Tales from the left side

I can already tell it won'be that easy to type while lying down, but it seems that will be how it is for a little while here.
After an exciting evening of buying our new car and having a dinner date with Jeff and seeing a new episode of "The Office" last Thursday, Jeff took me to the hospital for the second time in 3 weeks with some intense pain in my side. The first time it was explained away by contractions caused by dehydration. 3 IV bags of fluid and a shot later, the contractions stopped and I went home. This time though, I was not dehydrated (3 weeks of a gallon of water a day - no dehydration here!) Two shots having no impact lead them to admit me and then I got a morphine shot which cooled things down but the contractions never totally stopped. The next morning they let me go home - on bed rest. So here I am. On my side for probably 4 weeks. Jeff cancelled everything all weekend and Monday and Tuesday and worked tirelessly on the house, cleaning our room, and taking care of Casey. Our church and friends have stepped up and I have a little grid here telling me who is bringing dinner and who is coming to play with Casey when Jeff isn't here. It's pretty humbling.
My job is to lay here- keep this baby on the indside for awhile yet. At an ultrasound yesterday they estimated his current weight. According to my books, he should be 3.5-4 lbs. But this kid looks to be about 6.5 pounds (!) and they can also tell that I am (again) carrying a TON of water. And, because I asked, the tech called his head size "generous". I think we all know what that means. I have had the steriod shots (here ends my future in baseball) to help baby's lungs mature just in case. So the good news is that we are not in danger of birthing a 2 pound baby destined for months on a respirator. It seems that my doctors are being quite cautious, given that all these contractions are not doing anything so far. I cannot even feel them. But, we would like baby to be as healthy as possible so we will do what we are told.
Jeff took Casey to the park last night - first nice evening we have had! They had a ball and my new favorite thing is hearing the door open and Casey yelling "Mommy!" as he comes to find me on the couch. The first few times he came and tried to get me to get up to do something with him were pretty heartbreaking for me. But he seems to be getting the idea, although a couple of times he has put his hands under my belly and grunted really loud like that would help me up - what a sweetheart.
Now that our good friends Carl and Heather have set me up with some wireless internet upstairs I will be able to be in touch, even if there might not be too many pictures to show.
And eventually I hope I get to drive our new car. It's pretty cool and I think it's going to be just right for me and the boys :)
Time to roll over...




Who signed up for laundry duty? :)