End of 26wks and the ER

We had a super fun Friday at the end of 25wks. (March 3rd)
I was woken up at 5am with a terrible pain in my right side, but I figured it was gas or something and went back to sleep. I got up later around 9am with the same pain, but a bit worse. I honestly didn't think too much about it. It was uncomfortable, but not scary or anything. Fast forward to around 3pm or so and it's starting to become pretty uncomfortable, but still not unbearable. It for sure wasn't the round ligament stretching I've been feeling. It had gotten to where I would feel mostly find if I was sitting still, but if I went from sitting to standing it was pretty painful. By about 5pm, standing at all was horribly painful, walking killed me, and pretty much everything else but sitting still. So finally I told Randy I needed to go to the ER. We hate the ER, but we were concerned about the baby. I had been feeling kicks all day, but the pain was causing me to tense up pretty badly and I was having a bit of trouble breathing - mostly because it hurt, so I found myself holding my breath. We were concerned my blood pressure, which was already rising a bit, would climb too high and put the baby into distress.

So we get to the ER and it was pretty empty, so that was a great sign. Since I'm past 20wks, they sent me up to labor & delivery to be checked out first. It took her forever to get the baby's heartbeat on the monitor, which sent this momma into some serious panic. She finally found it, beating away. The baby kept kicking the heartbeat monitor, so that was pretty funny and fun to listen to. We told the nurse we weren't finding out the gender, just in case she found out and said something like "baby boy/girl is doing great!" haha. We find ourselves saying that any time we're around doctors...just to be safe. A teeeeeensy part of me always hopes they let it slip, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, the baby kept kicking and turning, so the heart monitor would lose the heartbeat and we would have a nurse coming back in every few minutes to find it again, haha. It was a bit worrisome the first time, but then it became kind of funny. The nurse came back in at one point and said something about "she" and my eyes got kind of big, thinking she had seen something. They hadn't done an ultrasound or labs by that point, so there wasn't really a way for her to know since I hadn't been to that hospital since I've been pregnant. After a minute or so she says, "sorry, in my head the baby is a girl." Whew. So after 3-4hrs there, they determined that everything was mostly okay...my white blood cells were slightly elevated, but not by a ton. So they released me and sent me back downstairs to START OVER in the ER 😑 . At first, we thought about just going back home because I wasn't really in pain anymore, but the second I sat up from the bed, I screamed. So that was that. We get down to the ER and they wanted to run the same labs again, but after hearing L&D had done them, they spent about an hour trying to get those, only to find out they needed their own, more thorough labs. I think it was somewhere around midnight at this point. We got there at 6:45pm. 

We FINALLY made it back to a room and the doctor was super nice. The nurse and I bonded over our love for giant and red pandas, so that was fun. After 10hrs, they determined that the baby was doing great, but they had no clue why I was in excruciating pain. By this point, I literally couldn't stand or walk without crying. Morphine finally gave me some relief, which was wonderful and helped me get to sleep when we finally made it home. I don't think I could have otherwise. 

So they decided that either the biliary ducts to my nonexistent gallbladder might have been a little colicky, which can apparently still happen if it's gone. Interesting, no? The other option was this thing I had back in 2011 where the lymph nodes around my appendix became inflamed, which can have similar symptoms to appendicitis. They diagnosed it then with a CT scan, but we decided it was unnecessary. We really wanted to go home, and it wasn't like they could do anything anyway aside from pain relief. I'm also deathly allergic to CT contrast, so we didn't feel like going through that to possibly not get a great image anyway. I also didn't feel like drinking their nasty "smoothie" thing in place of IV contrast. It would take more time and it's seriously gross. Whoever labeled it as a smoothie has for sure never had a smoothie. Blegh!

All that said, our biggest concern was the baby. My body was tensing up from the pain and my breathing was becoming more difficult. My blood pressure was rising, along with my heart rate, so we wanted to make sure it wasn't going to send the baby into distress. The wonderful little squirt was more active than he or she ever had been before then, which was extremely comforting. We finally got out of there and home around 5am. So there's our ER adventure. All 10hrs of it. 

I'm still in some pain, but it's not as bad as then so far. I'm trying to take it easy so I don't have to take pain meds. It's usually only bad now if I have been laying down for a while and I sit up...so basically I get a shock of pain every morning and then it eases off. 

Now onto baby stuff! 

How far along: 26wks 5 days

Baby's Size: About 2ft long, and close to 2lbs. About the size of a thing of kale or a butternut squash

Heartbeat: 147bpm as of the ER visit on the 3rd. We got to watch the heartbeat for over an hour while we were stuck in the hospital. That was the one highlight. Especially when the baby would kick the heart monitor. 

Gender: It's a surprise! So far most people seem to be #teamgirl

Weight gain: about 12lbs...ish?

