Sticks and Stones

You know how it goes..."sticks and stones may break my bones but words can/will never hurt me"

What a load of garbage. 

Sure, I recited this as a child.  Hoping, in some way, it would actually come true.  But it never did.  Even now, words hurt.  And in this season of my life, I can be a bit extra sensitive to the words of others.  But that doesn't change the fact that they shouldn't be said.

Pregnancy is amazing!  And I'd like to say I love being pregnant.  I mean, I do.  But I think I have let too many people steal my joy.  For the most part, I have pretty easy pregnancies.  Of course I have times where I feel badly and only want to stay in bed but overall, I do fairly well physically considering what others go through.

But then people make comments.  And it hurts.  And I know they don't mean to.  But it doesn't change the fact that it still hurts.  And then I become self-conscious.  And then I'm not proud of my body as it changes to accomodate and give life to another. I carry big.  And I have big babies.  That's just the genetic hand I was given.

I stumbled across a book at Barnes and Noble and found this:

She may not have worded it quite like I would have, but I could totally relate.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret: women (most I know anyway) are already pretty self-conscious about their body.  And when things start happening that we have very little control over while pregnant, it can become a bit overwhelming.  

So here's a word of advice: if you wouldn't make the same comment to a non-pregnant woman, then don't say it to a pregnant woman!  

And in the mean time, I'll try to do better at being more proud of my body that is growing new life and less concerned about what others think about me or my pregnant body.  

18 week belly

Where is Spring??

We typically have mild winters - sometimes we see some snow but it's usually not cold very long here.  But it's been unseasonably cold (across the country I believe??) and I'm SO READY for warm weather!

It has been rainy, cloudy, and/or cold the past several days.  And we are leaving for the beach this week (yay!!) so it'd be nice to have some warm weather.

I was going through pictures yesterday and realized at this time last year, I got out the pool for the girls because it was so hot!  This was exactly a year ago today (keep in mind we have well water so it's VERY cold water):

But we have been lucky the past several days to even go without a jacket outside because it's been so cold!

C'mon Spring!!!!!!!!!

20 Week Ultrasound

I had to reschedule my ultrasound appointment from last week to this week because Septtro had a meeting he couldn't get out of last week.  So we went today.  And...




It's a....

BABY!!!  ;)

We made it through without finding out the gender, although it was a bit difficult to look away knowing what the tech was looking at!

The ultrasound went really well.  Everything looked great!!  The heart rate was 152 - about the same as last time.  We told the tech ahead of time that we didn't want to know the gender.  She told us she found out with one of hers and didn't with the other and liked not knowing better. 

sweet little foot

She told us when to look away and I felt like it was FOREVER!  She had to measure legs and lower spine and all so it took several minutes.  The girls came with us and they were able to look.  We asked Ri what she saw.  She said "teeth" when the tech was looking at the spine and "eyes" when she looked at the bladder.  :) 

A nice surprise is when she turned on the 3D/4D for us.  I was gonna ask anyway since it's just a flip of a switch but she did it before I could ask.  It's SO amazing to see God's creation being fearfully and wonderfully made!

 

We are very close to being sure on a name for a boy and a girl - much improvement since Kaylee wasn't named until about an hour before we left the hospital.  :)  We are keeping the name private between just the two of us. 

I'm feeling the baby move more and more - and LOVE it.  I actually felt the baby move from the outside for the first time just this past week! There's nothing like feeling life inside of you!!  The tech confirmed baby was head down.  I have been feeling stronger movements at the top of my belly so I figured baby was head down.  Of course, he/she could move several times between now and when I go into labor. 

We can't wait to meet you little baby!!  Boy or girl - you are cherished and loved already!!

ER Visit and Water Fight

We made our first visit to the emergency room with a child yesterday.  While at a friend's house, Kaylee fell off a fairly high bed onto the floor.  She split her lip completely through.  And I must admit, I got a bit light headed initially.  

