Update

So my appointment on Thursday was good...
Really all they did was check my blood pressure to see if the bed rest has helped lower it. Luckily, it did and my BP was in the normal range! We were thankful, especially after reading lots of scary things on the internet in the previous nights. They also checked the heartbeat and it was great too! He checked my ankles and feet for swelling...luckily none there! I have another appointment on Monday to check my BP again. If it rises at anytime now they will induce...soooo, again, we potentially might have this baby on Monday! We are SO ready. Bags packed in the car and everything! If my BP continues to stay in the normal range then I will continue to be on bed rest. It's still SO weird not going to work and not being on a schedule. I'm secretly thankful for it because I haven't been getting ANY sleep. Wednesday night I literally got TWO hours of sleep. Of course I took a nap in the afternoon....and last night couldn't sleep until 2:45 and woke up at 7am today. It's been crazy but nice not having to go to work and actually function!
My mom is coming over today and we are having lunch. She is bringing a BP device so I can track my own BP this weekend. (She's a nurse and has been nervous since my appointment last week when my BP was so high!) She also bought me a bunch of nursing bras which I'm quite excited about!
Tonight for NYE the hubs and me will pretty much just sit here! LOL. Since I'm pretty much confined to the house we'll just celebrate with a nice dinner. Haven't decided on steak or crab legs...we'll see. I hope everybody has a safe NYE and a super duper happy New Year!!!

Bed Rest!?! EEK

So yesterday during my weekly OB appointment it didn't go quite as planned. Basically in a nutshell my blood pressure has risen. They took my blood pressure about 5 times during my visit to see if it would go down...and it didn't. I even had to lay down on my left side for some time to relax (but really after the 4th time of high blood pressure and you won't let my husband in the room with me...I think YOU would have high blood pressure TOO!). Sooo, the doc finally came in after the 5th attempt...
Doc: Do you work?
Me: Yep
Doc: Well....not anymore!
Me: OMG! Are you serious?!?
Doc: Yes, you are now on bed rest until your baby comes!
Me: OMG! Are you serious?!?

I have another appointment in on Thursday to see if the BP gets back to normal after being on bed rest at home (luckily not in the hospital!!!). Basically they said if it goes down then I will stay on bed rest at home and if it's still high then they will induce laborrrrrrrrr! Are you kidding me?!?! Soooo, I might be delivering this sweet baby in TWO days!!!! That alone pretty much shot up my BP right there!
My appointment was in the afternoon so I went back to work for the remainder 2 hours to finish up anything that I was working on. Of course, that wasn't enough time...so that's all I've been thinking about! I know, I know...I should just wipe it out of my mind but obviously everything took me by surprise and I didn't expect to be leaving so soon!!! It's so weird to think that I won't be going back for another 3 months or so (depending on when the baby comes)! Whew!
Doc told me and Mike a bit about the possibility of preeclampsia which was scary. I came home to do more research and it could be very serious. Gulp! Today is my first day home resting. It's nice because Mike works from home Tuesdays & Thursdays so once again he has proven to be the best husband in the world and comes to check on me, bring me water, talks to Asher, and reminds me to relax. I'm anxious to see what happens on Thursday...I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I'm praying for Asher and me! :)

One the lighter note...Christmas was amazing. We spent so much time with family. As always I wish ALL of our family could be together, but it was nice being with a good chunk of them that live here in town. We went to the Christmas Eve service with my mom & step dad and also Mike's dad & step mom & 2 step sisters. It was fun. From there we did Christmas at Mike's dads. Christmas day we slept in, opened our gifts to each other and then headed to Mike's aunt's house and then to my mom's house (both in Plano). I got lots of wonderful gifts and ate lots of good food! I'm so glad Jesus was born!!!

Vacation!!!!

Well, vacation from work at least!!! Since I'm so close to my due date, I'm not able to travel...but Mike & I still took lots of time off work to finish Christmas shopping, get everything done in preparations for the baby, go on our 'babymoon' and to RELAX! I enjoyed the time off from work SOOOO much! Total I had 10.5 days off. It started off with a great lunch with my great friend, Ters. From there Mike's work had an amazing baby shower for us at his office. SO many people came from all of the departments that he's worked at over the past 15 years. We were so thankful for all of our baby showers! The next few days were spent going to Northpark mall, Mavericks game and dinner with my parents.


Then we stayed at the Gaylord Hotel for our babymoon. I splurged and had the BEST [pre-natal] massage...EVER!!! It was seriously amazing! Their whole spa area was 5-star! The showers were even impressive...HUGE with the rain-like water coming out of the huge head spout thing. I didn't want to leave! While I had my sap time, Mike went to the wine bar in the hotel. He enjoyed it and sampled lots of wine. After we freshened up we went to dinner at Old Hickory Steakhouse. It was so delicious! We'd been before...but I don't remember it being THIS good! We had a cheese sampler thing, spinach salad, filet, and garlic potatoes. SOOO good. We walked around the hotel after that and then had dessert at another little restaurant before bed.


