A Day of Rest...

Last night in the car on my way home at 10pm, I declared that today would be a day of rest.  Way home from where, you ask?  I was getting checked out in Labor and Delivery at the hospital.  I have always had what they call an "irritable uterus" which means, for me, that when I get further into my pregnancy my body feels like it's contracting.  Sometimes for me it feels like I'm having one long contraction - where my uterus stays rock hard for a while.  I have actually never been in labor - ever, which is what makes these feelings so confusing and worrisome to me.  Gavin was an emergency C-Section... and so was Brian.  Both deliveries were ahead of their due dates and, in Brian's case, his scheduled C-Section.  So, when I feel these feelings - like I did yesterday - I worry.  I did all the right things to see if it would subside.  I drank more water.  I popped in a Scooby Doo, much to Brian's delight, and laid in bed on my left side.  Nothing was helping.  Hope is a very - VERY - active baby, especially after a meal.  So I ate dinner and sat down on the couch waiting for the acrobat to strut her stuff.  When I only faintly felt her moving, I had had enough.  I jumped in the car (Ed was home with Brian) and headed to the hospital... calling my OB from the road.

Long story short - everything is fine.  He saw some actual contractions, but nothing to think that anything was really happening.  My blood pressure was high - but that might have been because I was completely freaked out and worried until they told me everything was fine.  Up until then, my blood pressures have been normal.

Having an irritable uterus (the rest of me is not irritable, I swear!) is not fun.  You're just never sure when to worry - and when to take a chill pill.  (Not a real chill pill - a pretend one.  It is not advised to take chill pills when you're pregnant.)  But I'm cutting myself one big, huge, giant break.  If I want to be checked out twenty more times between now and December because something just doesn't feel right - I will.  And, we are so grateful that we have two hospitals filled with nurses that know me... or know our history... and are completely supportive and reassuring.  We are still 100% believing Hope born this December.

So.... back to my day of rest.

On the way home from the hospital, I checked in with Miss Sara to see if she was free this afternoon.  And she was.  So, after I got Brian home from pre-school and fed him lunch... I retreated to my bedroom for four, amazing, restful hours and left a very excited Brian in Miss Sara's fun and capable hands.  

We're so lucky that she's part of our lives.  Part of our family, really.  And I know it's important to Brian to maintain a relationship with her.  When she started with us, he was barely talking and still in a high chair!  They've been through a lot together.

Before I went upstairs, I handed Sara my camera and presented them both with a challenge.  An outdoor scavenger hunt!!  Admittedly, I stole this idea from Sara who did this with Brian one day not long after she started with us.  You can see HER version (which is much fancier than mine) - and also, if you've ever been curious to understand what Dr. Trish does, there's a great explanation of that near the end of THIS POST.  

Here's my awesome and "Pinterest worthy" scavenger hunt - all the things they had to find on a walk around the block.  (Something that is not suggested when you're as pregnant as me and have an irritable uterus.  According to me, anyway)

Brian found the hay bale!  AND the pumpkin!  AND the corn stalk - all at one house!  Jackpot!!

Boo!  He found the ghost, too!

The stick was a giveaway.

And so was the "Brown Leaf."

Brian had a blast outside... and then back inside with Sara.  Going to bed tonight he told me that he can't wait to take Hope on her first scavenger hunt.

This little boy has the biggest, sweetest heart.

I've been telling Brian a lot of stories about Gavin's birth - and his birth - and how things might be for Hope's birth.  Tonight he was so excited when I told him about his birth.  How the night he was born I was so happy because I couldn't wait to meet him.  And when the nurse brought him over to me, all wrapped up in a tight blanket, I said... and he interrupted me to interject:

"He's the cutest baby EVER in the WHOLE WORLD!"

That's pretty close to accurate!  I told him how I spent FOUR long days in the hospital with him and we were able to get to know each other really well.

"Where was Gavin?  He was home with Daddy, right?"

So, I explained to him that Daddy spent a lot of time at the hospital with me and with you and we were so, so happy that you were finally here in our arms.  Daddy would go home to see Gavin, who was being taken care of by someone else and he'd go back and forth between the hospital and home.  Gavin waited FOREVER for me to bring his new brother home and each day he got more and MORE excited.  (Brian loved hearing that)  So now it's YOUR turn!!  When Mommy goes to the hospital, you'll wait for what seems like FOREVER until I bring your little sister home.  And you'll get to have a lot of fun with whoever is here staying with you!!

"That's okay, Mama.  I'm patient," he said.

"I know, Brian.  You are.  And you're going to be the best big brother to Hope.  Just like Gavin is the best big brother to you."

And he will.  I just know it.