Definitely Growing! Moving to 3-6 month size clothes!

It is time to pack the 0-3 month sleepers away. I can hardly believe that at 6 weeks of age, we have already outgrown them. I went to put one on him last night and it wasn't quite working! I put his feet in first and could not get them over his shoulders! They were definitely too short! I wanted to see how short they really were, so I took them off his feet and put his arms through and laid him on the sleeper. I then pulled his legs straight so they were extended over the sleeper. They were an inch too short! Wow! Did this kid grow overnight or what? I went through all of his 0-3 months sleepers and they were all an inch too short!

I noticed the other day that some of his 0-3 month long sleeve onesies are a little tight under his armpits, so those probably need to be packed away too. His pants still fit him fine.

Luckily, I knew that since I was going to have a bigger kid, I had all the 3-6 month clothes washed up and in a drawer. I just reached down and pulled a bigger size out. They fit him great! 

It's time to switch his wardrobe already! I need to make sure I have enough warmer clothes for him. When Christian was in 3-6 month clothes, it was the middle of summer. Micah can't wear t-shirts and shorts in the middle of winter! Hopefully he will get some warmer clothes for Christmas!

Baby Micah is growing and food intolerances already.

I haven't weighed Micah in awhile. Last I checked, he was about 11 pounds. He wasn't quite back to his birth weight at two weeks, so our pediatrician wanted us to come back to her office weekly for a weight check.  I didn't exactly do that. I weighed him at our chiropractors office instead! They don't have a baby scale, but I figure it was close enough.  We would have Megan hold Micah and stand on the scale, then she would hand off Micah and get on the scale again.  We would then subtract the two numbers and we had a rough estimate of Micah's weight! Brilliant, right??

Even though I don't have a precise weight, he is growing! His 0-3 month clothes are getting tight and pretty soon, I will need to move him up to size 2 diapers. And the kid is only six weeks old!

Along with growing, we have had some minor health problems already. :(  When we went in for our three day appointment, our pediatrician noticed that he is tongue tied. She said it's there, but not bad. She then mentioned that if he has trouble nursing, there is a pediatrician in her office that can clip them. She kind of said if it bothers him, we can clip it, if not, we can leave it alone.

I decided to leave it alone, but last week, he wasn't nursing the best. He was clicking a lot with his tongue, pulling on and off, and just getting frustrated that he wasn't getting enough milk. Then yesterday morning, he was having trouble again and this happened two feedings in a row, so I called the lactation experts up at the hospital.  They didn't help much and just said to watch him. I then called our pediatrician and they said to bring him in to get him evaluated. The nurse also said the pediatrician will only clip them when they are brand new babies, not six weeks old! I didn't know that! The nurse said the tie is really thin at that moment, but now it's thicker and would hurt more. Because it's the end of the year and this would be a regular doctor appointment, I am going to take Micah in tomorrow and get him evaluated. If the doctor thinks he needs it clipped, then we will be referred to an ENT. I wish I would have known that! I probably would have had it clipped when he was a newborn!

But after those two frustrating feedings, he ate great the rest of the day! He is also peeing and pooping just fine and growing, so obviously he is getting enough to eat!

We also may have some food intolerances going on in the little guy. I noticed last week that he had mucus in his stool, which means there is inflammation going on somewhere. :(  The more I thought about it, he has been hoarse lately, which means he probably has some reflux going on along with some spitting up.  He has been fussy and also has had some diaper rash lately.

I asked my chiropractor about it and her first thought was that he is MSPI (Milk, soy protein intolerant). I haven't drank milk in four years, so that shouldn't be an issue. I have been eating soy, so I took that out last week. I was just eating those yummy gluten free crackers from Sam's club. :) It seems to help a little bit.

In addition to talking to my chiropractor, I mentioned this to the nurse yesterday and she wants me to bring in a stool sample tomorrow and get it tested for MSPI. She said there is a ph test they can do.  I told her about three times that I haven't had milk in four years, but she kept insisting I get this tested anyway. Fine, but only because it is the end of the year and everything is covered 90%!  I asked her if he could be allergic to milk even if I don't drink it and she said yes. I agree, but in order to have a reaction, I have to drink it! I just feel like I argue with the medical establishment all the time!

This morning our chiropractor called and she got Megan's food intolerance test back  I am going to go in this afternoon and get the results and while I am there, I am also going to get Micah tested for food intolerance. Again, I would like to get this all done before the end of the year!

I was really hoping we could avoid food problems with Micah, but he is already reacting by six weeks of age. I hope we can figure out what his problem is and then I may have a more content baby. :) This may help when I have to get the older three back to school in a few weeks.

Up at night!

You know what happens when baby sleeps from 12-8 in the afternoon?

He doesn't go to bed at night!!

I started trying to get him to bed at 9 like the other kids, but he didn't go to sleep until 11:30.

And was back up at 12:30, 4:30 and finally up for good at 7:30.

I would like some sleep, kid!!(Ok, I did get some, but I would rather have more than I got last night!)

Like I have said before, I would much rather get him to sleep around 9 and wake up around 3, then not get him to sleep until midnight. Let me get some sleep first, and then wake me up. :)

Homeschooling and New baby

While I was pregnant, I got these two remarks all the time.

1.  Are you done having children now?
2.  You have a "perfect" family.

I rarely got, "How are you feeling?" like with the other three.  People wanted to know if we were done having children now that I had a "perfect" family. Kind of drove me nuts  because honestly, I would never ask anybody if they were done having children! And really, would it be bad if we decide to have another?? Just saying...

And a "perfect" family, what if Micah ended up being a girl and I did not have two boys and two girls, would it still be "perfect?"

But anyway, now there is a new comment that people are saying. It's not driving me nuts like these two, but I am hearing it more and more.

When I tell people that I have a baby plus three other children and we homeschool, people say, "I don't know how you do it!"

My response is, "I haven't done it YET!" I have not been able to handle the baby, three other children, and homeschool up to this point. I can't even get a math lesson in!!

I kind of chuckle when people say this!! I hope I can handle it in January!!

Honestly, it's the same kind of shocked look I get from people when I say I delivered a 10 pound kid without an epidural!

I give up!

I had great plans to get back to at least math before the holidays.  I kind of wanted to get English and spelling going again too.

I give up. It's not going to happen!

Between everything associated with the baby,  keeping up with the housework, the holidays, and various other things going on, my days disappear and before I know it, I have not had any time to even think about school.

Don't worry, my kids are not disappointed. They are loving their time to sit on the floor and play Legos all day long. I figure they are being creative and getting along, so it's ok. :)

Christian has spent quite a bit of time at his white board practicing his letters and copying words off of books, the TV, and various other things around the house. He also likes writing various letters together and then asking us what it says. Half of the time, it doesn't spell an English word, but we will sound it out anyway just to be funny. I may start him on Phonics in January since he has such an interest right now.  We will see. I may just continue going through his letters like we were doing in the fall. Just because he copies them doesn't mean he actually knows what they are!

Because we are taking such a long break, my kids will have to go to school a lot more next summer.

We will definitely get back after the holidays! One way or another!!

What I have learned about Micah in four weeks...

Having a newborn is definitely a learning curve. I have done this three times before, but I am relearning many things, it has been over five years!

1.  If you put a really cute outfit on them at the beginning of the day, they will surely spit up on it and you have to change them to a not-so-cute outfit!

2.  Babies do so much better on a schedule!!

3.  If a baby only gets up at night and eats and goes right back to sleep, we are doing well.

If baby does not go back to sleep, I usually put him down in his pack n play or in his swing and go back to sleep myself.  Just because he's not tired doesn't mine I am not tired!! (I usually try to make sure he is asleep before I go to sleep, but sometimes my eyes just can't stay open anymore!)

4.  Babies do not like baths, but honestly, today was the first time he did not scream through his bath.

5.  Swaddle, swaddle, swaddle. Isn't it funny how every baby is different? Courtney was my only child that did not like to be swaddled. Micah loves to be swaddled!

6. Bounce, bounce, bounce. I have never had a baby who liked to bounce as much as Micah! I am glad I bought that exercise ball while I was pregnant because we spend quite a bit of time bouncing on it! It sometimes is the only thing that will calm him down.

7.  If baby won't stop screaming and it is close to feeding time, then feed the baby! I make him wait at least 2 hours between feedings, I prefer 3 hours, but once he wakes up from his nap, he wants to eat and he doesn't care how long it has been!

8.  Having a 4th child has really added up to more laundry!

9.  How many diapers do we go through in a day??

10.  The snuggles are endless. :)

Another first for us!

I am slowly getting back to regular trips to the store. Today, we attempted Sam's club! I haven't been there yet with Micah and we were getting low on items we usually buy there.

Before we went to Sam's though, we had our classes at the Homeschool Learning Center from 10-12 am and then we met Matt for lunch at Pepperjax.  After we got done eating, we headed back across town to Sam's.

Before we even got into the store though, Micah was awake and wanted to be fed.  I told the girls that we had two options. I could either sit in the car and feed him or I could sit in the food bar area and feed him. The kids voted to stay in the car, so I climbed all the way to the back seat and fed him.  There is not enough room in the driver's seat with the steering wheel and I don't really like to sit in the passenger seat and have people stare at me. 

After I was in the way back seat and was feeding him, I remember a reason why I SHOULD sit in the front seat. Often some little kid (Christian) will sit in the front seat and sometimes when people walk by, they think the kids are in the car all by themselves because they do not see an adult in there with them.  I remember this happening with the other kids.  I didn't notice anybody looking at us weird, but people were pulling in and out around us.  Maybe I will sit in the front seat next time! All the other seats have carseats in them.

