Thursday, January 13, 2011

Pregnancy update

So I had my usual ultrasound and doctor visit today.

During the ultrasound, they noticed that Derrick's fluid is lower than it usually is. When they measure it is usually at 12 or 13 and today it was at 9. It looked low to me. She did measure it 3 times to be sure. I asked the tech at what "level" do they start to worry and she said when it gets to 5.

When it came time for the doctor visit, I already have a bacterial sinus infection that I am on antibiotics for (went into urgent care for that on tuesday) and I had to let them know about it. Well turns out that it is good I am on antibiotics because I have a UTI. (you have to leave a urine sample when you show up for them to test). Holy cow! I feel fine and haven't had any pain at all. I asked Dr. Folkestad about the low fluid level and he said that if this was a normal pregnancy, the low fluid levels would be cause for concern and they would start doing ultrasounds twice a week to monitor it. Since I am already high risk because of the T-scar incision and Bree's premature birth it doesn't change anything for me. However, it is something they are concerned about and will watch. He also mentioned that the low fluid levels may be because my body is trying to battle two different infections right now and it is hard work to fight off infections and grow a baby. He told me I need to be making sure that I am getting my fluids in, and that I am eating well. Which is two things that I do pretty good at. He did check me and he said nothing is dilated, changed, and it is exactly how they want all that.

Next visit (on thursday) is when we will be scheduling the c section date. Since nothing is dilating or effacing, he would like to deliver me in my 37th week and I can choose any date from that Monday to Thursday (as long as the hospital has availability). So it would be February 15 to the 18th (**correction** 14th to the 17th...I apparently don't know how to read a calendar)....so we shall see! Adam and I will sit down and talk about it tonight. It is getting close...only 4.5 more weeks....

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Mindless Babble

Just a random assortment of things I feel like sharing.

We still have our Christmas decorations up. Our Christmas tree was taken down a few days after Christmas to be able to put our recliner back in the living room so that we had extra room to sit. I have just been sick for the last week and not had the energy to take down the decorations. And yet here I sit typing a blog instead of taking down the stockings hanging up on the wall. :)

Even while we have our Christmas decorations still up, I had Riley making valentines this morning. She has reached the age where she really enjoys it. I give her markers, some sequins, jewels, pom poms, glue and some hearts cut out and she will sit there and decorate until her little heart is content. I would say we could a good hour of quiet from that this morning. It was heaven. So Nana, Papa, Grandma and Papa, Grandma Sott and Grandpa Sott, and Yaya will be getting valentines in the mail in a week or two.

On Thursday and Friday this week I went and got steroid shots to help mature Derrick's lungs. They actually weren't that bad. I do not have any bruises from them...and it is for a good cause.

Tomorrow I will be 32 weeks pregnant with Derrick. That is huge. At 32 weeks gestation, the risk of ROP and brain bleeds go waaaaayyyyy down. Which were our two biggest problems (and still are) with Bree. Woo hoo! We are in the home stretch.

Well I guess those Christmas decorations aren't going to take down themselves.  I better get to it.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Measurements and weight estimation

We officially have an on-time, 3 lb 15 ounce (estimated weight) little man stretching and jumping around in my belly.

His measurements were great at todays ultrasound.  I am 31 weeks, 1 day along. For those of you who are geeks like me here are the official measurements:

BPD: Biparietal diameter (BPD): The transverse width of the head at it's widest.

8.09 cm which is the average size of a 32 week, 3 day fetus.

HC: Head circumference

27.52 cm which is the average size of a 30 week, 1 day fetus

AC: Abdominal circumference

27.42 cm which is the average size of a 31 week, 3 day fetus

FL: Femur Length

6.18 cm which is the average size of a 32 week, 0 day fetus

The weight estimation came out to be 3 lbs, 15 ounces which is 1798 grams. Wow!

To put that into comparison, Bree was estimated at 500 grams at birth and about 1 pound. After being given fluids and meds she was finally stable enough to be officially weighed in at 1 lb, 5 ounces. So Derrick is almost 4 times the size that Bree was.

