Good Things

Hey there!
How are you guys? I'm good. :)

Josh and I had a fabulous weekend away.  It was so relaxing and nice.  We got to our resort around 4pm and after unloading our stuff we headed to Applebee's for half price appetizers. ;-) We got onion rings and boneless chicken wings and it was so good.  After that we headed to a movie theater and watched The Vow.  Seriously good movie.  It's based on a true story and we both loved it and cried at the end. ;-)

Then we headed back to the resort and sat in the hot tub while it snowed! So super nice.  The next day we watched a LOT of HGTV and got ideas for what we want to do to our house. :-D  I took a super luxurious nap in the afternoon and then we watched a movie called Midnight in Paris.  It had Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson and was interesting.  I liked it, Josh didn't.

Sunday we woke up to a text from my sister saying Christian had a high fever so we packed up and hit the road.  It had snowed a bunch while we were there so we had to pull over and put chains on and took us longer to get home, but we eventually made it home safe and sound.

Now we're just settling back into our routines.

Baby Girl is growing every day. I am BY FAR the biggest this pregnancy that I've ever been.  The baby moves SO MUCH, all the time.  You can see my stomach rolling and moving as she kicks and moves around in there.  It reassures me that she's happy and healthy. :)

This is me last week, at 24 weeks:

I got my stroller yesterday! We ordered it off Amazon and it came amazingly fast. I love, love, love it! All the kids took turns pushing it around, pretending our baby was in it. ;-)  Jen is loaning me her Snugride infant seat, which is a huge blessing! Don't worry, it doesn't expire until Dec. 2014 by which time our baby will have long outgrown it.

All in all things are good.  We've been enjoying greek yogurt with granola and raspberries, and also a lot of salad with chicken on top.  As well as some junk like pizza Combos, Mike & Ikes, etc... :-P

I hope you're all well! Today is my 8th wedding anniversary so I'm off to make things nice for my beloved. :)

Going on a little trip

On Tuesday, February 28th, my honey and I will celebrate 8 years married. :-D

This weekend we're going away for some R&R. It opened up at the last minute and things fell into place, so in a few hours we'll be heading to the eastern regions of our state!

We went grocery shopping yesterday and I was actually proud of us for not loading up on junk in the name of "having a fun vacation".  Don't get me wrong, Mike & Ike's and Good & Plenty will definitely be on the agenda this weekend. ;-) But we are also taking salad and rotisserie chicken, greek yogurt and granola, fresh pineapple and raspberries. YUM.

These past 8 years have been so... Full.  We've been through so much together, and yet here we are, still in love.  And actually, more understanding of each other than ever before.

Marriage is work.  Lots of work.  Men and women sure don't communicate in the same ways!!! I'm sure anyone in a relationship knows that.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I'm looking forward to no little bodies hogging the bed, waking up with the sunrise and enjoying a cup of coffee while looking out on the stunning views, snuggled up to my man. :)

In other good news, baby girl has returned to her ninja-like ways. :-D Not as frequent, but her kicks and punches are definitely stronger, like they used to be.  Lucky for me (and I'm totally NOT being sarcastic here!) she is currently breech, so her arms/legs are facing down.  So I feel all the kicks and punches in my lower abdomen, as opposed to in my ribs and organs.  She can stay this way until the week before I deliver if she wants. ;-D

So far, So good

So I saw the OB today and he did the fetal fibronectin test to see if it was amniotic fluid.  He also did a cervical check, and so far things look good. It wasn't amniotic fluid and I'm not dilating.  He isn't sure why the baby has decreased her movement so drastically, but her heartbeat was nice and strong.

So, things are looking good and the doc will keep a close eye on both of us. :)

Life

Hi there, friends!

How is everyone?  Did you have a good weekend?

Be prepared... this post is about to get really personal and may contain too much information... Just sayin'.

Yesterday, I felt a couple little gushes of fluid.  Several times.  I went to the bathroom and it wasn't pee.  I put a pad on, and had a few more little gushes, but just wasn't sure if it was fluid or not.  I have some PH strips here, so I tested it and it didn't change colors at all; amniotic fluid is more alkaline than urine/vaginal secretions.

So, since it didn't change the ph strip, I just figured it was excessive discharge.  I never had a really big gush, but they were enough that I could feel them.  And I didn't get any contractions, well, no more than my normal braxton hicks I've been getting.

