The Good, Bad, and Ugly.

The last few weeks have been a little crazy for me. First off, let's start off with the good. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law threw a baby shower for me and it was fantastic. Everything was great. I appreciate all that they did and everyone that came. Aubrey and I are two lucky girls to be surrounded by so much love. She got a loot to boot. Girl clothes are so much cuter than boy clothes. Wait, let me rephrase that. Girl clothes are much more abundant than boy clothes. In most stores, the girl section is about three times the size of the boy section. That was evident with the gifts that Aubrey got. So many adorable things. The bad: Unfortunately, I had been to urgent care the day before with a sinus infection. If I had pliers handy, I probably would have pulled my teeth out just to relieve the pressure. So, I was put on antibiotics to wipe it out. Ok, I went my whole pregnancy without taking medication (except for prenatal vitamins and the occasional Tylenol or Tums). However, I wanted this pain to go away so on with the antibiotics. Then three days later I made an appointment with my primary care physician because I was having difficulty breathing. After a complete meltdown in front of him with him saying, "It's okay, Kelly. Crying is the pathway to healing." (This was about taking the medication--what can I say? I'm hormonal.) I was diagnosed with asthma (which I had as a kid but it was never really bothersome and I eventually grew out of it), given a breathing treatment and two different inhalers. Fast forward one week and I'm still having difficulty breathing so I see a chiropractor who is into more holistic healing. He adjusted my spine and gave me tips on things I should do because the baby is pushing things around making it more difficult to breath. He also suggested that I do a colon cleanse to rid my body of the toxins. After googling it at home, I saw that there were mixed reviews about doing it while pregnant so I decided to talk to my OB that I was meeting with in two days. The ugly: Fast forward to last Tuesday, I'm still having difficulty breathing so I decided to load up on Vick's Vapor Rub and take a hot bath. The nights are always the worst for me and it was not getting any easier. While sitting in the bathtub smothered with Vick's, I started to get afraid for what that night will bring so I tell Jerry that I think we need to go to the emergency room. We go that night and I had another minor meltdown in front of that doctor (again, about trying to be healthy and not wanting to take any meds and how nothing seemed to be working). He wanted me to get some chest xrays to see if I had an enlarged heart or pneumonia. After reassuring me that my belly would be covered and the baby would be safe, I reluctantly agreed. So we get the results. My heart is fine and I don't have pneumonia. There are some spots on my lungs so he prescribed a z-pack and some nose spray (typical for people that have walking pneumonia that they can't pick up on the xrays). The next day (Wednesday) was my appointment with my OB and we would discuss more then. So, I see the OB and she looks over everything and basically tells me that I can't go back to work. Oh, didn't I mention that I was trying to be superwoman and working through this whole ordeal? She said that I could get sick on top of this and do some major damage. She also wanted to do a stress test to see how Aubrey was doing. We did another ultrasound to check her fluids (turned out fine) and they hooked up the machine to my belly to check her heart rate. It started off high (normal heart rate is between 110 and 160 and hers was around 175-180. It was probably because I had to lie down for the ultrasound and I started feeling nauseous). The technician mentioned that if the mom is not feeling well or hot then the baby's heart rate can rise. They monitored her heart rate for 20 minutes and it eventually went down and everything seemed fine. I have to go back tomorrow for another stress test just to make sure. So, final deal is that I'm not on bed rest, but I have been told to take it easy. Honestly, if Jerry hadn't gone with me to the doctor's appointment then I'd probably be miserable at work at this very moment. He was determined to let the doctor know how things really were and that I can't do everything. He kept telling me that I should stay home and I kept telling him that I could do it. It took the doctor to basically force me to stop. I have to admit that I did feel a bit relieved after that. I went home to find my mom at my house doing my laundry and then I took a long nap. (Thanks Mom!) Now, it is just the waiting game until Aubrey gets here (in hopefully three weeks). I have many people around me telling me to take it easy--and I will. I'll spend the next three weeks trying to rest, relax and get the final things done to get the house ready for Aubrey. I pre-registered at the hospital today, so we are set to go. Up next is Easter. The Easter Bunny already has Grayson's basket ready. We'll head down the hill to El Centro to see my side of the family and after that await the arrival of our newest addition.