49 Days: Bed Rest Begins

So, I guess all the excitement of the power outage, having 10-12 neighborhood kids here at any given time for 4 days straight, and the uncertainty of everything got me a little worked up so by Sunday night I was contracting constantly all night long. I could literally feel Sam moving and pressing down lower. I kept praying, "Please Lord, not yet!" but the contractions kept coming. They never got painful, but they never went away either, no matter what position I was in or how much water I drank. It just made me have to go to the bathroom more since he's now laying on my bladder. :) Monday I went in to see Dr. Kakani and she discovered that I was 1-2 cm dilated and that he had in fact moved way way down. She gave me a prescription for Procardia and put me on bed rest until 36 weeks. Actually this is pretty much the way my pregnancies go. I tend to start having lots of contractions around 32 weeks and end up on bed rest for about a month, and the baby comes around 38 weeks. I am praying that if I'm strict with this bed rest, he will stay put until at least 38 weeks. My prayer is that he will not arrive a moment before he is ready to function and thrive completely on his own. I've not had to experience leaving one in the NICU, and while I know it wouldn't be the end of the world, I'd like to never have that experience. :)

As soon as I left the doctor's office, I called our favorite sitter Leah. Leah is fabulous. She lives less than a mile away, she has a flexible schedule, and the girls love her because she actually plays with them. We can't afford to get her very often :), but when we do, I know the girls are in good hands. Here she is playing Pixos- something she brought over- with the girls. . .

Anyway, she immediately said that she could carve out a few hours each day to come over and help out. Today she got here around 9:30 a.m., I went downstairs and laid down to rest, then at Rosie's naptime she laid her down and took Maggie and Penelope out for a few hours so I would have a quiet house. When she came back, she brought Chick Fil A for all of us and the girls kept telling me all the fun stuff they had done. Of course, I wished I had made those memories with them, and I wished I had felt like cooking dinner and cleaning the house while they were gone, but I keep reminding myself that it's only a few weeks. I can resume being Supermom after Sam arrives. :) For now, I can prop my feet up and thank the Lord that He provides for them when I can't.

You may ask, "If you always have morning sickness in the beginning and bed rest at the end, why do you keep having children? Why not just stop having babies? Isn't it too much stress on your body?" I'm glad you asked. :) You see, I love the sweet little peach fuzz on Rosemary's head. I love hearing her try to say "Daddy" and "Yes". I love feeling Sam hiccup inside me. I love Penelope's hands raising up, a request to be held by Momma. I love watching her expressions and hearing her thoughts on things as she's learning to communicate them. I love seeing Maggie's drawings and hearing her sweet prayers at night. I love it when she has a boo boo and just needs Mommy to kiss it. I love being Allie's teacher. I love watching Allie's personality form and grow as she turns into a young woman. I wouldn't miss this for the world. And when sweet Samuel Pearson Rodgers finally arrives, whatever inconveniences I and the rest of the family may have experienced will have been well worth it. We will have another arrow in the quiver. Another branch on the family tree. Another personality to add to the mix, another child to watch grow and mature into who God created them to be. That, to me, is worth it all.