BUT the thing that is worrying me is that baby girl has been extremely quiet in there since yesterday.  I'm talking, where I'm pushing on my stomach and eating sugar just to see if I can get one tiny kick out of her to know she's still alive.  Which is completely out of character for her.  She usually is moving and grooving ALL. THE. TIME.  All day long and whenever I wake up at night she's still dancing away.

I have an appointment with my OB today so I'm definitely going to bring it up.  But, here's the deal.

Since the beginning of this pregnancy I've felt almost like it's too good to be true.  I've felt that for some reason or other, I wouldn't end up with a sweet baby girl in my arms in June.  At first, I thought maybe there would be a physical deformity or something genetic that would cause her to not live.  And for some odd reason, I was okay with that. I decided early on that I would give her life for as long as I could.

So I've always had this fear lurking beneath the depths that my baby girl wouldn't make it.  So it makes yesterday that much scarier.  I don't know if it's just because I'm older and know how miraculous it truly is to have a healthy baby, or if there are other factors at play that are causing me to be worried this time around, but in any case I've been battling anxiety pretty much the whole time.

So today I'm holding on to the verse "Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."  Because, really... He's in charge anyway.  No matter what I feel or worry about, God is the one in complete control.

I'll let you know how the appointment goes.  Part of me is like, "Of course everything is going to be fine. It always is!" And part of me is like, "Well, what if God was preparing my heart earlier in pregnancy for just this situation?"  Josh is gone tonight and tomorrow for work, so that makes it a little harder.

Just to be clear, the baby HAS moved so I know she's still alive in there.  Just not nearly as active as usual.

So any prayers are very much appreciated, and I'll post after my appointment this afternoon.

Blah Blah Blah

Hey there.
I haven't been on much, cuz well... I don't really have much to say. :-P

I've been kind of sick since last weekend, just feeling exhausted and drained.  Josh has been super busy and gone quite a bit, so I haven't been able to do my pool therapy.  The kids have been... interesting.  They keep doing totally weird and random things, like swinging on curtains and throwing all the clothes in their closet on the floor in the hallway.  Not sure what's up with that.

The baby is a-growing and a-kicking.  She's a little ninja-ette in there. All the kids and Josh have felt her move, and it was pretty cool.  The boys keep asking to "feel her thump". :)

I haven't weighed this week, but as of last week I'd gained 15 pounds total.  Although, I haven't gained any in the last 2 weeks.  I kind of go back and forth on whether I should weigh myself and keep track of where I'm at, or if I should just leave it be.  I'm leaning towards the latter, only because I don't feel like I'm pigging out, or like there are any huge changes I could make.  It is frustrating seeing the scale going up and knowing I'll have to lose it, but during pregnancy is one time where the baby takes precedence over everything, including my weight.

Lately I've been loving fresh pineapple, strawberries, oranges and apples with cheddar cheese.  Just the apples with the cheese. :-D I'm excited for more fruits and veggies to come in season.

I hope you're all doing well!

The Diagnosis

Yesterday was QUITE the adventure. 

The hospital we were going to for Owen's appt is on a huge campus with other training schools.  I found the actual hospital just fine, but then when I went to park... it was like I fell down Alice's hole in Wonderland.  I went into what I thought was the correct parking garage, only to be faced with unending aisles of "Permit Parking Only" spots.  And then I couldn't find my way back out, we just kept going around and around and around without an exit in sight.

I finally found one space that said "Patient Parking" and you can bet your bottom dollar I squeezed our extra wide Odyssey into that space, in spite of being smashed between a monster truck and another car.  I literally had 6 inches to get out of my car; still don't know how I managed it, but I did get all dirty from sliding along the side of the van.

So we found a parking spot... and had NO CLUE where we were or which way the hospital was from where we ended up.  So we found an elevator and rode it up. To the top.  And came out... in the parking garage!!  So we got out, walked around, found a street and crossed it, which lead to another elevator.  So we took that one up.  Came out into the longest hallway/skybridge you've ever seen.  We started walking, hoping we were going the right direction.  Did I mention it was just Owen and I? Yeah.  We're not so great at directions. 

