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Baby Update

I haven't written in a while! So sorry about that! On Wednesday, April 11 I had my prenatal visit. Everything went well. My weight was still 132 which was the same as last time. Everything went well though. I go back in 4 weeks and May 11 is when he scheduled my big ultrasound. On Friday the 13th I thought I felt the baby move for the first time. I felt it several times. I thought it was pretty early though I was just 16 weeks at the time. Then yesterday (Monday) I knew it was the baby for sure. He/She kicked me when I was in the car! It felt so funny I started laughing. It is amazing to me that even though this is my third baby that feeling is just so amazing!

The boys are just growing like crazy. Owen is saying so many words! I'm going to try to write some down here.
He just within the last couple days learned the word "MINE!"
He says bye bye, bye, GO!, night night (nigh nigh), KaChow! from Disney/Pixar movie Cars (Ka Kow), ma-ma, da-da, banana (nana), baby (baybee), anytime he sees a train he goes "woo woo!", car (cah), please (pease), thank you (kay koo), WOW!

That is all I can think of right now! I'm sure there are more!

Logan got a new movie "Everyone's Heros" - it's about baseball! He LOVES it! Today Uncle Gordon came down and he went to a game with Uncle Gordon and Daddy. They went to a Springfield Cardinals game - Logan had a fun time!

Playing Catch Up!!

The first thing I want to write about is my doctor's visit. I went on Wednesday the 14th. Things were going good - when I first got on the scale she said I was 129 - which was 10 pounds less than my first visit. So she made me get back on the scale - and the second time she got 132 - which was 7 pounds lighter. I had been pretty nauseous the past month and I'm thinking at last visit I may have left my shoes on - either way the doctor didn't say anything about it so it's clearly not a concern. I did get to hear the baby's heartbeat! It was the first time I heard it so that was such a relief and nice sound. He said everything is going well, but according to the u/s reports he has my due date is now September 28! So I went from the 16th to the 25th to the 23rd to the 28th!! I don't think they can push it back much further!

Saturday we had a song service followed by an ice cream fellowship at our church. We have 4 brothers from Africa who have come to preach - they came last year for the first time to our church and it really is such a treat. They are very nice and we enjoy when they come. The boys really enjoyed their deserts - especially Owen. I put them in green polos for St. Patrick's Day, but didn't get any pictures before church, and of course Owen got chocolate all over his shirt! I did get some cute photos of his messy face though.

We had services today as well. The preschool kids still went to their regular Sunday school and today they painted. (well I guess it's yesterday now!) Owen wasn't too interested - I tried to give him a marker to be less messy, but he just sucked on the marker getting it in his mouth and on his face! So we put those away! Near the end of class, Logan had gotten some black paint on the table in the snacks and Owen put his hand right in there and ate the snacks and was covered in black paint! It was such a mess. The paint and markers were all non-toxic so that was very good!! Logan lately had been trying to reason things out. He thinks he is a monkey when he is naked, because Daddy told him monkey's don't where clothes. He also thinks he is a monkey because he likes bananas. He told me the other day that he was a Daddy. I asked him why - he replied - "because I'm a he." Tonight he came in and asked me if I was a person I said I was. He told me that he and I were both persons because we had blue eyes. He said that Daddy was not a person because he didn't have blue eyes! He's definitely trying to reason things out, just doesn't quite get the hang of it all yet! He also came in and asked me if I liked good snakes. I told him I don't like snakes. He said you just don't like bad snakes, but you like good snakes. I told him I didn't like any snakes. But he told me that the green snake on his Little Einstein movie was nice and would show me where the balloons are. So he was a good snake. So I guess I'm to like him. He also told me that he thought he heard a monkey outside! I said really? He said "yeah I heard ooh ooh ahh ahh." Sometimes he just cracks me up! Well I just wanted to make sure to write those down before I forgot! The time flies by so fast these days!!

Which reminds me of one more thing - on Thursday we went shopping with my mom. We bought the boys some shoes and Owen got a pair of those croc shoes that are so popular. He LOVES them. He doesn't want to take them off. We don't wear shoes in the house, but oh he gets so upset if you take them off, so we let him wear them. If we do take them off, he finds them and puts them back on! He loves shoes - and belts, but anytime he has a belt, he takes it and puts it around his neck! He just wears it like that! It is too cute!

15 Month Check-Up

Owen went to the doctor on Wednesday for his 15 month well baby check-up. He wasn't too pleased about laying down and being examined. Everything is good though! He has been very sore and red around the tip of his penis and the doctor thought it might be a yeast infection - people don't normally think of that with boys but it happens. He gave him some medicine and it is doing much better. He had to get 2 shots - but he handled those like a pro! I don't have his measurments right off the top of my head but he was around the 30th percentile for weight and height and the 80th percentile for his head circumference!! After the doctor's visit we went to visit Jerrod at work, then Logan went to get his hair cut. He looks so big and grown up!

