bits 'n pieces

Still no pics

I know, I know.  I still haven't posted any pics in quite some time.  I do have some cute ones to post.  It's been so long I can't even remember all that is on my camera.  I still have to download them from my camera (which is at home).

Some updates on me and the pregnancy.  After a couple weeks without my prescription I was doing OK.  In fact, last week I felt pretty good the entire week.  I was thinking and hoping that I was thru the 1st trimester sickness.  Well, a big reality check came this weekend again.  I guess I am glad that my sickness mainly shows up on the weekends and my day off, but it is really hard to be "glad" about it at all.  Fortunately, I was not sick for the wedding we had this weekend.  The girls were flower girls and it would have been horrible if I was puking sick that day.  I guess this is my "shout out" to God for keeping me well on such an important day.  Again, even though there are blessings surrounding this pregnancy and days of light, it is so hard for me to be happy and excited about all of it.  I am finding myself to be overwhelmed and feeling like a failure, AGAIN!  Seriously, while I was puking all afternoon Sunday and Monday, I was crying most of the time too.  Even right now, I am almost crying just thinking about how awful I feel (not sick, just being hard on myself).  Yesterday, after I threw up my entire lunch, I had to call in re-inforcements (thanks mom & Dick).  The sun was shining and I was thinking that it would be a shame if my girls could not go outside to enjoy the beautiful day, because their mom was too sick to go outside.  I realize how blessed I am to have grandparents that live so close and are willing to drop everything to come to my rescue.  I didn't feel so bad for me being sick, I just felt bad for my girls because they  have a mom who can't give them the attention they deserve.  Well, as I said, Grandma & Grandpa came to the rescue.  They played outside with the girls, gave them a tractor ride (and mowed the lawn while the girls were being towed in the trailer), and then came inside and had dessert with them before their naps.  I could hear the girls laughter as they played outside so it made me feel better about myself because I was able to put my "super-mom" attitude aside and ask for help.  But it is so hard to let go of the feeling that I am a horrible mom.  Ya know what I mean?  I am at work today feeling better.  I know that I need to work, but why can't I feel good on the weekends too, so that I can get some housework down or spend time with my hubby and kiddos?  I'm frustrated with this sickness thing!  Alright, enough venting.  Some good news about the pregnancy...I got my medication back.  The really expensive drug that they wouldn't let me have more than 20 pills in 30 days.  Yep, I got 5 of the 20 pills last night.  So, I took one last night.  It didn't take away the sick feeling, but at least I wasn't puking.  :)  And of course, I took one this morning (not back to 100%, but certainly better than I was).  I can get the rest of the 20 pills today or tomorrow so you better believe I will be at the pharmacy on my way home tonight.  I'm going to have to ration them this time.  Only one a day or even better, only when I am feeling desperately sick.  Who knows how long this sickness thing will last this time?!!!!

On the positive side of the pregnancy thing, I don't have another appointment until Sept. 21st.  The down side is that the doctor wants me to go give more blood.  Apparently the antibody levels are higher than normal (or higher than they would like to see them), so the doctor wants me to have them tested again.  I love that my doctor is a very cautious doctor and likes to stay on top of things, but for me it is more of a pain than a blessing.  I will appease him on this blood work because it is easy to do and not all that inconvenient.  Another reason why I will appease him on this test is because I do not intend to appease him on the 3 hr glucose test.  For some reason I always have an issue with "higher than they would like" sugar results, but never really any reason for concern (especially since I don't have any history or family history of diabetes).  Last time he wanted me to do the 3 hr glucose test and I got out of that one because the specialist said that we didn't need to worry about it.  The specialist told me that a new study just came out and it lowered the acceptable levels of the 1 hr test so more patients qualified for the 3 hr test.  My opinion is that it is a way for doctors & labs to make more money AND to fulfill the CYA factor.  So, I will go along with doing this test because I have no intention of doing that 3 hr test (unless of course it is ABSOLUTELY necessary).  In regards to re-testing the antibody titer, I am not sure why we are doing that.  I know that last time the levels in my body were high, but it didn't seem to really matter to the specialist.  I think that this time my doc is more familiar with the situation and wants to stay on top of everything.  I do recall over-hearing the specialist telling the nurse practitioner (during my last appt when I was lucky enough to meet with the specialist) that the level was high as he was explaining the whole situation to her (she really knew nothing about this situation).  I am guessing that she relayed that info to my doc and he decided that it should be re-tested.  I can't say for sure whether or not he talked to the specialist about it, but I guess it doesn't really matter. 

