Loving my freedom!

I have been off of bedrest for almost 3 weeks now, and I've been taking full advantage of it! Brecken and I have enjoyed LOTS of fun time together. We've gone to the park, played outside, and have had quite a few play dates too. Last weekend we went to a Hoelscher family gathering and then headed down to the Twins game for perhaps our final big outing as a family of 3 (kind of bittersweet.) Today Brecken and I went to an indoor park that is in the same building as DJ's work, and then we had lunch with Daddy :) I've also been a cleaning machine - I've vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the fridge, scrubbed floors, done laundry, dusted our blinds, etc. (Hmmm...nesting maybe?) I've also made several meals to put in the freezer so that we have one less thing to worry about in those first days after baby is born. Somewhere in there I also have been to school a few times to set up my classroom because I don't feel it's fair to leave that a complete disaster for my sub. As you can see, I have definitely NOT been taking it easy since my bedrest ended and still no baby. Hmmmmm....were those 2 months of bedrest REALLY necessary?! Sometimes that thought crosses my mind, but at the same time I'm glad the doctors took full precautions because it really wasn't worth risking the situation. Since Brecken was born 3-months early, I know just how awful that long road is and I KNOW that it isn't worth the risk of going through a similar experience with baby #2. Also, I still have the cerclage (stitch) in place which I think is making a BIG difference right now...if they would've taken that out at 36 weeks as planned, I highly doubt that I would still be sitting here pregnant 3 weeks later. Some people have asked me if I'm ready to be done with being pregnant....the truth is that I really don't feel that way at all. Yes, at almost 39 weeks, I'm starting to get quite XL and a bit uncomfortable, but I am just SO happy that baby didn't come right after my bedrest was done because now I've actually been able to enjoy a few weeks of my summer by spending some much needed quality time with Brecken. I know that my life is about to change drastically, and I'm just so thankful that I've had a short period of normalcy before the new addition to our family arrives.

Some final updates...I had another check-up this week and baby was still breech. I have one final appointment this Tuesday, and then Thursday is the BIG day (my scheduled c-section)! We're VERY excited to meet this baby, and I am sooooo thrilled that I'll be able to hold this baby in my arms very soon after his birth, AND we'll get to take him HOME with us! :) Praise God!

Quotes from Brecken

Brecken continues to make us laugh each and every day! This weekend I came downstairs to find DJ and Brecken playing ping pong on the floor. Brecken looked up at me and said, "You can't play Mommy. It's just the guys!" DJ said, "Why can't Mommy play?" Then Brecken responded, "I just teasing you Mommy. You can play with us. Here is a ping pong paddle for you."

Later in the day, I was playing with Brecken in the toy room. He asked me to sit on his giant stuffed horse with him. I sat down and he said, "No Mommy, you're going to squish him!" About 10 minutes later, I was sitting on the little chair in his toy room and he said, "Mommy, you can't sit there. You're going to break it." I think Brecken is lucky he's so darn cute otherwise he might be in trouble! Maybe we should work on politeness with him a little ;)

Then tonight at the dinner table, this was a conversation between DJ and Brecken:
Brecken: Why is that fly keep landing on me?
DJ: I don't know; you must be sweet.
Brecken: No, I not sweet. I cute!

Gotta love all the cute things that kids say!

C-section is scheduled

I had my doctor appointment this morning, and baby is still breech. The C-section has now been scheduled for Thursday, August 23rd (4 days before my due date). Again,  if I go into labor before then, they'd have to do the C-section at that time if he's still breech. Or...if he turns between now and Aug. 23 (keep praying :), then we'd cancel the C-section and he'd just be born whenever he's ready. We shall wait and see...

If he comes earlier than the 23rd, DJ or I (probably DJ ;) will post a brief note to let everyone know. So if you don't hear anything, you can assume he hasn't arrived yet. (We're just as surprised as everyone else that after two months of bedrest, here we are a week later and no sign of baby yet.) By the way, yesterday marked 37 weeks so I am officially full term now - yipppppeeeee!

Decision Time

Well we opted not to do the version/turning procedure that would try to move baby head down sooooo unless baby turns on his own, I'll be having a scheduled C-section. Obviously if I go into labor before then, they'll have to do the C-section at that point (assuming baby is still breech) instead of waiting until the scheduled date. I still have the stitch in place (and will have it until the C-section) so if I start going into labor, I will need to head to the hospital immediately. They do NOT want you to labor on that stitch, so I'd have to head to the hospital a lot sooner than I would in a normal situation. At my next appointment on Tuesday they will likely schedule the C-section day, unless of course baby turns on his own between now and then. We'll keep praying baby just turns on his own yet - Come on "baby brother"... try out some of these Olympic gymnastic (or diving) moves ;)