More Worries

Well when I went to the restroom today there was some blood on the tissue. The bright red blood. It was only there the 2 times I wiped, but of course it was enough to get me in a panic again. The next time I went I had the dark brown discharge. I thought I was past all of that, and wasn't worrying as much, but now I'm back to being very nervous.

Ultrasound

Well we had another ultrasound today! Everything went very well! You can see in the picture our little bit is really starting to look like a little baby! It is so exciting to see how much he/she has changed within a little over a week! The heartbeat was unbelievable! It was beating so fast I even asked if that was normal! She said it was. She moved my due date to September 23, according to these measurments, but said the doctor would probably go by the due date from the first ultrasound which was September 25. I am still feeling very crummy. I am so sensitive to all sorts of smells - tonight the smell of the cardboard on the pizza box made me nauseous! I finally today think I actually got enough to drink, but I still haven't been eating much at all. I did get enough energy for Jerrod and I to actually clean the house which was desperately needed. It looks much better now.

The boys are doing great - Logan is so funny with the way he talks so grown up! Of course some of the exact things he said today have already slipped my mind, but I'll try to remember some later.

Owen is just growing up so fast! He is such a cutie pie. He is doing a littel better with signing and will sign "eat" when he is hungry. We are working on drink for him now.

Birthday Party and New Words

Well tonight we went down to Bolivar to finally have a party for my birthday, as well as my mom, Trish & Josh's birthdays. Unfortunately Josh was sick with the flu so he had to miss his own party! We went to my mom and dad's house first where the boys got to meet the new cat and play with Bandit. They also got Valentine's presents! Logan got a Lightning McQueen car and Owen got a Leapfrog piano. They both loved their presents! After that we went over to Sissy's house and had a great time visiting and eating mexican food as well as some ice cream cake for desert.

Yesterday Owen learned 2 new words! We were in line at the Krispy Kreme and Logan was getting a tad impatient and yelled out "GO!" to the car in front of us. Immediately after that Owen yells "GO!" It was pretty cute! Also he was watching his baby Einstein dvd and there is a part where the Dragon comes on sticks out his tongue and says "blah" so now every time he does that Owen will say "blah!" He is so funny with it. And if he happens to have his paci in his mouth he will pull it out to say "blah!" He is saying "mama" now, but it is only when he wants to! I'm hoping he'll start saying it more.

First Official Ob Visit

Well, today was my first official visit with Dr. Richmond. He said everything looked good, and he thought we had a healthy pregnancy here. I am between 8-9 weeks. He did say they found some white blood cells in my urine so he presribed some medicine for me to take the next 3 days. I weighed 139 which really stinks for me considering I started at 113 with Logan! I have been feeling pretty crummy lately - I can't wait to get my energy back! Well, that was about it. We will give the boys their Valentine's presents when Jerrod gets off work!

First Official Lab Visit

Thursday, the 8th, I had my first "official" visit to start my ob care. I had to sign insurance documents and get a ton of blood drawn. Pretty uneventful. I was a little antsy about some slightly pink discharch so I asked if they were going to test the HCG levels again. Dr. Richmond actually came in and said hi briefly and said he thought we had a good one in there. He said the ultrasound was good and there wasn't really a need to test the HCG levels. He said if I had some serious cramping or bleeding to call and he would order another ultrasound. So I am glad that things seem to be progressing well. We also had the boys Valentine's pictures taken that day too. Owen is at the point where he doesn't want to cooperate for pictures anymore - and Logan still likes to give us grief, so the experience was a tad frustrating! Luckily we did get a few cute shots of the boys so that was good news.

As for me, I'm still feeling pretty crummy. My nose is still super congested and I hate that! This morning (well technically yesterday - Friday) I threw up. It was the second time I threw up this pregnancy. Again - no fun! At least I am reassured that the baby is doing okay though. Both times were after taking my prenantals on a pretty empty stomach. I used to be able to do that - however I'm not going to anymore! I think that is about it for now!!

Sick Sick Sick

Well, I have been sick since Sunday! It is no fun. Owen is finally feeling better which is good, now I just need to get over this. The worst part is not being able to take any sort of medication. But it is worth it! Anything to protect the little bean. I feel a little bad - we made an offer on a house in Republic and the guy turned us down flat. No counter offer or anything. Oh well, I'm sure we'll find something, but I really liked that house!

We have a Heartbeat!!!!

