Where have the Roddy's been for the past month? Let's just say life has thrown us a couple of curve balls in the past couple weeks. After spending months and months consumed with studying for my graduate exams, I was looking forward to the completion of graduate school. To celebrate, the dude and I spent a week in Phoenix with my parent soaking up some much deserved sun (pics of trip in previous post). Upon our return, I thought life would finally slow down, allowing me to prepare for our big summer. With all my new found freedom, we had planned to cut back the dude's daycare hours. I had envisioned me and my little buddy passing the early summer months by preparing the baby's room, gardening, playing at the city pool, and enjoying our last few precious weeks of mommy & dude time before little sis shows up.
Unfortunately, that is not what was in store for us...
At 28 weeks gestation, my doctor determined it was time to put me on full bed rest. If you have been a loyal Roddy Blog follower, than you know I had the dude at 31 weeks gestation. Even though being put on bed rest was no surprise, it was still discouraging to know my body was taking the same path as my previous pregnancy. It was also unnerving to realize baby two’s health was potentially at risk.
Bed rest is a whole lot harder than I thought it would be. It’s proven to be one of the most mentally challenging tasks I have encountered. I think the hardest aspect of bed rest is the disappointment of missing out on family fun and plans I had intended to do during these 8-9 weeks. I will be 33 weeks on Friday, and have had three weeks of no change or progression. Since bed rest seems to be paying off, I’ll continue to remain in bed for another 4-5 weeks in hopes of making it to 37 weeks gestation (which is considered full-term by medical standards). Thankfully, I will have some company to break up the monotony of bed rest.
The helplessness of being on bed rest becomes more intense when we were blindsided by the news that my mom was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). This news was a complete shock. She had little or no symptoms two weeks prior to her diagnosis. In fact, while we were in AZ she was climbing rugged mountain trails, and pushing me around on a desert path in a wheelchair with a flat tire. She has completed her first intense round of Chemo and will likely be receiving a bone marrow transplant in the next month. The chemo treatment has been a successful first step in her treatment and we will continue to take it day by day through her recovery.
Thank you to all our family and friends who have provided continued encouragement and support to help keep our family running. I’ve been overwhelmed by your generosity. I struggle with how I will be able to repay you all!