She actually didn't act like she was in pain or anything after I was able to calm her down and clean her off a bit.  We ate lunch - since it happened around 11:00 - while trying to decide whether I should take her somewhere to be seen.

A good friend of ours is a family doctor so I texted him a picture and he recommended she be seen since it was completely split.  He also recommended the ER in case they needed to do conscious sedation in order to stitch it up. (I did call her doctor and was told the same thing)

**Momma did not like hearing that part

I tried to convince myself maybe we didn't need to go.  But my friend helped me decide that we probably should.  So off we went.

I thought maybe the wait at the ER wouldn't be that bad.  It was a smaller hospital and it was the middle of the day so people with flu or cold symptoms would go to their regular doctor right?

Wrong.  They were SLAMMED!  And slammed full of people who had colds and flu like symptoms.  I know I'm a bit hormonal these days but it really was quite irritating to have people there for things they could have gone to a regular doctor for...cause trust me, if we could have gone elsewhere, we would have!

Anyway, after a total of 4 1/2 hours, we were done.  We were there so long, Septtro was able to come right before they stitched her up.  I was afraid I'd lose it when Kaylee got upset.  But I actually did surprisingly well - praise God!  I even watched him do the stitching.  :)  They did have to wrap her up in a "papoose" as they called it - it was a lot like a bigger swaddle blanket so she would be still.  At that point I think she was so exhausted she didn't struggle much at all.  I was thankful they didn't have to do any sedation!

thank goodness for smart phones in these situations!

She only got one stitch.  He said he could have done two but because of the location of the injury, it would have been extremely irritating and he thought just one would be fine.  Unfortunately, the stitches don't dissolve.  So I will have to take her to her doctor to get them removed.  Hopefully that won't be a big deal.  

Today has been pretty low-key.  We have been home all day and I've gotten to catch up on some housework while the girls played together.  
I wanted to give Kaylee a bath right away after leaving the hospital and I probably should have since there were so many people there with flu-type symptoms.  But we were all tired when we got home.

So the girls got a bath before nap time today...in our bathtub.  It's like a small pool to them.

A water fight soon broke out.  The girls were cackling and laughing so much I couldn't bear to ask them to stop all the splashing.  At least not at first.  :)  

Have a fun weekend ya'll!!  ;)

18 Week Baby Update

Ok so I didn't give an update to my last baby post.  There's just one in there, thank goodness!  :)

We didn't get a lot of really fun pictures. She only gave us one of the baby looking directly at us - which always seems the most alien-ish to me.  Also, I was measuring right on track!

I had another appointment this past Friday and it went great.  I'm still very guarded with the midwives just because of my previous experiences with my providers.  But they have been so fabulous!  Both times, they've sat right next to me, put paperwork down, and just talked.  I feel like our relationship will be so much better than with previous ones.  

18 weeks!

One really encouraging thing from my last appointment was I asked to skip the GTT (glucose tolerance test) and monitor my sugars for a few days to a week on the food I'm already eating.  My last provider said I'd have to do this for the rest of my pregnancy, which I couldn't afford.  The supplies are expensive!  But I have leftover supplies; enough to monitor for a week, maybe more.  They were super cool about it and even said they didn't want me to feel "boxed in" with the GTT.  So I'll monitor a week before my next appointment.  I had explained at my previous appointment that I felt I was, at the very least, misdiagnosed with gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy and she was really open and understanding about my feelings. (wondering more about my feelings on the subject?  see my posts from when I was pregnant with Kaylee here and here)

So it seems this prenatal experience will be a lot less stressful and, dare I say, more pleasant?  :) 

I've been feeling the baby move more and more which is always fun.  When she found the heartbeat, she said the baby was moving all over the place.  Heart rate was in low 150s again.

Our "big" ultrasound is the 13th - next Wednesday.  We are still planning not to find out the gender.  I'll actually be glad when the appointment is over because I think it's going to be very hard to know that I could know the gender but choose not to find out....especially because I'm such a planner.  :)  But I do wanna wait.  I think it will be a nice surprise at the end of labor.  Hopefully this time we will get some better pictures of the baby!

