Saturday, January 31, 2009

Lazy Days













Well, we have had an interesting few weeks. I have yet to download new pictures, but since I never posted any pictures of Emeline is Switzerland in October, I thought I would post a few now. I was unable to join Chris and his family (Mom, step dad, sister, brother-in-law and a family friend) on that trip, because I was towards the end of my first trimester, and my very protective doctor did not think it was a good idea. He has been so careful with us. He knows we want to take no chances with this miracle pregnancy.

That brings me to the title of this post—Lazy days. A few weeks ago we had a little scare. Thankfully it seems we are now out of danger. I had had a busy December coupled with starting a German class in January that I wanted to take before the baby came in May. When I went in at around 24 weeks, my doctor measured my cervix and said it was on the border of being too thin or short. This is one of the leading causes of premature birth. Usually no one knows this is happening until it is too late—the cervix basically thins out and you can begin dialating and go into labor. I am so thankful for God’s provision in our wonderful doctor and in being in Germany. In the US this is usually not monitored unless you have already lost a baby due to cervical incompetence or if you have had certain surgeries that would make that more likely to be an issue. Thankfully, my doctor caught this on an ultrasound as he has been monitoring my cervix thickness all along. He told me to drop my class, because sitting at a table several hours a day was putting to much pressure on my cervix. He also told me to keep my feet up as much as possible and under no circumstances was I to pick Emeline up. He gave me an appointment for one week later, so he could see if it would get better or improve with me taking it easy.

I was a very, very good girl that week and continue to have my lazy days. When we went back in a week later, things had improved significantly to the point where my doctor felt we were not in any immediate danger. He warned me to behave myself and said I could just come in on my next scheduled appointment. I was so thankful and thrilled that this baby was not looking like he was going to come any time in the near future. Also, since I do not want to be put on bed rest, which is what would happen if things were to get worse again, I am keeping my feet up when possible. Also, Chris has been doing most of the heavy grocery shopping, because I normally walk to the grocery store and pull my little grocery carrier on wheels home. This is a pain as I would rather just do things myself and also because Chris has to do it, but it’s a small price to pay to keep Baby Boy safe and sound until it is time for him to arrive. I am able to take care of Emeline and do meals. I also decided since I can’t do my German class, that I am going to spend time reading in German. I recently read and over 450 page John Grisham book which had been translated into German. That’s a record for me.

Emeline is doing great. She turns 2 years old on Feb. 12th. We also have our forever family day coming the day before her birthday. We look forward to celebrating our beautiful girl over the next couple of weeks. I will be posting pics of those special coming days.

















2 comments:

Bekah said...

Shannon--So glad to hear you are doing well and that your doctor is excellent and taking good care of you. Rest up and read up before this little boy enters the world. Boys are so fun. (So our girls, they're just so different.) Blessings, Bekah

CristyLynn said...

I'm so thankful that everything looks all right! I'll be praying for you!
Oh, and I think I'm just as impressed with you reading 450 pages of German as I am with anything else! I'm nowhere near that in Russian!