It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

A few shots of our backyard.

Wow! It's been 2 weeks since I've posted last. I guess I don't have as much free time as I did in the hospital. Things have been going well since I've been home. The first big thing I got to do was attend Sydney's first ballet recital / Christmas program. That was Friday night 12/10. Here are a few pics of us before we left for the show.


She was so excited!
My hubby wheeled me into the show in a wheelchair. :) Sydney did great. I thought she was going to be stage freight, but that wasn't the case at all. I guess she has her Dad's outgoing personality. Here are some (quite a few) pictures from that night.









Back home on bedrest, Sydney's been enjoying it also. She sits next to me with her doll tucked in her pants and pretends she can't get up either. :)


Wednesday the 15th I had my 26 week appointment. My cervix had started to shorten, so that was disappointing. It had been 3 cm long for the previous 2 weeks, and then went down to 2cm. My Dr wasn't too concerned about it though. He said as long as I don't start having contractions, it should be ok.

Thursday night the 16th, I had a lovely group of girls come over for a cookie exchange. Needless to say, all the goodies are almost gone already!

Sydney and Adam went to church Sunday morning. He dressed her all by himself.


Good job Gaga!
Sunday night my family and my brother's family went to my mom's for dinner. My mom bought the kids matching PJ's for Christmas.

Sweet cousins.
Monday, the 20th I had another Dr's appointment. My cervix remained the same (2cm) so that was good. My dad took off work all week so he has been my babysitter. He comes over in the mornings and stays until Adam gets home.

My mom helped me finish up everything for Christmas. Everything is wrapped and ready to go now. This month has just flown by!

And today, I am 27 weeks! Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Home Sweet Home - 25 Weeks

Wednesday, I got wheeled across the street again for another ultrasound. It is so fun going for wheelchair rides! I was all dressed and ready this time (complete with a new Gap Maternity shirt that made it's way from the internet to my hospital room.)

Here is a picture from the ultrasound yesterday. I hit 25 weeks and Sebastian is 1 lb 11 oz. He gained 3 oz since last Wednesday. This is a side profile of his face. He had his hands around his legs, holding his feet over his head. :)

So, after my ultrasound, my Dr checked me and everything still looked good. My cervix is still closed and Sebastian is doing great. He discharged me and my mom and Sydney came to pack up all my stuff and take me home!

Sydney got to go in the wheelchair ride to the car with me.

While my mom got to push the big cart. :)

We got home around 3pm and my parents stayed late and decorated our house for Christmas.

I'm still on bedrest at home and I still have to take the Procardia to prevent contractions, but it is so nice being home. My friend Bri had a delicious supper waiting for us at home and we have another one coming tomorrow from my Aunt. It's so nice to not have to worry about cooking.

I slept AMAZING last night and it was so great to be in my own bed. Sydney slept with her arm around me all night. :)

I'll still be going in for weekly ultrasounds and checkups and in 3 more weeks if everything is still going well, I can start to move around a little more. I'm starting to feel somewhat normal again! Until next time, have a great weekend everyone!

An early Christmas Present

Things keep getting better and better around here. It sounds like I will be going home very soon; as soon as this coming Thursday! I got to go for a wheelchair ride across the street to my Dr's office for an ultrasound. Little Sebastian is now 1 lb 8oz and doing great. My cervix has completely healed itself and my Dr was amazed. He printed out a picture of it and even had his office staff come in to see. He said it looks totally normal again, as if nothing ever happened to it. It was truly a miracle!

I will have another ultrasound this coming Wednesday and if everything still looks good, I should be able to go home and finish my bedrest there. I received my 2 steroid shots this week to boost Sebastian's lung development. My Dr also cut my Procardia, (medication to stop contractions) from 6 pills a day, down to 3. So far they haven't started back up, so that is looking good also.

I had a prenatal check done today and that went well also. My belly is measuring 22 weeks (so a little behind), but Sebastian's weight is perfect so that is fine. Also, I managed to lose 10 lbs since I've been in the hospital! I'm right back to where I was before I got pregnant. I thought I had gained a lot, sitting in bed and eating all day, but the nurses said it's normal to lose on bedrest because you aren't burning any calories so you aren't nearly as hungry. They told me to keep eating whatever I want, so I plan on taking full advantage of that. I started last night, with a Big Mac meal. :) Then this morning, I got a nice delivery of Christmas goodies from some friends. So everyone, feel free to keep bringing me food!

