37 Weeks

So this week marks our 37 week of this pregnancy. In some ways it seems like it has dragged on forever. Lately I have such a desire to travel with the kids or take a mini getaway with Matt and then I realize that now really isn't the time to do that since we don't get more than about an hour from home just in case. Then there are also times I completely forget that Im pregnant and then I look down and am reminded that yes indeed I am very pregnant. I finished my last scheduled day at work last week although I have one more on call this coming weekend. I have been having a lot of contractions but I think I have trained myself for so long now that any time I have them I think I need to stop them which in reality she can come any time she wants now. Last weeks Dr. appt was really quite traumatic for me...here is the story. SO this baby has been breech since 24 weeks she moves around but certainly isn't an inner gymnast.  My OB remains optimistic that she will flip and be able to come vaginally. This last week she did an ultrasound to check the baby's position, size, fluid levels, and what not. She was still breech, had plenty of fluid to flip, and when she checked her size she guesstimated she was about 6 lb 11 oz. When she told me this I about died. My OB said if we were to let her go to term she could be about 9 lbs. It took pretty much everything I had to not cry. I was nervous and upset. I love little babies and as awful as it sounds if we have a 9 lb baby I will feel like in some ways I have already missed part of her newborn stage. She also mentioned that she may be wedged and even if we wanted to turn her it wouldn't work. She felt her position in my abd which hurt...like a lot. I had tears streaming down my face and I thought to myself how will I ever survive them trying to turn her if I can't even tolerate this especially since they couldn't guarantee it would work. My OB said to just reschedule for the following week and we would make some decisions. When I left I was so upset. I text Matt to let him know everything was ok but I needed to talk to him. I fell apart and cried on and off for the rest of the day for some many rational and irrational reasons I don't even know where to begin to explain my feelings. After that day the reality of the situation seemed to set in and I realize there is only so much I can do. Since the beginning of this pregnancy I have had several times where I was freaking out and/or worrying and each time this would happen I have this overwhelming sense of peace that everything is going to be ok. Now I also realize this doesn't mean that everything will go that way that I want it to go so I tried to have that new attitude when I went back to the dr this week. I was really hoping for some answers and a plan. I think that has been part of my big problem is that I am a planner and I thrive off of lists and plans and having a baby doesn't always follow a structured plan. Anyways Matt was able to come with me this week...I really like when he gets to come. Once again we did an ultrasound to check her placement....still breech. So then Dr. Boheen started to push on her to see if she could be a good candidate to try to turn. It still didn't feel very pleasant but if that works it will be a short moment of pain vs the recovery of a c-section. While she was trying to get her to move she said she was checking to see if she would tolerate being turned and she did great. The Dr. also found that she isn't wedged in my pelvis and is quite optimistic that she is a good candidate to try to turn. The rule at the hospital is they can be turned at 37 weeks but not delivered that early unless there are complications since Im not comfortable turning her and then being sent home we decided to wait until next week so we could turn her and then either way we can deliver her since we will be 38 weeks. The last week I have started feeling yucky again. My nausea is back much like I had when I was in my 1st trimester. Nothing really sounds good food wise which could possibly be why I lost 3 lbs between last week and this week. I now weigh in at 167(39 lbs gained). I also keep waiting for my nesting to happen but I don't think its going to happen this time. I feel so tired and just blah all the time now. I am grateful for good days when my nausea is limited and I feel like I can play and do fun things with the girls. I also am still having tons of contractions and most days I wonder if she is really going to wait until next tuesday. You would think I would be freaking out knowing that she is coming in about 4 days now but really I am just so happy to have a plan even though we still don't know exactly how it will go I feel very at peace in that everything will be ok. Matt was funny and pretty excited when he realized that her birthday will be 5/5/15 or cinco de mayo. I don't really care but thought it may be fun if her birthday were the 6th since everyone's birthday abut mine has a 6 in it. It really does seem surreal we are adding another little girl to this family I don't know if its because life has been so busy or what but in some ways I can't believe its already here. 

The girls are beyond thrilled and talk to my belly every day. Matt still hasn't convinced them her name is anything Addy but we will see soon enough. Now each week when I take my belly pictures Gracie wants to be in them so Im including a 2nd picture this week. For now we will pass the time until she arrives preparing and attempting to be ready for her when she does decide to come.

