Our (Neurodiverse) Family

Other than her birth story, Livia hasn't had a post dedicated to her. (1) She's three months old now. (2) We call her our little butterfly because she has a birthmark on back of her head (hidden by her hair) that looks like a butterfly. We like to think it's a butterfly kiss from her grandpa in heaven. (3) When Livia was born, the general consensus was that she looked just like Stephan did as a baby. Nowadays, strangers say she looks just like me. Currently, the agreement is that she looks like a brunette Kate. (4) Had I made it to my due date, she would have been just about the exact same weight Stephan was when he was born (on his due date, incidentally). At birth, he was a half-ounce shy of nine pounds. Yeah, I think I'm glad she came early. (5) Whereas her sister was always long and lean, she seems to be going the short and chubby route. (6) Snuggles. She loooves to be snuggled. (7) She has my lips. Take that people who like to say she didn't ge...

...it's me.... Hello from the mother SIIIIIIDE!!!!! Check it out, I'm being relevant. I think? Yes, it's been almost three months since I last updated. I've been a bit busy. (1) Two kids. Need I say more? (2) Okay fine, I'll elaborate. My days are spent nursing the baby, changing diapers (only for the baby, thankfully. Yay for Kate being potty trained), taking Kate to and from preschool, and keeping Kate from destroying the house and/or killing the baby. (3) Between all of that, I have to figure out how to keep the household running and put dinner on the table when Stephan comes home from work. Needless to say, we've ordered a lot of pizza these last few months. Or I've done breakfast for dinner. Yeah, we've eaten a lot of breakfast for dinner. (4) Despite me saying that I have to keep Kate from killing Livia, Kate really does love her baby sister. She just doesn't know how to be gentle, and well it's hard going from having all ...

The Friday before I was induced, I went in for my twice-weekly NST. I had my blood drawn a few days before to check my Bile Acid and Liver Function a few days before and I asked the nurse who did my NST if she could check on that. She found my test results, and my BA level was 45--five points above "severe". This was with me being medicated. I was rushed into an appointment with one of the midwives--she consulted with two of the OBs and it was decided that we would still go forward with the plan to induce the following Wednesday. On Labor Day, I found out that I was #5 on the hospital's induction call list. Somehow the next day, I moved up to the #2 slot so I woke up extra early (not that I slept much the night before anyway, because I had THE WORST itching that night) to wait for the call. At 7:30, my phone rang and the nurse said that my induction was scheduled for 9 a.m. So, we got Kate out of bed, loaded up the car, took her to my mother-in-law's house...

As if this pregnancy wasn't throwing me enough curveballs. Spotting in the first weeks, not finding little baby on ultrasound, holy food aversions and nausea Batman, subchorionic hematoma...and then being diagnosed with cholestasis at 28 weeks. In all of this, Stephan's dad was going through his last months, which brought emotional upheaval of its own. I thought I just had to deal with a few more weeks of itching hell, get induced at 37 weeks, and be done with it. My gallbladder had other ideas. I hit 35 weeks yesterday, and to celebrate, my gallbladder decided it had a death wish. Admittedly, I've been eating a lot of junk recently (sleep deprivation and stress does that), and my gallbladder must have decided that it couldn't take it anymore. At around three-something yesterday, I had a snack that I probably shouldn't have had because I really wasn't hungry (stress eating not a good idea). At first, I just felt really, really full. Then, the Right Upper Qua...

Things have been a bit crazy lately. Just a few weeks ago, Stephan's dad passed away after a long battle with leiomyosarcoma Wait, what?! We had known for some time that my father-in-law was dying, but I kept quiet about it here and on social media in general out of respect for my family's privacy and because he lived with the cancer for much longer than the experts expected, we had no idea when he would go. The last several months have been some of the hardest we've experienced as a family. We pretty much put our lives on hold so we could say good-bye when the time came. Kate started to become scared of Grandpa because of the pain drugs he was taking and the equipment he needed to function. First it was a walker, then a wheelchair, then he needed a morphine pump, oxygen, and finally a hospital bed. Some people have told us, "Oh, Kate is old enough that she'll remember her grandfather!" I'm not sure how I feel about her remembering her grandpa bein...

Kate doesn't get ill often, but when she does, it's usually only for a few days tops and then all is right in the world again. So, when she woke up in the wee hours of Sunday morning last week with a fever, we thought that it would be over in a few days and we could continue on with our lives. We were wrong. Sunday, we all stayed home from church to keep Kate from spreading germs. She seemed to want us both, so it was good that we were all home together. She slept a lot, we dosed her with children's Tylenol and Advil, etc. Monday, the fever was still there and again, she slept a lot. She drank lots of water and lemonade, but didn't really want to eat. Then she threw up--that's when I called the doctor. By the time we got to the doctor, she was acting pretty normal and her fever was under control. The doctor said it was just a bug and that she would get over it soon enough. She never threw up again, thank goodness. On Tuesday, she didn't go to presch...

We found out in May that we're having another girl. First name has been chosen, but we're stumped about middle names. Kate is VERY excited to be getting a little sister. Due date is now September 30, but I'll probably go sooner than that with my track record. Kate is going to summer preschool twice a week! She loves it and I enjoy the two-hour break for me...heh heh. I've also got her enrolled for the fall. We're hoping to get a second car in the next few months before baby girl comes. Preferably a mini van. I have no shame. So, we're trying to save up for that. I've been nesting. A lot.  My OB closed his practice because of family stuff, so I followed my midwives from last pregnancy over to their new practice (which is where almost EVERYONE in my ward goes). It's a lot closer to where I live and right next to the hospital I'll be delivering at, so I think this is all for the best.  I've started itching a bit again. I had bloodwo...