I'm Feeling Good and Everything is Fine!

That's how my day has been going. I found out today that I don't have to return to work until March 8th, I thought it was March 1st so that was a huge score! (As a side note you can see how well I do math, I can't even count out twelve weeks on a calendar correctly!)

Carter's belly button cord giblet finally fell off! Hallelujah! There isn't much that grosses me out in life but those cord giblets are just disgusting.

Hannah has adjusted well to the transition to a toddler bed. Tom and I are going to start pricing mattresses soon and just move her completely over to a full size bed.

Carter has started waking up one to two times in the night which is super awesome for me! I hope he follows his sister's footsteps and moves right in to sleeping through the night with no issue.

I've been a little bored throughout the day just sitting at home, there is only some much TV one can watch and only so many things that need cleaned. I decided to take the kids out to Wal-Mart on Monday to see how hard it is with the two of them and no other adults with me. It went excellent! Hannah was relatively good with only a brief crying fit because she wanted out of the cart, she soon got over that when she saw I was not going to give in. Carter slept through the whole event and I managed to buy everything on my list without forgetting anything!

I also weighed myself today and was surprised to discover I have lost almost  all of my baby weight, 24 pounds to be exact! I had only gained about 34 pounds this pregnancy and it is almost all gone! Wa-hoo! I would like to start exercising again soon but for now will focus on what I eat. I told Tom today that I can't even remember what it's like to have a "diet," he agreed he couldn't remember either. I am going to start making a list of the "healthy" things I should be eating so that I can start to remember once again.

Life as a Mom of Two

So far so good...

Despite all the anxiety I was feeling about having the two kiddos at the same time by myself I've done surprisingly well. I've learned that Hannah can wait a minute as she seems to always find me nursing to be the opportune time to need something. We could be sitting together for an hour and the moment I go to nurse Carter her world is coming to an end. She cracks me up! Carter is an excellent baby, he is never one to cry for no reason. He pretty much eats, sleeps and has occasional moments of being awake-staring around the room. His jaundice looks to be about gone and his cord has almost fallen off (Thank God!)

Hannah is a pretty good big sister, she loves on her brother as much as possible. She also needs him in her sight as much as possible. If she doesn't see him when she gets up from a nap she will wander the house saying "Baby" until she finds him. Occasionally she does "pat him" which is more like pounding on him and we have to correct her. So far so good!

Christmas was interesting this year, Tom had put together the kitchen, art aisle and baby doll station on Christmas Eve so that it would be ready for Han on Christmas. Surprisingly she became infatuated with the art aisle and it was like pulling teeth to get her to open her presents that where under the tree. With a little coaxing we did get her to open all of her presents. My parents and Tom's family came  over to our house for Christmas dinner, that is always nice. Han enjoyed having her Aunt and Uncles around to play with her.

Carter Thomas

He came in at 6 lbs 13 ozs and 20 inches long on 12-14. He is doing great, has a touch of  jaundice that is clearing up with feedings.

Carter's Room, finally complete!

I'm quite proud of the ceiling fan! We literally just put it in a few hours ago! No moment like the last!

A Sweet Little Angel

I was so pleased with Hannah yesterday at the mall. While getting her ready to go I'm running through all the possible issues we may run into especially since we are going to the dreaded mall. I wanted to get her picture with Santa and I am running out of time...especially since I avoid the mall on the weekend.

We get to the mall and I made the executive decision of no stroller. Typically I bring the stroller she doesn't want to sit in it and then she ends up walking or being carried. I could just see me trying to carry her and push a stroller by myself, that would for sure end in disaster! So we walked hand in hand through the parking lot and through the JCPenneys all the way to the Santa area. We entered the line and she peered through the rail to look at Santa. When the line moved forward I called to her and she came. If we stood for a little longer she would sit on the floor and wait. I could not believe my eyes! No matter what if she started to wander just a little I would call her and she would come. I was so impressed I wanted to cry.  It was eventually her turn, she smiled and seemed to enjoy her Santa time, we paid and walked back through the mall. With no incidents, no crying and no meltdowns!

I was astonished and glad to see that we can go to the mall and it is not a total disaster. Her next test will be doing actual shopping!

An Interesting Week

Monday, Tom had gone to have his vasectomy consultation, he's pretty adamant about getting snipped. We talked it over and part of  me is okay with it and part of me still feels unsure. He is totally sure, so much so that he is going a couple of days after his birthday to have it done.

Yesterday was a debacle, Tom and I went to my last OB appointment and then afterwards we went to the last ultrasound appointment together. The OB went great, we are both ready for the C on Monday. The ultrasound was just obnoxious. Everything was fine, heart rate was good. Carter was doing his practice breathing  the whole time. Then it was time to look for the body movements and he was sound asleep. He didn't kick or punch or wriggle his body, he was out like a light. I was perfectly fine with this but the policy is that if after 30 minutes the baby doesn't move they then put you on a fetal monitor. So 30 minutes comes and goes with no movements. She puts me on the monitor and as soon as she shut the door he started going berserk! My stomach was visibly moving, I could feel him kicking and wriggling around. It was almost comical. Then he moved off of the monitor and she comes back in. He again does not move a muscle, it's like he knew the woman was there and he did not care for her one bit! After an hour of being there we finally got the all clear to go home.

Later that night we headed to Babies R Us and Hannah cried through the entire store. I couldn't concentrate on looking at anything so I got what I could remember and we headed home. I swear she knows the baby is coming. She has really been wanting held A LOT lately and by me only. She has also been crying a lot more over anything. She doesn't give a warning just starts crying about whatever it is that she wants. I guess she's trying to get all the attention now before she has to share it with another!

Celebrating Christmas!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Love Hot Chocolate! Egg nog is pukey, there is a reason you put liquor in it!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Who is this Santa you speak of? Tom and I wrap presents and put them under the tree.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I always do white lights. I wouldn't mind color so much if it wasn't a multitude of colors on one strand.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No never, I am not opposed to it I just have never seen it in the store.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Day after Thanksgiving. This year, ahem, the tree is up but not decorated and the wreath is on the door. I'm nine months pregnant, I'm cutting myself some slack!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? We call it Christmas. I enjoy eating ham because I don't eat ham any other time of the year.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? The year my brother and I got all MacGyver on our presents prior to Christmas Day.  We slit the tape open so that you couldn't tell we touched them and then gently re-taped them. It was genius and of course his idea!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My parents always told the truth about Santa. That being that he is not real.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When I was a kid after dinner we could pick one gift from under the tree. Now I have a present nazi-I call him Tom. He does not allow me to open any presents prior to Christmas Day.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? White and Purple ornaments, white lights and a lot of ornaments that our personal to our family.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love snow but we normally don't get enough to write home about.

12. Can you ice skate? Um, no!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I'm drawing a blank here. I've gotten a lot of awesome gifts over the years but can't think of one in particular that is standing out at the moment. This year I'm getting a baby so I'll move that to the top of my list!

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? The reason for celebrating and enjoying time together as a family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? My cookies.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Tom and I always go to Longwood, I always enjoy that. Now we bring Hannah along and she enjoys it too!

17. What tops your tree? Star or nothing as it is a 9' tree and I am a 5' 5" woman.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Both.

19. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? Yummy! I even like the flavored ones!

20 Favorite Christmas Show? All the puppet ones about Rudolph and Frosty.

21. Saddest Christmas Song? I don't think they exist in my iPod.

22. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I've been really stuck on SheDaisy's Christmas CD so I'm going to go with their song: That's What I Want for Christmas

Countdown to Carter!

It so strange, this is my last week of work...at least for a while. I will walk in the hospital on Monday mother of one and a few short hours later I'll be a mother of two! It seems surreal how you just walk into a hospital like, "I'm here to have my baby!" No contractions, just walk up to the counter like your checking into a hotel. Totally surreal. This week I guess it's finally hitting me because while I am excited I am also getting a little scared. I don't know what life will be like with two little ones and certain points of that make me a little concerned.

Everything in the house is done. I made it a point to have everything bought for Christmas and the house will be completely decorated prior to Carter's arrival. His room is of course ready to go and Tom will be putting the bassinet together in our room this week.

I think Hannah must have some baby sensory going on because it seems like she is not listening at all anymore. Could just be her age I guess too. As my mom put it: "She doesn't understand bribes or threats and you can't negotiate so she's got you by the balls." I thought that was rather humorous!

