I think I have lost my mind. Actually, I know I did briefly yesterday. I only hope today is better.
I have not had the time nor energy to clean my house since mid-May. I mean really clean. I vacuum and pick up clutter and toys, and scrubbed the bathrooms a couple of times in the last month, but that's it. Last week at VBS a friend of mine offered to bring her two boys over (ages 10 and 12) and the three of them would clean my house as a gift to me. It is a very nice gesture, and TJ and I discussed it, andI we decided it would be better if I dropped the kids off at her house for a few hours and came home to clean without any disruptions or distractions.
I talked to my friend and she is insistent on cleaning for me. She doesn't want me scrubbing bathrooms or floors with my belly (it's not that big yet!). I haven't gotten back to her yet. I just don't know what I'm going to do with my kids while they are here. The benefit to having them come (besides them doing the work!) is that they can do it in about 2 hours. My whole house. It takes me 2 days to do the same thing.
I finally couldn't stand the mess or dust any longer and since we didn't have plans yesterday, I decided I would spend the day cleaning. Boy, what a great idea. In theory. Want to know what I accomplished? I dusted my living room and the kids' rooms and vacuumed upstairs. I also scrubbed the floors by hand in the kids' bathroom and the half bath downstairs. That's it! I cleaned the kids' bath and the downstairs bath the night before, so those are clean, as well. But, I am very disappointed that I wasn't able to accomplish more. I was just so tired and I have noticed that I am having contractions on a regular basis (that's another issue). I would clean for about 10 minutes and then have to go sit down. Plus, the kids fight when they are given too much unsupervised play, so I was also acting as referee for most of the day.
I had a breakdown at lunch when TJ came home because I'm not kidding, I had just finished cleaning up the playroom and the boys were in there with the couch cushions on the floor jumping from the couch onto the cushions. T.G. was pulling all the puzzles out of the drawers and there were pieces everywhere. All my hard work was down the tubes! It was very discouraging to see, especially because it had taken me all morning to do such simple tasks.
I still have a to-do list that includes dusting our bedroom, cleaning our bathroom, dusting the dining room, and scrubbing down the kitchen (counters, cabinets, appliances, floors). The kitchen itself will take me all day because I get so tired and have to stop when I have contractions, so that will have to wait until another day.
So, that is why I lost my mind. I thought I could clean my house while pregnant and caring for 3 small kids. Who am I kidding?
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Now, about the contractions. When I was pregnant with T.G., I started having strong contractions at 35 weeks. They were to the point TJ called his mom and she came out here to stay with the kids. I had them all day, and it didn't matter what I did, they did not stop. I called the doctor on-call (it was a Sunday) and was told to monitor them and not go to the hospital until they were 4-5 minutes apart. Well, if you know me, I have very irregular contractions and Ta was almost born in the car because the doc on-call that day said it didn't sound like true labor.
Anyway, the contractions did eventually stop but T.G. was born 5 days later. Again, the doc on-call that night was going to send me home from the hospital because I was dilating (I was at 5cm), but my cervix was not changing. Thankfully a very nice nurse talked the doc into letting me stay since the labor/delivery unit was not full, and T.G. was born about 3 hours later. If I had gone home, I would have probably delivered her there because the doc was being hard-headed and not listening to me. I have not gone full-term yet, and he couldn't get past the fact that I was barely 36 weeks gestation.
So, having a history of early deliveries, I am going to say that I think this baby will be early, too. I will honestly be surprised if I make it to 36 weeks, especially after almost having T.G. at 35 weeks. Also, I do not remember having such strong contractions at such an early point in time, so I mentioned this to the doc at my appointment on Monday. He agreed that it's not a good sign, and is caused by too much activity and not getting off my feet, but like I explained, I have 3 kids under 5. I can't just lay around- they are not old enough to fend for themselves (as much as I would like them to be able to!).
I have to take it slow. Rest when I can. Sit with my feet up when possible. Cleaning was probably not the best idea, but again, if I don't do it, it won't get done. TJ doesn't have enough hours in the day to do all he needs to do, and I can't add cleaning to his already long honey-do list. I would take my friend up on her offer but I need to figure out something to do with my kids while they're here. My kids like to play with her boys, and will be a distraction to them.
Well, we're off to the pool. I have some friends joining us for lunch, and the kids are VERY excited. They woke up and put their swim suits on first thing this morning! It should be a better day today because we'll be out of the house doing something we all love to do!
