Week 26: May 11-17

One week closer!
I keep feeling a little better every day, and so Brian went on a training trip to Nellis AFB (in Las Vegas) this week. He left Sunday morning, but not before he got me all stocked up with food that would be easy for me to make before crawling back into bed. He should be home late tonight and I'm so glad! I missed him like crazy.
Monday I decided I felt well enough to attend our childbirth class (since we already missed the week when my parents were here). There is a ton of construction at the hospital, but I still managed to find a halfway decent parking place so I didn't need to walk too far. It was a really good class and we went over induction, fetal monitoring and pain management options. Can I just say, hooray for pain management options! I found out a few things that really helped lessen some of my anxiety about the whole labor pain thing. Among them, it's never too early to start an epidural (at least at this hospital). If you do it before "active labor" (5cm dilation) it can slow down the labor, but since you won't be feeling any pain it's not a big deal to get some pitocin to get it going again if necessary. Obviously that's not ideal, but I've been watching my delivery shows and I know that by then some women are in PAIN! It's also almost never too late for an epidural. They will give it at 10cm when you're pushing if there's enough break between pushes and the baby's arrival isn't really eminent. Since first time moms sometimes push for over 2 hours this is good to know. Not that I plan on waiting that long, to be honest, but at least I don't have to worry that if I stay home a little too long I won't be able to get some pain relief. And perhaps the best news of the day, the epidural can't "run out". Sometimes a doctor will turn it off or down when you get to the pushing stage but at St Joe's that's pretty rare because it irritates the anesthesiologist. Our teacher is an LD nurse there and she's had women go through 10 IV bags of Fentanyl - they just keep it coming. So basically, when I decide I need it I can have it and I don't have to worry about anything else too much. Yes, I am a total pansy and that makes me feel much better about things. Also, the epidural doesn't enter into the baby's system at all which is cool. The main possible problem is that it can drop my blood pressure, which can effect the baby's blood pressure and heartrate, but that's pretty rare.
Tuesday I was pretty sore since Monday night was the longest I had been really upright and the first time out and about since my ER visit. Luckily I was able to just take it easy.
Wednesday I got to see Abby Ormsbee Isaacson! I have no idea if I spelled her last name right. I haven't seen her at all in probably 7 years, but it's been longer than that since we've really talked. She lives in Tacoma and works for an organization that supports families with AIDS/HIV children. It was really great to see her and we hung out for 4 hours! Here we are at P.F. Changs:

PeaBaby is now big enough to keep me awake if he's up and moving. He's getting so strong, and he's still very active throughout the day. His most active time seems to be from about 7pm-11pm, and over the past few days I think it's getting later and later. I know it was after midnight when I finally drifted off last night. Thank goodness he's also sleeping in, or else I'm sleeping deeply enough that he hasn't woken me up too early. Hopefully with Daddy home tonight I'll sleep better in general and get back on a more normal schedule... if the kid will let me!
He's doing a new thing sometimes where he makes a whole bunch of tiny movements in a row and it almost feels like boiling water or something. I think he must be just wiggling hands and feet and knees all at the same time. It also looks really funny. If we can catch it I might have Brian videotape it, because that's something I don't want to forget!
The BellyButton Threat Level has officially been elevated to Orange. It's been stretching out weirdly for quite a while now, but in the last week or so it's getting closer and closer. Right now there's the little "button" in the middle but everything around it is puffy, and the skin outside is sort of shiny and red and... well, stretched looking. It's actually a lot more uncomfortable than I thought it would be. Duh, it probably isn't going to feel great to have your bellybutton turn itself inside out, right? I guess it just didn't occur to me.
I've been watching a lot more TV than usual this week, and I caught an episode of Special Deliveries, which is a Discovery show about babies and/or moms with issues. On this one there was a woman who was a few days into her 27th week, and had been in a high risk pregnancy facility for 28 days, trying to stave of early labor. They had her stable for that whole time, but now the contractions were too much and she was dilated, and they were worried that there might be a more serious reason why her body was trying to deliver the baby, so deliver him they did. It was really bizarre. He didn't look like a normal newborn of course, his face was a little odd and he was tiny (less than 3lbs) and skinny, with some lanugo and really red skin. Still, he was blinking and looking around, and grabbing his mom's finger, and when she tickled the bottom of his foot his itty bitty toes curled and he pulled it away. Well... that's just a few days from now for me. It was good to see the update at the end of the show saying he finally went home and is doing well - but really I'm not as worried about going into early labor as I was. The really strange part was to realize that THAT is what PeaBaby is like. A little baby with arms and legs and fingers and toes and eyebrows... a BABY inside of me. I know, I know, I feel all those appendages banging around in my stomach every day, but to really see it was pretty amazing. I'm going to have a baby! Wow.

Here is a side view of the 26 week old belly, and then a front view. I took them myself so they aren't great, but Brian's gone so you get what you get!