Our (Neurodiverse) Family

If you read my last post, I mentioned having a subchorionic bleed  several weeks ago. Basically, it's a small pocket of blood near the placenta--approximately 20% of women experience this during pregnancy. Most of the time it's harmless especially if it's small, but bigger ones can cause more problems. One Friday, when I was just about 11 weeks pregnant, I went to the bathroom and discovered blood. Red blood. Naturally, I panicked. I left a message on my doctor's voicemail asking him to call back, and when he did, I told him what was happening. He told me that chances were good that everything was fine, but because of last summer's miscarriage, we would arrange for an ultrasound. He called the order into the hospital radiology department and then I made an appointment to go get an ultrasound...at seven o'clock at night. Did I mention that it was his day off when he did all of this? Well, it was. Stephan came home early in the meantime because I was freakin...

I'm too much of a perfectionist about doing just run of the mill family updates like other blogs, so here's just a general update on family life. Stephan was released as the ward clerk last week after serving in that calling since August. Yeah, it was a short tenure, but honestly it was welcome news. It was great when he was out of work because he didn't feel completely useless, but after he started his new job with longer hours and commute, it was just making everything crazy. He is now the ward technology specialist which is basically perfect for him and we are enjoying having Daddy around more, especially on Sundays! Of course, we had a lot of people asking (before he got his new calling) if we were moving closer to his job because of our ward's transient nature.  Truth be told, we were seriously looking into moving closer to his job because of our one-car situation, but everything we found was either in a great location but had ridiculously high rent or had ...

For those of you who are not Facebook friends with me...surprise, I'm pregnant!  That's the big reason why I haven't been around much recently--dealing with first trimester yucks mostly. I'm due October 2, but it will probably be earlier than that. For those of you who are nosy, I'll answer the standard FAQs about pregnancy right here. How are you feeling? Now that I'm 11-ish weeks pregnant, I'm doing a lot better. Earlier on in the pregnancy is another story though. Food aversions have been THE WORST this time. From 6-8 weeks I could hardly eat anything except cold cereal, pop tarts (the thought makes me gag now), and cooking was out of the question. We got a lot of take-out and frozen meals during those weeks. I'm afraid this one is going to be a super picky eater.  I'm able to eat more foods now and cook a little more, but I am tired all the time. Last time I could just take a nap whenever I wanted, but this time I have a th...

After spending the better part of a month bleeding in some form (spotting for two-ish weeks and miscarriage bleeding for one week), I am now free. My feelings on the end of this month's reign of blood? This video sums it up best: I asked my doctor if I could have a "get out of periods free" card for the next few months, and he laughed. Not mockingly, he genuinely thought it was one of the funniest things he's heard in the eight years he's been an OB. I am so sad that he's leaving the practice and going somewhere that doesn't take my insurance. Otherwise I'd have him deliver my next child. Sighs...oh well. If you are male and reading this first part, I am so sorry. Hopefully the mood swings will go away too. Seriously, one day I'm doing fine, and the next.... For all of my fellow Whovians. That's probably an exaggeration. Really what happens on my bad days is that I just become more withdrawn and don't really want to be ...

A timeline of events. Monday--June 30 I got a positive pregnancy test. But I knew something wasn't right because I had been spotting for two weeks (expecting my period)--spotting and a positive pregnancy test can be a bad thing. Plus, I wasn't feeling nauseous like I did even before I got a positive test with Kate. Tuesday--July 1 I called and made an appointment to see one of the OBs at my practice. Normally, I see the midwives but I just wanted to see whoever was available. This would be the first time I ever met with one of the doctors at the practice. That afternoon, I met with Dr. Wall. He was very kind and listened to my concern about the spotting, and agreed that it could be ectopic. He walked me back to the ultrasound room so we could get a look at what was going on inside of me. He did tell me that we might not see anything considering how early I was in the pregnancy. The image of my uterus came on screen--there was nothing in it. So, we looked around the r...

I used to be an advocate for out of hospital birth. Before I was even pregnant, I read Ina May Gaskin, Henci Goer, watched The Business of Being Born ...you name it, I read it. I believed the fear-mongering about hospital birth, and decided that whenever I did have a baby, I would go to a birthing center (it would be cheaper too!), but I was open to a hospital birth should I somehow feel it was necessary. The day I took a pregnancy test and saw those two lines saying that I was going to have a baby, I had a powerful, unmistakable feeling that this baby needed to be born in the hospital. My husband felt the exact same way, though he was always hesitant about my previous desires for an out-of-hospital birth. I was already getting my well-woman care through a group of Certified Nurse Midwives, so I continued going to them for my prenatal care. As you all know, I developed ICP and had to be delivered early. Can you imagine what could have happened had I decided to give birth outside...

