I found out last week that my brother and sister-in-law are coming up from California for my baby shower!  I cannot tell you how happy this makes me.  I had thought in the back of my mind, "yeah it would be nice if they could be here, but i know it doesn't make sense because they will be here a month later in June".  But they're taking a special short trip here just for the occasion!  Do you know of someone in your life that when they're around, you just feel more comfortable in any given situation, especially one that has the potential for awkward moments?  That's how i feel about Eric and Becky, which is why i am so glad that they will be here that weekend.  Plus it takes the pressure off my mom to run the shower and she can feel free to enjoy it much more, as she should.  It's going to be great!

Today we had our FOURTH ultrasound.  Last Thursday at my doc appt., my fundal height (measurement from pubic bone to basically the top of the uterus) was only measuring at 27 weeks.  Up until then i had been measuring perfectly but this time i was actually a cm shorter than i was four weeks prior.  Since i should have been around 32 cm because i was 32 weeks pregnant, the doctor wanted me to get another ultrasound within the next couple days just to be cautious.  If there was a problem with the baby's growth they want to know about it sooner than later.  Turns out Joey was just having some fun with us and the doctor.  Maybe he was turned sideways at the time which made the measuremet smaller or just happened to be curled up extra tight in a ball that day.  Maybe it's because i haven't been eating ice cream every night and have been going on walks, keeping all the calories where they belong- feeding the baby, not my own belly.  Maybe that whole measurement system should be gotten rid of because it's only accurate enough to make you even more worried as a new parent than you already are.  Whatever was off about that measurement in the doctor's office was made irrelevant by the ultrasound measurements today.  The technician said that he was measuring at 33 weeks, which is what i will be in two days.  He's growing just fine.  Although we weren't overtly worried about the baby's condition, it's funny how an unscheduled ultrasound and the possible results that it might reveal can mess with your mind.  When one person on Friday commented joyfully about how big i was getting and another pointed out that i was looking more and more pregnant every day, suddenly these comments were welcomed and comforting instead of irritating and insulting.  If i was looking like i was growing to other people then surely my baby must not be shrinking.  All weekend long, every time i looked in the mirror i was sure that i looked less pregnant than i had the week before.  Joe wasn't able to escape his subconscious either.  He had a rather unusual dream last night that he won't let me write about but maybe he'll share with you someday ;O  BUT, we did get some more pictures of our good looking kid and his hairy head out of the deal.  His cheeks are getting chubby!

By the way, i'm done with work.  Not really, but mentally i'm ready to go.  I'm ready to be home with my baby and hubby.  Five more weeks, five more weeks.

I got my first couple of real good kicks straight to the ribs today.  Gotta say, not my favorite milestone in this pregnancy so far.

It is strange though.  The pain is unwanted but welcomed at the same time.  When a new discomfort comes along, i find myself wanting more of the same to continue because it tells me that my son is growing and thriving inside me.  I figure that if he can cause pain then he must be getting stronger, and that is a very good thing.

that i will be wearing these pants!  I have a pair of khaki strecth maternity pants that just this afternoon officially became too tight to wear.  I don't think Joey is very happy with me, he is moving around in me VERY low, it seems like he's only inches from the exit.  I don't know what happened but just this afternoon it became very uncomfortable, and i feel bad for the poor guy's head.  When i pull the band away from my skin, he pokes around down there a lot more.  Great, now he has the hiccups.  I read that baby's get the hiccups when they swallow too much amniotic fluid at once.  He's probably choking on it because these pants are too tight around his face.  I can't wait to change my clothes.  Maybe he's already dropped.  A co-worker last week said she thought i looked like i was carrying him a lot lower, and when joe and i went to the Blazer game Friday and were walking up a hill to get back to the car, i noticed that i could actually breathe easy without any shortness of breath.  Considering that he was already in the head down position a month ago at our ultrasound, it really wouldn't surprise me.  I said in the beginning that if he's in a hurry and shows up early, he'll have his dad's personality.  As long as he makes it 36 weeks, i'll be happy.

I have three great pairs of maternity jeans.  If i could wear those to work, i'd be set.  Or better yet, my pajama bottoms!

My official last day of work is May 26th, or whenever God decides that my baby should be born.  We'll see which one comes first.

(Started writing this on Wed., finished it on Thurs.)

So i had to take a trip to the Labor and Delivery ward at the hospital yesterday.  What a waste of time.  I guess i shouldn't say that because if it did turn out that there was something wrong, i would be thankful that my doctor told me to go there.  If you don't like details about pregnancy and bodily functions, long stories that really don't need to be long, and run-on sentences, stop reading now.

 I called my doctor's office on my way home from lunch yesterday because i had noticed some brown-watery discharge when i went to the bathroom.  It was definitely more than i was used to seeing and you're always supposed to call your doctor when you notice a change like that because it could be a sign of pre-term labor.  The receptionist took a message and said the doctor's assistant would call me back. She finally did right before 5:00 and after her asking me questions and relaying them to the doctor, he told her to tell me to head straight to the L&D room of the hospital so they could check me out.  Great.  I was expecting him to have me come into his office for a quick check, not the freakin' hospital.  So anyway, i leave work just a couple minutes early and as i'm driving to the hospital i'm wondering which way i should take to get back home because in a half hour (when i thought i would be leaving) traffic would be even worse.  I didn't know at the time that i would be spending the next four and a half hours there.  

