Dr's Visit Update

Tuesday's doctor's appointment went well. The ultrasound showed Elly to measure 4 lbs 7 oz. Which, as my father-in-law said, is "respectable." She currently isn't big enough for the doctors to be freaking out, like they did with Evie. The doctors are however concerned with the ridiculous amount of painful contractions I've been having. They did some tests, which were negative, to see if I was going into labor. And checked my cervix, which was still closed. That's all well and good but now I have to start going to the doctor every week.

Elly is on track to be around 9 or 10 lbs at full-term if she continues to grow as she has. Evie however grew a LOT from 32-36 weeks and went from being a little big (where Elly is now) to being HUGE. So the doctor's have promised another ultrasound at 36 weeks to make sure Elly hasn't followed her sister.

I was also assured that I am not huge or fat. That the baby is very very very low already and that makes my stomach look much bigger. Of course, the doctor might have just been saying it to make me feel better. But it worked dammit. So there!

Unlike with my first pregnancy, I'm not miserable despite my considerable girth. With Evie I couldn't imagine carrying her til 40 weeks. I would prefer to only carry Elly 37 weeks and I would definitely prefer to be induced around that time, but I am not filled with agony and angst at the thought of carrying her for 8 more weeks instead of 5. Of course this whole pre-term labor thing that I am taking far too lightly might turn into something and I might have Elly early regardless of her size. But I'm not really worried about it. I do think that having my water break and frantically rushing to the hospital might be kinda exciting...so we'll see how it goes.

Saying Goodbye...

As we sit at the cusp of a new year, everyone always talks about goals for the new year and reflecting on the past year. The new year is supposed to be a time for celebration and happiness. But for whatever reason, I've never really felt that way. I've always seen December 31 as more of a sad day. Its the last day of a year that has done so much for me. Watching the ball drop, I've done the countdown, kissed at midnight, and been incredibly inebriated by that time numerous times, but if I sit and think about it, I feel melancholy and glum about starting a new year.

For one, it takes me months to remember to change the date when I write checks. And that is just annoying.

For another, I'm a planner. I like to know what's going to happen, when and who will be there. I make budgets and grocery lists. I plan out Christmas presents for everyone months in advance. I go over every line of my account statements online almost daily and make sure that everything is as it should be. I make long-term financial plans for how we'll be able to afford Josh a new car and a new roof for the house while still having enough money in savings for some "padding" because you never know what can come up. Yeah, it's obnoxious. I can't help it. I remember being young and worrying about money and somehow that has translated into being controlling of everything. Some call it a flaw...I like to think of it more as a quirk. And my husband is lucky because he hates dealing with bills and budgets and whatnot.

Starting a new year is like turning a blind corner for me. It's saying goodbye to everything and everyone from 2010 and hoping that 2011 is kind and charitable. It's praying that everyone hangs around and everything continues as planned. It's admitting I will be another year older (which, since I'm now starting the downhill slope from my 20's to my 30's, is sad) and even worse, that my daughter will be another year older. As exciting as her growing up is, it goes by so quickly. Everything goes by too quickly.

I clearly remember my first day of seventh grade, hanging out with friends in the parking lot after high school, graduating, my first day at college. It seems impossible that I've been driving for more than 10 years. More impossible that I will celebrate my fourth wedding anniversary this year. How is it that tonight will be the beginning of 2011? Where has the time gone?

So tonight we will say goodbye to a wonderful year. One full of ups and downs, as they always are. But for those of us who woke up this morning, it has been a blessing just to make it through. We bid adieu to those who will not be venturing into 2011 with us.

I am so thankful for all the blessings that my family has had this year. And I pray that the coming year will be blessed as well. I hope that our country finds stability, both fiscally and politically, and that the world as a whole finds a little bit of peace. So Happy New Year to you all. I hope that you have a safe and fun-filled night. Be careful out there!

Weight Worries

When my daughter was born she was 8 lbs 11 oz. and 21 inches long. My doctor induced me almost three weeks early due to concerns about her size. Although to some an 8 lb baby might not seem that big, I'm approximately 5'4", normally weigh around 125 lbs and am by no means a big person. I have even been classified as petite though I don't know that I will ever be that again. Two babies in two years is probably wreaking havoc on my metabolism and figure. Needless to say, my doctor wasn't sure that I'd be able to deliver Evie and throughout labor he kept telling me I could continue to try until one of us was in distress or I was exhausted. After 18 hours of labor and an hour of pushing, Evie was out the traditional way. No surgery required.

