Hello stranger! So we meet again!

What a week!!! Prepare yourself...long post ahead!!

I would like to start this post with a prayer request for sweet baby boy and me and the rest of my family because I am on bed rest and continuous meds for the next 4 weeks to hopefully stop preterm labor.  I have decided to tell our sweet baby boy's name on this post because it will make it easier to tell what all has been happening with him and refer to his name rather cute sweet baby boy.  We have decided to name baby #3....drumroll please!!!

Sam Edward Jones

Sam is one of my favorite names ever.  I really can't believe it has taken me until my 3rd child to use it.  Edward is my Grandfather Gey's middle name, so it has a ton on awesomeness that comes with it.  It is also my Great Grandfather on the other side's 1st name.  Double good!  All of our boys will have part of their name after one of our grandfathers. 

Jack Thomas-Thomas is Will's Papa middle name
William Max-William after Will and his other Grandfather's First Name
Sam Edward

I love simple,strong names (Little old men names)!! I can just imagine Jack, Max and Sam sitting on one of their porches at the ages of 90-88-85 rocking in their rocking chairs talking about all their adventures!

Ok back to the crazy week.  Last weekend started out amazing with a night with wonderful friends, tons of laughs, and a few surprises for Sam and another baby soon on the way.  I didn't take any pictures, which shows that there was too much laughter to stop for photos. 

Sam has been laying breach until Sunday when he decided to flip over.  It was the craziest thing ever.  I didn't feel well during church and laid around most of the afternoon.  Suddenly, I notice that my stomach looked NOTHING like it had up til now.  Even Will could tell that I was carrying Sam completely different in just a few hours.  Unfortunatley, a few hours later I started cramping really badly and had major back pain.  With my history of preterm labor with Max, I knew not to take it too lightly so Will and I made a run to L&D and sure enough I had started to dilate a little.  I wasn't in active labor, so I was able to take a dose of procardia (contraction stopping meds) and after monitoring  for awhile got to come home.  I did follow up with my Dr on Tuesday because he was on call all day Mon and wanted to see me himself.  Tuesday, I was still the same but we talked about how we are in the danger zone for preterm.  With Max I started preterm labor at 29 weeks and was in and out of the hospital on meds until he was born at 35 weeks.  I am all about preventing or slowing this process down, so we talked about mild bed rest and chilling out for a while.

Tuesday evening, my body started to show more signs of preterm.  I won't go into too much detail, but I know my body and I knew it was changing.  So Wednesday morning after speaking with my dr office I had to go back in to make sure and I was right.  I do want to throw this in.  I had a slight confrontational conversation with one of my dr nurses because she was following protocol and explaining that what I was experiencing could be a number of things and not what I thought.  I completely agreed with her that it might not have been but how could she tell over the phone.  I think I used the phrase, "Sweetheart, this isn't my 1st rodeo eithter you know!" several times. heh heh  I am saying that to say, "You know your body better than any nurse, any dr, anyone." Motherly instinct starts very early and trust it.  I was right about how I felt and I am sure she hears a ton of crazy pregnant women everyday, and I guess she heard another one that day, but trust your gut.  It may become my new motto!!

After talking with my dr, we decided to go ahead with steroid shots to speed up Sam's development just in case labor started and we couldn't stop it.  It's 2 shots 24hrs between and I had them with Max, so I was familiar with the process.  Will and I talk all the time about how we wonder if the steroids are still affecting Max.  He is a 40 lbs 2 1/2 yr old and the toughest kid I have ever met.  We may be asking for trouble for Sam. heh heh  I feel better with having the shots behind us because Max was born at 35 weeks with zero assistance.

The steroid shot pretty much geared me up last night and turns out it's a good thing.  Around 11ish I started having cramps and back pain which lead to contractions.  They were irregular but painful enough that I couldn't sleep.  Around 3am I called the after hrs nurse because even though they weren't getting stronger they were also NOT going away either.  She advised (especially with my history) to come in and check it out.  Will had been up with me until around 1:30 or so and all my boys were cuddled up in the bed, so I decided to very gently tell Will that I was going to run over(real quick) and get checked out and for him to stay with the boys.  I know he would have never let me if he wasn't out of it, but I did it anyways.  I called my Mom and convinced her to just meet me there.  So around 4:30 I was hooked up to monitors and sure enought my contractions were pretty strong and about 4-5 minutes apart.  I got a shot of breathin and the intensity came down a bit and then another shot of breathin about an hr later really calmed them down.  Breathin shots are not fun but this time around didn't bother me as much as with Max.  Guess I knew what was coming! I did get pretty shaky after the 2nd one, but I didn't feel as nervous as before.  The nurse kept reminding me that if I had to get the 3rd and final shot of breathin and my contractions didn't stop I would have to get magnesium again.  My Mom and I were just praying for these shots to work because MAG is BAD!!! After mag with Max, I didn't have clear vision for 2 days!! It rocks your world!!! Luckily 2 shots of breathin and an oral procardia slowed everything down to manageable levels.  My dr came in around 8ish this morning and explained that these are either extremely severe Braxton hicks contractions or contractions just not strong enough to start true labor.  It doesn't mean that next time they start they won't be the real thing or that these weren't the real thing we just got them stopped  in time.  Just have to be cautious and go with my gut. 

They kept me in the hospital so I could get my 2nd steroid shot and then we were released with oral procardia every 8 hrs until I reach 35 weeks or Sam is born.  CRAZY, huh!!  One of the only down sides to all of this drama has been I can't sleep.  In the past 2 nights, I have slept maybe 2 hrs so far.  I am hopeful tonight after getting all this off my brain, my body will relax enough to sleep because I am tired!!!

Please say a prayer for Sam and I and our family.  Bed rest is not easy, but with a 4 and 2 yr old it is going to be tough.  I'm not on complete rest yet, but I know we could get to that, so I must take it as easy as possible.  Thanks for all your support and your prayers! I will keep you updated!! I start my 32nd week this week, so fingers crossed!