Waiting

It's interesting how one week can change your mindset. Last week at this time all I could think of was I can't have this baby yet - it's too early, even though I know that although 35 weeks is not optimal he would be OK. Now at 36 weeks 4 days my OB is reminding me when she is on call at the hospital and I now feel like I can have this little guy anytime. My cervix hasn't changed in the past week. I am still sitting at 3 cm and 90% effaced and I am very happy to say I actually lost a pound so I am at a 35 lb total gain, compared to 34 with Brandon and 36 with Katie and Lainey.
This pregnancy has been full of all of those annoying little side effects I seem to have escaped with my previous pregnancies. Everything from weird dreams (don't ask - you DON'T want to know!) to swollen fingers that resemble sauages and feet that have swollen so much that I had to go out and buy fat girl shoes yesterday. All of the pretty spring sandals are out on shelves and I had to blitz by them to find the fur lined Crocs that would accomodate my cankles.

36 weeks - I think he dropped!

All complaining aside, I am so glad to have gestated this past week, but I am so ready now. Honestly I don't know how I carried the girls to 37 weeks 3 days. It must have been the bedrest. Had to have been because I never had round ligament pain like this with them and I am quite confident their combined weight of 12 lbs 12 oz is much greater than that of little Harrison. With Brandon I was 7 years younger and had some awesome abdominal muscles that are long gone.
This week's drama has certainly kept my mind off of how day it is and how many days left I have (17 in case you're wondering LOL). Katie had a bit of a rash on Sunday on her tummy that looked like what Brandon used to get when I used powdered laundry detergent. I had picked some up last week as it was really on sale and no one has had any soap sensitivity for years. So, since we have an ample supply of Dreft on hand these days for baby items, I rewashed everything of the girls to avoid a further problem with Katie.
If only it was that easy. Monday the rash didn't improve, but it didn't get worse either. Tuesday it was starting to spread and although she didn't have any other symptoms I made an appointment to see the pediatrician that afternoon. She was fine in school and even ate lunch. By the time we picked Brandon up at 2:00 she was feeling a bit warm and by 3:30 she had a temp of 103.8 with the rash from head to toe and bright red. The pediatrican took one look at her and said she had scarlet fever. I'll be honest, I didn't even know they could still get that! Apparently it is a different strain of strep and we did catch it early as her strep test barely came back positive. What the folks in the Little House on the Prairie books would have given for a bit of Zithromax! I can only imagine how sick they got before the availablity of antibiotics. Zithro is a pretty fast acting drug and although she is no longer contagious and her throat doesn't hurt, if I don't stick to the Motrin every 5 hours her fever goes right back up to almost 104 and she is glassy eyed, lethargic and miserable. Hopefully we can get the fever to break tonight and she will feel better in the morning. It's a small miracle that Lainey and Brandon are still healthy!