In case you are curious...

Seven days down, 21 to go!

I have these lovely "leg warmers" that I get to wear 24/7. They give them to anyone on bed rest at the hospital. Most people can sleep with them off or have a little break during the day. Because I have Factor Five Leiden I am never allowed to have them off. (Factor Five means I have blood that can clot easily.)

If you are wondering what they do here is something to try. Take a balloon and secure it to your leg. Now have the balloon inflate and hold for a few seconds (putting pressure on your legs), then slowly deflate and hold for a few seconds. Do this on one leg and then switch to the other. Now wasn't that cool?

I get to have my IV switched every 72 hours. The second one I had in went bad on day 2 and we had to switch it. The nurse said what probably happened is that the catheter was getting stuck to the wall of my vein and forming a clot. So each time they would hook up the IV or flush it, it caused horrible pain as the catheter would be ripped off of the vein wall and force the clot through. I asked them to switch it, that's how bad it was hurting. I would rather feel a new IV being put in every day than feel that pain again. There is a thick bump now where that IV was. Yuck.

Now my IV is in my right arm. It took me a while to get used to typing with it there. Whenever I bend my hand downward I can see the catheter lifting my skin up (gross) and sometimes it will come out a little and I can see the catheter going in and out of my skin (double gross).

Since I wrote that last paragraph I had another dose of IV meds. Toward the end it starting hurting and just kept getting worse. I looked down and my skin was bulging. Eew. It broke my vein. Double eew. And it doesn't feel great. The doctor said I can go without an IV for a while and take my meds orally. Yea!

I hope I haven't grossed too many of you out. It grosses me out just thinking of it or looking at it. I am just sharing the things that are going on in my little bubble of a world right now.

*Some things to clarify*

We aren't sure what we are going to name baby girl. Right now we are thinking about the name Avella.

Other names I like but Ryan isn't fond of include Hazel and Olive.

For those of you wondering why they choose to induce at 34 weeks - At 34 weeks the risk of her getting an infection in utero are greater than the risks of her being born at this point.

I talked to my doctor today and it turns out they are concerned about her measuring so small. I am guessing the Perinatologist didn't want to tell me that and freak me out right then (?). They are a little worried about the amniotic fluid levels as well. Ok. It would have been nice to be told that yesterday. I am getting an ultrasound done once a week and that is when they will check her size and the fluid level. If they are still concerned they will induce me earlier. I think what I've realized is that what we are told changes each day. So I have decided that I really have no idea what is going to happen and I will just take it one day at a time.

They monitored baby's heartbeat for a long time today. They usually do it twice a day. They were concerned about the results of the last monitoring so they wanted to see how she was looking over a long period of time.