New Baby on the way! Now 21 weeks! and River updates!

I know I should have updated this long ago. I will have to add the story of River being born and finding out that we are pregnant again, but for now, BABY 2 IS ON THE WAY! Its a boy and he is due 12/26.
Things different about this pregnancy:
Carrying lower, rounder, and more in front (everyone says are you having a boy before I can tell them)
Ate pickles and salty things in the begining to feel better... wanting mexican food and orange soda... which is odd since I am not really a soda drinker and when I am its not orange.
Don't really crave sweets.. just chocolate here and there. With River it was milk products constantly.. which is odd since we can't give her a lot of milk now or she gets an upset stomach.
Anyway.. we are excited! :D

Oh and Volker no longer delivers so we changed to Dr. Brill. 2 appointments in and he's great! Lots of info... Talks fast like me... Joe says its like watching 2 squirrels have a conversation and he can't always follow. haha.

All parents know. Joe's parents took it well this time and seem genuinely excited which is awesome! ;D

River updates:
While on vacation River picked up "wow". She says "wow" and we have to look at what she's "wow"ing to see if its something we need to take away or what... she's very generous with her "wow"s, which may be indicative of how "wow" worthy everything is for a toddler.
She has also picked up "Awesome!" and uses her name a lot more. For example... she said "River Awesome!" without any prompting (yeay self confidence!) and says "Daddy Awesome" and "Mommy Awesome" etc. Its so cute! It sounds more like Awesommmmmme... hee hee.
Oh and I bought a portable DVD player for the trip.. what a wonderful decision. Car rides became a whole lot easier. She even laughed at a movie she hadn't seen when she was watching by herself! (squirrel scene in Disney's Sword in the Stone) I think we are getting closer to being able to go to a kids movie with her and I think she is comprehending more from what she watches.
Elmo is still her favorite... he went EVERYWHERE with us on vacation.

I promise I will be better at blogging about our little ones for our family. :)

At our ultrasound they didn't get a good shot of his heart so we are going back on 9/3. I have a doc appt scheduled for this Friday but I think I am going to move it due to work demands... we will see.

Foot!

Our First Family Vacation!

Joe and I took a week off together to have our first family vacation with River before the new baby comes. We went to Oceanside, CA for the beach and the wonderful breezes, and we took River to Disneyland for the first time. It was a great time! I used an app on my phone to document the experience for us and I have added some photos in for fun. *if you click on the photo it gets larger...

Sunday after Joe got off work we drove to CA. We didn't end up leaving Vegas until 8pm

8/9/10
Monday - Day 1

Notes :
12:00 PM
Got up, looked at the ocean from our room.


Now waiting at ihop for our breakfast


2:40 PM
In room... Way past nap time. river is cranky and my feet haven't hit the sand yet... Can't wait! But tired and need to charge my camera first :)

7:05 PM
Waiting for our table on Oceanside pier diner Rubys. Put Rivers feet in the waves at the beach on the way here. Awesome view :D




9:00 PM
Just got back to room. Now to pack up, drive, and check in to Anaheim for Disneyland tomorrow!

11:40 PM
Giant tub in room with jets :D all 3 (3.5) of us fit in the tub. Trying to get River to calm down so we can all go night night for Disneyland tomorrow! :D


8/10/10
Tuesday - Day 2

Notes :
8:51 AM
Everyone is up and I am about to jump in the shower. Disneyland here we come!

11:03 AM
Waiting for breakfast at ihop. River is seriously hyper ... It's like she knows! Late start cause hey... We are on vacation! :D


11:51 AM
Dapper Dans!

12:24 PM
Appropriately, River's first Disneyland ride was small world :D

3:36 PM
Back in room for nap time. After small world, checked out toon town then got in line for nemo sub. River was a crying mess the entire wait. We think maybe teething is factor.. And heat and hunger. Nemo was fun and River was good on it.
I got a hat and a sunburn. River danced to the music on main street like she did on the way in. :)

In Jail at Toon Town:


Playing the Piano in Goofy's House:


Dancing on Main Street:


5:08 PM
We had pizza delivered and River finally fell asleep. Looks like we will be in the room for a bit. Joe and I are watching bones

11:21 PM
Just got back to room. Dad came out with Katie and Ashley for dinner. They were very nice. Katie made River a beautiful blanket and brought her presents. (Katie - my step-mom, Ashley - my step-sister)
Ate dinner with everyone at IHOP and visited for a bit. Surprisingly, no pictures.

