What a day! And unlike yesterday, today was a really good one! The highlight of the morning was getting to go on my 15 minute field trip to the outside hospital patio area. It was the first time I've experienced fresh air in 32 days!!! It was magnificent. I felt pretty wiped afterwards though. Being vertical for fifteen minutes to shower and then fifteen minutes sitting upright in the wheelchair was enough to tire out this horizontal mama!

After lunch, I had my ultrasound. Mom was here and got to see Zachary moving around and waving to the 'camera'. It was pretty incredible. For a while Zach had his hands up by his face, then he brought his foot up to his face and was practically sucking his big toe! Dr. Rutherford was trying to get a good picture to print off for Mom to keep and went in for a close up of his face. We were looking directly at him, and he opened his eyes and looked right back at us! It was very neat. Dr. Rutherford was able to print off a really great picture for Mom to keep.

The ultrasound, other than being amusing, also showed us good news. Zach's umbilical cord was draped over his shoulder and then bunched up in front of his face, so it's not around his neck. Most likely the dips in his monitored heart rate are due to him playing with the cord. Apparently sometimes if babies get a good hold of it, they even put it in their mouths and gnaw on it -- luckily they don't have teeth yet! The other good news is that my cervix was very stable again today -- not much change between resting and pressure measurements. So, bedrest is paying off (GOOD! 'cuz it's hard work!), but Dr. Rutherford did say that fifteen minutes in the wheelchair was a great idea and that we could gradually increase my time to help me get reacquainted with being upright.

The rest of the day was filled with WONDERFUL friends visiting! The nurses were also very fun tonight. I'm -- for the first time ever and for not very long -- the only patient in the labor and delivery wing. So, the nurses have all been in and out and to analyze American Idol. If they have so much time on their hands I don't see why they aren't all in here to give me massages, etc. Either that or we should pop some popcorn and have ourselves a chic flic party! Or maybe have wheelchair races in the hall. Hmmm...the possibilities are endless!