Cramping and the Nordstrom shoe lady

Yesterday I received a small hand written letter that came in a stationary sized envelope in the mail. I am very similar to most people who get excited when they receive personal mail that is not junk or bills. Each of you know how in today's society no one rights letters anymore, so getting one is a bit like Christmas! Once I opened it I discovered that it was a letter on Nordstrom's stationary from my favorite "shoe lady" as I affectionately call her. I've written about this shoe lady before. (So alright, this wasn't really a personal letter I realize.) Basically she calls me when they are having a sale on a shoe she thinks I may like and will hold it in my size. With me being able to leave the house a little less since becoming pregnant, she also will help me out over the phone a bit more and allows free returns and shipping, since I can't really get up to Nordstroms if I see a pair I really like either online or somewhere else. Well, when I feel really really stressed I don't grab a martini now that I'm pregnant, and I am actually not that big of a dessert binge eater. Mexican may sometimes be my poison of choice. But the one sure thing to quell my worries from a horrible doctor appointment, or getting not the best prognosis is a shiny new pair of shoes!

Well, when I found out that our little Spot was in a new danger zone due to my incompetent cervix and that I required surgery to try to fix, things I took action. I bought not one, but two new pair of shoes. This is what left my Nordstrom shoe lady to write me a letter saying thanks for my business again, hope everything is good with the pregnancy, and she is always available if she can be helpful in any way. Basically I think she lives off of the commission from my shoe sprees, hehe! Just kidding, I'm not actually that bad - I swear. I may need to keep that letter for the pregnancy scrap book, it'll bring a smile to my face in 5 years :-)

Well, as I've mentioned I've had a increase in my cramping lately. Most of the time it seems activity related, even though 90% of the day I'm laying down on my left side. Today it got a lot worse, and I had not budged off of the couch all day. Around lunchtime I called and canceled my pedicure appointment that I made with the local lady I go to. She is someone I've known for years and said that she would be in the neighborhood anyways and would just come over and do it! Even at my insisting no about a dozen times, I finally caved when I realized she wasn't going to give up very easily.

About an hour later when I was in the bathroom I made a lovely discovery - bright red spotting. Despite all of my early pregnancy bleeding, I have not had this at all in almost three weeks, since my placenta previa moved a bit. Good thing is that I have become sort of a pro at distinguishing spotting from actual bleeding. Technically anything bright red is bleeding, but this amount I would call spotting despite that classification. I've gotten so used to things not going right that I was much more calm about this turn of events than I would had been a month ago. However, due to the sharp cramping that accompanied it's ugly relative Mr Spotting, I finally got desperate enough to call my doctor even though I technically have a morning appointment tomorrow.

Dear old doc said to keep lying on my left side, drink a ton of water (I always do), and keep an eye on my spotting to make sure it doesn't become any heavier. He said if anything changes to give him a call at home tonight, and if not he would see me first thing tomorrow morning. He reassured me that cerclages use a large wide stitch like 20 times to suture you cervix close, and that can cause spotting sometimes due to irritation. Cramping is likely due to the fact that my uterus is only 1/3rd the size of a normal uterus and is rapidly stretching to try to catch up. Neither of us believes that these are contractions, not yet. Regardless, I will be receiving the p17 shots starting tomorrow. Hopefully this will help keep the uterus quiet.

Things don't seem to be any worse than an hour ago, but I'm not sure how easy I will sleep tonight. This hasn't been one of those days that give me warm fuzzies if you know what I mean. I'll post a picture later of my toes from my first at home pedicure as long as you promise not to laugh at my goofy looking feet, okay? I'll even put on my favorite pair of sandals that I posted awhile back that I bought. (I'm ashamed to admit I later purchased them in black as well.) See I told you on my meme that posted last week that I was a girly girl homebody - today I was just that! I know I ask this a lot and you are probably sick of me asking - but please oh please can you wish us luck for some good news tomorrow, or at least a boring night and appointment tomorrow? I would so appreciate it, I really do. Thank you as always.