Just as I was pulling out my phone to call the office for help I saw a sign that said where the children's hospital was, so we walked that way.  Another elevator ride (luckily I remembered it was on the 7th floor) and then we had to wander around until we found the blue fish sign.  We finally found it and checked in 5 minutes late. :-/  I hate, hate, hate being late to things.  But all was fine, we got checked in and were soon taken back.

The first nurse that came in asked a bunch of questions and had Owen take off his clothes so she could inspect every square inch of skin.  This was MORTIFYING for Owen, even though he had a gown on.  Once she left I held Owen and played games with him, trying to lighten the mood.  Then the doctor came in; SUPER duper nice man.   He sat down, took one look at Owen's arm, felt it and pronounced...

"It's just scar tissue."


The angels started singing and everything was rainbows and sunshine!!!  Apparently Owen had some sort of initial injury (which neither he nor I can remember.)  And then he scraped the skin off of it twice at the playground, which we do remember.  And because of the way the skin was scraped off and the way it's healing, it's a very odd scar.  There are little white bumps on it, which are just pockets of dead skin.  And then by some miraculous turn, we even found our van again!!


So, he'll probably have the scar his whole life and won't tan in that area but he is 100% completely fine!

Such good news.  We celebrated by having lunch with Josh at Burger King. :-D


Thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts!

To end with, I'll just leave you with this disturbing image (which I'm sure you've all seen) and remind you... There IS such a thing as being too skinny!!!

Appointments

Hi All-
How have you been? I've been doing pretty good!

Today is Owen's biopsy appointment.  Actually, I'm not even sure they are going to do a biopsy.  Unless they just use local anesthetic since we never were told he had to fast or anything like that, which is standard procedure if they are going under.  I'm looking forward to the appointment and am not nervous anymore.  We're seeing the top dermatologist there and will hopefully have answers soon.  How much should I bet it's just eczema? ;-)  But isn't it weird that both his pediatrician AND the dermatologists who saw pictures of it wouldn't be able to identify it???

Anyway, soon enough we'll know.  I'll be sure to report back the findings.

Things are going well otherwise.  I have been doing my pool therapy and it feels really good.  I've started trying to do some moderate exercise as well, like doing "pull ups" on the handles leading out of the deep end, treading water, etc...  Anything to get my heart rate up and maybe, just maybe, start to tone my arms a teeny tiny bit.  It feels really good to at least be doing SOMETHING, since I can't even walk.  The weather had been so nice and the kids were BEGGING me to take a walk, and I just can't do it.  It cripples me.  :,(

I am excited for June to come and my joints/pelvis to go back to normal.  Usually PSD (pubic symphisis dysfunction) goes away after the baby is born.  Keeping my fingers crossed! And then I can really start to work on toning my pelvic floor and core muscles.

Last night Josh and I were going to order the stroller and carseat I had picked out.

This one, with the matching carseat.

But after reading the reviews on the carseat I didn't feel comfortable getting the carseat.  So I'm getting this carseat instead:

THEN, just as we were about to place our order (from Amazon) we both had a stroke of genius! Josh remembered we have a bunch of points from our debit card that we could cash in for a gift card to Amazon, so we got $125 from that, and I remembered I had about $20 worth of Swagbucks to cash in.  So we're waiting to get the $145 from those two things and THEN we'll order them. :-D Aren't we smart!? ;-)

So as soon as we get those certificates we'll be getting the stroller and carseat, hooray! My sister is loaning us her bassinet, so other than maybe a swing I think we're pretty set for baby girl.  We do need to get smaller things, like the infant bathtub (our kitchen sink is the huge, farmhouse style so it doesn't work for baby baths) and maybe some bottles and pacifiers, etc...  It's crazy how much STUFF you can acquire for babies!  But in all reality, you don't need THAT much.  Of course, you can never have too many baby clothes, right!? :-D  I've got several newborn outfits, and will be getting more larger sizes from my SIL who has several tubs full.  She is also having a baby girl, due one week before me, so we're going to try to share the stuff.  Hopefully it works out. :)

Well, I'd better go jump in the shower and get ready for the day.  I'll check back in either later today or tomorrow with the results of Owen's appointment.

Beach Bliss

Good Monday Morning, to you!