Dinosaur Park Field Trip 2015

Last week Hallie had a field trip to the dinosaur park here in Ogden. In the pasted when we have been there it hasn't been that much fun so I was pleasantly surprised with how the day was organized and all the things the kids got to see. When we first got there they gave each of the kids a adventure journal where they had to find certain dinosaurs and write down some facts about them. It took us a minute to orient ourselves to the map and the park but then the girls had a great time running from one dinosaur to the next seeing if it was one they could check off of their list. This picture with the girls turned out. Hallie told Grace if she would be in the picture with her that she would protect her from the t-rex.

The girls with some of Hallie class mates. The wind was blowing so hard and made what could have been great weather a little on the chilly side but by the time we were done the wind had stopped and they had a great time playing outside.

Gracie really liked having her picture taken and would ask for me to take a picture of her once she climbed on several different dinosaurs on their little playground

After our time outside we were asked to come inside first for crafts and then to explore the museum. The man in the picture talked to the kids about fossils and other dinosaur artifacts before explaining their craft.

There completed dinosaurs

Hallie gave hers to Mrs. Hansen since it was her birthday that day. We also sang to her

After we wandered through the museum to see the different exhibits and activities they had to do. The girls liked the dinosaur scene that actually moved and made sound. They were a little nervous at first but then realized that they were just like robots. Then we headed back out for the kids to play on the playground since the weather had gotten a lot better. They swung and went down the slide for close to another hour before we decided we were hungry and called it a day. On the way home we stopped at Wendy's and grabbed lunch. When I asked the girls what they wanted Hallie asked for chicken nuggets and fries and Gracie wanted fries, nuggets, and a hamburger. I thought there was no way Gracie would eat everything she thought she wanted. About half way home she asked for her nuggets after finishing her hamburger...I felt so bad I hadn't listened next time I will just order the girl what she asks for. I can't believe how big an grown up both girls are getting they are for the most part so fun to take places and do things with. and this was another one of those days.

It's Coming!!!

Hallie's 1st Lost Tooth

Hallie has had a loose tooth for a couple weeks now but she was under the impression that it would just fall out. She was more than a little nervous when I explained to her how "loosing" a tooth really works. So she has been wiggling it once in a while and last night we finally got it out. She didn't want it pulled so Matt told her to just grab it and keep wiggling it. Just as she did Gracie jumped and hugged her bumping her hand just enough that it pulled it out! She was so excited. 

She ran down stairs to get her tooth fairy book my mom had given her that has a bag included to put your tooth in for the fairy. Then it was all ready to go under her pillow for the night.

She got $1 in quarters and was pretty thrilled about it. She is now asking when she is going to loose more teeth. I keep thinking in my head that she isn't old enough for this to be happening but a bitter sweet realization is that the little girl that made us parents is growing up.

35 Week and Time for Freezer Meals

Well the time has come and gone to hit 35 weeks this is a pretty big milestone considering that she is getting more likely to be ok if she was born now. Its hard to believe that in only a couple weeks this little girls will be joining us. When we went to the Dr this week she is still breech so she gave me some suggestions on stretches/exercises to do to help her flip. I also saw a chiropractor to make sure everything is lined up correctly so that isn't causing more problems. I thought I would be more stressed about it but really Im not I feel like it will all work out. I started taking Lialda a couple weeks ago and it really seems to be helping my U.C. Its not 100% but getting better all the time. I still can't eat dairy or gluten but I will take it over running to the bathroom and feeling crappy all the time. I have gained 38 lbs at this point. Most of my clothes don't fit and I opt for comfy most days although it is really fun to get dressed up occasionally and feel like me again. She has times where she is really active and other times of the day she is pretty lazy. There was one time last week when I hadn't felt her move very much so I ate some chocolate and drank some OJ. It made me so sick but she moved...alot for a while after that. I feel like I'm slowly getting things together but not feeling well has slowed me down quite a bit from my usual pace.The girls are anxious for her to come and ask on a regular basis when she will be here. The other day Gracie asked when she was coming and before I could even answer her she said I know I know when she is done growing...I just wish that was going to be soon. Matt and I got a pretty good laugh out of it. I think both the girls will be great helpers. Here we are at 35 weeks

 I decided a couple weeks ago in anticipation of her coming I would make some freezer meals but I took it to a new level of extreme this time. Matt had his last business trip for 2 days so we worked on them then. It took 4 days including a grocery shopping day and it was completely exhausting. Matt was home to help me for a couple hours on one of the days and that made it go so much faster. We ended up with just over 30 meals and Im hoping that we really enjoy them. Im not sure we could fit one more thing in the freezer if we wanted to. 

