If you can't say anything nice...

Don't say anything at all.  Perhaps that's why I haven't blogged in over a month.  I'm going to break that rule real quick...

Let's just say the isolation and removal from society is taking its toll on me.  I was at home for seven weeks - May 19th through July 6.  On July 7th I went into the hospital so today is day 13 of hospital bed rest... or as those all too familiar with it say, HBR. 

I thought that being on bed rest at home was challenging, but it was a piece of cake compared to being in the hospital.  At home I got to sit on the front porch in the morning and on the back porch in my hammock in the evening.  I got to take bubble baths.  I hung out with the sweetest kitty and puppy all day and got to sleep in my bed with my husband at night.  I had TIVO! 

Now, on HBR, I get to go to the bathroom, take a shower, and be pushed around in a wheelchair for 30 minutes a day.  The rest of the time (the other 23 hours) I lay in a bed that has buttons and that makes air compression noises everytime I move.  The lights above my head buzz, it's been overcast almost everyday I've been here, and the shower has a seat in it that I'm afraid to touch.  I wear white support stockings so I don't get blood clots.  I am asked humiliating questions multiple times per day and it doesn't matter who is in the room - they still ask.  Nothing is personal anymore.  And let's not even talk about the food. 

Pros:  I got the most beautiful flowers from Ashley, Dustin & baby Bryant and I cried when they delivered them!  Talk about making my day...

And my mama brought these!

Puppy got to come visit mommy at the hospital!

It was so hot.  We wuv the water from the decorative fountain...

The baby is absolutely perfect.  Isn't that all that matters?!  Yes, but I do feel better after showing off my beautiful flowers... and venting a little!

10 Random Things I've Figured out While on Bed Rest

10.  They're not kidding about heartburn increasing in your 3rd Trimester.

9.  There has been a fly constantly tormenting me everyday for the past week.  He must be able to sense that I can not chase him down.

8.  I held off for years, but I'm finally reading the Twilight series.  I read the first three books in a matter of weeks and I'm waiting on the last book... somebody bring it to me already!  They're pretty darn good as far as teenage/romance/vampire/werewolf drama goes.

7.  I have never wanted a.) a pedicure and b.) a massage so bad in my life.

6.  WHY oh WHY did someone make me watch the Bachelorette last week?  Now I am hooked, and I don't want to care about that show, or Ali or Rated R or weirdo Kasey and how he wants to 'guard and protect her heart'...

5.  Our dog is B-A-D.  And L-A-Z-Y.  And she knows what it means when we say "should we put her U-P?" because she runs and hides!

4.  I can't ever figure out how my baby is positioned in my stomach :(  Kinda sad I can't tell heads from tails...

3.  Stephen is absolutely freaked out by my new baby belly button.

2.  I may never want to go back to work.

1.  I know when a comedian on "Last Comic Standing" is hilarious because I have to pause him mid-act to go potty.

Other fun tid-bits:

I changed my baby countdown to reflect my new *drum roll please* due date!  It's not set in stone yet, but I will most likely have a c-section anywhere between July 30th and August 6th, which is 2-3 weeks before her due date.  All of the sudden I have like 40ish days left of this pregnancy!  I also re-titled my ticker to "Reese Elizabeth Kirkpatrick".  Her name is also not set in stone... but we are pretty sure that's what it will be and I'm trying to use it as much as possible to make sure I love it 100% before she arrives!  I can't wait to meet my sweet little Reese!

I'm inserting a picture of my sweet nieces, who I know will be the best cousins to Reese!  Please note that Laura Jane (4) is pretend driving the Mercedes, while Virginia (2) is manning the cell phone.  They don't miss a thing...!

Il Pleut à Paris...

It's raining in Paris.  You might think that this would have little to no impact on my day, but it's totally interrupting coverage of the French Open.  Please feel free to click on the below link to set the tone for this blog entry... a little Aux Champs-Elysee for your listening pleasure (it's best to right click and open in a new window).  This song brings a smile to my face every time!  It's so silly, so French, and it so reminds me of my short little Mr. Magoo look-alike French professor from Ole Miss who used this song as a "warm up" for French class.  We had to stand and sing this song while he danced around the room with his eyes closed.  I wish I had a picture of this.

This time of the year I always think about my favorite summer memories, but I am also doing a lot of thinking about the future right now.  Accordingly, today I want to write about remembering and predicting.  

