Ramblings

Well, I'm still in the hospital. The pain I had been experiencing started to come back as the pain killer wore off and so I decided I would hang out here for one more day.

Plus there was steak for dinner. But that was just a silver lining. I am missing my boys and am anxious to be home.

I got up to shower today and really looked in the mirror. Not the prettiest picture I have seen in a while. My skin is all freckled from the sun last week, I have dark rings under my eyes, my face has decided to break out again. I was slightly depressed about it, my skin has never been a strong point. And then my hair, well we won't go there. But it did not add much to the picture. I took a gloriously warm shower, worked out some kinks, climbed back into bed and was trying to amuse myself by browsing the Internet when I stumbled across a blog that has been mentioned to me a couple of times but I have never looked at. I accidentally closed the window and can't remember how I found it and can't remember the name (sorry) but it was about a burn victim. She had posted a few pictures of herself. And I felt suddenly so ashamed for worrying about freckly, pimply skin. Its amazing how one thing can seem so important to you and the next, not so much. It just needed to be put in perspective. Skin is just not worthy of worrying about that much, there are so many other important things that need my thoughts and attention.

I think sometimes I am incredibly stubborn in learning important lessons. I have been trying so hard to look at the positive side of being sick and have truly been humbled and felt like I have learnt a lot from this experience. I have learnt more about how my body works, I got to listen to doctors evaluating people in the ER (kinda like a fun mini field trip for me), I got to think about what kind of nurse/doctor I want to be...what things the medical staff did that was helpful, how they handled different situations, how grateful I was for them helping me through the rough patches and how I could be helpful to someone in that way when the opportunity comes. I have felt an increase in my patience as it is taking a while for me to get better. I haven't had to cook or clean, I have been able to sleep as much as I want, the baby is doing so great, this illness hasn't affected him at all, which is huge because infections like these can cause miscarriages. The list goes on.

But I think no matter how hard I try to keep life in perspective, experiences like these always help me to reevaluate what is most important. And I need that. For example, I didn't get some sewing projects done this week and I didn't clean my house. I didn't take a pile of stuff to goodwill, I didn't clean out my car, or finish organizing my closet, or do laundry. Those things need to be taken care of. But even though those things didn't happen life is still happening and is still good. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't stress so much about those things....

Sorry to bore you with the ramblings of a only somewhat coherent pregnant lady, but those are my thoughts for the day :-)

My kidney and I have been fighting

Hmmm so this week has not been the best week. Here's what happened:

Monday around 4pm I started having mild pain in my right side between my lowest rib and my hip. At first I thought it was the little peanut just scooting on over and making me uncomfortable but later on that night it started getting really bad. I now wasn't sure if he was just stuck over there or if something else was going on so we called one of our midwives. She said that it sounded like a gallbladder problem, to lay off fats and dairy and to call in the morning if it wasn't feeling better. I popped a few Tylenol, received a blessing and was able to get some sleep.

The next morning I still was feeling pretty sore so I called back and an ultrasound was scheduled. Peter had to go to school so I took Quinn down to play at his friend little B's house. I went to the ultrasound appointment in the afternoon and by this point was in a LOT of pain. I was in tears by the time they called me in for the ultrasound. The ultrasound tech was soooo nice! He took a look at everything and ruled out the possibility of any gallbladder problems but did notice some fluid build up and swelling in my right kidney. He also noticed that when he rolled me onto my left side that the fluid drained a little better. The doctor came in and agreed with his findings it was proposed that the baby was probably lying against one of my ureters, causing the fluid not to drain as it should and therefore backing up into my kidney. They said that they would send the results to my midwife and so I set up a follow up appointment for the next day. (The bright side to this was that I got to see James in the ultrasound again. He was even cuter than last time).

Going home was scary. I was still in a ton of pain and was praying so hard that I would be able to make it home safely. I also started shaking. I got home, grabbed some more Tylenol and climbed into bed. Then the chills started. These were pretty intense but after about 20 minutes they calmed down and I started a cycle of chills/fever and sweats. The Tylenol seemed to keep things under control and I drank a bunch of orange juice hoping to make the little guy move on over. I started to feel him moving on the opposite side but the pain was still there but still hoped that it would eventually go away.

Peter took me to my Dr's appointment the next day. They determined that since the pain had spread into my low back and that there was a little bit of blood in my urine that I either had an infection or a kidney stone and were leaning towards the fact it was a stone. They gave me a prescription for an antibiotic and said to call if the pain got worse. We went promptly to the pharmacist to fill the prescription but were told that they were unable to fill the prescription as I was not allowed to take it when I was pregnant. We asked them to talk with the midwife and to call us when they had a prescription I could take.

Around 4:30 I started getting chills again. But these were bad! I couldn't stop shaking and my whole body was seizing up to the point I couldn't swallow. Down went some more Tylenol and I asked for another blessing. The chills lasted for almost an hour but finally passed. I was getting scared so we called the midwife again and she told us we needed to go to the emergency room. Most likely I needed some IV hydration and to get started on antibiotics.

We made it to the emergency room around 7:30 and got checked in. After a few tests it looked like I definitely had a kidney infection and that it had spread slightly to my left kidney too(Apparently pregnant women are at a larger risk for these types of infections and it is quite common) but they couldn't rule out a kidney stone or appendicitis as the ultrasound had been indefinite on these points. The best way to check those diagnosis are through a cat scan but as I was pregnant they wanted to avoid any radiation as best they could. So they decided to admit me. The next 24 hours were filled with chills and fever but finally the chills started to get less intense and frequent and the fever followed suit. And thanks to some nice painkillers the pain has been kept in control. They had me on a clear fluid diet which means I hadn't eaten anything solid in three days but I was moved back onto solid foods today which was heavenly!

