"Old school" drama faces, possible concussions and a lost tooth

(this was typed at 11 pm Saturday night)

Today was a pretty lazy day...for me at least. Chris was awesome - he cooked an awesome breakfast (I even got that in bed, YAY ME!!!), took Terra shopping with her tooth fairy money and she found some used roller blades with knee and elbow pads at a thrift store (she's been wearing them in the house all day today)...they look almost new too, cleaned up the kitchen some, got kids down for naps, and then took everyone fishing! I decided to brave it and go along for the ride. My back didn't hurt as bad today, and everything else was "minding its manners", so to say. I grabbed all my YW stuff so I could plan out my lesson for tomorrow and off we went.

We got there and the kids started throwing rocks in and finding sticks (James found and "old man's walking stick...it really did look like a cane and was the perfect size for him to use a such). They immediately started getting "bites" but would always reel in a twig or some such nonsense. I have a "proud" pic of this on my phone that I'll upload soon. They did end up catching a few fish, but they were tiny, so we'd have to throw them back. One particular fish was having issues adapting back into the water, so Chris was playing with it for a bit to try and "jolt" it back to its senses. I pointed that out to Celeste and told her to go look at the fish. She got this terror-filled look on her face, put the back of her hand up to her mouth and screamed "NOOOOO!" (like they did in the ol' school horror films) Yup, she's VERY girlie. Fish freak her out terribly! She cried whenever she saw anyone touching them. Chris finally tossed the fish out there a ways and went back to casting his line out. Celeste finally started exploring close to the water and tripped and fell in. She came up crying and saying "NO FISH!!! NO FISH!!!" I don't think she much cared that she was wet...she was just worried about those darn fish! LOL

We packed everyone up and decided to go to IHOP to eat dinner (we had 4 coupons for free kids meals...why not?!). Of course we stopped by home to change poor Celeste's clothes and then went and found the place. The kids had fun with their smiley face pancakes and fruit and of course the coloring pages! I HAD to save those to bring home. We just won't tell the kids where they ended up being put after they all went to bed! After we packed everyone up, we headed out the door. Terra and James were goofing off and there was a car backing up...no one (driver included) was paying attention, so I was frantically telling those two to get back up on the sidewalk, and not paying attention to what was behind me. Suddenly, Chris calls out, "TYLER, NO, LOOK OUT!" Totally made my heart stop, but when I looked back, he was blissfully unaware of his surroundings, eating some fruit he'd grabbed off the table, and stepped just barely off the side walk and biffed it. He hit his face against the edge of the side walk, did a half turn and whent he rest of his body came to a stop....his head hit the pavement hard. He very quietly got up, bent over to get his dropped fruit, and when he looked at me, he had silent tears streaming down his poor little face, so I hugged him and then the sobs let loose. Chris picked him up and carried him to the car and asked him where he hurt. Head? No. Face? No. He stopped crying long enough to say his foot hurt, but nothing else ("no, just dat." while pointing to his foot). We got a wipe out and cleaned off his piece of fruit (this seemed to be bothering him the most...don't mess with this kid's food), and gave it back to him and the crying ceased. I'm thinking that he was just embarrassed about the fall, but it really looked (and sounded) like it hurt!!! I'm still awake right now so I can go and check on him and make sure he's still responsive (he started to fall asleep on the way home, but that could also be passed off as "end of the day drowsiness"). Yes, I'm paranoid like that! Concussions scare me. What scares me more is he hit his head hard enough to cause a bump, but there isn't one forming. He's still responsive though whenever I go to wake him up a bit.

We got home and threw everyone in the tub and then had "bunny milk" and started sending everyone off to bed. Terra came in to show us her wiggly tooth. There was a tooth growing underneath it and it was VERY loose and ready to come out. She immediately started screaming and hollering about the fact that she didn't want it to fall out yet! We sprayed her mouth with throat spray (we're out of ora-gel), gave her a cold wash cloth, and I wiggled it here, and there and finally when her eyes were closed...mid-scream...I pulled and it came out. She didn't even realize this fact until she took a breath and opened her eyes. Then she was all smiles and giggles. But then she saw blood...everything fell apart again and it started hurting all over again! A Vitamin-C (disguised as a pain med...haha, we're evil parents, I know) and another drink of bunny milk later, and she's just peachy!

