Nola is 5 Weeks Old!

5 Weeks old
Taken 12/1/10

Oy, this week has been one for the books. There is something wrong with me. First it was just my back, then it was only the right side of my back and right shoulder with something weird going all spazzy when I ate. Then since I could only sleep on my left side, that whole side ended up getting very sore from arthritis. The dr sent me in for an ultrasound of my gallbladder which looked totally normal and now is trying to get me in for a HIDA scan which checks the functionality of the gallbladder instead of just looking for stones and infection. Problem is, we have to wait for the insurance to authorize it and in the meantime, I'm in pain. Lots of pain. I've tried ice, I've tried heat, I've tried stretching, I've tried massage...anything is just a temporary fix, if a fix at all. Yesterday out of desperation, I went to the ER. The dr there pretty much sucked. He said he didn't think it was my gallbladder so he wouldn't do the HIDA scan and he thought it was muscular. Basically they did blood work and a urinalysis (which just showed my potassium and sodium are low) and sent me home. It was rather infuriating.

I can't believe Nola is over a month old already. I swear, I feel like I just got home from the hospital with her. Nola seems to be sleeping slightly better and we're trying out a new plan. Tony gets up with her once during the night to feed her formula because I'm thinking she might sleep longer that way. Last night was the first night trying it out and it went fine, so we'll see if my plan has any merit. Either way, I'll be getting more sleep because I'll be skipping a feeding during the night and that alone is a huge blessing. Weird thing is that since having Nola, Embry has been waking up screaming at night, like she's having a nightmare. She probably gets that from me because I have nightmares all the time...poor thing.

The first month or so that Nola was home, she was pretty easy going. She hardly ever cried and just kinda whimpered when she needed something. I thought maybe she'd be the laid-back baby that Embry wasn't...I was wrong. She's started crying a TON over the last week or so. It seems that the only way to keep her calm (and sometimes that doesn't even work) is to either feed her or hold her. Oh, but a good thing is that she enjoys riding in the car most of the time. So the crying thing has not helped my daytime sleeping ability. Today was the first time in a week that I've gotten a nap, and boy was it heavenly!

Ha, I almost forgot, Nola had her first Thanksgiving! It was lots of fun besides the fact that I was upstairs half the time trying to fix my back. Anyhow, Tony's mom, Allison, Alex, and his dad came over as well as my parents, Donny, Oasis, and Maisie. The food was delicious (thanks to Tony, his mom, and my mom...cuz all I made was the monkey bread) and we got some really cute pictures of the family outside. I also got a picture that I have envisioned for a while...our girls with both sets of grandparents! :) Then that night Tony's mom, Allison, and I went over to our friend's house to play games which was hysterically fun, I love games and friends. The day after Thanksgiving Allison and I went to do a bit of shopping and then Saturday Allison got the flu that Embry had and so did my mom. Then Donny and Oasis also got it as well as tony's mom. Apparently it's a very strong strain. Saturday before Tony's family left we took the girls with Alex and Doro to the desert museum which was really fun and I can't wait to go back!

34 Weeks

34 Weeks

Taken 10/7/10

My contractions are becoming more frequent/intense. I'm guessing they're braxton hicks, but what the heck do I know? Basically my stomach/back get all tight and I feel like I'm being suffocated. It's not a pleasant feeling but I wouldn't really say it 'hurts' either. Anyhow, so I thought I was going nuts and just imagining stuff until the NST's this week finally started picking them up! On Monday it showed I was having moderate contractions every 5 minutes while I was there. You'd think someone would have been like, ooh why's that going on, but my nurse didn't even mention it while the other nurse said 'oh, looks like you're having contractions' to which I said, 'yes I feel that.' Then at my NST today, I only had one but it was a huge one, like to the top of the contraction box and lasted for about 1.5 minutes. Anyhow, if they're not concerned then I'm guessing it's nothing to lose sleep over. Especially when I'm gonna have a newborn in about a month.

Eeeeeeek! I'm gonna have a newborn in about a month!!! I don't know if I'm ready for this. That happens to be a popular question these days...'are you ready?' The answer: 'of course not!' Are you ever really ready for something like that?! You can't possibly be prepared because there's no possible way to know what it's going to be like, or what your baby will be like, or how your daughter will like/dislike/act as an older sibling. There are tons of variables and the most I'm hoping for out of it is to get some sleep...which in itself is a rather tall order. I'd like to sleep when the baby sleeps, but unless there's someone else here to take care of Embry, well then, I won't be sleeping unless they're both sleeping at the same time. Just thinking about this is stressing me out.

