24 Weeks (2days)

24 Weeks (2 days)
taken 7/31/10

Today in Walmart Embry pointed out 'blue flowers' to me. I was kind of amazed that she put together that we were standing next to flowers, and blue ones at that, yay for her. :)

We had a fun time going to Breaker's water park in Marana for the Mom's Morning program yesterday. It starts a tad early (7:45am) and lasts for 2 hours. Basically moms and kids (who are under 48") can use the kiddie area for like $4.50. Embry was a little hesitant at first, but got pretty good at going down 3 of the slides all by herself and 2 other ones I had to push her down while she was screaming. Ha, I showed her! Anyhow, she had a blast and I think we'll be going back sometime before the summer is over.
Then we headed out to the Children's Museum to spend a few hours playing with Embry's friend, Noah. Embry loved it and had lots of fun, she especially liked the sand/light table. I swear she sat there for about a half hour just playing with the sand. Then we went with the Francisco's to Chick-Fil-A where Embry spilled her chocolate milk, played in the play area, threw a fit when we had to leave, and plopped herself face down on the floor in front of the door as I was trying to haul her outside. That's her new thing. When she gets upset, she just throws herself on the floor and whines, screams, cries. Normally I just walk away, but in public, not exactly the thing to do.
Funny Story: today while I was napping, Tony and Embry had this conversation:
T: *farting noise*
E: 'Dada, poopy'
T: 'That's right, dada does poop'
E: 'Ewwww, gross.'
Yep, that's my daughter.

In pregnancy news, I'm off pelvic rest, woohoo! I called the dr and she said she was very pleased with my ultrasound results. I also developed a weird itchy rash across my cleavage area, so I asked about that and she said from sweating etc you can get a yeast rash in certain areas and to put nystatin powder on it. It seems to be getting better. I'm getting to the point where I can tell when my bladder is full or my stomach is full because all my organs are getting squished more. Nola is still moving a lot. I can't wait to meet her. She's going to be so cute! :) I never said how I was feeling in last week's post, but not particularly good. Just the same stuff, but more of it...pain. Tony has been quite helpful though, giving me massages and trying to stretch out my sciatica. That's about it I guess. Dr. appt next week and then I'll find out when the next ultrasound is. Ooh, and I went and bought Nola one of those side snap t-shirt/long sleeved shirt/pant combo's for wearing in the hospital. It's super cute because it's zebra themed, so she will match my hospital gown. I LOVE MATCHING OUTFITS!

Comparison Picture

Ok, posting again, just because I put this pic of Embry the day she was born next to the 3D profile of Nola. Yep, they look alike. :)

23W5D Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound this morning and it was great! The placenta has moved up more so it's pretty far from my cervix and they couldn't find the remaining clot, so either it broke up or was reabsorbed into my body. Looks like we're in the clear for now, woohoo!!! Nola looks great too. She's measuring right on target and her heartbeat was around 138bpm. The tech took a few 3D shots and I think she's going to look a lot like Embry. The tech said you can't see if a baby has dimples on 3D ultrasounds, so we'll be eagerly awaiting her arrival to see all her cute little features. Mmm, I love her so much. The tech also made sure to point out her 'hamburger bun, patty, and bun' which I thought was rather humorous. Nola was putting her foot in and out of her mouth most of the time, it was so cute to watch. I have an appt with my OB next week, but I think I'll be calling her sooner to see if she thinks we can stop the pelvic rest now that things look good. She said last time that it'd be over if the bleeding stopped and the clot dissapeared, so things are looking up in that department.

23 Weeks (1 day)

23 Weeks
Taken 7/22/10

I'm actually posting 'real' belly shots for the first time this pregnancy. I hadn't because, well, I've got stretch marks and then some more on top of the old ones and it just isn't pretty. Now I figure, who really cares? Nobody except me, I'm sure, so whatever.

I'm 23 weeks along and feeling Nola move a ton. She jumps around, punches, kicks, etc all the time. You can even see it from the outside now, it's great. Tony's felt her move a number of times and watched it from the outside too. It's so exciting to be constantly reminded that she's growing, developing, and still alive in there.