We got into Sam's ok, but our first stop was the bathroom for a diaper change for Micah. There was no room in the car to do this and he needed to be changed. This is my first diaper change in a public restroom with him and he did great. Even a few older ladies stopped by and told me how cute he was. :) 

After he was fed and he was changed, it was finally time to get groceries! I had Micah in his car seat in one cart and I had another empty cart for the groceries. It is much more challenging with four children!  I am glad I have older kids to help, but they were actually fighting over who got to push Micah!

We were almost done getting everything when Micah started crying again.  Lately, I have been feeding him on one side and then about 20-30 minutes later, he is ready for the other side.  Right when we were way in the back of the store, Micah decided he was hungry again and let me know it! I told the girls that we are going to go up to the food bar area and feed him and we were not going to check out first! We managed to get both carts up there and I sat and fed the baby. I am getting some practice covering up with a blanket, so I definitely did that! I am not one who will feed the baby in public without covering up!

After he was done eating again, we went and found a checkout and paid for our groceries.  Finally, we were ready to leave the store! I told the girls that this is what most shopping trips will be like for awhile. They will need lots of patience and helpful attitudes!

Up Once a Night!

I am very thankful that my three week old only gets up once a night.

I got him to sleep at 10:45 last night and I didn't see him again until 5 this morning. After I changed him and fed him, he went back to sleep until 8 am!! I will take it!!

Why do I still feel like I need a nap during the day??

Time for some structure!

We have not done much for three weeks, and I am glad. I needed time to recover and we all needed to get used to having a baby around. Babies also take a lot of work (when they are not sleeping), so I spent many hours rocking and feeding baby Micah.  The kids have been doing their own thing and occupying themselves for the last three weeks.

But now I think the kids are ready to get back to some structure.  Yesterday, we had quite the time with Christian. Between not listening very well, saying "no" to everything we say, lying, and just being disrespectful, I think he needs some time with just mom or dad by himself. He is always asking me to do something with him, but I just can't due to the baby.  Matt is usually on the computer, so Christian ends up watching him. Matt and I both think this has led to his behavior troubles.  When we force him to move away from the computer, he gets very angry and starts misbehaving.  Yesterday after Christian lied yet again, Matt took away the computer for two days, but guess what Christian was doing today? Watching Matt play Minecraft.  On one hand, I think Minecraft needs to go, but on the other hand, it has led to some creativity and some very interesting conversations around here.  I usually limit computer time to 45 minutes for the girls and 10 minutes for Christian and they can play a couple times a day. There are moments though when nobody is on the computer and they are all on the floor playing cars or Legos, so they are times when they are being creative on their own.

My goal for this coming week is to get back to math and some preschool for Christian.  Micah is usually awake more in the morning, so I don't think we will get much done then.  He usually sleeps most of the afternoon, so I think that is our best bet for getting back to school.  If I can get Math, English, and spelling going before Christmas, I think we are doing well! If we don't get back to any of our Sonlight curriculum until after Christmas, I am ok with it.  I think it will be a challenge to get back to everything! We may get to it, but it will take us awhile to get through the material. Again, I think it is fine. Our Sonlight material may just take us a couple of years to get through!

Thanksgiving Day!

Today is Thanksgiving Day and for the first time, we have NO plans for today!!

I guess it's a day of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, cooking, and spending time with my precious family. :)

I kind of want to do something fun today, so we might make ham balls and cheesy potatoes for the occasion! But I need to get to the store before the ice starts! OR I could just have HyVee deliver!

Left or right handed?

Ever since Christian broke his arm, he has been using his right hand for everything.  He is left handed and he broke his left arm, so he didn't have a choice if he wanted to eat or color. He got his cast off almost 3 weeks ago and finally today, I saw him coloring with his left hand again! The only problem was that he kept giving the color to his right hand and I had to keep reminding him to use his left hand. He does so much better! It may take him awhile to get used to using that hand again!

Grocery Shopping

Today I ventured out again with all four children. Micah was refusing to take a nap and insisted on being nursed every hour. The other three kids kept migrating back to Minecraft.  We needed to go somewhere! (Now I remember why I went somewhere everyday when Megan was little!)

I made an executive decision that we were going to go get groceries! I haven't done this yet with the whole crew! I walked around Walmart last Sunday and was still a little weak, but I have been feeling even better these last three days.  We also needed quite a few groceries, and we have a family get-together this weekend that I need to make food for.  I got Micah fed and buckled him into his carseat, I was hoping he would go to sleep and stay asleep awhile! The kids kind of complained, but I made them go anyway.

Once we got to the store, I put Micah in one cart (since you are not supposed to put the baby carriers on top of the cart) and I had Megan push him around.  I took another cart for groceries.  It worked well! We got almost everything we needed and a few things we probably didn't (chocolate chips!).  I worked my way slowly through the store because I didn't want to overdo it.

We got checked out and came home. Success!! Luckily Matt was home already and he and the girls helped bring everything in.  Little by little, life is getting back to a new normal.

Post- Baby Blood Counts

At my two week checkup yesterday, I had my midwife draw my blood to see where my numbers were at now that I delivered Micah.

Platelets- 152,000!!! Wow! They have NEVER been this high. This is actually in the "normal" range!!!
(And steroids aren't even helping them go up because I have been weaning myself off of them.)

Hemoglobin- 13.3. normal

We were hoping these would go up after I delivered and they did! Now for them to stay up!

My midwife said, "Enjoy being normal for once!" I think I will!

Now I hope my thyroid doesn't go out around four months like the last two children...

Appointment Day!

Today I had three separate appointments in relation to the new baby in the house.

1. This morning, I had my two week post-partum checkup. I know not many providers do these at two weeks, but I am glad my midwife brings us back in.  I think one of the main reasons is to check for post-partum depression, which I don't have a problem with.  I actually had to fill out a questionnaire this morning about how I was feeling and how emotional I have been the last two weeks. I have been fine, so I marked everything accordingly. My midwife never said anything about it, so apparently I passed. :)

The first thing the nurse did today after she called me back was to have me step on the scale.  I have 12 pounds yet to lose. I gained 31, so I have lost most of it.  Ten pounds of it was my baby!! I am sure another five was all the water that broke the morning I had him. There was a lot of it! I wish I could just lose those last 12 so I can wear some pre-pregnancy clothes. I am still wearing my maternity jeans because they are loose around my tummy. I haven't lost my tummy all the way and I am sure that my hips have not gone back to where they were, so I am pretty sure my other jeans will not fit me yet.  I still cannot get back into my pre-pregnancy shirts either. They are too short! I know it will just take time, but I would really like to wear some different clothes!!

After my midwife came into the room, she sat down and talked to me about how everything was going, again, I think this is just to see if post partum depression is a problem. I told her things were going much better once I put him on a schedule and he's doing well! I told her our first week was kind of rough, but we are getting the hang of things now. 

She then wanted to check my stomach muscles and said they were still separated, so she gave me a few exercises to do to make those stronger. She said otherwise all looked good! I am glad!

I gave her a few pictures that I had developed for her and then she stuck her head into the waiting room to see Micah! Megan was taking very good care of him out there, for he was sound asleep in her arms. 

I will go back in four weeks for my six week post-partum checkup and then I will be done there for a year.

2.  This afternoon, I took Micah in for his two week checkup.  He weighed 9 lbs. 11 oz, which is not quite back to his birth weight of 10 lbs. 1 oz.  I thought my doctor would be a little worried, but she said, "Oh, sometimes these big babies don't get all the way back to their birth weight by two weeks, I am not worried." She does want me to stop in about once a week for the next six weeks to weigh him and make sure he is gaining. He is 22 inches long, which is a half inch longer than he was at birth, and his head is 15 inches, again, a half inch bigger than at birth. He is growing!

I told her that I would feed him more, but if he overeats, he just spits it up. She knew exactly what I was talking about.  She mentioned that if he doesn't start gaining, I might need to wake him up every four hours at night to eat. Honestly, I don't think I would do this!! Sleep is sooo precious!  She wants him to gain, but she doesn't want to get over-worried about it.

She said otherwise he looks good and told me not to get too caught up in his routine because it won't work in 2-3 months. We will see what happens! She also said that I need to give him vitamin D drops. We will see about that too. She listened to his heart, felt his stomach, checked out his belly button and circumcision and those were all fine.

3.  At the same time that I took Micah in, I also took Megan in for her 12 year checkup. I will probably do these two kids together for the next six years. :)  Megan has gained 20 pounds this last year and is now 5 ft. 3 inches. The doctor doesn't think she has hit her big growth spurt yet!! REALLY?  Megan has some red spots on her elbow, her face, and some on her ears that I thought were ring worm, but they are really eczema.  The doctor sent in a prescription for steroids to put on them, but I wonder if they are really allergy to something. I need to talk to my chiropractor about it. She gave me some suggestions on what she should use for lotion and soap during the dry winter months.

I also asked when Megan needed her shots and the doctor said usually around 7th grade. I think she said she needed two of them. She looked at Megan and said, "Do you want to go ahead and do them today?" Of course Megan replied, "No, let's do them next year!" We all laughed! I would have said the same thing! Our doctor also said that Gardasil is something she offers, but many moms refuse it.  I said I will absolutely refuse it too! I have not heard very many good things about that vaccine!

Tomorrow we head back to the chiropractor to get everybody adjusted, even the kids.

Sleep!!

After a pretty rough first week with Micah in regards to overnight sleeping, I think we have finally got it figured out!!

Last night, this boy slept 11-9 and was only up once at 5:30 to eat!! I LOVE IT!! The night before, he slept 11-6 and didn't wake up at all! I think we may be onto something.

What changed everything? I decided to put the boy on a schedule!!