Remembering past summers... I have been so blessed to take some incredible trips and have wonderful experiences growing up.  My favorites include spending a month in Nice, France studying French, and being on Campus Crusade Summer Project in Fort Lauderdale.  I would give anything to go back to either of those places and relive just a few days!  Obviously I love France.  I love the culture, the language, the busyness of the cities, the long meals, drinking Illy in cafes, the art, walking everywhere, and monuments such as the Arc de Triomph and the Tour d' Eiffel.  The French eat fresh food and walk almost everywhere.  They don't sit in front of the TV at night, but instead they spend their evenings on culinary masterpieces and interesting conversation.  Now I know you can argue that yes, they go on strike a lot, or maybe they're a bit smelly (I don't agree) but I think they have found the key to enjoying life that a lot of Americans can't seem to find.  I have never felt healthier or more alive than when I was in France.  I woke up early in the mornings, ate an amazing breakfast, walked to class, had a jambon-beurre  (ham & butter) sandwich for lunch, then usually spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach, shopping, or in a museum followed by an award winning dinner & glass of wine until 9 or 10 pm.  What a life!  I'm in such a daze from thinking about France that I will have to talk about Fort Lauderdale in a different post...

Jambon et beurre sandwich on a baguette - there's nothing better

Now onto predicting... I have lots of reasons to think we are going to have a really strong little girl.  From the very beginning when I first found out I was expecting, I had this feeling that she was tough.  I never worried about waiting until the 1st trimester was over to tell people because I knew she was fine.  Then the morning sickness hit like a ton of bricks, to which everyone tells you that just means you have a healthy baby!  Now in month six, I am feeling the little bundle moving constantly and I anticipate she will have a strong disposition and character!  My other predictions are that she is going to be tall, love the beach, and play sports.  Call it a mother's intuition ;) 

Our beautiful little girl with her feet up by her head!

Inn case you're wondering what that happy French man is singing about, the chorus translation goes something like this:

                    On the Champs-Elysee, On the Champs-Elysee
                    In the sun or in the rain,
                    At noon or at midnight,
                    It's all that you would want
                    On the Champs-Elysee       

Now sing along!  Aux Champs-Elysee....     
                   
Well, the rain delay is over so I'm going back to watching tennis and daydreaming about Paris... au revoir for now! 

One Week Down

I have made it one week!  That doesn't seem like very much, but I'm closer to seeing this little girl and she's getting bigger all the time, which is my #1 purpose right now. 

So I must say... I have been VERY popular these last few days and I've been much busier than I thought I would be!  I've had some wonderful visitors that have brought yummy food.  I just hope I don't grow more than the baby!  On Sunday Deanna came by followed by Lauren & Tyler.  I totally forgot to take pictures - I'm trying to document all of my visitors so they can get blog credit.  My dear Anna came over Sunday night and what a special visit it was!  Anna, Stephen & Lila (the hippo, I believe?) put on a skit for me.  I'm not too sure what was going on at this point, but here is a picture.

It was hilarious!  Here are some other pictures from the last few days.  As you can see, Lila and Riley are keeping an eye on things. 

They are soooooo lazy. 

My mom brought my grandparents over to visit yesterday.  They brought some amazing food, and my mom showed my grandmother the nursery and my flowers.  Grandaddy and I watched the French Open :)

Speaking of my flowers, it makes me really sad not to get to work in the yard this summer.  At least I'm kind of reaping the benefits of my work last summer, because we have lots of blooming going on right now!  It really makes me so happy, so I go visit my flowers at least once a day (on the way to and from the bathroom, of course).  Yesterday morning I had my coffee on the front porch and it was HOT.  Gosh I love summer.  Bring it, heat.  I can say that because I sit inside all day. 

My coffee perch.

Some of my little pretties.

Well I don't want to give it all away today.... so until next time!  I'll be right here.

Bedrest Day 4 and Baby Shower

Today has been pretty uneventful, but at least Stephen has been home with me.  He said the funniest thing to me the other day (day 1, I believe...).  When I was little and got sick, anyone family member that stayed home to take care of me was nicknamed "nurse" for the day.  So anyway, I was in the bed, and Lila & Riley were of course right there with me.  Stephen was evaluating the conditions, and he said "well, you've got two nurses to take care of you."  I told him, "No I have three."  He said, "No, two.  One, two," pointing at the animals.  I said "three" and pointed at him.  He said, "Um, no. I am the doctor."  It was so matter of fact and I have been laughing to myself about it ever since!  Here is a pic of my doctor and one of the nurses busy at work today...

