16 weeks, & a lil' cute stuff

Yay! The 16 week mark...it made for a very thankful Thanksgiving to hit 16 weeks. I feel more flutters everyday and still think he's a he. No baby sites compared him to fruit this week so I think the days of size comparison to fruit are over (sad). ***Oh wait...hold the phone! I was looking back up what a site has to say about being 16 weeks and they said he's as big as an avocado-YAY!!! Thank you babycenter.com!!

I'm getting more and more anxious for my ultrasound but know that I have to wait nearly a month! Oh well, a great Christmas gift it will be. Boy those sites for pregnancy are right on though...16 weeks and you may be experiencing increased breakouts....yes indeed-blemishes are abound and NOT my friend! And while I don't like to discuss the "chests" of women, let's just say mine has grown...eh hmmmm.

Anyway on to cuter things...let's start with this conversation: Me: "Owen, do you want a hotdog for lunch?" Owen: "Ot-dog pwease". Me:" And ketchup" Owen: "pep-pup" - "Otdog and pep-pup". Me: "Ok be patient, I'll cook it. Hey Jake, do you want a hotdog for lunch?" Jake: No, I'm allergic. Me: "what, you're allergic???". Jake: "Yes, allergic". Me: "what happens when you eat one?" Jake: "I had one the other day and didn't like it anymore so now I'm allergic". Me: "ok Jake". *Shaking head*.

Picture me while sitting on the couch eating a snack, Owen walks up and says "bite of it". Picture me, jaw dropping..."Owen, you want a bite of it?". Yes pwease he says.

TJ has done lots of cute things too lately but I'm drawing a blank right now. He did snuggle up to me on the couch and put his hand on my growing belly...so sweet. He also reportedly prays for me, the baby, and my diabetes everyday at school. My little prayer warrior;-) He's also working on being a real life song star "all he'll want for Christmas is his two front teeth;-)"

Hope to have more excitement for my week 17 post:-) Maybe more pics too;-)

15 weeks and not much else...

Being 15 weeks has been good. In keeping with the fruit theme...apparently the baby (with a penis) is about the size of an orange;-) I wasn't able to sleep last night since I was post 2 twelves and pre my last for the week and while I was lying in bed *not sleeping* I really think I felt his tiny kicks-YAY! How fun!-right? I love that part of pregnancy...feeling the baby move inside me makes every sleepless night, blood sugar check, insulin shot, etc ALL WORTH it!

So next up...the ultrasound-and it's none too soon. Unfortunately, I need to wait until at least 19 weeks so the heart chambers are visible-ugh. But, it'll be worth it. I'm guessing the little stinker will be shy that day-oh well. He can't conceal his parts forever and I've already been told I'll get serial ultrasounds due to the gestational diabetes.

One of the pregnancy sites says the baby is developing taste buds this week....hmmm, what will he taste-ummm salad, salad, and more salad. I'm also digging Fazoli's baked spaghetti. And lastly, the ever-famous staple of McD's nuggets and fries-ahhhh yum.

So, lastly on my boring post...I'm thinking about re-doing-or should I say "doing" my bedroom. I'm excited about this prospect. That's about it for my 15 week review.

9 years and 1 week...

that's how old this tooth is:



TJ said his goodbyes to his poor chipped little tooth that was hanging on by mere threads and I easily pulled the sucker around 7 o'clock last night. I never thought I could get so emotional over this tooth. I mean I did wait 9 years and 1 week for him to lose one...but geesh, get it together. He knew how much it meant to me for me to be "there" when the momentous occasion occurred so he let me pull it even though he was quite resistant to the painful idea. Luckily, it popped right out with "no pain" he said;-).





The "tooth fairy" very bleary eyed rounded up a few bills and some change to shove under his pillow. He came into my room this morning and declared the tooth fairy left him $5.56...maybe the ole tooth fairy is real...I really didn't think my small handful of change would be quite so much...oops. Jacob then declared it's not fake! He's on a holy roller kick...he thinks if it ain't in the Bible, it ain't real. My sweet evangelist;-) Oh his sweet innocence.

So, the end of an era has come...on to puberty I suppose-UGH! Maybe not so much.

And I must give some redneck props to my Nascar driver-a champion in my book...Carl Edwards-he just narrowly missed the title but he did it with style winning last night's race (doing all he could do to possibly close the gap) but not the championship berth...kuddos to Jimmie Johnson for his 3 time win.