The first week home, we just let him sleep whenever he wanted.  I would feed him and he would sleep the next three hours.  I would feed him again and he would sleep again.  By the time nighttime came around, we had a fussy baby and had to work 4-5 hours to get him back to sleep. He was finally settling down about 4 am and matt and I were running on 3-4 hours of sleep.

This obviously couldn't go on. I was super tired and was not healing. Matt had to go back to work and had to be there by 6 am on Monday, which meant he had to get up at 4:30 am.  I was therefore on my own overnight and I knew I couldn't pull these long nights anymore.

Last Monday, I started Micah on a schedule that involved WAKING HIM UP during the day.  Now, he eats, we wake him up for about an hour, then he naps for about an hour (or however long he wants.)  We rotate this schedule over and over during the day.

And guess what? He goes to bed at 11 and wakes up at 6! He is no longer awake during the night, but now more during the day. When it is time to go to bed, he is tired and goes to sleep!

This makes this mama happy! Plus we get to see his beautiful eyes during the day!!

Back to Reality!

I admit, this is probably one of the hardest recovery times I had when it comes to having babies.  I remember after I had Courtney, I was up and doing errands three days post-partum. There was no way that was happening this time!! I am ten days post-partum and finally feeling like myself again.  I definitely still have to be careful though and not overdo it yet!!

Today was the first time I took all four children out of the house by myself.  Today was also the first time I have driven since I had Micah!

Matt went back to work on Monday, but I knew after over-doing it last weekend, I needed to stay home on Monday and Tuesday and rest some more.  Today, the kids had their classes at the learning center and they really didn't want to miss them.   There are only two classes left for the semester, so  I thought it would be a good goal today to take them to their classes.

Courtney's class was at 10, so they gave us some time in the morning to get everybody up, get breakfast, and through the shower. I didn't get a shower in yesterday, so I definitely had to take one today! :)

We were all ready to go by 9:30!! I was amazed! Everybody cooperated and did what they had to do! Christian even got dressed and I only had to tell him once! I was impressed!

We made it to the learning center just in time. My goal was to deliver the kids to their classes and then hang out in the mom's room and lay low for the hour. I did exactly that! All the kids' teacher's wanted to see Micah, so that was fun! It was even fun running into people who didn't know I had a baby. I heard remarks such as, "Is he yours?" or "When did you have your baby?" or even "Wow, I can't believe you are here!"

After the kids' classes were over, we met Matt over at Pepperjax for lunch. I am still not up to cooking, so this was something pretty easy to do for lunch. We do have leftovers in the fridge, which we will eat in the next couple of days.  A few people have brought over meals, which have been WONDERFUL!! I will get back to cooking eventually.  I have another friend bringing over a meal this afternoon for us. :)

Tomorrow we are supposed to go on a fire station tour with our PE coop in the afternoon, so we will see what I decide to do with that outing.  If we go, we are supposed to take some baked goods, so Megan might be on duty to make some chocolate chip cookies.  I also would like to get adjusted again, so those might be some simple things to do tomorrow afternoon.

Friday we don't have any plans, so it might be a "hang around the house and do nothing" kind of day. And then there is the weekend again!!

We are also getting our Thanksgiving plans finalized, so I think we will be able to make those get-togethers. I am glad Micah came when he did! I can enjoy the holidays with family and a new baby! Quite a few of the family haven't met him yet, so this will be a great opportunity to meet him.

PS It was really weird not going to see my midwife today before we went to the learning center. I had went and saw her every Wednesday before the kids' classes for the last month. I go in next Monday for my two week post-partum checkup and then in another four weeks for my six week post-partum checkup and then we are done with checkups.  Hopefully everything is healing well!

I was right! Baby came earlier than I thought!

I had a feeling we were going to have this baby early and we did!!!

After three days of contractions, water breaking at 5 am, and finally having to get induced at 5 pm Sunday night, I am proud to announce that Micah Alexander Ruwe was born on Sunday, November 8th at 9:21 pm! He was 10 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long! A very big baby!!

I would love to post pictures, but I cannot get them to load. :( 

We are home now and adjusting to a family of 6!

School Thoughts.

With this impending baby, I am in deliberation about what to do with school. I could have this baby today or I could have this baby two weeks from now!

My problem is:
1. Do I continue to go full force in all our subjects as if we were having school only to stop wherever we are when the baby comes?

2. Do I stop on certain subjects because we are at a good stopping point at the moment and then start again later?

For instance, I am tempted to not do spelling for both girls until after the baby arrives.  It takes us four days to get through a spelling lesson, so if I do the first lesson Monday and baby arrives Tuesday, I cannot get back to that lesson for a couple of weeks. I do spelling Monday through Thursday and it would be really hard to pick spelling up in the middle of a lesson! I really think we are going to shelve those books until later...

We are going to keep going full force on math and English. Those lessons are daily, so it doesn't matter where we stop, even though it would be nice to stop after a chapter test!

We are also set to start a new missionary book on Monday with Megan's history and again, I don't want to read the first chapter, have a baby, and then have to put it down for a month! We are also in the middle of some other books, but those we can keep going on and just set them aside when we need to.

I think all of us are ready for a break from school, but I don't want to shelve half of our subjects and sit around and twiddle our thumbs for two weeks! I think we will just keep moving forward and stop when we need to!

Thurday's adventure (a couple days late!)

I thought we were going to have this baby last Thursday, but no such luck! I was fine in the morning, I just had contractions here and there like usual, until I ate lunch.  We had chili for lunch, but it wasn't too spicy. As I was making lunch, I started to notice the contractions picking up and becoming a little bit more intense.  We were supposed to go to our PE coop at 1:30, so I contacted a few of my friends around 1 pm and said that I have been contracting pretty regularly, and I didn't think we should go to PE today. They understood! About 1:45, I started timing them. They were roughly 4-5 minutes apart.  I started writing them all down and without even looking at the clock, I could predict when the next one was coming for the entire afternoon. The girls were even involved in timing them. 

I had a chiropractic appointment scheduled for 3:45, so about 3:15, I called my chiropractor and asked him if I should come in or not. I told him my contractions were about four minutes apart for the last 2-3 hours and he told me to stay put! He immediately asked how far away my husband was and if he could get home quickly if I needed him too. I said yes! He told me to drink, drink, and drink and to eat incase I would end up having a baby that night. He again said that most moms in labor get dehydrated, so drink water like it was going out of style!  He also told me that we did not have a baby Thursday night, then I should come in Friday morning to get adjusted.

About this time too, I had the kids pack their bags and sleeping bags incase they had to go somewhere for the night. I didn't know what was going to happen.

I continued to have contractions all the way into the early evening.  I just felt like I wondered around the house all afternoon because there was really nothing I could do! I did play a couple games with the kids, like Scrabble, where Courtney insisted on putting letters together and looking them up on the computer to see if they were really words; half of the time they were some odd Greek or Hebrew word and because I didn't feel like fighting her, I let her use them! We had a good laugh!

By about 6 to 7 pm, the contractions started to slow down, which I was ok with. I do not want to have to head to the hospital at 8 or even 10 pm. I do not want a middle-of-the-night baby.  I want a good night's sleep and THEN we can have a baby.  The contractions were sporadic throughout the evening, but not worth timing.  By bedtime, they had settled down and I was able to go to bed. Maybe another day....

The cast is off!!

Christian was super excited for today! He got his cast off his arm, and he can now do things again!

He did a great job as the tech cut it off and his arm looked so tiny! The doctor said it will take him a couple of days to get some range of motion back, but it will come.  She told him not to move it too much.

We are definitely giving him a  shower tonight and cleaning that arm!

We also kept his cast. We will just add it to our collection. :)

Blood Count!

39 1/2 week blood count

Platelets- 117,000!!!!!!!! Can we be excited??? (Up from 98,000 last week and 78,000 the week before!)

Hemoglobin- 12.3  This is the highest it has EVER been!

Let's go have a baby while my numbers are so good!!!

39 1/2 week checkup!

I am almost there!! Just about four or five days to go until my due date!

Today I went in for my 39 1/2 week checkup. I feel like there is not much to talk about because we are just playing the waiting game.  I had my midwife check me again and I am still dilated to a 1, BUT I am 80% effaced!! She said she could touch the top of the baby's head. Last week, I was still real "thick" according to her words. I did this all in a week! She said once I get 100% effaced, I will start dilating some more. Yippee! Keep going body!!

As she was measuring my "basketball" of a stomach, I asked her what we were at this week. She said she was debating between a 38 1/2 and 39. I said, "I was 39 1/2 last week." She said that the baby had dropped further into my pelvis! Last week I was at a -3 stage and this week, the baby was at -1. I told her I can tell that he dropped! I can't even sit in a chair comfortably anymore! She said the baby's head is nice and tight!! Things are progressing!!! She said I probably won't go into labor in the next couple of days because my cervix is still posterior, but she didn't say anything about the day after that. :)

I gained one pound (up to 31 now), baby's heartbeat was great, movement was great, and I still "have so much water."  I told her that I have contractions all the time, and especially when I get dehydrated. I have learned that if they start, I just need to stop and  drink 8-12 ounces of water and they will stop. One of these times, they are not going to stop!! She said that this happens in labor sometimes. Once a mom gets to 7 or 8, her body gets dehydrated and slows things down.  I guess I just drink water, water, and more water!!

She also told me that she has a baby shower in Lincoln on Sunday for her daughter who is expecting and I am not to go into labor on Sunday! I told her if I went into labor and actually had this baby on my due date, it would be a miracle! She just laughed! We both know how late all my other three kids were!

I have my next appointment set for next Wednesday when I will be officially overdue.  People think I am crazy that I am willing to go overdue, but if I am already progressing on my own, why not let nature continue to take its course?? I think the more I get done before I actually go into labor, the better I will be!

