Well, I officially had my first trip to the hospital this weekend. Lets start by saying that EVERYTHING is fine. Baby Holden is still swimming around and kicking Mommy in he bladder every chance he gets. And I'm, well I'm still doing alot of this.
(Only, you can remove the beer cans and replace them with bottles of water. And replace the cigarette butts with snickers wrappers)

OK back to my trip to L&D.

Saturday morning, I slept late because Mike was kind enough to get up with London. I was feeling great when I got up. I woke up dragged my butt and blanket to the couch (cause that's how I do it!!!) and laid back down. A few hours later still in the same place on the couch, I noticed a contraction. I brushed it off thinking hoping that it was just one of those annoying Braxton Hicks contractions. They never went away even after chugging numerous bottles of water and laying on my left side.. They became more and more regular and finally got to be about 5 minutes apart. Much to my dismay, I knew it was time to call the Dr. Her response, after 30 minutes of NOT CALLING ME BACK....head to labor and delivery.

Mike and I dropped London off with a friend and headed in around 5pm. I really didn't think they were going to keep me. I mean really, REALLY didn't think they would keep me. Well guess what? They did!

They hooked me up to an IV and monitors and watched me for a good 2 hours. They first put the monitors too high on my stomach so it wasn't reading any real contractions. However I was DEFINITELY having them. I kept making the nurse touch my stomach to prove to her I was actually having them. She agreed that it was contractions and said that sometimes the monitors don't pick up very well when your really early. My Dr came in, gave me some procardia and  pain meds, and I was drooling on myself about 5 minutes later. They kept me overnight, but thankfully let me go first thing in the morning.

Thankfully the procardia worked and I now have a big bottle of it sitting in my medicine cabinet for me to enjoy every 6 hours.

Another fun fact, apparently my cervix is now closed, firm, and thick. WTF?? A few weeks ago, I was 3cms dilated. I know that every person measures dilation a little differently, but there is a HUGE difference between 3cms and ZERO cms. Someone made a mistake, but I'm not sure who it was yet.

I had my follow up Drs appointment today which basically just pissed me off! I'm not going to write a huge book about why, even though I could. I will say this though, the Dr (a different one in the practice than my usual Dr) did NOT do a cervical length check and did not know that I have been on bedrest since 20 weeks. I had to fill her in on my situation. Even though my usual Dr has been doing cervical length checks every 10 days due to my shortening cervix, this Dr decided that she didn't need to check it. Ummmm...WHATEVER! UGH!!

Next appointment is in 1 week, with my usual Dr so hopefully I will have some answers and measurements then.

Well I did it! I reached our first goal in this pregnancy. Does anyone else find it really depressing that a mere 24 weeks, when your child only has a 50% chance of surviving outside the womb, is considered a milestone? Sadly for so many women, like myself, we celebrate 24 weeks. Noone wants a 24 weeker...NOONE!! There are a few women out there who wish they could have made it to 24 weeks so their baby(ies) could have had a fighting chance at life beyond the womb. I promise you those same women would have given anything to have nice plump full term 40 weekers instead.

But here we are at 24 weeks celebrating none the less. What am I going to do to celebrate today? Probably the same thing I do everyday...EAT!!

OMG, I am so hungry these days. For the last 2 weeks I have been eating nonstop. And I don't mean healthy eating, I mean eating CRAP.  I will admit to no fewer than 3 trips to Mcdonalds over the last few weeks where my order consisted of a Bigmac and large fries. I however will not admit on my public blog that after eating everything in bag, and I'm talking EVERY SINGLE FRY, that I was still hungry.  I have also been craving chicken fingers and fried okra from Church's chicken. So I may have made a few trips there too. DON'T JUDGE ME!!! :)

I really need to start eating better, not just for the sake of my weight in a few months, but mainly for Baby Holden.  Anyone have some good recipes they want to share? They don't have to be low fat or low carb or anything. Just something that is delicious and contains a veggie or two that is not fried. Big points if Mike will eat it too :)

On a different note, I won a few giveaways recently. WOOHOOO!! I guess bedrest is paying off.

I won a set of these super cute wooden blocks from Katie Bug Custom Creations. How stinking cute are these?! They would make a great engagement/wedding present. Go check out her etsy shop!

Um, yes you read that correctly. I am officially 3 cms dilated at 23 weeks. Here is the best part that everyone seems shocked about, my Dr is not concerned at all.

Yesterday was my first pelvic exam of this pregnancy. This is my second baby, so I was expecting to be dilated to 1cm or something around there, but I was NOT expecting to hear 3cm. My Dr on the other hand was not shocked at all. She looked back over my medical records and saw that at 27 weeks I was dilated to 3 with London, and said she pretty much expected this. I walked around at 3 cms for 10 weeks before London was born. She said this might just be what my body does. It still felt firm and closed behind those 3 cms so at least that was encouraging. She said she is more concerned with my cervical length rather than dilation this pregnancy.