Well we had our appointment on Tuesday, January 30. Jerrod's mom came down to baby-sit so we could go together. I got my blood drawn first, then we went in for the ultrasound. They did the regular ultrasound first and she was looking for quite a while, but she never really said anything, so I started to get nervous. Jerrod asked and she said that I was further along than I was last time, but it was still early. Well, she said that she could see something but it was still so small, so she wanted to do another vaginal ultrasound to see better. So we started that one. It seemed that once again she just kept looking at stuff but never spoke. I was really getting worried that it was bad news. At one point she said "just a minute and I'll show you guys some stuff." I thought that sounded positive, but still wasn't sure. Then she showed us the screen and showed us the baby. And she showed us this teeny tiny little heartbeat! Oh what a relief that was! We got a picture of Little Bit. The baby is only .30 cm big right now! Talk about tiny! Dr. Richmond's nurse called me that afternoon and said the blood levels were also going up like they should, so we are ready to get started on our regular ob care! I am so thankful to God that this baby is okay.

Logan was still sick, so I took him to the doctor on Tuesday as well. Unfortunately they said it was just a virus and we couldn't do anything about it. He still had a fever today (Wednesday - which is now technically yesterday!) And he also slept a lot. This was day 4 of him being sick - which is very rare for him! Hopefully he will be better today.

It started snowing Wednesday, and snowed all day. It didn't seem that bad, however, I guess the roads were slick. It took Jerrod well over an hour to get home from work! He went home the back way he normally goes and a truck coming the other way flagged him down and told him he better turn around because at the end of the hill there were 3 cars and there wasn't away to get around them. So he had to turn around and go the main way on the highway - which was at a standstill. He actually slid one time before the stopped traffic and ended up having to go on to the shoulder! I hope this weather clears up soon!!

Jerrod and I are still actively looking at houses. We really hate the apartment life. We didn't think 1 year would be that bad - but it proved us wrong! We got some new neighbors right next to us - and they are smokers (which it seems everyone that lives here but us is!) Anyways, the last 2 nights when I have gone into my bathroom it has smelled of smoke. My nose is extra sensitive now anyways and I am not happy. However, even Jerrod - who can't smell anything, can smell it. I think I'll be making a call to the apartment people.

Excitement turns to Worry

Well, we have been so excited about this new baby, however, Monday brought us some new
worries. Monday the 22, I had gone to the restroom and when I wiped there was some bright red blood. My stomach had also been crampy. I immediately thought the worst. I called Jerrod crying and he left work and we went to Urgent Care. We were there for 3 hours!! I had a catheter, blood work, and a regular ultrasound as well as a vaginal ultrasound. During the ultrasound the tech had not seen a heartbeat and told me he thought I was much earlier than we had thought. The doctor came in with the blood results and told me that my hcg levels were 597 which was most likely bad news if I was in fact as far along as we had thought. He did say there was a chance we could just be earlier than we thought and he told me to call my doctor to get another blood test. I called Dr. Richmond's office on Tuesday and his nurse called me back and wanted me to come in on Wednesday morning for some blood work. We went in about 9 in the morning. The lab tech told me we would get the results probably the next day or later the week. That was not good to hear, however, I got a call that afternoon from the nurse. She said my levels had doubled and were 1451 which was a good sign. This has been such an emotional roller coaster for me. They set us up with another appointment. We go in on Tuesday the 30th, to get my blood drawn again and for another ultrasound. I pray that we can see a heartbeat this time. I'm still having a lot of discharge lately, however it isn't the bright red, and is more of a dark brown. I have also heard this is a good sign. I keep hearing stories from other ladies who have gone through this same type of ordeal and delivered healthy babies. I try to focus on all the positives and not so much the negative. I am extremely worried however, and the waiting is very hard. I have been having some pregnancy symptoms though - which I also try to look at as a positive. I have been very tired, and also a bit nauseous these past few days. Tomorrow (or technically today actually) is my birthday. Jerrod is taking off work for me. I am very grateful. Hopefully the day will go quickly and Tuesday will be here soon! I can't think of a better birthday present than to find out the baby is okay and healthy! Jerrod's mom is coming down on Tuesday to watch the boys so that Jerrod will be able to go in with me. That is the hardest part about this not being our first baby. Jerrod has to watch Logan and Owen while I go in by myself to the appointments. I could really use his support and have him with me - especially now, so I'm very glad he will be able to be in there with me for the ultrasound.