Venting time: BEWARE!
I have already started getting random text messages from people saying, "Are you in labor?" or "Your house has been quiet all day, are you at the hospital??" or "When is your due date again?" These are all from people I USUALLY don't talk to on a daily basis, but want to know what is going on.  I hope people don't think that every time we pull out of our garage, we are heading to the hospital! Honestly, this is the part that drives me crazy about having a baby. People want to be the first to know that you are on the way and will ask you EVERY SINGLE DAY whether you are in labor or not! Just leave me alone, I will call you. :)
 
I try to take it in stride, but if I answer my phone, respond to a text, or you see me, I probably have not had the baby yet!! And honestly, you will probably NOT be the first to know when I have this baby.  My kids will be the first to know (and whoever is watching them) and family. I don't even think I am going to send any pictures out of this little guy until the kids have been up to the hospital to meet him. The kids are going to be my first priority this time around. Once the kids have seen him, then grandparents and family can come see him. And then I will let others know! And I really don't want anybody up at the hospital waiting for me to have this baby so they can be the first to see him. It's not a race.

Is this my fourth baby or what? I seem to know exactly what I want this time around. :)
Venting over.

But like Matt says, maybe people are just trying to be nice and show that they care, which may be true. Maybe I should not let these random remarks get to me, but maybe I just need to remember that they only ask because this is how they would want to be treated if they were in my situation.

Basketball Season!

There are a few things we need to take care of now before baby comes. One main thing is getting our kids signed up for basketball again!

Last year, Megan and Courtney played in a basketball league through an organization called Upward Bound. They played at a local church and the entire league was church-sponsored. They had devotions during every practice and game and kept it centered on the Bible. It not only developed them spiritually, but also challenged them physically.  They had practice one evening a week and played games every Saturday for eight weeks.

This year, Megan is too old to play again, but Courtney and Christian can play. They run the program for kindergarten through 5th grade and since Christian is technically of kindergarten age, we can sign him up! I signed Courtney up about a month ago, and since then, Matt and I decided to let Christian play too. It runs during the month of January and February, so it is a great time to get some exercise during those long cold winter months!

Getting out of School?

Courtney is super anxious for me to have this baby. Every couple of hours, she is asking me if I am having any contractions and when am I going to "pop" this baby out.  Yesterday, she started asking me when I was going to get induced. She actually said to me today, "Mom, can you get induced TODAY??"

I don't mind her asking me if I am having contractions, but today I had to put an end to the induction questions.  I told her that I will be induced when my midwife says I have to, other than that, we are going to wait patiently for baby boy to arrive. It's better for everyone. :)

Once I got thinking about all this, I finally realized her motive behind all of this. She cannot wait for a break from school! She is a kid who could probably sit on the living room floor all day and play Legos or be outside exploring and doing her own thing. She doesn't really love school and honestly, it is like pulling teeth sometimes to get her to the table to do her thirty minutes of math, spelling, and English lessons! (Yes, this sometimes takes us less than 30 minutes!)

Getting out of school is totally her motivation of why she wants me to have this baby soon!

I am not quite sure how we are going to deal with school once the baby comes, but I figure after 2-3 weeks, we should be able to get back to at least math and English.  I think it will be a gradual process to get back to everything and it may take awhile!

Awake at Night...

My sleep has been so messed up lately. My body must be getting me ready for a newborn. :)

I am usually not tired when it's time to go to bed.  Last week, I actually stayed up until midnight watching "Three's Company" reruns that we have recorded on our DVR! I haven't done that lately, but I am usually up until 11 or 11:30. This may be the steroids that I am still taking.

After I lay in bed and read a book for awhile, I can usually fall asleep by 11 or 12 pm.  By 3:30 or 4, I am awake again.  Contractions usually start around this time and make me quite uncomfortable. I flip from one side to the other multiple times, get up and go to the bathroom at least a couple of times, drink 1-2 cups of water, walk around a little bit and stretch, and then I can usually get back to sleep around 5-6 am.  Lately, I have been bringing my cell phone to bed. It's often interesting what is on Facebook at 4 am! The other night I was looking at my phone and Matt woke up and said, "What are you doing??" I said, "I am looking at Facebook and having contractions!" He just rolled over and went back to sleep.  Honestly, I think my body gets dehydrated by 3:30 and once I drink quite a bit of water, it is happy again to let me get back to sleep!

By about 5:30 am, Matt's alarm is going off and he is up for the day; this is about the same time that I am finally getting back to sleep.  By 7:30 am, my alarm is going off, and I am refreshed and ready to get up for the day.

This same schedule has been going on for at least a week. Maybe one of these times the contractions will keep going and we can make a short trip to the hospital to meet this little guy! Courtney and Christian's labors both began about 4 am! Why not this guy too? I would rather that happen than go at 10 pm!!!

(Honestly, getting up in the middle of the night is probably one of my favorite parts of having a newborn.  It is the only time when I get one-on-one time with the baby with no other interruptions from anybody else. I remember with Christian that I was often sad that I had to put him back to bed, I just wanted to sit and hold him without anyone else around!)

Update on Christian's surgery!

When doctors say that kids bounce back fast, they sure do mean it!

Christian had his surgery done on Thursday and by noon yesterday, he was pretty much back to his usual self!

There were a few things we learned about Christian during surgery.

1.  He needs anti-nausea medicine during surgery. The anesthesiologist (who was from Australia and super smart!!) told us beforehand that she was planning to give him some, but apparently somewhere along the way, she decided not to. This led to an upset stomach afterwards. :( It's amazing that I could tell he was going to throw up just by seeing it in his eyes.  And he not only threw up once, but many times over about 2 1/2 hours.  The first time he got it all over his cool hospital pajamas, so those needed to be changed, but every time after that, he got it in some sort of container. Great job Christian!!

They actually kept us at the hospital a little bit longer because he was unable to keep anything down. Eventually they just kicked us out! His color looked good plus he was sitting up and talking, so they figured we could start liquids very slowly at home.  Honestly, I think he was enjoying sitting there watching "Back to the Future III" while his stomach calmed down! They said getting out in the fresh air and getting home would probably help him feel better, and I think it did.

They also warned us that he might throw up again on the car ride home, which he did.  Luckily, he could feel it coming and we didn't have a big mess. The hospital sent us home with some throw up containers and those came in handy! They know what they are doing!! He did gag a little bit once we got home, but that was the end of it. Yay!!

2.  During surgery, the doctor had covered his abdomen with a blue disinfectant and then left it on him afterwards. I think it was just to make sure everything stayed clean for the next couple of days.  I learned yesterday that Christian will break out to this disinfectant!! I am not sure if it was the blue food dye or anything else in it, but he had a nice rash going on underneath it yesterday. I called his doctor and they told me to just wash it off, so I did.  This morning, there is still a little rash left.

I don't let any of my kids eat anything with food dyes anymore, but it is more for preventative reasons. They have never broken out in a rash before, so does this mean he is truly sensitive to food dyes?? I am going to ask his doctor about it in two weeks when we take him in for his two week post-operative checkup.

3.  When  child does not eat for over 24 hours, they are starving and want to eat anything in sight!! We didn't give him any food the night he came home because he couldn't even keep liquids down! We gave him a little bit of water and Advil before he went to bed, but that was it. When he woke up Friday morning, he pretty much stood up and said, "I am going downstairs and I am going to find something to eat!" He didn't even wait for me!! I wanted to make sure he was ok, but apparently he was fine and he was on a mission to find food! (He slept on the baby mattress beside our bed the night of surgery.)

I couldn't just let him eat whatever he wanted though, so I let him have some cheerios and drink a can of pop little bit little in the morning.. These all stayed down, so by lunch time, I let him have some real food. He didn't have any trouble all day!

4. He is a tough kid! There were a few points during the morning yesterday when you could tell his abdomen hurt because he would hunch over a little bit as he walked.  I gave him some Advil at 9 am and that seemed to help.  He did great with pain all day until about 7 last night. He started to hunch over again and was getting a little crabby, so I gave him some more Advil. He went almost 10 hours without any medicine- tough kid!!

He went to bed last night without an issue and has not asked for any or showed signs that he would need any yet today. He is back to acting like his normal self. They told me surgery would not keep him down for long and they were right!

He gets his cast off next Friday(the 6th) and then goes back in for his two week post-op checkup on the 13th.  We will see where baby boy decides to make his appearance in the middle of this all!!!

Platelet count!

My platelets are back up!! Not to where they should be, but they are back up to 98,000. Only 2,000 more points to go and I am back in the clear!!

Dishes at 9 pm??

You know there is something wrong with me when I am WILLINGLY doing the dishes at 9 pm. This NEVER happens!!! Must be nesting. :)

The girls did ask me tonight, "Mom, when are you going to have this baby???" I think they are tired of me making them clean up after themselves so much these last two days!!

Surgery tomorow!

After rescheduling surgery for the third time, it looks like it will actually happen tomorrow, unless a baby boy decides to make his appearance!

Christian cannot have anything to eat after midnight tonight, so he had a great big bowl of oatmeal right before bed. He is looking forward to his apple juice for breakfast, but after 9:15, he is off all liquids too. We have to be at the hospital at 11:15 and surgery is at 1:15. I do need to give him a final bath in the morning and wash him up with antibacterial soap.

He is not nervous at all. He knows they are going to fix the hole in his belly button and he is going to go to sleep.  I am not very nervous either! I should be! I am sure I will be a wreck tomorrow though, especially when they take him away for surgery. That will probably be the hardest part of the day.

We were in Target today, and I let him pick out two small Lego sets for tomorrow. I said he can have them when he gets home from surgery if he does a good job. He told dad all about those tonight, so I think even if he hurts, those might help him a little bit! I also said he could play video games when it is all over. He liked that idea too! He might be playing quite a few video games over the next couple of days!