Here's to not to long til we meet this new little girl

April Snow!!

Just this week I think we got about the most snow we have seen all winter and it's April!!! It snowed for about 36 hours straight. We ended up with about 6 inches. I was just thrilled we were getting some sort of moisture that we really need. Once we got home from Kindergarten the girls couldn't wait to play in it. So they got all dressed up and headed out while I finished making lunch. They made snow angels and a snow ball fight but only lasted all of about 15 minutes before they came in looking for hot cocoa and some warm food. 

I remember playing in the snow for hours as a kid and I hope that sometime in the near future we get more snow that stays for more than a day to play in. Until then we will take what we can get.

Soccer+Lunch+Track Meet+Lot+Ice Cream=A Very Busy Day

Saturday was super loaded with activities to be honest I didn't know if I was going to be able to keep up since I hadn't been feeling very well but we decided to take it one thing at a time and see how it went and all in all it was an exhausting but fun day. We got up and ready for Hallie's soccer game about 9. She had a double header and played great. Matt's mom and dad got there just in time for the last little bit of her 2nd game. The girls were thrilled to see them 2 days in a row...it doesn't happen near enough. After soccer Mindi had called to let me know they were at the food truck round up in south ogden and asked if we wanted to join her and the kids for lunch so we went with Matt's mom and dad to meet up with them for lunch. The place was packed and some of the lines were crazy. The girls and I decided to have Hawaiian and Matt and his parents had wings and mac and cheese. By the time we got our food we had to hustle to get to Chris's track meet on time but I think our food was worth the wait.

 When we got to the meet they had rearranged some of the races so we had plenty of time to visit and catch up with everyone before the actual race. We ate our lunch and enjoyed the sunshine. I love the time I get to spend with this guy of mine it is just never enough.

When it was time for Chris to run the kids lined up for a front row seat along with Krissy who was taking pictures. After Chris ran we headed for our lot in Huntsville. None of Matt's family had seen it yet so off we went. I think all in all they were pretty impressed and excited for us. Matt's mom asked if we would have a place for her to live so she could see the view everyday....I told her she was welcome anytime she wanted to come. The kids ran around and explored and it made me even more excited about the lot we chose. I want my kids growing up with plenty of space to explore and run around. And as Matt's dad put it the views don't come much better than the one we have. Now we just have to get everything finalized so we can get going on everything. After the lot we stopped to get ice cream to celebrate Joys's belated birthday since they were in Hawaii on her birthday. And then we ran up to Nick and Brit's lot to see the house across the street that is the same house plan as their but is framed. By this time it was time for dinner we were exhausted and ready to head for home. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out and taking it easy. Like I said before it was a long day but full of fun stuff to do. 

Our 1st Trip to the ER--Gracie goes thru a Glass Window Pane

Wed night was just a normal night at home for us after finishing dinner we got the girls in the tub and settled in for the evening. Matt hung the remainder of the shelves and frames in the babies room. As I was finishing putting some clothes in the dresser and Matt was downstairs putting away his tools and both girls were on the main level getting ready for us to watch a movie. I heard both girls yelling for me that they needed help. I ran down the stairs faster than I have in months to find Gracie outside a window sidelight next to the front door sitting in a pile of glass and a pool of blood. I opened the front door to get to Grace and carefully picked her up and carried her to the kitchen. I yelled for Matt and he came running as well. There was blood everywhere. It had dripped down the cabinets to the floor and Gracie's PJs were covered. Hallie was crying asking if Gracie was going to die and Gracie was crying and seemed pretty freaked out by all the blood and I don't think Hallie freaking out helped. Immediately I was in nurse mode I sent Matt for gauze and some wraps as well as my phone so I could call the dr. I one by one figured out where the blood was coming from and put pressure on them to try and stop the bleeding. I called her ped and they said to come on up and they would check her out. As we were headed out the door Matt realized there was a giant hole from the outside to inside our house so he stayed to tape it up and was going to meet us at the dr. Once we got the the ped it only took a sec for them to realize it was more than what they could handle so I loaded the girls up again and headed to the ER. They checked us in quickly and got us into the back. They one at a time unwrapped all of her cuts to see what they were going to require. 

At this point I started to fall apart now that we were where someone more qualified could help take care of her. They determined that she was going to need multiple layers of stitches in her leg and some xrays to make sure there was no remaining glass in the wounds. Matt took Gracie to xray and we made the decision to have her consciously sedated while they stitched her up. While they got everything ready Matt took some pictures of her poor owies. The ER had a fantastic child life specialist that brought the girls some prizes to keep them occupied but Gracie was completely content to watch her ipad with disney shows on it. It was a welcome distraction.

