What a Weekend!

Well.

Whew.

What a weekend.

We went out to Mom's since the Marine Corps Birthday Ball was in Alexandria on Saturday and the drive back and forth is much easier from Mom's than from our house!

I feel sort of bad that I called it Mandatory Fun (though it is) because mandatory or not, it still was fun. I am always humbled to be in a room of men and women who willingly sacrifice their time and their very lives for my rights and my freedoms. Very proud to be part of such an honored tradition as 235 years of dedication and service from so many amazing people. No offense to ground Marines, but also thought it very cool that the Commandant's Message this year was delivered by an aviator! That's a first!

Anyway, I did have a nice time, though I admit I was stiff and sore for much of the night. Goes with the territory of being awake (or asleep, really) these days. It was more deja vu, of course. Just a year ago, I was in the very same room, also very pregnant, waiting for a much loved baby boy. This year was funny in that many comments (and of course, I know they were SO sweetly spoken and meant to be very complimentary...they were, they just made me laugh a little in my head!) were similar to this, "Wow--you look great!!! So different from last year!"

And, in defense of that statement, anyone who said it was right! Very different from last year. Last year, I looked like a swollen dog tick. Literally.

So, Sunday morning, as we were just about to eat breakfast with Mom, I discovered I was bleeding. I didn't worry (too much at first) because it wasn't much and I wasn't sure of what was going on. I told John (and he began to worry for both of us) and ate breakfast, figuring that if I was still bleeding and it seemed like more, I'd go to L&D and call my doctors.

And that's what happened. Here I was, a day shy of 30 weeks, and blood. In the last 85 weeks, I've been pregnant for 71 of them...and NO BLOOD! I know that many, many, many women have bleeding throughout the pregnancies and babies are just FINE, but....not me. I called Dr. Shonekan and she told me not to worry, just go see what was going on. I also called Dr. Sweeney, who essentially said the same things. Neither seemed concerned that it was something really bad, but BOTH were very interested to hear back. I know I say it all the time, but we just could NOT have better people taking care of us.

Considering that I have had the cell numbers of both of them for ages and JUST THEN used it, I felt pretty proud of myself for not being *too* bothersome to them--but I think we all agreed that fresh, bright red blood at 30 weeks was a cause for a call.

The hospital was great. We went straight to L&D (Fair Oaks has a NICU, so if worst came to worst, we'd at least be at a NICU) and they were not busy. Our nurse was lovely; we explained to her what was going on and where we have been in the last year and she was very understanding of why we were worried and so nerve-wracked. She constantly told us that it was going to be fine, Luke was moving around like nuts (yeah, I know!) and that we lucked out because the doctor on call was the one they all loved and called for consults. (John and I laughed, thanking God we didn't get the one that they DIDN'T love or call for consults! "Umm, yeah...sorry to tell you, the doctor on call today is the drunk none of us like very much....")

She was right, though, because the doctor was very kind and just as understanding of why we were panicked. They did an exam, and thankfully, couldn't find anything wrong with my cervix or Luke. Without getting graphic, essentially their theory was that I had some blood vessels external to my cervix rupture and that's where the blood was coming from. That could have happened from anything--me moving/stretching, Luke moving around...just about anything. Seeing as Luke kept moving (kept popping off the fetal monitor because he was SO wiggly!) and his heartrate was great and the exam showed no concerns with my cervix, after we ruled out any placental bleeding with a sonogram, I figured that theory was very plausible.

The wait for the ultrasound took over 3 hours. Finally we were called down, and I understood why. The girl (who was maybe 12, but still very thorough and kind) had been slammed with emergent situations. She spent an hour and 15 minutes with us (as I said, VERY thorough!) and if she did that with 2 patients before us, well...that's why it took so long. Poor thing, the patient right before us was a woman who was there for pain in early pregnancy and that little sono tech had to tell her that the pregnancy was ectopic and she needed to go straight to the OR. That's just not the kind of stuff that you do the ultrasound, see, tell and then say, "Next patient, please." Seeing as that was the problem with one of the patients before me, I was glad that our girl was as sweet and compassionate as she was. That poor woman needed it, I know.

Luke was fine. Wiggly, kicking me (we saw his legs all stretched out and foot flexed right up against my side and it was adorable) and no bleeding from anything. She said I had "Mega-cervix," which made me laugh, but fit right in line with Ft. Knox, and an hour and a half later, we were good to go. Not given bedrest completely--just taking it easy until we saw Dr. Sweeney (who I am sure will tell me to just take it easy and not push my limits) and coming back if we have contractions or anything else happens.

They DID find an enlarged left kidney on Luke, according to the impressions from the ultrasound, but in talking to Dr. Sweeney, he said he's not one bit concerned and he'll take a look for himself tomorrow. Though the tech was super sweet, and super thorough, John (and I) trust 'our' gals at Dr. Sweeney's quite a bit more, so we'll see the real scoop with them. The bottom line is that with Matthew's kidney situation, we are very well aware that one lives with only one functioning kidney ALL THE TIME, so even if there IS some situation with his kidney, we aren't worried. Fluid looked good and has, and Dr. Sweeney's office has been keeping up with every body part this little boy displays for the last 22 weeks. Luke is fine.

I am fine.

We are both fine.

Thank God.

Here are some pictures from the ball. Big difference from last year, agreed. But....I wouldn't trade my sweet Matthew hearing "From the halls of Montezuma..." on those big brass instruments for anything. He LOVED the music last year. Loved it. So did I.

Mommy and Daddy before we left...

"Belly" shot at 29w5d

This was AFTER John made a "funny" joke about how I sounded like a screechy wife. Yeah, really funny. Good thing I love him anyway.

John would NOT stop telling me to "Look" at him!

This picture reminds me of another picture we took last July...dressed up, pregnant and happy. Dressed up again. Pregnant again. Forever changed...but able to say happy as well. A different happy, but grateful for happy nonetheless.

One of my sweethearts....I just love, love, love this sweet little girl. She was on a 'date' with her daddy for the Ball!!!!

I just have to say this about that picture....when I was pregnant with Matthew, my kids were amazing. Each class...the one at the beginning of the pregnancy and the one at the end as well...this little sweetheart above would come up behind me, wrap her arms around me and pat my stomach and say, "Hello, baby!! We love you!!! We love you Matthew!!!" every day. Every day. Over the summer, we went to see a movie and HAD to stop at Cheesecake Factory since Matthew LOVED the Blackout cake. When Calie came over the other night to say hi to me, they had just served desert (which was a pretty yummy triple layer chocolate cake that was awfully reminiscent of the Blackout cake) and I dropped my fork down to give her a big hug. We talked a few minutes and I asked what she thought of the cake. She said it was yummy, and then she melted my heart as she said, "I bet you loved it because I know your babies LOVE cake!"

Yes, my babies love cake....and I love that she knows that.