby fish!"

Oh, one more thing, hubby told me this morning that when he was hanging out with her early this morning/middle of the night she was lining up all her cars in a row. Then she made a new line and as she placed the car where she wanted it she'd count, "ooone, twwwooo, thhreeee...." ALL the way to 12 and only missing the number 9! I'm so proud of her!