I also had a "food for thought" topic that I've been wanting to post, but I just haven't felt up to it and I don't have all the facts.  I will try to get all the facts and then hopefully I will have time to do a "food for thought" post soon. 

So, I am going to work on downloading the pics on my camera and doing a quick post with them.  No promises though, because I have a lot of housework to catch up on and I also have bookwork that needs to be done at Dan's shop.  I will try to get them up here some time this week.  Have a great week!

My medical/pregnancy issues

Some of you know what I am talking about when I mention the whole "last pregnancy" stuff, but some of you don't know me much at all and are probably wondering what the heck I am talking about.  This post is a refresher course for those of you that remember going thru it all with me and background info for those that don't know me well at all.  I think that I am going to start from the beginning of my pregnancy with Kennedy so you know exactly how things came to be.  I am going to warn you that this may be a long post, but at least I won't have to go into all the details again.  You may also want to wait until you have LOTS of time to read it.  And, I am apologizing now if my spelling or grammar isn't great (I just don't have time to edit this after it took so long to write). 

When I got pregnant with Kennedy, everything was seemingly normal.  I was a little bit sicker with Kennedy than with Kylie, but not too bad.  I went for my normal blood work some where between 10-12 weeks.  After the blood work, I had my normal 12 week appointment and the nurse practitioner (NP) told me that the tests came back suggesting that I had an RH antibody.  The confusing thing about that is that I am A+ so if I had an RH antibody, the antibody would be attacking my own blood supply.  That news started off the confusion and a little bit of a scare.  The NP was unable to explain what was going on (even after consulting with the docs) so they had contacted the specialist.  He suggested that I go have another test done for something more specific called a titer test.  I went for the test and the results were sent to the specialist.  He said that the lab didn't test the right thing so I had to go back and have the blood drawn again (this time he would take care of writing up the paperwork).  After the 3rd blood test, I had to schedule an appointment with the specialist so that he could explain to us what was going on.  We met with the specialist and he explained to us that there are a million "markers" on each individuals blood cells.  Not surprising when you consider how incredible our God is and how complex & different each person is.  Well, it just so happens that my blood lacks the FYA "marker" (meaning I am FYA-).  Dan, however, is FYA+.  Well, during delivery of Kylie, some of her blood got into my bloodstream and she happens to have her daddy's blood.  After my body recognized the foreign blood, it created an antibody which would attack that specific blood type.   So, as you can tell it was not a problem during my pregnancy with Kylie and it is something that only shows up in blood work (it's not something that affects me at all).  He said the easy way to explain is to say that it is similar to the RH thing, except with RH they have a shot called Rhogam, which stops the antibody from attacking the baby.  With FYA (also known as the Duffy antibody), they do not have an "FYAgam."  And because they don't have the shot to stop the antibody from crossing over into the baby's bloodstream and attacking the blood supply, they just have to monitor certain levels to see how "badly" the baby's blood supply is being broken down.  The can monitor the levels only by doing an amniocentesis (amnio).   The game plan is to do the 1st amnio  around 20-22 weeks.  At the first one, they do the  amnio and also take blood from both Dan and myself.  Then they send all the samples to a genetic testing facility in New Mexico where they do their thing.  When they are done, they send it to Wisconsin to another facility which does their thing.  The test results confirm that Dan truly was FYA+ and that I truly was FYA- and with Kennedy it showed that she also had her daddy's blood.  One of the cool things about that 1st amnio was that our DNA was flying all over the USA.  The other cool thing is that we had indisputable evidence that our baby was a girl (no denying DNA).  And some of you may remember the ongoing joke that a good friend of ours was the father of Kylie and Kennedy, so the tests also cleared up that little joke.  :)  Since the original game plan was to have the 1st amnio done and then, depending on results, have an amnio done every 4 weeks, we had set up the 2nd amnio for 4 weeks after the 1st one while we were at the 1st appointment.  At the 2nd amnio, the specialist explained the game plan again now that we knew for sure we would have to go thru the whole process.  We did the 2nd amnio and those results go to a lab just down the street from the doctors office so if I had the amnio in the morning, I would have results by that afternoon.   This is where things got a little more nerve wrecking.  After the results came back from the 2nd amnio, the specialist called and said that he wanted to see me in 2 weeks instead of 4 weeks because the levels were higher than "normal" for this type of situation.  So, I was back for another amnio at 28 weeks.  The doctor showed me the chart that they use and where Kennedy's levels were at and explained that they have to keep a closer watch on those levels since there were in a more dangerous range.  Of course he wouldn't tell me before I left whether or not to set up an appointment for 2 weeks or 4 weeks.  And so the appointments went...I go in have the amnio, ask the doctor what was going on, and he would just tell me that we would wait until these results come back and then we'll go from there.  Of course the results would come in the afternoon and his nurse would call and tell me that I needed to set up an appointment for 2 weeks or whatever the doctor decided.  So, I went for an amnio at 30 weeks, 32 weeks, and then I was lucky enough to go 3 weeks between amnios and I was in at 35 weeks.  Of course, from the beginning the original game plan was every 4 weeks with the last one being at 36 weeks to test the levels, but more importantly to test for the baby's lung function to confirm that the baby was ready to be delivered.  And then, shortly after the 36 weeks I was going to deliver. 

