Oh Baby...

For those who don't know or haven't yet figured it out because I haven't spent much time out of the house... I am expecting a baby. Not only a baby, but a baby girl. I am just about 20 weeks along, but have had an eventful pregnancy so far. Around 14 weeks I lost a mucus plug or two and was having a lot of cramping. Luckily they regenerate early on. So since then I have been on pelvic rest, extra extra rest, no lifting over ten pounds, and uterine relaxers twice a day. Extra extra rest is basically bed rest but the doctor was nice enough to say that she wasn't putting me on "official bed rest". At one point she said I could get up as tolerated and go down to one relaxer a day unless the cramping came back. That lasted a whopping 12 hours before she told me to get back to the couch and go back to two a day. I do have to admit that as part of the doctors orders I am required to take a nap every afternoon for a couple of hours and I am not arguing with that because it is very nice.
A week after that I found out I had an infection that could cause preterm labor and miscarriage. This was followed by a classic Murphy's Law event which resulted in my dryer giving me a rather large shock. This minor electrocution sent me to the hoospital for an OB check, EKG and some blood tests. Baby was fine, but I had some heart damage which I believe has since resolved itself. Not long after this I found myself with some GI issues but nothing concerning. This was then followed by some heart palpitations that sent me to the cardiologist for an EKG and check up. He then sent me to get an echocoardiogram and to wear a 24 hour holter monitor for my heart. The baby's also got an echocardiogram. This was just so much fun... Come to find out I am have premature ventricular contractions of the heart. This is often found in pregnant women. The cardiologist after asking if I was still basically on bed rest the sentence before, asked me to get up and walk as much as possible. Hmmm... very conflicting. As you could imagine, the OB/GYN is just thrilled about everything going on. Especially since I delivered Cohen a month early and am moving a month before I am due.
So, back to the OB who was not happy with my cervix. Apparently it had shortened and not been looking very healthy. So, since we would like to keep this baby girl inside as long as possible, I have been making sure I am just laying down with a brisk walk to go to the bathroom when needed. I think that makes me compliant with everyone. So, the OB said my cervix was looking better but that she wants to see me in 3 weeks and assured me that my state of rest and everything else will be in place for the remainder of the pregnancy. Luckily, my mom came for a week and helped us out. She left yesterday. Thanks MOM!
Ian is also loving that he has to be mom and dad. We just need to get through this last finals week. Then there is a week break and we will have to decide what to do after that as he has a rather full 8 week quarter and then has to study for boards before we move in June.