In other news, Septtro quickly put up Ri's hair the other day when she was sick.  And it was SO cute. I tried it again the next day and I like it. I may stop brushing it out as much. 

I'm SO Ready for Spring!!!!

It's not that I haven't enjoyed winter.  We have gotten to see snow a few times this year.  Overall it hasn't been too horribly cold.  Life seems to move a little slower after the holidays end, which is a bit refreshing.  

the girls didn't care to have a picture made but the snow was so pretty!

No worries.  Kaylee wasn't upset the whole time.  :)

she starts t-ball this month!!

But this has, by far, been the worst season for sickness!  I typically don't get sick - to the point where I lay in bed.  I may get a cold here and there but it's usually very mild and I function fine.  When I'm pregnant, I know I'm more susceptible to illness and I usually get something.  But it seems this season, it's just been one thing after another.

Right when I felt I was getting out of the first trimester icky-ness, I started having a cough.  It was annoying but I slept fine.  Then we were exposed to a cold virus.  My cough got worse, I couldn't sleep at night.  One night I woke up with ear pain.  

Thankfully a friend told me about garlic oil.  I made my own and it stopped the pain immediately.  I still went to the doctor and an ear infection was confirmed.  But instead of doing antibiotics, I did the garlic oil and it cleared up - yay!  I did ask the doctor about my cough but it didn't seem too concerning to her.  Not long after, I pulled a muscle coughing - so then coughing became a literal pain.  

Finally, about a week ago, my cough calmed down and I started to sleep better.  

Then, my girls got pink eye. But at least they didn't act like it itched or bothered them at all.  Both still slept and functioned fine.  We just had to clean the eye goobies.  :)  Of course this kept us away from playing with friends.  

 On top of all this, Ri was referred to a pediatric cardiologist for an echo cardiogram (ultrasound of the heart).  When she came with me to my appointment for my ear infection (because she had a cough too), the nurse practitioner heard a heart murmur. I don't recall being told she had one before (although Septtro said he thought we had) and so she referred us just to be sure.  She told me not to worry.  But I knew a heart murmur was very common so I wasn't sure why such an extensive test would be ordered for such a common problem.

Thankfully, the cardiologist didn't even do an echo.  He said she was perfectly fine and healthy and sometimes nurse practitioners aren't trained well enough to know what they're hearing is totally normal.  Praise the Lord!

I thought she looked quite cute in her little gown.

So then yesterday, my KK woke up dry heaving.  No fever.  But all she wanted was to be held.  After a few hours and a nap on me, she requested her sippy.  I tried and she couldn't keep it down.  But she kept requesting to eat and drink.  So after a couple hours I'd try again.  But she'd just throw it back up again.  It was quite disheartening.  By about dinner time, she'd gone several hours without getting sick and kept some of her sippy down. 

But then after lunch, Rilynn started saying she was sick.  I thought maybe she was jealous of the attention I was giving Kaylee.  She soon cried about her ear hurting - she's never had any ear infections or issues with ears before.  But I put in a couple drops of garlic oil anyway.  And she took a nap on me while Kaylee snoozed on Septtro.  

At one point, I had both of them on my lap while Septtro was trying to fix the chicken coup (we've lost several chickens to predators recently).  

I had no time to do anything but snuggle my girls yesterday.  Every time I would get up, I was beckoned back by one of them.  

I can't say I didn't enjoy all the snuggles.  But I hated the context of it.  

Kaylee slept all night last night and has been fine all morning - so thankful!!  

But Ri woke up this morning at 5am and had gotten sick in her bed.  It wasn't much because her stomach was empty but she got sick two more times after that.  At around 6am, Septtro took her out into the living room to snuggle.  They both fell asleep for a couple of hours and Ri hasn't gotten sick since.  

Let's hope it stays that way.

So...needless to say, I'm SO weary of one thing after another coming into my house.  

Be gone, winter!!!!  You have worn out your welcome!