When i got there, i checked in and a talkative lady brought me to a very cold room.  After i had undressed and was under the sheet, a very kind and gentle nurse strapped me up to the external moniters, and joey's galloping heartbeat filled the room.  She had to take a sample of the fluid that was inside me to make sure there wasn't any embryotic fluid.  There wasn't.  Then i waited.  The doctor finally came in.  Kept looking at the moniter, told me i was having pretty regular contractions which surprised me because I couldn't feel anything.  He asked me if i was dehydrated and i told him no, that i drink water all day.  he told me to drink a bottle of water anyway.  He asked if i was hungry and i said i was starving.  so he said that they would have me eat something too and see if the contractions die down. the nurse took my food order. Then i waited.  and waited.  no tv. no magazines. so i laid there.  i sang to joey, i talked to God.  i thought about my friend jenn in her fitness boot camp and hoped she wasn't breaking one of her legs going up and down bleachers.  it was almost 7:00 when i thought i should give joe a call.  i had called him as i left work, but all i told him was that my doctor wanted me to come in to have me checked out.  i assumed he would assume that i was going to my regular doctor's office, and that's what i wanted.  i didn't want to freak him out by telling him i was going to the hospital, besides, i didn't think i would be there very long so i could just tell him when i got home where i actually was.  but when i was realizing more and more that i could be there a couple more hours, i knew i needed to get back to him.  I waited though until the nurse came back in because i couldn't reach my purse on the counter which had my cell phone in it.  When a nurse finally came back in, it was a different nurse, they had changed shifts.  I wanted the old shift back.  This lady was fresh and fast and bright-eyed, like she'd just had too much coffee.  i didn't like it.  Maybe the other lady seemed so gentle and nice because she was just overly tired at the end of the shift.  Maybe i just didn't like the new nurse because she told me that they had lost my food order, and it had been over an hour since i ordered it!  I was so hungry i was getting a headache and i felt sick.  She gave me a few paper thin crackers to munch on, handed me my purse, and went to re-order my food.  i also had to ask her for a blanket because my toes felt like ice. After she left, i took out my cell phone and tried to call joe, but it just beeped loudly at me and said, NO SERVICE.  Crap.  I pressed the nurse button and asked if there was a telephone i could use and they said there was one on the table next to the bed.  It wasn't next to the bed!  it was practically behind the bed, so i had to get up, but the cords to the machine wouldn't reach so i had to walk around and unplug them, then carry them over to grab the phone, i dropped the phone, then put it up on a pillow on top of a chair without pulling out the phone plug from the wall, walk back around and plug myself in, and hop back into bed all the while trying to hold together the back of my gown so my butt's not hanging out in case the doctor comes back in.  Even then i could barely reach the phone.  I called joe, he was busy sanding down baby's changing table.  I told him where i was and of course he was worried and asked if i wanted him there.  Of course i did but i didn't want him to drive there and then just have the doctor send me home right after that.  so i told him no, i should be fine, i was just waiting for them to send my food.  He prayed for us over the phone, and i told him i'd call him back when i knew anything more.  and then i waited.  i heard a woman screaming down the hall.  sounded almost like an animal.  a couple of times i heard a baby cry.  i sang some more, prayed some more.  I wasn't worried at this point, i was just getting REALLY angry, and so frustrated because i was being starved.  I was trying not to cry right before the nurse brought in the tray of food.  Did they not understand that i normally would have eaten dinner over 2 and a half hours ago?!  I felt like nobody cared at that moment.  Of course both my husband and my mom would have been there in two seconds if i had asked them to be, but i didn't think it was all that necessary.  Anyway, i ate some cheese manicotti that was in a dish about the size of a small rock, garlic bread with about a cups worth of butter soaked into it, and little bitty cookies that might or might not have been cooked all the way through, i wasn't sure.  I really didn't care though, i was just happy to have something fill up some space in my stomach.  It had still taken them almost another hour to get the food to me AFTER they had re-ordered it.  Right as i finished eating, i heard knocking on the door and in walks the most handsome man on the planet.  My husband showed up!  His face had concern written all over it, i guess he couldn't stay at home any longer not knowing what was going on.  I asked him how he got in there, didn't he have to show some i.d. or anything?  He said no, he just told them he was there to see Michele.  I was like, "are you kidding"?  what if i was sarah connor carrying the future leader of the world and he was the terminator coming in to finish me off and make sure that the child was never born?!  anyway, all i'm saying is that he could have been any ol creep off the street.

Time went by much faster when joe was there.  And of course the contractions did eventually stop, or at least they weren't regular enough to keep me any longer.  I had told the nurse they were probably just hunger pains, but she just thought it was funny, i really meant it.  The doctor came in again around 9:30 and said that i was not in labor which is a really good thing.  Most women that i've heard about lose their mucous plug anywhere from a couple hours to a couple weeks before giving birth, but the doctor told me that i probably am just going to gradually and slowly lose mine up until i give birth.  So i'm to expect more leakage.  Before i left though, he had to check my cervix to make sure i wasn't dialating on the sly.  This was the really funny part.  The guy tells me to put my feet together, relax my knees down to each side, and not squeeze my butt cheeks as he's sticking his hand up you know where into places that i don't think have ever been reached before.  He told me again as this was happening not to squeeze my butt.  I would have laughed at him if it weren't for the pain that stole my breath from me.  Cervix was just where it should be.  i signed a paper and they sent me out.

I got home just before 10:00 and went to bed.  Like i said, waste of time.