Embry's 3 Years Old!

Another birthday has come and gone! This party was much easier to prepare for than Nola's was. I ordered subs and slushies from Eegee's as the main food source which cut down on a lot of prep time. The cake was fairly simple since I bought a cake decorating kit (including the cars, the trees, and the bridge) and then used colormist food coloring spray to color the cake instead of actually dying the frosting. I made deviled eggs and pasta salad for sides and my mom made her famous baked beans, pink stuff, and potato salad. I made a photo banner of Embry from ages 2-3 which turned out very cute and cut out some letters for the wall message and printed Dora and Diego characters I found online to hang up on the wall too. My mom spent a lot of time drawing all of the Dora and Diego characters to make 2 banners for the living room which were super cute! We rented a Dora jumping castle which is a whole story in itself.

The chance of rain was down to 15% (started at 60%) for the party and it was raining all morning leading up to the party. When the jumping castle arrived (early around 11am) Embry was so excited. She watched through the window as they set it up and before her nap I asked if she wanted to go jump for a few minutes. She ran through the house excitedly yelling about jumping in her Dora jumping castle and I followed. The second she got to the back door and I opened it, she froze and started screaming 'nooooo!' She really did not want to go in it. So I picked her up and took her in anyway where she proceeded to cry and cling to me like her life depended on it. She claimed she didn't want to get wet, but that really didn't make any sense because she LOVES water, so I'm not sure what her deal was. However once the party started and it wasn't raining anymore (and dada wiped down the inside of the castle with towels) she was more than happy to spend a LONG time jumping and screeching with delight. It did rain during the party, but all in all, it turned out pretty good. We stood under the porch to hit the pinata. None of the smaller children had any hopes of breaking it, but eventually I ripped it apart and dumped the candy out. All was well.



The day after the party, on Embry's actual birthday, Tony had taken the day off work so we went to McDonalds for breakfast and then to the desert museum. Embry loves the desert museum and she walked around holding one of our hands most of the time instead of being in the stroller. We got to see a lot of animals and Embry was very happy.
Then we dropped Nola off at my parent's house and took Embry to eat at Panda Express and then to Harkins to see 'Puss in Boots'. Embry really likes Shrek, so we figured this was up her alley. She had such a good time! She used a booster seat, never tried to get up, ate her popcorn, drank her fruit punch, and held our hands. It was PERFECT. It was a really great experience for all of us.
I watch my friends two kids on Monday nights so once we got home, I packed Embry up and headed to pick up her friends for dinner at McDonalds and about 2 hours in the playplace. Embry couldn't have been happier, it was fantastic.

We went to MOPS on Tuesday where I worked in childcare most of the meeting and both Embry and Nola picked up colds. So now they're sick and I feel bad for them, but since I just got over my sinus infection I'm really hoping they don't pass it on to me. I finished my antibiotics about 4 days ago and I still have a fever around 100 which will not go away. I called the rheumatologist and left a message to see if he wants to see me and the primary care dr was stupid and told me to take some tylenol and see if it goes away. Hello, am I an idiot? Of course I've been taking tylenol and I've had this fever for 2.5 weeks already, I'm pretty sure it's not just going away! Not to be a debbie downer, but Tony took off work for an hour this morning because I had a follow up appt with the podiatrist and the kids are sick, so Tony watched them while I went to the appt. Turns out they didn't put the appt into their computer and the dr was already running behind so they couldn't fit me in. I'd like to point out that it's not 'fitting me in' if I had an appointment and the dr's office staff didn't do their job correctly. Anyhow, vent over and I'm going to bed!

Nola is 5 Months Old!