So, fellow Itchy Mom Hilary Boyer  did a hilarious post on Top Ten "Signs" You Have ICP  and I decided to do my own. Of course, having ICP is no joking matter, but it's important to have a sense of humor during hard times, otherwise you go insane. I give you "...you might be an Itchy Mom" in the style of Jeff Foxworthy. If you know what Sarna is and have been tempted to name a child after it...you might be an Itchy Mom. If you have difficulty relating to women who go past their due date because you were never allowed past 37 weeks....you might be an Itchy Mom. If the most romantic thing your husband can do for you is scratch the itchy spots and/or give you a Sarna rubdown....you might be an Itchy Mom. If the OB office staff knows you by name, face, and ferocious scratching...you might be an Itchy Mom. If you have scared medical professionals with the scabbed scratches on your extremities...you might be an Itchy Mom. When you get your inducti...

22 weeks pregnant I finally post a pregnant picture of myself, although now I'm 23 weeks pregnant (give or take). Yes, I know I'm small. Baby girl is growing towards my digestive tract, which makes heartburn a regular, yet random occurrence. Random because I can eat one particular food item one day and not get heartburn, and yet eat the same item again the next day, and get heartburn. Tums is my friend ;) Other than that, I'm feeling good. Second trimester is nice stuff, I have to say. And yes, little girl is moving around, though my husband hasn't been able to feel her kicks yet (all in good time). This is very belated, but thank you everyone for your congratulations and well wishes about our little girl. We are excited, and overwhelmed. I've started to crochet a lavender baby blanket, and my mother-in-law took me baby clothes shopping a while back. So, we have a few baby girl things hanging around, though not much. I've also been reading a lot of books ...

Today was *the* ultrasound. The final poll results were very close: 11 for boy and 10 for girl. Most members of my husband's family were betting on a girl. My mom was betting on a girl. No one else in my family dared bet anything...I guess my brothers were afraid I'd kill them for being wrong...ha ha ha ha. Stephan and me? We were convinced that this baby was a boy, and were actually kind of hoping for a boy. However, we planned ahead and had a boy's name and a girl's name. My ultrasound was scheduled for 9:30 this morning, and we made sure to get there early, even though they usually tend to run late. It was rather surprising when the technician came out before my scheduled appointment to come get me. She took us to the room, prepared my belly, and asked us if we wanted to find out the sex (yes, please!). This was the first ultrasound I had this entire pregnancy, and it was quite amazing seeing that baby for the first time on that screen (they had a big sc...

Once again, I apologize for the hiatus in my posting. Shortly after my last post, we flew down to Houston to see my folks and to enjoy their wonderful central air. Then the day after we got back, I went up to northern Utah with my mom (who flew up for a family event that same day) to see some of my relatives there. And then my husband started back to school. Oh, and did I mention that just a few days before my last post, we went to the Utah Shakespeare Festival for our two-year anniversary? Are you dizzy yet? I am now nearly 13 weeks into this pregnancy, which means that the nausea is going away and I'm starting to feel more normal. Well, as normal as you can feel when you're pregnant ;) Last week, I cooked dinner two nights in a row, which had not happened since before I was pregnant. One of my friends asked me on facebook about my cravings, and I promised a blog post about them, since the list is so long and was always changing. Let me begin by saying that cravings are ...

There are some very good reasons for it. I've been sick to my stomach. I've been very tired. I'm putting on weight. I want to eat strange things. Smells bother me. And I have mood swings. The weird part? I'm happy about all this, well, except the weird food part. What does this all mean? That's right y'all, I'm pregnant! Want proof? Okay, since there seems to be some rule that you have to post a picture of something you peed on, here you go:  The second line is a little faint, but it's there, I promise! I am about ten weeks along and due in the middle of March. I'm being vague about my due date because I don't want anyone (especially me) getting attached to an arbitrary date. And seriously, how often are babies born on that date anyway? Very few, although my husband was one of them. All I ask is that this kid does not come on February 29 (I'll be full-term then), because I've seen Pirates of Penzance too many times. ...