Goodbye 2009

*typing while nursing a baby, so pardon any typos*

I can't believe 2009 is almost over. It was one hell of a year.

In January we were still dealing with the molar pregnancy.

In February, we found out that Stephen's job was gone in south Georgia, and that we would be moving to Atlanta again.

In March we were cleared from the molar pregnancy, and given the go ahead to try again for a baby. We conceived Little Miracle that night, and found out about him a few weeks later.

We moved in April, and put in the offer on our house in the beginning of May.

In June we had our NT scan and found out about the possibility that Little Miracle may have had Down Syndrome. When my blood work came back with a high possibility that he did have it, I got worried. We also found out that Little Miracle was a boy in June.

July brought the health ultrasound for Little Miracle that told us he was most likely healthy.

In August I decided to have a natural water birth, and we got into the car accident.

September FINALLY brought us our house closing!

October was Halloween and moving into the house. We also moved Little Man to his big boy bed, and into his own room.

November was Thanksgiving, organizing the house and getting ready for Little Miracle.

December. Wow. What can I say? Little Miracle decided to be born at home, and since then we have been trying to adjust to life as parents of two!

What a year! I am glad it is almost over. We have no "big plans" for tonight. Being parents of a newborn, it's too hard to get out. Plus, I need my sleep!

Look for my goals and plans for 2010 in a new post!

Things I love

I love the way Little Man says "nnoo" when he is trying to do a puzzle and puts the piece in the wrong spot. He puts the pieces in the wrong place some times just to get me to say "no" in a funny voice.

I love the way Little Man says "thank you" after I give him ANYTHING. His "thank you" sounds like "da do" and its so freaking cute.

I love the way my house looks mid afternoon. Little Man has scattered his toys all over the living room and his play room. Yes, its a mess, but it means my oldest has had a fun morning playing with all his toys.

I love how I have had to stop typing this four times now to give Little Man a "high five" for completing his puzzle.

I love the way Little Miracle nuzzles up on my chest and sleeps.

I love the way Little Miracle bobs around my neck, chest, arms, etc.. when he wants to nurse.

I love the way Little Miracle looks up at me and studies my face while nursing.

I love the way the fireplace looks when it is on. And how Little Man comes downstairs every morning and points to it and says "light" and blows to turn it on. (He "blows" it off and on... ya know... turn off the gas as he blows and he "blew out the fire")

I love my girlfriends. They are the best ones a girl could have. Some of them blog too. Check out their blogs JaMonkey and RenderMeMamma

I love that my husband has an awesome job that allows me to stay home and enjoy my kids.

I could go on, but Little Miracle is back to fussing. I love the way I can nurse him to calm him down!

Dear Mr. Fussy Pants

Dear Mr. Fussy Pants,

Please stop fussing so much. You slept so well in the hospital, but the day we brought you home, you started screaming. Its been 3 weeks now and you are still screaming.

Mamma has cut out milk and caffeine in hopes that it was something she was eating that was making you scream. It has not helped as you continue to scream. Mamma and Daddy are at their wits end trying to figure out what is wrong and why you fuss so much. You usually have one long period of fussiness, but you are generally fussy all day. It would be better if you would not start said "long fussing period" at 8 pm. If you start, at say noon, then you would be calmed down by ... say 4 pm, and we could all sleep. But since you start about 8 pm, you are still fussing at midnight.

Daddy is going out of town next week, and we need you to sleep better so Mamma does not go insane. Daddy will be gone for two weeks, and if Mamma gets no sleep in thoes two weeks, she will be a very cranky lady. Little Man does not like a cranky Mamma, and you don't either. Thankfully your brother sleeps thru your screaming, or he would be a cranky mess too.

Thanks Little Miracle for listening. Now can we go back to bed?

Merry Christmas

I used to think Halloween was my favorite holiday. I think Christmas is gaining in on it.

We went out last night to our church's Christmas Eve celebration. They do it in the town square! There was hot coco, Santa, a band and even snow! Yes... SNOW in Georgia... Ok, so it was soap bubble type snow, but hey, it looked real!

After we got home, we put Little Man in bed, wrapped presents and set them under the tree. We tried to stay awake to see Santa come, but just could not.

This morning, Little Man woke up at his usual time. We got him up, and left Little Miracle to sleep. As soon as Little Man saw all the presents under the tree, his eyes sparkled. He was SO excited!

He tore thru all his presents and spent the morning playing with his new toys.

My dad came over in the morning also to see Little Miracle and the new house.

We spent the afternoon laying around being lazy. I got a short nap, which was nice!

Little Miracle is doing good. He is a very fussy baby, but I think we are figuring him out. I think he is sensitive to either milk or caffeine, so for now, I have cut both out of my diet. Makes it hard for a chocolate lover like me!

It is very magical to have a newborn at this time of year. To love and snuggle with a newborn at Christmas is my favorite now!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Me?!? Wonder Woman?! ... Nah.

Every time someone hears about the birth of Little Miracle, they are in shock.

“You had him at home?”

"In your bathtub?"

“Who delivered him?”

“You had no medical people there??”

“How did you do it??”

Then comes the “WOW. You are Wonder Woman!”



I don’t consider myself Wonder Woman! I cry with migraines, complain with hangnails, and grit my teeth with cramps. The same woman who birthed her baby in the tub at home with no medical people there is the same one who cringes when her baby latches to nurse, and the same woman who cries when her stitches hurt. Would Wonder Woman do that?

I think anyone 9 months pregnant, with a baby crowning, would find themselves doing the same thing. He was coming! He knew what he was doing, all I had to do was let him come. If I could have held him in, and made it to the hospital to birth him, I would have! It makes me think about woman long before my time that always had them at home, with no help other than other women, other mothers. They did not have the choice to have drugs, hospitals, doctors, or even paramedics on the way.

I did what I had to do. And that really was not much. I only pushed 4 times. He did all the work. All I did was catch him. It still amazes me that between him and my body they knew what to do.

I took some classes during pregnancy that focused on natural labor and delivery, since I was planning on doing it naturally anyway. I think these classes helped me realize your body is amazing, and can do it!

Little Miracle is a great baby. He is a champion nurser, and an awesome sleeper. I am sure those two go hand in hand. He was born perfectly healthy. I did have group B strep in my urine in early pregnancy, and at 36 weeks, so we had to stay at the hospital for 48 hours so they could keep a close eye on him. Obviously, I did not have time to get antibiotics before delivery! All of his blood work came back fine, so we were released right at 48 hours.

Would I do it again at home?

No. Not planned anyway.

Would I do it again naturally?

Yes.

That is a feeling I would love to have again! I am still on top of the world! I am still walking around with my head held high, a huge smile on my face. It is very empowering to let your body do its job getting the baby out! Your body grew the baby with very little help from you, so it knows what it is doing. Labor and delivery is not a medical thing. It’s a natural thing.

So Wonder Woman? Not me!

You Know What They Say About "Best Laid Plans"?

You know they say "best laid plans always fail"?

I had a "best laid plan" for the birth of Little Miracle. I hired a doula, switched to a midwife that does water birth, had taken all the classes, read all the books, and was ready for my HOSPITAL water birth with my doula and midwife there.

I didn't get it.

12/7/09

I cleaned the house tonight when Stephen took Little Man to the gym. I was having a few contractions, but I was having them all week. They would come and go, nothing consistent. After I cleaned, I sat on the birth ball for a while. Bouncing. Swaying. Doing anything I could do to get the contractions to come back and stay consistent. Nothing was happening, so I decided to give up and go to bed. I had seen my midwife that morning, and I was 2-3 cms, but she stretched me to 3-4. She said she would "see ya tonight" but I did not put faith into it.

I went to bed at 9:30. I say went to bed, but I just laid there and tossed and turned. I was uncomfortable. I was 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I wanted to get the show on the road! Little did I know the show was on its way, coming down the fast lane.

I was just about to drift off to sleep around 11:15 to 11:30 when I felt a contraction. Hum, I usually don't have them when laying down. And this one was getting painful. I got up and went to the bathroom. I had another fun sign of labor approaching in the bathroom, so i knew something was happening. I texted my girlfriends that I think something was up. This was 11:42 pm.

I filled my tub and crawled in hoping to labor at home for a while. I told my husband to get the computer and to start timing the contractions. By midnight the contractions were 2 minutes apart lasting about 2 minutes each. Hum. Maybe time to call some people!

12/8/09

Stephen called my mom (to come and watch Little Man) and our doula and midwife. Looking at my phone, he called my mom at 12:13, the midwife at 12:19 and my doula at 12:21. (My water broke when Stephen was on the phone with our doula) My mom was on her way, my midwife said get to the hospital. The contractions were coming so fast, and starting out SO hard, I just knew there was NO way I could do this naturally. I begged Stephen to get me to the hospital and to get me an epidural!

I suddenly felt the urge to push. I never felt this with Little Man since I was so drugged, and I did not believe that I was feeling it. It was too fast. There is no way I was fully dilated!