I took Nola for her 4 mo check up on 3/29 (over a month late) and here are her stats:
weight: 14lbs 5oz (25-50%)
Height: 25" (25-50%)
Head: 39.5 cm (<5th %)
The dr said she should be rolling over between 4-6mos and that we should work on it with her. We hardly ever give her 'tummy time' because she spits up so much more (if that's even possible) when she's on her stomach, but we'll be starting that more now. Also, the dr prescribed her some Prevacid for her spit up issues. We upped her formula intake to 8oz every 3 hours, but she only keeps down about half of it. She gave her the dissolvable tablets and I tried to give her one this morning, hahaha, total failure. She kinda went like 'what's this?' and then started gagging and threw up all over the couch. So, we'll be dissolving it in a teaspoon of water from now on and then squirting it in her mouth with a med dropper. Much easier than cleaning the couch. I hope this helps because the poor girl is in a constant state of wetness. I mean really, I can't change her clothes as often as she soaks them and I know how gross it feels to sit in wet clothes. Bleh. Anyhow, I'll keep updating as to how it's working!

I finally got my hip mri done. After wasting a bunch of time making phone calls, I found out that the dr's office was waiting for my insurance to send them a pre-authorization before they sent the dr's order to the radiology place. Well the insurance co had sent the pre-auth straight to the radiology place, so they were waiting for the dr's order. I swear, NOBODY KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING! Anyhow, so I went in yesterday morning (at 7, didn't get out till 9:25) and when the tech was getting me prepped I asked if she was going to do the dye scan. She said that since the dr didn't think I had an infection or anything that she didn't think we'd need to do the dye. Well after the first mri, she took me out and said, 'I think we better do the dye too.' This makes me wonder if she saw something on the first one that she thought might be 'wrong' and wanted a more thorough picture or maybe she just wanted to cover all her bases. They said it'd be 2-3 business days to get the results from the hematologist. I'm hoping to get some kind of answer because this amount of pain can't be deemed 'normal'.

I'm kind of sad knowing that I'll never be pregnant again.

Tony and I had our first counseling session through the peer counseling service at church. It was interesting and will probably be helpful. I think counselors have this ability to stare at someone in complete silence and not feel weird. I don't have that ability.

Allison's baby shower is this Saturday, so we'll be going up to Phx tomorrow after Tony gets home from work. I'm hoping to prep the food tomorrow so then it's ready to be cooked in Phx. I want to go to the Renaissance fair while we're up there, but we'll see if that actually happens.

Progress

I'm slowly but surely getting back to 'normal' whatever that means. However I woke up this morning with what seems to be a head cold and I'm pretty scared that it could turn into something worse. I am NOT going back to the hospital!

So, for progress, I can now:

• go up and down the stairs, alternating feet like normal, without someone else's help
• get into the tub and bathe by myself, getting out I still need help
• take a shower alone
• get up from the toilet without assistance (this is a biggie and makes me so happy)
• walk without help or a walker or holding onto something
• DRIVE (this is fantastic and on the way home from being discharged from the hospital I was so scared thinking of how I was ever going to drive again. I've come a long way in 2 weeks and I'm so grateful to God for his amazing healing hand).
• Do my hair. Apparently I had a very bad ponytail while on life support, so now it's time to get back to looking cute, ha. Oh, ps, if you have any pics from the hospital (esp any of me on the ventilator) please email them to me. Thanks.
• Hold Nola and put her over my shoulder to burp, although not for an extended period of time
• Get up from pretty much any seat without help and without holding onto anything except my knees, YAY!!!

Nola is doing great! She slept entirely through the night on the 18th and has normally been only getting up once to be changed and eat and then going back to sleep. I am also sleeping better, so we're all a lot happier. She had her 2 month check up on the 18 with her new ped and she weighed 10lbs 15oz, was 23.5 inches long, and her head circumference was in the 5% at 37.5 cm around. Embry also had a check up and was 26 lbs, 33&3/4" tall, and her head circumference was 48 cm. Nola got 4 shots and a nasal drop thingy and she cried for a minute or so, then she took her bottle and all was well again. She did have some swelling at the injection sites later, but Tony gave her some tylenol and she was fine. Oddly, while we were there and I was filling out paperwork in the exam room, I overheard a nurse and the dr talking about how one of their patients was the step-son of Pam Golden (my amazing OB who basically saved my life on more than one occasion). So being the nosey person that I am, I piped up and said, 'oh Dr Pamela Golden? Is there any way I can get a hold of her?' and proceeded to explain what all went on and how she was the one who thought I might have a blood clot etc etc. They said I could write her a note and they'd try to get it passed along to her, so that's what I did. I really feel the need to thank her, it's not very often you find a dr like her and she needs to know how much it means to me that she actually cared.

