July 2009 Archives

So, technically this baby's due date is December 22nd, 2009. But, today we got to meet him, yes HIM, via ultrasound. These are the things we learned about him.

• Everything that could be healthy is healthy (heart, brain, spine, etc.)
• He has Josh's detached earlobes
• He is a night owl, he was wide awake kicking me at 4 a.m but slept during the entire ultrasound. He was on his stomach so it was hard to get a good face shot.
• He sleeps with one foot on top of the other, just like I do.
• Pretty much everything about his size is average, except he has long legs. The ultrasound tech said he'd probably be tall and skinny.
• He sleeps with his mouth open.
• If he continues at his current growth rate, he'll be between 7 and 8 pounds if he's born full term.
• He has a very round head shape.
• Whenever we got a face shot of him it looked like he was chewing gum. Who knows why.

Caleb thinks we should name him "Ming." Other than that, he doesn't really care about what's going on. If you ask him where the baby is, he will point to my belly.

Josh wanted to add that Caleb was the only son of an only son of an only son. He is excited that, by having two sons, the family name can branch out from here.

And, of course, if you know me, you know that I've always wanted a small herd of boys. The thought of a herd of girls makes me shudder a bit. So, while I would love to have a girl someday, I'm pretty darn excited to have two boys.

Josh and I feel blessed to have not one, but two boys come December!

So, last week was not the best week for the Lewis family. The quick summary is that I started having health symptoms that are scary, and the cause was likely linked to problems with my heart and blood. So, after lots of fatigue, dizzy spells, heart monitors, doctors visits, and obsessing over fine details about what possibly be causing the problem, I am finally getting (sorta) better. The rest of this post includes finer details of this for those who are interested, because who doesn't like to read the many details of other peoples' health problems?

My pregnancy (then at 19 weeks) had been going along pretty smoothly with only minor symptoms. I had been getting treatment for low progesterone (shots & prescription), but other than that, I told Josh that this pregnancy was "a gift from heaven" compared to my last pregnancy. Then I went to the car show.

On June 20th, the Lewis and Petersons clans went with Pop Lewis to the 50's Car Show at the MN State Fairgrounds to celebrate Father's Day. While there I experienced ringing in my ears, followed by sweaty chills, then crazy vertigo, and then everything in my vision "folded" and turned to blackness. I was able to sit down and get back to some sense of normal by eating a bratwurst smothered in kraut and drinking a coke. I chalked this episode up to being hungry and hot.

But, I continued having those episodes after that, although I had finally figured out the order of symptoms before I blacked out and would just sit as soon as I got ringing in my ears. I started getting really tired most of the time and then started having almost constant dizziness and vertigo. I would regularly have to tell myself, "The ground is actually flat, just move your feet and trust that you won't fall." I was also so tired that I would sometimes have to take a break half way when walking down my stairs. At that point I thought, "Okay, I know pregnancy makes you tired, but this is insane."

So, I called the doctor and she had me come in. They did a bunch of blood tests & other tests, but here are the results that are pertinent. My blood pressure was 90/56. My resting heart rate was 115. That's bad. My blood work turned out normal except that my iron was borderline low. So, I was sent to the hospital to get a Holter monitor. Luckily, this test showed that my heart had no abnormalities, other than an elevated heart rate.

After talking with the cardiologist and pouring over my medical history, the doctor found that less than 1/2 of 1% of patients receiving progesterone [shot form] had the symptoms I was having. So, they took me off the progesterone shots and I'll continue taking my daily progesterone prescription. Because of my borderline low iron, I started taking an iron supplement. Because of the messed up blood pressure and heart rate, I now have a really fun diet (no salt, no sugar, no bad oils, etc.). That, and I get to monitor my blood pressure and heart rate for the remainder of this pregnancy. I have to call the doctor if my pressure goes under 90/60 and my resting heart rate goes over 100. While all of this is a pain, it has so far been helping me feel better. I still get tired and mildly dizzy, but so far no blacking out and no vertigo.

