Day 51 of bed rest. I can't believe I just finished my 5th week in this hospital. This week was full of lots of different emotions. Nonetheless, I'm so thankful that I have another week behind me. I'm on the downhill slope now.
On Saturday, I woke up just after 7am to my bed shaking, curtains swaying and water sloshing around inside my humidifier sitting to my left. My first thought when I woke up was "Good Lord Raylon! What are you doing inside there?!?" But then I quickly realized it was more that just my baby boy. A earthquake occurred in Pawnee, Oklahoma and we were feeling it all the way in Plano, Texas. This was a first for me and blew my mind. I can't wait to tell Raylon about the earthquake I felt while I was pregnant with him.
I love to decorate and the first weekend of September I always spend decorating the house for fall. Fall is my favorite time of the year. I seriously love everything about it and always hoped to have a Autumn baby. I always say there are two times of the year, "Autumn.... and waiting on Autumn." Since I couldn't pull out all of my decorations I decided to spend the rest of my day making a pumpkin wreath to hang on the door at home. I still need to get an R to hang in the middle but I'm proud of how it turned out.
I was surprised at how difficult this past weekend was for me. It was Labor Day weekend. Since Anthony's birthday is September 6th we always spend the entire weekend doing all kinds of fun things. This year I told Anthony he deserved to go out with his friends and still enjoy his birthday weekend. He had so much fun throwing a Fantasy Football party at the house, fishing and swimming at the lake, and times with his friends. He did exactly what I wanted him to do and deserved a weekend to have fun.
As for myself, it ended up being the hardest weekend of all. Since it was a Holiday weekend the hospital was quiet and I could tell no one was having visitors. It was my first weekend to have no one stop to visit. Anthony made a point to stop by to take me on my wheelchair ride all three days. I love him for that. It was hard knowing all I was missing out on outside of this hospital. All I can say is I spent the entire Labor Day weekend trying not to go into Labor. It wasn't very eventful at all.
I welcomed Tuesday with open arms! It was September 6th and my husband was turning 33 and had planned a surprise. It was just what I needed to bounce back after a hard weekend. My best friend, Kristy, came to the hospital to help me get all pretty for my husband. She fixed my hair, makeup and nails. I put on a dress (first time not to wear pjs in 5 weeks), jewelry and high heels. I had my mom pick up food for us from Maggiano's Italian restaurant, I ordered his favorite dish and dessert. I made a Happy 33rd Birthday sign and hung it up in my room. Last week, I told him that I wanted him to spend his birthday night with me and that I was going to order pizza and a movie.
Thanks to Kristy, I was feeling like my old self and while I waited for Anthony to get off work my tummy had huge butterflies. I love that I still get butterflies even after 5 years. The nurses and my momma had helped me plan the perfect evening for my man. When he arrived and walked into my room I could tell he was surprised to see me all dressed up because sweet tears filled his eyes and he couldn't stop hugging and loving on me. He made me feel beautiful again. I told him the pizza was on its way so I thought we should go ahead a take my wheelchair ride first to get it out of the way. The nurse brought us the wheelchair and I know he knew something was up. Just like everyday he asked, "where do you want to go?" I said, "lets go to the 2nd floor." We always like the 2nd floor of the hospital because it is the day surgery area and after 6pm no one is one the floor and its super quiet. We came off the elevators and he was so surprised to find that my momma had set up a private dinner for us.  The nurses let me stretch my wheelchair time a little past my 30 mins so that we could enjoy some time together. It was so special to be able to eat dinner together someplace different than my hospital room. Anthony loved it and it made me so happy to see him smile so big!
Afterwards, we did one more lap around the wing together. When we got back to my room my mom and mother in law joined us to sing Happy Birthday and cut his favorite cake, yellow with homemade chocolate frosting. We laughed and had a great time celebrating. We ended the night having a slumber party. He blew up his air mattress and it was so great to spend the night together. He fell asleep holding my hand.
Although it wasn't much, the night will always be a precious memory for us. This time of hospital bed rest has been super hard on us. Anthony has been my rock through it all and I was so thankful that we were able to have one more "date night" before Raylon gets here. I sure do love that man and would do anything to see him smile!
On Wednesday, I celebrated because I made it to 33 weeks! We had a sonogram and Raylon looks great except he has decided to flip and be breech again. He weighs just over 4 lbs but is growing quickly. He also gets hiccups 4 times a day, which the doctor says is a great sign. Every time I get a great report about my baby I always have a great day.
I woke up to super exciting news on Thursday! The day before, my doctor and I had discussed a plan for labor induction. All this time I was told they wouldn't let me go past 36 weeks. I asked my doctor if we could try to push for 37 weeks. Yes, believe it or not, I asked to spend an extra week in this hospital room. I know that everyday that passes is more time for him to grow and get stronger. I wanted to be sure that when he is born that a few days later we would get to go home as a healthy family together. So... I will be induced at 37 weeks and one day pregnant on Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 7:30 am. As long as nothing crazy happens and we can keep my blood pressure in check when should make it to this date with a breeze. I notified my family and I loved how excited everyone was. We now have a date to countdown and look forward to. In 26 days Raylon Wayne Rees will make his way into this world and into this mommas arms. We can't wait!! 7 weeks of bed rest complete and only 4 more to go!!