Pregnancy Update

I am more and more convinced with every pregnancy how little you remember of last pregnancies,.... well,.. the horrible things that you don't enjoy anyway.   I feel like I've been complaining a LOT about this pregnancy,.. and it HAS been my most difficult,.. but all that aside, I LOVE being pregnant.  I love feeling that life inside of me.  It always amazes me that anyone could doubt God's existence after being pregnant, or even knowing someone that has been pregnant.  Such a miracle.

At our 20 week ultrasound, we learned little baby Dot was happy and healthy, but there were some minor complications about the pregnancy.  She has what is called a Single Artery Umbilical Cord,.. which is USUALLY not an issue at all.  In some cases it can correlate WITH heart issues(not cause them) but can sometimes CAUSE kidney problems, or effect her growth, at which point we would have to have her early.  I am still measuring right on track, and will have an ultrasound next week to check her size and make sure her kidneys look good and healthy, and will probably have a few more before she is born, just so I can rest assured that she is doing alright in there.  We(I don't know if it's HER'S or MINE,.. so I say "we")  have what is called a Circumvallate Placenta.  Which also can be nothing, but could potentially cause her to stop growing as well.

Initially when we had our 20 week ultrasound and found all this out,.. little spazzy baby wouldn't hold still enough for us to get a good look at her heart,.. so of course when I found out all these things, and did my own WebMD research, I had a good long month of sleepless nights worrying about this little baby, seeing as how the Umbilical cord issues can coincide with major heart issues, and then not getting good images of her heart,... I was kind of a wreck.  Thank goodness her heart looked perfect at 24 weeks!  We are counting our blessings, for sure.

Dot's room is coming along nicely,.. I had decided to just paint one wall and throw some dots on it, and call it good, and quickly realized that the pink I had picked and the neutral we had up already, with the white trim, it all looked like neapolitan ice cream when put all together,... so I just painted the entire room,..........the EXACT same color I just painted Chloe and Bailey's room.  (I was trying to be conservative by using the same paint, instead I just ended up slathering 2 rooms in it.   Good thing I like the color and it's not too much. We had to buy another crib, seeing as how Cy still sleeps in the old one as a toddler bed because we are missing so many parts to it, we couldn't put it back together to make it a real crib again. Hopefully Dot doesn't chew it apart like Bailey did!!

I found this crib bumper and fell in LOVE with it.  The floral with the Dot's,.. I couldn't tell my self no. Chloe and Bailey had destroyed the old crib bumper anyway,.. so I was in the market, and the stars aligned and I was able to get this for around $30, with a coupon, and an old gift card I forgot I had, AND it was on sale.  See,.. it was meant to be.

Daddy doing the precise measurments to make the Dots literally perfect(minus the ball point pen used, which doesn't just wash off)

I mean really,.. her name is Dot for heaven's sake,.. she had to have polka dots on her wall.

I am entering the uncomfortable stage, where rolling over in bed is a work out, and bending over only happens in Emergencies (thank goodness for big sisters that are good little helpers at picking stuff up for me.  Peeing every hour is getting really old, especially at night, refer to issue Number 1.  I have had a nasty head cold the last 2 weeks, that I think I am finally getting over.  I forget how limited you are in the pharmaceutical department,.. and even more so when you are looking for a decent decongestant.

32 Weeks

(I hate belly shots, but don't have any from when I was pregnant with Bailey and SHE is sad about it)

It has been so fun to see the excitement of the kids, awaiting the arrival of their sister.  If I am sitting on the couch or somewhere Chloe can come snuggle up to me, she DOES, and wants to feel her baby sister moving, and will talk to her.  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever.  Cy likes to rub my "big baby belly" and will Say he is "hoding Baby Dot's Hand".  Bailey has become more and more reserved and unsure about this sister of her's.  She always prays that "Dot will make it here safe and strong and healthy".  She was very aware of what was going on when her sweet cousin passed away at 35 weeks, and was heart broken.  The further along I have gotten the more anxiety I see her exhibiting.  We talk about it a lot and we say lots of prayers, not only for Dot, but also for Bailey to feel comfort.  We have lots of talks about forever families, and Heavenly Father's plan.  It's hard to see her so uneasy about it all, but I think we turned a corner last night.  Cy and Chloe went to bed early and Bailey and I worked on her homework and she climbed up on my bed and I asked her if she wanted to feel Dot kicking,.. I kind of had to force it, but she quickly came around.  We laid there staring at my belly move every which way and rumble with movement.  I could see the joy in her eyes as she made a connection with her sister in that moment.  It was very tender for me.  I've been so worried about her hesitance and deliberate avoidance of being excited and happy about being a big sister again.  I always knew, once Dot got here that would change, and was so relieved I saw a little bit of change in her last night.