"The Best Of What's Around"

On Sunday we opted out of church. I know it is not usually optional, but Keelia's cough was bad and I was pretty miserable, so we decided against it. Not to mention I was up with Keelia for a large chunk of the night, so we were both pretty tired. But we did go down to the Radandt's house to have dinner and hang out. It was so fun! And aunt Erin helped me jimmy-rig the new bag I bought as a diaper bag. I LOVE it!! She added pockets on the inside for me so I could actually carry my stuff like a diaper bag. And so far, I love it! It is super cute!! Keelia got so filthy from playing, we bathed her there, and she fell asleep on the way home. However, she was up a large portion of the night, again. She just has such bad coughing fits that she can't sleep through them. And then once she is awake, she is hungry, just like her mom. And so she thinks it should be morning so she can eat.
Monday morning I woke up earlier than I wanted, to head to my last doctor check up. He did an ultrasound and said Hadlee is measuring about 7 lbs. 7 oz., but that is all a guess based on her measurements. She has a huge head. It was the only part of her that measured bigger than where I was and it was already measuring over 40 weeks. Let's just hope I can get it out! :) But she stayed head down, thank goodness. Now the only thing we need to watch for during delivery is that she doesn't come out posterior like her sister did. But my doctor assured me he would do whatever he could to not let that happen. I was 2cm dilated all by myself and 40% effaced, so he said I didn't need my membrane stripped. In his words, he did a "very mild strip" while he was checking me. He told me that people who go into labor from having a strip done are ready to go into labor anyways, and that it probably wouldn't send me into labor. My body is progressing, but quite slowly. So that was that. YAY for no more check ups until baby gets here!! :)
Because Hunter is off this week, we wanted to do some fun things with Keelia, we decided that we would go to the zoo after my doctor's appointment. I don't mean to hate on Utah, but that is not a zoo! I guess I am just spoiled by Denver's zoo, but this zoo was not worth the money we spent to go. Keelia liked it okay, but was so mad that she couldn't see the normal animals she is used to seeing at the Denver zoo. It did rain while we were there, so she rode the carousel twice, which was lucky for her. And she actually rode an animal that moved! It was a big step for her. Look out world, now that she is three, she is fearless!! :) One cool animal we saw at the zoo was a baby elephant. They are one of my favorites and I have never seen a baby one before. So it wasn't all bad. :) Here are some pictures of the zoo.





Even though the zoo wasn't that great, it was super fun to hang out with our family and do something fun. We had errands to run after the zoo. Some much needed grocery shopping and it was nice to have Hunter there to help. Tory and Tyler and their kids came over to hang out for the evening, after dinner. It is always fun to get together with them and the kids love to play together. I started having pretty regular contractions, but they weren't super painful, so I didn't do much about them. They were about three minutes apart, but only lasted just under an hour. There were a few that were quite painful, but for the most part, just uncomfortable. I had them on and off all night, but nothing worth timing. Keelia was up again for another chunk of the night.
So this morning, being Tuesday, and day three of sleep deprivation, we scheduled a visit to the doctor for Keelia. But first, Hunter helped me clean the apartment. He did most of the work, thank goodness. Everything makes me start having contractions and when I couldn't get up after mopping the bathroom floor on my hands and knees, he took pity on me. :) Keelia's doctor said she thinks she might have walking Pneumonia. So she put her on a non-steroid inhaler and some antibiotics. The inhaler is supposed to work quickly or not at all. And thus far we haven't seen much improvement, but we we will try it tomorrow and hope it helps. And Keelia actually likes taking the inhaler. We turned it into a game, so it has gone well. And she hated the medicine, but that is to be expected from her. I bribed her with a piece of chocolate to take it, so hopefully it starts to help soon. (And hopefully tonight we can actually sleep.) But after the doctor, we came home and ate lunch. I started having contractions again so I laid down. Keelia came and laid down by me and we both took a nice nap. About an hour long, but much needed. She woke up telling me she had to potty, which is a first. And we didn't have an accident, which is great! Then we got things together and headed to Gardner Village to see the witches they have up for Halloween. It is this old mill they have converted into shops and stuff, but they go all out for the holidays. We took a hayride to a witch's house. Keelia was timid at first, but seemed to really like it after she warmed up. The witches had a goat that Keelia got to pet. It was so fun for us all. Even Hunter liked it! I am glad we went, despite my contractions! (The way I see it is if I am going to have them no matter what, I may as well be out enjoying things rather than laying in bed counting the hours until Thursday arrives.) We got yummy treats at the bakery there, to end the evening. It was so fun!! We missed the petting zoo, which was sad, but Hunter took Keelia close to the animals and I guess she started dry heaving because of the smell. So we won't be attending the petting zoo anytime soon. Turns out she has her mom's gag reflex. :) Here are some pictures from the witch hayride thing.

And yes. The belly is really that big.



And that is an update of the last couple of days. I didn't think I would actually make it to tonight, but my mom comes tomorrow. I am going to breathe a big sigh of relief when we actually pick her up. I just can't wait. Tomorrow before we pick her up, we are planning a trip to Target. Which they just opened downtown, on Sunday. I am so excited to go, I am like a kid on Christmas Eve. I don't even need anything, but I am going to look at everything, and be in my own little heaven! :)
Well, that is about all, I think. I am going to go do the last load of laundry that needs to be done before baby arrives and relax in front of the TV until bed time.