I pushed once and put my hands down there. I felt his head bulging me outward so I told Stephen to call 911. He didn't believe me when I told him I NEEDED to push. He was telling me to just hold on and we would get to the car, and to the hospital. He did not believe that the baby was coming either.

I pushed again and felt his head crowning. At this point Stephen was on the phone with 911. I don't know when he realized that I was not kidding, and called 911. He told them "my wife's in labor".

I pushed again and his head came out. I was in SHOCK. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I was having him in my tub at home! All these thoughts came to mind. I am at HOME, in my tub, with NO MEDICAL PEOPLE PRESENT. What if he gets stuck? What if the cord is wrapped around his neck? What if I can't get him out?

I gained my composure, and knew that I could do this. I knew what to do. Almost like instinct.

The next contraction came and I pushed out his body. I had my hands down there to catch him and pull him up to my chest. I rubbed his head and Stephen patted his back. Stephen was still on the phone with 911. He told them that the baby was born! I asked Stephen what time it was. I wanted to know the exact time I had him. It was 12:30 am.

He let out the tiniest little cry. I knew he was ok. I pulled him off my chest to check for his cord. It was around his shoulder, but not his neck. I untangled him, and put him back between my breasts and covered him with a towel that was on the side of the tub.

Stephen went downstairs to let my mom in (who had been trying to knock for a few minutes, and even called, but we never heard her) and wait for the ambulance.

My mom came upstairs and saw him. The look on her face was priceless. I don't think she believe that I just delivered a baby in the tub at home either!

The paramedics got there a few minutes later. I still had Little Miracle on my chest and covered so we stayed that way for a few minutes to try to wait for the placenta. The paramedics were very nice and were doing things on my time. After a few minutes they suggested that we go ahead and cut the cord so they could check on the baby. I agreed and they clamped it. They went to cut it (with a razor blade they had!) I stopped them, and asked if Stephen could cut it. They all looked at each other (there was about 4-5 men in my bathroom... all of them with a look of disbelief and shock on their face... I don't think any of them had ever seen a call like this before, either that, or they were just happy they did not have to deliver a baby) and someone finally said "Well I don't see why not" and handed Stephen the razor blade.

The one female that was there with the paramedics took Little Miracle and wrapped him up in a foil blanket. She took him to the master bedroom. We (the men and I)waited about 10 minutes for the placenta and it was not coming, so they loaded Little Miracle and I up into the ambulance to head to the hospital. I told them which one I wanted to go to, and away we went.

I held Little Miracle on my chest skin to skin the whole ride down. I was having contractions still, but they were no where near as strong as the ones I had just had. We finally made it to the hospital, and my doula showed up, then Stephen (he had to follow in our car) then my midwife.

The placenta took what felt like forever, but it was nice to have my doula there to help me thru the contractions. Once it came I felt SO much better! My midwife had to sew me up because he came so fast that I tore. I did not feel it when it happened, because his head numbed me on the way out.

The female paramedic was finishing up her paperwork and talking to me. She said that the initial call she got was "woman in labor". Then she said not even 30 seconds later, dispatch said "woman delivered". She said she had to question dispatch "Woman delivering, or delivered?" because she did not believe it either!

By the time my midwife was done sewing up my nether regions, it was all starting to sink in. I had a baby! At home! In my bathtub! With no one there! In less than an hour! Now that's a feeling! Talk about on top of the world. I still want to stand on top of the roof and shout! I DID IT! Granted, not how I had planned AT ALL, but either way, I did it!

He was born at 12:30 on the nose. 7 lbs 6.9 ozs 19 inches. Perfectly healthy!

Why Yes, I AM Still Pregnant.

I never made it past 39 weeks with Little Man. I see now how blessed I was to have him "early".

I will be 40 weeks tomorrow, and I am officially ignoring my phone. I have had people calling constantly. I know they mean well. They start the conversation with "how are you feeling?" and then proceed to say "your still pregnant?" or "when are you gonna have that baby?". It is very annoying. I don't know when he is coming, if I knew that then I would play the lottery too. I want him here more than you do!

He is not really late until 42 weeks, so I know I still have a while until my midwife would take medical interventions. I pray every day he comes soon. At my last appointment, my midwife said I was 2-3 cms, 85% effaced, and he is at -1 station, so he should be here SOON. But only he knows the day he is coming.

So, trust me, you will know when he comes! My blog may be the last place to know, since I am not very good at getting over here and posting. But if you follow me on Facebook or anywhere else, you will know!

Here is one last belly picture... I think this was 39.3 weeks.

Thanksgiving, Christmas Decor and Playing In The Leaves

We had a great Thanksgiving again this year. I was worried that I was going to go into labor and miss the turkey, but that did not happen.

We had a lazy morning around the house. After Little Mans nap, we headed to my moms for dinner. Little Man and Gram (my mom) played for a while when Grandpa (my moms husband) was finishing up dinner. Stephen was watching the football games and I was between the games and Little Man.

Dinner was AWESOME! Grandpa made turkey, stuffing, asparagus, spinach casserole, sweet potato casserole and two pies. Did I remember it all?

After dinner, we played some more, and I installed Little Mans extra car seat in my moms car for when we are at the hospital with Little Miracle.

I am a firm believer that Christmas decorations should not go up until after Thanksgiving. Actually, they should not go up until after my birthday, which is December 4th. We decided this year, that with Little Miracle coming any day now, we should put up the tree after Thanksgiving, and before my birthday.

So when Little Man was napping, we pulled out the tree. He woke up shortly after we got it up, and decided to help daddy fluff it.



I decided to only do tinsel this year, we have a pre-lit tree so there is lights, but no ornaments this year. All of mine are sentimental to me, and with a toddler around, and a newborn almost here, I thought it best they all stay in the box!

Little Man LOVES to point out the tree to us. He points to the lights, and to the star on top.

This afternoon, we decided to start on some outside lights. Stephen wanted to get rid of all the leaves in our front yard while I was putting lights around the bushes and garage doors. Little Man LOVES to act just like daddy, and had to help. Well, we have two blowers, so he grabbed the one that was not plugged in and helped!



After they blew the leaves into a pile, Daddy showed Little Man how to jump in the pile of leaves. Oh My he had so much fun playing in the leaves!! I did not get any pictures of that, I wish I would have!

Little Man is still loving his room, but he has found his freedom from not being in the crib. He likes to read now during his nap time, instead of sleeping. He has skipped his nap for 4 days now. I hope he is not giving it up! Mommy still needs her quiet time! He likes to read a book, then push it out of his door. This is what I see when his "quiet time" is over.



See the shadow at the bottom of the picture? Yeah, that's a shadow of my massive belly...

Well, today Little Man played for almost 2 hours in his room. He got quiet 10 minutes before his "quiet time" was up. We went up to check on him, and sure enough, he was passed out! But, not in his bed... RIGHT behind the door. I had to put just the camera in the door to get this picture. Silly Man....



We are at 39 weeks with Little Miracle now. Officially the longest I have ever been pregnant. Little Man was born at 39 weeks, so I was halfway hoping Little Miracle would follow in his footsteps. I really want him to come in December though, so a few more days and he is really good to go!

As Ready As I Am Gonna Be

38 weeks.WOW. If Little Miracle is anything like his older brother, he will be here soon. Little Man was born at 39 weeks on the nose. Kinda surreal to think this time next week I could be a mom to two!

This week I have done TONS around the house. I have mad nesting skills and that burst of energy you get at the end of pregnancy that allows you to get things done.

Little Mans room in the new house was pink. Pepto Bistmol pink. Like someone opened bottles of the stuff and threw them in the room. Not just the walls either, the trim, baseboards, windows, shutters and closet doors! This had to go this week. I painted it blue. Little boy blue. That pretty shade of bright blue. Not baby blue but bright, toddler blue.

Today, with Stephens help, we got his room cleaned out. It was the catch all room from moving. You know, a room that everything that you have no idea where it goes, goes? I found a dresser on Freecycle, and we repainted it white and made the blue knobs red to match his shelves that I painted.

When Little Man was sleeping we cleaned out the room, and when he woke up, we hung shelves and moved his bed in. He is now officially out of the nursery! Little Miracle wont be in the nursery for a while because we co-sleep for at least the first 6 months, but Little Mans bed was in the nursery, and was blocking the closet!

Here is his room. It is a crappy cell phone picture. I will try to get a better picture soon. See the painting on the wall? I did that! It has his name in red letters in the grass of the painting too. (photoshoped that out)


And his dresser. It was already white, just was really beaten up, and had blue knobs.


Again, sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures.

38 weeks. Did I say that already? I still can not believe it. Stephen works Monday and Tuesday of this coming week, then Monday of the following week, then is off till mid- December. I am hoping Little Miracle holds on until December, but I really want to meet him!

Big Changes

With a new baby coming soon, I knew it was inevitable that Little Man gets out of the crib. I was in no rush, since Little Miracle will sleep with us for at least the first 6 months, but I knew I needed to either find a toddler bed or find some kids sheets for the double we have.

