Today in Luke's pregnancy.....

....I was admitted to the hospital. It was New Year's Day, 2005. I was exactly 31 weeks pregnant and feeling very ill. We had gotten up that morning and my body had morphed into the Michelin Man's! I was HUGE with edema, in quite a lot of stomach discomfort and bearing the weight that something must be terribly wrong. We drove up to my parents house for the day to visit with my aunt and uncle who were in town for the holiday. I remember walking in the door and heading straight for the couch. Then the floor. Then the back bedroom where I remained for over an hour....repositioning myself every 10 seconds or so, trying to find a position that was somewhat comfortable. I called the 24 hour nurse advice line after a bought of sudden nausea washed over me and my belly began hurting more and more. After a LONG 45 minute wait on the phone to talk to a nurse, she assessed my 'symptoms'. She had asked if I had any visual disturbances. Nope. Any vomiting? Yes. Any migraine? Nope...only a slight headache. Any epi-gastric pain? Absolutely. Swelling? You bet! She suggested I head to Urgent Care for further evaluation. We got ready to leave and the migraine (complete with visual 'flutteries' as I call them) started before I even hit the kitchen. Was it the power of suggestion or the real thing? Either way, we were on our way to the clinic. Once there, they took NO time to see me, measure my blood pressure (which was something like 150/98) and check my urine for protein. Both came back high and I was calmly told by the Urgent Care doc. that he had spoken with my OB and I was to head over to Redlands Community for 'further testing'. Little did I know at that point that Luke would be born just 3 short days later!

Fast forward two and a half years. Today, I woke up (after not sleeping very well) feeling pretty good. A little groggy from the night of coughing and tossing & turning on the couch, but nothing out of the ordinary. I sucked down my one cup of creamer-diluted coffee while Luke watched Zaboomafoo on TV, checked my email and made us some breakfast. A pretty normal morning for us. After I showered and got us both dressed, we headed out for some errand running. First to the rental car agency to retrieve the garage door opener Ty had accidentally left in the rental car when he returned it, then to Meemaw's house to visit and have some lunch. Then a quick stop at My Gym to meet Krystal and Will, (who were there for the twin's class) and pick up some things they had for us. After that, it was a quick, but quiet stroll through JC Penny, where we scored on an almost identical curtain rod we had registered for at Pottery Barn Kids for just under HALF the price! Whoohoo! It was 1:00pm by the time we paid for our purchase, so we headed home after stopping to chat with an old neighbor who was outside the store. I got Luke in bed for a nice nap by 1:45 and here I am typing away. No tummy pain.....no swelling.....no nausea....no fear of impending doom!!!!! It's been a completely normal first day of my 31st week of pregnancy! Hallelujah and Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!! What a wonderful feeling!

In celebrating the momentous occasion of making it THIS far without any foreseeable complications, I decided to do a belly-comparison collage. Here are the Belly O' Babies, both taken at 31 weeks, in as similar and untouched form as I could make them.


Notice how Lukey's belly is much lower than his sister's? If you could see me in person, you would say I was much more of a pear shape with Luke, carrying him low & lopsided, while I am more of a basketball shape with Lil' Girl McLaughlin. As everyone is telling me, I am "all baby" in there. I can assure you that I am certainly NOT "all baby". I am plenty of extra weight too, but I'll take the compliment nonetheless! I'm glad that people aren't brazen enough to say something like "Wow! You're sure getting big......EVERYWHERE!" Or "Even your face is filling out." or "HOW many more weeks do you have????" No.....my friends and family are much, much kinder and gentler than that! :) (Even though my cheeks are pudgy and my legs look like tree trunks!) So it goes, I guess. I'll gladly take tree-trunk legs and rounded cheeks (on both ends!) if it means I can spend more time at home with my family and LESS time in the NICU! Whatever it takes.......whatever it takes.

So....today I celebrate......as I will on Monday when day 206 of pregnancy rolls around and Luke's 'gestational birthday' passes uneventfully! :) Ironically, I have an OB appointment on Monday too, so I will post an update as usual. But until then, we will enjoy a pre-holiday weekend with my nieces here on Saturday night and a bbq with friends on Sunday. Nice and
n-o-r-m-a-l!!!!! :)