Sunday, August 24, 2008

Last day as a family of 3

Tonight I have to be at the hospital by 8pm. Tomorrow I'm 3rd in line to have Baby Bob. I've got so many mixed feelings right now... nervous about having the c-section, a little freaked out about our lives changing again, sad not to be taking Izzy to school, scared of being in a hospital surrounded by people I don't know and where they will only speak English when they're talking to me.... you get the idea. It will definitely be an experience but I will be anxious to get home.

I had high hopes of spending some quality time with Izzy before I head to the hospital today but she was just too exhausted after church and needed some rest. She'll wake up with just a little bit of time to spare before I leave. Her world is about to be turned upside down with a new sibling and school all at the same time... I'm sure this all affects me more than her but I can't help worry about her.

On a side note... a friend at church told me today that she just knows this baby is going to be a boy. Her reasoning.... "No girl would ever cause this must trouble." I had to laugh. We'll find out tomorrow!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Given Up

Today I tried exercising, cleaning, spicy foods and a trip to the mall with Izzy and.... nothing. But that's okay. I've given up trying.... Baby Bob will come when he's ready or on Monday... whatever comes 1st. :)

I decided last night not to be frustrated anymore so I made plans for today, tomorrow and friday. I'll just do my best to enjoy the next few days and keep my mind occupied with other things. Monday will be here before I know it and while it's not my idea of perfect timing.... God has never failed me before so He won't now. Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to write such sweet and encouraging emails. They've really helped me to let go and just enjoy the last few days as a family of three.

Well... no basketball on right now so I'm off to bed.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Perfect Bruising

I have felt absolutely huge since like 2 months of being pregnant. :) Mike always yells at me saying, I'm pregnant, I'm supposed to gain weight, etc... But I never expected my body to be so sensitive to the weight gain or to be so heavy that sitting down causes bruises.

Several weeks ago, I took Isabella to the playground in town. The playground is one with a metal bottom with little holes all thru it. We were pretending to have a tea party and therefore sitting on the bottom. When I got home, we went for a swim and I noticed all these bruises on my legs. At first, I couldn't figure out what it was but then I remembered the playground. Well Monday at Disney we sat down (for a max of 10/15 min) on a metal bench, with little holes, just like the playground. I told Mike that I'd probably have those bruises again but I was just joking.... I didn't really expect to. Well I was wrong... I had perfect little circle bruises on my legs.

It scared me the first time... now I just think it's really funny and I just can't believe how sensitive my body is. I tried to upload a picture of the bruises but my bluetooth isn't working. Maybe another day. Just one more weird thing about this pregnancy. :)

Monday, August 18, 2008

What else to try?

So we headed out to Disney today. Partly because I wanted to take Izzy before Baby Bob arrives but also hoping the walking might help get labor started. But to no avail... still quite pregnant and uncomfortable but that's okay. At least I know there is an end in sight. It was unbelievably hot and crowded so we only stayed a few hours but I'm glad we went. We didn't even take many pictures but here are two I really liked. The 1st, Izzy is making a wish... she gets wishing coins for good behavior/doing what we ask/etc ... she loves making wishes. The last picture is how she has decided to sleep the past few weeks. Mike has been working late the past few weeks so we think this is her way of making sure she sees him each night but it just makes me laugh. If you can't tell... she is sleeping on the floor in her bedroom doorway. :)

Tomorrow Sarah arrives! We are anxious to see her... please pray for her safe arrival and that Baby Bob will make his appearance too!





Friday, August 15, 2008

Just in case...

You read this but don't get our email updates...

The Dr said that Baby Bob is just big... 4kgs to be exact (about 8.8lbs) and has an unusually large tummy. They are concerned about the tummy getting stuck so they highly recommended a c-section. I'm torn about this because I feel if I were to go into labor within the next few days it would be okay to try naturally (as I've just read about a few women delivering 9+ babies in the past few months) but they still want to do a c-section but obviously if the baby does not arrive before the 25th (when they want to do the c-section) then I would be too nervous to try on my own. But alas... I'm not having any more contractions so I doubt the baby will come on it's own which means... Baby Bob will arrive some time on August 25th.

I do ask for prayer though that I would go into labor on my own sometime this week as Isabella's 1st day of school is the 25th. I really wanted Mike or I to take her (an adult goes with her for an hr that 1st week to help with adjustments) and if the baby doesn't come on his own... neither of us will be able to go with her.

So that's the update. To be honest, I'm quite frustrated and discouraged and not really interested in talking about this much right now.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Ultrasound tomorrow

You never know what to expect with public appointments. I expected to wait at least 2hrs today and was in and out of there but oh well. I think they were somewhat prepared for me and knew exactly what they needed to do but alas.... they agreed that I was 'quite large' and want to determine if it's because:

1. my fat (that's exactly what they said...lol)
2. the baby's just big
3. there's too much fluid

So tomorrow at 8am, I'll have an ultrasound to determine the cause of my large stomach. Then we'll go from there. If the fluid is something to be concerned about, I'll be admitted and will have the baby though I'm not sure if that means being induced or c-section (forgot to ask that). If it's just a big baby, they'll send me back home to wait. The baby is engaged and ready to go so they don't seem to be too worried. This Dr was incredibly nice and was quite sympathetic towards me having to carry this baby around too much longer.

