PAGING DR. CARN

Here is a picture on Brad's first day of Dental School almost four years ago. So naive. And man are those scrubs bright! I've washed those about 500 times since and they are not so crisp anymore.

 And here he is today, an official doctor. Although we like to joke that he's not a "real" doctor I'm seriously crazy proud of him. I witnessed all the hard work. And let me tell you - it was HARD WORK. Long nights, insane patients, difficult professors, even more difficult exams... dental school is not for the faint of heart.

When a fourth year student is officially signed off by the appropriate faculty having completed his requirements for graduation all the departments page the student's name with "doctor" over the loud speaker. Sometimes they say humorous things just for funsies. FYI - Fast Eddie's is a local bar and they know Brad doesn't drink.

Stop watching/listening after 1:30... I was too lazy to edit it down.

And now here he is on the brink of starting another six years of crazy. After which he will be a "real" doctor. FINALLY. Just kidding. I didn't just pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to live in Alton, IL for four years for Brad not to be a doctor.

WHY I HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR WENDY WILLIAMS

 Have you ever seen the Wendy Williams show? If you think it's tacky and crude. Then you are 100% correct. But here's the deal - Wendy and I go way back to summer of 2010 when I was in labor with Finley. For whatever reason, while I was in the throws of trying to push out a baby (we've all seen Finley's large noggin, it wasn't an easy delivery), the TV was on in my room. I think we had turned it on to relax after I was given my epidural not knowing it would be time to push only 45 minutes later. So the TV was just playing barely audible in the background when I looked over in my crazed state to see the Wendy Williams show begin. At this point in my life I had never seen an episode but I was certain I did not want my daughter being born during its theme song. So I begged Brad, "Can you turn off the TV, or at least turn it to Ellen?" HA! Labor apparently makes you ridiculous. I mean Ellen is awesome, but come on, the TV clearly didn't need to be on. He quickly turned it off and we went back to the matter of birthing a baby.

For a really long time I resented the fact that I have this vivid memory of the Wendy Williams show playing in the background of Finley's delivery. But now I think it's totally hilarious. Of all the things I've remembered and/or forgotten my mind has chosen to forever link giving birth with Wendy Williams. Even today I'm not an avid watcher, but whenever her theme song comes on and she does her pop culture news roundup I get a little nostalgic. I laugh whenever people describe their birthing experience as ethereal and zen with candles and a thousand monks chanting them through their delivery. Not because I don't respect that birth plan - power on woman - but with Baby Dos if Wendy Williams happens to be playing in the background again I might just keep it on this time.

Okay probably not. I plan on actually having music playing this time. Specifically this song on repeat:

Please don't tell me if there is some weirdo meaning behind the lyrics. Although I guess at this point that would be appropriate.

FAMILY OF THREE (AND THREE QUARTERS)

38 weeks and 3 days.

We decided to do some spur of the moment "legit" (read: use our tripod) family of three pictures while we still had the chance. We made a few mistakes:

1. It was just before Finley's nap.
2. It was 95 degrees outside and crazy humid.
3. We took these right beside the park that Finley and I go to everyday so she spent the majority of the time in a sleep deprived craze saying "Slide? Slide? Slide?"

After about 400 takes we managed to get a few decent ones. Which is nice considering five days from now (fingers crossed) we'll never again be a family of three.

She loves kissing us full on the mouth, which is so against our comfort zone.

But I'll take any two-year-old sweetness I can get.

 Baby Dos didn't even make it in this one, so I guess this is our true final Family of Three picture.

The rascal was DONE by this point so we just let her play in the pictures.

Luckily she was still in focus.

Ignore my half leaning awkward stance and the fact that I weirdly look as tall as Brad - the other two Carns just look so cute.

I was trying to entertain Finley in the stroller off camera while taking pictures. But I like that I'm smiling at Finley while spotlighting Baby Dos. It's about multitasking people!