37 Weeks

 

Mall + Hannah = Bad

There is something about going to the mall that brings out the worst in Hannah. We start off okay, I get her in the stroller, wheel her to our destination and she seems content. The minute, second even, that I begin to look at anything which is usually clothing of some sort she turns into a holy terror. Thrashing to get out of the stroller, yelling mommy at the top of her lungs and then somehow she manages to wriggle her body right out of the stroller straps while they are still buckled. It is ridiculous. So today I let her out and she proceeded to run laps around the clothing tables and stayed pretty close to my mom and I. Then it was time to go and she decided this was the opportune time to throw a fit and jerk her hand from mine. Nice. I calmly pick her up all the while my face is being thrashed and scratched as I  carry her out. Once in the hallway she is perfectly fine. Holds my hand the whole way until we enter the JCPenneys. Again she starts with the not wanting to hold hands and not wanting to sit in the stroller. Then it dawned on me, she only does this around clothing.

Then I remember Tom and my Dad had "watched" Hannah on separate incidents while at Carters. By watch I mean they let her run around the store like a banshee. Mom and I discussed this on the way out of Penneys and decided the men to be jackasses who have ruined Hannah from ever shopping in a clothing store, ever!  Don't you know once we got to the parking lot she was the perfect angel. Holding my hand and talking the entire way. So frustrating!

F-ing Swine Flu!

I received a call from our local hospital to go over my scheduled c-section information as well as to do a pre-registration. Everything was going smoothly until the very nice lady slips in the end that the visitor policy has changed, ahem. No one under the age of 16 is allowed to visit anyone in the hospital. Apparently they implemented this change about two weeks ago she says. I asked, so does this mean my daughter will not be allowed in the hospital. Which of course I knew that's what it meant but I had to hear the woman say it. She tells me yes, that would include my daughter and anyone else that is under age 16. I could feel my throat closing and the tears welling up in my eyes. I had heard of other hospitals doing this but in my head I had always pictures Hannah visiting her brother and I in the hospital and now that won't be happening. When I got off the phone with the lady I called Tom and told him what was going on. He thinks he is going to sneak her in anyway...I can see someone at the hospital putting the shabash on that with a quickness. I really just can't believe she won't get to be there, what the hell.

Where Did That Week Go?

I had pneumonia and maybe the flu, could have just been something viral since last Friday. It totally knocked me off my feet. I had no strength, I couldn't lift a glass of water to give you an idea. Bodyaches, extreme cold w/shivering that turned to extreme heat w/sweating with fever for six days. Then on Wednesday I noticed that I couldn't breathe well at all. I called the Doctor's office and they said they could see me on Thursday. Well of course it is even worse by Thursday. Tom takes me to the doctor and they make me wear a mask, which wouldn't have been a big deal if I could breathe...what the hell. So I smothered with the mask on all through my appointment as to not contaminate anyone, which was kind of dumb because they said it was for coughing and I wasn't doing any of that because my lungs wouldn't let me. Finally, they decide I need breathing treatments and to be monitored because the oxygen in my blood is low. They send me to the ER, super. I get there and tell them I can't breathe, I'm pregnant and I thought that I might have the flu. This wins me the golden ticket to the top of the line and I think I waited all of  2 minutes. Once in the back they examine me and send me to a room, once there a doctor and nurse come in. The nurse starts to check for the baby's heartbeat while the doctor examines me more and tells me that he thinks I should have a chest x-ray done to check for pneumonia. They leave and not long after a man comes in to wheel me off to be X-rayed. When I return they take my blood for labs and put in my IV. A little while later the same doctor comes back to inform me that I have pneumonia in both lungs and that they might keep me overnight for monitoring. They start IV antibiotics and leave me to marinade. I was getting pretty freaked out at this point. I didn't want to go to the doctor's to begin with and now I have landed in the ER. Followed with checking my blood to make sure pneumonia hasn't spread to my bloodstream and now I may have to stay the night. All the while I am hot as heck in there and trying to take a nap seemed impossible. My attitude may not have been the best this past week, ahem.

So finally after a few hours they came back and said I was free to go and that they were going to prescribe me an antibiotic and a cough syrup. Once again he offered me TamiFlu but said if it was his wife he wouldn't want her to take it and once again I declined his offer. I am not big on medicines and pregnancy so I really was not trying to take something that may or may not be okay to take while pregnant. I felt guilty enough having an x-ray done! Not too bad of a trip to the ER, I think we were in and out in like three or four hours.

Ever since the antibiotics I have been feeling a lot better. The only thing that is bothersome for now is if I take a deep breath it feels strange almost burning/itching sensation in my lungs which I have deemed to be a healing feeling and when you lay down to sleep you cough more.

I am planning on returning to work tomorrow so hopefully nothing weird happens to me while I'm there!

The Meaning of A Name

Here is a fun little website if you're bored like me and having nothing better to do:

http://www.name-meanings.com/search.php

I never looked up the meaning of Carter's name oddly enough and remembered to do so this morning. Then I proceeded to look up more names just to make sure they still have the same meanings as last I looked. Clearly I am bored!

Carter-Driver of a Cart, origins: English

 

Thought of the Day...

You know you don't see your husband enough when:

Going to an ultrasound together followed by Christmas shopping feels like a date.

Family Pictures

Normally, we would go in mid-November to our local Kiddie Kandids and have our Christmas pictures taken. This year however I will 9 months pregnant so Tom and I thought it better to just wait until after the baby is here to take Christmas pictures. This all doesn't sound so bad in my head. Then I make the appointment for December 21st, ahem. Then I decide on what we all should wear. Hannah and Tom look cute in anything and Carter will of course be adorable because well he's a baby and that's what they do. I on the other hand will look rough, like I don't know, I just gave birth or something. This helped me to decide that we would all wear cute sweaters and jeans. Something super comfortable for everyone.

Then reality sets in. Do you know how freaking hard it is to match two children. Especially when one child will be a newborn, literally. So this has made finding clothes for the two of them that match even in the slightest, near impossible. So Mom and I trekked out last night to the mall in hopes of finding something for the kids to wear. We headed to Children's Place and found sweaters:

For Carter:

 

For Hannah:



But, I still am not totally in love with either sweater, I feel like I just settled. So before all of this I had emailed my Mom a few things to get her opinion on, when does she respond to them... last night at 11:00pm. I think she has  a good idea though, we could do these for Han and Carter:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm thinking I should go with the above option. What does the Internets think about either option? Or are you thinking I am going crazy? That is of course entirely possible!

Outside My Mind

I always wanted to have three kids. You know how when you're a kid and you imagine what you'll name your children and how many you want. Well I wanted three. Then with this pregnancy and how every day is something new and obnoxious with my health I thought, I'm done, no more kids for me. Tom is even planning on getting snipped.

Then today I'm sitting at work and I thought, man, I really want to have another baby after this one. All unexpected, my body feels like it's falling apart but my brain is saying I need a third. I have clearly lost it.

My mother in law, who I jokingly refer to as a gypsy (because she really believes in the string test to detect your number of children and gender) keeps telling Tom that we are supposed to have a third. Another girl to be exact.

Who knows what's to come of our family of four, perhaps we'll one day be a family of five.

Pre-Maternity Leave

There really should be such a thing. If my work were to have a new policy where you could have off the month prior to giving birth in addition to maternity leave, I would be in heaven right now!

Alas, I am here trying not to crawl right out of my skin. My leg is HURTING! and I mean HURTING! I had a leg cramp from hell in my sleep Friday night and my leg is having horrible muscle pains ever since. The pain actually feels like with every passing day it is getting worse. Today I can hardly walk. I think I need a cane.

Today I will be chanting to myself, Must not go home, must stay and work.

In addition that raunchy floral smell is still around me, I think this is going on week 2. I have narrowed the source to be some form of hair care product. Gah!

Where Is That Smell Coming From?

And what is the smell?

For the past week maybe a little less I have smelled this fragrant almost floral like smell. I don't where it is coming from or what it is.  The smell is now starting to smell like an air freshener or something. Yesterday, was the worst day. It was all around me, in my mouth and on every molecule of air surrounding me.  It gave me a sinus headache and made my nose run worse than normal.

I thought it was the girl who sits in the desk behind me because I noticed she had a bottle of lotion on her desk that I hadn't seen before. Now I am convinced there is some sort of air freshener around this place.