I'm going to have to back track a little because during the whole blur of amnios (and of course I had to my other normal dr. checks), there were alot of discussions with the specialist about possibilities.  At one point, he suggested that if things get too bad early on, there is always the possibility that we would need to do an in-utero blood transfusion.  So, in the back of my mind was always what if, what does that mean for our baby?  Fortunately, God spared us that experience.  The other question I had was, what would be the problems with a baby born at 36 weeks?  That is basically 4 weeks preemie.  Would we have to deliver in GR?  Would she be in the neo-natal unit?  So many questions and never any answers other than, here are the results and the doctor would like to see you in 2 weeks and we'll know better then what to do from there.   The worse part of the whole thing was the unknown.  I can handle the amnios - I just hate to wait.  I am sure that I mentioned before that I am not a patient person - God knew that and I think this was his way of FORCING me to submit and be patient.  I'm gonna break here for another little side note.  I said that the amnios were not all that bad as far as the pain goes.  Well, I should clarify that all but one of the amnios was very tolerable.  There was one time (I think it was the 3rd or 4th) when the doctor was pushing very hard and wasn't getting the needle to go thru.  He was pushing so hard that it actually bent the needle.  I wish now that I would have asked to keep that needle as a keepsake because it would be kinda cool.  I guess they had gotten a new needle manufacturer and the needles were not as sharp as the others.  The doctor was noticeably very upset and thankfully they had a needle left from the other manufacturer.  The second time was a charm, but I did have to lay on that bed for a little longer than normal because I felt a little woozy. 

As I mentioned before, the appointments were getting crazy.  I had to go to GR every 2 weeks for amnios.  I had my regular appointments at my doctor's office in Holland.  And to add more to the mix, from 32-36 weeks I had to go to my doctors office 2-3 times per week for non-stress tests.  I got to sit in a room with a fetal monitor hooked up and keep track of the baby's movements for at least 15 minutes.  Of course Kennedy was not a very active baby so it always took more than 15 minutes.  They were never worried about her not being very active, but they still wanted me to come in at least 2-3 times per week.  Now you can really understand why I hate doctor appointments so much (or at least I get sick of them quickly).