Maternity clothes: Yep! For sure pants, but I still wear some regular shirts from time to time. 

Stretch marks: Not really any new ones.

Belly button in or out: In, but the other day the baby kicked me in the belly button and it kind of flattened out, haha. That was weird. 

Wedding rings on or off: On. I don't foresee having to take them off because they're already loose. 

Sleep: Oh gosh, it's getting tough. Fortunately, it has never been too hard for me to fall asleep once I force myself to go to bed, but it's taking a little longer than normal. I have a giant, U-shaped pregnancy pillow (that the cats absolutely love) and I have to wedge part of it under my back, lay on my side, but slightly lean back, and I usually kind of hold my belly with one arm for support. I've also had to start propping myself up a bit more because I have been having a hard time breathing if I'm more flat.

Best moments since last post: We officially have all of the nursery furniture except a nightstand, so that's exciting! It's all in our living room due to construction, but meh 😂 .

I got my first "how far along?" from a stranger. It was particularly interesting because I was wearing a really flowy shirt. My belly is definitely pronounced and obvious, but I wouldn't say I'm huge yet. It was exciting, but I also thought to myself, "wow, that's pretty bold!"

We discovered the baby is a Taylor Swift fan 😂 . We got a new tv and decided to test it out and Randy flipped on youtube for some music. Shake It Off was the first thing to pop up, so we played it. The baby started going CRAZY and every time the chorus came on it was like he or she was dancing to the beat. So we played a couple other of her upbeat songs and the same thing happened. Then, we decided to see if it was all music and I'd get maybe a kick or two. We went back to another TS song and more bouncing and rolling. It was so funny! 

OH, and we moved our bedroom to the other end of the house (which is still under major construction) so I'm not on the opposite side of the house from the bathroom. Waking up and running to the bathroom at 2am was getting kind of dicey. This will also put us across the hall from the nursery when the baby is here. We'll have the bassinet in our room the first few months, but it's nice to know when we do want to transition we won't be on the other end of the house. We'll be doing construction on that end soon enough, so we'd have to move at some point anyway. 

We also got some of our first presents in the mail, so that was beyond exciting and sweet!

Miss anything: I really can't think of anything other than not having to pee every 5min or less. I've been seriously craving a Jersey Mike's sub, but my doc said I can't have any sandwich meat that is cut right then. Figures...

Movement: The baby has hardly stopped moving in the last week. It was funny because I had been really anxious the last weekend in Feb because I hadn't felt much for a couple days...now it has been nonstop! I read somewhere that babies supposedly sleep 15hrs throughout the day, but I have no clue when this kid sleeps. I hope that isn't a sign of what's to come. 

Cravings: SWEETS SWEETS AND MORE SWEETS. That's a WEIRD one for me! I've never been a huge fan of sweets. I'd eat something sweet here and there, but never much. I've always been more of a fruit fan. Now it's intense. Sour candy, peanut m&ms, starburst, snickers, chocolate milk, banana nut bread, mini powdered donuts. The list goes on. The other day I even baked myself a devil's food cake with dark chocolate fudge icing...I ate at least half of it by myself...
Still Chinese food - specifically crab rangoon, spring rolls, and hot & sour soup, though this craving has tapered just a bit.
Sour cream chicken enchiladas. Randy loves that one because Mexican food is his favorite. He isn't a fan of Chinese.
Whataburger fries and toast with gravy, fried apple pies, and coca-cola.
Chickfila chicken sandwiches with extra pickles.
A few other things depending on the day, but that's all I can think of right now

Anything making you queasy or sick: Just whole milk, and I wouldn't even say it made me sick...it just tastes terrible. 2% is just fine, though. Weird. 

Happy or moody: Definitely moody. The mood swings are in full effect. Just ask Randy...

I'm usually able to at least recognize it...even if I still can't control it. Sometimes I'll just warn Randy that I'm feeling irrationally cranky or something. I cry a lot, but not as much as a lot of women say they do when pregnant. The other night I got into bed and just started sobbing. I still don't know why. 

Labor Signs: Nope! Praise the Lord! I haven't even had any Braxton Hicks, which supposedly begin showing up around now. I'm told they don't hurt this early on, but I haven't noticed them at all. I'm sure they'll come eventually, but for now I'm not complaining. 

Looking forward to: I have several showers coming up! That will be so fun! I'm so thankful to have so many friends and family who want to celebrate this precious gift. My amazing sister-in-law is coming in from Indiana, my dad and stepmom are coming from Kentucky, and my aunt and cousin (who is basically a sister) are coming from Arizona! I'm so excited to see everyone! 

Not looking forward to: Temperatures rising in Texas.

Other weird symptoms: Not really.