Breaking Bedrest News!

Yep - you read that correctly - I'm on bedrest.

First things first, our sweet little Bunny is doing just great. She's weighing in at a whopping 1 lb. 1 oz. and was busy kicking her little legs & sucking her little thumb throughout the ultrasound today.

So, to the bedrest - here's the abbreviated version of the last 24 hours:

• Ultrasound yesterday at 2pm went great. Baby looked healthy and strong.
• Headed back to Dr. Firestein's office & he shared that my cervical length is too short. (I won't go into details here but suffice it to say that with my long history of obgyn-issues, this is something to be taken seriously.)
• Put on strict, side-lying only bedrest until follow-up appt with specialist at Good Sam this morning.
• Follow-up ultrasound sees baby floating "high" and not putting any pressure on cervix, so cervix length looks great today. (She was way low yesterday & her head was sitting right on my cervix.)
• The ruling: weekly ultrasounds and more bedrest. That's 16-18 hours per day - horizontal! (Sitting doesn't count but sleeping does.)
• Basically, if I'm sitting or standing then gravity and the baby are pushing on my cervix and "the little cervix that could" doesn't like that.  When I'm on my side, no weight is on the cervix & all is well.

So, where does this put me at the moment? (Besides flat on my back when I'm supposed to be on my side?) Well, it's a crazy mix of gratitude (because the baby is okay), frustration (because I'd love to go to just one OBGYN appt without a crisis unfolding the office), awe (because the female body is such an immensely complex piece of work that it's amazing to me that humans are able to even procreate at all), and panic (because this couldn't be worse timing in terms of the amazing opportunity I've been given through my consulting job to do work directly impacting state education policy and there are only about 3 other people on the planet that realize that I'm not kidding when I say no one else can just pick up where I've left off and do my part of the project in the next month). Yea, and there's also some vanity (pretty sure I'll gain 100 pounds if I spend the next four months in my bed).  Above all, I'm fine.  Really, I am.   We feel really positive about this. (It's certainly not the biggest hardship we've faced in the last couple years) And we know it's all going to be all right.
And...you all know me and my "everything happens for a reason" mantra.  There's this great quote about how the Universe speaks first in whispers and then sends louder and louder messages until we finally get the point.  Those that are close to me know how much I've been pushing myself lately - working morning, noon, nights & weekends. I guess it took this big "HEY YOU...SLOOOOOW IT DOWN!" to teach me my lesson.

So, with that. I'm going to follow doctors orders and know that this too shall pass.  Luckily I have an amazing husband, understanding daughter, wonderful & supportive family, amazing friends & colleagues, and lots of offers to help.