I am going to try to get a math lesson in tomorrow morning with the girls before we have to leave. They get to spend the afternoon with grandma, so they are pretty excited!

Hopefully everything goes well and he will make a quick recovery! Broken arm and all!!

38 1/2 week checkup! Getting closer!

I went in and saw my midwife today.  I was looking forward to going in after those seven hours of contractions on Monday night.  I knew some of them were real because they were lasting 2-3 minutes and were pretty intense.

I was pretty anxious when I went in to see her today. I was shaky for some odd reason! It was probably because I had a very busy day ahead of me and then this morning, we got word that Matt's brother and his wife (the ones due the same day as me) were in the hospital having their baby!

I got to my appointment and stepped on the scale. Another two pounds. I guess I gained the one back from last week and added another one. I am up to 30 extra pounds now! My blood pressure was slightly higher than usual, but nothing worth getting upset about!

My midwife came in and I told her what had happened on Monday. She said, "Do you want me to check you?" I said, "Kind of." She went ahead and checked my cervix and said I was at a 1, but still really "thick."  A one?? Really? I questioned her a couple of times! I know it's not much, but I have never done anything until a week overdue and here I am 1 1/2 weeks AHEAD of my due date!! She said I still have a long ways to go and if the contractions started up again, I would be ok to stay at home for awhile. She did say again that if my water broke, I would need to get right up to the hospital.

She drew my blood again to check my platelets since I have been on steroids for a week. 

She measured my belly and I grew 1/2 cm, so I am at 39 1/2 cm. She said he was still in the same positon as the last six weeks.  He is head down and his body is along my right side with knees and feet along my ribs.  His heartbeat was great and he had good movement. I think he kicked her while she was listening to his heartbeat! She also said again how much water is in there! (Last week she told me we were going to have a great big mess when my water broke!)

We pretty much wrapped things up with that because Courtney had to get to her class at the homeschool learning center.  I go back again next week!

Nesting?

Today, I nested all day long!  I cleaned the house, washed every piece of dirty laundry I could find, and washed every single dirty dish I had.  We ran the dishwasher three times and I washed two sink-fulls by hand.  I am on a mission! 

My daughters have now learned that mama's "nest" when they are about to have a baby! They think it is kind of funny because I was kind of obsessed with cleaning today and they could tell!  This morning I made the proposition that we should just take the day off of school and clean all day. They wanted to do it! I said, no, we have to go to school. I made them put away everything they got out; I even made them clean up the living room before going to bed, which I never do!!

What brought this all on? Well, I had contractions last night from 6 pm to 1 am (yes, about 7 hours). They were 5-6 or 10 minutes apart and some were 2-3 minutes long. I kept wondering, "Are these still false contractions or are they the real thing?" They didn't get more intense or stronger as the night went on, so I never called my midwife or worried much about going to the hospital. Even though I did think to myself, "Maybe I should pack a bag. Maybe I should get some things ready for the baby. Maybe the kids should pack a bag. Maybe I should call a neighbor to come over in the middle of the night. What if I REALLY need to go to the hospital??" (Don't worry, we do have a plan of what to do with the kids in the middle of the night!)

As much as I would have loved to have had this baby last night, I am glad they finally stopped about 1 am and I could get some sleep. I was pretty restless until then. Honestly, I don't want a middle-of-the-night baby! My afternoon babies have worked great in the past!

I woke up about 5:30 this morning and they started right up again. They didn't last but a couple of hours and by the time I got up and got going, they stopped.  Bummer!

Tonight again, they have started and have been going for the last couple of hours. They are not near as intense or regular as they were last night, but I can still feel them.  These seem more like the false contractions that I am used to having.

I see my midwife in the morning, so I will see what she thinks about this all. If these are the real thing and I actually go into labor, it will be AMAZING! I have never had a baby in less than a week overdue, which is still two weeks away!

I did pull my backpack out of the attic tonight and got out some clothes incase we had to go to the hospital.  I also had the kids put together some clothes and got some out for the baby. Matt said he doesn't want to take anything because he will just run home if he needs something. The hospital is not very far away, so that will work for him.

I can't believe we are getting so close!! But I am not giving my hopes up, I could still sit around pregnant until November 22nd! Honestly, I am not that uncomfortable and I feel great yet! We just need to get those platelets up!

I should add that Christian's surgery is now scheduled for Thursday, so baby needs to make up his mind on what he wants to do! This is the third time we have rescheduled it already!

Interruptions, Interruptions!

I had big goals today with school. I had a lot to get through and with Christian's surgery this week and baby coming soon, I need to keep pushing forward. I had nothing on my schedule, so I was pretty optimistic about getting through everything I wanted to get through today. This was one of the two days this week that we would be able to have school all day long.

To my fault, things did not even get started on time!! I like to start school at 9, but we started at 9:10 today. And since we started late, our subjects got delayed. I like to be done with Bible class at 9:30, but again, we stopped about 9:40.

After Bible class, we always do read aloud until about 10:15. Well, today, we did a history lesson on China, and that took until about 10:45!! We were learning and I wanted to keep going until we were at a good stopping point. Unfortunately, this took a little bit longer that I would have liked!

After read aloud time, I usually sit down with Megan and do her English, spelling, and language arts by herself. This works great because Courtney and Christian can go play and be occupied for awhile. :)  Today, we had some language arts to re-discuss from last week, so we pulled that out and started on that.  Then the phone rang about 11.  It was a neighbor and she wanted to bring some cherry tomatoes over from her garden, so I said ok. She came over about five minute later and of course, stayed for about twenty minutes to talk. I hadn't talked to her for awhile, so we caught up on life a little bit.

By the time she left, it was about 11:30. Megan and I turned back to her outline we were working on and got that finished by 12.  But I did not get to English, spelling, or even any of Courtney's work. I usually get this all done by 12!

We took a break for lunch and about 1:15, I got a text that my mother in law wanted to stop by and drop off some things. Of course! I actually said, "My day has been totally off schedule anyway, so why not?"   Within twenty minutes, she was at my door, luckily Megan and I finished spelling and English before she arrived.

She stayed about an hour, which is fine, but by the time she left, it was 3 pm! I told the girls that we WERE getting school done today! (I usually try to be done by 3.)

Since we had finished English and spelling with Megan, I sent her upstairs to do her homework and then I told her when I was done with Courtney, I would call her back downstairs to go over math.

I had Courtney sit down and I pulled out her math, spelling, and English. Courtney does NOT like to do school at 3 in the afternoon. She is a "Let's get it all done before noon" kind of student. I had to constantly remind her today to focus and pay attention, but we got through it with 45 minutes or so!

After Courtney's work was done, she went off to do her homework. I brought Megan back down and went over her math. She is ok with doing work in the afternoon, but four is kind of late for her. Again, I reminded her that we had a lot of interruptions and we just needed to get it done!

By 4:30, we were done with math and school was over!

And what about Christian? Nope, didn't get to him at all today!

First Night on Steroids

Ok, so my first night on steroids did not go well. I am supposed to take 20 mg in the morning and another 20 mg at night, which I did yesterday.

Unfortunately, I was wide eyed from 3-5:30 am this morning. At least I had some contractions to time from 4-5:30 am; I don't know if this was necessarily good or not. It gave me some time to think about what I needed to get done around here yet for the baby.  I thought maybe I should at least buy a diaper bag and get that put together for the little guy!

I was sooo tired when I got up this morning.

Unlike most people who go on steroids, I get the joy of staying on them for awhile and not tapering off of them within a week or so. I will probably be on these until the baby is born, which could be at least four weeks.  Hopefully they will work and these platelets will go up!!

Hopefully I can catch up on some sleep this weekend! And some housework!

New Platelet number

My midwife took my blood again yesterday and I got the results today. They are now down to 78,000.  This is so weird. They dropped from 108,000 to 97,000 one week and now this last week, they dropped almost 20,000 to 78,000! What in the world is going on??

I have no choice but to go on steroids. The nurse said that we will start the steroids today and then check them again next week. If they are not up by next week, we will go to plan B.  I asked her what plan B was and she said it would probably be a consultation with a perinatologist or a hematologist.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind meeting with these people just to get to the bottom of this!

Late start to a busy morning! 37 1/2 week checkup!

Today I woke up at 5:30 am when Matt got up. Instead of getting back to sleep, I laid wide awake for awhile and kind of drifted in and out of sleep. I refuse to get up earlier than I have to. :)  My alarm went off as usual at 7:15 am, and I always give myself about 15 minutes to "wake up." I then crawl out of bed at 7:30 and wake the kids up. I remember looking at the clock at 7:21 am and thinking, "I have nine more minutes to lay here and enjoy the peace and quiet."

Next thing I know, Courtney is shaking me and saying, "Mom, don't we have to get up?" It was 8:07!! How in the world did I lay there for two hours and then once I really have to get up, I fall back asleep??

This caused us some trouble this morning because I had to be at the midwife at 9:15, which means we needed to leave by 9! In addition to this, Megan, Courtney, and I needed to take a shower. It was picture day at the homeschool learning center today, so I wanted nice clean hair and Courtney wanted her curls.

We got everybody up and had a quick breakfast and got everybody through the shower in time! We were doing well until Christian decided he didn't want to get dressed and when I finally went to help him (he can do everything except get his shirt on and off), he was not cooperating. It was 9 am and I was still getting him dressed.  I told him, "Please don't act like this" and he turned to me and said, "You don't act like this!" Oh really!! Guess where he got to go? To timeout for talking inappropriately to me!! This made us even later.

I ended up calling my midwife and telling her I was going to be 5-10 minutes late. They were ok with it because they had a patient cancel.