I have not had the time nor energy to clean my house since mid-May. I mean really clean. I vacuum and pick up clutter and toys, and scrubbed the bathrooms a couple of times in the last month, but that's it. Last week at VBS a friend of mine offered to bring her two boys over (ages 10 and 12) and the three of them would clean my house as a gift to me. It is a very nice gesture, and TJ and I discussed it, and
I talked to my friend and she is insistent on cleaning for me. She doesn't want me scrubbing bathrooms or floors with my belly (it's not that big yet!). I haven't gotten back to her yet. I just don't know what I'm going to do with my kids while they are here. The benefit to having them come (besides them doing the work!) is that they can do it in about 2 hours. My whole house. It takes me 2 days to do the same thing.
I finally couldn't stand the mess or dust any longer and since we didn't have plans yesterday, I decided I would spend the day cleaning. Boy, what a great idea. In theory. Want to know what I accomplished? I dusted my living room and the kids' rooms and vacuumed upstairs. I also scrubbed the floors by hand in the kids' bathroom and the half bath downstairs. That's it! I cleaned the kids' bath and the downstairs bath the night before, so those are clean, as well. But, I am very disappointed that I wasn't able to accomplish more. I was just so tired and I have noticed that I am having contractions on a regular basis (that's another issue). I would clean for about 10 minutes and then have to go sit down. Plus, the kids fight when they are given too much unsupervised play, so I was also acting as referee for most of the day.
I had a breakdown at lunch when TJ came home because I'm not kidding, I had just finished cleaning up the playroom and the boys were in there with the couch cushions on the floor jumping from the couch onto the cushions. T.G. was pulling all the puzzles out of the drawers and there were pieces everywhere. All my hard work was down the tubes! It was very discouraging to see, especially because it had taken me all morning to do such simple tasks.
I still have a to-do list that includes dusting our bedroom, cleaning our bathroom, dusting the dining room, and scrubbing down the kitchen (counters, cabinets, appliances, floors). The kitchen itself will take me all day because I get so tired and have to stop when I have contractions, so that will have to wait until another day.
So, that is why I lost my mind. I thought I could clean my house while pregnant and caring for 3 small kids. Who am I kidding?
**************************************************
Now, about the contractions. When I was pregnant with T.G., I started having strong contractions at 35 weeks. They were to the point TJ called his mom and she came out here to stay with the kids. I had them all day, and it didn't matter what I did, they did not stop. I called the doctor on-call (it was a Sunday) and was told to monitor them and not go to the hospital until they were 4-5 minutes apart. Well, if you know me, I have very irregular contractions and Ta was almost born in the car because the doc on-call that day said it didn't sound like true labor.
Anyway, the contractions did eventually stop but T.G. was born 5 days later. Again, the doc on-call that night was going to send me home from the hospital because I was dilating (I was at 5cm), but my cervix was not changing. Thankfully a very nice nurse talked the doc into letting me stay since the labor/delivery unit was not full, and T.G. was born about 3 hours later. If I had gone home, I would have probably delivered her there because the doc was being hard-headed and not listening to me. I have not gone full-term yet, and he couldn't get past the fact that I was barely 36 weeks gestation.
So, having a history of early deliveries, I am going to say that I think this baby will be early, too. I will honestly be surprised if I make it to 36 weeks, especially after almost having T.G. at 35 weeks. Also, I do not remember having such strong contractions at such an early point in time, so I mentioned this to the doc at my appointment on Monday. He agreed that it's not a good sign, and is caused by too much activity and not getting off my feet, but like I explained, I have 3 kids under 5. I can't just lay around- they are not old enough to fend for themselves (as much as I would like them to be able to!).
I have to take it slow. Rest when I can. Sit with my feet up when possible. Cleaning was probably not the best idea, but again, if I don't do it, it won't get done. TJ doesn't have enough hours in the day to do all he needs to do, and I can't add cleaning to his already long honey-do list. I would take my friend up on her offer but I need to figure out something to do with my kids while they're here. My kids like to play with her boys, and will be a distraction to them.
Well, we're off to the pool. I have some friends joining us for lunch, and the kids are VERY excited. They woke up and put their swim suits on first thing this morning! It should be a better day today because we'll be out of the house doing something we all love to do!
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