Well, the other day during Little Mans nap time, I was endlessly searching Craigslist for a desk for our bedroom. I came across a super cute car bed, and thought to myself "do they make train beds?". Little Man loves his trains, and we plan on doing his room in them. A quick Google search and I found this one.


(manufactures image)

I went to the website for it, and found out they no longer make this bed. They replaced it with Thomas the Train. I do not want to get him a Thomas the Train bed, I don't really want any characters in his room. Kids get too obsessed with one certain character in my opinion, so I am not pushing one on him. When he finds a character he likes, we will embrace it.

So I decided to go back to Craigslist. I typed in "train bed" and came up with three posts. Two were that bed!! I was SO excited to learn that they still had it, and we were already planning on going to the town that the seller lived in the next day.

When we got the bed home, Little Man was not too sure what to think. We got it cleaned, and put together, and put the crib mattress in it, and he grabbed a pillow off the couch and laid down. It was already almost his bedtime, so I told Stephen to get the crib mattress back into the crib so he could go to bed. I was not ready to move him into his "big boy bed" yet.

Little Man was heartbroken! He laid down in the frame of the bed, and said "I need chalk" (which is his word for chocolate milk, which he gets at bedtime). Well, ok, lets get the bed upstairs in the nursery and see how he does. I was fully expecting him to jump and play in the bed and be up all night.

We got him his chocolate milk, put him in jammies and laid him down. I told him if he gets out of bed, he will go back into the crib. We turned on his radio, turned off the light, and kissed him goodnight. To my shock and surprise, he only woke up once that night, and stayed in his bed all night.

His nap yesterday went just as well, and last night he fought bedtime a little harder than he ever has, but he stayed in his bed while fighting it. I have told him if he gets out of his train bed, he goes to sleep in his crib. I can tell he really does not want to sleep in the crib, so he stays in his bed!

I am working on teaching him to stay in bed when he wakes up in the morning, which is actually going well. I told him that he needs to stay in bed until Mommy or Daddy comes to get him, and he listens quite well. Yesterday he was up playing, but that was the first time waking up with his new found freedom. This morning, he called for me, and was still in bed when I got to him.

I still can not believe that my Little Man is big enough to be in a toddler bed! It seems like just last week I was 36 weeks pregnant with him, and getting the nursery ready for him! Now I am trying to get the nursery ready for Little Miracle, while trying to get Little Man out of the nursery and into his room. (That will take some more time, the walls are still pink, and it's our catch all room with the moving)

Halloween

I love Halloween! It is one of my favorite days of the year. Now that I have kids, it is even more fun!

I started the search for costumes a few weeks ago. I waited till after Little Mans second birthday, which is just three weeks before Halloween. I looked everywhere and had no idea what I wanted him to be. He has no favorite characters, because he does not watch much tv.

I LOVE to dress up too, so I was trying to find something for both of us to be. I finally convinced Stephen to dress up too, so it made it even more fun, looking for costumes for all three of us! Everywhere I looked had something for Stephen and I, but not Little Man, or had a toddler costume, but not adult ones. I looked at every character!

I finally found the CUTEST Tin Man from Wizard of Oz for Little Man. I looked around and ended up at another store and found the Scare Crow for Stephen, and Dorothy for me. Now came the fun part, would the costume fit over my 9 month pregnant belly? I tried it on in the store, and it did, so we were set! I also found some kick-butt shoes! They were about 3 inch platform heels in glittery red. (Yes, my 9 month pregnant butt wore 3 inch platform heels for most of the day. I did have tennis shoes I put on for a little bit too)

We got all dressed up Saturday morning to go to a local square for trick-or-treating at the businesses. We had a long day of fun planned, but the weather did not want to cooperate. We got to the square and it was drizzling. Not too bad, but half of the businesses were not doing the trick-or-treating. We decided went to most of the stores then decided to eat lunch down there.

After lunch we headed home to let Little Man nap. It was already 2 hours past his usual nap time, so he did not want to sleep. He played in his crib for almost an hour before he passed out.

We had to wake him up about 30 minutes after he fell asleep to head out to another town square for their kids fest. We got back in costume, and headed out. The rain had finally stopped, so we thought it was going to turn into a good night. We met some friends at the square and let Little Man play the games and get candy. Right as we went to get some dinner there, it started raining again. We piled into a tent they had set up there and waited the weather out.

While we were in the tent, one of the people in charge of the kids fest asked us if we had entered into the costume contest. We said no, and she asked us for our names so she could enter us. A few minutes later they were calling us to the stage. We won!! We won "best costume". Little Man LOVES his trophy!

After that we decided that the weather was not going to let us trick-or-treat too well, so we would head to the mall because they were having trick-or-treating there too. We got to the mall, and it was PACKED. The adults all went to get coffee, then we started going to the stores, only to find that NONE of them had candy left!!

At this point it was getting late, and we were all getting tired of trying to trick-or-treat. We all decided that we would skip trying our neighborhood and just head to Walmart to buy candy!

Five adults and three toddlers headed to Walmart to buy Halloween candy and beer! After Walmart, everyone headed to my house to open up our candy bags, switch some around, and enjoy the night. We put Little Man to bed, and the other two toddlers played downstairs. They have later bedtimes than Little Man, and by then he was SO tired from his short nap.

All in all it ended up being a good night. I am glad Little Man is not old enough to understand that he did not get to trick-or-treat. I make him say "trick-or-treat" when he wants a piece of his Halloween candy, and he says it like "treat-treat". Then he says "thank-you" and eats his candy.

Hopefully next year the weather will cooperate with us!

Life Got Busy...

Ok. So.... life got busy.

We closed on our house September 30th. The movers came the first week of October with all of our stuff. It was so nice to see our stuff again! Its amazing how little you can live on, but in 6 months, you being to miss your stuff. They set the big stuff up for us, and had all the boxes in the rooms they belonged in.

I started unpacking as soon as the movers left. The living room was first on my list. Then the play room and kitchen. Little Man played in his play room for HOURS while I unpacked the kitchen. He had not seen half of those toys in 6 months, so he thought they were all new.

I have slowly gotten most stuff unpacked. I still have to work on Little Mans room, but the nursery is done. For now, he is staying put there!

We found several unexpected things in the house. Gotta love a house that was empty for two years! We found mold in the basement, that had not been there a few days before we closed. Stephen had to rip up all the carpet from the basement, and then we noticed water coming in from the foundation. Stephen dug up the gutter pipe, and it had a split in it. So that was fixed. THEN he was down there making sure we were not getting water in and noticed sewage backing up into the shower and toilet. Thankfully it was in the basement, and we had nothing down there. The water company people came out and put a camera in the sewer pipe, and we have tree roots growing through them. OH the joys of home ownership!

We also found when replacing ceiling fans that none of the ceiling fan boxes were actual "fan" boxes. They were the plastic, "not for ceiling fan use" boxes. Also, they are not properly braced. Its amazing that the fans that were up lasted this long! We are still working on bracing the new boxes so I can install the fans.

We got the trees cut down that we wanted to, got the whole house re-piped (had old pipes that were the kind that are known to break), hot water heater replaced, new appliances in the kitchen, and just bought the paint for Little Mans room. Right now it is a beautiful shade of Pepto Bismol... you know that pink stuff! It will shortly be a shade of blue!

We still have a ton of work we want to / need to do to the house, so it will be a work in progress for many years to come.

My pregnancy is progressing well. I switched to a new doctors office for my pregnancy. It is the only midwife practice in Georgia. Meaning, the midwife is the boss, and the doctor works for her. All of the other midwifes in this state work under doctors, and he has the final say. I am very excited to be using them! They are awesome with natural births, and have been doing water births for years.

Now begins the waiting game. I am 35.2 weeks pregnant. I had my first son at 39 weeks, so there is a good possibility that Little Miracle will come early too. My midwife today said there is a possibility that I could have a baby this month! ACK, I am NOT ready!! I feel pretty good, but I do have that "end of pregnancy" tireds that every mom to be gets, and chasing a toddler around all day does not help that.

Dear Anonymous Comment Poster

Dear Anonymous Comment Poster,

Please stop trying to post negative comments on my blog. I will not publish them. Also, please learn to speak proper English in your comments. "Aint" is not a word, and "kelpt" is not the proper spelling of kept.

My child did not get sick from playing in the puddles 7 months ago, nor has he gotten sick from puddle jumping the billion times we have done it since then.

If you have something negative to say, then step out from your "Anonymous" covering and say it to my face.

Thank you.

Where To Start?

I am a little behind!

After my last post, I got to feeling better, and we have gotten our car back. Life got busy this last week because we FINALLY closed on our house!!

We closed on Wednesday, and the movers come tomorrow to deliver our stuff! Then I have 9 weeks (give or take) untill Little Miracle makes his debute into this world to get stuff ready!

NEVER Visit The ER During Flu Season.

So, the day after our car accident, I was feeling really run down. I figured it was just from being almost 6 months pregnant, and from the stress of the accident and hospital visit.