My manager/friend here at work was helping me investigate because she can smell it too.  She sits down in my chair and said, "Heather, it's your desk!" Which if you were in my aisle you would wonder because I feel like I'm in the center of it. I told her it wasn't and then she proceeded to walk around and also could not find the source. So annoying!

We both are now wondering if someone has one of those stick on air fresheners under their desk. It has to be near me somewhere, I might need to come in early on morning on a seek and destroy mission, muhuwahaha!

Sleep, Where Are You Friend?

I don't know what it is lately but I can not sleep. It seems to have started ever since Tom is now in the bed with me. This may be pure coincidence or perhaps I am on to something! Every morning like clock work I wake up at 3:30 am. I then proceed to toss and turn until 5:30 am when my alarm clock goes off. By then I have gotten my second sleeping wind and am now ready to go back to sleep. After hitting the snooze forty-seven times I eventually drag myself out of bed a little after 6:00 am. What is the deal.

Some mornings I lay there plotting Tom's death as I am convinced he is crowding me out and pulling covers off me or piling them all on me. This morning I woke up with a throw pillow on my head. I am seriously considering putting a camera up to prove my theory that he is a horrible bed sharer. I am one of those people who can not stand other people piling on me. Tom is one of those people who likes to pile on other people (namely me). This morning in my near hysteria of tossing and turning for going on an hour he put his leg on top of my leg. Just like that I started feeling claustrophobic and had to turn myself and face the other direction. (Read: Heather needs psychiatric help)

Then the leg cramps start. Enough said.

So in the end, I ended up getting out of bed super early and coming to work super early.

I think I am done being pregnant. Surely this is really why I can't sleep, right?

A Conversation With My Friend At Work...

N: Is you moms throwing you another baby shower.

Me: No, I don't think I'm having another baby shower.

N: Oh that's right, white people don't have baby showers after there first baby.

N: Not us, we'll keep having baby showers until you are up to your sixth or seventh kid. Then after that you really need to start re-using things.

All I could do is laugh, I mean really, what do you say to that. God love her.

Happy Fifth Anniversary Lover!

Hannie's First Hair Cut!

About a month or so ago I made an appointment for Hannah and I to have our hair cut. She needed her ends leveled and I was ready for something new!

Finally, on September 30th we both got in to have our hair done. Hannah was first up. Rhonda my stylist told us that it is best to put her in a booster so that she will get used to having her hair cut on her own. Tom placed her in the booster and Rhonda put a Harry Potter-esque cape on her and she just sat there as still as a stone. Han enjoyed looking in the mirror at herself. I was near tears because she looked like such a big girl sitting up there all by herself.  Then just like that she was all done!

Before:





 

During:







 

After:



Next it was my turn on the chopping block. I had originally pictured about three or four inches to be chopped off. Then I just let Rhonda do what she thought would look best. I think she did a great job considering that I have Hannah to tend to and another one in just two months. She was wanting me to have fairly low maintenance hair and I think it turned out just great! I knew I was in for it when she put my hair in a pony tail and said that I might as well just donate my hair since I am was getting it cut. That is just what I did, I had nine inches total taken off and sent it in to Pantene to be made into a wig. I am still getting used to it but for now I am enjoying it!

Before:





 

After:



 

A Day of Change

Today marks the first day of Tom going back to second shift. It feels weird. I'm sure Han and I will get used to by the end of the week. Both Tom and I have all new daily routines and I think it is a little bit more lonely without him around at nights.

We officially own the house that we live in, yay! Settlement went very smoothly and we have no worries. I did get to thinking while I was there that Tom and I really need a will set up in case we both croak. I'll have to put that on my to-do-list.

I was stunned to hear that Hannah jumped out of her crib today. Tom was in the shower and she decided she didn't want to wait in the crib for him to finish. She jumped out landed on the floor and kept on trucking into the bathroom. I believe Tom said she didn't even cry!

I'm anemic now with this pregnancy. I've been taking iron for about two weeks or somewhere close to that and still feel very tired so I guess I'm just tired. I will also have to have ultrasounds every week until I'm due which begins this Wednesday. This is just to measure the size of the baby and to make sure nothing weird is going on since I have diabetes and HBP.

This Day Sucks

Today has not been a good day. It started it off fairly okay and then I got to work and it went rapidly down hill. As soon as I got to work I realized that the other girl that shares the same job function as me left a good amount of work for me to do today. She has off every Friday and for whatever reason left me a bunch of her work to do. That throroughly ticked me off and I was about to blow. I was at the stage where you are so mad that you could just cry, like I had some how been defeated.

Then a few hours later, my friend shared something very personal and quite traumatic with me and our other friend. I am still feeling so sad for her. I have never been someone to cry along with another person. Today was different, I must have cried with her everytime she cried and then some. I wanted to help her but there was nothing I could do to change anything that was happening to her. I am still thinking about everything that is happening to her and it just seems so senseless and has no justification. She is a very sweet and honest person that does not deserve this one bit.

Then I finally get home and I just want to go to bed. I don't want to stay up watching TV with Tom even though that's what he wants to do I just want to sleep. Of course Tom gives me grief about wanting to sleep. I really just wish that he would understand. I am tired because a) I'm pregnant and b) I work 9-10 hours a day so no I really don't want to stay up past ten o' clock everynight to spend time with you. I want my old trusty bed that I love so much and I want to sleep. Perhaps in January maybe not until February will I want to stay up later but, I am doubting that too. It's time for you to realize that I need to go to bed no later than 9:00 every night. I'm getting older you know!

Then I come to let my dog out for the night and read this. I'll miss that dog.

This day sucks.

Good News!

So I mentioned once before that we are in the process of buying the house we currently live in from my parents. I got good news as I was about to leave work yesterday, our loan was approved and we are going to settlement on Monday the 28th! We got a super interest rate of 4.875% and our mortgage man even thanked us for having good credit. I gave myself a pat on the back for that!

My BF also found out that the offer she put down on the house she wanted to buy was approved! Good news for everybody yesterday!

"Now You Know The Birthdate"

A strange way to think about it but makes perfect sense. I received a call from the OB's office yesterday, the surgery scheduler was calling to let me know my C-section is scheduled for December 14th at 1:30pm. I had a rush of nervousness and excitement come over me. It will be exactly three months until I have another child, I don't know why but it scares me just a little.

I know this time is going to fly by, I will cherish this pregnancy as much as I can. This will most likely be my last.

A Few Facts...

A – Age: 24 – not for much longer, I have almost exactly a month left until 25.

  

B – Bed size: king, that is not big enough on nights Tom is home, doesn't he know the entire bed is mine?

 

 C – Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathroom, seriously if the tables were turned men would  learn to aim with a quickness

D – Pet’s name: Molly the Pomeranian 

E – Essential start your day item: breakfast, I could never go without it!

F – Favorite color: red

G – Gold or Silver: gold, as in yellow

H – Height: 5′5″Just your average height woman 

I – Instruments you play(ed): the piano

J – Job title: HR Operations Specialist II

K – Kid(s): Technically two and no more for me thanks.

L – Living arrangements: Own our home

M – Mom’s name: Betty

N-Nicknames: Heddy, Beth, Bethany 

O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: just giving birth, I'm healthy like that!

P – Pet Peeve: bouncing balls, clicking pens, clicking anything, lack of common sense...what doesn't tick me off?

Q – Quote from a movie: "He's a real gentleman, I bet he takes the dishes out of the sink before he pees in it."  Ouiser, Played by Shirley MacLaine  in the movie Steel Magnolias.

R – Right or left handed: righty.

S – Siblings: Chase

T – Time you wake up: 5:30ish

 

U- Underwear: yes, everyday

 

V – Vegetable you dislike: lima beans 

W – Ways you run late: getting children and yourself ready and out the door!

X – X-rays you’ve had: mouth and leg

Y – Yummy food you make: what is this make food you speak of?

 

Z – Zone: eastern

 

Tag 5 people: If you're reading consider yourself tagged!

Stupid Neighbors

I have probably mentioned it before but I really can't stand my neighbors. They have two boys who have 40,000 friends that come over every day and they all play basketball in the driveway together. They scream and holler and bounce the basketball until you are ready to stick your head out the window and yell for them to knock it off. I think if someone wanted to torture me they would just need to bounce a basketball it's the equivalent of clicking a pen in my book. The kids also run in my yard and knock the ball into my gutter.

