It's Been Awhile

I realized today how long its been since I actually wrote a post. Life during the holidays are always crazy and this year has been no different. Between shopping (of which I will be finishing tomorrow, thank heavens), decorating, parties, spending time with my family, long drives into civilization and many Dr appts its just never ending. I've developed some new problems in my pregnancy which has made life and taking care of my kids very, very difficult. I was diagnosed with placenta previa and after a second follow up ultrasound today, they found that my placenta pretty much covers my entire cervix and will not be likely to move. So, now I have to go in every six weeks for an ultrasound to keep an eye on it and I've been put on light, light duty. Gotta love that when you have two toddlers who make that near impossible. My other problems have been the increase in my migraines, I've been having kidney problems (even spent three days in the hospital for pain management) and I've started retaining water. I've dealt with a small amount of swelling during my pregnancies in the past, but now by the end of the night I can barely bend my fingers, spending more than 30 minutes on my feet causes them to swell and I'm now packing on large quantities of water weight, which is so depressing. I hate that I have now gained 35lbs and I'm only 6 months along. It sucks. It all makes life so complicated, but I am trying to enjoy my down time by reading, playing with my kids and keeping up with everyones blogs. If I haven't been so great with mine, I've certainly spent lots of time reading about everyone else's lives. I still need to post up Halloween pics, for which I apologize and the ones I have at the moment aren't super great. My parents however took a lot of photos so I need to get copies from them. I also need to get a current pregnancy photo up. I feel like there is a never ending list of things I'd like to put up for everyone's enjoyment. I'm not sure I'll get around to writing again before Christmas, so I'll wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoy your time with your loved ones, you will most certainly be in my thoughts.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #23

Come join the fun with Wife of a Sailor.

1. If you were given $1,000 right now, how would you spend it?
I'd definitely say pay off some bills, but if I could I spend it on a whole bunch of toys for me, you know scrapbooking stuff, books. Or maybe I'd put it toward my family vacation to Charleston in 2012
2. If you had to choose a movie title (a real one that already exists) for your life story, what would it be?
That's a tricky question. I honestly can't think of one. Here's a random one, Timeline. I know not exciting or anything, but my life seems sometimes that its just ticks on the timeline.
3. If you were a teacher, what subject would you like to teach?
Creative Writing! I would want to share my love of writing with everyone!
4. Has being a MilSpouse changed how you view holidays or how your holidays are celebrated? If so, how? If not, what hasn’t changed?
Makes me appreciate the time I have with my husband and my kids. Because I never know if next year he'll be deployed. I just don't take any time I have with my family for granted.
5. What is your favorite Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) memory?
My first official Christmas with my Husband. He'd been deployed during our first one as a married couple, so the second one was the best. We were together and we were expecting our son. It made it such a magical celebration.

Pregnancy Survey 22 Weeks

How far along? 22 Weeks 1 Day (12/2)
Total weight gain/loss: Ok, I really don't enjoy the fact that this pregnancy I have been packing on the weight. The Dr says its water weight, I have been a lot more swollen then in my previous pregnancies, that being said at my last appt last week I had gained 13lbs in four weeks. I've gained a grand total of 28 pounds and I want to cry!


Maternity clothes? There is no way getting around it these days, none at all


Stretch marks? I think I found my first one this pregnancy on top of all the others


Sleep: Well, as of the last couple of days I sleep 15+ hours. I'm exhausted all the time and am still being plagued by migraines.




Best moment this week: Hearing my two year old say Mommy's having a baby and she's sick. Its his way of connecting the fact that because of the baby I've been more under the weather. My one year old pointed to my tummy earlier today and said baby. Not sure she knows what that means, but it still made me very excited.




Movement: Constantly, she is active at night (Thanks, Rhiannon! Mommy would love to sleep!)




Food cravings: Egg nog, cheese



Gender: A little girl, Rhiannon Brielle Adelaide

Labor Signs: Thank heavens no, but I still am worried after Aislynn came 6 weeks early



Belly Button in or out? Barely an innie




Wedding rings on or off? I wish I could still wear them, I hate not having them on. Stupid fat fingers


What I miss: Feeling great all the time




What I am looking forward to: To getting to hold my daughter in my arms and see my other two kids with her.



Weekly Wisdom: Be careful of what you eat, because it can add extra weight!



Milestones: Being a little over half way done with the pregnancy and closer to welcoming my daughter into the world

Wordless Wednesday: My Crazy Acrabatic Son

Wordless Wednesday

Catch Up

Its been quite a while since I've written, but things have been so crazy the last couple weeks. Let's see I'm now 19 weeks and feeling Rhiannon move a lot more. One of my favorite things about being pregnant! ;) On the 1st of November we were so excited that the next book in Christopher & my series was being released. The Wheel of Time books are the best series I've ever read and a few years back the author, Robert Jordan, passed away before completing the series. So, his wife selected another author to work with his notes and complete the last book, which has actually turned into three books. Anyway the new author, Brandon Sanderson, actually lives in Provo, Ut making the first and second books big midnight releases in Provo. Which is so exciting, so we've got numbered books last year being 87 & 88, plus personalized by Brandon. So, this year we were excited to get the same with this book. We had to go be in line at 8am to collect our book numbers for later that night. We actually got there at 6am and got books 45 & 46. Then we came back at about 9:30 PM that night and participated in a Q&A with Brandon, then waited in line until midnight to collect our books. The books were all pre-signed and numbered, but then if you wanted the books personalized you waited in another line. Of course we did, I even got him to sign the inside cover of my Nook, which he had never been asked to do that before. It was a lot of fun. Christopher and I even had the opportunity before heading to the signing to go out to dinner. He took me to Rodizo Grill, a Brazilian cuisine, which I had been craving for weeks. It was a nice date.


I am participating in this years NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) contest and its been a very daunting task. The goal is to write 50,000 words by midnight on November 30th. It started on the 1st of November and I am already at 21,845 words. I'm so excited at how well I'm doing. My personal goal has been 5,000 words a day and I was doing that well, until Saturday this last weekend when we were out and about doing so much that I didn't have a moment to stop and write. Same with Sunday. But Monday was an entirely different issue.

I had to be rushed to the hospital for some very severe right flank and bladder pain. I thought for sure that I had a kidney infection, but after our two hour long drive to get to the hospital, and a few tests later they could find nothing. No signs of a kidney stone on the ultrasound and no sign of infection in my urine test. Yet, they couldn't get my pain under control and so after some discussion about my concern about going home two hours away and still being in so much pain, I was admitted. They kept me on dilaudid ever hour and zofran every two hours, but by that evening I was now having a narcotic migraine. It was awful! I ended up staying until Wednesday morning, since the Dr was concerned about sending me home with such a bad migraine and the kidney pain. I had to laugh when several of my nurses knew me for previous hospital stays with my other two pregnancies. I'm doing better, still drugged up with oral pain meds and the narcotics migraine has slowly been dissipating. Still have kidney pain, but it has mellowed out some too. Thanks heavens. The Dr thinks that the kidney pain was just my kidney being colicky due to my pregnancy, but he says we'll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't quit working and that sort of thing.

So, that has been my adventures for the last couple of weeks. My posts might be few and far between until the end of the month, but once this contest is over I'll be back. I'll try to post Halloween pictures over the next few days, so you can see how much fun we had trick or treating. I hope all of you are doing well and that you have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

 

How can you not love that face? Melts my heart!