Looking up

Can I just tell you how nice it is to have energy again and not spend my day lying on the couch trying not to puke. I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and not a moment too soon.

We took a little vacation to Missouri from Thursday-Sunday. I was worried about going but my m/s has eased up enough that it wasn't a problem. I met up with my mom, dad and two little sisters. We visited my dad's side of the family and did some junkin'. And best of all I got a wonderful blessing from my father. We all had a great time. Even Jody enjoyed the trip.

The bad part of going on vacation is coming home. My house was a wreck. The day before we left, I was busy doing our Pinewood Derby Pack Meeting for Cub Scouts. I managed to wash a load of towels and dishes before we left so there was a lot to be done. Today I did 5 or so loads of laundry and put stuff away. Too bad the kids drag stuff out as quick as I get it picked up.

I'm actually cooking supper tonight. This is a huge accomplishment on me part. I haven't cooked a full supper since Easter. Jody has been very understanding. It feels great to want to eat again.

My 9 Week Belly Bean

Hanging on

I now realize why I didn't journal for the first 14 weeks of my previous pregnancies. It was because I felt like crap. The last few weeks have been rough- much worse then I remember feeling before. My ob prescribed Zofran which has been wonderful. A word of caution: it causes constipation. Constipation and hemorrhoids make for a great combination. Needless to say, I ran to Wal-Mart today for some Colace - ugh. I'm grateful Jody has been so understanding. There have been several days where I spent the majority of the day laying on the couch. He's been helpful with the house and the kids. Yesterday I was feeling better so I started some major reorganizing of the house. Foolish me. Now I have piles of stuff that need to be sorted and put away and no energy to do it. Maybe tomorrow will be another good day. Hopefully it will.

A Quote to Remember

I read this quote by Robert Kennedy on another blog and I've thought about it a lot ever since.

"Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live."

The baby blahs

There are times when I think I am crazy for wanting to do this again. And then I feel guilty. I'm not handling this morning sickness very well. Our couch has become my new best friend. I wake up every morning looking forward to naptime. After naptime I count down the hours until bedtime. Today I bought Seabands and B6. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I can't remember how long my morning sickness lasted with the other kids. I pulled out their pregnancy journals and I did a horrible job of writing in them. I do remember feeling awful my first trimester with Olivia. I was finishing up my last semester of college and it was rough. With Paxton I only felt bad for a couple weeks. So does that mean this baby is a girl? We shall see.

My belly bean

There's something in there

I had my first ob appt today, and the good news is: there is a baby in there! I was so relieved so see that little bean and it's tiny heartbeat. My doctor said my levels from the bloodwork look great too. I go back in three weeks for another ultrasound. I can't believe I'm having a baby!

We had a fun day as a family. Since we couldn't find anyone to watch the kids, we all went down to my appt together and made a day of it. My doctor is about an hour away in NLR so we decided to yardsale our way to his office. We didn't find many sales since it's a Thursday, but it was still fun. After my appt we went to Target and Kohl's. We bought Paxton 2 Thomas the Train shirts at Kohls. They were on sale so we got them almost half off. I think it made Paxton's day. He had to put one of the shirts on after his nap. We came home and I took a two hour nap. Eek! I can't believe Jody let me sleep that long. For supper we went to Los Montanos, a cozy little Mexican restaurant in Beebe. Paxton thinks the name of the restaurant is Beebe because we always say we are going to go to Beeble to eat when we go there. LOL The kids were so hyper this evening. I was glad to see bedtime come. I'm tired but I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep tonight after taking that long nap.

All my love and prayers

All my love and prayers go out to my friend Darcie and her family for the loss of their little girl Carli Mae who was born and passed away on March 20th. If you could remember them in your prayers I know they would appreciate it. Your little girl will always be remembered.

Campfire Fun

Olivia has been asking to cook hotdogs on a fire and we finally did it tonight. It was so much fun. We cooked and ate everything outside. The hotdogs weren't so much a hit as the smores. I love those things. It's so much fun doing stuff like that as a family. I think that's what childhood memories are made of.

Visual DNA

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Happy Birthday, Ma!

I hope you had a wonderful day. Love you!

