I have the best wife

I know y'all might think that you have some pretty awesome partners. However, I have to argue that mine is at the top of the awesome list.
You see, since Saturday night, I have been sick. The not fun kind of sick where it hurts to move and your nauseous and don't want to eat or drink and you just want to sleep all day. I tried to brave work yesterday. Bad idea. She ended up leaving her work, coming to pick me up at my work (total, about an hour out of her way) and then drove me right to the doctor. Doc said it was just a bug and I should start to feel better soon. I did get my Rho-gam shot while I was there and my bloodwork which will determine if I am becoming anemic. Lost another pound, but doc said it was to be expected given my condition.
B has pampered me like no tomorrow, and even though she got a little pushy with the water (doc said that if I didn't drink it I would have to be admitted for IV fluids), she did it all with love for me and Nuggette.
Thankfully, today, I feel human. I took the day off from work (which turned out to be an excellent idea because last night was by far, my worst night ever) and have been lounging around the house. I have already drank 32oz of water and had a bowl of oatmeal. I may even eat some lunch today. This bug was horrible. I am no longer nauseous, but now I have a sore throat. Last night, it hurt to breathe. I will take the tiredness and sore throat over what I was feeling the past few days. It was horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
Today, B is bringing home EIGHT bags of baby clothes from one of her coworkers. EIGHT GARBAGE BAGS. Everything from newborn to 2T. I can't believe people's generosity. I'm so excited to go through all of them. Now, we just need to find some room to store them!

December 9th

Tomorrow is the anniversary of our EDD for Sprout. We've come a long way. Last year was a pretty depressing Christmas season. I had no holiday cheer, we didn't have our baby, and I was not pregnant again. This year is completely different. We still don't have our little Sprout, but I know he is just another angel in heaven watching over his moms and his baby sister. I'm grateful for that.

Today I had my weekly blood sugar check-up. I was down another 2lbs and spilling ketones. I'm guessing I am not getting enough calories. Doc wants me to call the nutritionist tomorrow, so that's what I'll do. She's going to tell me to add more protein and fat...I'm pretty sure of it. So that makes my total weight gain for this pregnancy 4lbs. Tomorrow marks 21 weeks.

I am also having a weird (embarrassing!) side effect of pregnancy as well. For the past few days, I have had a vibrating vagina. I know, right? It's like I'm sitting on a cell phone. Totally weird. There is no rhyme or reason to when it happens. The doctor said it is probably baby related. I consulted Dr. Goo.gle and from what I found, a LOT of women experience this. It doesn't hurt. It's just more annoying than anything.

Tomorrow I work all day and then head to a banquet at night. I'm staying the night at a hotel with a former co-worker and going to a conference all day Friday. I'm looking forward to the sleep. =)

Oh, and I miss B. She is a retail manager, so this time of year she is super busy and works late nights. By the time she gets home, I'm in bed, ready for bed, or asleep. Just a few more weeks of this hellish schedule and she will be back to somewhat normal. I can't wait. =)

18w4d

I have my first doctor's appointment for this GD tomorrow. My numbers have been great, except the morning ones (they should be less than 90 and I have only had one day that fit that criteria at 89...but they never go higher than 100).
I'm wondering if she will just tell me to eat a certain snack before bedtime, or something.

My mom is in the hospital. She had to have the plate they put in her foot removed. Hopefully she will be there for a while so my dad can get some respite and my mom can heal.

Tomorrow is a half day of school and then we are on Thanksgiving Break. Boy, am I thankful!

I still don't know what we are doing for Thanksgiving.

I am still looking forward to our big u/s on the 2nd. Only 10 days away!

Recent Happenings

• When I called my mom to wish her a happy birthday on Friday, she proceeded to ask me how much weight I have gained so far in this pregnancy. Honestly, I have no idea. Last time I was weighed, it was like 3 pounds. It's been a few weeks, so I'm guessing that number is higher now.
• She then told me to "You need to watch what you eat. I only gained 3 pounds when I was pregnant with you and I only gained 8 pounds when I was pregnant with your sister." Thanks mom. =/

• I'm guessing that pregnancy pantyhose is different than giant plus size pantyhose. Anyone have experience with this? I am wearing a dress to church today and I found a package of size D (up to 240lbs) nylons in my nylon box. They fit perfectly around my belly, but my legs seem a bit baggy.