We got Embry a play house, which she loves, from a neighbor's garage sale last weekend. Good timing too because I'm sure we'll be spending lots of time in the backyard now that it's starting to cool off. I really don't like all the dramatics of leaving the park when we go to play at the park. I really love watching her have fun, but leaving is a whole other story. I can hear it now, Embry buckled into the carseat, screaming, 'sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide! *sniffle sniffle* sliiiiiiiiiiiiiide!' Yep, I don't like it. Sooo, we bought a swingset off of craigslist. It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Here's a link to it on the toys r us website. We got it used (18 months old) for $450, so really, how could I possibly pass up a deal like that? Now the issue is getting it disassembled, into a truck, across town, and set up in our yard. Oh and moving all the rocks that are now occupying the area where it will be placed. Then after that is all done, we'll have to figure out something to do with the pool fence so the swingset and grass area can both be accessed at the same time without entering into the pool area. Luckily some of the guys from our young marrieds group have volunteered to help Tony on Sat morning with all of that stuff so at least it will be set up and ready to play on. The fence thing we can figure out later. Oh and I found out that 2 tons of rubber mulch is incredibly expensive, just an fyi.

8w1d

Here is a pic of me after the ultrasound. The head is on the left there and then the body on the right. You can see two little white arm buds as well.

I went for my 8 week ob appt yesterday. It was extremely uneventful. All she did was measure my stomach and asked if I had any questions. I forgot to ask her where my placenta is, but I did ask how she felt about pictures being taken during and shortly after the delivery. She gave me a shpeel about the hospital's photo policy (can't take any of the waist and down of the mom) and said once she puts the baby on my chest then we can take whatever we want. She said the ultrasound looked good and she wants to see me in 2 weeks to hear the heartbeat on the fetal dopplar. My appt is on the 22nd.

In other news, Embry actually fell asleep on me yesterday morning. She hasn't done that since she was about 3 months old. It was great! Then I tried to put her in her crib and she immediately woke up. Tony's been a tremendous help the past week or so when I've needed to get some more rest. One day he came home early, took Embry and left so I could go to bed. I slept pretty much straight from 5:30pm-6am. Then Wed night he came home and I went straight to sleep before a meeting while he watched Embry and folded laundry. I'm so glad I have a husband who's so willing to help out. :)

Week 51

So I was kinda hoping in the back of my mind to get Embry's scrapbook done in time to display it at her first birthday party, but that's not going to happen seeing as I haven't even started it yet. The farthest I've gotten is making a pile of the pictures I want to put in it and setting it next to my computer so I can go through all my picture files and date the photos so they can be put in chronological order. I haven't even finished my pregnancy scrapbook yet. I think I'm on week 34 of that one. Bleh. It's hard to keep Embry entertained in the office and the bonus is that she opens every single cabinet and drawer and ends up playing with a bunch of pens, markers, notecards, pictures, etc...anything she can get her hands on. I've been super tired lately too, so when she naps I either lounge or take a nap too. Tony seems to think that I'm so tired because I've been getting too much sleep but I keep telling him that I don't think it's possible for someone with lupus to get too much sleep. I've been trying to get to bed shortly after Embry goes to bed (so this means 8pm, I know, I'm a loser) and sleeping till she wakes up around 8:30am. Seeing as before I was pregnant I was sleeping between 14-16 hours a day, this still doesn't qualify as enough sleep.

This brings me to my next point, I'm not sure if I really want another kid. I asked Tony about it, he definitely wants more, but he can't actually give me a reason why. Although I think it's hard to qualify why you want something like another child. Anyhow, if I am this tired with one then how will it be with 2? Bleh, I just don't know. I guess whatever God wants is what's going to happen so I might as well not analyze it to death. There's also the thought that I love Embry so terribly much I don't feel that same sort of longing for another child as I did to have her. Then I guess I'm also scared that the next kid could be a rotten egg, you know, a bad apple. Embry's such a good baby and so much fun, I guess we've been spoiled into thinking all kids are like her, but in reality they're not.

Halloween was pretty great. I had taken back the candy I had bought because I thought we were going to be in Phoenix for trick-or-treating, so I went and bought a bunch before the sun went down. Then we put Embry in her turkey outfit and took her to about 5 houses right around here. She walked the whole way and looked like such a big girl. Of course everyone thought she was a boy, but they don't make turkey outfits with big bows on the top. Then we came back and tried handing out candy from inside the house but everytime I would open the door Embry would quick go outside and then throw a fit when I took her back in. I decided it would be easier to sit outside and strap her into her swing while I handed out candy. I was quite disappointed that some parents and older teens were trick or treating without even bothering to put on costumes. That's just ridiculous! After I ran out of candy about halfway through I rummaged through our snack cabinet and found a big bag of blowpops, so I handed those out along with some individually wrapped mints. I also took a sucker for myself and realized that the gum in the middle was rock hard...woops! Luckily those kids will have no idea who gave them the stale lollipops. :)

Here's a pic of Embry in her turkey costume: