Mauralicious:
At her 18 month appointment, she was a whopping 20 lbs. 14 oz. and 30 inches, down from the 9th to 7th percentile. Can I get a growth spurt? Please? Pedi's not concerned as this basically follows her usual curve, but my word, she's a peanut. But she's doing AMAZING -- running around, talking more, all around a true joy. Meals are still the most frustrating part of the day, but I think it's par for the course for most toddlers so I try not to let it stress me out. Overall, she is like this most hours of most days:
The Momma:
I had a bit of a scare on Friday (at 27w2d) and started bleeding and ended up in labor and delivery, so I'm on bed rest this week and then very restricted activity the rest of the pregnancy. Like, no grocery shopping, no cleaning, no lifting Maura, can only work three days a week; pretty much no anything. It's going to be a massive adjustment and it's taken a few days for it all to sink in. The full extent of it has not yet.
After some initial confusion, it seems the bleeding was caused by a bit of detached placenta (which, frightening as it sounds, is apparently a common cause of bleeding during pregnancy.) They assured me there's plenty of placenta to go around, and that I may, in fact, lose more and keep bleeding off and on for the rest of the pregnancy and still carry to full term. They cannot confirm or detect this on ultrasound unless the placenta is literally detaching itself, so it's nothing but an educated guess we can't predict.
So from now on I go every other week to the doc, and once 32 weeks hits at the end of the month, I'll go every week to her, every week for non-stress tests at the hospital, and every two weeks for a Level 2 ultrasound. This is one of the most examined kids in history, I think. That's all very reassuring, and there's nothing we can do but take it at two week intervals at this point. The next goal is to make it to 32 weeks, which secures him in a good position if he happened to be born (even though he'd be in the NICU for a while) and that's only 4 weeks away, so I feel positive we'll meet that goal. Bed rest is hard, but I'm loving the time at home with both Jay and Maura. The saddest part is now I see what I've been missing everyday when I'm at work and that pretty much breaks my heart.
Here's my belly about 10 days ago, which has increased dramatically in girth since bed rest began (although oddly only up another pound! So bizarre!)
The Little Man:
Despite all of this, the baby is growing GREAT. Huge in fact! He already gained a pound in the last three weeks since my last ultrasound and is 2 lbs. 11 oz. already. Something like the 65th percentile. He's under no stress whatsoever, and as long as I comply with doctor's orders, I'll be doing everything in my power to be sure it stays that way.
I couldn't do this without Jay, as if that even needs to be said. So many men would have given up on me a long time ago, and he continues to show me tremendous patience and strength, and I know this is very hard for him. He has to do everything. Not that I'm much of a housekeeper, but to not even be able to help a little...it's tough, to say the least. And he's exhausted, since his sleep is so off now -- since Maura was born he's gotten to sleep in on the weekends since he works so late at night, and now he can't because I can only lift her once a day to put her into her crib at night for bed when he's at work so I can't get up with her in the morning by myself. We'll be relieved in more ways than one when the baby is born happy and healthy (and fingers crossed, full term). 9 more weeks until full-term; we can do it, I know we can.
That's all for now. Overall, we're managing just fine and have had many a laugh laying on the sofa this week. As much as adversity sucks, it has always helped to bond Jay and me even closer together. I'm so thankful.