Bloodwork and Ultrasound

I called my ob back. Since I'm still spotting they wanted be to go in for bloodwork so they could get a quantitative HCG level incase they need it later, and they went ahead and ordered the pregnancy panel so that I only have to get poked once. The lab lady got it on the first poke- very good considering the drama last time. I also go in on Thursday for an ultrasound. That seems like a long time away. I'm hoping all this nauseousness is a good sign. What will be, will be.

Enough already?!

So I called my ob about the spotting. I'm not spotting a lot but it's enough to make me nervous. His nurse said to take it easy tonight and to let her know how I was doing in the morning.

Fast forward to supper time. Jody was burning some trash on the burn pile by his shed. He went outside to give the cat some scraps. He came running in the house and said, "I need the fire extinguisher! My sheds on fire!" I ran out and hooked up a hose while Olivia drug it towards the shed. Jody got another hose and hooked it up so it would reach the shed. He was able to get the fire out quickly. There was minimal damage to the shed. Had he went out 5 minutes later, the shed probably would have been engulfed in flames. So much for taking it easy. Is this week over yet?

Oh, and Jody said he will not longer be using the burn pile by his shed.

Today the kids were outside playing. I noticed I was spotting a little bit which had me worried so I was hanging out in the house taking it easy. Olivia and Ashtyn came in and I asked where Paxton was. Olivia said she didn't know. She usually keeps pretty good tabs on him but with Ashtyn being here, they weren't paying him any attention. I went outside to look for him and couldn't find him anywhere around the house. I came back in the house and looked through all the rooms hoping he had come inside and I didn't notice, but he wasn't here. I ran up to the barn to see if he went up to ride the tractor or see the pigs, and he wasn't there. I ran back down the driveway and told the girls to stay in the house, I was going to check the ILs house. I jumped in the van and drove up and sure enough Paxton was sitting in the wagon on the ILs porch looking at the cats through the screen window. I was so scared he had wandered off into the woods and got lost. I just kept thinking about the stories you hear on the news about toddlers wandering off in the woods. I grabbed Paxton and started crying and brought him home. I had to go to my room and hide so the kids didn't see me lose it. I ended up calling Anna so she could talk me down. I never want to have that feeling again.

Adventures with Paxton

What an adventure we have had over the last few days. We went over to my friend's house for a party on Saturday. I changed Paxton around 4 or 5 and noticed he had spots all over him. At first I freaked out and thought he had chicken pox, but I realized they were more like welts. I checked him again around 8 and they had spread and were bigger. We gave him a bath, rubbed hydrocorizone all over him, and gave him a dose on Benadryl.

The next morning, his spots had turned into giant welts all over his body. His eye was even swollen. I called my dad and he said take him to the ER if it's effecting his eyes. So we went and they told me he was having an allergic reaction to something. We had no idea to what. The only thing I could think of was I gave him Benadryl for the first time Saturday morning. And what do they say to give him: Benadryl. He was also given a 5 day dose of steroids. His welts were looking a little better at bath time Sunday night.

Well Paxton didn't sleep well at all that night. And neither did I since he wanted company. Monday morning we got up and he had more welts and they looked worse. I called his ped and got him an appointment asap. The ped agreed that it looked like a reaction to something Paxton ate or drank. He told me to use dye free Benadryl because if he was allergic to it, most likely it was the dye. On the way home I realized that I had made Cherry Sensation Juicy Juice on Thursday or Friday, and I hadn't made it in a while. And Paxton had some during the night on Sunday which would explain why the welts got worse over night. So we trashed the juice and don't plan on getting any more any time soon. So his welts have almost completely faded and we got a little more sleep last night.

Here are some pictures of him on Monday:




















Fast forward to today. We were at gymnastics, and Paxton was being naughty so I pulled him by his wrist and arm, nothing hard just to get him to come sit by me. He started crying and saying his arm hurt. He sat on my lap and wouldn't move. He was cradling his arm, and whenever I touched it he would start bawling. They gave me an ice pack to put on it, but it didn't help. So after gymnastics was over I took Paxton to the doctor for the 3rd time in 4 days. Turns out he had what they call nurse maids elbow where the elbow pops out of the socket. They did this little maneuver thing to pop it back in and he was good to go. They went ahead and did x-rays to make sure everything was ok but I knew he was fine because he instantly started climbing everything and running around like crazy. I'm so relieved I didn't break my kid's arm. I've even gotten on to Jody in the past to be careful with the kids because you can pop their arms out of their sockets.

