Zoey Arrives ... Part 1

So, when I went to my 32.5 week appointment things were a little different. This was the week before Thanksgiving and I had been so tired. When I went in for the nurses to check me in, I noticed that the nurse looked strangely at my blood pressure. She then retook it. I asked if something was wrong and she said that it was borderline, which is much higher than my blood pressure ever is. I told her it could be from rushing through traffic to get there. The second time she checked, it was some better but still up. I knew that the BP would be an issue and it was. When my ARNP walked in that was the first thing she brought up. She wanted me to sit, not talk or move alot, and just relax. Then she rechecked my BP and it was much better. We also talked about the ultrasound that we had had done. Apparently, there was a lower amount of fluid around the baby and they were worried it would drop lower. She and my doctor debated whether or not to put me off work to rest and decided that they would see me again in one week to see if things had improved. If not, then I would be put off work until the fluid looked better or until the baby made it here safely. I was told to take it easy at work and at home. That was a little hard to do because I had to walk constantly up and down the long hallways at work... there was just no getting around it.

God helped me, as He always does, to make it until the next week. It was the Wed. before Thanksgiving and I was off work. My mom and I headed to the doctor for my 7:30 am appointment. I was scanned and my fluid had increased from a 7 to a 9. Still not the greatest, but improving. I was glad because I definitely didn't want any complications for Zoey, but I was really hoping to be put off work at that point because I had really struggled in those last few days. I honestly felt so bad. The pressure was getting worse by the day (because of my uterus). I didn't mention that though because I knew I needed to stick it out as long as possible and my Ffn had come back negative the week before. I told my doctors "Happy Thanksgiving" and headed out of the office.

My mom, brother and I drove to London and met with my Aunt Sandy and my grandmother. We ate at Golden Corral and spent time together for Thanksgiving since everyone would be at their own place on the actual holiday. We also stopped by Kmart before eating and I could barely stand while waiting on everyone to finish picking out cashmere sweaters. I felt so bad. I had made my rounds in the baby section and gotten a womb bear. By the time I finished that, I was ready to go and sit somewhere. I truly was physically miserable.

We headed to my mom's house because I was staying with her from the night before until that Friday night. My husband had missed both holidays with his family the year before as we went through our fertility treatments and I really didn't want to make him miss seeing everyone again. I told him to go on and that if anything happened, I'd call. I, obviously, couldn't be any further away from my doctor than I already was.

That night, after an evening nap, mom and I sterilized bottles and watched "My Sister's Keeper." The next morning we had Thanksgiving dinner... me in my PJ's just like old times. It's always low key at my mom and dad's for holidays and I love it. No expectations... no dressing up if ... just family and food. We ate and then sat around waiting until later to head to the movies and watch "New Moon." I had been dying to see it and we had decided to do so that evening. I spent the time waiting and helping my brother with some computer homework. Then I took a nap before getting ready to leave. We went to watch the movie... I had nachos (Harlan theater!) and Zoey loved them!

We decided that night that we would shop some on Black Friday and maybe hit Knoxville early, early. I didn't really want to be out amongst the germs but I figured the crowds would be spread out in Knoxville more so than in our 2-3 stores in my area. At 2am we decided to just go up in the morning and forget the crowds. I couldn't sleep again. I had had a hard time sleeping for the past few nights at my mom's house because of heartburn and just feeling miserable. I ended up getting up and getting online. I was shopping Walmart.com for Black Friday bargains by 4am. I got the video camera I was after and I went through the hallway announcing it. My parents were laughing at me. But it was something productive I could do instead of just laying there miserable.

So we got up (correction they all got up... I was already up) at around 7am and were on the road by 8am. We headed to Knoxville. I was so tired and emotional. We stopped for gas and had breakfast in Middlesboro and then headed on. We ended up at East Towne Mall and were shopping in JCPenneys shortly thereafter. I went to the bathroom to pee (as always) and noticed that I was passing more mucus. I knew something was brewing. We began to look around. I had found a coat that I couldn't decide on and I teared up over the decision. Silly I know. But wow... pregnancy hormones. That's all I can say. We shopped (and I did end up buying the coat... actually my mom did as a Christmas present for me) and then ate at Applebees. That's when I started noticing how weird I felt. I kept feeling Zoey's butt (or so I thought) and then these strange feelings. After eating, I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom so I went. I assumed that's all that it was. Though I did notice that there was more mucus. We went to Target and Bed, Bath, & Beyond next. It didn't do much good... I was feeling too bad to be up that much.

So we headed home. We got to mom's and I was so tired that I decided to go in for a few and rest before finishing packing up to head home. I was so jittery and tired... I dropped my laptop on the hardwood while trying to pack it up. It bent and cracked the battery box. I cried and worried that the battery liquid would leak out and after a call to Dell... I was even more worried. The computer worked and my dad checked it out and said that it was just the outer shell and not the actual battery. I finally stopped worrying so much and headed home.

Michael was already here and came out to help me in with my stuff. We then started carrying stuff in from the SUV. His family had sent the baby furniture, tons of clothes, and tons of other baby things. I carried the really light stuff and he got the rest. We got it all inside and I began to try to push myself to go through everything. Before long, I had went through almost every bag and even began to wash up the new clothes. I soon felt so tired and bad that I decided to lay down.... then the fun began.......

To Be Continued...