39 Weeks:

This should have been my "leaving for the hospital" picture.  We'll see if I take another one...
Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice...

Any change?  Eh.  Not really.

A comparison:

38 weeks

39 weeks

AND, because I know you really care...

My TRAITOR of a belly button:

That's this morning, at 39 weeks.  Sigh.  It's not fully out, but enough to gross me out for sure...

So, how am I doing, you ask?  Eh.  Not great.  I'm in bed as I type this because my stomach is pretty upset.  Renee had generously offered to watch our kids so Jonas and I could go out to dinner tonight and drown our sorrows in some good food, but alas, my stomach said no.  I'm pretty sure I'm just plain ol' "sick," and of course I blame my sweet children for this.  They have honestly--literally--been coughing and sneezing in my face for at least a week now, and that is despite my attempts to train them and dodge their missiles.  So, I'm dealing with sore throat, cloudy brain, upset stomach, etc.  Hey, I've got a great idea...let's go have a baby now! ;)

  I was set to go into the hospital at 7:30 this morning, but it got delayed until 2:00 this afternoon...and at 2:00 I got a call saying to go back on my medication, and to not even plan to come in until 2:00 TOMORROW afternoon.  I know it's not a big deal at all, in reality, but it feels like such a wasted weekend to me!  Plus, this means Jonas will have to take pretty much ALL of next week off work, the majority of which we'll spend in the hospital, and he really doesn't get that much vacation time at all.  So that's a bummer--these were two free days where it wouldn't have "cost" us anything.  Plus, waiting is just hard for me, especially when it's delayed waiting--when the plans changed.  I've been much more nervous this time around, so to try to get my emotions under control, only to realize I need to do it for about two more full days, that's a bit tough for me.  I've got to disconnect from the whole situation inside, otherwise I might be a mess of hormonal tears over here.  Sigh.

I also feel bad for my Mom, who came over here at 7:00 last night, did the whole bedtime routine with us (including all the drugs, nebulizer, etc for Finn) and spent the night here because we were going to be leaving at 6:45 this morning.  Finn woke up at 2:30 a.m. this morning, coughing and coughing, and when I went in to him he was not happy to see me...he wanted Grandma.  :)  So, grandma came up and slept with him the rest of the night, bless her.  He had a rough night with coughing, that's for sure.  But my poor mom just spent the last 20 hours here for no great reason!  So, we sent her home for tonight, and we'll see if we even need her to come in tomorrow afternoon.  I'm not exactly holding my breath over here...

The only upside to this whole delay?  Maybe by the time we actually bring baby girl home from the hospital, my kids and I might actually be healthy enough to be around her and not compromise her poor little immune system immediately!  I hate the thought of making a newborn sick.  :(  So, we'll see.  Layla slept fine last night--her first real night of no waking and no coughing in a week, almost.  Finn is now the one we're waiting out for health to return.  I can NOT believe that the week before I was going to give birth, BOTH my kids got croup, both went to the ER, and both had to go to the Dr for a follow up...and they got me sick too.  All this, after being so healthy all winter.  The WEEK before I give birth?   Gah.  Incredible.  Absolutely incredible timing.  

So, that's it for now.  We'll see what tomorrow holds in store for us!  I'm really hoping for a GREAT night of sleep for us all.  

I should have seen this coming.

Because a new baby can't ever just join our house without there being some sort of drama and crisis surrounding it, right? 

Saturday night = Layla up all night with croup.  Goes to the ER and get sub-par treatment.  Hence, the next 4 days:

Sunday night =  Layla up multiple times with croup symptoms.

Monday night = Layla up multiple times with croup symptoms.

Tuesday night = Layla seeming to be on the mend, only waking up once with croup symptoms.

Wednesday = Take Layla to the Dr for more oral steroids, a nebulizer treatment, and get at-home treatments.  Feeling better about life.