Well, we did the final amnio at a little over 36 weeks on a Thursday.The results came back fine, which was good, because I was ready for it to be all over and I had already schedule the c-section for the next day.  Of course I could have cancelled it if things didn't look good, but I was praying that God would see to it that we could be done with the whole pregnancy thing.  We delivered Kennedy at 8:40 on Friday morning.  Everything went just fine.  We did have a little scare because it seemed like it took forever for Kennedy to cry.  From the time she came out to the time she cried seemed like an eternity.  At our final amnio, the doctor predicted that Kennedy would be about 5 lbs, but he cautioned us that at that early, it is more likely to calculate higher rather than lower.  So, when the doctors weighed her and said she was 5 lbs 7 oz, I actually said WOOHOOO with an incredible amount of excitement.  The whole room was dead silent for a few moments.  I think that they all thought I was the most crazy woman on the planet.  I mean seriously, who gets excited about a 5 lb 7 oz baby?  I'll tell you who does.  Someone who was only hoping that she would be AT LEAST 5 lbs.  That extra 7 oz was huge.  Well, we had no idea what would be in store for us after delivery.  Things were looking alright for the first day, she was nursing alright and everything seemed to be going fine.  The next day was different.  Later in the day we were told that she had to be put under the bilirubin lights because her bilirubin levels were too high.  Which of course is the result of the antibody attacking her red blood cells and breaking them down causing them to become a toxin in her little body.  The bilirubin lights help break down those toxins and allow them to be excreted.  Of course she had to be under the lights at all times unless she was feeding or her diaper was being changed.  So, I got to hold her every 3 hours while I nursed, but other than that there was very little contact.  And no one else in the family could hold her unless they were helping me nurse by bringing her to me from the bassinet or while they changed her diaper.  And with such a close a family, it was very difficult on everyone.  And again, we had no idea how long she had to be under the lights.  They would prick her foot for blood tests 2 or 3 times a day to see how things were going.  That started on Saturday afternoon and we ended up staying until Wednesday.  Of course the insurance company would only pay for my room thru Monday night so on Tuesday night I had to spend the night in a little room just off the nursery.  And had I known, I probably would have opted to sleep on the couch in the lounge behind the nursery every night because it was far more comfortable than the hospital bed.   Wednesday morning when the pediatrician came in and looked at the labs, he said that everything was looking good enough for us to go home.  But we had to go back on Friday to have her tested again to make sure that things were still looking OK.  And for the 1st year of her life she had to be tested a few more times to make sure that there were no longer lasting affects or anemia.  She is still a tiny little thing, but after her 1 year appointment the doctor said that the results were normal and that we probably won't have to do anymore blood tests related to the whole anemia issue.  Praise God that in the end everything has turned out just fine.  And I even learned a lesson or two about life & God. 

Well, that is the long version of the story.  I am sure that I have left some things out, but now you all know what is going on and what I am preparing for.  If you have questions about anything, please feel free to ask me.  I will answer them the best way I know how.  It's kinda funny that I have helped to educate some of the staff at my doctor's office (and I am not sure that I completely understand all the medical stuff).  They may not see anything like this again for quite some time, but I am sure that it will make more sense to them when they do hear of another situation like this. 

I gotta get back to work now so that I can get outta here on time.  I'm feeling pretty crummy and hope to be able to leave on time so that I can run my errands and head home to take a nap.  I hope you all have a good weekend!

 

Update

I just thought I would enter a quick update on how I am feeling and how my dr. appt. went.  Right now I am feeling OK.  I feel sick most of the time, but every once in a while I feel good.  And I haven't felt like I was on the verge of puking very much at all the last couple of days (just a few times a day).  Thank you all for your words of encouragement the last few days.  It helps to know that there are other wives and moms who feel the same way I do. 

About my doctor's appointment...Let me start by saying that when I scheduled this appointment I was hoping to also schedule an appointment with the specialist (he comes to Holland once a month) to just refresh my memory about the game plan and all that good stuff.  Well, it turned out that he was booked for August so I had to schedule it for September.  So, yesterday was supposed to be a regular physical and they were going to have the specialist look at my chart & bloodwork and then he could decide if he needed to see me before September and then I would have to schedule an appointment in GR at his office.  Well, it was my lucky day yesterday.  After looking at my chart, he said that he remembered me and that he wanted to see me and say Congrats!  We chatted for a few minutes about everything and it was nice to be able to clear things up in my mind (at least as clear as they could be).  He started off by saying that we do the 1st amnio around 22 weeks.  So, I need to schedule that for October 30th or so.  Then I had asked about how likely it was that I would have to go thru the same thing and he gave me a very non-committal answer.  He said that it depends on whether or not Dan was 50/50 or 100%.  My understanding is that if Dan was 50/50 then there would be a 50/50 chance that we would have to do everything all over again.  But, if Dan was 100%, then it's a guarantee that we have to do it all over again.  So, I am going to proceed as if we know that everything will go the way it did before and if it ends up being different, then it would be a huge blessing.  It also sounds like the waiting game will be no different than last time (which is what was so bad about the last time), but at least now I know the game plan and the likely outcome.  The other question I asked was if they could use my previous history to possibly eliminate some of the amnios.  His response was a pretty quick, NO.  He said that if the levels are high (which they were last time), then they are going to be aggressive (just like last time).  He did say that each baby is different so it's hard to predict how the baby will react to the antibody.  I guess there's a little hope that this baby would be more resistant or less affected by the antibody, which would mean lower levels and fewer amnios.  But I am not getting my hopes up - I'll just wait to see how things fall into place.  The specialist answered all my questions as best he could so I was lucky enough to be able to cancel my appt. with him in Sept., which is awesome in my book because if this pregnancy is anything like the last one then there will be plenty of appointments.  Which brings me back to my regular check up.  Things went as well as they always do with physicals.  The nurse practitioner did the exam and then used the doppler to get the baby's heart rate.  The peanut was not co-operating at all (i say peanut because it is literally only about 1.5" long).  It was hard to find the baby and when she did find it, she was unable to get a clear enough beat.  We did hear it and that was good enough for me - she said that it was probably in the high 160's (probably the same as my ultrasound).  She did offer to schedule another appointment just to do the doppler again, but I quickly refused.  For starters, I am not a nervous mom at all.  Secondly, I KNOW I am pregnant - I feel very pregnant.  Finally, back to the appointment thing - I just don't have time for all the silly little appointments.  If I felt like something was wrong, then I would go in just for reassurance, but only if I felt like something was wrong.  This is my 3rd pregnancy, I am pretty confident that I would know if there was a problem.  Besides, it is all in God's hands so I am sure that he is paying close enough attention to my unborn child.  I scheduled my next appt. in Sept for the regular 16 week check-up.   Having appointments every 4 weeks seems like such a pleasant span between appointments.  It makes me smile!  :)