Derrick should gain about a half a pound a week until he is born. So if I am 31 weeks right now we'll just say he's four pounds. That leaves us week 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36 to gain weight. (We're hoping to do c section at the end of week 36). That will estimate his birth weight at around 6.5 pounds! How awesome will that be???!!

I am so proud that he is doing so well and is growing right on schedule. I am so blessed.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

2011...here we are!

Whew! 2010 was sure full of exciting times, and much growth for our family. I am not as organized or super cool as many of my blogger friends to be able to do a month by month run down of the past year for us. However, I do remember (and will always remember) 2010 as these exciting things:

 - Last year at this time Bree wasn't crawling or walking. She had mastered sitting up on her own, but that was it. 2010 has brought us not only a crawling master, but now a walking and running toddler.

 - Riley started preschool, and she LOVES it! She is definitely a child who craves attention, and constant structure so she has blossomed. I am very thankful to the help we get from Adam's parents to be able to give our children the opportunity to go to preschool. We would not be able to give them this ourselves.

 - We had a wonderful opportunity to have Adam's parents and the three "big" nieces and nephew visit us for 6 weeks this summer. I will remember it forever.

 - Many plans changed in our family this year. At the beginning of July I got an unexpected positive pregnancy test...and life hasn't been the same since!

 - We thought Adam was going to Korea for a year with him leaving in September, but with the high risk pregnancy we were able to file a humanitarian package and have him stay here with us. I honestly think I would not have made it this far without his help, love and support. He is an amazing husband.

 - My student teaching  was supposed to start in August, but with our surprise pregnancy we decided the stress, time and exertion of student teaching would not be beneficial and so we are holding off until August 2011.

 - My grandparents had a trip planned to come and help during my student teaching, but with it canceled I got to spend that extra time with them. :) It was made extra special by my grandma being able to be present for our "big" ultrasound when we found out we would be having a little boy!

I am sure that there are different things that stand out in Adam's mind when he thinks about 2010, but these are the things that I remember.

2011 will bring us many more new things that the girls will do, it will bring us a beautiful...ahem...handsome baby boy, and a stronger marriage and relationship between Adam and I.  Life is good.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Bi weekly dr appts

Normally these check ups are the routine mundane (we like routine and mundane though!) "How ya doing? Yup, measuring great. Blood pressure is good...we'll see you in a few days" type of deal. However, today was a little different.

I was informed that my labs came back from when they tested me for gestational diabetes. I am good to go and do NOT have gestational diabetes. However, my iron is apparently on the extremely low side to which the doctor said "I am doing to write you a prescription ANNNDD give you some samples so that you can get started on those right away". I didn't even think to ask how low it was, but it's not like I won't see them in a week.

Lots of things set up for next week. They are doing an in depth ultrasound on Monday at 3 to measure Derrick (weight, etc) and to check my anterior placenta to see how it has affected the c section scars so we know what to expect at the c section. Luckily, I have an amazing friend (Anneke!) who is watching the girls so that Adam can go with me to that appointment. I think for Adam and I, it is even that more special to get to share in our excitement of seeing how big he is (anything that is bigger than Bree was is SUPER exciting to us!). I will get a steroid shot on Thursday, and then another one 24 hours later on Friday. The steroid shots will help to develop Derrick's lungs so that when he is born at 36 to 37 weeks we should be able to bring him home when I come home.

I can't believe that we only have 6 weeks left!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Speaking

Little Miss Bree has been making some amazing strides with her speech lately. Just this morning, for the first time, I heard her playing in her bed (over the monitor) and heard her call out for "Mama! Dada!". She has never done this before. I was so proud!

She has been identifying things lately. She'll see shoes on the ground and inform you if they are "Dada" or "Mama" shoes. Or she'll go get some shoes and carry them around yelling "Shoe! shoe!" and showing it to you. She'll tell you "phone" if she sees you with your phone, and she tries to take it from you to play games on it. She is progressing so well...
Just to satisfy my curiosity, I made a list of how many words she can speak and then a list of how many signs she does:

Speaking:

1. Baby
2. Shoe
3. Yay
4. Whoa
5. Night night (Nigh-nigh)
6. Mama
7. Dada
8. Grandma (Ma-maw)
9. Off
10. On
11. Help (Elf)
12. Please (Peas)
13. Bye bye
14. Read
15. Yeah (Yes)
16. No
17. Ball
18. Tape ("Ttttt" with sign)
19. This
20. Mine
21. Wow
22. Blanket (Ki-ki)
23. Phone (Bone)
24. Diaper (By-buh)
25. Spongebob (Buh-Bob)
26. Riley (Yai-ye)

Signed
1. Help
2. All Done
3. Please
4. Thank you
5. Hat
6. Play
7. More
8. Milk
9. Eat
10. Nods yes
11. Shakes no
12. Bye Bye
13. Tape
14. Wipe

That's 40 things!!