Wednesday night = Layla up once with coughing, Finn up by 11:00 p.m. and in bad enough strider that he needs to go to the ER, DESPITE us giving him the oral steroids, nebulizer, and taking him outside for a cold air walk.  Goes to the same ER Layla went to, get sub-par treatment again.  Back home within an hour, stable enough to go to sleep--and wheeze and cough all night.  Gets more oral drugs and nebulizer before J leaves for work.  At least once in the night I held both him and Layla upright so they could sleep for a few minutes and be able to breathe better.

Tonight = God only knows.  My guess?  Layla will do okay, maybe waking once, and Finn will have a pretty bad night.

Friday = my last chance to sleep for about 48 hours after, based on my labor schedule...


So.

Needless to say, I'm exhausted. I am sure Jonas is too.  Thank you, illness, for reminding me what infancy is going to be like.  As if I had forgotten.

Easter 2014:

I'm up right now at 10:49 p.m., updating the blog, because Layla is also up.  Well, actually, she has only just fallen asleep on the couch, but at 9:30 she woke up again tonight with croup symptoms.  This morning at 1:00 she also woke up with bad croup, so I had Jonas take her to the hospital right away--I played the 38 weeks pregnant card to stay home, even though poor Jonas was pretty tired.  Before he left I said "Please, please make SURE they give her the steroids with the adrenaline mask too, not just the oral drug.  She needs both."  Well, the hospital disagreed and only gave her the oral drug, which fixed her problem short term for sure--but the 2nd night of croup is often the worst, and Layla needs both.  Trust me on this, folks--I can't remember how many times we've taken her to the ER for croup now!  The one other time they only gave her the oral drug?  Bad 2nd night.  So, she was up again, only an hour after going to sleep (late) tonight.  Her breathing wasn't as bad as it was this morning, so I put some oils on her then bundled her up to sit outside on the porch and breathe in some cooler air--it helps with the constricted airways.  Both DID help her, and then she ate two pieces of toast, got chilly, and has now fallen asleep on the couch.  I'll bring her back up to bed as soon as I'm done with this post.  The good news is, other than the past two nights of sleep, she had a perfectly fine and lovely Easter day with family! 

** update: at 1:45 a.m. she woke up again having a hard time breathing, so we are back on the porch...with toast and ice cream. Sigh. Tomorrow looks like a tired Mama.

** Update Tuesday morning: Poor kid had a bad night again last night. This time Jonas stayed up with her and I got some sleep. Poor, sad girl. She is rather miserable, but not bad enough to go to the hospital. :(


Church was WONDERFUL this morning.  It was my last service there for a while, due to baby being induced next Saturday morning, so I soaked it all up and was glad I could go out with a bang on Easter Sunday of all day.  :)

When we got home we ate lunch, then I took the kids outside and gave them one of my two silly little Easter Presents for them:  fun new "spring" cups, and chalk holders.  We created some hop scotch games and enjoyed the amazing weather:

Layla's Easter outfit:

Finn's Easter outfit:

I love that SHE loves her hair in braids now.  

She is WAY into it. 

Part of the gift.  

Layla's favorite rock. 

Picture #1 taken by Layla.

Picture #2 taken by Layla.

Picture #3 taken by Layla.

Then we headed back into the sunroom for some leftover birthday cake.  :)

We headed over to my parent's house around 4:00 for an egg hunt for the kids, then dinner for everyone after.  It was a PERFECT day around here.  Absolutely perfect.  It seemed so right, to have this first actually warm day of spring fall on Easter Sunday.

Finn had to open every egg as soon as he found it.

Layla LOVES the hunt.  :)

Half of the gang, chilling while the kids hunt. 

Counting her loot.

Wonderful pictures by Renee, from FB:

Layla in church this morning.  My belly/baby #3 behind her.

Intense.

38 weeks in this dress looks pretty darn large.  :)

She was SERIOUS about this stuff.  Grandpa would approve.