I stopped bleeding about a week ago. I was hesitant to say anything because I figured it would just start up again, but it hasn't. I'm thinking this is probably a good thing, but it also means the remaining clot isn't passing, but it might just be reabsorbed into my body. Our ultrasound is on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to seeing if the clot has grown, shrunk, stayed the same, or gone away. I'm guessing the placenta will just keep moving away from the cervix, so I hope I'm right about that.

Embry: sleeping in her big girl room is going great! She even got into bed all my herself the other night without me plopping her down in there. We need to move her bed so there's more wall space and then I'd like to move the bookshelf out of the nursery and into her room and paint it pink. I've been working on potty training her the past couple of days...it's umm interesting. She had started telling us when she'd poop and pee about a week ago, so I figured now was as good of a time as any to see if we could make some progress. She hasn't peed in the potty at all yet, only on the floor, but she did poop in the potty once. It was more of an accident than anything, but I still made a huge deal of it and gave her m&m's. She looked at me, made a weird face, said poopy and I quick threw her on the potty and out it came. She was actually a bit shocked I think. Then she warmed up once I started clapping and cheering, etc. She tells me when she's going or when she just went, but not beforehand...I guess that's the whole point of potty training.

22 Weeks

22 Weeks
taken 7/15/10

I had an OB appt last Thurs and naturally the perinatal assessment dept didn't send her the ultrasound results, but she seemed pleased with what I told her. She said I'm still on pelvic rest till the bleeding stops (which I think it might have, but can't be quite sure) and the second clot has dissolved or passed. I go in for another ultrasound on the 27th and then I have another OB appt the beginning of August.

I had my Rheumatology appointment which was a huge pain because the insurance company messed up again. Anyhow, got in finally and it was just a 'yep this is what's going on, yep, I know you can't do anything for it, yep, refill my prescription. K bye' kind of an appointment. The dr seemed nice enough, he's taking over for my old dr who started his own practice in CA.

Embry slept in her big girl bed for the first time last night. She stood at the door pounding on it and crying/screaming for about 15 min, then gave up and went to sleep in her bed. After that, I didn't hear a peep from her all night until she got up this morning, so yay!
In other news, I've recently been experiencing more of my lupus symptoms. Nothing I can't handle, just thought it was odd that they'd come about all of a sudden. Although with the stress of the scare we had, it really doesn't seem that weird I guess. Anyhow, so mainly fatigue, hand/foot/mouth/nose sores, joint pain, sciatica, and headaches. All the usual stuff. Good thing is, I'm still pregnant! Woohoo!

21 Weeks

3D Face shot

3D profile, arm and ear

profile

another profile with foot above stomach

the remaining clot

21 week belly shot
taken 7/8/10

a foot

profile with hand above belly

3D shot of eyes, nose, mouth and arm next to face

We had an ultrasound on Wednesday and it was great! The news was that one clot has passed and the other one is still about the same size (like 1.4cm x 3cm) but it has moved a lot further away from my cervix. So that's all good, but my placenta has only slightly moved. Before the edge of it was just over the cervix and now it's pretty much right next to the cervix, still almost on it. So it is moving in the right direction, just very slowly.

The ultrasound tech was awesome and spent about 30 minutes just looking around. She got some great 3D shots and wouldn't give up until she got a good profile picture. That made me happy :) and not to toot my own horn, but my baby is so cute! Based on ultrasound pics, I think Nola will look a lot like Embry. Looks like she has the same nose and lips from the profile shots. I love her. I just want to hold her and squeeze her and give her lots of kisses!

I don't think I ever mentioned that I stopped nursing Embry after we got back from Maryland. I'm proud of myself. Although recently she's been having major issues (I think due to teething) and I sometimes wish I could just fix it, but I can't. She'll fall down or something, which normally doesn't phase her, and then cry uncontrollably for 30 minutes while I hold her. Nothing will calm her down...except maybe Elmo.