About 4 pm I left to pick up Stephen from work. When I was getting off the freeway for his work, it hit me. Shakes, dizzy, sweating, chills.... I was sick! Stephen drove us home, and I went straight to bed. Monday night I was very sick. Up all night hurting, throwing up, freezing then sweating. My fever was up to almost 103 thru out the night. I know Tylenol is safe in pregnancy, so I took it to help try to contain the fever. I put in a call to my midwife who said if I get worse at night to go to the ER, but if I can make it thru the night, to call my primary care doctor in the morning.

At 8 am when my primary care doctor opened, I called them. They got me in at 9:45. To the complete shock of the doctor, me, Stephen and the nurse who was seeing me also, the flu test came back negative. So did the strep test. The doctor said it was probably something viral, and sent me home to rest. He did do some blood work before I left, just to see what was up.

I slept pretty much the rest of Tuesday. I was feeling somewhat better Wednesday morning when my doctor called me at 8:15 am to tell me that my blood work came back. He said my white blood count was "thru the roof" and started asking about any other symptoms. He suspected pneumonia or a UTI. I did not have any urinary symptoms, so he said it was most likely pneumonia. The test for this is a chest x-ray, which is not something you can do in pregnancy. He immediately put me on an antibiotic, and said if I was not feeling better by Friday, to see him again.

He called me today to check on me. Such a great doctor! I told him I am feeling pretty good, just still really tired, which could be pregnancy related. He agreed, but said I need to get my white blood count tested again to make sure the infection is gone. I can get this done at my next OB/GYN appointment, which is a week from today. If I start feeling sick again, I am supposed to call him ASAP.

Its been a rough week for us!

We did get some good news today though! Our car is not totaled. There is almost $4,000 worth of damage, including the axle, suspension and such. It should all be repaired by the end of next week. The body shop is also going to repair a hole in the bumper from me backing into something a few months ago at no charge! They are already doing work on the back bumper, so they figured they might as well. Apparently the car that hit us, hit us in the front, and kinda pin balled off of us and bounced at the back end too, because there are scratches and dents all the way down the passenger side of the car. I only got pictures of the front end, and they are from right after the accident. I never got pictures of the back of the car, or side, but the front has most of the damage. The car held up REMARKABLY well for being hit at 60 MPH.





And for good measure, Little Mans new car seat. We did upgrade a little, only about a thirty dollar difference from his old seat to his new one, but it has features we like. It is a Britax Boulevard, and yes he is still rear facing at almost 2. His seat rear faces till 35 pounds, and we are going to keep him that way untill he hits the weight limit. That should be any day now at the rate he is going. If you want information on why extended rear-facing is safer, check out my older post.



We got the check from the insurance for the car seat replacement today, nice to have that money back. The insurance got us in a rental car so we are back to having two cars. Well, we had two cars because my mother-in-law let us borrow one of hers (father-in-law was out of town) but that car had to go back to her. We are very impressed with the other drivers insurance, which is Geico. They are really going out of their way to make sure we are happy. The body shop that is doing the work has us at the top of their work load, and the parts for our car have been overnighted to them. They seem to be very on top of things, which is nice.

We picked up the police report earlier in the week. The other driver was 28 and said she started to hydroplane and that is why she hit us. I totally believe that from the angel she was pointed when I saw her coming at us. She was not ticketed for the accident, but she is still at fault.

I am hoping for some good news on the house this next week too. Stay tuned for that!

Car Accidents While Pregnant Are NOT Fun.

We decided yesterday to go visit my Grandmother who lives over an hour away. It was a nasty, rainy day, and the trip takes us on 5 different freeways around Atlanta. We were on the final leg of the trip when we passed an accident. I commented to Stephen that people need to learn how to drive in the rain and went back to my book. Seconds later something caught the corner of my eye, I looked up from my book and saw a Caddy coming at us from the lane to our right. I think she was going to go around the car in front of her and didn't look to see us passing her in her blind spot. She JERKED over, right into us. She was headed for my door, and Stephen saw her in enough time to take his foot off the gas so she hit more at the front of my door and the front tire. The force pushed us into the grassy median, where Stephen just rode out the median to stop the car safely inches from a ditch on the side. I immediately looked back to check on Little Man, who was still asleep. Then I searched for my phone that went flying and called 911 cause I didn't know if we were all ok at that point.

The police showed up and blocked the freeway so we could safely get our car out of the median and onto the side. At this point I was feeling crampy, but figured it was just from the seat belt across my growing belly. The firemen were asking us what happened, and if we were all ok. I denied going to the hospital via ambulance, because I figured I was fine, and that we could just drive ourselves if I needed to be checked.The police officer got all of our information, and then cleared us to leave, being as it was not our fault. He told us the report would be available in a few days.

While we were waiting for the police officer to do all his business, I put a call into my doctor to see what they wanted us to do. The only jolt from the accident was the initial hit, since my husband did such a great job steering us clear of other cars and the ditch. They wanted me to get checked out, which was fine with me. We piled back into the car, and buckled up to go to the hospital. We drove all of two feet and realized the car was not drivable. When we pulled it to a stop, we heard a loud pop.

Thankfully my sister, who has a car that seats 8, was a few miles ahead of us. She had turned around and showed up right about that time. We unloaded the important things from our car and piled into her car. She took Stephen and I to the hospital so I could be checked, and she took Little Man and her kids on to see my Grandmother.

When we got there they checked my blood pressure, and it was high. They took blood and started an IV to try to get my blood pressure down. They hooked me up to fetal monitors, contraction monitors, and a blood pressure monitor. The whole time I was on the monitors, Little Miracle was kicking very well, so I knew he was ok. I was in the emergency room for about 45 minutes before they moved me to labor and delivery. My blood pressure was still climbing and I was getting contractions every 8-10 minutes, which is considered pre-term labor. About an hour after being in labor and delivery they decided that the contractions were not stopping on their own, so they gave me a shot designed to relax your uterus to stop contractions. This shot worked almost right away. For 45 minutes I did not have any contractions. I then had 2 in the course of five minutes, but then they fizzled down in strength, and almost stopped. Two hours after they gave me the shot, they asked if I wanted Ambien to help me sleep later. I questioned how long they were going to keep me, and she said she would call the doctor and ask. I did not want to stay any longer, but knew if I needed to, I would. She came back around half an hour later and said I was free to go. I have to monitor Little Miracles kicks and contractions, and if either of them change, I have to go back to the hospital.

We went this morning to get Little Man a new car seat. I am so thankful that we had him in a very safe seat and still rear facing. We bought him the same brand seat, but a step up from the one he was in. I just have to wait now for the other drivers insurance information so I can get paid back for his seat. Any accident requires you to replace car seats, even if the child was not in the seat at the time. Britax is the ONLY brand that has a test and if you answer no to all 5 questions, you can keep using the seat. One of these questions was if our vehicle was able to be driven from the scene, and it was not.

I am so thankful that things happened the way they did. We were in a minivan and it took the hit very well. Stephen is a great driver that stopped us without causing any more damage to the car, and Little Man and Little Miracle are both doing great.

Planning Little Miracles Birth

Some people say I am crazy. Why try natural birth when medicine is made to make labor and delivery less painful?

Well, I have decided to have a DRUG-FREE, natural birth. I am hoping to get my insurance to let me switch doctors also, so I can have a water birth.

My labor and delivery with Little Man was nice. Being my first child, I decided to have the epidural and everything the hospital offered. I think the only thing I declined was the Ambien to sleep, since it causes me to hallucinate.

When I found out I was pregnant with Little Miracle, I decided to entertain the idea of a natural labor and delivery. I had thought about it with Little Man, but was scared to do it since he was my first, and I only had one hospital choice in the town we lived in.

Now that we have moved closer to a big city, I have many more choices. I am hoping to switch to the hospital that offers water birth. I have thought about a home birth, but I do not think that they are for me. My own personal choice and belief that things can go wrong in labor, and though they are rare, I would like to be in the hospital if something happens.

We met with a doula a few weeks ago. A doula is someone who "mothers the mother" in labor. She talks women thru contractions, helps with natural pain relief, helps the mother change positions, and explains everything that is going on to the mother. I think a doula would benefit us greatly, so we hired the one we met with.

We start our birth classes tonight. I know this is early, since I am only 24 weeks, but the next one that the doulas offer is not until December, and that would be too late.

I am excited to see that my body can birth a child without much help. I know it can, given the chance. My body can grow this child without any help from me, so I know it can birth it too.

I am currently reading three books on natural birth. "HypnoBirthing-The Mongan Method" which was one that a good friend of mine used for the natural birth of her daughter, "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" and "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" were both recommended to me by our doula. The Thinking Woman's Guide is so far my favorite. It discusses almost everything that can happen in labor and gives you the pros and cons to everything the hospital can offer, so you can make a true informed decision.

Little Miracle will be here in 16 weeks, and I am very excited to help him come into the world!

I am going to post Little Mans birth story here now so for those of you who have not read it can.

