31: placental abruption, "pelvic rest," and my husband racking up admirers.

isn't there some expression about time passing so slowly you can watch flowers growing right before your eyes?

or something? i'm calling pregnancy brain on this one. (which is a real thing! seriously, during the 3rd trimester, your brain cell volume decreases. go {here} if you're into reading about that.)

but yeah, this past week i have been really busy.
watching these tulips grow and laying around, trying not to hemorrhage placental blood.

that's a little dramatic. but the theme for week 31 was hospital visits. four total. one for hydration, and three for bleeding.

ooops, i didn't get a belly shot for 31 weeks. eh, the belly looks pretty close to the same as last week. this was what 31 weeks looked like, super attractive hospital gowns and napping while waiting for labs to come back.

the doctors' official best diagnosis/guess is partial {placental abruption}. this basically means the placenta is tearing away from the uterine wall, which is causing the bleeding, which causes irritated uterus and contractions. the thing that is a little scary about this is that it's a bit of a ticking time bomb. hopefully, it's just a tiny little flap that has torn away and we'll just be annoyed and stressed out by the constant bleeding, and we will just have to make a zillion hospital visits to make sure remy is getting oxygen and that i'm not going into labor. sometimes, the placenta tears away completely, which results in crazy bleeding and rushing to emergency c-section. they have no way of knowing where the tear is and there is no way to fix it, if this is in fact what is going on.

DOOOMSDAY! 

this is all a little scary, but i'm really not too worried yet. lots of women deal with this and have perfectly healthy, full term be-bes. i was a little worried yesterday when the bleeding had increased to bright red dripping throughout the day, but this morning it has slowed down. travis and his brothers gave me a priesthood blessing last night, and that always helps me feel comforted. i'll worry if, while travis is gone at the fire station, blood suddenly starts gushing everywhere and i have to call 911. until then, just feeling pretty annoyed that i'm not allowed to go to the gym or move very much. but i'll gladly take this bedrest over the hyperemesis fog from the first five months of this wild ride.



           other things about week 31.

• my ribs have become remington's jungle gym. every time travis feels how hard remy is pushing against my belly, he says, "this is why the placenta is tearing away! does he always kick so hard?" yes, yes he does. as weird and uncomfortable as it feels, i love it. 

• travis got a haircut. pretty sure the stylist who cuts his hair has a big fat crush on him, but i can't blame her. she always talks about how her husband is balding, and then runs her fingers through travis's thick hair. a lot. then tells him she has magic hands and giggles. mmmmkay.  i tagged along to the appointment because i had nothing better to do, and when she offered to give him her number so he could just text her next time he needs a trim, he looked at me, completely wide eyed and terrified. she gave him her card, but he refuses to put her number in his phone, something i find pretty hilarious. 

the guy has ridiculously thick hair. jealous! 

• speaking of trav's thick hair, i am loving my pregnancy hair. fun fact, so, the few hairs that fall out of our heads on a daily basis, the normal amount of hair that should fall out, this is caused by a hormone that shuts off during pregnancy. all that hair that would normally fall out, stays in. unfortunately, when pregnancy ends, the hormone comes back and all that hair that should have gradually fallen out, comes out all at once. not looking forward to that, but i am enjoying the thick luscious hair i have for now. 

• other random pregnancy side effects: my belly button is still an innie, but it's gotten much less deep and i did clean out a crazy amount of lint. also, it's pretty soft! weird. wedding ring still fits, but feels a little more snug than before. had a new craving this week: ice chips. umm, okay? 

• in the past week, i've had more vaginal/cervical exams than i have in my entire life. after one particularly painful one, the nurse looked at me and asked, "are you planning to go unmedicated?" i told her i haven't quite decided, but that i'm considering it. she smiled in a knowing way. "oh, you're getting the epidural." she informed me. if i do end up going unmedicated, i'm going to request that she be in the room. (but with each exam, i feel more and more than i'm probably going to end up getting the epi juice. we'll see. might just end up with that emergency c-section. at the rate things are going.) 

• got some pretty enormous bills in the mail from iv therapy and labor & delivery. so much for using our tax return on savings or going on a vacation. creating our own kid is going to be just about as expensive as adoption! thank goodness for insurance, or we'd probably have to sell remington when he gets here to avoid losing the house. (insert whiny, tragic violin music.)

that's pretty much it for the week. a little nerve wracking, but travis and i enjoyed spending lots of down time together. and how about this sweet irony: i finally feel well enough to enjoy some marital intimacy, and now i'm on "pelvic rest," a really tactful way of being told NO SEX FOR YOU. 

sigh. 

happy spring, though! lovin' that extra hour of daylight every night. 

xo