28 weeks-Third Trimester!

Third trimester; I remember peeing on a stick like it was just yesterday! I can't believe how fast these weeks have flown by. I thought 40 weeks sounded like FOR-EV-ER (The Sandlot pronunciation), but now I find myself looking for more weeks to steal before this baby shows up. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to meet my son, but there is just so much to do before then! We, meaning AJ, is still working on our guest bathroom. He's almost gutted the entire room. Once he's torn up the last of the floor, he'll lay new sub floor down and start measuring for the new plumbing. We are going back and forth on the design of the new bathroom. We've tossed around the idea of re-purposing a vintage dresser and making it a vanity, but a nice dresser is still pretty expensive and it will require more work on our (AJ's) part. We battled over wainscoting (AJ's vote) or no wainscoting (mine) and finally settled on doing the recessed-panel wainscoting. I can't wait until it's time to pick paint and finally install the beauty of a tub we got! 

Pieces are all inspected and perfect!

On to a more serious topic, AJ and I got to experience a dry run of heading to the ER and checking into Labor and Delivery. I'll start by letting you all know that both Emerson and I are perfectly healthy and it will be another 11 weeks (fingers crossed) before we will be heading back to the hospital. Now into the horror story of what was my fall. Last night when I got home from running errands I walked in to all the dogs barking (pretty standard) and AJ nowhere to be found. I noticed that AJ had put up the dog gate in the hallway doorway, blocking the dogs from being in the back of the house. I figured he was doing something in the bathroom or our room that he didn't want the dogs to get into. I put all my groceries down, grabbed a snack, and headed towards the back of the house. We've had dog gates up in the house for the last 4 years and I've never had an issue with stepping over them, but apparently my ever-expanding belly is making my balance a little off. When I stepped over the gate my sandal caught the top of it and I went tumbling forward. It was like a scene out of a movie when the person is trying to stop themselves from falling by continuing to run forward. I eventually lost my balance and went slamming into the hardwood. I tried to catch my fall with my hands, but they slipped out from under me and I landed directly on my stomach. As my body is telling me today, this fall really hurt, but my first reaction was sheer panic, not pain. I instantly went into hysterics and started screaming and crying. My stomach started cramping immediately and every worst case scenario started running through my mind. Screaming and clutching my stomach, I walked into the backyard and found AJ with the music blaring. He didn't hear me over the music and only saw my face. He said at first it looked like I was bent over, laughing, but then he realized I was crying. Through the tears and panic I tried to explain what happened and he instantly went into amazing husband mode. He ran in the house and put all the dogs away and grabbed the keys and calmly rushed me to the car. We don't have our Dr's direct line so I was trying to get through the automated system while AJ drove to the ER. Since we only live 2 mins away from the hospital we got to the ER before I got through to someone on the phone. AJ was so good at trying to keep me from stressing out and making the situation worse. He kept his cool the entire time while he was internally freaking out. We went into the ER and a very nice and very pregnant woman let me go in front of her to check in. Now that I look back she was probably in labor; what a wonderful person. We explained what had happened and were checked in and seeing the Charge Nurse within 10 mins. While we were waiting we called our parents. My mom and sister came and met us at the hospital as we were being wheeled down to Labor and Delivery.        

I was put in a room and given a hospital gown. The nurse strapped the fetal heart monitors to my belly and started watching the print out. My heart skipped a beat while we were waiting to hear his little heartbeat. For the next ten minutes our nurse didn't say much related to Emerson's health, but she provided a lot of distraction with all the standard Q&As. Turns out she was waiting for Emerson's heart to establish a base line on the print out. Once she established a base line we heard the wonderful news that our little man was not just healthy, but an over-achiever. Apparently his heartbeat is stronger than the average 28 week-old fetus'. Knowing his heart was beating strong gave us a lot of relief, but we knew we weren't in the clear. The nurse called our Dr. and he ordered an ultrasound to make sure that the placenta hadn't detached. The ultrasound tech came in about two hours after we had checked in and performed the same ultrasound we had at 20 weeks. The bonus to this terrible night was getting a chance to see our little Emerson again! Again, the tech couldn't tell us anything other than Emerson was still a boy! Our Dr. came in and saw us later in the night and said everything looked just fine, but he wanted to keep me for a total of four hours, which is standard care. At this point AJ and I were mentally exhausted and I was physically exhausted and uncomfortable. We both had to work the next day and our normal bed time is between 8:30 and 9:30 (yep, we're an old married couple). Since I couldn't move around to get comfortable, it was impossible to try and get some sleep why we waited out the four hours. Finally we were given the okay to check out. We both were absolutely starving so we grabbed a quick bite and finally crashed around 11:15. We both slept pretty hard, which made it that much harder to wake up today. 

Other than feeling like I was beat up, everything is back to normal. I have loved every little kick and punch from Emerson, but today's movement meant so much more to me. I'm so happy my clumsy fall did nothing to hurt my son. I know this is just the first of many panic moments that AJ and I are bound to face with this little guy, but it will all be worth it just to call him our son.

Sorry for any stress or grey hairs I may have given you all! AJ found three while we were at the hospital! It was not the way I wanted to learn about Labor and Delivery, but I'm happy we got a feel for it. The nurses were amazing. They made a very stressful situation manageable for us. I'm very excited to know that I'll be delivering in such great company!

Only 12 more weeks!

How Far Along: 28 Weeks

Weight gain: 33 lbs 
Maternity clothes? Yep Yep
Stretch marks? Still none
Sleep: I think I'm peeing more than sleeping at night! 
Best Moment of the Week: Knowing that my little Emerson was a healthy boy.
Miss Anything? My balance
Movement?: All day! AJ still hasn't felt them, but he saw him give me a couple crazy kicks.

Food cravings: Strawberries

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Gender: Baby Boy
Labor Signs: None, thank goodness.

Symptoms: Peeing every half hour, heartburn is a mother,  lot more gassy, scatter-brained, and no balance.
Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? Off
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking Forward To: AJ's birthday celebrations!