SHOWER DAY

...And I am not talking about my baby shower, which is in a few hours.

Here in the Northeast, it has not stopped raining in over eight days. I feel odd complaining about this, because of all the recent tragedies here in the US and abroad with hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.

But man, it is depressing.

Right after we moved into our new home, almost a year ago (!!!), we had a few incidents of flooding in our basement. Once we called the builders, however, they immediately installed a sump-pump for us at no charge to alleviate the problem. And alleviate, it did.

Until last night.

I have been checking the basement all week, amazed that there hasn't been any flooding due to the fact that it has been raining here since October 6th. Last night, before we went to bed, we opened the basement door and peeked down the stairs. No water. Yay!

However, we lost power repeatedly overnight, and we could hear the rain coming down in buckets overnight. So loud and so heavy, in fact, that Anthony told me if he is lucky MAYBE he slept for two hours. So, this morning I got up and I just had to check again. And the basement is FLOODED, with about 3 inches of water.

UGH!

The news here says our area got almost six inches of rain OVERNIGHT, so I am trying to look on the bright side and say that no matter what, nothing was going to prevent this. When it rains for ten days straight and then dumps six more inches of rain in one night, there is going to be nowhere for all this water to go. It is just terribly inconvenient, you know?

My poor, sleepy husband is down there right now with the wet dry vac. I offered to help, but being almost 8 1/2 months pregnant he told me he didn't need my assistance. I guess we won't be putting any baby shower gifts down in the basement this afternoon!

We also realized that this means we'll probably never be able to do a finished room in our basement, which had been a big part of our plans when building this house. That is too bad. At the same time, it would suck to sink money into finishing a room down there, complete with wall-to-wall carpeting, sofas and a pool table, only to have it repeatedly flooded and risk ruining everything.

Oh well. If that is the worst of our problems, life ain't so bad, right?

It is still showering outside. Now, I am going to go take a shower to get ready for my shower!

SURPRISE!

So I had my regular monthly doctor's appointment this past Wednesday morning at 8:00AM. Based on a couple of things I told my doctor, she ended up sending me to the Hospital for an ultrasound. I wasn't supposed to have an ultrasound for another 2 weeks, but in order to be "safe" the doctor decided she wanted it done today. She did so based on the following:

She asked me if I was feeling a lot of fetal movement. I told her, honestly, that although the baby has been extremely active this past month, in the last three days I noticed a sharp decline in movement. I figured that it just meant that she was getting big and "running out of room" to continue to do big movements. The doctor said that in fact, she should be the MOST active right now and I should be feeling a ton of activity right now. This concerned me a bit.

Secondly, I mentioned the pains I have been having for the past two weeks. Actually, I prefaced it as "I think I have finally started having Braxton Hicks contractions - man, do they hurt!" She looked at me funny and said "they aren't supposed to hurt." So she had me describe the pain to her, and I said it was a low pain that felt like the worst menstrual cramps I have ever had, times 10. She immediately said "that is pre-term labor, Dawn!" Whoops! I guess I should be calling the doctor more when I have questions, rather than falsely diagnosing myself!

So, long story short she wanted to do an ultrasound that day to check on my placenta-previa, to check the length of my cervix, and to check fetal movement.

I called Anthony and told him that if he wanted to meet me at the hospital, that was where I would be. He was a little freaked out, and I reassured him that it was just a case of the doctor "being safe," but in his opinion any unplanned appointments are cause for alarm. I think the reality of all of this has finally, FINALLY, just hit him. I walk around with a big reminder in my belly that this baby is coming soon, but I think it has been a bit more removed for him. Suddenly, I can see his whole perspective changing. He is paranoid now that we haven't yet packed any bags for the hospital. I told him we can do this on Sunday, and that seemed to relax him. I also said "you realize if we pack bags this weekend, she'll go two weeks past the due date!"

Well, the ultrasound actually brought some good news. First of all, my placenta previa is gone; the placenta is now located about 5 cm away from my cervix so it is no longer "in the way." So, as of now, we will not be scheduling a c-section! My cervix is approximately 5 cm long, which is good - it means I am not in labor yet I guess!!! Most importantly, though, the reason for the reduced fetal movement is that Mandy is now "in place" - she is head-down. I didn't really notice that I had "dropped" but I guess I have? Also my placenta is located on the anterior wall of my uterus and the ultrasound tech says that this cushions me from feeling any STRONG baby kicks and punches as compared to some other women.

Also very important, she is still a girl! We've now verified this 3 times, so we probably won't get any surprises on the gender come delivery day, which is good. Still, I refuse to fill out her birth certificate application until she is actually BORN.

The ultrasound tech then had the doctor come in and check me, since she couldn't get a good picture of the heart. He did, and he said the baby is "perfect." I LOVE hearing that word - perfect - with relation to my baby. She is currently weighing about 4 pounds, 4 ounces.

As far as the contractions I have been getting sporadically, my doctor told me to watch out for them. The next time I get them, I am supposed to elevate my feet and drink an 8 oz glass of water. She said if the pains persist for more than an hour, to call the hospital immediately, as I could be in early labor (yikes!) However, as of today I am 33 weeks and the hospital said some doctors consider 34 weeks to be "full term." To which I say, Holy Crap!

So that is what has been going on with me. Other than that I am cheering for the White Sox (they haven't won the World Series since 1917 - even longer than the Red Sox! You gotta love an underdog). Also, my baby shower is TOMORROW. I can hardly believe it - a day I thought I might never get is happening tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited. I will try to post a few pictures afterwards, if I get any good ones.

That's what is happening with me. It was a much more eventful week than I had planned on, and I told Anthony that I hope the next time I am at that hospital, it is to HAVE A BABY! I've been there too much in the past 2 months!