Recent Dr. Visit

So, aside from meeting probably the craziest midwife I've ever met before, the appointment went well. All bed-rest has been lifted (if I choose to believe her...I'll explain myself a little later), but I still have restrictions. No lifting more than 10 lbs...try to keep it lower in weight than that, and also traveling could be an issue (I've known this one, they didn't have to tell me). I also have to take care in how much activity I actually do (this is just a trial and error thing still...she kind of blew me off when I suggested this was a problem in my daily life).

The appointment started and she "translated" the ultrasound papers to let me know what they found. Its a girl (YAY), the SCH is no longer visible, which in theory means its been dissolved (cautiously hoping this is the case), she's breech (which isn't abnormal in most pregnancies this early on, but all my kids have been head down from the beginning...so, it's odd for me to have that happen), she's very low in the pelvis, she's measuring small, but not so small that it causes concern (I've always had big babies that measure a week and a half or more ahead). I asked if the baby kicking my cervix could be the reason for a fair amount of the pain I've been feeling and she rolled her eyes at me and told me not to expect to have the muscle tone I had with my first pregnancy and that all I've been feeling has been normal pregnancy pains. Sorry, but I very strongly disagree with this. There is a problem when you can't get up and move around without having constant contractions!!

She then asked if I'd gotten the results of my past blood tests, and I told her that I had thought things were normal. She said that I'm no longer immune to German measle so I need to get the MMR shot after I give birth (I was also told that I'd probably need the Tetanus booster as well, which I totally am fine with because I'm accident prone and step on things all the time). I found this rather odd, but she also said that it happens in some women and it can't really be explained. I asked her some other questions about the contractions I felt after doing pretty much anything in my normal activity and she basically blew me off and told me that I needed to drink more and stay hydrated (um, I generally stay fairly well hydrated, thanks so much). I was irritated by this, but she was happy about everything and said things sounded normal and fine. I told her that I could time my contractions and she skeptically looked at me and asked how close they usually are. I said 15-20 minutes and she again blew me off and said that unless they're less than 15 minutes it's nothing to worry about, but to definitely give them a call if I'm worried about it (after being blown off, sure I want to call you).

She started feeling my belly to tell where the baby is, and she jumped back and got a startled look on her face, so I asked what was wrong. She said whenever she meets someone for the first time and starts to feel their tummy, she gets impressions on what baby's name is, and this time it was SO strong! (WACKO!!!!!) She says my baby's name is Ingrid. When I told her no, she acted all offended and told me there was still time to change it, that the baby REALLY wanted that name and that I'd eventually come around by the time I saw her in my arms. NOPE SORRY LADY! I told her what we are naming her and she just wrinkled her nose and asked what was wrong with the name Ingrid?! Nothing is wrong with it, that's just not what I want to name my child, thanks!

So, Chris and I joked about it on the way home a bit and it didn't bother me as much at first, but the more I ponder on what was said and done, the more irritated I am that I wasn't taken seriously on some things and really not sure I want her to be the one on-call when I deliver...she might change my birth certificate from Aralynn to Ingrid! LOL

She also told me the stats on the flu shots and such and I told her I wasn't really interested in getting one, and she became agitated that I was ignoring the facts that were placed before me and I explained that if I lived closer to my family, I would probably get one because of illnesses and other issues in my family, but since I don't travel out to see them much during the flu season, I'd rather not since we've had bad luck with them in the past. She again just waved her hand and said "whatever, dear, I know how it is, you hear what you want to hear and nothing else."

So things I gathered from all this - everything is healthy and normal and all the negative I've been experiencing is all in my head. What is actually going on (according to Sandi) - growth and development are on track and normal but because of her positioning and presentation, I've been feeling things I've never had to deal with before with everyone else, and for some reason my stomach/uterus is not tolerating strain and other activity very well. Frustrating, for sure. Things are getting better in some ways and staying the same in others, I still have up days and down days, but I'm counting my blessings and trying to stay positive. I want to be more independent and not have to rely on everyone else for small every day things. I'm working with the compassionate service lady in our Ward and are hopefully getting some sort of arrangement in place. I'm hoping things will improve and that all things will start to improve soon!