Recently, I noticed they started taking my ladder that is on the side of our house. They don't ask mind you-they take it, use it and put it back. Today I was coming home from my parent's house and noticed the ladder was currently in use by the dad this time, what the hell! Even as Hannah and I walked past he didn't say "Hello" or "I borrowed your ladder, hope you don't mind." I just really think that is weird, I would never go in someone's yard and "borrow" something without asking.

The mother who is NEVER home, I am convinced she works two or three jobs. Has this strange habit of honking the horn about 10 ten times at night. It is usually around 9:00, 9:30 or 10:00 and you hear the horn start honking while you are laying in bed. She begins the honking in front of our house and then continues honking while she is parked in her driveway. Super annoying! Tom happened to be out front smoking one night when she came home. He watched her gather all of her things out of the car...all the while honking. The front light flicked on and she RAN into the house. Tom came back in and reported to me that she is scared which may be the cause for all of this honking. You would think they would just use a cell phone and call into the house for whomever to meet her at the front door instead of waking up the entire street. When I told my mom about her being scared she asked if Tom then put a ski mask on and jumped out of the bushes at her. Everytime I hear that horn I think of how funny that would be, muhuwahaha!

Not The Tweezers!

My favorite tweezers have gone missing, you know those tweezers that could pick the smallest of a nub of hair out. That would be those. It is setting my OCD into overdrive! I think that a) Hannah somehow got them and carried them off, or b) Tom is screwing with me and is testing how long I can go with out tweezers. This is so not cool, I am kind of slightly a picker, ahem. I really don't know how much longer I can hold out. I think I need to begin shopping for my perfect tweezers again!

Busy, Busy, Busy

There is so much is going on right now. It is a tad overwhelming!

Mom is out of the hospital. They released her today and she is really feeling a lot better! Ended up she had a blood clot that was not allowing her urine to come out properly. This then caused a back-up into her kidney, the doctor put a stint in between her kidney and bladder which then released the trapped urine and blood. Unfortunately, the stintis painful and will be in there for at least a month if not more. Other than that she is feeling pretty good. They even gave her a pint of blood while she was there and that seems to have helped dramatically.

We are currently buying our house...finally! My parents currently own it. When we sold our house in November we were already living here since about April and just never got our butts in gear. Now with the interest rates so low we figuered we better get it together before they get out of control again. I realize now why my feet were dragging...the whole process is a huge pain in the butt! The things you forget in-between buying houses, so annoying.

Hannah is doing well, she seems to be talking a lot more. She can say Mammie (my mom), Molly (the dog), Uh-oh, Mama or Mum, Daddy, So big, Hi, Bye and the list goes on. It is amazing how you will say something and she will rattle it back only it's a little hard to understand but at least she is trying. It is just amazing watching her grow.

The baby is doing well, I can feel him kick quite often. I am suspicious that boys move/kick way more than girls. I don't remember Hannah moving near as much as Carter does. I can't wait to meet him, I only have about three more months left! Can you believe it?

Work is overwhelmingly busy. I was put in charge of a new project/function and most days I am ready to leave and never come back. The reality is I work 9-10 hour days and am exhausted and want to go to bed at 8:30. I actually had to put a sign up on Tuesday that I would be unable to answer questions until 12:30 and to hold all questions until that time. Most of my co-workers thought it was hilarious, the question-askers got there feelings hurt. Oh well, first time I had done it and I think it got the point across to stop coming to my desk every 10 minutes with a different form of the same question. I wonder if some people even try to problem solve on their own!

My niece is getting so big! She is six this year and just started First Grade! So exciting for her! She is such a sweet little girl, she had super long hair that was down to her butt or further and gave 10 inches away to locks of love. It is amazing how sweet and caring she is.

Her sister who is two just started dance class, this should lead to some interesting stories. She is a very stubborn little girl so I can just imagine how she is doing. She is really quite the comical little one!

We are working on the house again bit by bit. Hopefully we will get to tileing my basement landing this weekend. We started to do it last weekend and didn't have enough tile. Don't ask me how we did that, we have probably had this tile for over a year and all this time we didn't have enough! We are also going to start on the baby's room as soon as we get the window we ordered. It most likely will not be in until September 25th. As soon as that is in we can start painting the walls. I am so excited!

My Momma

No sooner did I get home from work today than my Mom called. She was very sick and needed to go to the ER. Her kidney doctor ordered her to go to the ER is more what happened. She wasn't feeling well yesterday and apparently only told me that she has blood in her urine. This to me was not a good sign, she also said she was having a lot of pain in her kidney area. So fast forward to today and she had a doctor's appointment. Once they got a hold of her actual doctor they instructed her to go to the ER (she only saw the nurse practitioner at her appt.) and they sent an ultrasound slip to take with her. We get there, they admit her and then they did blood work and her ultrasound. Then we waited for the results to all come back. It was nearing time that I would need to leave so Tom could go to work. I called my brother and told him to come on over, he was going to come sooner but I told him to wait. I left Chase there and headed home. He let me know about a half an hour after I left that the doctor finally came. There was no leak in her kidney which is what the doctor had suspected but that it did appear she had a good infection going. They ended up admitting her for a two day stay of antibiotic treatments. This is all I know so far, I am eager to get up to the hospital tomorrow to check on her.

An Ultrasound Day

Here is my little guy, he is doing well. Everything measured well and whatever was going on with the blood flow to my uterus seems to have cleared up because she said it looked fine today. He weighed about 1lb and 5ozs.



The front of his face, just the nose, lips and chin.

On Second Thought.

Tom has changed his mind from his original bedding decision. We are now going with Papagayo. I personally like this bedding better so I am glad he changed his mind.

No one commented on my original blog post about his bedding choice and I'm thinking he got a complex from it. Too funny!

I am off of work this Thursday and Friday so I ordered the window valance so we can start working on Carter's room. We would like to at least get it cleared out and painted. I am so excited!

Surgery Day!

Today is Mom's surgery day. My dad was on his way back in town this morning so her and I traveled to the hospital and got her all checked in.  Dad made it in time before she went back for surgery so that was a good thing!

Her surgery will run 9-10 hours and hopefully all will be well afterwards.

I'll provide updates when I hear something, please say a prayer for her!

Update @ 11:30am: Mom came out of her first surgery to remove her ovaries, fallopian tubes and 7in. tumor. The surgeon came out before the next surgery and said that the tumor looked to be benign. Her next surgery will take 5-6 hours...that is the her cancer removal portion of the surgery.

Update @ 8:15pm: Mom came out of surgery and all went well. Cancer and affected portion of kidney were sucessfully removed! She will remain in the hospital for another day or so.

A Toddler Bed?

At work the other day a couple of co-workers asked me what I was going to do with Hannah once the new baby came. Because you know I couldn't possibly but another crib. To which I replied leave her in her crib and buy the new baby his own crib. They both have girls about the same age as Hannah one is a little older the other is a little younger. Intrigued at there wanting me to put Han in a toddler bed, I asked how that was working out for them. The one girl claimed that she had switched her daughter into a toddler bed. Her daughter is around 21 months. I asked her if she slept good in it or if she wandered around the room at night. She then admitted that her daughter slept in the bed with her and her boyfriend so she really didn't know. Confused, I scratched my head and looked at the other girl, I asked her the same. She gave me the most shocked look and said that she hadn't switched her daughter yet who is about 16 months but that I should.

I can see now they are clearly trying to make me there guinea pig on how to get a toddler that is still too young (in my opinion) to sleep in a toddler bed. They weren't getting me, oh no, not today!

I think it is just crazy. I am assuming that neither one of them prior to there daughters have any experience with children. I remember quite clearly how my nieces behaved when time came to switch beds and I know that I don't want to do it too early. It's bad enough when they are older and get up on there own when they're not supposed too. I don't need Hannah wandering the halls at night. I will reconsider this when she is around two or if she learns to climb out of her crib. For now she is perfectly content!

So Let It Be Done.

Tom has FINALLY decided on crib bedding, praise Jesus! After all his tormenting me with claiming bright colors and sports themes...not my favorites (no offense).  He has chosen "Rock 'N Roll" by Lambs and Ivy. I like the colors but am not totally in love with the theme just yet. It's growing on me I suppose. My favorite was "Pirates Cove"  but I don't think Tom liked it at all. At least this is done and we can now tackle something else. I think we have the paint colors narrowed down to brown on the bottom of chair rail and light brown on the top of the chair rail.