We got there 10 minutes late, as I had predicted. Once I got Christian dressed, his teeth brushed, he did not want to get in the car and was taking his sweet time even getting his shoes on. UGH!!

Once we got there, I was still running on adrenaline and my blood pressure was even higher than last week. I lost a pound when I stepped on the scale. I think this is because I had such a light breakfast and last week, I came after I ate lunch!

My midwife then came in and we had a few things to talk about. We both knew that last week my blood platelets had come back lower than they should be. She called a perinatologist on Monday, and he suggested that I go on steroids until this baby is born. She knew I wouldn't want to do this unless I have to, so we are just going to watch them and wait. She drew my blood again this week.

My strep B test also came back positive, which I really wish it would have came back negative like with my other three pregnancies! My midwife said strep B is a bacteria that lives in your body and it is not good nor is it bad. It also comes and goes, which explains why I am positive now and was negative with my other three kids. The protocol for strep b is to give the mom antibiotics while they are in labor. The baby can pick up strep B once the water bag breaks and/or in the birth canal. It can lead to meningitis and even death in these little babies.

She said that if I refuse to treat it, then if my baby even flinches wrong and does something out of the ordinary, the nurses will freak out and he will get a free ride to the NICU, which I do not want.  Once there, they would give him a whole lot of antibiotics to clear it up. She says the hospital does not automatically send them to the NICU like they used to, but are aware if you refuse treatment and keep a closer eye on the babies.

She said that she would really like to keep my bag of waters intact as long as possible due to this. I told her that with Christian, my water broke at 2 am and I just went back to bed. She said I cannot do that this time, but I need to get to the hospital and start with antibiotics.  She said she won't necessarily hook me up to Pitocin, but may try some other tricks before inducing. I was kind of bummed about that. I really want to just go into labor on my own!! If I went into labor on my own and my water has not broken yet, she would be ok with me laboring at home and just getting the antibiotics when I get to the hospital.

She also listened to the baby's heartbeat, which was fine and measured me. While she was measuring, I asked her how big he was and she responded with, "You don't want to know." She eventually told me 39, which means I grew 2 cm in one week!! No wonder she didn't want to tell me!! She said I don't look very big, but I have a big baby in there! No big surprise!! My poor stomach hurts from all the stretching. She says that he is everywhere in my stomach and he is! He is making himself at home, I guess. Too bad he is going to be evicted soon!!

The nurse eventually came in and knocked on the door. She needed my midwife for something, and I needed to get Courtney to her class at 10. This was at 9:55. Luckily, the homeschool learning center is just down the street and it didn't take long to get there!

My appointment next week is also at 9:15, we will see if I make it on time!!

Christian's cast

People keep asking me how Christian is doing with his cast. I think he is doing well! I am sure his only complaint is that it itches! He has actually scratched a mole on the back of his arm from scratching so bad! He has adjusted to doing many things right handed instead of left.

There are a few things he used to be able to do, but now he can't anymore. :(

1.  Get dressed! He cannot get his shirt/ pajamas on or off over his cast, so we need to help him every time. Megan and Courtney actually helped him get dressed the other morning.

2.  Going potty, sometimes. He needs help getting his pants up and down. It's hard to do one-handed! If he has pants on with just elastic, he seems to do better.

3.  Cutting and drawing. He loves to sit at the table, draw a picture, and then cut it out. The poor thing tries so hard to draw and cut with his right hand.  I sat down one day and helped him, but he always has these big projects in mind and I don't want to sit there so long! This would actually keep him occupied while I was working with the girls. I seem to have a lot more interruptions lately.

I have actually put our preschool activities with him on hold a little bit because we were working on our letters, which involve writing.  We are still reading books and doing other activities that don't involve writing or cutting!

4.  Playing outside. The one thing that all the kids loved to do together lately was swing! I loved looking out the kitchen window and all three were out there playing together. Now, Christian has a hard time swinging, so he doesn't go out there very often anymore. He can't ride his bike or scooter either. Yesterday, I forced him to go on a walk around the block. I can definitely tell he is not getting outside and wearing off his energy like he used to.

5.  Eating. The poor thing has been eating with his right hand, which takes him a lot longer, plus he makes a much bigger mess!

So in the end, he is really not complaining at all and has just adjusted in his own way!

Three problems and a final ride!

We were all ready for church today and went to go get in the van.

Problem #1: The van would NOT start! Matt had used the battery yesterday to power his pump to get antifreeze through the jetskis.  Apparently, it drained the battery and we were out of luck.

Problem #2: Since we could not take the van, we had to take the truck. Somebody had to find the keys to the truck.

Problem #3: The garage door would not shut when we left! It eventually did, luckily.

Finally we got pulled out of the driveway and on our way to church.

On our way home from church, Matt said, "This may be the final ride in our truck as a family." We have five seats in there and they are all taken! When baby #4 comes, we can't ride in the truck as a family anymore!

Our next thought was, "What if our van doesn't start again after the baby is born?" Our conclusion that we would have to take two cars to church! I am sure we are going to run into more problems like this in the near future!!

Making Extra Waffles this Morning. :)

Courtney has been begging me to make waffles for awhile now and today, I thought I would grant her request and make some. I don't make them very often because they usually take quite awhile. I have two waffle irons, so I can only make two at a time. We have quite a bit of time on Saturday mornings, so I thought it would be great chance to make some for everybody.

I made the first batch and it only made four waffles, so I made a second batch and it made four more.  By the time everybody was done, I had a thought. Why don't I make a third batch and put them in the freezer for when we have a newborn at our house??

So I did! Now we have some frozen waffles to eat later!

I really need to make some casseroles too! I know people have mentioned that they are scared to bring us food when we have our baby because of our crazy diet, so freezing main dishes ahead of time might be a good option for us!

Blood results from this week

I just called my midwife to see if they could give me my blood results from last Wednesday. I talked to a nurse and she looked them up for me.  She said my platelets were 97,000, which is down 9,000 from last week!!! They have never been under 100,000 and they do not want them to go under 100,000! My midwife is out of town right now, so I guess I just sit and don't cut myself on anything! I go and see my midwife again next Wednesday, so I am sure we will draw blood again and talk about a game plan if they don't go up.

They really don't want them below 100,000 for delivery, which I don't plan on doing anytime soon. But I know they want to watch them to make sure they stay where they should be.

My hemoglobin was 11.2, which is the range where I have been this entire pregnancy.  They don't want this to go below 11.0, so I am close there again.

End of the Week!

This week has been draining, I have to admit! Christian's broken arm, potential surgery, more than one medical appointment, classes, church, trip to Vala's pumpkin patch (last night), I am ready for this week to be done!

School, well, let's just say we didn't get much of that done this week. We will just call it our "fall break." I didn't plan on having school yesterday or today due to Christian's surgery, so we are getting math and spelling done and using the rest of the time to catch up on things around the house.

Yesterday, I got all baby clothes put into the little guy's dresser. I still need to dig out the bath towels and washcloths, bathtub, swing, and bouncy seats.  We need to get the glider up to his room too, but we may wait until the last minute to do that. I actually like it in the living room!

I also had Christian see what clothes we had in the attic that would fit him. I have a box of "bigger boy clothes" that are above his size, so we went through and tried those all on yesterday. My conclusion is that he will have plenty of pants and pajamas for this winter, but still needs some shirts.

I wanted to have Megan find her box of clothes, but she was too busy playing legos. :) I KNOW she needs new jeans, shirts, and maybe new pajamas.  She may even need a new winter coat. Maybe all three of them need this, I am not sure!

Courtney needed some new tennis shoes, so she went through our box of old shoes and found a pair of Megan's old tennis shoes that fit her perfectly- great!!

I was able to take some time yesterday and get some medical bills paid. Those are coming quickly from these last couple of months! I am very glad we have that HSA and I can set up payment plans for the bigger bills.  Now that we have met our deductible, our bills won't be so bad!

I was also able to get laundry going yesterday. It's amazing how laundry piles up so quickly! I am sure it will be even worse when #4 gets here!!!

Today, I have about the same things on my agenda. I still have some furniture to put away from when we cleaned the carpets and the girls' room has a few things that need to be put away yet too. I still have groceries sitting on the counter from the other day! I must find my kitchen counter today!

We have to send the registration into the DMV for our van and we need to make a few phone calls. We have water on our ceiling upstairs, so we need to call the company that did the roof a couple of years ago and see if they can get that fixed.  I have a bookcase to put together and put in Christian's room, so that room will be done for now. I would also love to order some wall stickers for the baby's room. It looks so bare in there!!

I still have to find window coverings for two windows in our house. I would like to order the same faux shades that we ordered a few weeks ago for the kid's bathroom upstairs. I have a new curtain for the downstairs bathroom, but need to find some sheers to go under it.

I need to take some time to take my kids clothes shopping. Like I said, the older one and the younger one need some new clothes and really, I need a few warmer items to get me through these last four weeks.  And of course, baby needs some winter sleepers and winter clothes. I can't put shorts and t-shirts on him in the middle of winter! Too bad I can't put pink on a boy, I have tons of winter clothes from Megan because she was also a November baby!!

Eventually I will get all these things done, but for now, I will just take a deep breath and do what I can!!!

Another Crazy Day!

Here's how my day went yesterday and I was totally exhausted!

8:05 My phone rang and it was Children's Hospital Orthopedic Clinic. They want to get Christian in for a follow up visit from his ER visit on Tuesday. They mentioned that they had Thursday at 11:15 open. I responded that neither the time nor day will not work because he has surgery scheduled for 9 am. I mentioned that we need to come in today and the only time frame I really have is from 2-5 pm. The receptionist said she will talk to a nurse and get back to me as soon as she can.

8:15 The receptionist called back and said she can get Christian in at 2:30. Great!!