Went back to Disneyland and walked straight on to Pirates and Haunted Mansion. River was cuddled up against me for both rides. I almost lost my hat on pirates. That first drop is a lot longer and steeper than I remember. It may also be because I'm 20 weeks pregnant but it was a little scary. River handled it great, or put on a great face. Same with Haunted Mansion although I tried to make it fun for her by dancing with the music and saying the ghosts were having a party.
Then we went to the tiki room. I got a pineapple whip float. Tiki room was fun :)
Joe and I decided we were tired and would tackle more things tomorrow. This is definitely a different Disney experience :)

8/11/10
Wednesday - Day 3

Notes :
8:30 AM
In bed catching up on twitter and email while River still sleeps. Hopefully today will have a happier River.
I am crispy from yesterday ... Going to start getting ready since the continental breakfast ends at 9:30. I'm sure Riv will be up soon. :)

9:31 AM
Just missed continental breakfast. Will have to grab a snack since lunch is at 11:30 and I want to do some things before hand. Joe is in the shower and River and I are dressed in our Mickey shirts :)

11:38 AM
So far successful day! Went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, walked thru a store, went on jungle cruise, had a snack, and now we are eating at Blue Bayou! :D
We brought Elmo with is today and we are staying out of the sun with lots of breaks. So far so good!

Mommy and River on Jungle Cruise:


River and Elmo:


1:05 PM
Just got back to room for nap time. Just in time too .. River was getting fussy. Lunch was good. Got a glowing tink on my mint julip :) River seemed to have fun.



4:17 PM
Wow I woke up 20 mins ago or so and River and Joe are still out. Gonna have to wake them or we will miss all things CA since they close early

"R" for River!


5:48 PM
Eating bread bowl on paradise pier. River has a kids snack pack and Joe got a salad that comes in a bread bowl. I also got a world of color cupcake. Mmmmm :)




10:13 PM
After we ate we went to talk with crush. That was fun and River shouted "turtle!" she can now say "totally" and "dude".


Next we saw Aladin at the Hyperion theater. It was fun and River paid attention the whole time... Except for the 2 times she dropped Elmo and mommy had to save him.
After that we went on Monsters Inc. River likes monsters.
When we came out, the street had been turned into a dance party. Mommy and River danced a lot. River really liked the dancers. Daddy got us a smoothie at schmoozies :)


We went over to the pier to try to see world of color but there are no good places to view unless you get a fast pass or pay for a prix fix meal and we didn't know about the fast pass. So we went to the shop and a nice lady gave River a first time button. I got a button with 2010 on it and Tink (since River had confiscated my glowy tink from lunch) to signify Rivers first time ;)
River and Daddy went outside and watched fireworks while I finished up in the store.
We could tell River was tired so we called it a day. We stopped at coldstone on the walk back to the hotel and are now winding down in the room. :)

8/12/10
Thursday - Day 4

Notes :
10:51 AM
Waiting for Joe to get back from round 1 of loading the car. Everyone up at 9am.

11:53 AM
Tried to go to Bakers Square for pie but it's gone! Waiting for our food at Cocos.

3:08 PM
Back in Oceanside. Beach view is awesome and I love sitting in bed and watching the ocean.


There was an awesome balloon guy at Cocos and he made River a tinkerbell balloon. Way cool :D


River should probably be napping but hasn't happened yet.

6:50 PM
River fell off the bed and her mouth was bleeding. It was sad.
Watched 2 movies and River napped. Movie 2 just ended and River fell off again. We definitely won't be purchasing any high beds anytime soon. I'm just glad she seems alright.
I now have a crick in my neck though... Already having issues getting comfy. Am 20.5 weeks now so the next 19.5 should be "superfun"

Ruby's at the end of the pier... from our room:


10:36 PM
Walked to Rubys at the end of the pier. Was fun :) have been hanging out in the room having fun with River (I have pics but Joe was in jammies so I'll refrain from posting unless he says okay)

Waiting for our table... Elmo has become Elmo hat! Elmo was a hat for Mommy, Daddy, and River:


Elmo driving River's pink Cadillac:


River also had to feed Elmo at every meal so Mommy will be washing Elmo when we get home.


