powerful lessons learned

Well, I learned some big lessons Friday! I had plans to have lunch with a friend (which was great), but figured while I was out I would make a grocery stop at Walmart and a return at Kohl's. First of all, I probably shouldn't have sat in a restaurant booth for 1 1/2 hours. While doing my return at Kohl's I did keep myself from walking through the store just to browse. This may have been the only smart thing I did all day.

I then went to Walmart. I was only in there for about 50 minutes and I really didn't feel too bad when I left. While at Logan's basketball practice I noticed that my feet were VERY swollen! This is the first time this pregnancy that my feet have gotten very noticeably swollen. I was still technically feeling OK, but a bit concerned about the swelling.

After practice Logan and I went down to meet Brian and Ciera at his parents' house. Brian's cousin, wife and 18 month old daughter had come to the area and were leaving the next day, so of course the whole family got together to spend as much time with them as possible. We hadn't seen them in about 10 years. It was very nice to catch up and to meet their little girl, who was absolutely adorable!

I got to bed around 10:30 and was still physically feeling fairly normal. I didn't have any body pains or aches, just concern over the swollen feet.

Saturday we were up early for a 9:00 basketball game. I ate a pretty big breakfast and was feeling a little 'overfull' at the game, at least I was hoping that's why I felt a bit funny. I finally broke down and brought my own chair to sit in rather than the bleachers, which made things far more comfortable. It was a pretty close game and they almost won.

After the game we headed back down to Brian's parents house to spend a couple more hours with the cousins before they left town. Logan went home with his cousins to play for the afternoon and Brian and Ciera made a trip to Sam's Club for me to get the staples we needed for the week. After Friday I'd decided that I would start having Brian do my shopping for me, unless it was a quick trip.

By the time I got home I was starting to really become concerned about the 'funny feeling' I was having. I couldn't quite pinpoint what felt wrong, I just knew that I felt off. I drank another 30 oz of water and tried to lie down for awhile. I was able to fall asleep for a bit and woke up still feeling iffy. I decided to see if I felt better after a bath-or if I could at least figure out what was feeling different. I figured if I wasn't feeling better after the bath I would go ahead and take a trip to the hospital just to have them verify that I wasn't contracting. I don't really think I am, I think what I typically feel is just movement, but I was starting to worry that maybe I was having painless contractions. During the bath things started to feel much more normal-and babies' movements decreased (they'd been very active all through my 'nap'). The swelling had gone down in my feet after lying for a few hours and things seemed to be OK, although I was still on high alert for anything 'odd'. I headed back to bed to rest some more.

After another hour or so of resting I got up to get some dinner started. I was feeling 100% better and went about my evening putting away groceries, starting laundry and getting an easy dinner ready. I finally caught Sober House and was able to watch the first 2 episodes-what a train wreck! I'm feeling MUCH better, but have definitely learned it's time to take it very easy, to stop combining trips and to rest as much as possible. Just another thing to talk to Doc about on Thursday!

Sunday Ciera has softball practice and Logan has a soccer game. I will only do the soccer game and will spent the rest of the day hanging out and resting. I don't really care for the swollen feet, but I care even less for the idea of these babies coming anytime soon-we still need a pre-birth order, names and time for them to fatten up! The calendar looks pretty clear for the next 5 weeks though, so we should be good!