8:40 am Arrive at the orthodontist office. Megan and Courtney both got their palette expanders off  and now they have a lot less metal in their mouth. Megan actually has no metal anymore. We are going to wait six months to see if her teeth line up and if they don't, she will be getting a full set of braces.  Courtney still has her braces and they are going to straighten her teeth out some more with those.

 9:30 Arrive at the library. We had to take some books back PLUS I needed to print something off. The orthopedic office that called right before we left home said they were going to email me some forms to fill out for Christian's appointment in the  afternoon. Of course, I forgot to print them off before we left and I thought the library would be a great place to do it.  It worked out ok, I need to remember to print things off at home next time!

10:00 Arrive at the Homeschool Learning Center. Courtney had her class at 10, so Megan, Christian, and I went upstairs to hang out with the other moms.

Courtney's class was over at 10:50 and Megan's and Christian's start at 11, so I had to go do the big switch about that time.  Courtney and I took Christian into his room and thought that we better stay and see if he needed some help, since he is down to one hand and they seem to do a lot of hands on projects in his class!

Right before his class starts at 11, my phone rings and it is Dr. Jones, the surgeon who is going to do his surgery on Thursday.  He got news from my sister in law that works up there that Christian broke his arm and said he wanted to delay surgery at least two weeks.  He pretty much said it is too much for his body to be healing from a broken arm AND then heal from a hernia surgery. Ok, so no surgery tomorrow! I felt SOOO relieved!

After this phone call, I went back into Christian's classroom and helped him do his work for his class. Courtney actually did most of the work! She wants to help again next week!

NOON- Walk out of the Homeschool Learning Center with the three kids and head to Pepperjax for lunch. You have to love Kids Eat Free on Wednesdays!!

1:05 Arrive at my midwife's office for my weekly appointment.  I gained three pounds, but I say a lot of that was because I just ate lunch. :) My blood pressure was slightly higher than usual, but I expected that! My midwife also checked me and said I am still way high and not even close to delivering. I think she expects me to go late again, which is fine.  I also asked her if she would be comfortable if we did Christian's surgery in two weeks.  I would be 38 1/2 weeks pregnant at that point and she said that we should definitely do it then! She said it was be easier to do it with baby inside of me than having to take care of aa newborn AND trying to take care of Christian. Since she wasn't afraid of me going early, she said that should not be an issue! She checked the baby's heartbeat and it was at 145. She also felt the baby and said he is still head down. She was able to feel his knees and feet up by ribs. She measured me and I was 37 cm. We talked about a couple more items on my birth plan and we were done.

1:35 We pull away from the clinic office and head back to the Homeschool Learning Center. Courtney had forgot her bag there with her MP3 player in it, so we needed to stop and find that, which we did!

2:20 Pull into Children's Hospital Parking Garage.  Remember those papers I copied off at the library and was supposed to have filled out before I got to my appointment? Well, Megan filled them out in the car on the way there!

We got checked in and waited.  We got called back into a room and probably waited another half an hour for the doctor to come in. They should really put some books or magazines in their rooms for their patients! Luckily, Courtney had a word search book and some paper and we were able to occupy ourselves with those for that length of time.

The doctor finally came in with a resident and proceeded to tell us that his arm WAS broke. I asked her if she saw the break and she said she did see it on his x-ray. She even pulled up the x-ray and showed me. I saw a slight break, but couldn't see the rest of it. She said if I pulled it up on her bigger machines, it was pretty clear. She explained that the break went all the way across his bone and is one of the most popular places where children will break a bone. She said he would need a cast for three weeks and she left.

About five to ten minutes later, two other women walked in and they put a cast on Christian's arm. He wanted a blue and white striped cast, so that is what he got! He only winced a little bit, but for the most part, did great!

After the cast was on, we made an appointment for it to come off in three weeks. His appointment is Friday, November 6th, which is two days before my due date!

Our next and final stop was pediatric surgery, which is right next door. We had to stop in and reschedule Christian's surgery. The lady there gave me a few dates to bring home and talk to Matt with. There was one in two weeks and if that didn't work, we would have to do it in December.

After this discussion, we got back in our car and arrived at home around 4:15. I was exhausted!!!! I got to sit down for about an hour and then it was time to make supper and get to church. I didn't feel like cooking anything, so we had leftovers for supper! We don't do leftovers very often anymore!

Church went well and we arrived home around 8:30. Matt and I decided that since Christian hasn't had a shower since Sunday and it was probably a two-man job now, we should probably give him a shower yet before he went to bed. We put a Wal-Mart sack over his cast and washed him up.  We then got him into bed, got the girls into bed, and got us to bed. AH, the day was over and I did not have to get up at 6 am for surgery on Thursday! I actually turned my alarm off and slept in. :)

He finally broke a bone!

Today Christian finally succeeded in doing something that people had told me a boy would eventually do. He broke a bone!

I had my day all planned out.  I was going to have school in the morning and get done with that about twelve. I had an appointment with my midwife at 1:45, so we were going to head there after lunch.  After that appointment, we were going to come back home and clean the living room and piano room for piano lessons that were scheduled for 3:30.

This is NOT how my day went!! I will say that we got school done by noon, but then everything fell to shambles.

It started out by a nurse from my midwife's office calling around noon and saying I needed to reschedule.  There was a woman in labor and my midwife needed to be at the hospital in the afternoon. Honestly, I was rather upset at this! I had scheduled my entire day around this appointment! I ended up rescheduling it for tomorrow at 1:15, which is school time! I was not happy. While I was on the phone with her though today, I scheduled out all my remaining appointments, even an overdue appointment!  :)

After I got over this, I started making lunch and Courtney and Christian went outside to swing.  Courtney and Megan have been jumping off the swings lately and Matt and I have been letting them. They are usually really low and don't do any harm, unlike what we did growing up!!

At one point, I look outside and Christian is standing up on his swing swinging like he always does and Courtney sitting is on her swing. I get back to making lunch and the next thing I hear is Christian screaming in pain. I look back out the window and he is laying on the ground, his arm under him, and he is obviously hurt!! I ran out there as fast as I could and asked him what happened. He said he jumped off the swing and his elbow really hurt! Not again!! We just had a hurt elbow a couple of months ago!!

I made him walk inside  and I sat him down in a kitchen chair. I asked him if he could bend it, which he could, and I got him some ice.  I didn't quite know what to do next because he was crying pretty hard, so I called Matt. He always has a good answer for me! Matt answered his phone and I told him what happened. He said to call his doctor, so I called his pediatrician and talked to a nurse.  She told me to take him to Children's ER to get x-rays. Ugh!!

I called Matt back and by this time, I was rather upset about the whole situation. He said, "Do you need me to come home?" I replied with, "YES!!" I had the girls eat some lunch, but neither Christian or I had anything to eat at this point.

About ten minutes later, he arrived home, and the five of us headed to Children's Hospital.

After arriving there about 1:30 (he fell around 12:45), they ordered an x-ray after the nurse practitioner examined him. She was pretty sure that he broke his arm above his elbow, she could tell by his pain and how it felt. Matt went with him to get an x-ray and said he was wincing when they were moving his arm around for the pictures.

After coming back, the nurse practitioner came back in and decided she wanted more pictures of his forearm because that area was also very tender to the touch. Again, they wheeled him back to the x-ray room!! Matt again went with him and said he actually cried when they twisted his arm for the picture. Poor kid!!

After bringing him back for a second time, we played the waiting game for awhile.  Eventually the nurse practitioner stuck her head in and said, "His elbow is broke and we are going to put a splint on it today. You need to go see your orthopedic doctor tomorrow to get it casted. His forearm is fine" and she was back out the door. No time for questions!

Again, we waited awhile and the nurse practitioner showed up again awhile later with all the material she needed to make a splint.  She worked at that with another person, maybe a resident, and got Christian all fixed up.  He was a trooper through this all! I had given him ibuprofen before we left home and it clearly did its job!

After she was done, I asked to see the x-rays because I wanted to see this break! She took me over to the computers and showed me his x-rays, but I didn't see anything. She showed me where there was fluid covering his entire elbow and she even said she couldn't see a break.  She did say that the radiologist said it was broken and they have much better equipment, so they are going with their diagnosis. She said often times they cannot see a break on their computer, even though there is one there. I was kind of disappointed. About two months ago when he fell on his right arm, he also had fluid surrounding the joint, but it was never broke.

After this, we all headed back to the van to bring the little guy home. I was very thankful it was not broken badly and we did not need surgery! (Unlike some other child of mine!!)

One of the discharge instructions was to call his orthopedic doctor first thing in the morning and get an appointment to get it casted. I tried to call when we left the hospital today, but the clinic was already closed. I hope I can get in tomorrow because Christian has surgery Thursday morning.  I also have a very busy day tomorrow already.  The girls get their palette expanders off at 8:45 am, then they have class at the learning center from 10-12, then I rescheduled my midwife appointment for 1:15.  The only time I really have is from 2-5! Don't forget we have church tomorrow night either!

Thursday is going to come bright and early too because we have to be at the hospital by 7 am for his surgery. We will be back at Children's Hospital again! I may just collapse on Friday!!

I am very thankful for modern medicine and very thankful that we finished off our deductible today!! But poor Christian, he just may be living on ibuprofen for the next week or so!

Are we going on a hospital tour...or not?

One thing that is going to be different about this little guy is that I will be having him at a different hospital than I had the other three kids.  I had the other three at a local hospital here in town (I actually had Courtney and Christian in the same room.)  But since I had Christian, they no longer offer birthing services at that hospital.

