A Little Excitment at 33 weeks

I had a little scare last week and had to go to the hospital.  Before you get all worried, the baby and I are both fine.  Here's what happened: 
Luke and I had a date night and were watching the basketball tourny at the end of the night when I started noticing that I was having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions.  I got a glass of water, laid down, and started watching the clock while watching Notre Dame lose.  I counted about 8-9 contractions in one hour.  I had recalled that the doctor had told me to call if I had 8 or more contractions in an hour, but decided that I was just dehydrated and needed another glass of water.  I watched the clock some more and found that I was having pretty regular contractions that got a little uncomfortable.  Luke timed a couple for me and said that my contractions were pretty regular at 2-3 minutes apart.  I didn't want to freak out too soon, but Luke convinced me to call the doctor anyway.  The doctor told me to come to the hospital to get it checked out.
I'm glad I did.  It turns out that I had a urinary tract infection that the doctor thinks was causing these contractions.  I was not dilating and the contractions were not progressing.  They tested me for a hormone that would show if I was going into preterm labor and gave me a medication to stop the contractions.  My contractions were stopped, and I tested positive for preterm labor, but was told that there are women who test positive and still go full term. 
I am fine now.  I do have more contractions than I used to, but have not had any very regularly.  The doctor told me this week that he will probably not do anything aggressive to keep me from going into labor now that I am 34 weeks.  I guess I am out of the woods for big complications with the baby.  But please pray that I can keep the baby in me for another couple of weeks and that he will be ready when he comes.  I honestly am okay with having the baby early because I'm getting very uncomfortable and anxious, but I don't want him too early that he may have problems.  I appreciate your prayers.

The Disappearing Chicken

Last week I roasted a couple of chickens.  One was a meal for a friend, and one was for us later that day.  They turned out really good.  Luke carved them for me with our new electric knife.  (He was very excited to use it.)  I threw away the carcasses and went out for the day.  When I got back to the house, I noticed a couple pieces of trash on the floor.  I looked in the trash can, and one of the chicken carcasses was gone.  I looked all over the house, and there was no trace of the chicken anywhere.  Laika ate the entire thing!  We watched her for the next day or two to make sure she didn't get chicken bones stuck, but she seemed fine.  We could not believe that she had gotten into the trash can without knocking it over and ate an entire chicken carcass.

There were 2 of these!

31 Weeks...still cookin'

I am now 34 weeks as I post this, but I wanted to put up pictures that I got at my last (31 wk) appointment.  The baby looked great.  He was measuring a couple weeks further along and around 4 lbs already!  The fluid was the normal amount, and I only gained a couple pounds from the last appointment.  All this to conclude that my huge gain in weight and measurement was just a large growth spurt.