Now I find myself pregnant again and once more the baby is measuring big. But I haven't had an ultrasound to measure her since 19 weeks. The doctor is going by the measurement of my stomach. I have seen women measure big when the doctor is just going by what's on the outside. Then they have a small baby. Most women would be concerned about having a big baby. I'm prepared for that. What I'm worried about is having a little baby. Partially because I'm huge and I've worked hard this time to watch what I eat and try and stay active. I've gotten to be rather large despite my efforts. I don't want to be one of those people who becomes a monstrous size and then has all this non-baby weight to lose afterward. Second, I don't know what to do with a little baby. All the babies from my family were big chunky babies. My daughter was in 3 months clothes at one month and 6 month clothes at 2 months. With an older sister, Elly needs to grow up quick to survive the possible physical assaults that toddlers can entail.

Tomorrow morning I'm scheduled for an ultrasound to measure the baby and check the placenta. So far I have been measuring about 3 weeks further along than I am so the doctor wants to see about how big Elly is so far. I'm praying she measures just as big as my belly does, meaning that I"m not just fat, dang it I'm having another monster baby. I'm also praying that if she does measure big that my doctor will go ahead and commit to an induction and possibly set a date. Last time I went through so much stress worrying about whether or not he would go ahead and induce me and I just don't want to deal with that again. I am so incredibly against having a C-section, especially since I have a toddler who will be waiting for me when I get out of the hospital. This whole new sibling situation is going to be hard enough on her without her also dealing with the fact that Mommy can't pick her up for a couple of weeks. It brings tears to my eyes to think of how heartbroken she'll be that I'm not taking care of her like I'm supposed to be. I know having a second child will mean that I will get to spend less time one-on-one with Evie, but I don't want to spend weeks laid up on the couch recovering from abdominal surgery. So, I'm nervous about what tomorrow's appointment will hold. My husband looked at my stomach and said he thinks the baby is at least 5 lbs and ordered me to stop worrying about it. Easy for him to say. But it does seem odd to be so worried about the baby's weight...not mine. I guess I get to start freaking about my weight again AFTER she comes. Ugh, I hate dieting.

Christmas 2010 - A Review

Well, after the months of anticipation (I started Christmas shopping wayyy before Thanksgiving) I feel like it was all over too quickly. And the one word to describe it all -- exhausting. But it was incredibly wonderful! At times, trying to get Evie through the holiday was a little more work than I had anticipated, but seeing her little mouth go "Oh..." when she saw the tree and I told her the presents were her's was priceless. Its a memory that I will carry with me and cherish for the rest of my life. Even when she's grown and married and I'm old and gray I will remember that wide open mouth and big blue eyes as she took it all in. Hopefully I will forget the tantrum she threw when we tried to get her to put the toys that Santa left down and start opening her presents. Hopefully...haha. The day went by so quickly though. And I was so exhausted. Of course, I'm sure that at least part of that is due to the fact that I'm nearly eight months pregnant. And the other part probably has something to do with the fact that we spent nearly 5 hours of our holiday driving. Driving through a snow storm. With a cranky one year old in the back and a somewhat cranky husband in the passenger seat. Josh did drive up the mountain to his parents' but since I spent most of the drive with a death grip on the door and holding my breath anticipating the impending crash, I felt like driving was dramatically less stressful. He and Evie managed to sleep at least part of the drive which probably improved their days some. The only times Josh really woke up were when my cursing or the car's sliding got bad enough. He'd wake up, tell me I was doing a great job when I got the car back under control, and then go back to sleep.

But all in all it was a great Christmas weekend. I lucked out and managed to be off work on Friday, giving me an incredibly rare three day weekend. Evie got a lot of great stuff. Toys, clothes, treats (yes, Santa brought Evie candy...an INCREDIBLY rare event in Evie's life) and more galore. I spent part of Saturday night and Sunday rearranging things and reorganizing Evie's closet to make sure all of her new toys had homes. Even little Elly got some Christmas goodies, which I didn't expect at all but am incredibly appreciative of.

Josh and I got some great gifts as well. I got a much-needed pair of pajamas. I'm at that point in pregnancy where nothing really fits comfortably. I'm humongous and the baby is trying to either break my ribs or pound her way out through my abdomen almost all the time. Watching her knees and hands poke out of my stomach I am repeatedly reminded of that scene in Alien where they're sitting around the table and the alien bursts out. I find myself wondering if any baby has ever managed to escape into the outside world via that route without any surgeons present. Although very little is comfortable anymore, these pajamas are. Part of me would like to live in them for the next couple of months. Josh has a stockpile of video games that should keep him occupied and happy for months to come. Which is what I will remind him of over the next several months when he starts mentioning a new game that he really, really needs to have.