You rock Bree...keep it up! Bree would not be doing as well as she is if she didn't have the help of her amazing speech therapist Brian. He works so well with her, and is constantly challenging her to do better and work harder. It was one of our best decisions we've made to switch our speech therapist. I am proud to be an advocate for Bree. Heck, at the rate she's going she'll be able to tell us what she wants herself here soon!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Weekend in review

Whew! We've had a crazy last few days. Christmas was great, and we really enjoyed many special moments with the girls. I need to download the videos I took onto youtube for all the grandparents/nana's/papa's/yaya's to enjoy. :) We spent the morning at home, had an early nap and then spent the afternoon at Anneke and Felix's house. Their kids got an amazing water table for Christmas (that I am looking into for our kids) and the kids had such a great time with it. Only in Arizona can you play with a water table in December. I was actually too warm sitting outside in the sun watching them. Dinner was spectacular, (isn't it always when you don't have to cook it?) and Felix's homemade cheesecake for dessert certainly made this pregnant lady very happy.

Riley had had a cough on Saturday, but only once every two hours and was a little tired, but we had figured maybe allergies? She consistently got worse on Sunday and started to spike a fever. Both Sunday and Monday were rough with her. Tired, cranky, not wanting to be snuggled, but looking miserable. The highest her fever has gotten has been 102.5. Last night before bed I gave her a breathing treatment, and we ran the warm mist humidifier all night in her room. So far this morning she seems to be doing much better. No coughing, no fever and it sounds like her nose is draining instead of sounding majorly congested. She still looks sick with her little bags under her eyes, but I hope this is the beginning of the end.

Miss Bree was completely good and great until right before nap time yesterday. I was changing her diaper before nap and noticed her lips looked oddly dry and peeling. So I tried to wipe it off, but with every swipe there seemed to be more and more. So I just gave up and figured I'd check it later. I had an ultrasound to go to that afternoon so I didn't see her too much after nap but when I got home Adam had dinner ready and everyone was at the table. I noticed Bree's cheeks looked flushed and I was worried she had caught Riley's fever bug. However, no fever was found. Upon closer looking though, her flushed look was really a rash all over her cheeks, chin and upper lip. Her peeling lips were still there and yucky looking. We decided to look in her mouth with a flashlight and found the same peeling skin all inside her mouth and back of her throat! I freaked out (which is not common for me) and had Adam rush her to urgent care. All sorts of horrible ailments ran through my mind. The rapid strep test came back negative, and the doctor said it is probably a yeast infection of the mouth. She was sent home with liquid nystatin we are supposed to put on and in her mouth 4 times a day, and an antibiotic she is supposed to take by mouth. This is going to be fun...the non eating child taking nasty tasting medicine by mouth. Good thing I am not against restraining my kiddo.  This morning her lips looks worse, her tonsils look more swollen and she has a red patch on her left tonsil. I am going to give it a good 24 hours of the new medicine before we rush off to the doctor again.

So today is hang at home and watch movies day. Hey, at least the kids have all sorts of new toys to play with (and I get to wear pajamas most of the day!)! Gotta look on the bright side.  :)

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Update

So the ultrasound went great today! Mr. Derrick has unwound the cord from his arm and let go of it. It is still all bunched up by his arm and the tech showed me, but at least it is not wrapped around it. I got a new 3D picture of him:

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My doctor said that I will be having these ultrasounds on Mondays and Thursdays and see him every thursday to be checked until delivery. We are also going to do the steroid shots in two weeks to help mature his lungs since we have to deliver around 36-37 weeks.