Two weeks after I had Christian, the same health system opened a brand new women's hospital out by my house and that is where I will be having this little guy. :)

My problem though is that Matt and I have never been there (Except for my medical scare when I was 29 weeks pregnant, but I did not get to walk around and explore that day.)  We have never went up there to see a new baby and honestly,we have not been in the hospital at all. We thought it might be a good idea to go on a hospital tour. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to get this done!!

Tonight I pulled up the hospital's website to register for a tour and there were only two nights available for tours before my due date.  I went to register for the earlier one and then saw that registration was closed! There were even two tours that night and both were full! These were for Thursday, October 22nd.

The next tour date was October 29th, which is about ten days before my due date.  I asked Matt to look on the calendar to see if there was anything going on and of course, he has a very important meeting that night that he actually is in charge of! There is no way he could get out of that to go on a hospital tour! I thought that maybe I could go myself, but then I would need to line somebody up to watch the kids.

In the end, I think we are just going to have to figure it out the day we have this baby! (Unless we go see a new baby before we have ours.) Honestly, they will direct me to my room, I will have this little boy, and then maybe we can tour the place!!

Wrong Way Buddy!

I saw Christian get up to go potty about 3 this morning. I saw him come out of the bathroom and head to his old room. When he was almost to the door, I saw him turn around and walk all the way back over to his new room. I wonder how long it will take for him to get used to his new room!

Science Class

Tomorrow we are finally moving onto a different subject in science class. We finished up our study of reptiles last week and tomorrow, we are going to start underwater animals.

Like always, I like to give the kids a good overview of that class of animals before we dive into learning about them.  I found this article and it does a great job of differentiating the land animals from the ocean animals. There are many points in this article that I have never thought of before!

http://marinelife.about.com/od/marinelife101/p/CharMarineLife.htm

I hope the girls find it interesting too!

Productivity!!

Today was SOOOO productive.

1. Matt got all the new shades put up!! And then he said, "Can you give me the money now?" "Yes, I will!!" They all look great!!! I would like to order one more set for the kids' bathroom yet.

2.  We moved Christian into his new bedroom.  His dresser, his bed, and his bookshelf (plus ALL his books) got moved along with his toys.  We kind of struggled about where to put everything, but in the end, I think it will work out.  We also put Courtney's little table back his room along with the art supplies. Before we were even done moving everything, those two (Courtney and Christian) were sitting at the table together making art projects.

3.  After Christian's items were moved, it was time to clean up his old bedroom a little bit. We vacuumed the floor, wiped down the walls, and dusted the dresser that we left in there for the baby.

4. After it was clean, Matt went into the attic and got out the crib!! We wiped that down and then Matt put it together and set it in the baby's room. So exciting!!

5. After this was put together, I just had to find the sheets in the attic, so I pulled the container with labeled "baby bedding" and got the crib sheets out. While I was at it, I found the 0-3 month box and pulled out all the baby clothes.  All the sheets, mattress pads, burp cloths, hats socks, onesies, shirts, pants, and sleepers got taken down the laundry room and little by little, I am getting everything washed tonight. 

I found out that I do not have any winter sleepers or really any winter clothes. Since Christian was a summer baby, I have a lot of t-shirts and shorts in 0-3 and 3-6 month size. I will definitely need some warmer clothes for this baby! I knew we would be off season and I have a couple winter sleepers and a couple pairs of pants and long shirts but not enough!

6.  After we got done pulling out the baby stuff, we decided to head back to the girls' room to reorganize that mess! Everything got thrown in there from the playroom (stuff we knew we wanted to keep) and now we had to put those items somewhere permanently. Some items went to Christian's new room, some got put under beds and in drawers, and some things got put in their closet. There is still some work to do in there!

By this time, it was 4 pm and we were exhausted! I thought we deserved some chocolate ice cream, so we made a homemade batch of almond ice cream with cocoa added. Yummy!! We enjoyed this as we finished watching the Husker game on TV.

Maybe I will clean the downstairs tomorrow! Yikes!!

PS I am glad Christian is being such a good trooper about moving to a new room. Tonight he said, "What will I do if I have to go potty in the middle of the night?" I replied with, "You know the way to the bathroom, right?"  It is probably weird for him to be in a new room, but I think he will adjust very well!

One Step Closer..

When Matt and I bought our new shades online, I promised to pay for most of them with my piano lesson money which I have in my personal bank account.  He has spent quite a bit of money out of the "Ruwe fund" for the house and since I am the one that really wanted to new window coverings, I volunteered to use my money. He said he would have put our old shades back up, even on our new windows!! I said, "No way!!"

Last night, he asked me to transfer some money to the joint account. I said on one stipulation. I want the shades up before I transfer the money!! I want to make sure they look nice and we don't have to send them back!

He put one up in our bathroom last weekend, but that still leaves six shades that need to be put up yet!

Last night about 8:15, he was putting up the shades in Christian's new room. :) I was happy!

Not only are we getting closer to moving Christian to his room, but he is getting closer to getting reimbursed! I thought it was a nice incentive to get things going around here again!

New Clothes for me??

I have roughly 4 weeks left until my due date and the seasons are changing.

I am in dilemma.  Do I continue to make my current wardrobe work until I have this baby OR do I just go buy some warmer clothes??

I have one pair of jeans that fit, one pair of capris, three pairs of jeans shorts, and some short sleeve shirts. That is it. No long sleeve shirts at all.  I have been wearing matt's t-shirts around the house because they fit and I don't want to wear my good shirts during the day if I am at home. I am also wearing some pre-pregnancy exercise pants and shorts around the house too. They don't fit all the way over my belly, but they do cover some of my belly, so they work! That is about the extent of my wardrobe right now!

Again, do I continue to make my small wardrobe work or just give in and get some warmer clothes for four weeks?? I don't think it's going to stay warm until November....

Next Weekends Plans

Matt asked me last night if we had any plans for the coming weekend.

I said,  "I sure do!"

Then I listed them off:
1. Put up shades in Christian's new room
2. Move his furniture over
3. Set up crib and get baby things out

He said, "Oh, I guess we are busy then."

Yes we are!! I want these things done!!!

(He says we need to winterize the jet skis, which is also important to do, but that can clearly be done later!!)

35 1\2 Week checkup

Little by little, we are getting to the end of this pregnancy!!! (What is going to get done first, the house or this baby??)

I saw my midwife today for the beginning of my weekly appointments.  Today she thought it was funny to tease me about how far over I will go! I think her exact quote was, "Ah, she always goes to 45 weeks!" This was in regards to the test for strep b, which they usually do at 36 weeks.  She didn't want to do it today because it is only good for five weeks and if I go past 41 weeks, I have to do it over again. Honestly, I have always been negative for strep b in the past, so I am not too worried about it. She said she will check me next week and do the strep b test then too.

Today she measured the baby and my belly grew 3 1/2 cm in two weeks! I measured 33 cm last time and today I was 36 1/2!!! No wonder my belly feels like my skin is stretching and that I am going to pop! I only gained two pounds in the last two weeks too (Up 26 1/2 now). I think weight gain starts to slow down near the end.

Baby's heartbeat was about 150 and my blood pressure was 104/56, or something low like that! She even messed with the baby a little bit while she was getting his heartbeat and heard a "nice acceleration." Good!!

She says I am ALL baby and that is what so many people have said lately! I am glad! I feel so much better this pregnancy than I did with the last two. It was well worth it to take three years to heal my body. I also think getting chiropractic adjustments every week or two has helped tremendously.

I also gave her my birth plan that she has been begging me for. I know that she will do everything I want, so I am not even worried about how my birth will go. I have had three great births, so I don't anticipate anything different with this one.  She knows me well enough! She has already delivered one child of mine (Courtney); I have completely confidence in her.

At the end of the appointment today, she said, "Don't worry, I think you'll be pregnant for awhile yet!"

I head back again next Tuesday for my 36 week appointment. EEK! Baby is full term already!!!

Christian's surgery

Today Children's Hospital called and wanted to pre-register Christian for his surgery next week.  I got their message and called them back right away. They just wanted our names, occupation, and to make sure they have our insurance information correct. I proceeded to ask the lady if she had any idea how much this would cost. She said the fee for the hospital is $8900, his surgeon fee is $1300, and the anesthesiologist would be another fee.  I figured this would be at least a $10,000 surgery and I was right! And it will only take about an hour! Crazy!!

She also told me that they like us to pay a little bit of it the day of the surgery.  Luckily, we only have $353 left of our $6500 deductible for the year, so we will probably just finish off the deductible next week!

This is one of the main reasons we decided to do his surgery this year.  After we finish the deductible, we continue to pay 10% of the rest of the bills for awhile.  I think I would rather pay $1,000 compared to $10,000. I think we will go the cheaper route!!  (These are all estimation prices.)

At the end of the phone call today, I admit, I was getting a little weepy about it all. I really don't want to have Christian go through surgery, but I know in the end, it is the best decision for him right now.  After I got off the phone, Christian leaned over and gave me a hug to make me feel better. He is so sweet!

Tonight, we prayed for a successful surgery and Courtney asked,"Are you going to cry again?" I said not tonight, but I will probably cry a lot next Thursday, I will be 36 weeks pregnant at the time too! In response to this, Christian said, "I will just have to give you more hugs and kisses, mommy!"  He's going to make me cry even more because he is so sweet!! I am crying over him and he's the one trying to make me feel better! I love that kid!

If you were wondering, Christian is having an umbilical hernia repair surgery. He has a hole in his muscle under his skin from where his umbilical cord was attached to his belly button, but his muscle never came together like it should have. We want to catch it and fix it before it gets any worse. They said if they don't heal themselves by the age of five, they will probably not ever heal themselves, hence the surgery to fix it.

I thought this website does a great job of explain what will happen next Thursday.
http://www.chp.edu/CHP/Umbilical+Hernia+Repair+Surgery