So now I'm tired. Jody's been out of town. I feel like I can't catch up on lost sleep. And I want to put Paxton in a bubble. Maybe, hopefully, the rest of the week will be a little less exciting. Or at least won't require a trip to the hospital.

Beware of the marshmallows

We went to our friend's house for the fish fry. The fish was good, not my favorite fish to eat, but good. The men are under orders to catch some bass for the next one. After we ate we went outside to the fire pit and roasted marshmallows. We were sitting around chatting when all of the sudden Sharol yelled "oh no!" and I turn around to see Paxton choking on a marshmallow. He ran up behind me and had a panic look on his face as he tried to get air. Sharol grabbed him up and did the Heimlich on him before I could respond. She dislodged the marshmallow and Paxton gasped for breath. It was a scary couple of seconds. I picked Paxton up and cuddled him and he said "hurt, hurt". Sharol apologized for hurting but I told her no problem since she just saved my sons life. Never take a single day for granted with your children.

The Wedding

More pictures to follow...

I called the pharmacy today to make sure the meds I am on are safe during pregnancy. They said they would have to look it up so I should call my ob. Um, isn't that a pharmacist's job? I have always been very impressed with my pharmacy until today.

So I called my ob and talked to his nurse MaryJo. She is such a nice lady. She was very excited that I am expecting again and even commented about how quickly we work. *giggle* I told her about my horrible allergy problems, and she said she would talk to the doctor and get back to me. She called me back and told me it was ok to take Claritin if my symptoms get unbearable. It is a huge relief to have more options. Sudafed just isn't cutting it.

I also scheduled my first appointment/ultrasound for April 16. That seems like a long time away. MaryJo said that if I have any problems to call her and she'll get me in sooner. I said the later the better since I don't really have anyone to watch my kids. I hope the next month flies by.

So the shock is wearing off, but not the denial. My mind doesn't handle change well, and it's hard to believe I'm really pregnant. My pg sypmtoms so far: crampy, sore bbs, metallic taste in my mouth, nauceous, tired, insomnia and bloated. I don't remember feeling this way so early on with the other two pregnancies. This could be a long 1st trimester.

The only people we have told that I am pregnant are my family and my internet friends. It's hard to keep it a secret. We aren't ready to tell the kids yet (the minute I do I know I will be hearing "are you going to have the baby yet?" 20 times a day until I actually delivery) and if we aren't telling the kids, we can't tell the ILs, and if we don't tell the ILs, I don't feel right telling other people. So we're waiting. What an exciting secret to have!

Kayla and Patrick's wedding reception was last night. It was beautiful - basically the reception you dream of having but are too cheap to afford. Olivia was the cutest flower girl. She got compliments all night and she was very well behaved. I'll post pics later. I'm too tired right now.

I'm waiting to go to bed. I'm tired, but if I go to sleep now I know I will be up in the middle of the night. We have a busy morning tomorrow. I would love to be able to sleep in- or sleep at all these days.

I took a nap today while the kids were at the ILs. I was dead asleep when MIL called to tell me Paxton had a dirty diaper, and he wouldn't let her change it. I went up to their house in a sleepy stupor and changed the diaper. On the way out the door my MIL has the nerve to say she turns off the phone when she takes a nap so people don't call and disturb her. I was way sleepy and extremely grumpy so I turned around and walked out the door before I went postal on her. She knew I was taking a nap when she called. And it turns out Jody pulled into the driveway when I was headed back home so he could have taken care of the diaper. Grrrr. I swear these people make me crazy sometimes.

We went fishing today. The crappie were biting like crazy. Olivia got to reel in a bunch of fish. Paxton threw rocks and cow poop in the water. Ewww! He got a bath the minute we got home. It was one of the best fishing trips I have been on in a long time. I look forward to the fish fry that follows.

It's the end of the world as we know it!