Speaking of Drs...my pcp's nurse called me on Tuesday and said that she meant to call me earlier but their computers were down and she didn't have my #, but that Dr. Morris wanted to schedule a post-hospital appt with me. Ha. I said, 'well, I actually won't be seeing him anymore' and she just said 'ok, I'll let him know.' She seemed somewhat surprised, but I think she kinda caught the drift of what all went down and having kids herself I'm sure she wouldn't want them to receive the same kind of care that I did in that situation. I just don't want anyone else to get treated the way I did, get the brush off, and then end up on life support, or even worse, die. It's just not right.

Good news is that my insurance rocks and the bill for having Nola and the bill for this whole stint in the hospital were less than HALF of what I expected them to be. Another miracle I'm sure because God knows we could use some and he's definitely providing for us. :) I just pray that medicare doesn't go down the tubes with the health care bill cuz dang, I'd be up a river without a paddle. Then again, life's too short to worry, so yay for having good health care right now. Booyah.

My friend Kristy came to visit from WI last week and it was FANTASTIC! We used to do EVERYTHING together, we were pretty much inseparable and it was nice to feel so comfortable around someone. She's 5 mos pregnant and it wasn't an easy road to get there, so I was super excited to see and feel her baby belly and suggest that she name her baby boy Rourke just because I like it. :) We did some major shopping at the JBF sale, Target, Container Store, etc and she went through my maternity clothes (since I definitely won't be using them again) and picked out a few items. Needless to say, her suitcase was a little full upon her departure, but at least she got it zipped! We watched movies, went to MOPS, went to book club (she even read about 70% of the book with just a few days notice), went to Phoenix (to visit with Jamie), and went to girl's night. I'm so glad I'm able to get out more now because being cooped up at home is sooo not my thing!

Speaking of not using maternity clothes...we had the consult with the urologist and I think we've decided not to bank Tony's sperm before hand. We figure if there's a 97% success rate for the vasectomy reversal, then if someday he falls into the 3% it doesn't work on, he's just not meant to have any more biological children. As far as us having more kids, we haven't ruled it out. I've always pictured myself as a mom of 3 girls and Tony wants more kids (a boy in particular, but just more than 2 in general), so we're still throwing around the idea of adoption. We've always felt called to adopt (Tony's mom was adopted and I've wanted to since before I was married), but with the recent health issues I'm not even sure if it's an option anymore, even as foster/adopt. Either way, it wouldn't become a 'real' thing for quite a while so I'll keep you updated as we investigate further. I love babies and I LOVE being pregnant, so I'm kinda hurt that I never will be again. It's very trivial, but it still kinda stings.

The formula feeding is going really well. Nola doesn't seem to be having any issues with it and besides one small episode of leakage, things on my end are holding up rather well. I'm not so worried about mastitis anymore and I feel fine in that area, so yay.

The dr said to watch for any hardening under the skin in the 2 areas where I had the pic lines (my groin and my right bicep). Well, I found a very small hard lump right at the incision site to my groin pic line, but of course it was over the weekend, so I'll be calling them tomorrow morning to ask them about it. The arm one seems to be healing up rather well, but I doubt the bruising will go away for a while since I'm on blood thinners, but whatev. Till then I'll just look like I've been beaten and am addicted to nicotine because of this lovely blood pressure patch, good times.

I pretty much stopped doing the breathing treatments and I haven't gotten the results of the latest chest x-ray back yet. I go in to see the main dr on Wed so I'll know then what it showed. The x-ray lab actually gave me a dvd of the images, but I can't for the life of me get it to run on my computer. :/ It actually made my heart jump when the x-ray technician told me I had to strip down and put on a hospital gown for the visit...hospital gown, no thank you, I've had enough of those to last me a lifetime. So of course, I took a picture.