I just pray that:

1. the baby is healthy and there's nothing to worry about and
2. that they will make this baby come out tomorrow!!!! can you tell I'm ready??

Bless Joan though... I called her immediately and sent her out to buy baby detergent and asked her to wash all that I would need for the hospital. The Dr told me to have all my bags ready just in case and well.... I actually planned to do that tomorrow. But Joan was very gracious and I'm off to pack my bags now.

Hope Mike can post tomorrow about the birth of Baby '**********' And YES we finally have at least a girls name all set! We have a few boys names but nothing set in stone.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Making an Appointment in Public Hospitals

One of the negatives to using public hospitals is that you cannot call and make an appointment... you must go to the hospital itself to make the appointment. Well today, I had Mike drop me off so I could get there as early as possible, arriving around 9:15ish (it opened at 9). I was number 9 and was excited about a rather calm, relaxing day. (I had to meet Mike at 1 so I had decided to make my appointment and then just enjoy some time to myself.) However, after one hour of waiting, I got a bit frustrated and nervous that maybe I'd missed them calling me. So I go to the registration desk and they say, 'Oh I'm sorry. We're waiting on your Dr's referral letter.' After wondering why in the world they needed this, I sat back down figuring it wouldn't be too much longer. Over another hour later, I was still sitting and waiting... unbelievably frustrated and uncomfortable. I finally got up and asked what the problem was.... told them I'd been waiting over 2hrs just to make an appointment. They asked me my number... which was 9 (the ninth person arriving from the start of the day) and they were like 'oh' and handed me my appointment slip. My appointment... next Wed. Ugh!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I'm a bit annoyed, frustrated... ugh. I cannot wait to have this baby and be done with these clinics. Never have I felt so stressed about attending Dr.'s appointments. I will be very happy to travel a distance to have the sweetness, genuine care, etc of Dr. Kelly.

I made it in time to meet Mike for a quick lunch and then off to look at our pictures that we had taken on Monday. When we took Isabella to see the musical Mulan, a photography studio was selling sessions for about an 1/8th of their normal cost with a free 8X10 photo. It's VERY difficult to find reasonably priced photographers here and so we opted to buy a session knowing that we most likely would not be able to afford any more pics aside from the freebie. But of course, they're never clear on how much the photos are until after the session. YIKES!!! The cheapest picture was almost $1000 dollars. Granted it was big and framed and all that but geesh... We went for the viewing today... trying, hoping that maybe we could make something work so we could at least get a couple of the shots (they were SO cute and so different) but in the end we just took our free photo and left. It was disappointing on top of what I experienced this morning but that's okay. We knew that we would love the pictures but probably couldn't get any.

I'm starting to get quite emotional.... I'm still not feeling well and just so ready to get back to normal life that everything is just getting to me. I'm praying very hard this baby will come very soon... would love it if it came before even having to go to my appointment next week. :) I had a mini-holiday planned (at home) with Izzy and camping in the backyard/Disney/the beach but the T8 has temporarily killed that... maybe next week will work.

But we have an exciting Saturday planned... two of our youth group girls want to be baptized!!!!! I'm super excited for them and looking forward to watching that!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

T8 Again

We woke up to some strong winds this morning. When I looked outside, I didn't think too much of it but it turned out to be another T8... our second one this year! That means everything closes down. I was slightly disappointed because it meant I couldn't go to the hospital to make my appointment but it was nice to have Mike home with us today. We played in Izzy's room for quite a bit and then I decided to check out the damage to our backyard. In the course of the morning, we lost two trees, our grill, and a potted tree. We praise the Lord we've not had much leaking and that nothing happened to the cars that are parked at our place and that we were warned on Monday with a T1 so we already overturned our table and we didn't have any more broken glass. It seems to have settled now but we'll still just chilling inside watching movies. 


 



Mike and Joan assessing the damage





Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Baby coming soon?

I had my appointment today. The 1st of weekly visits until the baby is born. These appointments I actually get to see the Dr but that stressed me out because this Dr is the one who's made the biggest deal about my weight but alas.... I thought I was going to be checked for progress but it was the same type of an appointment... only done by the Dr, herself. Anyway, she asked me if I was sure about my due date and then said she was referring me back to the hospital for my visits. I asked why and she said I was measuring big. I get to keep my records so when I got on the bus, I was reading the notes and it turns out I'm measuring 39 weeks! I'm praying very hard this means the baby will come early but we'll see. So tomorrow I have to go to the hospital to make an appointment to see the Dr there. I'm also praying that maybe they can squeeze me in while I'm there so I don't have to make another trip another day.

But anyway... this made me very excited and anxious. I guess I really should get my hospital bags together.