False alarm # 236

Today i had my second major false alarm with the pregnancy. The first one was 3 weeks ago at 21 weeks and then again today at 24. Today was very uneventful, i wrapped christmas presents, had brunch with my mommy, it rain/snowed all day... it was a good day till 2:30 when i was trying to pick up aidan from school. I was sitting there then all of a sudden i had this contraction, this is normal i just wait for them to pass, but this one kept getting stronger and stronger till i found myself panting through it... I brushed it off as the baby stretching during the contraction or something, but there was the pressurey pain in my hips. I went to my moms house and a hour later the pressure was still very much there. I told my mom that i was gonna go home and rest but by the time i got home i was panicing.. Contractions were commin 4 mins apart and the pressure felt like the pressure right before the urge to push... I got home and told my hubby to pack up the kids we're goin to the hospital. We are in the middle of insurance limbo land, my good insurance doesn't kick in till the 1st.. so i call current hospital which quickly says... DON'T COME HERE you need a NICU. So then i think saint mary's or victorvalley has one we'll go there, but my insurance company says i have to be far enough away from Desert Valley (current hosp) in order for it to cover me.... SO what do we do... Drive down the snow infested pass to San Antonio hosp... That should be a good enough distance healthnet... TAKE THAT! All the way there my contractions where comming at exactly 2 mins apart! We were FREAKING. All i could think about was we have no name. This baby may be born today and may only live for mins and it doesn't have a name!
The hospital's great, i didn't even get to my seat in the ER before they had a wheel chair for me. I barely got in bed before they gave me the awesome contraction stopper shot (awful side effects but works like no other) Soon no more contractions and the nurse reassures me that my original thoughts of baby stretching were probably correct. She said i have a hyper active uterus, which is why coffee can put me into labor as it did the first time. She said something as simple as skipping a meal or not getting enough water could do it. Then once i get a couple regular contractions my body starts the whole flight or fight thing and there's no way to stop it other than the awesome shot.... So once again... Kinda embarrassed. Feel like a drama queen. But at least the baby is still cookin!

O Christmas tree...

Starting about 2 weeks before thanksgiving and ending mid-January is my very favorite time of the year. I love this season. I love everything Christmas! I love ice cream snow, hot chocolate, eggnog and all the other terribly fattening things to eat! I love the cold bundly weather. I love it all. I love teaching my kids about the one Birthday that is most important.

We went to Victoria Gardens for a night all about the kids and Christmas. It was soo much fun. We ate dinner... Here is kendi eating ribs with my Dad... Those are her "big eyes".

We posed in front of the gi-normous tree... Never went as well as we would have liked!

We rode the Choo Choo... Note to self: in three month may want to ride again... so bumpy would likely send you into labor!

and we posed with Santa. It was just supposed to be kendi and aj with Santa but she screamed bloody murder so we all sat on his lap... poor Santa!

Over all it was a great night. As far as baby update, nothing new so far. Still contracting some days worse than others. I have a Dr appt tomorrow. We'll see! Hope all is well with everyone!

Ohhh NUTS

So there are little lessons i learn on an almost weekly basis. Alot of them are things i wish someone had told me... Mostly regarding my children, sometimes my husband, but i think i will start blogging about my hard earned wisdom so that maybe you can steer clear.
When i was a very little girl i remember that my great grandparents always had a bowl of mixed nuts with the shells on them. I hated nuts as a child so i was never interested in them. This last shopping trip i passed a large bin of shelled nuts and thought Aidan would love them. They're a completely healthy snack and a fun project. On top of that i envisioned myself cuddled up with a good book on the couch on a cold winters eve cracking nuts....( i know so never gonna happen nuts or not) but hey you can't shovel if ya have to crack... SO i buy ALOT... Like bags full... and the cracker thingy...
I get home set up my cute bowl of nuts and precede to crack one.... Not only is it hard but they are dangerous weapons of mass destruction! They shoot allllll over the room... maybe there is a secret to it that i don't get but my goodness! So aidan insisted on trying it as well and at that point there were shells from one end of the house to the other so i let him at 'em... I really believe i will never be done cleaning up walnut shells! Not to mention kendi ate as many shells as nuts so its a good possibility the next diaper will be all shelly... and super fun!
Moral: Stick to de-shelled nuts!

Preterm labor

Amelia the youngest surviving premature baby to date. She was born at 21 weeks. She is developmentally normal for her age. To date she is 2 1/2 years old.

Amelia's feet at birth.
She weighed 9 oz at birth.

On November 24th i started having contractions that were not to intense but very regular. (every four mins.) Due to the holiday commin up the dr's office told me to go to labor and delivery so my Doctor could check me out there. I laid there hooked to machines for a couple hours listening to a chick ABSOLUTELY screaming as she was having her first baby... yikes! They saw on the monitor that i was in fact contracting every four mins. So they gave me a shot a waited to see if they calmed down, and they did. At this point i am asking alot of questions to the nurse and the answers were terribly unpleasant. I was 21 weeks at that point. They said they would not give me meds to stop labor before 30 weeks, and that if i did go into labor they just let nature take its course. She said "even if the baby is born with a heart beat we just let mom hold her till she passes" I thought this nurse was off her rocker... so i made a hasty appointment with my dr who confirmed what she had said. IS THERE ANYTHING MORE BARBARIC? The youngest baby to ever survive was 21 weeks. There are plenty of medications to stop labor even at 21 weeks. SOOOO i am in the market for a new hospital and a more aggressive doctor. I didn't get a diagnosis of pre-term labor yet due to the fact that i am not dilated, but as soon as that happens i need to be at a different hospital, nobody wants a liability. SO i am in need of advice... if you have any let me know.