"
10-9-07

We woke up really early (5:30 am) to go to the police station to return all of hubbys police gear. After that, we headed to the Marine Base to get signed up for Tricare. We walked around the base, back and forth from the Deers office to the Tricare office. After we signed up for Tricare, we went to cancel our other insurance. While there, we talked to the assistant City Manager to see about hubbby getting off of probation, since the Chief of Police won’t do anything about it. We were told to find the letter we got stating he was off of probation in June. We came home and tore the house apart trying to find it. We made a mess! We never found it, and had to go pick up hubbys friend and take him to class. After we dropped him off, hubby dropped me off at home, and went back to pick up his friend and go to his house to help him fix his car.

Contractions started around 5:30. I was timing them, and they were anywhere from 8 minutes apart, to 14 minutes apart, lasting longer than a min each, so I figured it was nothing. At about 7:30 I decided to try to clean the house from the mess we made earlier trying to find the paperwork. I was cleaning in between contractions.

I called hubby around 8 to see when he was coming home. He said in about an hour, but when I told him about my contractions, he came straight home. We went for a long walk to see what would happen. When we were on the walk, we ran into a neighbor that comes to my work, so we talked to her for about 45 minutes, all the while I was still having contractions, but nothing too strong. We got back to the apartment around 9:15. I laid down on the couch hoping to sleep. I had one really strong contraction that felt like Little Man turned his head from one side to the other. I told hubby about that one, and about 2 minutes later I felt wet. I felt something coming, so I got up to go to the restroom. As soon as I stood up, my pants were soaked. I told hubby I either peed my self, or my water broke. I got to the restroom, and it kept coming, so I told hubby that we need to get stuff together and get to the hossy. I called my mom while hubby was getting our pillows and last minute stuff. After I called my mom, I called my doctor, and we headed out the door.

The drive to the hossy was only about 5 minutes long but it seemed so long! Hubby got stuck at a red light and asked if he should run it, I told him yes, and when in his life will he have a better excuse for running a red light.

We got to the hossy and L&D is next to the emergency center, but upstairs. Hubby dropped me off at the front, and went to park the car. I went upstairs and told the lady behind the desk that I think my water broke. At this point, my dr. calls me back and tells me to go to the hossy… I told him I just got there and he said ok, that they would call him when he is needed. The lady in the registration desk was new, and needed me to give her my info. Hubby got there and they sent me back. I waddled to the nurse’s station, and they put me in room 8, my lucky number. A nurse had me sit on the toilet and she patted the area with fluid with paper, and said ‘yep… it’s your water’. She gave me a gown and I hopped into bed.

They hooked up the heart rate monitor and the contraction monitor, and that beautiful sound of Little Man's heart rate filled the room.

At this point hubby came back from fixing our insurance info and got comfy. The L&D nurse came in and I told her I would like an epidural as soon as possible. She told me it would be later in the night, because I was not into a good labor pattern yet. She said I was supposed to get into a good pattern before my water broke, and that now that it broke, it will take a few hours to get to a good pattern, and if they gave me the epidural too soon, then it would slow my contractions. She told me that she does have Stadol for pain, and I could have an Ambien to sleep if I wanted it. I told her no on both, because I was not in that much pain yet, and Ambien makes me hallucinate. She left the room and told me to call her when I wanted the pain meds.

I tried to rest and sleep, but I was too excited, so at 1:30 I asked for the pain meds. My contractions were starting to hurt, and I wanted to sleep. The nurse came in and gave me the Stadol, and it hit me almost instantly. AH! Sleep at last!

Around 3 am, the contractions woke me up. The nurse came in and said the epidural guy was on his way, and she gave me some more Stadol. At this point, the contractions hurt so badly! I don’t see how women do natural labors! I was squeezing Stephens’s hands so hard that they were turning purple. I slept between the contractions.

Around 4 am I woke up and the room was really bright. There was a bald man telling me he was here for the epidural. I wanted to get off the bed and hug him! He did the epidural, which did not hurt nearly as bad as the contractions. All I remember was a small needle poke, some pressure in my tailbone, and then him asking me to wiggle my toes. He was in and out quickly from what the drug haze lets me remember.

I woke up around 8 am and felt great! I looked over to the contraction monitor and saw that they were at the top of the chart, so I knew that they would probably hurt if I could feel them. Around 9 am, my midwife came in. It was the one that I had seen the most in the office, and the one I have heard is great at making you push, so I was happy. She checked me and said I was about 7-8 cms dilated and that it would be about an hour till I could start pushing. I called my mom and told her that Little Man would be here sometime soon!!

At around 10 am, the midwife came back in, checked me and said all that was left was a little lip around Little Mans head, she had me push during one contraction and the lip was gone. At 10:15 I was laid back and ready to start pushing. I had 2 contractions, and noticed during pushing Little Mans heart rate would disappear. My midwife noticed this too, and had to put the thing into his head to monitor his heart rate. I don’t remember what it is called, but it sticks into his head, not too far, and monitors his heart rate.

Around 11pm, after pushing for 1 hour, I was very tired. They had told us that Little Mans head is stuck in my pelvic bone, and they had to keep my legs up all the time to keep him from slipping back down. Every time I pushed, hubby would tell me he could see the head, I eventually told him to stop telling me that , because I thought that meant his whole head. I told hubby that until he can see the whole head, I don’t want to hear it!

Around 12 pm, I noticed everyone putting on blue gowns and changing gloves. I knew the time was close. They put my feet in stirrups so they did not have to hold them. They had turned down the epidural, so I could feel the contractions coming. They did the episiotomy around this time, which I did not feel. Around 12:15 pm, my midwife told me that this was the last push, and I felt like saying "if it is not, I am done, you are going to have to cut him out” but I did not. I pushed really hard, and my midwife told me to look down, I could see his head! The whole time my midwife was great. She motivated me to push like no other, and Stephen was great too, holding my head, and my hands, and helping me thru the contractions.

At 12:17 pm my sweet Little Man made his way into the world. They put him on my stomach. He was surprisingly very clean. I got to hold him for a minute and they clamped the cord. The doctor asked hubby if he would like to cut the cord, and he had already decided that if they asked him, he would, so he cut the cord. They took Little Man to be cleaned and weighed, and they started sewing me up.

Little Man was not crying too much, just complaining, until they gave him his first shot, then he started to SCREAM. He must have mamas temper! Once he was all clean, they weighed him. 7 lbs, 4.6 ozs. They round up, so he measures at 7 lbs 5 ozs. They brought him to me so I could try to breast feed him, and they all left the room. I finally had my little man!

That hour of peace and quiet with Little Man and hubby was the best hour of my life. After that time, they came and moved us to mother baby care, and that is where we spent the rest of our hospital stay. It was a day I will never forget. Definitely the happiest day in my life!"

SO Sick of The House Crap!

Ok. Time for you all to know whats going on with this house!!

We put in the offer in what, April, maybe early May? Well, between then and a few days ago, the process was crawling. We are eligible for a grant from the State of Georgia, since the house we picked was a foreclosure. We got all of our paperwork turned in in May. In June, my husband went to a home buyers class that was required for the grant. We were supposed to close in late June.

A few days before our first closing date we got a phone call from our lender, saying the grant money was not in yet. From there, it all went downhill. We found out that it had not even gone to underwriting yet, our lender had not locked in our interest rate, and that this was going to take longer than we thought. We fought and fought to get it to underwriting, and fought to get our interest rate back down. In late July, the underwriters told us what they needed from us, and we got it turned in the next day. A few days later we heard from our lender that the underwriting was complete, and we should be closing in mid-August!

Fast forward to yesterday. We get a call from our lender saying that our underwriters were shut down by the federal government. Apparently they were not turning in what they needed to, and fraud is suspected. So all the loans that were not closed yet are in limbo now.

We have no idea what is going to happen. Our lender is looking to find a new underwriter, and she says that someone is already looking at it. We shall see. We have also found out that since this process started, my husbands credit has gone down by over 70 points from all the inquiries to our credit, and an error. We have fixed the error, but it takes 30 days for it to be reported.

We are thinking that if this falls thru, we will just find a new house and go with our bank since we know they are not going anywhere! We have to get my husbands credit score back up before we can do that though. We called everyone on our report today to see if they can update it today, instead of at the end of the month, so we again will see.

So for now we are still homeless. We are staying with my sister, who has 3 kids, so its a full house!

Updates on Us

I realized today that with all the posts about Little Miracles health concerns, that I have not updated everyone on us in a while.

Little Man is growing like a weed. He is almost 22 months. He is OBSESSED with trains. We are going to have his 2nd birthday party somewhere with trains, and we are going to do his room in the house in trains. He is talking more and more, and it is fun to see what his newest words are! He pulls some out I didn't know he knew! We have made lots of new friends since we moved.

Stephen is working a lot. He has put one person in the Army National Guard so far. They are being very picky because they are full, so people get sent home from processing for various reasons.

