PAIN!!

A pain like I’ve never experienced! Friday night, there I was minding my own business. I had finished dinner and my stomach was starting to bother me. It was up under my ribs and in my upper back and I thought that maybe it was gas. You know, pregnant women tend to have a little more gas than normal.

The only problem was, the gas was kind of growing in intensity. We went to the pharmacy to get some Gas-x in hopes that it would gobble up the gas and I’d be all better in no time. I drank a diet sprite in the hopes it would help me burp and relieve the gas pressure.

All of this started at about 7 p.m. By 11:30, I was about ready to die. I had tried everything I could think of. I put a heating pad on my upper belly and my back in hopes it would break up the gas. I had wiggled and shifted and tried to get comfortable in any way that I could. By 12:30, I woke Ben up and told him we needed to go to the hospital because my stomach hurt so bad and I was at the point where I just couldn’t stand it anymore.

We quickly grabbed some stuff for the kids for the next day. Antonio was already awake as he had woke up crying just before I woke up Ben. Antonio, the bossy little thing when he is tired, told me if my stomach hurt then I needed to go to the bathroom.

We went in to Analise’s room to grab her some clothes out of the closet and turned the light on. She woke up and asked what was going on. We told her they were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house cause Mommy needed to go to the doctor.

At this point I was crying because it hurt so bad, which made Analise cry. I sucked it up the best I could because I didn’t want her to be upset. Ben drove and called his mom over and over until she woke up and answered the phone. We were able to drop off the kids to them and then head in to Vegas. There is a hospital in Pahrump, but it is rather scary and I was in so much pain I thought it was a better idea to go in to the hospital where my doctor is occasionally on call just in case. Plus, if there was something wrong with the baby, I wanted to be at the best hospital in Vegas.

It took us about an hour and a half to get there. We went to the ER. I told the lady at the counter that I was having abdominal pain and pain in my upper back and that it was causing contractions. Now, what would you think if I said a pain I was having was causing contractions? Would you think it meant I was pregnant?

She told me to fill out a paper and turn it in when I was finished. So, I did. One of the questions on there was, are you pregnant. I marked the yes box. Would that make you think I was pregnant?

So after waiting for nearly half an hour, she called me back to do a pre-registration. After about 5 minutes of questions, she looks at me and says are you pregnant or… as if she was going to ask if maybe I was just fat?

I said, yes. Well, that changed everything. I wasn’t supposed to be in the ER, I was supposed to be in labor and delivery. I told them it wasn’t the baby that it was something else, but that didn’t matter. She then proceeded to tell everyone, well she never said anything and she doesn’t even look pregnant until she sits down.

While normally that would make me very happy…at this point I was rather frustrated. What more did she want me to do? Jump up and down, or scream at her? I wasn’t going to be rude for fear that it would cause the wait to be longer.

After getting wheeled over to labor and delivery and waiting for a clean/empty bed, I was finally where I needed to be. They put on the monitoring strips and I could hear Isaiah’s heartbeat. It was a very strong heart beat, but the monitoring belts sure hurt because they put pressure on my stomach which was already killing me.

After being at the hospital for more than two hours, I had been seen by the doctor who told me what I had suspected, a gallbladder issue. After four very rough pokes, the I.V. was in and I was able to get something for the pain and nausea. I had thrown up several times and was very dehydrated which made it difficult for them to get the I.V. into my veins.

I was told I was going to have to be there for 23 hours of observation. They did an ultrasound on my gallbladder and determined I have multiple stones. I am too far along in my pregnancy for them to do a surgery now but they will supposedly after I have the baby. This means I have to spend the rest of my pregnancy on a low-fat diet. Which totally stinks since everything that I’m craving is certainly not low in fat. Oh well, as long as Isaiah stays in there as long as he is supposed to and I can not have that immense amount of pain ever again, it will be totally worth the low-fat diet.

Oh, and thankfully I only had to be there about 16 hours. I was able to go home on Saturday and sleep in my own bed. Thank goodness!

My Babies Are 4!!

I just cannot believe that my babies are 4. It seems like only yesterday I was having them. It doesn't seem like they have been in our lives for as long as they. On the other hand, it seems like they have been a part of our lives forever. I don't even remember what it was like without them here.

For their fourth birthday party, we did it a little smaller than we have in the past. Because of our birthday party day luck, we decided keeping it small was a good idea. The past 2 years, it has poured the rain and been very cold on their birthday party and we have ended up with 50 plus people in the house. Not that I mind all the people in the house, but it is just very crowded and hard to have a good time. Not to mention, in the past we have spent the whole party barbecuing the food. This year we made it easy...we ordered pizza!

We had a Princess/Superhero party. We had the kids come dressed up in costume, or borrow one of ours if they didn't have one, and had a blast just playing outside. The only organized "party game" we had was a pinata, which they had a blast breaking. Overall, I think it was a fabulous party. :)

Here are a few shots for your enjoyment.

SNOW DAY!

I still get so baffled when there is a snow day here in the desert. Growing up in Kentucky, snow days are pretty typical but here in the desert, not so much.
The first scheduled day back for school was canceled due to a snow day. And I am so grateful for the extra day with Ben. The Sunday night before, we had gotten quite a bit of snow already. I was exhausted and went to bed early, but Ben and the kids went out to play in the snow and built a snow man.






The next morning we woke up to even more snow. Ben had gotten a call early in the morning canceling school for the kids, but they contemplated making the staff go in. So, he got up, got dressed and just before leaving for school he got the call that he was out for the day as well.