They gave her a IM shot and she was pretty out of it quickly after that. Then I had to lay her down on the table so they could  look over her hands as well since she wouldn't let them touch them before that it was really hard seeing her like that 

Once they got into stitching her cuts I was really glad we had chosen to sedate her. They gave her about 10 shots of lidocane to numb the area they were going to stitch.

Hallie was very facinated and protective asking what they were doing and why. She watched the entire time. I felt bad for her that she had to go thru that as well but I thought it was so sweet that she was so worried about Grace.

She had one cut in each leg that required serious stitches. They did 3 layers. 2 of dissoluble and the top layer normal stitches

Towards the end she started to wake up and got more aggitated so I stayed by her to help keep her calm the best I could

After they finished she was still out of it and when you talked to her she was pretty silly. At this point we returned phone calls and texts to concerned family and friends. It was about 10pm and Matt and I decided he would take Hallie home and get her to bed and I would stay with Grace until she could be discharged. Although Hallie was not ok with this plan since she wanted to stay with Grace she finally agreed to go home after Gracie was able to talk to her a little more. About every 10 minutes the nurses would come in and assess how aware Gracie was about an hour later she was alert enough that we could head home. We got her redressed and got a pictures before heading home. While at the ped they had given her a sucker while they attempted to look at her cuts which didn't work at all but once she was dressed she actually asked if she could have her sucker and I was happy to give it to her...she more than deserved it.

We got home about 1130 and stayed up a couple more hours getting her settled. We finally got her some pain meds and then she fell asleep. The next couple nights were rough she would wake up multiple time hurting and wanting to be held. The following day Nic, Rigs, and Kinley came for a visit and brought her a little get well gift she really liked that.

She would have times where she would run around and play and then realize her legs were hurting and then would spend the next couple hours on the couch watching shows. The first couple days we had to wrap her legs multiple times since she was bleeding through them. This was traumatic for everyone involved she would scream and cry that it was hurting and even the site of them made her totally freak out. The Dr. told us to keep them wrapped for 10 days and then come back to the ER to have the stitches removed.

 The further out we are getting the better she is getting about having them cleaned and getting them wrapped. She and I have figured out a system that if I need to touch them I will tell her before hand so that she will know what to expect. It has worked really well for us especially if I put her in charge of something she is usually in charge of the tape and the scissors. 

 Here is a picture of the glass that she went through. We had to have it replaced with regular frosted glass since the yellow stuff is pretty much impossible to find but oh well who really liked the yellow anyways? Once we got Gracie taken care of it was time to find out what had happened. I guess Gracie was spinning and singing Elsa songs when she lost her balance. She put her hands out to catch herself  and the glass gave way. After her hands had fallen through the glass the rest of her body followed cutting her legs up on the glass that was left on the bottom and sides of the frame. Knowing this it could have been so much worse. We truly feel blessed that it wasn't worse. She has apologized countless times for breaking the glass when in reality we don't even care about the glass just happy that she is ok.

 Update: It has now been 10 days and we took Grace in to have the stitches removed. She did really well although she was very nervous and worried. People have asked why I didn't just take them out and my response is this. It is covered under the same visit to the ER and honestly I would prefer for her to see me as mom and not the one bugging her owies. Yes I am very capable of taking them out but just didn't want to. She got a sucker and they steri stripped it just in case and we were on our way. There were still plenty of tears but she got through it and held very still. Distraction works great for her she told the nurse all about Hallie's soccer game and what happened the first time she came to the ER that kept her less focused on what was really going on. I am hoping to remember to take pictures of her legs currently. I am amazed at how well and quickly she is healing. The cuts on her hands are gone and the multiple ones on her legs are looking so good. The 2 main ones are going to take quite a while to heal but so far I have been impressed.

Although I hope to never have to visit the ER again.
18 Days Out we have started using Asea's Renu 28 to help heal and resolve the scars. It seems to be working so far we will continue to watch it

We are now 5 weeks out from the accident. She is healing nicely. We are using vit E as well as the asea. A stitch on the left leg 2nd layer has come to the surface and the scar is now growing in around it and isn't healing properly. Matt was brave and took the tweezers to it while I did my best to comfort Grace and tugged a little and it came out! I was very relieved by this so it didn't mean another dr visit. It now seems to be healing better.