8/13/10
Friday - Day 5

Notes :
2:14 PM
We all slept in then walked 2 miles to a breakfast place I saw on yelp. It was really good. Joe found a close station for the lite rail and we took that back. At least now we know for next time. Muscles I forgot I had now ache. Tired. But I am determined to go to the beach today. (pics of breakfast place on my camera so will have to add later)


9:56 PM
River took a while to go down for a nap. When she did we watched a movie.
River playing with Mommy's camera:


After River was up we went out to the beach to play for a bit even though it was chilly and late. I had so much fun just being in the ocean. It's like I connect out there and everything melts away. Big giant cleansing energy.

I carried River around through the waves and she had a blast.

Look how happy she is!

I love Joe's black and white setting on his camera:




Joe came down to get his feet wet in the water.


River eventually let us put her feet on the wet sand and let the water wash over her feet. So cute!


When we were getting ready to leave Joe got down on one knee and proposed with a ring and river in the wet sand. I said yes! With some shock but the sincerity for us to work won me over. The ring will be going on a chain around my neck until after baby since the size is my prepreggo size (currently too small for my ring finger and falls off my pinkie) ... and if it doesn't fit then... resize! haha.


We came back to the room to change and walked to a Thai place for dinner. Joe says it tasted authentic. I wouldn't know but it was good. On the way back we walked thru some protesters and got blizzards at dairy queen.
Now Joe is making Rivers baba. River is so happy and excited about everything after having both of us all week long.

12:13 AM
River still up ... Colored on the sheets and dumped my melted blizzard on the floor. Overtired toddler with sugar to keep her going while both parents are exhausted... Superfun. Won't make that mistake again.
Last night in Oceanside... I will miss the cool air and beach. Hopefully my sunburn won't last.

8/14/10
Saturday - Day 6 and trek home

Notes :
9:01 AM
River has been up for an hour or so (how does she do that?!) and has just injured herself again. Poor kid. I believe we are driving home today. Sad. I wish I had another week off. :) or even an extra day. Unfortunately I have a group coming in starting Thursday so I need to be in the office. I wonder what our breakfast plans are for today... :)

12:03 PM
Got out and walked to breakfast. A lot closer than yesterdays adventure. Although we took the long route here it was still only about 20 minutes. I feel like we are finding cute close places on our last day :) contemplating a fun drink from the coffee shop

12:32 PM
Just fed myself coffee and a chocolate muffin! 1 coffee drink should be fine right? Couldn't resist... I love grashoppers! Let's see if we get some kicking action ;)I also cut myself on my hairdryer so I have a hello kitty band aid... yeah I have no idea how one cuts themselves on a hairdryer either but I accomplished it.


River feeding Elmo breakfast


River being cute



6:43 PM
On our way back from breakfast we saw lots of squirrels and Joe fed them River's snacks. My phone now has tons of pictures of squirrels eating goldfish and animal crackers. Here's a squirrel pic from Joe's camera


At Red Robin in Victorville. Traffic sucked so far ... Can't wait to do some actual driving and get home! So tired


10:24 PM
Yeay finally home! Bathroom break and then unload car.

week 30

Oh my goodness I have run the gauntlet of "not fun" recently. I was going to doctor appointments all the time and finally the specialty doc said she didn't need to see me anymore. Before this happened though, that office canceled all my NSTs at the other office and the other office was told that the specialist would be monitoring me from here on out. Then I get a call this week saying that I missed my NST appointment. I have a doc appointment on Tuesday... FINALLY one with Dr. Volker, which is good because I am tired of getting all my news second hand AND he is delivering so it would be nice if he saw me pregnant.

Besides that I have been crying off and on for the last 20 hours. I'm lonely and depressed and I have too much to do before the baby gets here and I feel like I have to think of all these things on my own. Something got me upset yesterday and other things just propelled it along. I feel like a fat blob and it takes more physical effort than it should just to move. Joe FINALLY told his mom though. Thank God. That was a ridiculous stress that went on far longer than it should have. She reacted exactly as predicted. Duh. And now we just have to see what comes of it.

The baby seems fine. I am taking my daily dose of baby aspirin as directed etc. Hopefully more good news on the way.