Update on Mr. Derrick

So for the past few weeks I have been having pressure "downstairs" and increased Braxton Hicks at the end of the day. I figured it was nothing to worry about since I had been up all day, and my BH were only at like 3 an hour. Once I would go lay down in bed for a while, the pressure would decrease a bit and the BH would ease up. Every morning when I would wake up I would feel fine with no pressure and all would be well until about 6 at night.




Well yesterday when I woke up the pressure was still there pretty bad. (I know many of you other preggo ladies have the same problems) It just feels like he is going to fall out constantly. So I called my doctor to see if he could fit me in, and I was told to go to the hospital immediately. Kinda freaked me out with how the lady's voice changed as soon as I told her what was going on.



I got there and they got me changed and on the monitors. When they did the exam and checked, they saw watery discharge and were worried that maybe my water was leaking. The amniotic fluid test came back negative (thank goodness!) and she said that I am only a fingertip dilated, but she can feel that Derrick is very very low. However, she did say that she can push on his head and he will move up, which means he's not engaged yet.



She monitored me for another hour and he was very active and his heart rate was going from 160 to 120 pretty quickly, but she said that could be normal for him since he was being so active. He then dropped his heart rate from 160 to 80. So they ordered an ultrasound to check fluid levels. During the ultrasound, they couldn't see my cervix length because Derrick's head is too low and blocking it. She said Derrick looks great except that he had the umbilical cord wrapped once around his arm, and the cord in his hand. He was squeezing the cord until his heart rate drops, and then he loosens his grip. Which then allows his heart rate to jump back up...and then he squeezes it again. We saw him do it on the ultrasound a few times.



There is nothing they could have done about it, and the nurse said it will not cause Derrick any harm since he's basically (for lack of better explanation) causing himself to pass out which then relaxes his grip and resume the blood flow.



So I have another ultrasound today at 1230 to see if he has let go of his cord. And then I start going twice a week for ultrasounds until delivery.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Derrick update

I went to have my gestational diabetes testing done today and a quick check up/chat with the doctor. When I was in there talking with the doctor I had my list of questions on my phone to ask. When I got to asking him about the pain/pressure I have been feeling he immediately said that he was going to squeeze me in for an ultrasound and "if I wanted we could do the 3D ultrasound too, just for fun". Psh..I wasn't gonna say no!




The ultrasound tech said that Derrick is really low, and head down with his face against my back. She said "Oh wow, he's low". Well now it makes sense that I am feeling the way I am. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to even get pictures of his face because of his position so she had me lay on my side, and she jiggled him with the ultrasound thing. Derrick did not enjoy it, and we got to see his angry face:
 
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He was making that face and waving his arms all around and I could feel him stretching himself out. It was too funny. He did then settle down and we got a few good pictures of one side of his face.


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Adam and I think that he looks very much like Riley did in her 3D pictures. The ultrasound tech also commented that it looks as though Derrick is completely bald. He does have a good bit of "cooking" left ot do so he has the opportunity to grow some hair, but we might end up with a bald little boy.

We also got a little bit more information about his delivery date. Dr. Folkestad wants to deliver around 36 to 37 weeks and does not want to let me go too far past 37 weeks due to the risk of uterine rupture. So, to put that into persepctive I would turn 36 weeks on February 6th, and on February 13th I would be 37 weeks. I think we are going to shoot for February 11th (the joy of having planned c sections...you can choose the date!). That would make his birthday on 2-11-11.

I feel so in love with my son, and I haven't even met him yet. It makes my heart melt to see what his little face looks like. I am such a blessed Mama.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

No excuses

There are no excuses that will suffice to explain away my lack of blogging. Except for the fact of being pregnant, having two kids already and a busy schedule. Buuuuttttt...there are many other moms I know who are way busier than I who still find time to blog quite often and keep everyone caught up with thier family.

So without further delay here's a run down of us all...

Youngest goes first!

