Whirlwind, 15 month checkup and Twoey

What a crazy day we had today! Micah is not quite back on schedule yet since we changed to daylight savings time. Last night, he was exhausted but would not go to bed before 9:15. He was falling asleep, so we took him upstairs at 8 to give him a bath and put him to bed. When we put him in his crib, he started to wail. We gave him a while to calm down, but the poor thing worked himself up into a state of absolute hysteria. He just wanted more time to cuddle with Mommy. We ended up bringing him downstairs to cuddle and relax a bit. After another 40 minutes, Daddy was able to take him upstairs and put him to sleep. Not surprisingly, he slept until 9 am this morning.

Because Micah slept in, we were in a bit of a rush. We fed Micah a scrambled egg, cereal and a banana for breakfast. I quickly got him dressed and at 9:30, we raced off to class. Micah danced, played an instrument, and thoroughly enjoyed himself. By the end of class, he was clearly exhausted. We drove back home, and Micah immediately went down for his nap. I made a quick business conference call (it was insane here - the phone would not stop ringing, the cleaning lady showed up, the landscaper who was working on removing our broken trees/fallen fence damaged by the blizzards arrived to start working, and the architect showed up early for our meeting - I can multitask with the best, but this was a bit much!).

Our meeting with the architect was...frustrating. We were not pleased with some of the proposals, and any time we raised a concern, he kept telling us to "take a chill." For me, that phrase was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. After a frustrating 2 hour meeting, we realized we were late for our doctor's appointment with Micah. While trying to graciously throw out our architect, DH worked on waking Micah up from his nap while I quickly packed up a lunch for him. We raced off to our appointment and arrived about 10 or 15 minutes late...oops.

Micah was such a good boy at his 15 month checkup! The doctor was lovely (and he made sure to flirt with her). She kept telling us how sweet Micah is, and he showed off his walking and eating skills. She asked us about his language development and we discussed the kind of foods he eats (and doesn't eat). She checked out his teeth (she admired his 6 teeth and told us it looks like there are another 2-6 on the way). We talked about the vaccinations and his sleep habits, and she told us Micah is doing very well. He weighed in at 20 lbs 9 ozs (3-5%) and he was 31 3/4 inches tall (50-75%). Micah got three vaccinations today - MMR, chicken pox and Hepatitis A. His first shot was in his left thigh - he looked a bit perturbed when the nurse stuck him, but he did not cry at all. When the nurse stuck him for the 2nd shot in his left arm, he again looked a bit surprised and maybe mildly annoyed, but he did not cry at all. The third and final shot was in his right arm. The nurse warned me that the shot would likely sting. She stuck him again, and once again, he seemed a bit irritated at her. When she actually started to push in the vaccine, he started to scream. He was MISERABLE, and I felt awful for him. It took us a bit to get him to calm back down again - actually, I bribed him with a carrot/apple crusher, and that seemed to soothe him.

We arrived back home just in time for the babysitter to arrive! Today, Micah's babysitter from last summer was home from college for Spring Break, and she agreed to come by to watch Micah while we went for an ultrasound. We also discussed re-hiring her for this summer, and she agreed! We are so excited that in May she will be working with us again on Tuesdays and Thursdays (and we may decide to add more days than that later). After catching up a bit, DH & I headed out for our ultrasound.

Today's ultrasound was just a cervical length check. Last visit, my cervix measurements ranged from 3.3 - 3.7, with most of the measurements in the 3.5 or 3.6 range. Today, the measurements ranged from 3.0-3.3. In pregnancy, they like to see the cervix long and closed, and do not want to see the cervix drop below 3.0 cms. Once you fall below 3.0, you are in the "danger" zone. Naturally, when I saw that the measurement had dropped down to 3.0, I was a bit concerned. We met with the doctor to discuss the changes and my continued contractions. At this point, he is not ready to aggressively work to stop the contractions. He is hoping the shots will help a bit (although I've seen no evidence of that so far), but until my cervix falls below 3.0, he does not feel they are a cause for concern. My fibroids also grew a bit - he thinks the contractions and the size of the fibroids are related, and the fibroids may be why the shots do not seem to be reducing the contractions. For now, I am still not officially on bedrest, and he feels I am doing "great" for 26 weeks pregnant. He seems confident we will be able to keep Twoey in place long enough to finish baking...my concern is about how miserable things might get for me. I know...selfish. I just know that dealing with all those contractions and trips to labor and delivery and the medications and the bedrest was MISERABLE last time - it was a terrible 8 weeks. I'm dreading doing that all over again. I think the anticipation makes it worse - I know what to expect now. I really hope we can be more proactive and reduce the bedrest time. I wish I could say I left that appointment in good spirits...but I'm actually kind of dreading my next appointments and feel like bedrest is looming ahead. For now, I am going to try and enjoy what time I have left on my feet, and try to "take it easy" as much as I can.

After our appointment, we came back home. We found Micah and the babysitter playing outside and finishing up a walk. They had a wonderful time together! We came inside, said our goodbyes for now, and went back to playing. We fed Micah chicken nuggets for dinner. At first, he refused to even try it, but he eventually ate 2 of them and 1/2 a peanut butter sandwich. We decided it was a successful meal! DH headed off to a meeting, and Micah and I stayed behind to play before bedtime. He had been awake without a second nap since 1:00, so by 7:30 Micah was pretty cranky and grumpy. I picked him up and took him upstairs to change him into his pajamas. We cuddled for a bit, and right at 8:00, I put him to bed. For the second night in a row, Micah became hysterical - he did NOT like leaving the comfort of Mommy's arms for that crib. He screamed for a while, and I eventually gave up and went and got him. He had a rough day - no sleep, vaccinations, etc. We came back downstairs and curled up on the couch together, Micah laying across me and sucking his thumb.

I had the television on with American Idol in the background. Micah LOVES American Idol. He was smiling at the songs, swaying back and forth to the music, and he even clapped a few times. When Casey came on, Micah sat right up and hopped off the couch. He reached into his basket and grabbed his kazoo and started to play along with Casey. He then started to mimic Casey's guitar playing, and Micah did his own version of an "air guitar" - he strummed his belly! He was so cute dancing, playing the belly guitar and the kazoo, and clapping. Finally, at 9:15 I thought Micah was completely exhausted, so I took him upstairs and tried once again to put him to bed. I gave him a hug, told him night night and gently put him in the crib. I held his hand for a few minutes and kissed his forehead. I slowly pulled away and left. He fussed for a few minutes, but finally crashed for the night. I hope this grumpiness is just teething and that it will pass soon!

What a day...I can't believe it is only Tuesday.