• Wednesday is my 3 hour "Diabetes in Pregnancy" class. I was not happy about having to take a 1/2 day off of work, but you do what you gotta do. Luckily, B is able to come with me. I will also get an individualized meal plan at that time. The nurse said it is not an issue that I am a vegetarian. Yay!

• Our gender u/s is in 18 days. I'm so excited!

Home sick today.

On Sunday I woke up not feeling so good.

After being awake for a few minutes, I realized that I had a UTI. I've only ever had one other UTI in my life...

I knew I had a few options: 1. Try to wait it out, drink lots of water and cranberry juice, and see if it went away on its own. 2. Deal with it for Sunday and call the doctor in the morning. 3. Go to urgent care.

I decided on the 3rd one. The doc confirmed my home diagnosis...kind of. She said there was blood in the urine which usually indicates an infection, but it could also be an indication of kidney stones. No thanks. My back pain, she thinks, is unrelated, which is good. She did give me a shot of something to ease my back pain. It was nice. =) I don't know what it was, but it was good. She also prescribed me bac.trim for the UTI. Today is my last day on the antibiotics, and thank God. My tummy doesn't like this medicine. =/

As far at TTC. My chart is below. It has been whacked out. I have not detected ovulation at all, but my temps have been so much higher than usual. (I'm thinking this is due to the infection). Take a look and tell me what you think:

Do chemical pregnancies screw with the next cycle? As you can see, I am still having lows on the monitor and even the faint lines on the OPKs have disappeared. Hmm.

I am glad to be home from work today. As much as I hate being off from work and having a sub in my classroom, I think this was a wake-up call for me and my body. I'm doing too much. I am super involved at church, school has started, we are being extra social with book clubs and other things..and TTC. It's too much. I don't know what to cut though, because I genuinely love all I do. Maybe I just need more balance. I'll be waiting for some guidance from God in this department.

Oh, and look what happens when I merge my last two cycles....

The Other Side of the Story

I've been pretty quiet around here for the past few days, mostly because I want to give J enough time and space to get out what she needs to in order to begin to heal.

This past week was a nightmare. Sunday night was probably one of the terrifying moments of my life. I haven't ever talked to someone who's miscarried before, so I don't know if they are normally such physically dangerous and traumatic experiences. Watching the color drain from J's face as we waiting in the ER...the triage nurse taking her bp twice, after she didn't believe how low it was the first time (it was 70/30)...then looking at me dead in the eye and firmly telling me to "go wait outside" and then RUNNING with J in a wheelchair to the trauma room...the patient advocate taking me to the private waiting room for "RESUS" patients - the ones who are being hooked up to ventilators and heart monitors and being resussitated back to life...sitting in that room alone, not knowing what was happening to my wife or our unborn child...calling J's sister and our best friends in tears...the doctor coming in and telling me there were "no fetal heart tones" on the ultrasound...consequently collapsing into a chair and sobbing...

And that wasn't even the worst of it. Watching J writhe and scream in agony while the last of the tissue and clots were removed by an OB with one of the worst bedside manners I'd ever seen. I had to put my face right in front of hers...inches away...so she could calm down enough for them to pull out whatever it was they were pulling out. It all happened so fast, and yet at the same time I felt like everything was moving in slow motion. It was like a scene from a bad horror movie.

I couldn't stop crying. I tried so hard...again...to be strong and calm but I just couldn't. I had just witnessed one of my worst nightmares unfold before my eyes. I was powerless to help J or save our baby. All I could do was cry. When we got home I tucked her in on the couch and cried some more. Then I went around the house gathering every pregnancy book and Sprout memorabilia I could find and threw them into the baby room. J was in total shock, her body was still adjusting to everything that had just happened, and just laid there still and silent. The next morning, it took about 5 minutes after she woke up before she was sobbing.