We don't have much going on this weekend other than going to visit with our old neighbors at their trailer in Sandy Pines.  I'm looking forward to just relaxing out there with them and catching up on old neighborhood news and things like that.  Not much else planned - just praying for a puke-free weekend.  I'm hoping that I am over the sickies hump.  Hopefully I will get some good pictures of the girls having fun with their favorite friend/sitter Rachel. 

Have a great weekend!

Still Alive

Hi Everyone!  I am still alive, although it was another weekend that felt a little bit touch-n-go.  There were lots of moments this weekend that I wished I wasn't stupid enough to get pregnant again.  This post may be a little bit of a downer, because I am not feelin' that great today (nor have I been since Friday night).  Anyway, I know that God has a great purpose for me and my family and this new life growing inside me.  I guess I just wish that I didn't feel as crummy as I do right now - I've heard from more people lately tell me that each pregnancy gets harder (why didn't they tell me that BEFORE I got pregnant?).  Enough complaining - I really wanted to just check in and tell you all a little bit about my weekend. 

It started off on Friday morning with Kylie coming into our bedroom at 5 am.  I told her that it was too early and she needed to go back to bed.  She did just that.  About 15 minutes later I hear her coughing and then she started crying for her daddy and saying that she just threw up.  Like a good daddy, he jumped out of bed and went to help her (even though just the thought of puking makes him start to gag).  I got up shortly after and helped clean her up along with her clothes and bed.  We got her settled down and she laid on the couch with her daddy until it was time for us to get ready for work.  I felt fortunate that it was Papa's day to watch the kids so I could go to work (I had a crazy day and taking off work wouldn't have gone over very well).  Papa was great with Kylie and she threw up a couple more times in the morning and after a short nap she was starting to be more like herself.  After work I stopped by Dan's shop to see how he was doing and to find out if I needed to do anything else before our big night of "adults only" fun on the boat.  He told me that he had just thrown up his entire lunch.  Not a good sign.  I went to get him some Pepto Bismal hoping that it was just the food he ate.  He came home around 4:30 because he still didn't feel good.  We didn't want to call off the entire evening until we had to, so he called his friend Loran to make sure that he would be alright driving the boat if Dan wasn't feeling well.  Well, 6 o'clock came and Dan was still feeling horrible so I decided to head out to the boat and meet all of our friends out there.  I didn't want to ruin everyone else's plans because Dan got sick from Kylie (they all had to get sitters and that isn't an easy thing to do).  So, after everyone was on the boat, we had appetizers, good conversation, and then made the decision to get the boat warmed up and ready to go.  We headed over to Boatwerks for a nice dinner.  Loran did a great job as captain of our ship (I could tell he was nervous - we never really opened it up).  He even said that the boat handled really nice, which made me feel really good about our boat because Loran has been boating for a LONG time and I trust his opinion.  Dan's been around boats most of his life too, but not the bigger boats like we have now.  Anyway, dinner went well and I think everyone had a good time.  We got back to our slip and it was late so everyone packed up and headed home.  I got home around 11:30 and Dan was awake on the couch.  I asked how things went and he said they went alright (my sister Shawn still watched the girls so I am sure it was nice for him to not have to deal with them).  The girls were in bed by 8:30 and Shawn was headed home shortly after that.  I could tell that he still didn't feel that great and I was getting tired so I started to get ready for bed.  I took my arsenal of vitamins and pills and headed to bed.  It was a good thing I had to pass the bathroom on my way, because my stomach didn't care for my pill cocktail.   Yep, I lost all my pills and my dinner.  I finally went to sleep hoping that it was just a fluke thing and that I wasn't coming down with what Kylie & Dan had. 