On the day I had to go across the street for my ultrasound, I quick called my friend Julie to bring me some real clothes so I didn't have to go out in public in my pajamas (if you can even call them that.) I'll tell you that story in a moment. I planned on taking a shower, getting dressed, and even doing my hair and makeup. My appointment time ended up getting moved up though and I didn't have time to do anything, not even get changed. After I got back, I decided to get ready anyways and sat in my room by myself with my makeup on. :) I had to take a few pictures since I made such an effort!

It's amazing how much I'm showing now. I came in here, not showing at all. Sebastian was so low and actually falling out a few inches, so I didn't even look pregnant. Now he got pushed back up to where he is suppose to be, and ta-da, I have a belly!

Now, the funny husband story. When Adam went home to grab me all my essentials a few weeks ago, he brought me back a very strange variety of pajamas. They were all sets with matching tops and bottoms, but he only packed me the tops. I asked why he didn't bring the pants, (since he would have actually had to move the pants out of the way to get to the next pair in the drawer), and he said, "He didn't think I should have pants, so the Dr's could get 'down there' quickly if they needed too. Where do guys come up with this stuff? So, back to the ultrasound. I went with my pajama shirt (without my pajama bottoms) in a wheel chair, wrapped in a blanket. I sat in the waiting room with all the normal looking people and can only imagine what they were thinking about me. :) Next Wednesday, I will be ready for my appointment. I managed to find myself quite a few good Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals from Gap maternity. I think I might even where a dress! I'm starting to have my packages delivered to the hospital, as too many have already gone to my house and caused many questions from my hubby. :) I still think I'm spending much less though than if I were out and about wondering the malls. Plus, I haven't spend any money on eating out and that is normally a big one for me! Sydney was just here and a commercial came on for Olive Garden. She said, "Remember when you lived at home and we got to eat there. I really miss it." :)

Thank you again for all your visits, calls, cards, and prayers. I'm truly blessed with such great family and friends. I would still love visits from you all when I go home. Not much is going to change there. I'll still be on bedrest and only can get up to go potty. My mom is going to move into our house during the week and then take Sydney with her whenever she has to go anywhere. Then, my mom can go home on the weekends when Adam isn't working. At least I'll be able to see Sydney a lot more and will have someone there with me every morning.

I'm still amazed how God has worked in this situation and turned everything around. We are so thankful and hope this can be used to impact many other people's lives.

Only 16 more weeks to go!

Happy December everyone! Today is a great day. It is the first day of December and my first big milestone. I'm 24 weeks along today! A few weeks ago, I didn't think I would make it this far. Because of all of your prayers, I did!

Today is also the first day of winter and it's beginning to look like Christmas in my room. Sydney brought me up this cute little tree along with some homemade decorations. I got moved to a new room again. It is much bigger and has a wall of windows. It's very private too. We are all unpacked and settled in now. Everything has it's place and it is starting to feel homey. I have lots of beautiful cards, balloons, and flowers adding cheer to my room.




Adam and I had a date night the other night. We ordered Pizza Hut and rented "Grown Ups". It was fun. :)
Here's a cute little story. When I switched hospitals, Sydney walked in with "a baby" (her doll) in her shirt and told the nurses she needed to stay too. :) They are really great with her. They "admitted" her and even gave her a hospital bracelet to put on. She is quite entertaining. :)


And here's the update on me. My contractions have almost stopped entirely now. This new medicine I'm on for them, Procardia, is working really well and I don't feel any side effects from it. Sebastian is very active and is doing really well according to the monitors. I have settled into a routine now and the nurses have me on the same schedule every day. My morning sickness is finally gone now, too. The only complaint I have is bad body aches. I have a physical therapist that comes in to do bed exercises with me, but everything is sore from just laying here for so long. If my contractions don't start again and I don't have any more bleeding, my Dr is thinking of letting me go home in 4 weeks and finish my bedrest there. That would be an AWESOME Christmas present! Happy December everyone!