As of today I am 26 weeks and 2 days pregnant with Derrick. Woo hoo! Officially farther than I made it with Bree (she was born at 25 weeks 5 days). I am much bigger this time than I was with Bree (I am probably the same as I was with Riley), and I am so grateful that I am feeling huge and uncomfortable. Yes, my back/skin/body does hurt all the time, but it means that I have a healthy little (big) baby inside me that is causing it. It could not make me any happier. When I hit the 30 week mark I will start going into the doctor twice a week for stress tests and ultrasounds to chart his weight, growth and happiness. :)

Bree is doing great! I feel like I am always saying that, and then she seems to regress a bit but it's life. Her eating is it's usual non exsistent state. We have some meals where we get very excited to see her eating well, and then she'll refuse any food for the next 3-4 meals. It's like a roller coaster with sharp peaks and low, long valleys. Her physical "stuff" is good, and her therapist is very pleased with her progress. She's doing everything they expect a two year old to do, she just does it slower because of her low muscle tone. She is still very uncoordinated for her age, but she makes it all work. Her speech has made the most progress lately. She's more willing to repeat what you say, or at least say the beginning of a word in order to get it from you. She now says mama, dada, ball, tape, and bath spontaneously and uses them appropriately. She can say a lot of words, but does not use them regularly or appropriately enough for me to list them as "words". She babbles to herself when she wakes up in the morning, which is something new in the last two weeks. She's never made noise before when she wakes up. Speech and making noise isn't something that comes naturally to her (who the heck is this kids mom??! Ha ha.)

Riley is growing up so fast it is crazy. She acts like she is 15 with an attitude. We have been having many discipline issues with her as of lately but I have heard that it is normal for 3 year olds. Many many people have told me that 3 year olds are worse than 2 year olds. We are remaining true to what we tell her will happen, and making sure we are telling her she is making the choice. With that being said, we are also trying to make an effort to praise as much as we can. Riley is an attention kid. She loooves the attention, and I have found that praising her for sharing with Bree is just as (if not more) effective than scolding her for not.

That's us in a nutshell for now. Hopefully it won't take me another month to get updates in here. :)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Roller skating queens

This morning we went (we meaning Riley, Bree and myself) to our friend's house. Heidi is a saint and lets everyone come over to her house on Wednesday mornings to play. It is so great seeing 8 kids running around a house together screeching with joy and happiness. Did I mention that I am JEALOUS of her driveway? It is long, and the perfect playing area. Park a car at the end of the driveway, and the kids run wild! Everyone brings some of their outside play toys, and we all share. Riley had found Zoie's (Heidi's daughter) roller skates and wanted to try them out. I was expecting her to get on her feet and immediately freak out.  She didn't. She rocked thos roller skates! I had to hold her hand, but she loved it. She went down the driveway, then back up and wanted to be done. As I took them off of Riley, Bree wanted to wear them.

I was expecting the same thing out of Bree (freaking out), especially since they didn't fit her well at all. She LOVED them. While I was holding both of her hands, she skated down the driveway and back as well. It is quite a workout, and I didn't want her to get too tired and risk a massive meltdown so I decided that was enough. She melted down when I took them off.

I think that Santa may just have a pair of roller skates in his bag for our family this year.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Letters from Santa

Wanted to share this with you. A NICU parent support group is helping Santa with his mail this year! They do ask for a donation per letter, but it is going to a good cause to help support critically ill infants, preemies, and their families. Here's the link to the Santa page: http://www.nicupsdonations.org/2010.asp

This is not from the NICU that Bree came from, but from one that her 'preemie friend' Robbie came from. I read the blog his mom writes (http://fertilehope.blogspot.com/), and I email with her occasionally to talk about their eating, PT, etc etc because they struggle with the same stuff.

Please share this with whoever you think may be able to use it, or want to use it. Thanks!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Christmas

A few of the grandparents and family members have asked what the girls want for Christmas. I put together a small list to give everyone ideas...Hope this helps!

Either girl:

Yookidoo Flow and Fill Spout (bath toy)

Lace and Trace Pets

Tinkertoys

Lincoln Logs

Princess Fairy Jumbo Coloring Pad

Bree:

Baby Alive Sips and Cuddles

Mrs. Potato Head Silly Suitcase (great for speech and OT)

Deluxe Latches Boards (Great for OT)

Riley:

Magnetic dress up dolls

Hi Ho Cherry-O

Little Mommy Scrub a Dub Dub Doll

Chutes and Ladders

Blessed

I am blessed. I have a wonderful husband who appreciates me, and shows it. I have a 3 year old little girl who is more excited about my birthday than I was. I have a 2 year old sweet girl that amazes me daily that she is here with us and has such a sweet personality. And I also have a 21.5 week little man fetus who loves to show his appreciation by kicking me at all odd hours of the night and morning.