I woke up Saturday morning fell as rough as I did late Friday night and I spent an entire day puking and laying on the couch.  Kylie & Kennedy were doing fine and thankfully Dan was starting to feel better too.  I think that it was just the pregnancy thing for me, not the bug that Dan & Kylie got (I didn't feel achy or anything else).  Dan took Kylie to bring away the garbage and pick up my new Rx.  Oh, did I tell you that my miracle drug can not be refilled.  Yep, the expensive drug, Zofran, which made life much more tolerable could not be refilled.  Apparently (something I wish I had known earlier), the insurance company will only give a patient 20 pills in 30 days.  Again, I wish I had known that earlier because I probably would have suffered thru the evenings so that I would have more tolerable days by rationing the pills.  I was taking one pill in the morning and one pill in the evening.  I had tried a couple times to not take one at night, but my nights didn't go well and I woke up feeling crappy.  Besides, I didn't know that I would be cut off.  And, the bottle said that I could take 1 pill as much as every six hours so I wasn't concerned about taking too much/overdosing.  Now I can't get more of those pills until the end of August or so.  I am really hoping that this sickness phase ends soon.  And, needless to say, when I found out my prescription couldn't be refilled, I shad to save my last pill for Friday to make sure that I felt good enough to go out.  And look what happened Friday night and Saturday.  Oh yeah, the new Rx that Dan picked up for me was Phenegran and he was warned by the pharmacist that it may cause me to be really drowsy.  Boy was the pharmacist right.  After taking the pill, I continued to throw up AND to make things worse, I was pretty much unable to get off the couch other than to run to the bathroom.  So, I have decided that I will NOT be taking that Rx.  If I am gonna be sick anyway, I would rather not be a zombie too.  I think that I am running out of options.  I have a dr. appt tomorrow so I will check with them to see if there are any other suggestions.  They have suggested taking ginger pills so I will probably try to get some of those today.  The problem is that when I take any pills lately I throw up shortly afterwards.   But I am willing to try anything to feel better. 

Sunday and Monday were pretty uneventful days.  Dan & I were both trying to recover from being so sick, so we just stayed home and relaxed on Sunday.  Yesterday I was feeling alright so I actually accomplished a few things like vacuuming, ran the dishwasher, and a little bit of laundry.   I've been a little embarrassed about how messy my house has looked.  Don't get me wrong, Dan has done a lot to help out, but it's hard to play with and give the kids attention AND do the household chores.  So, I didn't feel like a complete failure as a wife, mom, and woman yesterday because I got a few things done and spent a little bit of time playing with the girls (I was thankful when nap times rolled around).  I'm sure you other super moms understand that feeling - especially during times of pregnancy or shortly after giving birth.  I feel like I can juggle all of my responsibilities most of the time, but this pregnancy thing is really whoopin' my butt. 

This week is a pretty laid back week.  Just workin' and home at night.  I do have a children's ministry meeting at church on Thursday night so I am hoping that Thursday is a good day.  Other than that, we don't have much going on.  I've been meaning to make plans with our old neighbors to go out to their trailer at Sandy Pines (it's new to them and they invited us out there a long time ago - just been too busy), but I haven't touched base with them and I have been delaying to see if I feel better.  I hate to make plans and then end up feeling horrible and have to cancel on them.  I will probably just make the plans with them and give them the disclaimer that we may have to back out if I am not feeling well.  They are great friends so I am sure that they would understand - I just hate to do that to people.  I'll let you know what we decide.  We really need to do something fun like that so that I have a good reason to take pics (not that I would post them, because it seems like that takes too much energy lately). 

Well, this post has gotten too long and it has been mostly about me rambling on and on about how crappy I feel.  I guess it will be just another reminder about why this is ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY my last pregnancy.  I am sure I will be back on Thursday to let you all know how the appointment went.  I'll talk at ya later!  :)

 

What a Weekend!

