25 Weeks

No pic today... Read below to find out why. :(. Hopefully I can add 1 later.

•How far along are you? 25 Weeks

•How big is baby?: At my sono last Friday, he measured 1 lb, 9 oz and ranked in the 48% for size.  So the % dropped a little bit from my appt. last Tuesday.

•Maternity clothes: All maternity pants and mostly maternity shirts.  Although, I can still wear some non-maternity shirts.

•Gender: BOY!! Evan Michael Baxter.

•Sleep?: I've been sleeping alright.

•Best moment this week?: Learning that the perinatologist wasn't concerned about his dilated kidney.  It's now measuring on the higher end of the normal range.

•Movement?: Tons of movement!

•Food cravings?: Bananas

•Food aversions?: Plain grilled chicken

•What I miss: Maybe just being able to easily get up and down on the floor to play with Em. But other than that, just trying to enjoy this pregnancy!

•Symptoms: . Apparently too many symptoms. See below.

•Milestone: After having a bit of a scare late last week and also hearing my cervix was shortening at my appt. last week, I'm considering each week another milestone.

We had an eventful week since my last weekly post. Thursday, on my way home from work, I started getting some really painful stomach cramps. I came home, laid down and started drinking a lot of water, but they still weren't going away. They didn't feel like contractions because they weren't coming and going. Instead it was just a constant pain. After an hour, it finally stopped. At dinner time, I felt like it was starting to happen again, so I ended up calling my dr. I thought they would tell me to just take it easy and lay down, but instead the on call dr told me to go to labor and delivery over at the hospital. So Shawn and I headed up there. I was thinking we would for sure be home that night. They hooked me and the baby up to some monitors and they noticed I was having a few contractions here and there. I forgot to mention the cramping had stopped by the time we were at the hospital. The nurses called the on call dr to let her know how I was doing and she decided she wanted me to stay overnight to monitor me. They also started me on some medicine, Procardia,  to help suppress any contractions and gave me a test to determine if I would go into labor in the next 2 weeks (it came back negative). I was dilated, but only about a fingertip width.  Shawn and I stayed a long night in labor and delivery. I did have a few more contractions overnight, but still no more painful cramps. My dr came and saw me in the morning and decided to move my sono with the peri up to that morning instead of waiting til next wed. So around 11, they came and got me to go get the sono. We got great news at the sono. One of the kidneys was still dilated, but she said not to be concerned at all, since it was now just on the higher end of normal. She also measured my cervix and it was measuring 33 mm. I was so relieved. She said it could have gotten longer because I had been in bed for so many hours leading up to it, but we didn't need to worry too much about it unless it got shorter than 25 mm.  I was just glad the contractions/cramping I had didn't shorten it anymore.  She did tell me to continue limiting my activity when I was home, but I was still able to go to work. We went back to L&D and waited for my dr to discharge me. She talked to the nurse around 2:00 and said since I was on that medicine, she wanted to continue to monitor any contractions and she would be over after seeing her patients that day to release me. Luckily, I had no more contractions and around 6:00 on Friday night, I was finally discharged. I was so ready to be home!! I'll stay on the medicine to suppress any contractions until closer to the end of my pregnancy and I'll probably continue to be monitored closely so they can make sure my cervix doesn't shorten anymore. I go in for a NST on Wednesday and I'm hoping everything looks good.  But as of now, I'm very glad that Evan is still in my tummy and has more time to grow before making his appearance. I'm hoping we don't make any more trips to L&D until Evan is actually due to arrive.

So I typed up the above part Mon night. Lots has changed since then. I went into work today and felt great. I went to the bathroom in the morning only to realize I had some bleeding. Of course I started freaking out, knowing this is not normal. I called my dr office and they told me to come right in. I knew that wasn't a good sign. I called Shawn and he picked me up. I saw my dr and she did an exam and said my cervix felt soft and short. Not a good thing. So she sent me to the peri for a sono. I only measured around 29 mm this time. Not good news. So my dr, sent me to L&D to get hooked up on the monitors. They also gave me a steroid shot to help the baby's lungs mature. While I was on the monitors, they picked up several contractions. So in addition to the Procardia, they also gave me a shot to help stop the contractions. While I was hoping I wouldn't be spending the night, unfortunately because of the contractions, I am. The dr said I can pretty much count on being put on full bedrest. Not the news I wanted to hear. Of course I will do everything possible to keep this baby in my tummy, it's been tough. Hard not to ask the question, "why me.". Although I do keep trying to tell myself I'm still lucky because the baby in my tummy is healthy. Oh and just or my records...his right kidney was more dilated today...7.4mm. The peri still didnt seem too concerned.