Oh, Baby, The Places You'll Go!: December 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

No 2009 Tax Break....

Well, it's 10:13 a.m. on New Year's Eve and I'm thinking it's pretty unlikely that we'll be getting a 2009 tax break in the form of a new baby. Hank appears to be pretty content right where he is for the time being. Sorry dad... I know you would have liked to share a birthday with him!

It's been forever since I've posted a proper update. I don't have a good excuse, other than a house full of family and the greedy enjoyment of family time now that Matthew is on leave. So, let me recap the past few weeks in a nut shell...

Matthew arrived home on Dec. 8th and had a whopping 48 hours at home with us before he had to go back to the ship to stand duty for 24 hours. Boooo!!! With the exception of his duty days every 4 days his work load has been pretty light since homecoming so we are very thankful for the time he's been able to spend at home with us. We celebrated his 32nd birthday on December 13th (Happy Belated Birthday honey!!)

The very next day I woke up feeling terrible and ended up going to the emergency room that night with flu like symptoms (even though I've had both my seasonal flu shot and my H1N1 shot!) I was given some antivirals and antibiotics since I also had a urinary tract infection (my first one ever.) After two more days of feeling terrible with rigors, sweats, fevers, no appetite, and being achy all over I went in to see my OB for a follow up and she was kind enough to give me a 'kidney punch' during my exam which elicited a scream of agony from me. I was immediately diagnosed with pyelonephritis.
I was admitted to the hospital for IV antibiotics. During my first evening there, I was placed on the monitors to check the baby's heart rate and to see if I was having any contractions. During the monitoring there was a deceleration in Hank's heart rate so I was moved to the labor and delivery deck for the next 36 hours for constant monitoring. The worst part of this monitoring was that it required me to lay on one side or the other the entire time which was very painful for my back. We were all very relieved when I got to come home after my two day stay.

My parents arrived on the 21st and have been great at helping us around the house, grocery shopping, Ally- chasing, helping us to get ready for Hank, and forcing me to rest.

On Christmas Eve we went to an early church service especially designed for Children then we hosted a family dinner here at our home complete with ham, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, 24 hour salad (which is not any sort of healthy salad!)and fudge pie! We opened a few gifts and did Christmas with my parents since they were leaving for NYC early the next morning to visit Ann's kids. After saying goodbye to them we headed over to Matthew's parent's home on Christmas morning where Ally was bombarded with gifts from all of us AND Santa! She had a blast though and has thankfully not yet grown tired of all her new toys!

Since then we've been laying pretty low and just trying to cross things off of our to-do list in preparation for becoming a family of four. We visited my OB on Monday and learned that I am 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced already. I could walk around like this for weeks or go into labor today, but either way, it's unlikely we'll have a 2009 baby at this point. Matthew and I are both okay with waiting until 2010 to claim our latest tax deduction- we just want little Hank to stay in mommy's tummy as long as possible so he can be a big strapping kiddo upon arrival. We're praying for at least a 7 pounder! We're still planning for a natural and drug-free childbirth and have hired a doula to help us accomplish this goal.

I'll do my best to update more regularly over the next few days/ weeks until Hank arrives but no promises. Facebook will probably be a better bet since we won't have wi-fi in the hospital so I won't be able to do any blogging.

Thanks for checking in, Happy New Year, and a special Happy Birthday shout-out to my Dad!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

T Minus 37 Hours

Blogging time has been scarce lately. Life has been quite busy preparing for a big homecoming on Tuesday... a mere 37 hours away! Today we had 5 cars detailed at our home (two belonging to us and the other three owned by two friends whose husbands are also deployed on the Bataan.) None of the cars had been cleaned for the last 7 months so it was a BIG job! We had a homecoming sign making party this afternoon as well so the house is trashed and covered in glitter! Good thing the cleaning ladies are coming tomorrow morning. Carpets will also be cleaned in the afternoon. My wonderfully helpful in laws are going to watch Ally for 5-6 hours tomorrow afternoon so I can finish up the last of my errands and put the finishing touches on our home.

We're expecting the USS Bataan to arrive sometime around 11am on Tuesday morning. Ally and I will be waiting pier side along with my friend Sarah and her kids. I'll do my best to get some pictures posted on Tuesday night so stay tuned.

In the mean time, here are a few pictures of my super cute kiddo and my super huge belly! Hard to believe that I still have another 5 weeks of growing to do! Somehow I don't think I'm going to make it all the way to January 9th!

Thanks for checking in and for all the warm homecoming wishes!