I am doing ok. Really stressed out. We still have not closed on the house (almost 4 months after we put in the offer). Don't ask why, because we don't even know. We are getting the run around from our lender and we are frankly very tired of dealing with it. So tired, that we are about to say forget it to the whole thing and just get an apartment for now. We have had 3 closing dates, and all 3 have come and gone. We have our 4th now, and I pray that we finally close on the house. We have to get out of the house we are renting by tomorrow, so we are going to stay with my sister for a few weeks. No apartments up here rent monthly, and the extended stay hotels were just not going to work for me.

I found a GREAT play group up here. My ladies have been such a great support to me during all of this! We have play dates several times a week, and have moms nights out often. It is nice to get out of the house without kiddos!

That is our lives in a nutshell right now. Please say some prayers that we will close on our house soon!

Health Ultrasound Today ~ Results

Wow. What a ride this has been. First off, let me say that our Little Miracle looks perfectly healthy!

It was a long night last night. I have a nervous stomach, so I get sick when I get nervous. I also don't sleep when nervous, so I was prepared for a night of no sleep. Our Little Man (21 months old now) decided to keep mommy up too. He was up every 30-45 minutes from 8:30 until about 1:30 when we finally caved and gave him Tylenol and more milk. We had tried milk around 10, and we were rocking him or rubbing his back every time he was awake! I don't know if he is teething, or just felt sick last night, but he finally crashed around 2 a.m.!

We got up at 7:30 this morning, and woke up Little Man. We took him to my sisters so she could watch him while we went to the ultrasound. My appointment was at 9, and we got there early again, about 8:30. They took me straight back, and the ultrasound tech started looking at Little Miracle. My husband was sitting in the chair next to me, with a pen and paper in hand, ready to write down anything that they said, so I could remember it. Needless to say, he did not write anything down!

The tech did all the measurements of the bones, the head, the belly and looked at the heart and brain for a while for details of them. She also re-confirmed it is a boy! She didn't talk much during the ultrasound, which kinda made me nervous. I mean, he looks healthy to me, but what do I know? I don't know what his heart and brain and bones are supposed to look like on an ultrasound. Before she left to get the doctor, she said that he was going to come in and review everything, but she does not see anything that concerns her. PHEW!!!

The doctor came in shortly after she left, and took a look himself. He told us about the amino before he looked at Little Miracle, and said he would do it today if we decided. After he looked at the ultrasound pictures and had a look around himself, he told us that he sees NO markers for Downs at all, and that the baby is measuring right on - even confirmed it was a boy, again. He did not even mention the amino again after he looked at Little Miracle. He told us our risk went down from 1 in 181 (I had the number wrong... I thought he said 1 in 151 earlier) to 1 in 780 with the lack of Downs markers, which is more on target for the risk for my age group. We are going back to see him around 28 weeks, to get another look at Little Miracle when he is bigger, but that is just more for peace of mind, the doctor said.

The ultrasound was very short, so we were out of there in about 30 minutes, which was nice. We went to the bank and to breakfast before we had to pick up Little Man, so my husband could get to work.

Our risk for Downs is still there, but now it is so small, that we are not going to think about it anymore. We will find out at birth if he has it or not. Thank you all again for all of the thoughts, prayers, emails and comments. They really helped me calm down my racing mind!

Thank You!

I just wanted to say a quick thank you for all the prayers and supportive comments, emails that I have received. I feel like I will have a great support system if Little Miracle does in fact have Downs. I have skimmed the blogs that were recommended to me, but can't bring myself to read them until we know for sure what is going on with Little Miracle.

Monday is my ultrasound appointment. I am nervous and excited at the same time. I will enjoy seeing him, if nothing else. I will be happy to have a little more information coming out of the ultrasound. We will be debating the amniocenteses after the ultrasound. I really want to do it, but my husband does not. We will see if there are any Down markers, and see what the doctor recommends, and go from there.

In other news, I got the results on another test they did, and Little Miracle has little to no chance to having neural tube defects. One more hurdle passed!

Ultrasound Results for Gender

Well guys... Looks like all my sicence experiments were CORRECT!! Little Man has a Little Brother coming!



We arrived at our ultrasound early, and they took us straight back. They put the ultrasound probe on my belly and saw the baby on the screen. She asked me what I thought I was having. I looked at the screen and said "well, that looks like boy parts". She said, "yes, it does".

I am over joyed to have another son on the way! I would have been just as happy with a daughter, but I really don't know what I would do with daughters. I want 3 boys and then a girl, so I am on a roll so far!

More Gender Games and An Update

Ok. Since having fun with the Draino and Walgreens test yesterday (which is IntelliGender, in case you were wondering, CVS and Walgreens sells it, and you can get it online(oh- and I got a response to my email from them, they read that as BOY also)) I decided to look into all the other tests and tales. Here they are.

The Ring Test: Take a strand of hair, and thread it thru your wedding band. Hold it above your stomach and if goes back and forth, it is a boy, if it goes in circles, it is a girl.

Mine went side to side, stating it is a BOY.

Where the baby kicks: If the baby kicks more to the right, it is a boy. If the baby kicks more to the left, it is a girl.

This baby kicks my right side more, meaning it is a BOY.

Linea Nigera: If you get this annoying dark line from your belly button down, it is a boy. If you do not get the line, it is a girl.

No line this time, meaning it is a GIRL. (I did have the line with Little Man)

Heartbeat: If the baby's heartbeat is 130 or higher, it is a girl. If it is less than 130, it is a boy.

Always in the 140s, so GIRL

Cravings: If you crave sweets, it is a boy. If you crave more sour things, it is a girl.

Gimme my limes!! GIRL

Color of your urine: If it is neon yellow, it is a boy. If it is dull yellow, it is a girl.

BOY (Was true with Little Man)

Chinese Lunar Calendar: Takes your age at conception, and the month of conception, to tell you what you are having.

According to them, BOY

Old Wives Tale Test: Take the test, and they will tell you what you are having

According to them, 71% chance of BOY

Madame Zaritska:- A fun website that predicts the gender.
"The day you deliver, outside will be hot. Your baby will arrive in the late afternoon. After a labor lasting approximately 9 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 12 pounds, 14 ounces, and will be 21 inches long. This child will have dark violet eyes and a lot of brown hair. "

GIRL (lets hope she is wrong on the 12 lber!!)

Now if you were keeping count, that is 5 BOY and 4 GIRL.

We shall see in almost 6 hours. I decided to find out earlier than my 19 week appointment partially because I am so impatient, and partially because I want my focus to be solely on Little Miracle's health at that appointment. I don't want to go into the appointment wondering what we are having.

Now that all the fun is over, onto an update. We should be closing on Friday on our first home! The lender messed up our interest rate, but she is working hard to get it back to where it should be. We have had plumbers, termite people, tree removers, appraisers and inspectors all at the house in the last few weeks. It has been fun. We can't wait to get in it and make it our home!

Fun With Science

As I mentioned earlier, I am the most impatient person in the whole world.

I decided yesterday, Fathers Day, that I wanted to know the gender of this baby, and I want to know it NOW! Well, after calling all 15 elective ultrasound places in the greater Atlanta area yesterday, only 3 answered their phone, and none could get me in yesterday.

So what does a girl do? Well, I could go to the hospital, fake cramps, and get an ultrasound there, but that is not a good thing to do.... so I get online. I look up the "Draino test" which I have heard many pregnant ladies do when they want to know the gender. You buy some crystal Draino, add some urine to it, and when the reaction stops, you observe the color. Cool.

Off to Home Depot.

I also heard that CVS and Walgreens sell a "gender kit" that tells you what you are having too. I headed there and bought it too.

I got them both home last night, and was so excited! I know they are not 100% accurate, but hey, its all in the name of fun, right? I tore open the package from Walgreens, and was disappointed that it said I had to use first morning urine! That means I had to WAIT till the morning.

I tossed and turned all night, partly because my husband snores, and partly because I had a full bladder, and refused to empty it until a decent hour.

7 am rolls around, and my husband is getting up. Now, I don't consider 7 am a decent hour, but those people who have to get out of bed and go to a job probably do. So I race to the bathroom, pee in a cup, and start the fun.

I do the Walgreens one first, since it takes 10 minutes until you can read the results. While I was waiting on that one, I headed outside (always play with chemicals outside kids) to play with Draino. That stuff STINKS, so while it was doing its reaction, I went back inside and looked at the Walgreens test.



The test box says if the color is orangish, it is a girl, if it is brown/greenish, it is a boy. I think it is safe to say, that this is a boy result. I emailed the company with this picture too, just to get a second opinion.

Back outside, to the Draino, which by now has stopped bubbling, fuming and all around smelling. I looked at it. If it darkens to a brownish, it is a boy, and if there is no darkening or color change, it is a girl. Well....I didn't know what it did, since I had nothing to compare it to. So I added some more Draino crystals to a cup, and this time added water. Waited the same amount of time, and looked. Looks like mine did darken, so it says boy too.



You think I will be happy with these "science experiments" determining the gender of Little Miracle? Nope.. I have an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday night to get a peek. I know, patience, but I am working on it.

*even though I really wanted to, I did not play with the color on these pictures. The only editing done was to re-size, put the two Draino tests next to each other, and add the frame*

Yea!