I think we all learned a valuable lesson here today...

17 month old girls should not attempt to wear night gowns. At least my 17 month old girl will not be wearing a night gown. After last night, it is clear you should not always give your child the benefit of the doubt!

I was woken up a few minutes before the alarm went off...my Han was stirring. I get up and start to head in there, all the while hoping that what I feared had not become a reality. I open the door and immediately smell the pee. I look in the crib diaper and baby were not connected. I reach in the bed is wet (I was still optimistic she hadn't peed, lol!) and so began our clean up time. At 5:30 in the stinkin' morning. I'm not bitter, we tried the nightgown and learned that next time she will be wearing shorts or something underneath. Thanks Auntie Em!  :lol:

Praying For Daylight!

I washed all of Hannah's 18 months clothes and loving organized her dressers. Aunt Emily had bought her a nightgown for her birthday. I remember at the time thinking this should prove interesting. But the nightgown was put away in March and has just now been resurrected. After bath tonight I thought of how cute that night gown would be so I put that on her and she looked just adorable. Like a "Big Girl!"

Pan to later that night when I looked to Tom and said, "What if she took her diaper off and she's in there pissing all over her bed?" Tom kindly let me know that, "That would be your problem in the morning." Touche, touche. So now I am left wondering if her diaper is intact. I am nervous for 6:00am.

A BOY!

Had my first level two ultrasound today and we are having a boy. There is no two ways about it...we was not shy in the least!

The heart rate was 148 and everything looks good. There was a few shots they couldn't see because he was moving around so much. My blood flow to my uterus was not too good. They will be monitoring that to make sure it won't turn into a problem. The blood flow from the umbilical cord was excellent and I believe that matters more.

Couldn't see his face too well, he was burrowed right up to the uterus at a weird angle so they couldn't check his face or the four chambers of the heart.

Here are some pics...

The profile-very close up!:



His "Manhood" as the ultrasound tech referred to it:



We are very excited. My brother has two girls and then I followed that with another girl so it will be nice to have a boy. I will admit I am a little nervous about tending to his circumcision. I am sure we will be fine but that just seems so painful in my mind. Tom, I don't think will be able to handle that. He has already vowed that he will not change his diaper until he is all healed up. He cracks me up!

I had a feeling the whole time it would be a boy. This whole pregnancy has been very different from Hannah's. Plus my Mother in Law got in my head with her "string test." The string test always said I would have a girl, boy and another girl. So of course when we told her we were having a boy, she proclaimed "she knew it, the string test never lies!" I got a chuckle over that!

Well I guess I am off to search for some cute crib bedding. I got to steer Tom away from wanting to do the babies room in Houston Astros colors. Orange and Black, ugh!

The "C" Word...

It's been one of those things that for once in my life it was hard to talk about. My mom was diagnosed with cancer around the end of June. We found out while we were on vacation and I haven't really been telling many people.

She discovered a small tumor on the tip of her kidney as well as a large 7 inch tumor on her ovary. She knew she had something on her ovary since about February or March but the doctors told her it would go away. Then she started having bad pains in her stomach and went in for more scans. At first they didn't see the ovary just that the kidney "did not look good." Then with more tests they found the ovary had a very large tumor on it as well. They do not think that the ovary tumor is cancer but the kidney tumor does look to be cancer. At first it was very, very scary. Thankfully once she got in to see the oncologist he let her know that she should be fine.

They are planning on taking the tip of her kidney out as well as the tumors, ovaries and fallopian tubes. She had her uterus taken out quite a few years ago so they don't need to worry with that. They are hoping to get everything done laproscopically and she will stay one night in the hospital and be released. They are pretty confident that she will not need any radiation. Her surgery is scheduled for mid-August.

It feels like a "one and done" but it still makes me nervous. I don't like how the ovary and the kidney have something wrong and they are close to one another inside the body. My dad, the voice of doom, also freaks you out. I know he is worried and always speaks his mind so you never know what thought he might let slip out. I would say he is taking all of this the hardest, even worse than my mom.

I am hopeful that everything will work out just fine after her surgery but it is very nerve racking until we finally get to that day! She has been feeling more sick lately. She has pain in her stomach area and is nauseous with fever pretty much all day, every day.

Today at Walmart, I started to pick a big bag of bird seed out of the shopping cart. She yelled "Don't pick that up your pregnant." I replied, "Yeah, and you have cancer." Enough said I won that battle of who gets to pick up heavy stuff. It honestly is not good for her to lift things. A few weeks ago we were at a bouncy house thing for my oldest niece's birthday. Mom was getting in to the bouncy things to take pictures and play with the girls. Later that night she paid for it and was hurting. So for now we will be babying her. She can just learn to enjoy it while it lasts!

To add to her list of things gone wrong she just had her last day at work Friday. She as well as the rest of the plant was laid-off from a local GM plant in the area. I told her that pretty soon she'll be able to write her own country song!

With humor and hopefulness we are looking to the future and hoping this will just turn out to be a blip on the radar!

SHUT UP! and STOP IT!

This is what I heard all day from none other that my sweet little baby girl, humph! Mean as a snake she is.

At first I quietly laughed to myself. Little kids saying inappropriate things in the right context gets me every time. I know, real mature on my part. She was saying it sassy towards Tom and I, yelling it really because she always seems to be yelling about something. Then after her bath someone had knocked on the door. I was trying to lotion her and get her PJ's on when the dog starts barking at the mysterious knocker. I refrained from yelling shut up to the dog since Hannah would hear me and start saying it more. Well it didn't take long for her to yell down at the dog from my bedroom, "SHUT UP!" Then proceeded to tell the dog to shut up about twenty more times. It was pretty funny, of course I did discipline her because I don't want her yelling shut up and stop it to everyone she sees.

Later that night I called my Mom and asked her if Dad said shut up or stop it to Hannah while she was there Sunday night and Monday morning. She immediately starts to laugh because she can see where I am going with this. Of course my Dad denied saying it but I'm still suspicious. I have heard her tell her to "Shut it up" or the "Shut up that wailing." I'm on to him, lol!

"Stop it" I know she got from Tom and I because she hears that and "No" about 47,000 times a day to no avail. She honestly doesn't listen at all to discipline. She'll cry for a minute or so and after that she'll go right back to doing it. I've tried swatting her butt, swatting her hand, time out, removing her from the area. She will not be fazed. I was advised to pinch her inner thigh but that makes me kind of nervous. I absolutely hate being pinched and can't quite bring myself to do that to her. Part of me says it is just her age and she'll listen better when she gets older. Is this true for the most part or am I being a bit of a softy? What are things that you have tried with your kids? I am up for any input on what has worked for other people out there.

Nesting of Sorts...

As I draw nearer to the five month mark and the realization that this pregnancy is almost half over. It has come to mind that perhaps I should get my shit together so to speak.

It feels like we have tons of stuff just sitting around and we just aren't doing anything with it. I need to completely empty my third bedroom upstairs which leaves me with where am I going to put all of my/Tom's excess stuff. Then I thought, wait we can put it in the garage and then I thought no, I wanted to empty that completely out. So now my option is to throw as much frivolous crap away as possible and then move what is left over to the basement. Oh wait the basement needs some drywall thrown up in the small area we were designating for storage. So now, you see I am in a bit of a catch 22.

I was over my parents house this morning for breakfast and told them that I seriously needed the TV show "Clean House" to come over and organize and repair everything I don't have the time to get to. I swear work is eating away at my life. I have been working 9 to 10 hour days almost every day trying to get our new department running smoothly. Tom works all night comes home and watches Hannah until I get home from work and by that time neither one of us want to wash dishes much less paint and spackle! What's a tired Mama to do, we need help! Being a working Mom is definitely for the birds.

Today I made my first step and drug all the bags my Mom sent over here of girls clothing (Four bags to be exact) upstairs to Hannah's room. Then Hannah and I spent a better part of two hours going through everything and hanging it in her closet. Well she ate goldfish and ran a muck but she was still in there! So at least I have one less thing to worry with. Tomorrow I will pester my dad to come and help me get all of the lawn chairs and coolers back to his shed. I'm sure he is going to love that!

