Time for a new ticker and for my dad to arrive
I guess it’s time for a new ticker. What’s the next milestone that feels manageable? 24 weeks, I think. The very cusp of viability. I’ll have to get to work on that soon.
For now, I am enjoying my last moments of peace and quiet before…GET THIS: Rocket Man and my son are on their way to the airport to pickup my dad who is coming TODAY to stay with us until JUNE!!! No shit, I swear to god. My father who is still married to my can’t-even-think-of-a-one-word-descriptor mother is coming today to help us out until the baby is born. I’m sure he’ll stay for a few weeks afterwards also. So 5 ½ months??!!
I can hardly believe it. It’s quite a concept to wrap one’s feeble brain around. Let me start by saying this: I get along with my dad much better than I have ever gotten along with my mother. He is tremendously helpful and capable and the kids like him and even though we’ll all be sick of him after a week, he is going to be a huge help.
He cooks, cleans, does laundry, drives the carpool, spins the kids around and lets them ride him like a pony, bathes and puts the kids to bed, gets them up in the morning so we can sleep in on occasion, babysits for days on end, and strangely seems to love doing it. He loves his grandkids and relishes any opportunity to spend time with them. Unlike my mother, he can carry on a conversation.
He cancelled his trip to Antartica so he could help us get this baby here. Last year when I went on modified bed rest with LC, he cancelled a trip to Australia.
Why is he coming you might ask? We have been planning on him coming at the end of February, at 24 weeks, to help us make it through the rest of the pregnancy. We don’t know if I’ll end up on bedrest; it just depends on how my cervix is looking every two weeks.
Since Christmas Day, I have been having lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions. I started them early with my other pregnancies but I am having them much more frequently this time around. And I have 25% less cervix and there is a bootlace holding it together. The dangers that lurking now are infection from the stitch and pre-term labor.
With LC, my cervix was dangerously short at 19 weeks (SURPRISE) and a rescue cerclage was put in place to save the pregnancy (didn’t work). I got a deadly infection in my amniotic fluid, from the stitch and the pregnancy had to be cut short at 22 weeks to save my life. In addition to the danger of infection, there is also the possibility of pre-term labor. Just because a bootlace is holding my cervix together doesn’t mean that I won’t go into pre-term labor. My cervix could funnel down to the stitch, the stitch could slip, my water could break…. All really bad.
Anyway, I am worried about the contractions, even though I know there aren’t labor contractions. At 18 ½ weeks, I’ve got a long way to go. I don’t want to take any chances. I just want to get through this and then NEVER EVER get pregnant again.
Since the contractions increase dramatically with my activity level, we decided to have my dad come early. Fancy doc thinks it’s a good idea although he isn’t phased by the contractions. He just thinks that since my cervix looks good that the contractions aren’t causing any damage to the stitch or pressure on the cervix. I don’t want to get to the point where the stitch is damaged so I am going on light duty.
So for the next five or so months, my dad will be living with us in our not-that-big house where there are few places to hide from anybody. I am going to try to keep in mind whenever possible that he is doing us the biggest favor ever and that we are all doing this so we can get this baby here safely. It’s a temporary situation and one that we are lucky to be in, having him here to help us that is.
By the way, I am feeling better about having another daughter. I am getting used to the idea, just like I did last year when I was also having another daughter. I have my concerns, lots of them in fact, but I am working through them. There are more posts there for sure. Thanks so much for your comments; they really helped me move into a different space about the whole thing. Not sure where I’d be without you ladies. I am grateful.
For now, I am enjoying my last moments of peace and quiet before…GET THIS: Rocket Man and my son are on their way to the airport to pickup my dad who is coming TODAY to stay with us until JUNE!!! No shit, I swear to god. My father who is still married to my can’t-even-think-of-a-one-word-descriptor mother is coming today to help us out until the baby is born. I’m sure he’ll stay for a few weeks afterwards also. So 5 ½ months??!!
I can hardly believe it. It’s quite a concept to wrap one’s feeble brain around. Let me start by saying this: I get along with my dad much better than I have ever gotten along with my mother. He is tremendously helpful and capable and the kids like him and even though we’ll all be sick of him after a week, he is going to be a huge help.
He cooks, cleans, does laundry, drives the carpool, spins the kids around and lets them ride him like a pony, bathes and puts the kids to bed, gets them up in the morning so we can sleep in on occasion, babysits for days on end, and strangely seems to love doing it. He loves his grandkids and relishes any opportunity to spend time with them. Unlike my mother, he can carry on a conversation.
He cancelled his trip to Antartica so he could help us get this baby here. Last year when I went on modified bed rest with LC, he cancelled a trip to Australia.
Why is he coming you might ask? We have been planning on him coming at the end of February, at 24 weeks, to help us make it through the rest of the pregnancy. We don’t know if I’ll end up on bedrest; it just depends on how my cervix is looking every two weeks.
Since Christmas Day, I have been having lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions. I started them early with my other pregnancies but I am having them much more frequently this time around. And I have 25% less cervix and there is a bootlace holding it together. The dangers that lurking now are infection from the stitch and pre-term labor.
With LC, my cervix was dangerously short at 19 weeks (SURPRISE) and a rescue cerclage was put in place to save the pregnancy (didn’t work). I got a deadly infection in my amniotic fluid, from the stitch and the pregnancy had to be cut short at 22 weeks to save my life. In addition to the danger of infection, there is also the possibility of pre-term labor. Just because a bootlace is holding my cervix together doesn’t mean that I won’t go into pre-term labor. My cervix could funnel down to the stitch, the stitch could slip, my water could break…. All really bad.
Anyway, I am worried about the contractions, even though I know there aren’t labor contractions. At 18 ½ weeks, I’ve got a long way to go. I don’t want to take any chances. I just want to get through this and then NEVER EVER get pregnant again.
Since the contractions increase dramatically with my activity level, we decided to have my dad come early. Fancy doc thinks it’s a good idea although he isn’t phased by the contractions. He just thinks that since my cervix looks good that the contractions aren’t causing any damage to the stitch or pressure on the cervix. I don’t want to get to the point where the stitch is damaged so I am going on light duty.
So for the next five or so months, my dad will be living with us in our not-that-big house where there are few places to hide from anybody. I am going to try to keep in mind whenever possible that he is doing us the biggest favor ever and that we are all doing this so we can get this baby here safely. It’s a temporary situation and one that we are lucky to be in, having him here to help us that is.
By the way, I am feeling better about having another daughter. I am getting used to the idea, just like I did last year when I was also having another daughter. I have my concerns, lots of them in fact, but I am working through them. There are more posts there for sure. Thanks so much for your comments; they really helped me move into a different space about the whole thing. Not sure where I’d be without you ladies. I am grateful.
posted by whatthef*ck at 3:56 PM
2 Comments:
Wow what an amazing and scary thing to have your Dad here for so long!
That's great that he can and will be there you all - even if you do all drive each other crazy in the process. Your kids are clearly going to love having him around!
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