Last Monday, June 22, I was walking around my kitchen/dining room and slipped on a placemat that was on the floor and basically did the splits and felt this stabbing pain in my groin area...have you ever slipped on ice and tried to keep your legs together? I did that snowboarding once, but it didn't hurt THIS bad! It's because I already have pelvic pains due to the pregnancy and so that didn't help. Just when I was starting to feel much better too!! So for the past week I have put myself on "bed rest", it's actually "couch rest" since I spend most of my day downstairs. The first night I was unable to even go up the stairs to my bedroom, so I spent the night on the couch and that was very uncomfortable! My back hurt, my pelvis hurt, my leg fell asleep, but I didn't! I think I finally sat up at 6:30am after enduring it for about 5-6 hours. So the next few days I was walking to and from the bathroom using my kitchen step stool as a walker. It helped me get around but then my palms started getting sore from the stool handles. I have been using my maternity belt around my hips to kinda hold them in place. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Soon I will wear out the velcro on it cuz I have to take it off when I sit or it just compresses everything down "there". I wanted to get as much rest that week since that following Saturday was the girls' piano recital and our friend's children's birthday party. By then I was no longer using the step stool but still in a lot of pain walking. Tylenol has become a staple in my diet, next to fruits and veggies. Saturday came and I was feeling just ok. I got dressed as soon as I woke up so I won't have to go back upstairs and off we went. That day just happened to be the warmest day of the whole month of June so far! Luckily we were able to get front row parking at the Library where the recital was being held. I made it to the room and immediately sat down. Once the recital started I noticed I was starting to get hot flashes...I get those frequently now out of the blue. I started fanning myself. As the recital continued I was starting to get increasingly hotter and irritated and my butt was hurting from the hard seats. I started getting teary eyed at being so uncomfortable but had to just tough it out till all was done. It was about an hour long. Come to find out the A/C was not working!! Everyone was allowed to walk around and start getting their plates of food afterwards. I just kept telling Andrew I'm hot and couldn't move. I started feeling light headed and dizzy. Andrew and my mom started fanning me. I was able to drink some cold punch and that seemed to help. Again I was teary-eyed at how uncomfortable I was feeling. Finally I started feeling better. I put some food in my stomach and after a little while we left. We went straight home and there I was back on my favorite couch to relax. I stayed there the rest of the day and evening. We never made it to the park for our friend's party, but then again it was about 97 degrees outside. Sunday I skipped church and just relaxed.
Today, Mon June 29 (which is our 15 year anniversary of when we first met), I went to my 36.4 week check up this morning. Oh my gosh was that a PAIN...literally...For some reason, my hip/pelvic/groin pain seemed to be a lot worse today. I got the girls up and dressed so they can go to their uncle's house. And was teary eyed yet again just getting into the van driver seat! UGH! How painful it was to gas and break! So I didn't even get out of the van when I dropped them off. I let them out and had them run to the front door themselves and off to the dr I went. Of course the only parking was the last row the farthest away from the entrance! I limped, hobbled, wobbled my up as quickly as possible so I could go and sit down. They checked my blood pressure, which didn't raise flags but I am sure it was elevated at this point. They took my weight, which darn it, I gained another 4 lbs in 3 weeks! So I hit the 29 lb mark...still good but it should be slowing down now. I went to the room and got prepared for the internal exam. heh heh. Not fun. So I mentioned to the dr that I slipped and he pretty much ignored me! So I'm left to grin and bear it till the baby is born. Hopefully it'll be back to normal afterwards, but from what I read it can take month and in severe cases, years to be pain free! So the dr checked and I'm only 1cm. Nothing changed. He said he felt the baby's head but that it's still pretty high. Meaning she's not making her way down yet. All this week I have been playing the "guess that bump" game to figure out if she was head down or not. If she wasn't (and was breech till labor) I would have to have a cesearan and I really don't want that. Talk about prolonged healing. I have enough problems in that department! So now I have another appointment for the following week to be checked again. To help make labor start we are supposed to walk...HAHA. How funny and ironic huh? So now I am not even sure if she will be as early as my last (which was 10 days), since I can't do much to help labor along. So all I can do it pray!
Alright, time to eat and then go back to my favorite couch again. This computer chair is hurting my bum!! Until next time...

I'm at week 34! I had my dr's appt on Monday. I gained 3 lbs in the past 3 weeks. Which is normal. I've already gained 25lb. Normal is 25-35 so I'm right on track! I'm happy. Obviously if I gain too much I'll have that much more to lose later. I'm so excited to meet this baby! She has been kicking up a storm lately! It's stretching my skin that's the worse part. I told the dr about the pelvic pain I've been feeling. It's been kinda bad lately, making it difficult to walk, climb stairs and even to drive cuz it requires me to lift my leg. He told me it's normal relaxing of the ligaments in preparation for the baby. I should keep my feet up, take hot baths at the end of the day and take extra strength tylenol. Oh and to wear sneakers!? Sneakers?! I can barely see my feet let alone put on and tie sneakers! lol. I've just been wearing flip flops and that's what I'm sticking with. haha. (sorry doc). He scheduled me for 3 weeks at which time he'll check internally and see if I'm dilating. Then every week after that till delivery! yikes! It's all coming up so fast! But I can't wait! I already washed the baby clothes, she's got tons! If you now how small newborn clothes are, just imagine filling a regular washing maching just about full, that's how much I had to wash. That did include the baby swing cover, the bouncer cover and any swaddling blankets. I vacuumed the baby's room and organized it. It's ready for my baby shower gifts from this upcoming Sunday. I can't wait to sit and visit with everyone. Oh and this is the last week of school. Only 2 more half days after today and that's it! I'm happy cuz like I said driving just hurts. Plus I can sleep in and put the girls to WORK to keep the house clean! So I'm hoping to update this every week until delivery. I'm estimating 5 weeks left to go! Let the countdown begin!

Be careful what you wish for...I was re-reading what I wrote and said I hope the baby gets in a head down position and stays there...blah blah blah...and now quite a few people have said it looks like the baby's dropped and I have been feeling a lot of uncomfortable pain "down there" when I walk. So maybe she has dropped and now I'm wishing she hadn't yet. Haha. I've been ready that it usually doesn't happen till further along, so I'm wondering if this is an indication of an early delivery? As long as God's in control He can do whatever He likes haha.

On another note...I have been thinking about enrolling Jukie in preschool...I was really all set to enroll her and started asking around for pricing info. It's not cheap. And although we'd have help from both grandparents, I did stumble upon a website listing whether preschool was even necessary. So now I'm looking into NOT enrolling her and just teaching her at home. I just get afraid that, especially when the baby comes, that I won't be able to "handle" it as consistently. But then again, I would've only enrolled her 2 days a week...so besides the social part, I probably COULD handle that! Haha. It's also because her 2 sisters had been enrolled and even had their pre-k graduation ceremonies etc...but if I don't enroll Jukie, then I won't enroll the baby too and they can both be equal with that. haha. It's all about equality! Yeah, the thought of paying $458 a month for only 2 days a week is kinda ridiculous. Especially in this economy. I read that if it's a social thing I'm looking for, that I can always find a drop in class or even just play dates with other stay at home moms. Jukie already has class exposure every Sunday at church and Wed. at her Awana class. And that is the difference from her sisters. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcomed! I'm going online to see if there's a curriculum I could follow at home. Now I'm getting excited! haha