Yesterday was a day of realizing how lucky and blessed I truly am. Over 100 people wished me a happy birthday on facebook. (okay so 103 to be exact...it's just cooler to say 'over 100'). My best friend Ashley sent me a beautiful frame with a saying on it that is perfect and fits our family wonderfully. I can't wait to find the perfect pictures to put in it and hang it. My mom sent me a gift card for Olive Garden (yum!) along with a box of goodies for the girls. Riley picked out a candle for me. Riley: "I think it is a stinky candle mommy, but you like it." I do love it and think she is crazy for not liking a pumpkin candle. Bree isn't quite old enough to grasp the whole "birthday" thing, but seeing her stab her piece of cake to take a bite and the whole piece coming up when she picked up her fork cracked me up. She tried to put the whole piece in her mouth at once. It was too cute.

I am so blessed and loved that I feel like my heart is going to explode. It was the best birthday I have had in a good couple of years. What a great way to ring in my 25th birthday. I am blessed.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Pain

Most people would never think of the sensation of feeling pain to be a blessing, or a good thing. However, once again, Bree has enlightened me to a whole new world of things I never thought I would be dealing with, or I even thought about.

 We have known since Bree was little that she has a VERY high pain tolerance.

Here's some examples: She could have IV's put in, or blood draws done without flinching. She would simply just look at the person doing them. And once she learned to walk she could take a very hard tumble or a bump without crying or fussing. She would simply say "Oh."

Now the girls do go to preschool two days a week right now, and recently Bree has been bit three times in the past week. The first two happened on Tuesday and the teachers were able to see it happen. There were incident reports to fill out and sign. The teachers commented that Bree didn't seem to be bothered by the bites. They said that most children scream and cry when it happens and then they are really grumpy and whiny for the rest of the day. They said 5 minutes after Bree got bit she was perfectly fine. One of the bites wasn't too bad, but she had one on the back of her upper left arm that is still bruised even today (4 days after it happened). When we showed up on Thursday to pick her up from preschool Bree had a bright red bite mark on her left forearm. The teacher had no idea. She had not fussed or expressed discomfort at all.

Another incident was when we went to go get her out of her crib from nap. We have been told to be giving her choices and making her shake her head 'yes' or 'no' in order to have her start communicating more instead of us automatically doing things for her. So I asked her "do you want to get up from nap? Yes? or No?" She tilted her chin up, and brought it back down, but ended up bringing it back down right onto her crib. I could hear her teeth clack together and it sounded painful. I even drew in a breath and grimaced, expecting crying. She didn't even flinch or change facial expressions. Didn't phase her one bit.

These are just a few examples, and there are many many more. We are going to make an appointment with her pediatrician this next week because I am beginning to think that this is a problem. We used to think that she was just a tough kid, but it is to the point that it is almost hazardous to her health. She's going to be the kid who tells me her arm feels funny, and it is going to end up being broken.

I never thought I would have to tell my child that even though it doesn't hurt her it's not okay for someone to bite her, and that she needs to tell her teacher.

Are there any other preemies out there that seem to have unusually high pain tolerances that is a problem?

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Anatomy ultrasound

So my ultrasound looked great! Derrick is still a "he", they were just double checking since they had to do an ultrasound anyways. Everything looks great, his heart, lungs, brain, bladder and stomach are all correctly formed. They could not get a good picture of his spine because of his position so they will not "clear" him yet as being medically sound. So I have another ultrasound in two weeks to check his spine.




So here's my weirdo things I kept track of. :) I am technically 19 weeks and 4 days.



His head circumference was measuring 19 weeks and 0 days. (both Riley and Bree have head circumferences that are labeled as "small" or on the lower end of the percentages)



His belly circumference was 20 weeks and 0 days.



His femur bone measured at 19 week and 5 days.