I actually fell asleep and missed my Carl's season ending back-flip but checked out Nascar.com first thing this am to see if he possibly edged out Jimmy. Oh well, there's always next year and frankly, Carl won 9 races this year (which is an amazing feat in this elite sport). Congrats Carl on a great season!

And to leave on a note that really gives credit to my true love...

Tim is a great husband. He knows I am struggling with all that stinks re: pregnancy (ie insulin and tons of blood sugar checks, yet having to eat or not eat to stay healthy). So, when I said nothing sounds good last night he offered to go get me something (and this was at 8pm BTW)...so I selfishly agreed to "let him" go get me an Olive garden salad...

So, the poor guy comes back with the funniest look on his face and says "I think I got you all you wanted" so I asked what he meant and he shared that his options were a regular or large salad so he opted for the large...16 dollars and lots of salad later he returned home...let's just say I have a lot of salad to enjoy. Thanks sweetie;-)

14 weeks and the rest of my life...

Here is what baby center says about 14 weeks:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces.


Notice how they said "He" and they said it multiple times...well, I'm just sayin' -I think indeed, Tim only produces Y chromosomes. I've sneaked some peeks of this little lemon and for a lemon, it has quite a protrusion between it's legs so, back to boy names we go...until I hear something more official than my lemon assessment.

I saw my OB Tuesday for a check-up. All is fine and he does indeed believe that my diabetes is gestational. No other news there except that he hinted strongly at looking to a repeat cesarean-ugh.

TJ went in for a well-child check-up on Wednesday. He weighed 65 pounds and was 52 1/2 inches tall. He passed his hearing and distance vision screenings with flying colors. He then got THREE whoppin' vaccines. Hep A, Chicken Pox and the flu shot-poor kid. He already had a stuffy nose.

So, shockingly, on Thursday he was sent home from school with fever (likely from the chicken pox vaccine). He was pathetic and laid around all afteroon-so I followed suit to make him feel less loser-ish;-)

Then, Friday I went for my GDM appt. I get to sit in a room with other women who are pregnant and have Diabetes...most of which who are way worse off than me. Fun.

I was relieved to find out that one test that shows how bad my blood sugars have been over the past 3 months came back pretty decent...it averaged out to blood sugars around 100 which isn't too bad at all;-) Yay. I did have my insulin increased (again) and am supposed to eat more. I wish I was excited about mmore food, but it's really just more work;-( Whaaaa.

And to cap off my week, I have to work Friday and Saturday. I got to work Friday night and was quickly interupted with a phone call...it was Tim with whaling in the back ground and TJ was saying he was having chest pain and couldn't breathe. Super fun. So, he rushed him to the ED (the new hospital where I work). It was an amazing experience. TJ ends up being fine BTW, in case you are worried. But, we got put in a room in under 1 minute. Had a nurse (a real nurse) at our bedside at the same time. There was someone from registration who came to us (no waiting, no leaving TJ's side), AND the MD was in the room within 10 minutes!!! TJ was being treated with an ECG, chest x-ray, etc all at his bedside (no weaving thru multiple floors or hallways). He was given a "cocktail" for indigestion, I suppose, and was feeling better, but not perfect within 20 minutes or so and the MD was back in the room to discharge us...it was a very surreal experience. The kicker was, it's not like they weren't busy. They had plenty of patients but also plenty of staff. Everyone was really nice to TJ and all of us. I felt super cared for and not dumb at all for rushing him to the ED for indigestion (which BTW, now I feel stupid for...and it will sting even worse when we get the $$$bill;-(. Plus, I was back up to work in no time;-)

Tim and the boys are all at home now doing just fine. Thank God;-)

That's my week in review...fun, fun.

PS Pictures will be added just as soon as I can-I have no access to photos at the moment except for this gem-one of Owen's 2 year pix from Target;-)

Happy Birthday Timothy Ryan Jr.!...call Guinness!

My precious first born son turns 9 whoppin' years old November 9th! I can't believe 9 years has passed since his blessed entry to this world. I was such a wreck waiting for his arrival---FIVE days OVERDUE!!!! It was seriously like an eternity. Being an L&D RN can allow your mind to go places moms minds should never go. So, needless to say, I was very nervous and desperate for him to come. Finally, I was induced on November 9th 1999 and TJ was born at 8:37pm. He weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long (at least I think that's right;-). He had huge hands and feet and was so alert. He was a happy baby and I've always called him my angel. I think as the teenage years more and more near, I will decide that he indeed, is not an angel.



I let him invite 7 kids to Chick-fil-a for a party and then the boys stayed the night (what was I thinking???). Four rambunctious boys up most of the night rough housing-ugh! I was so glad for noon to come today (to get them all home;-).