Then my next aggravation challenge, is dealing with Tom and this idea that he is in charge of picking out the decorating scheme for the new baby. I'll admit that I am a tad bit of a control freak and I very much like neutral and warm colors. Tom likes bold and bright burn-your-corneas-out colors. Not kidding. He even said he was going to paint every wall a different color...all brights. I'm scared.

The other day I was in the mall and saw in the Pottery Barn window an adorable Zebra bedding for a boy. So pretty. I told Mom how perfect that was if we are to have a boy and she kindly reminded me that Tom is picking everything, humph. I have tried not to even show him anything I like because I know he will veto it. Today I mustered up my courage and showed him the bedding that I am in love with. I got an honest to goodness "That's not bad." Which to me means he likes it just as much as I do. I could be over thinking this whole thing, ha!  Since I will finally learn the sex of this baby on August 3rd I would like to go to the "Baby SuperMart" and see what they have. I always see the advertisement but have never been there. So we may be heading that way in two more weekends.

I might have to organize a few more things tonight if I don't get too sleepy first!

How Sweet It Is

After a long day at work I come home today and did not receive my usual greeting of Hannah waiting at the top of the steps. She will usually stand there patiently waiting behind the baby gate yelling "Hi!" Today I got nothing, as a matter of fact it was eerily quiet. I mumbled to myself, "Where is my family to greet me." As I made my way to the top of the steps I looked over top the railing to the couch in our living room. Just as cute as could be Tom and Hannah had fallen asleep together on the couch. She made herself a Daddy hammock and was fast asleep. For I couldn't help myself I snapped a quick picture:



That pretty much made my day!

Wordless Thursday-Playing at the Beach

First Impressions and Updates

I made my switch yesterday to the new doctor's office. I am feeling good about it thus far. Yesterday was just a meeting with the nurse and we went over my medical history and filled out all of the forms that are needed for the hospital.

I was able to discuss with her the pros and cons of a VBAC. The cons out weigh everything in my opinion so I will be having a schedule c-section. I verified with her when exactly the time frame for said C-section would take place. She said it could possibly fall on the 15, 16 or 17 of December. This was a huge relief since I am due 12/29 I was concerned with how Christmas would fall into the time frame they gave me of 39 weeks delivery. This way the baby and I will be home and settled in time for Christmas, yay!

I had a First Trimester Screening on June 12th. The nurse let me know that my report gave no cause for concern and that the baby had an extremely low risk of birth defect. That was also great news to hear.

I will have a Level II ultrasound on August 3rd and will get to find out what the baby's gender will be! Very exciting!

I was also cleared to begin exercise again, starting off slow and keeping my heart rate under 140.

Hannah is doing really good lately, she seems to be moving a little bit out of her screaming phase. For a good while, maybe about three or so months. She would scream about everything for no apparent reason. It was quite an interesting time. I have noticed her using more words as of recent. She said No, Fish and can "Bock-Bock" like a chicken.  She has said Mama and Daddy for a while along with Bye, Hi and Hey. She probably is saying more but it sounds like baby ramblings to me.

It is so cute when they get to this age of  learning little words here and there. Watching babies grow is such a blessing.

This week we begin our family vacation on Thursday! I am so glad that we are going to spend a whole week together. I'll get to be home in the mornings with Han and sleep in the same bed at the same time with my husband!

I'm Making My Move

After yesterday's doctor's appointment. I have decided to go ahead and switch to a new OB.

I just needed her to switch medicine so that I would stop being sick all the time. She interrupts me as soon as I got out the vomiting and nausea and says, "Hun, that's because you are pregnant." I had to take a moment before I exploded on her and I said I understand that but I am also experiencing..." and I went down the list. Then her face turned a little more concerned. She checked the baby on the ultrasound machine and then we started talking again. She said, "I think you need to take two weeks off to get it together." Since we were discussing medicine I thought she was referring to the medicine that I wanted her to switch. Plus at this point I was upset and angry because I didn't feel like she was listening to me.  So I end up leaving with a note and another appointment for next week.

While I am walking to my car I read what the note says, "Heather is having some issues related to pregnancy. She needs off for two weeks." I literally let out a chuckle walking to my car. This sounded so freaking ridiculous. Then once I got to my car I started to cry because the whole thing was just aggravating. I accomplished nothing from that appointment and I still am sick. What the heck. So then I start thinking about how in the world I would take two weeks off and what is the purpose of taking two weeks off. So overwhelming and unexpected.

After I talked it over with Tom, Mom, my BF and my boss, I decided this whole thing is ridiculous and it boils down to her unwillingness to change my medicine. She did not think it was the Labetalol she feels it is a combination of the high blood pressure and the diabetes. She also for the five thousandth time said that "You really need to consider losing weight." I have told her a million times that I was losing weight prior to pregnancy and that she is the one that told me to stop exercising. So then after I said that she still said that I needed to wait to exercise until after I have the baby. If that is the case I don't want to hear another word about my weight. There is nothing I can do to change it now so stop harping on it.

I don't maybe it's me, maybe it's her but I don't like how things are going.

Labetalol will be the death of me...

I've been taking this medicine since early May when my doctor was concerned my blood pressure was too high. As soon as I started taking it I got sick. Nausea/vomiting and occasional dizziness.

I tried to suck it up thinking my body just needed to adjust and that given time I will be fine. It has now been over a month and I am worse than I started. My blood pressure has come down nicely, the dose was increased about two weeks ago because it was still too high. Since then my pressure has been back to normal. Thankfully. On the other hand I have been experiencing: muscle weakness, headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and occasional light headed. I was super sick all weekend and then yesterday I was super freaked out.

I bent down to give Hannah a hug and kiss and when I got back up I felt extremely light headed, I had to grab the wall to keep from falling over. Then when I was walking into work my purse felt like I was carrying fifty pounds on my shoulder. I got to my desk and knew I wasn't right. I picked up a pen to write with and my arm actually hurt from holding the pen. It was so heavy feeling.  As you can imagine the rest of the day was down hill from there. I got extremely sick and at one point had to put my head on my desk to keep it from spinning so much. I ended up throwing in the towel around 2:00 and leaving work. Prior to leaving work I called my OB so that she could possibly switch my medicine but she hasn't called back yet. If  I don't here anything I am going to call again today.

Has anyone else experienced this with there blood pressure meds? I am usually really good with medicine but this one is tearing me up!

Update: I called the doctor first thing this morning and they returned my call in about 20 minutes. Apparently they accidently deleted my message from yesterday. So I am going in today at 10:15 so we can hopefully get a new game plan.

Wednesday 6/3/2009

Today was a very good scan! The baby was doing lots of wiggling, waving and feet kicking! So fun to watch!

Here is a picture where you can see the head, arm and fingers:



This next one is of the little guy waving:



The baby is doing great and the heart rate today was 171 and the baby measured 11 weeks.

Next week is my last appointment with Dr. F, it seems like it has gone by so,  so fast. I will miss them, they are awesome doctors/nurses!

I am a little upset about my blood pressure. It was high again today: 140/90. I was advised to call the OB so they could raise the current dose of blood pressure meds that I am on. That is making me very nervous. I know every pregnancy is different but, with Hannah I didn't not have HBP until I was 7 months pregnant. Even then I was never treated with medicine for it. This time however right off the bat I needed to be put on meds. It is making me very nervous for what the future holds if we can't get this under control. My mom thinks it is because my job is a lot more stressful now then two years ago. I don't know what to think.

I also have my first appointment with the Diabetes doctor tomorrow...dun, dun, dun. I will expect them to put me on insulin, that is the normal thing to do when you are already on the Type 2 pills. My blood sugars have been good at meal times but too high when I first get up in the mornings. I am not looking forward to this but will of course do anything for the health of the baby!!!

Then amongst all of these doctor's appointments I will be hitting the dusty trail to North Carolina! Very exciting but, I will really miss Hannah and Tom.

So Hungry! With A Side of Random Pregnant Thoughts

I have moved from tired all of the time to hungry all of the time!

Somebody switched the flip on me and I literally feel like I am starving 90% of the day.  I ate almost every hour yesterday and at bed time by stomach was growling loudly and I was feeling hungry again so I got up and ate before I went to sleep. Then I woke up and felt like I was starving and hadn't eaten in three days. If I don't eat I get ill.

