Fun Surprises Lead to Nesting Overdrive

Since we've been back from vacation, my goal has been to get the nursery ready. So, the weekend after we were back, we started to tackle this project. Ever since we moved Brett into his new room, the nursery has been a place for storage, so the first thing was to move everything out and pitch a bunch of stuff. Then, washing EVERYTHING. I am a stickler for having every little thing that comes close to baby girl's skin be super clean so every piece (including the bedskirt) of nursery bedding and all of the covers to like the bouncy seat and swing went into a load of laundry with some Dreft. Everything else that couldn't be thrown into the washing machine got scrubbed down with warm water and soap. So, even though it was time consuming, we were fortunate that we have the foresite (well, I guess we dumb lucked into it) that we had decorated the nursery with a gender neutral theme (beige and sage with teddy bears) so no redecoration or buying new bedding was necessary. Also, accessories like the swing and bouncy seat, etc. were also gender neutral so no worries with those either.

Anyway, we took care of alot of the preparation over the course of that weekend and I was feeling pretty mellow about having things ready.

Flashforward to last Friday. I woke up at 5 a.m. with back pains. Now, I've been having back pains, so it's no big deal, but these were kind of pulsing and wrapping around my belly. Nonetheless I fell back asleep. However they returned as I dropped Brett off at my mother's house a little stronger and I started to time them. But then they went away after about an hour. No big deal. Until I had been to work for a couple of hours and they came on even STRONGER. Okay, I left work and decided to go home and call Steve. Yeah, I couldn't reach my husband for an HOUR (not an uncommon occurrence by the way). This makes me truly worried for when the real event actually happens. I decided to lay down on my left side to see if they would stop. Nope. Finally I got ahold of my hubby and he convinced me to call the doctor...they wanted me to go to the hospital. Great.....

So, about an hour later Steve arrived home and we took off for the hospital where they hooked me up to a monitor and realized I was definitely contracting and having pre-term labor. However, I wasn't dilated, which was a good sign. Anyway, they gave me a shot to stop the contractions. Since I was only 34 weeks, they didn't really want me to deliver quite yet. We spent probably about 3 hours in the hospital, but when they sent me home, I was feeling better for sure.

Well, the next day was Saturday, and you can be sure I was in full on nesting overdrive. So, this past weekend we cleaned up the carseats, I took my car to be cleaned inside and out and moved Brett's carseat and also installed the infant seat. I washed a bunch of new baby clothes and towels and blankets just to be ready and the most important thing...I packed the hospital bag. Now we are TOTALLY ready for baby girl...however my nesting is starting to steer me toward cleaning the house (which is a good thing...it's needed to be done for awhile. I just haven't had the energy to do it), so as long as I am still pregnant this coming weekend, I sense a total house cleaning.

I've been continuing to contract on and off (which I know is normal, but knowing I'm not dilated, I'm not worrying too much, even though they are usually WAY more than 6 an hour). Nothing's been as bad as Friday though, so that's good. I hope baby girl stays in for a little while longer, but if she wants to pop out early, I'm READY. She just needs to wait until at least the first week of August is over...during that week my niece, my brother, my sister-in-law, my brother-in-law all have birthdays, AND my parents have their wedding anniversary. You hear that, baby girl? :). However, as unpleasant as this pregnancy has been, she may very well decide to make her debut that week just to spite me!!!!!