Luckily I was able to attend my baby shower last Sunday before the unexpected chain of events!  It was so much fun and a little bit surreal!  We got some beautiful dresses, precious outfits, a pink polka dotted tutu, some bath time goodies, a Moses basket and a pack and play!  How exciting!  Not to mention, the hostesses gave us a Flip Video!  Another funny Stephen story... he snuck off and registered for the Flip Video when we were in Target, and I had no idea that it was even on our registry!  I told him not to put it on there, so I looked a little silly when I opened it at my shower and exclaimed, "How did y'all know?!  Stephen has been wanting one of these so much!"  I should have kept a closer eye on that boy...  Here are some pictures from the shower and afterwards when we worked on her nursery!

And so it begins!

So, what had happened was.... ok since I've already typed it out once, I am just going to paste the e-mail I sent to friends in this blog (I have been blog-cheating a lot lately, sorry). Here goes...

"I just wanted to send an update on what has been going on with us and our growing family over the last few days...! It has been a little crazy, but I'll start by saying the baby and I are doing fine! She is healthy, weighing in at 2 pounds today :) I'm right at 27 weeks, so starting the 3rd trimester soon. Yay! Now for the details...

Tuesday was a busy but normal day, and I had a JA meeting after work so I got home around 9. Around 9:30 I was changing to get ready for bed and realized that I was bleeding... luckily Stephen was home, we called the doctor and she called us back within a few minutes and said to get to the hospital. PS I am hysterically having a meltdown at this point, but we got in the car and drove to Baptist Women's Hospital in Germantown. I have a thing called placenta previa which they found a few months ago, and that can cause the bleeding. I had never heard about this until they told me I had it, but basically the placenta is partially "blocking the exit" (as Anna put it!). So long story short, we got to the hospital around 10:00, got hooked up to the monitors and heard her heart beating for a long time, had an ultrasound around 1:00 am, then they let us go at 2:00 and told me to reschedule my next dr. appt for as soon as possible and to be on bed rest until then. Thankfully the baby was just fine!

Yesterday I stayed home, and this morning I went to the dr. for the check up, glucose test, ect. I never imagined it, but she said I have to be on bed rest until the baby comes! I just did not realize that would be the answer to this thing... and the craziest part is if I have any more bleeding at all I have to go to the hospital until the baby comes... which could be 3 months! There is a chance she will come early, or have to be delivered early by c-section. They gave me steriod shots to give her a little growth spurt in case she has to be taken early. The goal is to make it at least to 32 weeks, which is only 5 weeks from now. So that's where we are and what's going on! I wanted to let you all know because I would appreciate your prayers so much... and if any of you are in the area feel free to come on by the house - I will certainly be here!"

That is what is going on with the little girl and me right now. I am psyching myself up for the world of free time, reading books, flipping through magazines, surfing the internet, watching as much tv as I want, and chilling on the couch all day - because I must. For the little one :)

Day 3 of bedrest has entailed this:

9:15 am - steriod shot #2 in the behind. Ouch. My sweet mama took me to the doctor so it was fun to hang out with her! The doctor is my new favorite (albeit only) outing.

11:00 am - returned many e-mails to my sweet, sweet friends to let them know we are a-ok. My nurses, Riley & Lila were standing by.

1:00 pm - watched re-run of the Braves 9th inning, 7 run come back to beat the Reds 10-9. I watched it yesterday, but it was so good I didn't mind watching it again. I love the Braves.

2:30 pm - got my first visitor! Casey Coleman came all the way from Birmingham to see me! Ok, not really, she is here for her step-sister's wedding, but still, we had a great visit and it was so fun to see her!

3:30 pm - talked to my aunt on the phone. I have the most wonderful fam!

4:00 pm - returned more e-mails and got to spend some quality time with my first born, Riley.

Now I am catching up on the blog so that about brings us up to speed! And so it begins...

Baby and Butterflies in my Stomach!

Have you ever been on a roller coaster, scared and excited at the same time, and thought, "well, I have no idea how this is going to go, but there's no getting off now!" That is the best way to describe how I feel right now. I have never been more excited in my life about this baby, but I've also never been so nervous! I, of course, have all of the questions and apprehensions that any new parents have, and I'm just trying to sort through those thoughts. Each day as my belly grows a little more I realize I am closer and closer to the upside down loops and twists of the roller coaster and I'm just hanging on for dear life! It's SO much fun though.... Did I mention we're having a Girl! A few weeks ago I started referring to the baby as "she" or "her" by accident. It sure did not take me long to get used to the idea that she was a girl, and I got a little attached. The closer and closer it got to the ultrasound date, I freaked out that I could be wrong (a little worried about my maternal instincts...) and what if she was actually a he?! I was already attached to HER! But yesterday came and sure enough, she is a SHE! Yay!