Doctors Appointment Today

This morning was interesting. They did another ultrasound only this time it was with the specialist. She wants to see me in 2 weeks. I am supposed to eat more and drink more and if there isn’t improvement in 2 weeks she is going to start limiting my activity. She also wants me to take children’s aspirin for blood flow.

My dad had heart surgery 2 years ago (at 49) for small veins, not cholesterol, and his brother had the same surgery a few years before. My dad now suspects his mother may have died of the same thing because they didn’t have the tests they have now, which means I may have the heart thing too. The specialist said that the type of veins in the heart are also found in the brain and placenta so if the veins aren’t functioning properly, it could be limiting the blood flow to the baby. If that is the case, the baby would limit blood flow to her kidneys in order to keep enough blood flowing through her brain and heart. Limited blood flow to the kidneys would mean less amniotic fluid being produced by the baby which means low water level. So right now we are working off the theory that its one of two things. The eating/drinking thing, or the blood flow thing.

Now I just have to make sure that the specialist/high risk office is communicating with the OB office because I don’t want to be scheduled for redundant appointments. I will have to check with the OB office because right now they have me scheduled for “Non-stress tests” twice a week for two weeks starting Tuesday and the time of the appointments suck scheduling-wise.

In other news, no one can locate the results of my blood work back in June. I guess it wasn’t in my chart so the doc is going to call the lab. Craziness! But I really feel like I am getting people with experience and communication skills looking into things now verses before… I really felt like I had to push for information from the NP who was handling me until now. I didn’t know what to ask because I haven’t done this before and she didn’t provide info unless I asked her specific questions. It was very frustrating. Once she started showing my ultrasounds to my doctor, all this stuff started happening. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting to be sent to a high risk doc but I feel better knowing that a problem was noticed before it was too late.

week 24

So we had our follow-up ultrasound. The water level was lower than it was a month ago so we have a follow-up ultrasound to check water levels in two weeks. In addition, they now say that she is small... 11% weight class for gestation age or something like that. Now they want to do Non-stress tests twice a week and have me see a specialist. On Friday they said high-risk pregnancy doc consult but today when they called to tell me my appointment is tomorrow, they called the appointment an appointment with a specialist. I guess I will find out actual titles tomorrow.

So that's the update. I will keep the blog updated as we find out more information. Joe is really nervous because his experience in the ER has shown him all the bad things that can happen. I am saying she is just small. My mom and his mom are both 5'4"(nope still haven't met her) and I am 5'5". I was also born early and was 6lbs 2oz so maybe its genetic.

Night for now.

Update!!! Now on week 22

Hello all!
Okay so... at week 19 I started feeling some kicking. Now, she definitely kicks. I have days with energy and days without. Work is hard because I need to eat more frequently and I wish I had the ability to nap. And now she thinks its fun to kick my bladder.

Work has been stressful. I have an impossible client that I can't wait to get rid of. Complete nightmare. My only redemption is that anyone else that deals with this client or anything they send to me quickly remarks on the insanity. It helps to truly see that its not in my head. The client was even rude to my Director! That makes me angry... its bad enough the client shows a complete lack of respect for me and treats me as their personal secretary, but to treat my Director that way? What the heck? Anyway... this is one client I refuse to work late for. I'll do what is required of me because I am good at my job, but I don't sacrifice MY personal time for a client that does not appreciate me, respect me, and abuses the client position.

Well, sorry for the rant. In other news, Mom has started helping me go through all the stuff in the 2nd bedroom that will become the baby's room. We got rid of a lot of bags of clothes weekend before last. Now I need to get rid of all the old costumes I don't use.

Ami is starting to plan the baby shower... so much fun! I'm trying to decide who to invite that would not feel pressured into going but would want to go, and trying not to miss anyone that would feel slighted. I know that many of my family members probably won't be able to go because they live so far away AND I'm going to see people at Thanksgiving which is 2-3 weeks or so after the shower depending on what date we choose.

Ack! dead tired and I have to pee again.. night all!

Week 18

So yesterday we found out.. ITS A GIRL! She was sitting breach so we have a follow-up ultrasound in 4 weeks to check vitals since some of them were difficult to see with her position. And I think she will remain a girl ;-) They got a good look at that part.

I am still emotionally unhinged, which is ... lovely. And I am getting cramping from the growth. I can't seem to get to sleep when I want and then I find it difficult to get up early. I also am not very hungry but I feel weak when I don't eat. Thats it for updates for now. :)