So, I think it may be an official record...could someone from Guinness contact me? TJ still has ALL 24 of his original baby teeth (2 are slightly loose though)...and yes, he does has permanent teeth under them (I know you were wondering). Even his teacher noticed his little chicklet teeth and that none have worked their way out of his precious mouth yet.



Happy Birthday my Love!

13 weeks, etc

I'm a slacker. It's true. I didn't post my Halloween pictures yet and am 2 days late on posting about my hitting 13 weeks.

So, here are Halloween pics:





For the record, the boys were supposed to be dragon slayers and Owen a dragon, but the costume didn't fit Owen so we found (luckily) this puppy costume Jake once wore and then Jake decided to be batman again. I was SOOOO sick so we went to the mall and the candy was pathetic and I felt awful both physically and emotionally that I wasn't well enough to take the boys out in the neighborhood, so when we got back to our neighborhood I dropped them off and watched them from the van as they walked house to house...of course, I was way too sick to fend off sickos who could harm them, but I had the strength to run over any would be child predators with my minivan. Anyway, a neighbor saw me in my pathetic attempt to allow a little door to door trick or treating and offered to take them around. The boys ending up making out in the candy department and I dozed in my comatose state on the couch.

I went on an antibiotic and finally improved though I am still not 100%. Snot is a horrid thing.

So, I am now 13 weeks along-yay! And very happy to be entering my 2nd trimester. The pregnancy websites really don't say much about fetal development and such at 13 weeks so a pretty boring update, I guess. I do have a bit of bummer type news. I am still coming to terms with it so forgive the woe-is-me aspect of the following: I was started on insulin yesterday. Long story short, I had been having some high blood sugars and symptoms of such and called the endocrinologist...got in and was started on insulin. This upsets me on so many levels. First, I know my blood sugar was fine just months ago. Back in March, I had a test that can tell with high accuracy how ones blood sugar runs over the course of 2-3 months and it was superb...seriously awesome. So this means I was NOT diabetic nor pre-diabetic just months ago. And yet, here I am, only 13 weeks along and on insulin-not just diet controlled gestational diabetes, but on INSULIN! Ugh. And the kicker, gestational diabetes (GDM) is just that-GESTATIONAL. It occurs after a specific gestation in the pregnancy-namely after the 2nd trimester but as early as 20 weeks the placenta can cause some women to need insulin. So where does that leave me? Clueless, honestly. I have 2 appointments next week, so I'll be asking questions. My biggest point in sharing all this, other than to vent, is to ask for prayer...GDM can cause lots of complications and I'm thinking it will be a definite sentence of a repeat c-section for a variety of reasons...but more importantly, I am concerned for the baby's health.

So, that about sums up my past week or so. A couple birthday parties, trick-or-treating, a near death cold (I'm so dramatic) and a crappy pregnancy diagnosis.

Cheers!

Happy Birthday my precious 2 year-old Owen Elijah!

***Updated to include fun facts about his 2 year check up;-)***

I sit here in awe of the blessing you life has been to me so far. Two years has gone by in a flash...but not without it's ups and downs. Oh how far you've come-it's surreal.

You were born on a Friday evening weighing in at only 2 pounds 13 ounces and a mere 14 1/4 inches in length. You shocked us then with how strong you were and you shock us now. Big gains this check-up...you finally broke (and smashed) the twenty pound mark!!! Wa-who! You weighed a chunky 20 pounds, 11 ounces today-grow Owen, grow! You were 31 1/2 inches and have a noggin' of 48.3 cm. These are huge gains and an answer to prayer! Apparently your school can get you to eat what we can't at home;-) The doctors say you will not experience any catch-up growth now that you are 2 so let's prove em' wrong-again! You can do anything my big boy!

You can say words, even sentences. You have all but two of your baby teeth. You are running and trying so hard to keep up with your big brothers! You have no idea how your world will turn upside down in just months (when the new baby arrives).

On the way to your check up, I said "Look at the yellow trees Owen". You repeated "trees, el-o..." and then you pointed out more and more yellow trees. You are so smart!

You are a big hit at your school and have the teachers wrapped around your tiny little fingers. You have the most precious long white blonde hair that stands on end even just moments after it is smoothed down. You have an infectious laugh and an attitude that is bigger than life. You have proved that being a little guy WILL NOT leave you behind...you just work extra hard to keep up and even be ahead.

I thank the Good Lord for you and His blessing us with your precious life! You are an amazing little boy Owen Elijah and we love you soooo much!

XOXO, Mommy