On another note - today (Sunday) Logan was sick. He was coughing a big on Saturday, but nothing big. Sunday morning his cough seemed to be getting worse. When we were in church, he was wanting me to hold him - which is rare for this active 3-year-old, and I felt his forehead and he had a fever. He slept on me throughout church. We got him home and got him some Tylenol and he was back to his old self. He didn't have a fever or anything. He was playing so we figured he was okay and went back to evening church. However when we got there, he was wanting me to hold him again and he felt warm again! He slept on me throughout that service too. I'm guessing he must have just been feeling good due to the Tylenol and wasn't really back to normal. When we got home we gave him some more medicine, put him in his jammies and turned on a movie. He came and laid down by me and he felt pretty warm. I took his temperature and it was 101.2. I hope he gets better soon!

Now as far as Owen goes - well he's being a little bugger about saying "mama." I think he thinks it's funny that he won't say it to me. He has said it in the past and usually says it when he is upset, but most of the time it's "dada dada dada!" He says "baa" (ball) and "baybee" (baby) and "gaga" (unknown - sometimes says it after we say Bocca or Grandma) and "baba" (which is usually what I get when I tell him to say mama). He has also turned into quite the little daredevil. He loves to climb in the little chairs and stand up in them. Then he looks at Jerrod and me and laughs!! He is pretty pleased with himself when he does this. The main thing he loves to do is climb up on the little chair in the kitchen, then proceed to climb up on their little table, stand up on it and reach for the counter!! We take him down when he does this, but I'm very worried about him falling off that table! It isn't very tall, but the floor is tile and if he fell the wrong way it would not be the best for little Owen! Well, I think that wraps us up for now!!

In the dark!!

Well we are on our 5th day without power. It is certainly no fun! There was a horrible ice storm here, most people started losing power on Friday, we thought we were going to avoid it all, but Sunday afternoon, ours went out. It is now early early Friday morning and it is still out. Sunday night we stayed there, but it was pretty cold. Monday, we drove up to Joplin and stayed the night with Jerrod's mom. We had to get up at like 6:00 in the morning because Jerrod had to drive back up and go to work. The boys and I went to work with him. It was not much fun! Luckily he was able to leave around noon. We drove around a bit and got some lunch. We also test drove a new car - seeing as we are going to need to get a larger car for the new baby! We called our friends Dusty and Lacy after seeing our power was not going to be back on, and they said that we could stay with them. So Tuesday night we stayed at their house. Logan and Brayden had a blast!! I thought for sure it would be on the next day, so I loaded everything up. I also had an appointment on Wednesday to get an official pregnancy test done. Positive of course - and they scheduled an ultrasound for me for the 31st of January! I am super excited about that. Dusty and Lacy said if we still didn't get power that we could come stay with them again. We went to church that night and afterwards went back to the apartment and still no lights! So we went back to Dusty and Lacy's. We are so lucky to have such great friends who would open up their home to us. We also had many many other people offer. We are very blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends! I got everything packed up around noon on Thursday and took the kids and went to Republic and ate lunch with Jerrod. We also spent the rest of the afternoon there. Of course once again, I was sure we'd have power, but we never got it back on. We hated to burden our friends again, so we called around to get a hotel. No where in Springfield or the surrounding towns had any vacancies. I ended up calling a hotel in Branson and they did. So we drove up there. They were giving good pricing for residences of the Springfield area. We went to eat at Fuddruckers for dinner - it was our first time there. We all really enjoyed it. I'm back at the hotel now - it is technically Friday morning. It is a nice hotel and does have wi-fi so I can do a little bit of catching up. I have so much work I need to do though!!! I truly hope we can get back home and settled soon! The boys are doing a good job. Logan is having a blast. This is just like an adventure for him. He loves hanging out at Daddy's work and Brayden's house. Owen, on the other hand, does not like all this change. He loves sleeping in his own crib and routine so this has been very hard on him.

One thing I thought for sure I had wrote about but once again didn't - was Owen getting his top 2 molars. I saw them a couple weeks back and was definitely going to write it down - well we know how good I am about that stuff! I think it was January 6th - if not then it was a couple weeks back in December. I really hope I can get better at the stuff.

Big News!!

Well, I got some exciting news today!! My period was a couple days late, so I decided to buy a pregnancy test at Wal-Mart. Boy was I suprised when I saw the postive result!! The last day or so I had been hoping that I would be, but didn't want to get my hopes up too much! This pregnancy wasn't planned like the last two, but I am still unbelievably excited and can't wait for all it has to bring! My due date is September 16, 2007, which is also my grandma Gebauer's birthday. I am only 4 weeks and 5 days along, so it is still very early, but I have already blabbed to quite a few people!! Just too excited to contain it! I really want to do a better job this pregnancy of keeping track of things and making sure to write things down. I didn't do the best with Logan and Owen, so I really hope I can remember to! I'm hoping this blog will help with that as well!