I had to fast Saturday for blood work and hadn't eaten for maybe about an hour and a half to two hours after I woke up. I finally ate something and about 15 minutes later started puking. I am declaring it now, there will be no more fasting while I am pregnant. Never again.

I have noticed I have become extremely less patient and easily irritated. I have never been the most patient person so you can just imagine me now. Not a pretty sight.

I have developed a new found love with Lucky Charms. I haven't eaten them since I was a child but now I can't get enough of them.  I only like them with milk so it's not the most convenient way to eat them. So I only manage to squeeze in about two bowls a day. I also hate pretty much every food you sit in front of me. ESPECIALLY meats. Not sure why but the thought makes me want to hurl.

I am at the point that I will need to go out and get a few maternity capris and short sleeve shirts. Anybody that wants to come with me shopping give me a call, seriously!

This new found hungriness should make for an interesting road trip on Thursday. I'll have to be sure to pack a lot of food for the eight hour ride to Charlotte. Otherwise we will be stopping quite often for me to get something to eat!!!

Baby Mama

Finally got to watch it tonight. Overall it was pretty darn funny. There were some parts that ticked me off but I suppose that just proves good acting. I am sure it was just my overly hormonal godzilla-ness or something.

If you haven't seen it you should rent it, if you have seen it I would like to hear your thoughts.

Thursday 5/21/2009

The baby is doing very well! The heart rate was 185. Today was cool, you could see the head, legs and umbilical cord. While we were looking in on him you could see him wiggling around and kicking his leg! So magical!



Yolk sac is the white ball with the black circle. Next to that you can see the bottom portion of the body. The umbilical cord is leading down. Head is to the far right-furthest from the yolk sac. The leg is right on top of the umbilical cord. Measured 8 weeks 5 days.

For The Birds

It's official, I have morning sickness. Never experienced it with Hannah and this time around had been no different. Until this week...

I started taking high blood pressure medicine on Tuesday and ever since I have been sick in the mornings. I thought it was the medicine but it didn't happen at night when I took the second pill. Then just to try it out I hadn't planned on taking the medicine until later in the day. No such luck, the sickness kicked in about thirty minutes after I woke up.

Clearly I was not missing out on anything first pregnancy around. Maybe this time I am having a boy?

Fun Times or Something

• Hannah had a fever that lasted from Thursday until Sunday


• Therefore she woke up Friday morning at 1:30am and did not go back to bed until 7:30am


• I called out of work Friday


• I am still feeling sleep deprived


• Had a super nice day for Mother's day (Thank you Husband and Hannie)


• Went to my first OB appointment today


• NO: Sex, exercise, lifting heavy objects, caffiene or artificial sweetners


• I will be having another C-section


• My blood pressure is high (it's no wonder, see above!)

Thursday 5/7/2009

I had a very good appointment today! Everything is looking great and all of my blood work is really good! My hemoglobin A1C is a 5.6 which is super good!

I got to see the baby's heartbeat today! It was a moment of shear joy! I could also tell he had gotten much bigger since last week. He is starting to take shape!

The heartbeat was 124!

Here is a pic of the little guy:



I am measuring six weeks three days, giving me a new due date of 12/29/2009. This date is the official date and should not change in the future.

I do have to say this, I had to get an exam today while I was there. I hadn't had an exam with them since 2007. So they have me get undressed and put the gown on. Clearly this gown was Hannah's size. It was squeezing my fat little arms and it literally half covered the front of me. Ridiculous. It reminded me of Chris Farley and David Spade in Tommy Boy, "Fat guy in a little coat." I survived it but if memory serves me I think these people gave me a tiny little gown last time too!

Thursday 4/30/2009

Last week's appointment went very well! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me!

All of my blood work looks really good and the RE will continue to monitor me until I am 12 weeks. They estimated that I was about five weeks last week. My estimated due date is 12-20-2009. The lady that did my ultrasound sound said that may increase by a few days since it does look like I am five weeks and they will be able to measure the embryo next Thursday (the 7th).

The lady also hoped that we would be able to see the heartbeat this week! YAY!

Unfortunately, Tom is with Hannah so he hasn't been able to come to the ultrasounds with me and I don't think we will be coming to any.  :-(   At least that is how it looks so far.

Here is the little bean at five weeks:



I don't see two sacs in there so I am going to assume we dodged the twin bullet!  ;-)

Looking UP!

Finally got a call back today about my blood-work from Monday. My progesterone is way up thanks to the Prometrium! Went from 7 on Thursday with no meds to 36 on Monday! YAY!

They have me taking two pills in the morning, one pill mid-day and two pills at night. I'm quite thankful that it is working well!

I will be monitored by the RE until I am at 12 weeks. My first ultrasound will be Thursday at 9:00! I am super excited!!!

I have been uber paranoid about having twins this pregnancy. On my dad's side of the family there are three sets of twins. My grandmother had twins, her sister had twins and one of my cousins has also had twins so far. There is a pattern though. Your first baby is a single child and then the second time you get pregnant it is twins. So this will be my possible shot at having twins, lol! If this were to happen I would have a heart-attack, seriously!

So far my one best friend has decided that I am not having twins but that I am going to have another girl. My other best friend has decided that I am having a boy. My MIL has decided that I am having twins one boy and one girl. Since I have not yet fine tuned my psychic abilities I am unable to predict at this time what I will be having! Really I think I need someone to pinch me because I still am in shock. I was darn grateful to have been blessed with Hannah and to have another one on the way just seems so unreal. Maybe it will sink in when I see with my own eyes Thursday.

Excited to Terrified

I found out I am pregnant with baby number two on Tuesday! It was actually pretty comical. I was at my regular primary care physician who is a very laid-back down to earth lady. She was talking to me about all the weight I have lost and how proud she is of me. She asked me if I had any concerns, I didn't. Then she says, how are your periods, Well...I am six days late. Do you think you can take a pregnancy test. Sure, do you have one. Of course Heather this is a doctor's office. So I go to the bathroom and do my thing, came out and handed the nurse my sample. I wait and I wait and I wait. Dr. T had apparently gone to another patient while she was waiting for me to use the facilities. She finally comes out and says, "So, I am going to present this to you the same way that Crystal (the nurse) presented it to me." She flips around my file and there is a little purple post-it note with a plus sign written on it. I lean forward in my chair to get a closer look. "Is that a plus sign." She replied, "Looks like it to me." I asked her, "Are you shitting me!!!" After that we both just about died laughing. I really could not believe my eyes. I was so in shock I didn't know what to do.

Then of course the next day I call the OB and let them know I had two positive pregnancy tests (I had to take one of my home one's just to be sure!) I explained at the time I called to the receptionist that my progesterone was very low with my last pregnancy so I wanted them to be aware of that. She let me know that they would take care of that at my eight week appointment. This immediately did not set well with me but she told me to come in and get my blood drawn to confirm pregnancy. The next day it came back positive! I left a voice mail for the nurse in the meantime explaining my progesterone situation that I had with Hannah so that she would know since the receptionist didn't care or wasn't listening. The nurse called me in a prescription for Progesterone pills and also had me come in and get my blood drawn. I started to take the pills as soon as I picked them up and then today I called for my number. Apparently no one had reviewed my labs yet, even though it was 3:00 when I called, because I was on hold for a good seven minutes or more. Finally the nurse comes on the line and says that my number is really low. It is a 7 and needs to be in the range of 20-30. She increased my meds and I will come back in on Monday for another blood draw. She ended the call with, If you start to bleed give us a call! That just about pushed me over the edge.

I have given it a lot of thought and am going to call the RE on Monday. It would give me peace of mind to know that I am doing everything I can for my little sesame seed sized baby! To not go to an actual doctor's appointment until eight weeks sounds ludacris to me. I am not an average patient and I don't want treated like one. I have issues, I was high risk for multiple reasons last time and will most likely be the same way this time. I am feeling quite terrified. Tom is taking it all pretty well, he reminded me that we went through this last time and that everything will be okay.

I have calculated my due date to be on or around December 24th. Will know for sure once I see a doctor!

