Birthday Parties and Bedrest

We had a great, busy birthday weekend! I am sorry to say, however, that I didn't get many great pictures. On Thursday, Brax's real birthday, we had a little family celebration with just the three of us. As I have mentioned before, Brax is very much into tractors (tac-dos)! So, for his birthday we got him a mini John Deere front-loader that looks just like daddy's. He loves driving it around, but hasn't quite gotten the hang of steering. Then, in keeping with the theme of his 2nd birthday, we had a John Deere party on Saturday with 10 or so of Brax's little buddies. They had a great time playing outside and brought him many fun gifts. Below is his adorable little cake....

Here is a picture of the little man getting on his tractor in the backyard....

And here is one of him celebrating over his birthday cake.... The child loves sweets! When I picked him up at school on Thursday, I asked him if I could get a kiss from the birthday boy. He said, "Hmmm, No, my birfday cak!" I guess that he remembered that I had promised him birthday cake after school!

So, after the long weekend of party time, Monday found me a little under the weather. I started having some mild contractions in the morning, but chalked it up to being a little dehydrated and a lot over-tired. However, when they started coming between 3 and 10 minutes apart despite drinking massive amounts of water and lying down to rest, Josh encouraged me to call the doctor. Of course they wanted to see me (since I am only 29 weeks along), and after checking me and hooking me up to the monitor, I received a shot of steroids to develop the baby's lungs, and strict orders for bedrest. Thankfully, my mom was able to drop everything and head down here to help me with my little Tazmanian Devil. I went back yesterday for my second round of steroids and a fetal fibronectin test. The test determines with great reliability the likelihood of going into labor in the next 2-3 weeks. Thanks to many prayers, my test came back negative today! So, I've been taken off of strict bedrest and am allowed minimal activity a few times a day until I go back to the doctor next Tuesday. My contractions have been much, much better with fluids and rest and I'm feeling much more reassured today. My mom has been so great at taking care of Brax and Josh's mom will be heading into town to take over for next week. My sweet husband got me a laptop (which we have been discussing for many moons), so I am typing this blog from the comfort of my couch. He has been so wonderful, so nurturing and so helpful. Thanks to all of you for all of the calls, meals, etc. that have been given and offered. I have an AMAZING group of friends and am so very, very blessed by all of you! I will keep you all updated on how things are going and pray that little Brody stays put for at least another 5 weeks (that will get him to how old Brax was when he was born :)