Joy

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

20 Weeks!

20 weeks down....

17 to go.....
The heparin was going well until 2 days ago when I injected it and for some reason ended up with a swollen lump the size of an egg under my skin. I then had no place left on my stomach to do the shots that was not swollen and extremely painful or bruised so I became very discouraged. I called my doctor and and got permission to do it on the tops of my thighs to mix things up. So far that has been going great. It doesn't bruise on my legs and doesn't seem to be as sore after either. Hurray!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Thankful!

Yesterday, I had to clean at Big D. (My place of work for the past 5 1/2 years) I dread my once a month cleaning. I really am thankful for the opportunity and the extra money makes it well worth it, but it it just a terrible task. I would go off about urinals but I will spare you. But seriously, why do men like and use them when they obviously have trouble hitting the target? Can't they just stand a little closer? I was feeling overwhelmed with all that I had to do there, knowing that once I got home I had a messy house to clean, baking and preparing to do for Easter and the church tea which is rapidly approaching. On top of it all, my allergies were the worst they had ever been and thanks to Peanut, there are not a lot of options as far as medicine goes.

Anyway, I got home from work to find the house picked up, vacuumed, the dishwasher empty, floor swept, and laundry done(and put away)! Josh and Claire were not home so I texted Josh to find out where they were. He had taken her to Home Depot to get some flowers to replace the ones that had died during the winter and while there, he took Claire to the Kiddie workshop/Easter egg hunt. How cute is that!

Claire had a blast and was supposedly a good helper with the house. I just love the little apron she got! So, long story short, because my wonderful husband is so willing to help out, I got everything done that I needed to and even have time to blog about it:)

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Semi-excellent News!

About 2 weeks ago I was sent by a perinatalogist to have 15 vials of blood drawn to check for any chromosomal problems or blood clotting issues that might have possibly contributed to Will's death. I was hoping something would come up so that 1. We would know what happened, and 2. We could do something about it to keep it from happening again.

Well, I finally got the results back! Lo and behold, I have 3 blood clotting abnormalities! I was so excited! The doctor who was talking to me and telling me the "news" must have thought I was a psycho because I kept saying "That's great!" "Awesome!" "Thank you soooo much!" The excellent part is that now we know and we can help prevent it from happening again. The doctor wanted me to make an appointment asap (because practically any second this baby could die from it as well) to learn how to give myself heparin injections.....bummer...(That's the semi-part.) I fretted that night that the baby would die while I was sleeping (as is what happened with Will) but was able to get an appointment the next day early in the afternoon. Josh came with me to learn how to give the shots too as we weren't sure how it all worked and of course for moral support.

The OB who taught us was very nice and knowledgeable although I disagree that my stomach has enough fat on it to not go too deep. Why can't I do it on my thigh or side chunk? There is plenty of fat there. I have to give myself the injection 2 times a day, (every 12 hours) in the stomach.

I had actually talked myself into thinking it wouldn't really hurt but was surprised at how much it did and how sore the "injection site" is. She told me to think of my stomach as a clock, do the first injection at 12, and the next one at 1 and so on, so it will be 6 days before hitting the same spot. I am sure I will get used to it quickly. I'd better! I have to do this for the rest of the pregnancy AND for every other pregnancy from here on out.

I wonder why they don't test for these abnormalities in every pregnant woman. I wasn't tested with Claire or Will. Do you really have to wait and see if your baby dies before doing a simple blood test? I am going to find out the logic behind NOT doing it. Maybe it is extremely rare. .... but still. Will would most likely be here today if they tested for it. I also don't know how Claire managed to survive a 41 and a half week pregnancy. Scary!

So there we have it. Heparin injections twice daily, oh and a baby aspirin daily. The doctors can't say for sure that it will work but it seems to, in most cases, do the trick.

Right after the injection class, we had our 20 week ultrasound! It was a level 2 ultrasound which was awesome. It is not a 3-d ultrasound. Just a more informative, in-depth ultrasound. At one point the doctor was mapping the blood flow directions of the heart with different colors, kind of like a weather radar map. Everything checked out great with Peanut. We were very careful to not find out whether Peanut is a boy or girl. The doctor said she didn't write it down or note it anywhere so that a different doctor doesn't spill the beans by accident. She said though that whatever parts he/she has are normal so that is good. The baby was moving quite a bit and arching its back with it's arms up by its head stretching. It was so cute. (s/he) liked to have an arm by its head and at one point it looked like it was trying to suck on both hands at the same time.
In other pregnancy news.... my varicose veins and leg swelling have been terrible! I figured that since it is this bad, this early on, I had better bite the bullet and get some compression hose. I ordered them online to get more supportive and "stylish" ones than what Walgreens sells. The ones I chose are thigh-high and open toe so I can wear them with sandals if I want. Although, they are about 20 shades darker than my normal skin tone so it looks pretty weird. They came in the mail last week. I was reluctant to wear them out in public but I have the last few days and wow! I feel great! Before, I could feel my varicose veins bulging and throbbing but with these leggings on, I don't feel them aching or feeling like they are pulsing at all. The down side to them is that my legs look artificially "sand" colored and weirdly smooth.(the flash makes them looks really light here.)
Attractive no? Plus, they are HOT- as in temperature. What can you do?