Ewwie Kazooie

Today I needed to get Hannah in the bath tub really quickly before bedtime. Tom is normally home at night and we tag team her but tonight it was just me. I begin by turning the bath water on and then rushing to get all of the other necessary items...soap, shampoo, lotion, change of clothes, etc. I had only made it to the soap and lotion a mere three feet away and I feel water dripping on my foot. I thought to myself, huh...Hannah must have reached her hand into the water.  Then I feel a lot more water, I look down and the child has a wad of wet toilet paper in her hand. I thought to myself are you serious she must have threw the toilet paper roll in the the bath. I rush into the bathroom with this wet wad of paper in my hand only to discover that the toilet paper roll was indeed intact. I look to my right and see that Hannah had decided it would be a great idea to stick her little hand in to the toilet and grab the toilet paper mommy just used. GROSS! I now have toilet-piss water in my hand, on Hannie and all over the floor and bath rug. Meanwhile I am trying to get a bathtub prepared. As I cuss my stupid toilet that never flushes right...I did indeed flush but was in a hurry and didn't make sure that my bi-polar toilet actually did it's job. I quickly swab the floor with a paper towel and jerk up the bath rug. Guess who will be unexpectedly mopping and washing there bath rug, oh yeah, that's right, me! She's lucky she's so darn cute!  ;-)

Second disgusting thing of the day, which actually occured yesterday but wasn't confirmed until today...Termites! Seriously!

Tom went to let the dog out yesterday afternoon around 4:00 and discovered a mass of flying insects that had died near our back sliding glass door, inside and outside. He hollars for me to come down and take a look. I immediately knew these are termites. We had treated termites and ants last year because the house was just infested with ants and as more of a precautionary measure since we had seen a mud tunnel on the side of the house we bit the bullet and treated for termites. Termite treatment is expensive...so now we have them again and the man told us that we shouldn't see them again that what he uses is the best. So of course I immediately call the man yesterday and let him calmly know that I think we have termites. He thought they could also be swarming ants so he would have to come over and take a look  just to be certain. Well of course today's diagnosis is that they are indeed termites, he genuiely seemed like he felt bad that we had them again and still swore by his product...he was very re-assuring. So Monday we are going to have to have termites treated again. I hope they get them all this time, unfortunately we live on what I refer to as the "wet side of the street" for whatever reason the sun just doesn't shine well on my part of the street. This has led to a lot of fun things like the ant invasion of 08', termites and to top it all off a moldy damp basement...fun times!

It is time's like these that I am grateful to have an exterminator come out quarterly and spray for ants and even more grateful that I still have a warranty on my termite treatment. I just hope for my sanity's sake we get this all straightened out, I am not someone who is terrified of bugs but I would appreciate if they limited themselves to living outdoors only.

Wordless Wednesday-The Hannah and The Bunny

The Step Master...Seriously

So, we had our Monday step class yesterday, we set  up our stepping stations and it is then I realize...the stepping master is in front of me. No joke!

I knew it was about to get serious when I see him stretching his hulk legs, I am not kidding you this man had legs like a horse. Rock solid.

I looked at my bestie and we both let out a chuckle. This was followed by several more chuckles once the class got started. I was so amazed the man looked like he HAD to have been 50-60 years old and he had enough energy for everyone in the gymnasium.  There is nothing like being the noob doing step next to Stepper Sammy. Dude was serious. Meanwhile I was the bumbling idiot who was always a step behind and I had homeboy in front of me tearing it up.

It was kind of  like a repeat of  last week...

Wordless Wednesday-My Little Smooshie

Feels Like Today

Man I am feeling good today!

You know how you just feel like you have an added bounce in your step? That would be me!

I made a few decisions on things that have been weighing me down and as sad as it is to see relationships come to an end it was for the best. Now I can breath again.

That being said...I had a kick-ass step class last night. Em (one of my best friends) invited Fancythis and I to join her in a class that she takes with her Aunt. FT invited her mom to come along and the five of us had a really good time and more importantly a good work out! I had never done stepping other than the very basic of moves so parts of it were lost on me but I kept moving and did other moves  if I couldn't get the hang of a certain tecnique. It lasted an hour and by the end all of us were completely drenched in sweat and our faces were as a red as possible. I am so  looking forward to doing it again every Monday!

Weight loss update: I have lost forty pounds total and so far this week I have lost one pound! Woo-hoo!

Losing Yourself

I feel like over the past few months of weight-loss I really have lost myself in the whole process. I was losing sight of why I was getting healthy, while yes it is for Hannah and to potentially have another child. It is also for myself and that is what is most important. I was beginning to feel like everything I was doing was to please someone (my trainer and my weight-loss group) other than me  and ultimately it lead to my defeat. I was doing everything that I SHOULD be doing and I was feeling like a failure because it wasn't working. I was losing a minimal amount of weight and then after the fast was over I really felt defeat. My trainer said "Heather if you do this fast I can guarantee you will lose thirty pounds in a month." I bought that hook, line and sinker! Did I want to do a fast? NO! But I knew that I did have the willpower to do it so I did. Yes I completed my thirty days but I did not lose any weight. I went from losing at least two pounds a week to a month of losing nothing. I never fully recovered from this,  I fell and I fell hard. My motivation and drive went right out the window.

So today, I will be going to the Y and I feel like I am starting all over again. I have not gained any weight and have lost maybe three pounds since the beginning of March but I finally feel recovered enough from my cold to get back on this mountain and start climbing to the top. I have to let go of things that did not work out and I have to let go of people that are not good for me.

Argh

I'm sick now. It started on Tuesday has gotten worse as the week goes on. I almost called out of work sick with the temptation of how great my bed was feeling and how crappy my body was feeling but I pushed myself to get up and showered. I really want to go back to bed, now!

Hannah's Party

I never did write about Hannah's party! I've had so much going on that I am just now finding the time!

We had her very first Birthday party on March 7th. Everyone had a lot of fun, we had a TON of people in the house and it was nice to get together with our friends and family!

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New Week, No Obstacles

Last week was a rough one for me. It seemed like every day something was going on or someone was sick. Thankfully this week the prospects look much better!

Hannah has not been sleeping lately. She took about an hour nap yesterday and would not go to bed until 10:45PM! She used to take two naps a day one being about 2-3 hours long and would still go to bed around 5:30-6:00 for the night. Now she doesn't want to sleep at all and we try to put her to bed at 8:30 and she apparently uses this as time for a power nap. After about a half an hour of  lying in her bed quietly she begins to cry bloody murder. She will carry this on forever until you let her out of her bed. Ridiculous!

Needless to say I am quite sleepy.

Tonight when I get off work I will be heading to the Y.  I am hoping that by taking Hannah along she will get some of her energy out playing with the other babies and hopefully go to sleep.

I knew kids gave up naps but I didn't realize they gave up all sleep entirely. Wish me luck!

House of Sickleys

The stomach bug has come knocking on our door! Blah!

I was super sick at work yesterday and started puking...which of course had everyone questioning if I was pregnant, that was a big old negative. So I tried to suffer through at work hoping whatever was wrong with me would pass but that wasn't working so I ended up going home early.  After I got home I started to get that aching  flu-like feeling and was really dreading that perhaps I have the flu or something. I woke up this morning and am feeling better but not 100%.

Today at work Tom called to inform me that he was sick so now I am quite certain we have a stomach virus of some form. This is just great!

Next will probably be poor little Hannah so I plan on going home and disinfecting just to be on the safe side. This seems to be going around because a lot of my friends have been reporting the same thing.

Aren't stomach bugs just the greatest!

Hannah Rose

My sweet little baby girl that has brought wonders of joy into our lives is turning one today! I just can't believe how fast life has flown by in this year. She once was an "itty-bitty" as her Mammie refers to her wearing her tiny preemie clothes and now she is Mama's big girl running and talking through out the house. It's incredible how much her little soul has accomplished in all this time. Even this week she started to really use Mama and Daddy appropriately along with Hey and Hi. It is incredible to see how she has grown and I will never forget the morning I learned I was pregnant and the utter excitement and joy that still over comes me when I look back. The joy Tom and I felt in the operating room when they brought her to us to look at it. It's just amazing! I am so grateful the Lord has blessed me with such a wonderful daughter!

Happy Birthday baby girl!

Happy Thursday!

Prayers Needed

• My Uncle Butch is still fighting blood infection as well as an infection in his knee. He is also now blind in his left eye.


• My Aunt Carol (Butch's Wife) is having some issues with her heart and was hospitalized this past weekend.


• My Aunt Gail had some moles removed that turned out to be skin cancer so they had to go back in and remove more of her leg/skin.

Please keep my family in your prayers!