36 Weeks

We went pumpkin picking last Sunday at Apple Annies and got a million great pictures, so I'm sharing our newest family picture. :)

36 Weeks
Taken 10/21/10

Good news came today! I'm 1 cm dilated! Woooo! Ok so I know this means absolutely nothing, but I'll take anything I can get at this point! I had my normal NST and then went to the OB who I told about all my pain issues. Basically Nola's head is up against my cervix (which is a good thing except for all the pressure in the nether-regions) and then her body is curled on the right side of my stomach with her butt smashed into my ribs. This means that my back is in a lot of pain and is the reason I feel like I'm being suffocated when I have a contraction. I told the dr that she probably wouldn't like it, but I've been self medicating with percocet that was left over from my root canal so I could actually sleep at night. She said it was fine and actually wrote me out another prescription for it since I was running low. She did my group beta strep test which means I'll get the restults in a few days. I asked her thoughts on tearing vs episiotomy and she said she hardly ever gives an episiotomy, so that was the right answer in my opinion. She did want to schedule another ultrasound for around 11/11, but we're both kind of hoping I don't actually make it that long.

We had our ultrasound on Tuesday morning. It went really well and I got an adorably cute 3D pic of Nola's face. I can't wait to meet her! During the U/S I had the tech look at my cervix and it was completely closed and she tried to jostle Nola in order to get her head to move off of it and she wouldn't budge. So apparently I've dilated 1cm in the last 2 days. She estimated her weight to be 6 lbs and the cysts in the placenta are pretty much all considered 'venus lakes' now which are apparently completely normal. The tech said Nola's head was on the small side but her belly was measuring like a week ahead of schedule. It also looks like she has pretty chubby cheeks from the 3D shot...so I guess we'll have to wait and see!

My baby shower is this Sunday. I'm so excited! I can't wait to hang out with everyone and just get to chat and eat and have fun and relax. Tony's mom and sis will be here tomorrow morning and leave on Monday morning, so hopefully that means more nap time for me...but I have a ton of stuff to do anyhow. Let's make a list:
1. sew halloween costumes (umm let's state also that I have no idea what I'm doing)
2. move bookshelf into Embry's room and paint it pink
3. move embry's name letters into her room and hang them
4. put up Nola's name letters in the nursery
5. finish unpacking 0-3 month clothes in nursery
6. put away all of Embry's laundry (in other words, like 50 outfits)
7. wash, peel labels from, and cut up the rest of these stupid milk jugs :)
8. prep the angel ornament fabric (cut into 2 size circles with pinking shears)
9. cut cereal boxes into 3.5"x3.5" squares
10. finish decorations for Embry's bday party
11. put together gift bags for party
12. get stuff for Embry's bday cake and figure out what in the world I'm doing
13. sew hello kitty bib, boppy cover, burp cloth, swaddle blanket, and carseat handle cover
14. take Embry's 2 year pics

29 Weeks

29 Weeks
Taken 9/2/10

I went to the OB on Monday. She said the cysts in my placenta are insignificant. They'll continue to do monthly ultrasounds to make sure Nola is growing on track and that will tell us if the cysts are causing any problems. Most likely all will be well. My feet started swelling on Sunday (I'm guessing from the deep bathroom cleaning I did) and she just said to keep them elevated or go swimming. My blood pressure was totally fine, like 114/70, so no worries there. My weight was up to 162 according to their incredibly skewed scale. I started my Non-stress tests today. They'll be every Monday and Thursday at 3pm till the end of the pregnancy. I've been having some contractions (I'm guessing just braxton hicks) and we'll see how that gets translated in the NST. I didn't really have any today while I was there. Basically they take you into an ultrasound room, do a very quick u/s (like 2 min) and measure the fluid levels in 4 quadrants and look at the heart. Then you go into another room with about 5 recliners and monitoring computers and you get the 2 stomach belts strapped on to monitor the baby's heartbeat and contractions. You sit there for 20 minutes and the nurses are looking for at least 2 accelerations of the baby's heartbeat within a 20 min period. That is what happened today and it was actually pretty relaxing for me. I told them I'd be coming in everday just to rest. :) Oooh, next ultrasound is scheduled for Sept 21.

