26 weeks, Nursery, and other things

Ok, so my plan to blog during this pregnancy isn't exactly working out. I don't know why it's so hard for me to sit down at the computer and write a simple blog post, but it is! I am now 26 weeks 3 days pregnant. That means in 4 days I will be in my THIRD trimester. How is that possible?! It's terrifying how fast this pregnancy is going. I remember with Lauryn I would think "man, 14 more weeks until my due date. That's FOREVER away!" But Seriously... 14 weeks until my due date... THAT'S LIKE TOMORROW! I have learned how fast time goes, so 14 weeks is literally nothing. A picture of my large self:

I am almost done with the nursery. I need to finish painting the trim a brighter white and get a few more decorative accessories. I also need to get crib sheets and my mom is going to be making a crib skirt. She made the crib blanket and bumper pads. She's so talented! Here are some pictures:

I've been feeling pretty good lately except for having PSD (pubic symphysis disorder) which is causing extreme hip and pubic bone pain. My pubic bone basically burns like fire all day long, and then at night, after having a long day, my hips make it very painful to walk and makes rolling over in bed nearly impossible. Basically, once I sit down to relax and I try to get back up, it feels like if I bear weight my hips will pop out of the sockets. I have to force myself to walk through the pain, and then it eases off somewhat to where I can get to where I'm going. Since I'm an RN, this has been causing a lot of pain after working. I went to the doctor last week because I felt I was having contractions, and sure enough my uterus is much lower than it should be, although my cervix is still closed. My doctor wanted me to stop working but I begged her to write me a light duty note for work instead. Well, work is trying to deny my light duty request and giving me some not-so-desirable alternative options. I'm currently dealing with that stress... I might have to get a lawyer involved. Even with the drama I'm dealing with at work, I am counting my blessings. A close friend of mine lost her husband unexpectedly last Tuesday. He had his tonsils removed on Monday and, as is routine, he came home after being monitored for a couple hours (a tonsillectomy is always an outpatient procedure) and took a nap. My friend is a nurse, so she knew to check on him frequently. At one point she went in and didn't hear the light snoring that she had been hearing, so she turned the light on and there he was, laying in a pool of blood, not breathing. She screamed for her sister to call 911 while she started CPR. The paramedics came and took over the CPR but weren't able to get a pulse until they got him to the hospital. Tuesday morning they ran some tests and determined he was brain dead. The brain can only survive for about 30 minutes without oxygen, and he obviously went much longer than that. My friend is heartbroken and devastated, as you can imagine. They have a 3 year old little girl and an 18 month old little boy. I haven't talked to her, I've only talked to her cousin and sister because she has basically shut everyone out, and I don't blame her. The very sad part (which is also the happy part) is that he is an organ donor so, while several lucky people will be getting new organs, her husband is being kept on life support while they harvest his organs. Can you imagine going through something like this and not being able to lay your husband to rest, get a death certificate, write an obituary, etc. because they have to harvest his organs? I just can't imagine. Anyway, I have spent a lot of time sobbing for her and her kids. And I have spent a lot of time thanking God that my husband is still here with us. It's been a very eye-opening situation. On a lighter note, Lauryn is doing amazing! She is growing up so quickly. My two goals before this baby is born were 1) to potty train Lauryn and 2) get her sleeping through the night in her own bed. Lauryn has always been such a good sleeper, but over the Christmas holiday my husband's parents came to visit and for some reason Lauryn started waking up and coming into our bed. We let it happen while they were here, and then she was hysterical when we tried to get her back into her bed after they left. So, we stopped trying (big mistake). Potty training was a breeze compared to the task of getting Lauryn to sleep in her room. It only took a couple weeks of consistent effort and Lauryn is now putting herself on the potty and is in big girl undies most of the day (I put her in a pull-up when we go out, but I still take her to the bathroom and she stays dry 99% of the time) and she wears a pull-up to bed (I plan to keep doing this for a while... not prepared to deal with bed-wetting quite yet!). We have worked pretty hard with her to get her to sleep in her room, and as of right now she will fall asleep in there, but in the middle of the night she comes into bed with us. I believe it's sometime after 2:00am, and one night I got up for work at 5:00am and she was still asleep in her bed... but I guess I made too much noise in the kitchen because she crawled in bed with my husband before I left. Anyway, we aren't giving up, and I still have 14 weeks to perfect that situation... pray for us! Hope this post finds everyone well. I'll update again after the baby is born (haha!). Just kidding... hopefully well before then!