I am starting to feel a lot better though still not great, but it looks like I will be able to go home sometime tomorrow! Yay!

Thank you! To everyone that has helped us, especially with watching Quinn. What a huge blessing and weight off of our minds to know he was in good hands.

Even though I have been sick I feel so grateful. I have a wonderful loving husband who has dropped everything to take care of me, even though I know he has a ton on his plate right now. A loving son whose hugs have been the best medicine. Loving and caring friends and family, great medical care and the comfort of my Heavenly Father to help me get through this.

Easter 2010

Holidays are a lot more fun when you have kids old enough to enjoy them! We started off the morning with a visit from the Easter Bunny. Instead of an Easter basket Quinn got an Easter bucket so that he can take it to the beach this year. He also got a spinning top that lights up which he loves! A spade, a shape sorter toy, a few spring clothes, a magnet fishing set, (which sadly was way more interesting in the packet than out as the magnets are really weak, that's what a dollar will get ya) and pinwheels as Quinn has been learning a lot about wind and blowing.

For Easter this year our friends Carlee and her husband Adam put together a fun little Easter egg hunt. We looked for eggs and had a potluck brunch. It was delicious! We made Strussel butterscotch apple muffins. I have to admit I was quite proud of these muffins. I ended up combining two apple muffin recipes and adding a few tweaks myself. I don't usually mess with recipes that much and it was fun to experiment. These turned out heavenly. I'll post the recipe sometime.Quinn did quite well looking for eggs. We helped him find one which made it into his bucket quite well. But after that, he was way more interested in banging together the last two he found and running around with them.

We finished off the day by watching General Conference and making pork with lemon caper sauce (which was heavenly) with English roast trimmings such as mashed rutabaga, roasted parsnips, and rolls.

Peanut's Ultrasound Pictures

Its so fun to look at the ultrasound pictures and picture what your little one is going to look like.

I think this little boy is going to look even more like Peter than Quinn does. It looks like Peanut has a slightly longer forehead and slightly thinner face, whereas in Quinn's ultrasound it looked a little rounder. It also appears that this one has Peter's nose too. Either way, ultrasounds do not capture the cuteness of a new little baby and cannot come close to depicting what that little baby is going to look like. I can not wait to count all those fingers and toes in person, to see what color the hair and eyes are, how those cute little ears stick out and to gaze at soft eyelashes against baby soft skin.

But for now these pictures are on our fridge so that we can see this little one everyday. I love it!

15 Month Stats

Weight: 23lbs (50%)

Height: 32" (90%)

Head Circumference: 18"

General Conference

I love listening to General Conference. It always seems to go by so fast these days. I remember being in my teens and it seemed to drag, and now before I can blink it is over. I love hearing the uplifting messages, pondering points that I could improve upon, and enjoying the strong spirit that enters our home as we listen to the voice of the Lord through his servents the Prophet, the Apostles and other auxillary leaders in the church.

I think my favorite talk was given by Sister Beck. It was one of those talks that seemed like it was written just for me. She spoke a lot on responsibilty and prioritizing, things that I have been struggling with recently. I felt strengthened and renewed after listening to her talk.

Did any of you see the corny LDS commericals they have after some of the sessions? There was one with two little boys that were at the hospital to see their new born sister and one of the boys gave a little toy car to his sister? I was bawling! Crazy pregnancy hormones!

We had a great Easter weekened spending time together, eatin gyummy food and candy and watchign conference. Pictures to come soon!

My suspicions were

Wrong this time!

I thought there was a good possibility this little one was a girl but it is in fact a boy! And we are so excited!

I love little boys, they are so much fun. And I am glad that Quinn will have a little brother that he can run around with too.

I dutifully ate a little chocolate before the ultrasound and as such our little guy was nice and squirmy for the ultrasound and spectacularly immodest so we could get a clear view of, um, everything.

The ultrasound went really well. Everything looks fantastic and I am right on track with my due date etc. They said that Peanut weighs 10.5 ounces and looked beautiful. The ultrasound also revealed a sweet little leg and foot wedged into some recess of my belly. I am glad to know what that was because every morning when I wake up I am so uncomfortable! This little one gets into weird positions and I have to waddle around for a little until all the kinks get worked out in there. The worst is always in my low left stomach and now I know it was his foot!

I am feeling great, still a little emotional, but have some more energy and have been daydreaming of all the sewing and projects that I want to make for Peanut. I started decorating Quinn's room when I was pregnant with him and am pretty excited to finish it up and add a few extra's so little brother has a place in there too. (Why do these projects always seem to take forever?)

I am in desperate need of taking some belly pictures and will have to post one soon as soon as I remember to ask my hubby to get the camera out of the one box I can't reach in the whole apartment.

Life has been pretty stressful the past week as we had to make some final decisions about classes, jobs, externships and research papers in order for Peter to complete his IP concentration and stay on track to graduate in December.

We are going to have a busy summer of Peter taking classes, working at a law firm and completing an IP externship at a corporate office somewhere for the first half of the summer. The second half will consist of him working at the law firm, working at the Law School's Civil Clinic, finishing up externship hours and starting on a proposal for an independent research paper. Then in the Fall he will finish up his last five classes and complete his research paper and continue to get experience working at the law firm. And some where in there we have to fit in bar review. But the end is in sight and I am looking forward to all the next few months have to offer, especially with the arrival of a new little son.