So all in all he seems well. I am excited to get to see him again in two weeks, but am still a little worried that they weren't able to get the correct measurements today.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Family update

I feel like I am always doing small little updates here and there but never sneak in a good quality post. So here goes!

Riley is doing great things and has grown up a lot in the past few weeks. Yesterday she helped me pick up the living room and I didn't have to prompt her to specifically pick up anything. She picked up things and put them away without being told. I don't know if any other parents out there find that amazing, but I was blown away. Normally my children have to be told "pick up this block...now pick up this one. Now pick up the doll...etc..."

She also spent last Thursday in the three year old room as a test run. For those of you who are unaware (which is probably most of you), the preschool she attends does not allow any pull ups or diapers in the three year old room. You must go on the potty. Riley lasted through naptime (gasp!) without a pull up on, and didn't have an accident at all! Now our only problem to overcome is Riley's insistence that she only goes potty at school. We're working on it.

Bree is becoming more vocal everyday. A very large part of it is still just noises and grunts and whining, but the fact that she is being vocal and not staying  silent. She has learned to bring us the television remote which saying "Gab-buh? Gab-buh?" for Yo Gabba Gabba. It is one of the first things she has ever requested vocally. I find it hard not to give in most of the time. She will say "Day-doo" (thank you) on her own if you hand her something, but it you specifically request for her to say it she will only use the sign language sign. She says "Buuuu" for book and will sign it as well. She is a tricky kid to figure out. She will say words verbally for only about a week or so, and then she seems to 'forget' the word. She seems to stick to 3 -5 words that she says regularly.

Her eating is going backwards for some reason. Adam and I can't seem to figure it out, but we are continuing to offer her food to eat, then tubing her so that she continues to get her calories. I guess I need to just look at the positive and realize that it has been the longest she has eaten well, and we need to follow her cues. It can be frustrating.

She is seeking out different things to walk on. We have been told by her physical therapist that it is not common for low tone, unstable kids to want to walk on new surfaces, but we know that Bree is not always the 'norm'. She wants to walk on the rocks where ever we are (which there are rocks everywhere here!), She tries to step up on the curbs and wants to do everything that Riley does and can do. It makes me immensely proud to see her wanting to follow Riley so much, but sometimes it breaks my heart that she can't do it because of muscle strength and stability sometimes.

Derrick is growing fast! I cannot believe that in about 4 months I will be holding a cute, snuggle little boy in my arms.I am now feeling him move every day, usually multiple times a day. He moves a little bit when I first wake up, then again around 1 pm, and then again in the evening. Today he was kicking hard enough to where I could physically see it if I watched my belly. I don't remember the girls kicking this hard this early so I am guessing we have a rough and tumble little boy on the way! On Thursday I have an anatomy scan for Derrick, where they will double check to make sure he is still a he, and to make sure his heart, brain, kidneys and all other organs check out okay. I am very nervous that all will be okay. I have learned to never take anything for granted, even a healthy child.

I am doing okay. I still struggle with morning sickness, and have days where I can do a whole bunch of things, and then days where I get winded just cleaning off a counter. However, my brain now feels like it is capable of having complex thoughts. I have come out of the fog!! I feel more like talking with others, and getting out of the house to see friends.  I am trying to think out and figure out how we are going to do the bedroom situation with all three kids. I could go on and on about it, but I will spare you the details. I think I am wayyyy overthinking it. Oh well. It will all work out.

Adam is super husband and has really been helping me out. He rocks with the girls, and isn't afraid of hesitant to step up and make dinner, dump garbage, do dishes, or pick up the living room. One of these days I am going to insist that he go out with his friends and let go! Have some fun.

Whew! My fingers are a bit sore, and I am hungry. Now to go stare at the refrigerator and think that there is nothing to eat. Ha!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Feeling productive

I love the feeling of accomplishment when things are completed and done. So far today I have done dishes (not usually my job), had therapy for Bree, taken Bree to get her g tube changed (thanks Anneke!), taken out dinner to defrost, called about our Fisher Price Rainforest Pack and Play recall,  and called and applied for Long Term Care for Bree.

Today is the first day in a while that I have not had a migraine and I am so thankful to feeling up to do doing stuff. I think I am going to try and tackle Bree's clothes this afternoon after they wake up from nap. Woo hoo!