I also got the robotic vacuum that I have been drooling over for years. My house has been vacuumed three times over the last two days and I have learned to make sure the vacuum is always turned off at night. Otherwise you might be awakened by an overly industrious robot at about 3 a.m. as it cleans under your bed. No joke. The vacuum has a setting where it will turn on and resume cleaning the house once the battery is fully charged. Apparently when my daughter was petting the vacuum earlier in the evening she pushed some buttons as well and managed to activate that setting. It took me almost 20 minutes to get the vacuum to come out from under the bed and turn the thing off so I could go back to sleep. I still love the vacuum. And I apologized for cussing it last night. But I will make sure its off at night from now on. 

The weekend was all in all a happy one. Even the weather was a mild bump in the road. The snow was certainly pretty to look at on Sunday, when I wasn't having to go out in it. It was great to get to see all of our family. This was our first holiday with the hubby's family, since this is their first year on the East Coast. It's been suggested that we possibly host the holiday festivities next year since there will be two little munchkins with me and transporting them and all their goodies might be more than my car and sanity can handle. I'm totally down for that. With Christmas behind us, and no plans for New Year's, the next celebration on our family agenda is the sprinkle celebrating little Ellynor's arrival in January. Followed shortly by her birth. Okay, the shortly might be wishful thinking on my part...but there's no harm in hoping right?

Just Starting Out

So, I'm new to this blogging thing. Not new to the writing thing however. And since I left journalism and went into the public service industry (that is the appropriate title for government work, right?) I find myself in need of some sort of outlet for my desire to write. With a 16 month old daughter and another one due in about 7 weeks (if my doctor keeps up his end of things) I'm not exactly sure where I'll come across the time to blog. But its something that I hope to be able to do regularly. To do well. And to maybe one day do for some sort of monetary gain. But first I need to get a lot of readers. heehee.

So, let me start off introducing myself. I'm 25 years old (I think...when asked my daughter's date of birth I can spout that off down to the minute but when asked mine I sometimes have to check my driver's license, which always makes the store clerks unwilling to sell me alcohol for some reason...) I live in a fairly rural area of Western North Carolina, near the Virginia state line. I have lived here most of my life and love it. My husband has just finished up the program to go into law enforcement and is in the process of getting a job in that field. Currently he works for a local convenience store chain. I know it doesn't sound like the most glamorous job but he brings home good paychecks and has pretty good benefits. Plus the company has even done Christmas bonuses the last couple of years. How many employers still do that?? Our daughter, Evelyn, is probably the funniest toddler I have ever met. I may be a little partial though. And we're expecting our second and (probably) final child in February. Another little girl. My husband is concerned about how little testosterone there will be in the house. Phooey. I think in a couple of years he'll be doing pony tails and pedicures like a pro and loving every minute of it. And although I thought I wanted a little boy, the more people tell me about the loud, wild, obnoxious and destructive behavior many boys seem to exhibit the less inclined I am to want to bring another Y chromosome into my house. I promise my husband he can buy a big truck and a bull dog and a gun. And that will just have to do!

This will be my daughter's second Christmas, but since she was a whopping 4 months old and more likely to chew on the paper than actually unwrap a present and realize what it was last year, this feels a lot like her first. I am unbelievably excited to see her reaction to the whole present experience.

And it may seem weird but I can't wait to see what she gets from her grandparents and other family members. I don't think that we spoil her but she doesn't go without many things. We try to be frugal and get things (especially clothes that she will outgrow in a week) second hand when possible and I spend a LOT of time clipping coupons and scouring the internet for big sales. Our budget wasn't big this year. My husband had his hours cut way back since he was in class full-time from May through December and although he was still working full-time it meant much smaller paychecks and we've been trying to save for the new baby and get the things she will need. Although we didn't spend very much on her this year, I feel like the presents we got have a lot more meaning because we really spent a lot of time pouring over reviews and looking through magazines to decide what she would enjoy the most and hopefully the longest. (And admittedly we were thinking towards the future to how long little sis will also get to use it, which makes it seem like an even BETTER deal, haha!) So, I cannot wait to watch her face when she opens those presents. Even though it'll probably be next year before she really "gets" the whole Christmas thing.

So, hello and Merry Christmas to anyone who is reading this!