The big day is near...

It's been a while since I have posted. So I'll try and summarize what has happened since September. Basically, I've been put on restriction from strenuous activites because my blood pressure has been so irratic.
But we have managed to squeeze in some fun experiences with the doctors orders in the back of our minds at all times. The first week in October, Brooks took me to Memphis to see Avenue Q which is a Broadway play. We figured it was a day trip and not too much damage could be done with me going on a day trip. We saw the play which was hysterical, walked down to the Peabody Hotel and watched the famous ducks, and ate dinner on Beale Street. I had never been to Beale Street so it was quite fun. I had to admit, having a beer on Beale Street would have made it much more fun but I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant and that wasnt going to happen. So we went home and shocker, shocker, my feet swelled up like there was no tomorrow. The next weekend, our great friends Pat and Kim came down for a visit. We haven't seen them in a few months and it is tradition for us to alternate coming to see each other. We had a jam packed weekend of fun and of course I swelled up again. We went to the Haunted Corn Maze which was fun until I had to crawl through a hole on the course. Can you say, Winnie the Pooh and the honeypot? I was so scared I would get stuck or a big ol clown would jump out while I was crawling through and I would go into labor there. But, I made it through. The next weekend was a big one because it was our 5 year anniversary. It was really hard on me because we always go somewhere for our anniversary and we couldn't travel anywhere this year. So, I spent the first part of the day with my mom shopping for the baby, had lunch with mom and dad which was great. I went home got ready and we went to the pumpkin patch and picked our own pumpkin, took a hay ride and just hung out together. It was awesome. Just being with Brooks is good enough for me right now. I just love him more now than I ever could imagined on our wedding day. After the pumpkin patch, we went to eat at the Japanese restaurant and called it a night. I was really swollen by this point. WE were worried about swelling because I had been in the hospital twice by this point with high bp and really bad swelling. Each time everything turned out ok but it was still scary.

SO that leads us up to the past couple days, which have been a rollercoaster of emotions. Thursday, October 23 I was having steady contractions every 8-9 min apart and I called the doctor to see if I could come in and get checked out because they were getting stronger. She was gone for the day so they sent me to the hospital to get checked out. I was indeed contracting but no dialations had occured. But, suprise, suprise my bp was sky high at 175/95. So the doctor on call decided to keep me overnight and monitor my bp. I had a appt the next day (October 24) for my 36 wk ultrasound to see how big the baby really is. We've been speculating for awhile at just how many weeks off my due date I am. Because he has been measuring much bigger than he should be. He's consistently been 5-6wks larger than I am supposed to be. What we found out is that Hayden has a big head and a big belly. They are measuring 41wks and again I am technically only 36wks. He weighed in at 8 1/2 lb plus or minus a lb. The ultrasound tech believes he is leaning toward the higher end of that spectrum. We had to make some decisions so we decided that he definitely needed to come out via csection because his head and belly are so big. She really felt that he would get stuck on the way out vaginally with is belly. I am totally ok with that because I am a big titty baby when it comes to pain and I really don't want there to be anychance of Hayden getting hurt in this process. Ok, so c-section it is. Now we had to pick a date. Which is really cool. Dr. Raiford did not think that my bp would last past next week which would put me at 37wks. She said there is a big difference in lung development from 36-37wks after that the disparity is much smaller. So it was either Tueady the 28th of October (which is my daddy's birthday) or wait til Friday (which is Halloween this year). I had to make a decision because my grandmother died one year ago on Halloween and I wasn't sure if choosing a date that still had such raw emotions attached to it was such a good idea. Other than that, Halloween is my least favorite holiday and I didn't really want to celebrate my son's birthday every year on Halloween. So we went with my daddy's birthday. My dad is so excited. So, Hayden Ryan-Zephryn Mattox will be making his grand entrance into the world on Tuesday, October 28 at 720 a.m. We have to be there at 5 a.m.

Until then, I am supposed to be on bedrest but, (Today is Saturday, October 25, 2008) is going to be busy because my mom is throwing me a baby shower at her house and it is the TN vs AL football game. We moved the shower up from November 1 to today. I'm glad we made that decision or he would be joining me at his shower. :) I'm supposed to sit and let everyone bring the stuff to me, like a princess. Princess is definitely something I can do. So there you have it. I'll post more when he gets here.