The Most Important Baking I'll Ever Do

Well, things have been a little crazy at the Zollinger house lately.

Also I'm not at the house.

Also my days are not crazy...they are pretty boring.

For those who may not know, we were expecting a baby in November! Yay!! I say "were" because we are now expecting him in September. We never "officially" announced it, because, frankly, we're weirdos. I had a cerclage (stitch) placed in my cervix just like we did with Brynn because I'm always going to be high risk. And things were going great! My cervix always measured on the long side and there were no signs that we'd have any problems.

Here is a belly pic I quickly snapped before church when I was around 22 weeks. Please note my messy bathroom and feel good about the fact that everyone everywhere has a messy bathroom sometimes. This is probably the only cute picture we will get for this pregnancy! 

Around 3 on Friday morning I woke up and something was wrong. I won't go into the details, because tmi, but I figured out pretty quickly that my water had broken. This is the same thing that happened with Austin and Daniel in 2013. It sounds silly, but I am glad I was asleep. It's been a little hard to relive all of that. 

Things are different this time around though, and we can't describe how grateful and lucky we feel. I did not lose ALL the amniotic fluid, and I was at 27 w 6 d when it happened. We rushed in to the ER really quickly and they transferred me to another hospital downtown. The first day was rough. There was about a 50% chance I would go into labor... but I didn't! Slowly they were able to start unhooking tubs and monitoring devices and by Saturday evening things had calmed down. 

I'm admitted now at the hospital until Baby Boy comes out. Hopefully we can make it to 34 weeks! At that point it's safer to deliver than stay pregnant. Our big concerns are infection, placental abruption, and just anything else that will cause early labor or complications for Baby. 

If Baby was born now, his outlook would be really good. He has passed the "micro-preemie" stage. Even though he'd have a long NICU stay in front of him, we are far enough long that we could probably avoid a lot of the scariest dangers of prematurity. I can't describe how amazing that feels. If this had happened even a few weeks earlier, I would have been much more scared. Certainly I'm nervous for Baby to be born too soon, but every cloud has a silver lining. I feel reassured that he'll come when he's meant to. I think he's a special person. If Heavenly Father wants to give him a few extra challenges early in life, who am I to question that? That might sound funny, but it's my way of turning over my children to Heavenly Father so that I can be the best mom possible. We feel very positive that everything will be okay. 

And Baby is doing great! He's a troublemaker but he's also a trooper. My fluid levels never got crazy low, and they have increased since it all happened! I am at a 14, which is a HUGE deal. Average fluid level is a 15! This is so great because Baby used the fluid to practice breathing. For right now, he's still able to develop normally. They monitor him often and he's doing all the things he's supposed to be doing. I even got this really cool 4D picture. 

Look at those little lips! 

So if anyone needs me, I'll just be here hanging out in my room in the ante/post natal area. I can't go home til he's born. The days are slow, but we've already made it through almost a week! I'm just happy he's still cooking. 

It's crazy strange that I'm not with Brynn all the time like I always have been. She's taking it all in stride. Toddlers are resilient. What's she eating? What's she wearing? How much TV is she watching? How can she go to bed without me checking on her??? How can I go to bed without checking on her?? Turns out, all the little things you worry about work themselves out. We're really lucky that my mom has been able to come out and hang with Brynn during the days. She visits all the time and we snuggle on my magical moving bed and watch movies and read books. It's strange, but it will be just a blip. In a year from now we'll look back and hardly remember the particulars of these days. 

Greg sends me lots of fun pictures like this: Just dancing and singing like Elsa. 

Today we are 28 weeks 5 days. We're just going to take one day at time and be happy for all the time we get. We'll certainly take prayers that baby will continue to grow and stay where he is for a bit longer! I will also take book and show suggestions. Also, does anyone know how to crochet? Thinking now might be a good time to learn. Also I've always wanted to speak French... 

I'm sure I'll be blogging more. Bedrest in a hospital seems to be conducive to free time. As long as Baby Boy is still baking, we'll take it!