I emailed the "molar God" as he is known. It is a OB/GYN doctor up in Boston, that specializes in molar pregnancies, and is very willing to talk to people who are not even his patients via email. I wanted to know if there was any possibility of a link between the molar pregnancy I had in December, and the possibility that Little Miracle has Down Syndrome.

He said that he sees no link in the two! So no matter what the outcome is, I know it is nothing I did. I know it is nothing I did anyway, but it made me wonder if I was cleared too soon to try again, or if I got pregnant too soon after the molar.

It makes me feel a lot better.

Plans

After talking to the high-risk doctor, and my personal OB/GYN this week we have plans.

I wanted to have the Quad Screen done, which shows your risks for all abnormalities, but my OB/GYN says that will only mess up my risks. She says once you opt for the first trimester screening, you don't do the Quad Screen also.

We are going in July 13th for another ultrasound with the high-risk doctor, to look for more Down markers, and see the over all health of the baby. We will find out what we are having at this time too. I half way want to wait on the sex, but I know that I will never have the willpower to not find out.

If they see several "hard markers" we will discuss having the amino done. Hard markers are ones that babies with Down Syndrome are known to have, like shorter limbs. Where as the missing nasal bone is considered a "soft marker" in that it does not happen in all Down Syndrome babies.

I really want to have the amino done, my husband does not. The procedure carries a small risk of miscarriage, and he does not feel it is worth it. I really want to get it done, because I know the risk of miscarriage is smaller than my risk of Down Syndrome, and I would like to be as prepared as possible should this child need me to be.

So, hold on to your seats till July 13th, and we will let you know the plans then!

I am feeling better, knowing how many people are praying for us. I am NOT praying that this baby not have Down Syndrome, I am just praying that if it does, that we can accept it and that it be over all healthy and that we will know how to raise it. I don't consider a special needs baby a burden, but a blessing. If I am meant to raise a special needs baby, then I will accept that job and take it head on.

In other news, we have a closing date on our house! We should be closing June 26th! We are very excited, and ready to get in it and stop living out of storage!

Now I Am Worried.

The perinatal doctor just called me with my blood work results. The risk that this baby has Downs is elevated. It is 1 in 151. For my age, it should be about 1 in 1,288. My risk is the same as a 40 year old. I am only 28.

I am so scared. I have thoughts running thru my mind. Pictures of a life that this baby may have. I don't know if and when we will have a definite answer. I go back to the perinatal doctor the middle of July for another ultrasound, and I guess we will discuss my options for definite testing then. The only definite way to know before the baby is born is to have an amniocentesis. I am not sure I want to go thru that. The risk for miscarriage after having an amino is 1 in 300-400.

I have too many numbers running thru my head. I don't even know what to think anymore. I am still trying to remain positive, but that is getting harder.

NT scan

I had my Nuchal translucency scan yesterday morning. It is an ultrasound that looks for markers for Downs and other chromosomal abnormalities. I figured since the molar pregnancy I had last year was a genetic fluke, I would like to have all the tests for this baby, to make sure Little Miracle is healthy.

I picked up my mom bright and early, and we headed down to the hospital. I needed someone to come with me to watch Little Man while Mommy was on the ultrasound table. My husband was supposed to come, but he had a meeting to go to. I figured my mom would enjoy the ultrasound too.

We got there a little too early, and had to wait in the hall for them to open. They told me to come with a full bladder, so I had an over full one! I had to pee so bad it was starting to hurt.

We went back to the ultrasound room and the tech did the scan. She looked around for a bit, took some measurements, then let me pee. THANK YOU!!! After that, the doctor came in and looked around some more. He said the nuchal translucency is in the normal range and with my age we should not be too worried about Downs.

The only thing that scared me is when I glanced over at the doctor and tech. They were both staring at the screen and tilting their heads. Looking for something. So I asked what they were looking for. They said the nasal bone. The doctor then asked the tech if she saw it, and she said no.

As soon as I got home, I googled "missing nasal bone at 13 weeks". Yeah, don't do that! Apparently that is a marker for Downs. They did draw blood, and said they would call me within a week to discuss results of the scan and the blood work. I am trying not to freak out about the nasal bone. In my heart I know everything will be OK. Having a child with Downs will not change a thing, but I would like to know so I can be prepared.

I have been praying a lot, and I am at peace with whatever happens. Like I said earlier, I feel in my heart that this baby is perfectly healthy. I am not going to dread hearing from the doctors. When I do hear something, I will let everyone know!

Here is my Little Miracle at 13 weeks. It is just the head.

13 weeks!

I am almost 13 weeks! YEA. The end of the first trimester is a nice place to be.

For the most part, I think my energy is coming back, and my morning sickness seems to be headed out the window. I am SO happy to have that morning sickness gone! It hit me like a brick in the head the past few weeks.

I had an appointment on Thursday. It was supposed to be a normal appointment, listen to the heartbeat, talk about concerns, etc... it turned into a sick visit.

I woke up at 4 am with the stomach flu. I was out of town also, so I had to drive over an hour and a half in traffic while sick to get to my appointment. My doctor gave me medicine, and my sweet mom came over and took care of me and Little Man. She brought me medicine and some fluids, and loved on me and played with Little Man until he napped. I napped when he did, and when he got up, my mom, or Gram, as she is called, got Little Man up and fed him lunch and played with him until my husband got home. I am SO happy to be back up here and close to my family!

I slept pretty much all afternoon and night on Thursday, and was back to about 90% on Friday. I am 100% today and very happy to be back to normal!

We also had a pre-inspection on our house on Friday. It did not go well. We had the actual inspection today, and the inspector made us feel A LOT better than the guy did on Friday. The guy from Friday freaked me out! Today, our inspector told us pretty much everything that needs to be fixed on the house, and honestly, its not that much. Some siding needs to be replaced, we have some termites (termite guy coming out Monday to tell us how much damage has been caused. I don't think much, since the main foundation of the house is concrete), the porch top rail needs to be replace, minor stuff like that too. My only concern is the termites. If they have invaded the whole house, we will have to walk away, but I highly doubt that they have. We only saw evidence of them in one place on the whole house.

I did have to reschedule my nuchal translucency scan because I was so sick. They asked me to have a full bladder, and I could not even keep down water, so there was no way! I have that on Tuesday morning.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

Something Old, Something New,
Something Borrowed, Something Blue,
A Silver Sixpence in her Shoe.


5 years ago today I married my husband. It has been an interesting 5 years. We have moved five times (wow! that's the first time I counted!). We have gone through the deaths of both of our grandfathers, and his grandmother. We have rented our first apartment, and we are in the process of buying our first house. We have gone through the birth of our first child, and our first loss of a pregnancy. We have been through many ups and downs, but I would not change a thing.

Looking back, 5 years ago today, I was excited and nervous. I was finally getting married. We dated for almost 5 years, so it was about time! I spent the night at my moms and we went to breakfast together, a mother daughter ritual. She drove me to the "church" and helped me get ready, along with my bridesmaids.

We got married at Marietta Square and had the reception at the Marietta Art Museum. It was perfect. We planned an outdoor wedding, with no back-up plan. Looking back, I must have been crazy, because May 23rd 2004, was the only day it did not rain in May of that year.

I remember several things very fondly about my wedding. I remember freaking when I found out my groom-to-be was eating pizza only an hour before the wedding. I was afraid he was going to get pizza sauce on his white vest. I remember taking pictures outside the fountain and the gazebo, such a beautiful setting. I remember walking across the street from the art museum to the gazebo, and having traffic stopped. Strangers smiling at me. I remember the look on my grooms face when he saw me walking down the aisle.

I don't remember seeing strangers at our wedding, or hearing the horns of cars honking all around us. I don't remember my bridesmaids brushing ants off of my dress mid-ceremony. I know this all happened thanks to the video of our ceremony.

We had a lot of fun on that day, and never imagined then that we would be where we are now. When we got married, I wanted no children. My husband slowly convinced me that children would be great, and I am very glad that we made that decision. I never imagined we would ever own a home, and while we don't quite yet, if all goes well, we will in the next month. I never imagined all of the things we would get to do together.

Tonight we have dinner plans at a beautiful restaurant, and we have booked a hotel room for just us. It will be our first night with out Little Man. A good friend of mine told me that "HE will be fine, YOU will be a nervous wreck". How true that is. Thanks for that bit of clarity. I know he will be fine, and I am only hoping I can sleep. A few glasses of wine would help me sleep better, but not this year.

Happy 5th Anniversary to my husband, the love of my life, the father of my children. I love you.

From My Heart

I can not believe I am almost 3 months pregnant. It is finally starting to become real to me. I have been holding my breath for the past 11 weeks, waiting on something to happen.

I guess anyone who has had a pregnancy loss, no matter how early or late, understands my feelings. My loss took the innocence out of pregnancy. Before I was living in the "nothing happens to me pregnant" world. My first pregnancy was simple and for the most part free from problems and fears. Now, I have fears.

I am still terrified that something will happen to this baby. I know that the odds of something happening to it now are slim to none, but the odds of me having a molar pregnancy were even less, and it happened.

