33 weeks down, & BEDREST

I can't believe I've had NO time to blog since announcing this pregnancy! I've been working 40+ hours a week, and still doing all the other stuff I do as a mommy (and yes, it is exhausting!)

This week I had my second bout with preterm labor, and this time my cervix was dilating so I've been restricted to BEDREST until delivery.....which needs to be at least 5 or 6 weeks away, to make sure baby is as healthy as possible!

This pregnancy has been SO unlike any of the others, from the very beginning. I didn't even know I was pregnant until I was 7 weeks in, and with the first four babies I always knew by 4 weeks at the very latest.  Then we had the 'positive' AFP test, which indicated a 1 in 79 chance that this baby has Down Syndrome. Knowing the high rate of false-positives with AFP tests, we opted not to take the risk of amniocentesis to find out for sure, and have since had LOTS of extra testing/monitoring done, just in case.  This includes twice-weekly Non Stress Tests (NST) which is basically monitoring for up to an hour at a time to observe baby's heart rate in response to his own movements, and in response to any contractions I might have while on the monitors.  Since I have an 'irritable uterus' I have felt braxton-hicks contractions since about the 14th week - fun fun fun! (NOT).

Oh yeah, and I did refer to baby in the masculine above, because he is another BOY!  He's been VERY shy during every single ultrasound, so it took a couple attempts for gender reveal, and with all the sonograms I have had since, we've only gotten TWO good profile shots because he likes to hold a fist or a foot in front of his face. We did have a very patient tech for our 4D ultrasound though, and got some amazing pictures. Not surprisingly, it looks like he'll bear a very strong resemblance to 2 of his big brothers (who look exactly like Daddy!)

We're re-doing the nursery, using the theme that was my 2nd choice 2 1/2 years ago when I decorated it for baby Bobblehead. We originally went with a gender-neutral nursery set accented with Monkey decor:

...and now have removed the monkeys and the green/white/brown bedding, replacing it with THIS Dr. Seuss ABC set:

The walls will stay the same as before, though I found a different saying to put over the crib: "A person's a person, no matter how small" - Dr. Seuss Isn't that one just PERFECT? The decal was only $10 on amazon.  I'm still looking for the best deal on coordinating decals for the new decor, so I can decorate the walls, dresser, and ceiling fan like I did with the original 'monkey room'.

I can't do much of the actual lifting or anything to finalize this room, so some of it may have to wait until baby is actually born - but that's OK, since his big brother didn't really use this room much until he was about six months old. Big brother moved into his new room  couple weeks ago, and while it is far from done, he LOVES his new Lightning McQueen bed!

This is the top half of the bunkbed that the oldest two boys shared before the 18 year old moved out a few months ago. I love that it has railing all around it, so my little man won't accidentally roll out of bed in his sleep.

I'm spending more time online while on bedrest, so hopefully I'll be updating here again SOON!