So, when the kids got up it was time for playing outside again and building another snow man. This time they made her a snow woman, and she was the snow man's girlfriend.


It was a great, relaxing day even though I did have to work some.

2011?!

I just can't believe we are already into 2011. When did this happen? What an amazing year we have had. There have been struggles, but that is with any year. Some amazing things that have happened this year:
* The kids turned 3 and have shown us how to be patient. :)
* Ben and I celebrated our 10 year high school reunion, 5 years of marriage and 11 years together. It feels like I have loved him forever.
*Analise started ballet and is a natural at it. She had her first little recital at the Fair and Festival (aka Harvest Festival, aka Fall Festival) and her Mimi was able to be here to watch it with us.
*We took our first trip to Disneyland. We spent a little time at the beach and an entire day at Disneyland. It wasn't nearly long enough, but the kids loved every second of it.
*Ben and I decided to have another baby - even if it meant we got two more, but were thrilled to find out we are having just one this time. It will be a whole new experience for us. And the little bundle of joy is a boy. We are still deciding on how to spell it, but his name will be Isaiah/Izayah.
*We spent lots of time together as a family and have loved every second of it.
*We have also spent lots of time with friends. I love watching the kids interact with their friends and have their personalities shine.

We spent Christmas in Nevada this year. We missed our family in Kentucky so very much, but still tried to have a great holiday. The kids were so excited Christmas morning to see that Santa had come and brought them some terrific presents. They already can't wait until next year!

We spent New Year's Eve up in Trout Canyon at the Floyd's cabin with our friends. The kids and Ben played in the snow, while I watched. I didn't want to be a party pooper, but I wasn't sure how good of an idea it was to rush down a hill when I'm almost 5 months pregnant. I had a blast watching them have fun. It was fun for me too. :)

Now we look forward to all the wonderful things that will come to us in 2011.
*The kids will turn 4! Which is so very hard for me to believe.
*God willing, we will welcome our newest little addition to the family.
*The kids will start t-ball, which they are both thrilled about
*Analise will have her first, formal ballet recital.

I know there will be so many more wonderful things to come to us this year, and I'm excited to experience them all with my amazing children and my wonderful, loving husband. I am such a LUCKY woman!

Stress!!!

Oh gosh, has it been a stressful week! First I was excited/stressed/nervous about finding out how many babies were in there - in case you didn't see my last post, there is only 1!! And then I've been stressing about my Dad. On Friday he was put in the hospital after a test for bloodflow to his left came back showing that it was diminished. On Saturday they did the first surgery, where they went into the ulcer, cleaned it out and removed a piece of his bone to determine if the bone was infected.

It came back showing that it was slightly infected, but with the IV antibiotics they are very hopeful that it will clear up. Then, today they went in to work on the blood flow problems. They found multiple blockages, but were able to fix them and as of right now he is doing well. We are still praying that the infection in his foot and bone continue to heal, at hopefully a much quicker rate now that he has good blood flow to his foot.

God does answer prayers, and I'm so thankful to him for answering mine for my Daddy!

Just 1 Baby

Today I had my first ultrasound for this pregnancy. I had been so anxious, nervous, nauseous over finding out how many. While I had thought it was just one, Ben had convinced me it was going to be two again.

He said he was just preparing me in case it was two so I wasn't freaked out if there were two, but it just didn't help my lack of sleeping due to nerves.

So I climbed up on the ultrasound table, took a deep breath and thought to myself, here we go. I looked at the monitor as she ran the wand over my stomach and there it was...just 1 baby!! She confirmed it by saying, just one in there. I looked over at Ben and my two adorable kids who were so very excited to be seeing the baby, and grinned. The ultrasound tech said "sighs of relief around the room". I grinned again and said oh yeah!!

While I would have been perfectly ok with two more kids, I was really worried about the pregnancy with two. I was worried about the stress on my body and how I would take care of the two kids I already have while pregnant. While being pregnant isn't easy with one or two, I have a feeling it is going to be so much easier with just one.

I'm so very excited!! The next excitement will come in 8 more weeks, give or take, when we get to find out what we are having. Although, both of us predict girl, we shall see if we are right. :)

Expanding Family

Expanding one's family is a tough decision. One that we certainly didn't take lightly and are very excited that we made the decision me did.

Along with all the normal "concerns", including, money, space, time, etc., we have the fear of two again. Not that we won't lovingly accept two more, just the fear of the pregnancy of two at once. It was very hard on my body the first time, because as my doctor said, a woman's body is not designed to carry more than one baby at a time. And I was able to rest A LOT the first time. Now, I have two very energetic three and a half year-olds to keep up with. Resting a lot is not very practical this time.

While we won't know until sometime later this month how many we are having, we are excited either way. If it is two, great. If it is one, great. If it is three, like people keep teasing me, I may need to be checked in somewhere! :)

No, in all seriousness, we are just so excited to be expanding our family. No matter how many there are, we are just praying for healthy.

The kids are very excited too. Analise wants a baby sister and Antonio wants a baby brother (of course). When we try to tell them it could be just one baby, they aren't okay with that. They each want what they want and aren't afraid to let us know that. It is rather comical. Antonio seems to be more go with the flow about it, so for Analise's sake, I'm hoping it is a girl. Of course, we don't care either way. They both have such great aspects, we are going to be happy no matter what.

I want this pregnancy to go slow and fast both at the same time. I want to enjoy this time I have with us as a family of 4 but I am excited to see how my kids react to a new baby. Life is good and I'm so blessed.