How are you guys? How was your weekend? Did you watch the Super Bowl? We did, and I'm glad the Giants won.  Wanna know why? Only cuz I like Eli Manning more than Tom Brady. :-P  It was a fun time with Josh and my kiddos, although the commercials.... Wow.  Well, the sleazy ones anyway.  I kept having to turn the channel!  Those Go Daddy commercials are disgusting. 

Anyhoo, moving on.  I had a super lovely time at the beach with my mom and sis.  We got in around 7ish on Friday night and promptly flopped on the couch and chatted and read old copies of People magazine. ;-)  I went to bed around 10 and woke up on my own at 7 the next morning.  I forgot my Unisom, which I usually take every night so I was slightly worried that I'd be sick all weekend.  However, I did great! So I'm going to cut back my Unisom to just half a pill for now.  I'm still going to take it, as being a mama to 3 busy children while growing another is a far different cry from lounging around at the beach. :)

On Saturday my sister and I hit the outlets.  I got all the kids some clothes and found some pretty sweet deals on baby girl's wardrobe.  Oh, speaking of which... I think we're changing her name. :-P  UGH I am so wishy washy this time around!! So feel free to keep the suggestions coming.  Anyway, I found one cute sweater for myself from Gap for $6.  I thought there was a Motherhood outlet, but apparently it's been gone for several years.

After our shopping excursion we came back to the lake house and enjoyed a super delicious salad! I think it was probably because I was SO hungry by that point, but the salad was just scrumptious.  Then we watched First Wives Club and chilled some more.  Our evening consisted of Chopped.  It's a cooking show kind of like Iron Chef.  :)  I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up with the sunrise the next morning.

I really wanted to go to Motherhood because they were having a great sale, so we headed back into town and I went by the mall.  And I'm so glad I did!! All their clearance was on sale buy one get one FREE!! FREE.  So I got a short jean skirt, light sweatshirt and 4 shirts for $55!!  And they are all cute, not just generic.  If the sale is still going on Thursday (payday) I'm going back for more. ;-)

Anyway, then I went out to our church property where my wonderful hubby was with the kiddos.  He had our 3 and my niece all weekend long! He is so great.  Anyway, so then we came home and watched the Super Bowl while I showed him all the stuff I got and he nodded distractedly while paying attention to the game. ;-) 

All in all it was SUCH a nice weekend, and just what I needed to recharge my batteries.  I feel so much better.  Rejuvenated and ready to keep going and doing a good job in this thing called life and motherhood. 

I need to go to the store for more salad and a rotisserie chicken. I've been craving salad, and I figure I better cash in on that!

Well, it's time for me to get my Katelet girl to school.  She was so cute; out of all the things I got her (which wasn't a ton) her favorite thing is a shirt that says Big Sister. ;-) It was seriously on sale for like $2 and she is proudly sporting it today, all washed and ready to show off her pride. :) She also helped me fold all the freshly washed baby clothes I got.  I think this baby is going to be JUST what Kate and I needed to bond.  We are very similar and butt heads a lot, by nature, so it's so  nice to have something in common that we're both super excited about. :)

Happy Monday, my friends!

H20

I've started drinking more water lately, thanks to my recent purchase of this:

I got it at Target and it has that cool thing in the middle that you freeze and it keeps your water cold.  It holds 56oz and I've been able to drink A LOT more water than usual with it.

We had some good friends over last night.  They are from Canada (I grew up with the husband, then he married a Canadian and moved away) and it was a blast.  But, I totally overdid it.  Josh was out of town for work so it was just me left to clean up the house and get dinner ready.  I didn't even do THAT much, but sweeping and vacuuming apparently are no bueno for my back.  I woke up all night long cuz my back hurt so bad.  Luckily I have PT tonight so she can re-adjust my back/pelvis.

In other news, baby girl is ACTIVE!!  And low.  She is constantly jumping around on my bladder, LOL.  I looked up what a 21 week old fetus looks like, and it's so cool.  They already look pretty perfect; like a tiny little person. I'm getting excited because I'm going to paint/decorate Kate's room (which the baby will be sharing once she moves out of our room) and that is super fun for me. Pinterest to the rescue! TONS of good ideas there.

My mom, sister and I are headed to the coast for the weekend!!!  I am so excited. I can't wait to lounge around and shop and read.

I hope you're all doing well! I'll check in next week.