So, to start off our weekend, I came home after work and running errands on Friday afternoon to a little surprise.  I usually call my Father-in-Law when I leave work to find out how things have gone so that I can figure out if I have time to run my errands or if I should just head home.  He always does so well with them so he always tells me to take my time.  On Friday he suggested that I might not want to come home, which I figured meant that the girls were horrible for him and that he was going to be kind and let me stay away longer.  That wasn't the case.  He proceeded to tell me that the girls were really good for him and that they had lots of fun.  Except for one incident.  He and Kylie were painting at the table while Kennedy was sleeping.  Kylie said she had to go potty so he told her to go ahead (we usually let her go on her own since she is so good at going potty and washing her hands afterwords).  I believe he started to clean things up a little bit when he began to wonder what was taking so long.  Sometimes she plays with the water and makes a mess, but not a huge deal.  This time when he called to her she came out with a hand full of HAIR, which she cut by herself.  Now, I knew this day would come eventually, it seems like all kids do this, but I figured it would be on my watch, not someone else's.  I, of course, laughed it off because what else can you do.  The thing that I find so funny is that when Papa asked her why she did that, she matter of factly answered him..."my hair was in my face."  She also told him that "mom said it was OK."  Where does a 3 yr old come up with that kinda stuff?  I love it!  Anyway, here are some pics of our Friday.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that thanks to my sister, Manda, Kylie's hair looks much better.  I was very lucky to catch Manda at home on a Friday evening.  She helped us out HUGE.  So, here's my shout out to my little sis Manda.  Thank you for fixing this mess!

The rest of the weekend was quite uneventful in comparison.  We spent most of the day Saturday at home doing some work around the house (catching up on the cleaning).  Then we had a b-day party for Dan's cousin's little girl (1st b-day).  After our little appearance at that party, we went out to the boat for dinner.  It was kinda a hazy day so we didn't really want to go swimming.  After dinner, we had live entertainment at the marina.  One of the other docks was having a Toga Party.  Kylie & Kennedy were just watching with amazement.  It was so cute.  The adults kept it very clean because there were a lot of kiddos around.  One of the couples on that dock had a little 2 yr old daughter and even she had a little pillowcase on her for her little toga - how cute is that?!  Kylie was having so much fun watching them play their little game that she threw quite a fit when we had to leave (not a spoiled brat type of fit, but one where she genuinely didn't want to leave because she was having so much fun - not that it was justified or that she got away with it). 

On Sunday I had to work in nursery at church again and took Kylie with me.  Dan stayed home with Kennedy because we weren't going to have time to go to both.  After the service, Kylie and I came home and we got ready to go to Sam's club.  Dan and I had to get our passport pics taken so that we can go on vacation in November.  They take the pics and print them for $4.96/person (a lot cheaper than the $15 they want at the Post Office).  We also needed a few things so we got those while we waited.  After we were done there, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed home to get the kiddos down for naps so we could go to the Hower Annual B-Day Bash.  Once the kiddos woke up, we got ready again and headed out to the Hower's for some swimming and dinner.  We had a great time, but I didn't get any pics.  Kylie just loved playing on the trampoline with her older cousins (and I think they had just about as much fun).  The rain started to come down more heavily again so we headed for home to take baths and get ready for bed.  I think we were all in bed by 9 pm.  I love nights like that! 

We've got a fairly busy week ahead.  Tonight we are going to some friends for dinner (Dan has a fire dept meeting so we get together with other firefighters wives & kids).  Tuesday night we go to Craig's Cruisers with my work.  They have a great pizza buffet and lots of fun activities.  I think that Dan is looking forward to taking Kylie on a go-cart.  Wednesday night we have a b-day party for my nephew Corbin (he's turning 5).  Thursday is open and then Friday night we are doing an adult's only boat night with some friends of ours.  Still have to find a sitter for Friday night, but it usually isn't a problem.  We are blessed with lots of friends and family that like to watch our girls.  Anyway, looking forward to the weekend already (so sad).  :)  I hope you all have a good week and I'll probably check in later this week. 

It's Been Too Long

Wow, it seems like it's been forever since I posted.  I know I have done some short, non-pic posts recently, but nothing real big.  Well, I'm finally back.  So much has happened since my last big posts.  I don't even know where to begin.  First I will start by saying that this pregnancy was starting to kick my butt.  But, long story short, I am on a prescription now that makes life bearable.  I've spent the last week being very busy and very sick.  There were a few good times so that is always a good thing, but the bad times were so bad that it's sometimes hard to look past them.  Anyway, here's a little bit of what has been going on. 