She won't share no matter what. She will take every toy that someone else has even if there are 100 other toys to play with. Then I have to rip it out of her hands while she throws a fit and give it back to the kid who had it in the first place. It's rather embarrassing, although I'm sure most parents understand since they go through the same thing themselves. I took her to the stay and play at the library on Tuesday and she had a great time, I think we'll be going semi-regularly from now on. They had just open play for about 45 minutes, then songs and dancing and instruments, it was fun. Last friday I had the girls over from my mops discussion group for swimming and pizza...besides embry stealing everyone's toys, it was a lot of fun! Today I'm going to clean up and then have some ladies over from the mom's group for swimming and snacks, I'm looking forward to it since Embry is being a complete crankster and swimming brightens her mood. :)

Oh ps, our white car stopped working. I knew this was bound to happen sometime soon. Argh. Tony's dad is coming over on Saturday to take a look at it. Basically when you stop or turn, then press on the gas, it won't accelerate and then all the lights on the dash come on. Then you have to pull over and restart it to get it going again. I pray it's an easy and inexpensive fix. We need a van. I'm so serious. Speaking of small cars, I was at costco the other day and I came out and a smart car was parked next to me...I stood there thinking, I can't fit my stuff from costco into my car, what in the world are these people getting that will fit in a smart car?!

Oh Also, we've been working on getting Embry's 'big girl room' all set up. It's sooo adorable, I want to move in there! I'll post pics once it's done, but for now, we left 2 walls orange and then painted the opposite walls hot pink. Her toddler bed is from Ikea and a bubble gum pink with red feet. Then my mom helped me sand down the dresser (which was very ugly from the 70's) and she watched Embry yesterday while I primed it and painted it the exact color of the bed (bubble gum pink). Now I need to get cute drawer pulls to put on there, like flowers, or red knobs or something. I also got these awesome curtains that are vertical striped with white, hot pink, light pink, lime green, blue, red, yellow, and orange. I can't wait till it's all done!

20 Weeks

20 Weeks
Taken 7/1/10

I've reached the halfway point, yahoo!

Nola has been moving a lot more over the past week and Tony even got to feel it once! She moves mostly at night when I'm laying down and I just have time to concentrate on what she's doing. This is very reassuring to me. I just hope she's not having a good time kicking her placenta cuz we don't want that getting jiggled around.

Our ultrasound is on Wed and I'm excited to get some answers and see how everything's going in there. According to the dr, the placenta should be moved away from my cervix and the clots should be getting smaller based on the type/amount of blood loss I'm having. It will be good to see sweet little Nola again too, I just love her.

We (or really I should say Tony because I didn't move anything) moved both of my desks downstairs and out of the office and put the guest bed in the office with tony's desk. Tony then put together Embry's toddler bed and my mom is resizing one of my hello kitty bedding sets to fit her bed. The walls in that room are orange and I'm going to paint 2 of them pink, so it will be a very bright, fun, girly room when I'm through with it. We haven't tried to put Embry to sleep in her toddler bed yet, but we've showed it to her and she likes it quite a bit. She lays down and sits up over and over while saying, 'bed! bed! bed!' Somehow I don't think she'll be too thrilled when she realizes we've left the room and locked the door behind us. Oh well, I'm sure we'll all manage. I'm still not sure what to do with the dresser that's in there. Tony is using 3 drawers of it for his clothes and video games. I was thinking of trying to paint it white and then put neat pink handles on the drawers, but I'm not sure if it'll work to paint something with such a shiny veneer.

I'm really enjoying having my computer/sewing machine/scrapbook stuff downstairs. I do a lot in photoshop and Embry hated being cooped up in the office while I worked on pictures (or whatever else) so now I'm downstairs with her and I can edit pictures to my heart's content.

We're thinking of refinancing our house which would lower our interest rate over a percentage point and thus lower our payments about $150/month. I'm still not sure how good of a deal it is though. We have to put a lot of thought into this big of a decision. Tony also found out this week that he got a raise at work, which is fantastic! He works so hard and he's incredibly smart, I'm glad they are recognizing all his efforts. Plus, we really need to start saving money for a minivan. I'm serious. I went with my friend Sarah today in my car to run errands and we put Embry in her carseat and her baby in an infant car seat, then I had my stroller in the truck (bonus, need to get a double stroller which is even bigger), and we barely had room for the stuff we got at walmart...it was a tight squeeze. Anyhow, it's all a lot to think about.