I called my insurance co and they said that the hospital wasn't supposed to charge me the $80 extra for the ultrasound. Hopefully they can get that straightened out without a lot of hassle. I'm now wondering if my trip to the ER was actually supposed to be $50 (like it says in the insurance book) instead of the $205 they ended up charging me. I should probably look into that.

The house refinance went through, so woohoo! We did pretty well keeping to our budget in August except for the fact that we had unexpected car repairs and I got a crown on my molar, so those things combined put us in the red once again. Sept should be good since we don't have to pay our full mortgage payment this month. Hopefully we can put all that we get back from our escrow account into savings.

Speaking of money, I got some cute matching outfits for Nola and Embry at Target. One is a sweatshirt/onesie/pants combo with elephants on it and the other is cute gray tights with a purple ruffled shirt. I can't wait to dress them up and take pictures, argh, such overwhelming cuteness awaits!

25 weeks (1 day)

25 weeks
Taken 8/5/10

I'm 25 weeks pregnant, wahoo!

I had an appt with the OB today. It was uneventful. Heard the heartbeat, which was great and that's about it. I'll be having ultrasounds every 4 weeks from now on, so the next one is the end of August. I got the order form for the 1 hour glucose test and then at I believe 28 weeks, I'll be going in for 2 non-stress tests each week until the end of the pregnancy. Oh, I guess the most interesting part of the appointment was taking my weight. According to their scale (which I swear weighs you 5 lbs heavier than a normal scale) I'm now at ... ... ... 152 lbs. Eeek. I guess I'll be fine as long as I don't exceed what I weighed with Embry (which was 167 lbs). Although that doesn't give me much room for weight gain in the next 15 weeks.

I'm very tired and my sciatica says, 'ow'.

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!

12 Week Appt

My appointment is today. I'm nervous. I really hope we hear a good strong heartbeat.

I was sick with the stomach flu, I haven't gained any weight, I normally feel my pulse through my back when I lay flat on my back (while pregnant) and I haven't lately, I haven't been as tired, I haven't been nauseous at all, my poo is back to normal.

I hope these are all the diminished symptoms just mean that I'm moving into the 2T and it's smooth sailing for the next 12 weeks, but of course, I can't help that nagging feeling in the back of my mind that maybe there's some other reason for feeling better.

Appt is at 11am. Tony's meeting me there. I'll update afterwards.

UPDATE:

Baby bean is alive! Woohooo! The nurse weighed me and goes, 'um you've lost weight' and I told her how I had the stomach flu. Then my BP was 114/60 and the dr measured my uterus (12.75 cm). She did the dopplar, we heard a heartbeat, yay! Then Tony started video taping, so here you go!




Beforehand I was nice and optimistic and went to Kohl's to find Embry a 'Big Sister' shirt. They only had 1, it was on clearance, but it is size 3T, so it's a smidge big. I took some pics of her in it after I got home and I must say, she's freakin adorable. I love my baby girl. Baby Bean is gonna be in serious trouble if he/she isn't as cute as Embry. ;)

10 wks

10 Weeks

Taken 4/22/10

I went in for my 10 week OB appt today and got to hear the heartbeat on the Doppler. It was nice and strong about 140 bpm. I'm going back in 2 weeks to hear it again and Tony will come with me then too. I haven't gained any weight as of yet and I'm eating a lot more than I was during Embry's pregnancy at this point. I find that even if I feel sick, eating will make me feel better even if I don't want to. I'm still tired, but trying to sleep when I can. My shoulders have started hurting (like they did during Embry's pregnancy) and I've been getting headaches, so I stocked up on the Tylenol.

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. :)