The good news is that my cervix is still measuring around 3cm in length too. So at least that is holding steady.

She told me to keep up the good work, and sent me home to continue modified bedrest. She even moved my appointments to once every 2 weeks instead of once every 10 days.

Next Appointment will be my gestational diabetes test. Bleh!! I really hope it goes well, because right now I am CRAVING snickers. And not just occasionally, I'm talking like ALL THE TIME! I have a nightly snickers bar. As much as I would LOVE to say that I'm exaggerating, sadly I am not.

I still have not gained any weight, however I know with those eating habits the pounds are COMING!!!

Yep, I just got the word from my Dr's office. Aetna DENIED my prescription for the P17 shots. My favorite part is that they denied it because I'm a whopping 22 weeks. If my Dr had written the script at 20 weeks when they originally noticed my cervical shortening (and because of my history with preterm labor) then the big guys with out a medical degree who decide what is REALLY best for my unborn child (AKA: My insurance company), would have approved it. However since they waited a week to make sure I really needed the shots, they are now considered experimental. Ummmm, OK sure!

My Dr and I have decided that we are going to try the compounded P17 shots. These are basically pharmacy made generics instead of the big expensive name brand. (There is more too it than that, but that is the gist of it.)

We will have to pay out of pocket for those, but only $15 per week. I think we can handle that.

I'm rather mad at my insurance about denying it.

Mad enough to eat a Big Mac and large fry, oh wait... never mind, I ate that before I got the call. Humm, no one to blame for that one.

I am however thrilled to have the option of the compounded P17. I am really really hopeful that this will keep the preterm labor away and keep me out of the hospital until 37 weeks. I guess only time will tell though.

Compounded P17 starts TONIGHT!!

If anyone from Aetna happens to be reading this, you better watch your back. This tattooed gangsta is pretty pissed about you denying his Mama's prescription.

Sorry about the delay in updating about my Dr's appointment last week. My blog was acting weird and wouldn't let me post. It's all fixed now though. If you follow my facebook page then you probably already know that my appointment went well. (See just one more reason to follow me on facebook too)

My cervix is looking much better and was actually longer this time. It was up to 3.5cm from 2.5cm the week before. WOOHOO!!!

My Dr allowed me up to "modified" bedrest, which was a WELCOMED change. For this Dr "modified" means that for every 15 mins I am on my feet, I have to be off of them for 45 mins. With a maximum of 1 hour on my feet. So if I spend an hour on my feet, I have to lay down for 3 hours. Fair Enough!

I'm thrilled just to have some of my freedom back. I'm still not allowed to go grocery shopping or clean the house (OH DARN!!) but could go out to a quick dinner or to see a movie.

My Dr decided against a cerclage. She said that given my history of preterm labor, that she doesn't think that my cervix if the culprit but rather my contractions and preterm labor (PTL). Since medications were able to keep the PTL under control last time we will probably try that route again this time.

This Dr's office is a FIRM believer in the P17 progesterone shots to prevent preterm labor. She is trying to get me my insurance to approve the Makena shots since those bad boys are $1500 PER shot. If my insurance won't cover it, we can try the pharmacy compounded P17 (only about $15 a shot). I have had a bad reaction to some of the compounded PIO in the past, so I'm really hoping to have a better reaction to the Makena if my insurance will actually cover it. We should find out about that sometime this week.

Now, on a different note, I have teamed up with WhatToExpect.com to offer some fun stuff to my readers.
I'm sure most of you have heard of the What To Expect book series. It's said to be the Bible for all pregnant women. I will never forget as long as I live, when I got my very first BFP. I was so excited and naive. I had no idea what was headed my way over the next few years. Back then I just thought a positive pregnancy test = A baby. Boy was I wrong! However for that brief moment in time, I was so excited  I rushed out and bought What to Expect When You're Expecting before I even heard the results of my blood test. Hell, I even bought it before I told Mike I was pregnant. I still have that book with the dated receipt tucked in it as a book mark. I will forever keep it.

So What To Expect.com was kind enough to send me some books to give away to my readers. I have both What to Expect When You're Expecting and What to Expect the Second Year (12 months to 24 months)  So regardless of whether you are currently expecting or have a little one now, I have something for you.

Also we will be testing out the new giveaway phenomenon Rafflecopter. I LOVE this program and how easy it is to enter giveaways. I have a feeling you will love it to.

I will be giving away to one lucky Infertility Overachievers reader a copy of EITHER What to Expect When You're Expecting or What to Expect the Second Year (Your Choice).

These would make great baby shower gifts too, so make sure to enter even if you are not currently expecting!!

So follow the directions below and do what Rafflecopter says to enter. No comments necessary to enter. Just enter on the form below :)

CLOSED!!!