Day 1 Of No Help

* Wake up to alarm (we decided to start setting the alarm to help us get used to getting up to get kids to school)
* Eat breakfast
* Talk to Chris about his schedule and what time he'll be home
* Chris got kids situated downstairs and leaves for work
* I start to think of things I need from downstairs and make a list (going downstairs is VERY painful for me to do right now)
* Tyler comes upstairs without a diaper....with poo dripping down his legs (BLAH)
* Make him sit on the toilet until I come back upstairs (remarkably he stays there), go down and clean up the floor (carpet) and throw away a couple books and a kids' chair (because I didn't think they'd be sanitary anymore)
* Grabbed a few things on the list and came back upstairs and put Tyler in the tub.
*Called Chris (near tears) and find out he's been called to a couple other stops and the truck he was supposed to load was delayed...blew a tire
* Get Tyler out of the tub and get him dressed again
* Put Celeste down for a nap
* Fix lunch for the kids
* Go downstairs for the rest of what was on my list AND a meal from the freezer and find the living room trashed...just blow it off (sort of) and go back upstairs with above said items
* Lay down and drink more fluids (contractions are starting...but not regular yet)
* Load the dishes in the sink in the empty dishwasher and grab a snack for myself
* Feed Celeste when she woke up
* Try to calm a tantrum from her because she wants "damma"
*Find a picture of my mom and hand it to her and she calms down
* Tyler comes upstairs without pants OR diaper...again poo mess is following him
* Clean up the mess and get a diaper back on him
* Cry for a few minutes (frustrated and feeling like I can't do this alone...and contractions are starting to become regular)
* Got dinner ready and tried to feed the kids...apparently I'm not a good cook and they want Grandma back (Grandma Ida, you're being requested by name)
* Send kids downstairs and tell them they can play a video game...this will FOR SURE keep them occupied for a while...until Chris gets home (I'm hoping anyway)
* Drink more and lay down to start counting the minutes between contractions (17 minutes)
* Chris got home, gave me a muscle relaxer and tylenol and took over the kids (feeding them the dinner that they refused to eat before, getting them ready for bed, cleaning up messes {laundry soap being among the many messes} and cleaning up the kitchen a bit)
* Kids come in and give me hugs and kisses and tell me they hope I feel better and am nicer tomorrow (that's a confidence booster right there...I'm SUCH a great mom)
* Meds finally are starting to kick in (1.5 hours after taking them) and contractions are spreading out (30 mins apart now)

Here's to hoping tomorrow goes better and that our new schedule will work itself out soon. I have my appt. tomorrow to discuss what was found during the ultrasound, so hopefully things are looking better, because the way I feel right now...it sure isn't feeling like they're getting better! (sorry to vent, just had a crappy day)

Sugar And Spice And Everything Nice

We had an ultrasound on Friday and we found out for sure that we're having a girl!!! We're very excited and are looking forward to welcoming little Aralynn Rose into the family! This weekend got even better because today, Chris was able to feel her move for the first time!! That never gets old!

The u/s tech was awesome and very thorough! She couldn't technically tell us if things looked good or bad...it's against the law, so we have to wait to talk to the midwife about things this next Friday. She did say that she knew I wouldn't "nark" on her so she said that there was ONE picture that she couldn't get a clear image of and if we had to come back, that would be the only reason because everything was good and clear - and normal. It was wonderful to know that to her knowledge things looked good, but when I asked her about the SCH and whether it was still there or not, she said that she couldn't say anything, mainly because she didn't have my previous ultrasounds there to compare to. We did discover that Aralynn is still breach, which is odd for my children, because they've always been head down from the very beginning, but there is still lots of time for her to turn and is NOT abnormal when you look at the average pregnancy. Aralynn is also VERY low in the pelvis area, so she's literally sitting on my cervix and has her legs tucked under her bum...so kicking and wiggling would, I imagine, cause a lot of that pain that I've been feeling.

As for the u/s pics, you'll just have to wait till I can actually go downstairs and scan them in...that might take a while! Sorry about that!