Last week, Dan was in our local fair's Off-Road Derby.  He loves doing them, but it takes a lot of time to build a scrap/junk car.  You wouldn't think so, but a lot of time and tricks go into building an Off-Road derby car.  Here's a couple pics from the event.  He raced on Thursday night and finished 3rd in his heat and would have advanced, but he was afraid he had broken his car and wanted to make sure that he was able to race on Saturday.  It was actually quite amazing that he finished 3rd Thursday night because someone tried to take him out early in the race but he came back.  And he came back with a vengence.  So much so, he was trying to make up lost ground in the race and he was hauling a**.  So much so, that he took a corner too fast and hit a small hill which tipped his car over on it's side.  It wasn't the most fun ride, but they tipped him back over and allowed him to continue to race.  I was up in the grandstands so the picture wasn't as close as I would have liked it, but it gives you the idea.  Kylie was following her Daddy the entire time and realized that he was the one to flip his car.  She FREAKED out.  She would not stop crying until we went to meet him at the end of the race and she could talk to him.  I felt so bad for her because she was so worried about her daddy.  I'm thankful that she didn't have nightmares after that.  Everyone thought Dan had a really strong car on Thursday so he figured he'd do really well on Saturday.  Well, things didn't go so well.  He kept getting stuck behind 2 or 3 cars that didn't know how to drive so they kept getting hung up in the corners and Dan would get stuck behind them.  Unfortunately he finished 4th in his heat so he didn't get to move on.  On the cool side, a neighbor of ours wanted his daughter to race in the Powder Puff race so we let her borrow my car from last year.  She did quite well - finished 3rd in her heat and then 3rd in the finals (not too bad).  Now that I gave you that whole run down, here are the pics of Dan's car and racing from Thursday night.

The weekend recap...After the derby's on Thurday and then Saturday, which is pretty much an all day event, Sunday was a day of rest I was looking forward to.  However, it turn out to be that way.  I had to nursery for 1st service and I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to make it thru without puking.  God gave me the strength to get thru, but as soon as the service was done, I rushed home and was pushing hubby and kiddos out of the way to make it to the bathroom.  The rest of the day was spent in the bathroom or on the couch.  I was so grateful to have my hubby to keep the girls occupied since I could do NOTHING.  Monday was my day off and I didn't puke all day, but I felt like it pretty much ALL day.  I had to go to the Dr's office for my ultrasound and I made sure that I talked to a nurse about getting a new prescription.  She was able to get one called in for me so hubby picked it up on the way home.  I took it almost immediately and I was actually able to eat some food without feeling like I was going to puke.  YAY GOD!  That is why I feel much better and able to do this post at almost 10 pm.  Back to the ultrasound.  Before I got this new prescription, I was really hoping that I was farther along than I thouhgt I was (like 12 weeks).  Not that I want to have this baby that much earlier because I am still trying to adjust to the thought of having 2 kids less than 2 years apart.  Well, it turns out that I wasn't really as far along as I had thought.  I am now 9 weeks along with a due date of March 4, 2008.  I am alright with only being that far along now that I am feeling better, but I wasn't very excited right after the ultrasound.  Now I have to go get my normal blood work done in the next couple weeks before my 1st real physical appointment.  An interesting note about the ultrasound is that my baby has a heart beat of 162.  I am sure that at this early the baby's heart beat doesn't indicate anything (at least that is what I am telling myself because 162 seems high and high means girl).  I can never remember what the "so-called" numbers are supposed to be or that indicate the baby's sex.  Maybe someone can refresh my memory.  But, like I said, I am sure that at 9 weeks almost ALL babies have quite rapid heart beats.  I mean, ALL babies heart rates decrease a little bit as they get closer to delivery.  I guess I will just have to wait till I am 20 weeks to find out (did I ever mention that I am not very patient).  :) 

Wow, this got very very long, but a lot has happened since I last posted anything substantial.  And for all those who are waiting for another LO, I haven't opened my computer in weeks so there is nothing even in progress.  I do want to put a due date tracker in my header soon and I also want to add my ultrasound pic (I'll need help from two of my sisters for those things).  Now you are all caught up and I am up way past my bed time.  Work has been crazy busy so I should really get my rest.  Nighty-Night!