The next day we woke up and went to see the Charlie Brown ICE Exhibit. It was WAY better than last year since we didn't have to wait AT ALL in line. We walked right in and there was hardly anybody there! We spent about 35 minutes in the FREEEEZING temperatures and took some pics. Overall the babymoon was super!


The next night we went to see the Christmas Chris Tomlin concert. He's my #1 fave singer these days! This was my 3rd concert of his to see this year. It was amazing as always and definitely put us in the Christmas spirit!! The next day...I woke up SICK! :( I'm actually still coughing and sneezing but feel lots better from the initial day when I was stuck in bed with aches and pains! Nothing worse than being sick the last few days of vacation. ICK! Oh well, it was a good excuse to say in my pj's all day and literally get some much needed rest! Whew, so that was my vacation in a nutshell. I'll leave you with a few pics...

the wine bottle tree at the wine bar

kinda dark...

in the Gaylord atrium on the sled

ICE!

ME surrounded by ICE!

Getting Nervous!!!

Soooo, I won't lie...I'm totally getting nervous! I've been getting lots of Braxton Hicks contractions recently. They don't hurt but they make me so nervous! Every night I sit in the nursery and just think about what it will be like and how close Asher's birth date really is!!! I can't wait! I completed the '9th month' chapter in What To Expect When Your Expecting and while I was reading about contractions I was GETTING contractions so I had to put the book down a few times but I made it through.
We had a doctor appointment on Friday and here's how it went down...
Doc: Sooo, have you had any contractions recently??
Me: Yep! Lots of them!
Doc: What's your definition of 'LOTS'?
Me: I dunno, like 2x each hour....
Doc: You mean every DAY?
Me: Nope...every HOUR.
Doc: Well...you just bought yourself a cervical check today!!!
Me: EEEK! You're making me nervous!!!

This was my 1st cervical check and luckily he said there is no progress since it's still pretty early. Next week I start going to the doc weekly. Crazy! Mike & I made the list of what to put in our hospital bag last night. We plan on packing the bag tonight! Yesterday I went to Target to buy some 'after the baby clothes'. All of my maternity pants have the big panel thing on the tummy...so I bought some stretchy yoga-type pants and some T's so hopefully I'll be comfy without the big panels.
Last week I got the car seat checked by the hospital to ensure it is installed correctly. After taking the car seat class there was SO much I learned that I had no clue about! I'm thankful for all of that info! I left the seat installed so we'll be ready to go when Asher decides to make his debut! Next weekend we have the Infant Safety/CPR class so that should be fun! :)
I've been having lots of lower back pains, right next to my tailbone. I feel like I waddle when I walk now! It's pretty much embarrassing! I still hurt badly when I turn over at night and can't get comfy. I have pillows all around me to prop me up when needed. My doc gave me some over the counter meds to help my middle of the night vomiting. I started taking it this weekend and so far...so GOOD! I'm thankful for that! Yuck!
We kept going back & forth on whether or not we were going to put up Christmas decor this year. I've been SO tired so I wasn't really feeling it much but we both got the urge yesterday and didn't have anything else planned so we did it and it's done! It feels SO good and I'm glad we did it! Just something about a super cute red & silver ornamented Christmas tree that is lit up with the stockings hung...etc. We didn't do anything outside other than the wreath & doormat but I'm happy with the inside decor!
Geez, I feel like I'm rambling about a bunch of random stuff...
Anyway, next week Mike & I both took the week off work!!! I also took off a couple extra days so I'll have 11.5 days off in a row!!! Then I'll come back and work a couple days Christmas week....THEN it's a short week for New Years...THEN it's Asher's birthday soon after that!! Ahhhh, time is flying by. Speaking of...better get back to work!

Thanksgiving Weekend

My Thanksgiving was absolutely amazing! Other than the food & local family...the special highlight was my sister & her family came in from California (DROVE 24 straight hours!) to be here for Thanksgiving. It was SO great to see her, her hubby and 3 kiddos (plus one in her belly!). We ate lots of food, and did a little bit of shopping on Black Friday and then said our goodbyes. It was a super quick visit but SO great! I have a million things to be thankful for this year. Family & friends always top the list...this year this sweet baby in my belly is DEFINITELY at the tip-top of the list. God is so amazing and I'm so thankful for his plan that he has for Mike & me...and Asher! :)

Here's a couple of pics that we took with our big ole bellies!