Right now I just want to make sure she is okay. I'm using 3 days of bereavement leave from work, plus two vacation days from time off I had planned to take in July. I had originally planned to go back on Monday, but I don't know. There really isn't anyone we know that lives close enough to stay with her during the day, and she cannot be alone right now. At least not for four days in a row (I work Mon-Thurs and Saturdays, with Fridays and Sundays off). Any suggestions in this department are welcome.

In the meantime I am keeping busy making sure she's eating, resting and taking her meds. It's all I can do.

The excitement never stops!

I took J to the ER again tonight because she was having regular, cramp-like pains starting at about 4:00pm. We originally thought it was gas, but after a dose of G.asX that did nothing we decided it probably wasn't. At about 8:30 I noticed that J was reacting to the pains a little more intensely than before, so I told her to start timing them using the online contraction counter. They were coming about 2 minutes apart, and lasting about 60 seconds. I told her it was time to call the on-call doctor to determine our next step. After an hour went by and we hadn't heard back yet from the doc, I called back and told them that we were headed to the hospital because I thought she might be having contractions.

We got to the hospital and they (almost immediately) took us upstairs to L&D. The nurses were so incredibly nice, and the resident on staff examined J. Apparently the spotting is not very welcome by the uterus, and that's whats causing the cramping. Her cervix was closed tight and the baby's heartbeat was found instantly and was strong and healthy.

As soon as we got home I gave her a bowl of fruit and some tylen.ol, which seems to have helped a little bit. She's snoozing on the couch (or at least appears to be snoozing) as I type this. Sidenote: I finally got wireless internet for us today, so she can finally have access to the internet from the couch. :)

So, we've had our fair share of frights this past week. I'm ready for a calm, quiet pregnancy now!

Bed Rest Sucks

Note: This is B posting for J. She typed this up in the living room, on the laptop that doesn't have internet.

Bed rest sucks.

I am so grateful that everything seems to be working out for the best. As far as we know, our little Sprout is thriving and moving around in there. We even heard the heartbeat today with our at home Doppler. We didn’t want to use the Doppler too often, but after our 74 pound dog decided to jump on my stomach, we thought it was warranted. Needless to say, she has been placed in her crate until full supervision is available. B has decided to not leave my side at all, except for brief moments on the computer or little stints of housework. She is going to venture out of the house to do some grocery shopping later today. I’m normally the grocery shopper of the family, so it is hard for me to give up the control. She will do great, I am sure.

I decided today that I would be up for visitors. I called my sister and asked her if she would stop by for a little bit before she picked my dad up from the hospital (he had hernia surgery yesterday at the same hospital where we spent Wednesday/Thursday). Anyway, apparently he got released sooner than she expected, so she won’t be stopping by. I was bummed. She said she might be able to swing by tomorrow. We will see.

To keep busy, I have the laptop…with no wireless (this may be remedied if B purchases a router), plenty of books, tv, and my crocheting. I tend to take a few naps during the day as well, since nothing beats boredom like sleep.

We go back to the OB on Wednesday. Hopefully all will be well. I am still spotting and I honestly wonder if that will ever stop. The pain from the catheter is finally gone. (Did B mention that the nurse failed 2 times when trying to insert it. She put it in the wrong hole. TWICE. And jammed my cervix, which she thought was my bladder. Ugh. Luckily, she got a new nurse to try for the third time, and that nurse was successful.)

Overall, I am feeling ok. Trying to not worry about every twinge and keep B calm. I know in my heart that God is good and everything happens for a reason.

We appreciate all of your prayers, good thoughts, and comments.

*sigh*

Everything seems to be okay today. There is a little spotting but the bleeding has definitely gone down quite a bit. J also thinks she started to feel the baby (although she's not totally convinced that it's the baby and not just gas).

We've had lots and lots of calls, texts, e-mails and Face.book messages, not to mention all of the love and well wishes we've received here. We are truly blessed to have such amazing, loving people in our lives.

Today my focus is keeping J comfortable and entertained on the couch while I do some cleaning and straightening. A nap may be in the works for later, and maybe a visitor or two.

I cannot believe how fast the past two days have gone, and how quickly priorities have changed. Nor can I believe how blessed we are to have a completely healthy baby in the belly. So surreal.

Time to get back to housework.