FAMILY PORTRAIT

Unless Baby Dos makes an early appearance we will officially be a family of four two weeks from today. CRAZY. Didn't Brad and I just get married last week? Sometimes it feels like five days ago not almost five years ago. And now here we are two weeks from meeting Baby Dos and three weeks from moving to Alabama.

I love so much about this picture. Finley being a little daredevil and standing as close to the edge as possible. My ginormous belly. Finley's crazy hair. Brad doing the hard work of protecting the toddler from disaster. Our little family in one of our favorite places - outside. It says so much about us. I love it.

A LITTLE SCARY

Well we had a little bit a scare over the weekend. Last Thursday Brad and I went for an evening walk with Finley - I know this sounds so quaint but really our aim is to get Finley to spend her last bit of energy before bedtime. After about 15 minutes of walking I started getting a stomach ache and had to sit down for a while. When I finally made it home I had to lay on the couch for the rest of the night. When I went to bed I was feeling a little better but at 5 am I woke up with intense cramping that after about 45 minutes I figured out was actually contractions about 15 minutes apart. I was able to sleep off and on but by 7 am Finley was awake and the contractions were not getting better, in fact they felt a lot closer together. But I couldn't really tell since beyond the contractions my stomach was so cramped. So after talking to my doctor's nurse we were on our way to the hospital by 9:30 am. They hooked me up to monitor the contractions and Baby Dos and it turns out I was having contractions 2-4 minutes apart. The first piece of good news was that Baby Dos was totally fine and was not stressed out by the contractions. The second piece of good news is that I wasn't dilated at all. So I was not in labor. Hooray! 35 weeks is a little too early. So after almost 7 hours I was given a shot to stop the contractions and sent home.

I took it easy Saturday morning and tried drinking as much water as possible but by late Saturday morning I was feeling sick again. I laid down to read a book while Brad worked on a paper and Finley had quiet time with Tangled.  A little thereafter I soon started to feel contractions come on strong and painful. Way worse than the day before. So after an hour and half we were back in the hospital again. The ride to the hospital was super painful and I could barely breath through the pain. When I was wheeled up to Labor and Delivery the nurses all greeted me with, "You're back!? Are they worse this time?" So after spending forever trying to keep Baby Dos on the monitor (she flipped away anytime they got a good placement) they gave me the shot again. Which didn't stop the contractions. So after some more monitoring they gave me an oral drug. It seemed to do the trick and they sent me home with the instructions to take the medication every 4 hours around the clock. They told me to get more instruction from my doctor Monday morning but to take it easy and drink lots of water.  Luckily Baby Dos seems to be totally unfazed by all of this, they don't see any stress from her, or any problems otherwise. Which is truly a huge relief. So all the pain is really just with me.

So on Monday my doctor sent me for an ultrasound to make sure Baby Dos wasn't breech (she wasn't) and she told me to keep taking the medication for another week. The side affects of the medication seem to have waned so today I'm almost feeling good again. I'm still drinking gallons of water and staying off my feet when possible. Another blessing is that my doctor didn't order me to go on bed rest. So we'll see what happens next week once I'm off the medication because they can't do much to stop labor after 36 weeks. 

The whole experience has reminded me to slow down and enjoy these last few weeks with just Finley and also.... make Brad finish packing the house. I think the stress and the hot weather just got me a bit dehydrated and my body started to revolt.

Long long story short - Baby Dos didn't make an extra early appearance but there is a good chance this baby will come before June 1st. But never say never. I could just have painful contractions off and on for the next three and 1/2 weeks. Three cheers for modern medicine!

Thanks to everyone for the concern and offers of help. As of right now we are doing pretty well.

This little monkey had a hard weekend stuck in a tiny hospital room without much but Dad and his Iphone as entertainment. But she did get two trips to McDonalds for her favorite "fren fries." She didn't seem concerned about seeing me in the hospital hooked up to a machine so that's good news for when the baby comes - not that she'll be there during the delivery but I was still a little nervous about her visiting afterward.