I wish I could go back in time and have the innocence back. Have the fears gone. I know I can not live in fear, it is just hard to allow myself to get excited over this child, knowing what can happen.

With that said, I am slowly allowing myself to let go of those fears, and accept the fact that yes, I AM PREGNANT! I will have a newborn baby in December! Hearing the heart beat daily along with the morning sickness and my growing belly are all helping to heal my heart. I don't think I will ever "get over" my loss, but I am moving on, which is a good feeling.

Little Miss Impatient

I admit it, I am the MOST impatient person in the world. When I want something, I want it NOW. This is sometimes a good quality to have, because I have learned how to get what I want!

Well, my next OB appointment is in 2 1/2 more weeks. That is when she will try to listen to the heartbeat with a Doppler. Well... I'm too impatient to wait that long to hear Little Miracles heart beating. We heard Little Mans at 9 weeks, so I know that at almost 11 now, I should be able to find it.

So, I went online to the company that I rented a Doppler with for Little Man, and they have a great deal on one to buy! Heck yeah! I, of course, paid the extra to get it sent over night to me.

It came yesterday, and as soon as I got that puppy inside, I had it open and working. The sweet sound of an unborn babies heartbeat is like no other.

I wanted to share this sound with the world. Easier said than done. I spent 3 hours this morning working on figuring out how to get Photobucket to accept an audio file. I downloaded three different audio conversion programs, and none of them worked. Finally I saw a "Windows Movie Maker" on my computer. Opened the audio file, added a picture, and BAM. That simple. I wish I would have seen that earlier this morning!

Here it is! Just click on the picture and you will hear the heart beating. It has a little static, but you can still hear it.



I hope you enjoy the sound just as much as I do.

Hey Guys

Hey Guys, Little Man here. I wanted to have a chance to type something! Don't tell Mommy I stole her laptop for a minute!

We went out tonight, and Mommy kept saying we were gonna pick up a slide. Well, I love slides, so I was excited! I couldn't understand what Mommy was talking about though, cause all the slides I have been on have been at the play ground.

We met some guy from Craigslist, Mommy said. They loaded this big, colorful thing into the back of our van, and Mommy said it was my slide. I kept pointing to it on the way home, cause I wanted to go on it!!

When we got home, Daddy set it up on the back porch for me. It was my bed time, but Mommy said I could play for a minute. I was not too sure about this thing, but once I figured it out... OH MAN!! It's GREAT!!

It's got a door! I like to open and shut the door!!


It's also got these... openings on the bottom sides that I fit thru!!


I like to kiss Mommy thru the openings! This is how I tell her "thanks" for the new toy!


My favorite is the slide! I went down it, then Daddy taught me to climb back up it! Mommy said something about not letting me do that, something about I will try to do it at the park, but Daddy ignored her.


Well, it is past my bedtime, and Mommy says if I don't go to bed soon, that I wont get to play in the morning on my new toy.

Good night everyone!

Little Man

Saving the Dog

I totally forgot to add this in my Mother's Day post!

Friday when we got to the lake, we decided to fish for a little before it got dark. We walked down to the dock, and about half way out, we see a dog. The dog was STUCK under the dock, on top of the Styrofoam that keeps it floating. We tried to get the dog to jump into the water, and it did not want to move.

We called animal control, and they close at 5 pm. Nice. This was about 6 pm. An hour late. Story of my life.

About this time, a boater showed up to dock his boat. He jumped in the water, and tried to get the dog out too. We found some rope, and put it around the dog's neck, trying to pull it into the water. He kept getting stuck on the re barb on top of the Styrofoam.

More and more people were showing up. At this time, I decided to call the police department, thinking maybe they could get in touch with animal control to free this poor dog. It took animal control an hour to call me back, and he said he would be there in about an hour.

Meanwhile, some guys showed up with a saw, and cut part of the side of the dock, making it easier for the dog to get into the water. That dog did NOT want to get wet. We think he ended up in the water somehow, and freaked, swimming up under the dock, and that is why he did not want to get back into the water.

The guys tried again to pull the dog into the water, they tried to push him into the water. This dog was not going into the water.

Just when they were about to give up, someone shows up with a drill. They take two planks off of the top of the dock, and the dog emerges! FREE! The dog stayed around for a little, just to say thanks, then took off for the woods.

We headed back to the house, right as the animal control guy was calling me to tell me he was on the way. Little late, buddy. I felt good that we helped save a trapped dog, but bad that animal control could not pick him up, and help him find his home. Hopefully he headed that way!

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day this year. I am not all about gifts and presents, I enjoy just spending the day with my family. Last year we went to a bed and breakfast, then hiking. It was perfect!

This year, we went to the lake!



We loaded up the car and headed to the in-laws for a weekend on the lake. Saturday it was supposed to rain, and the whole day as we were getting the boat ready, my mother-in-law kept saying that we were crazy, and we were gonna get rained on. Well, as soon as we got the boat in the water, the skies cleared, and it turned into a beautiful day!

It took us a long time to get the boat ready. We hauled it to the launching dock, and took the cover off, only to discover mildew. The in-laws had not taken the boat out in 2 years, due to the drought we have been under, and the low lake levels. Then as we tried to test the battery (after hooking it to a meter and seeing it was fully charged). Guess what? The battery did not work! So we had to un-hook it, and take it to Sears, where they tried to charge it, and that did not work either. So they just bought a new battery. While we were at the mall that had the Sears, we grabbed lunch, and Little Man got his first spin on a carousel. He was not too sure about it once it started moving. He got a little scared!



We finally got the boat in the water, and it would not start! It took almost half an hour of praying and trying before it finally started!

We drove around the lake for a while, then fished for a while too. Little Man enjoyed running around the boat, and trying to drive.



He had so much fun, he tuckered himself out, and passed out on the boat.



He kept falling over, and had a hard time standing back up due to his massive life jacket. (Call me a safety nerd, but whatever! My child was in a life jacket the whole time.... federal law ya know?)

Sunday we took the boat out to a marina to eat. Well, it was a restaurant in a hotel near a marina. Close enough. It took us almost an hour to get there, and then an hour to get back. It started raining on the way back, but nothing too bad. It was a bit chilly too.

We headed home Sunday night. I got a little too much sun, due to the clouds. I was only gonna go sun-screen less for about an hour, then put some on, but since I could not feel the sun burning on my skin, I forgot. Oh-well. Lessons learned.

I learned one more lesson too. I should always check the camera before handing it over to someone else to use. This is the picture my loving husband took of Little Man and I on Mother's Day. I wanted something for the scrapbook. I don't think this will work.



Yeah, it's called FOCUS honey....

I did get a present for Mother's Day. When we were at Target getting fishing rods, I saw a pair of rain boots for Little Man. I have been looking for rain boots for him for a while now. After I found his, I went and looked for some in my size. They had them!! I told my husband that I wanted those for Mother's Day!

Come on rain! I wanna puddle jump with Little Man.

Moving Foward.

We have a house! We put in an offer on one we fell in love with, and the first offer was rejected. We really love the house, so we decided to up the offer in hopes that this one would be taken. It was! We will officially be under contract as of Monday or Tuesday. Now starts the fun.

Inspections, appraisals, paint, possible new pipes, appliances... my list never ends. All of this while fighting morning sickness all day long. But I know it will be worth it in the end.

Closing is going to be in about 45 days, which falls on Fathers Day. I plan on getting Stephen a great present to go in the house. I won't tell ya'll what it is, as I am unsure if he reads my blog. (Hi honey if you do read this! I love you)

I am feeling OK. Tired all the time and nauseous if I don't eat ever hour or so, or if I eat too much. Its a vicious cycle, but one I want. I found out last week that I have a UTI due to Group B Strep, so I will have to have antibiotics at delivery to make sure Little Miracle does not get sick.

We are narrowing down our list of names. We have a girl name picked, not sure if it will stick, so I will not share it right now either. Boy names we are having problems with.

I will try to be a better blogger in the next few weeks, and I still have pictures from when I was computer less that I want to share.

Way Behind

So sorry guys. This move has us living out of suitcases, and it's hard to find a minute to post between looking at houses and trying to stay organized.

I think last I posted, we had just put in an offer on a house. Well, the bank took a different offer, so we are back to looking. It is getting frustrating, but we know our house is out there.

I met with my new OB/GYN yesterday. She is super sweet, and I think she will work out well. They got all of my history, and blood work. They also did a quick ultrasound. We got to see the heart beating again, which helped ease my nerves.

Here are my ultrasound pictures from both ultrasounds.

6 weeks 1 day - You are seeing the baby, and the yolk sack...


8 weeks 3 days - You are seeing the baby, its head is on the left, with its arms under that. Look farther and you see the legs.


My next appointment is at 12 weeks. My new doctor said I am no longer considered high risk, since there is a baby with a heartbeat in there! That takes a lot of stress off of me. The only thing that will happen different with this pregnancy is after the baby is born, they will send the placenta off to make sure there is no molar tissue in it.