I think I should just rename this post "My Angry Body"

Full on belly photos coming soon!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Just for Fun

These pictures...
make me realize..


How grown up she is!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Rediscovery!

I'm not one to blog about food. I find it especially annoying when people post what they are having/making for dinner on their facebook. I don't care! But I am not showing off my cooking skills or searching for people to comment "yum! save some for me!" here. I just want to tell you about my newly rediscovered love.

Pizza Huts' personal pan pizza.
Yes, I eat the whole thing! Don't judge!

Back when I was in grade school, we participated in Pizza Huts' Book It! Program. Each month we would get a voucher for a free personal pan pizza. Oh, the greasy goodness. I had forgotten they even existed until last month when my mom and I got one.

Not only did I bite into a personal sized pizza of extra greasy goodness, but also a bit of childhood nostalgia. These pizzas do not taste like ANY other pizza! I don't even like Pizza Huts' regular pizzas but these.... these are in a league all of there own.

My new pregnancy tradition is to get one every Monday when we go over to spend the day with my mom. I make myself feel better about it by setting it on some paper towels and blotting the grease off the top. That cuts the calories in half right? (the paper in back was from the top.)Next time you feel like you need some extra fat in your diet, try one! You won't be sorry!

Well, unless you are like Claire and just don't like pizza. She would eat it but she prefers her meat and cheese sandwich instead. We always pack one along instead of buying her her own pizza - cause I'm not sharing!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Life Changing Purchase

Can something as simple as an alarm clock change your life? YES! Yes, it can!

For two solid months after the new year, Claire has been waking up between 6am and 6:40am. I am sorry, but she goes to bed at 9pm so I expect her to at least sleep until 7am. I do not think that is too much to ask. Every morning, we would go in her room, tell her it was not time to get up yet and then leave, she would lay there for about 10 -15 minutes and then start yelling between sobs "I'm awake! I waked up!" I got really tired of this really fast. I decided to take action and make a purchase I had been wanting to make for quite a while, I just had enough reason to justify it now.

Taaa Daaa!!! The Okay to Wake alarm clock! ( I ordered it from Amazon) When you set the alarm, the red light turns on until the time it is set for, then at 7am, (or whenever) the light turns green. (no sounds, although there can be if you want)


(**side note** Claire has also recently learned about the traffic lights while driving and we literally can not go ANYWHERE without her yelling "No! No Momma, don't go! The light is red!" Then I let her know it is sometimes okay to turn right when the light is red. But this is too much for her little brain to handle apparently because she stills yells at me everytime.)

So anyway, needless to say, even though it is not the most attractive clock, Claire is in love with it. (and so am I)

We explained that "When the light is red, stay in bed! When the light turns green... wake up!"
She caught on quickly and is so excited every morning when she sees it turn green and runs out of her room shouting "It's green! I wake up now!" Often times, she insists that I come look at her green light to verify that yes, it is green and praise her for staying in bed.

We used to have a baby gate in front of her door so she couldn't get out in middle of the night or too early in the morning. (We have never let her sleep in our bed and we never will. ) I hated stepping over that gate though, lifting her up every time she had to go in and out of her room was not fun - especially when I was heavily pregnant. Now, we are gate free and have no worries of her coming out when she shouldn't. She feels like such a big girl too since she can go in and out and wake up on her own.

I set the alarm clock for nap time too. That way I for sure get 2 hours to myself. (before I never knew if I would get 40 minutes? and hour? and hour and half? Now that she is used to it, she usually sleeps the whole time but I noticed that if she does wake up early she'll see that is is red and go back to sleep, or just lay there and think and wake up a little before she can come out. When that happens, she comes out a much happier girl.

We have had this clock for about a month now and I have noticed that for the past month Claire has gotten out of her needy, grouchy stage and has been an absolute joy.Yes, an alarm clock CAN change your life. It has changed ours for the better:)

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Collector

Today after church, Claire was walking around looking for bballs (as usual) and found a dollar under a rock - supposedly, I didn't see it happen. Then someone gave her a cup and wrote her name on it to put her dollar and bballs in the cup. While I was talking with a few people, Claire went around showing her cup to everyone and people started putting more money in it! Next thing I know she comes over to me with a cup overflowing with money. Somehow she ended up with $13 and 30 cents. (and 8 bballs)
We decided that next time we have a fundraiser we'll put a sandwich board sign on her and give her a cup. Then I told Claire "Well, we'll use that as a start for the tea party donations" ( I am planning our Ladies' Spring Tea) Then Claire said she wanted some tea so I gave her some. She walked around with two cups, one with money and one with tea and she told me (very excited) "Look! One for tea party, one for my tea!"