I am also supposed to "say no to everything" and sit with my feet up as often as possible. Because of the low blood pressure, that brings a higher concern for swollen ankles, blood pooling in the feet, and blood clots. So, I guess that brings my volunteering to an end for awhile, and gives me lots of time at home with Caleb. (Luckily, Caleb has really taken to painting and coloring with markers over the past couple of weeks, he will do this for 1-2 hours!!! Can I just say that this is so far the art teacher's dream child?)

Because my last pregnancy ended in preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome, it is important that we watch my progesterone levels in this pregnancy through to the very end. It is also important for the health of the baby that my progesterone levels remain high and stable. Because the prescription progesterone has unpredictable absorption rates, unlike the shots which are in the high ninety-percentiles, I may end up "taking one for the team" during this pregnancy. That means I would need to start the shots again and go on some kind of bed rest to keep my blood pressure and heart rate as close to normal as possible. So, I'm pretty much walking a fun line between kidney/liver failure and losing the baby OR heart failure. I think with all the progesterone monitoring and heart monitoring it should be pretty manageable. Not fun, but manageable. However, prayers are certainly appreciated!

Also, if you have any really good heart healthy food recipes, please send them my way! I mean, seriously, no salt, butter, or sugar? It's getting rough on me. Wait, there is one good thing from all of this. My doctor told me that when I feel really weak and my blood pressure starts dropping, I should have a couple of cups of coffee. The caffeine raises blood pressure! WOO!

I told Josh that I think I should start doing our taxes for next year, if that doesn't raise my blood pressure, I don't know what will.

I did an unofficial weight & measurement of Caleb when I went to the doctor today. Here are his current stats:

Weight: 24.3 lbs.
Height: 33.5"

I'm also glad I scored on his "next size of shoes" last week. I came home and he wanted to wear a pair and I put them on him, thinking they were too big. But, he was just fine in them and was running and climbing with no problems. Then, when I went to put his smaller size shoes on him he said, "No!" and went to get the other pair. So, he's wearing his size 6 shoes now. He's also wearing size 24 month pants & shorts, but I have to take in the waist on them because he's so skinny. His 18 month pants look like high waters on him, but the waist fits correctly.

So, that's where Caleb is at size-wise these days!

P.S. We had a rockin' time painting pictures outside today. Today was the first time he actually tried to follow the lines of drawn shapes with his paintbrush. (I do still encourage him to experiment with the paint rather than do the anal-retentive paint-by-numbers method. Sorry, the art teacher emerges and encourages process over product at this age.)

So, Josh's new iPhone has this recording device on it that's pretty good. So, here are some recordings we've done with Caleb. Caleb is 21-22 months in all of these.

Caleb is playing the piano while I talk to and sing with him. I try to get him to sing too. (actually, this first recording is done with the old iPhone)
Caleb on the Piano - Steph Interviews.m4a

Josh and Caleb were home for the night and were acting silly as usual.
CalGiggles.m4a

Caleb was going on and on about something he saw outside in our back yard, but Josh and I couldn't understand anything he said. So, we tried to figure it out and learned that he is either an excellent storyteller, or is seeing things.
SomethingOutside.m4a

I love Google Reader. I used to read blogs and news by actually going to a million web pages regularly, but their designs were usually heinous looking and it took way to long to load them all on my browser. When I finally switched to using Google Reader, I was relieved to see that they were stripped of their ugly design and displayed in a highly readable fashion. That, and only unread stuff would come up, so I never again had to go to a friend's blog and sigh, "No update... again."

So, thank you, Google Reader, for being so awesome.

I do, however, really wish that it included a few features that would make it even awesomer.

Ability to Mark Things as "Read Later" - Often there is an excellent article and I just don't have the time to really absorb it, so I want to read it later. Josh has some weird hack where he adds the article URL to a list (maybe on Delicious?) then subscribes to that news feed via RSS so it will show up in a "Read Later" folder on his Google Reader. ***Ha! Oh my gosh, I actually just went to Google Reader to figure this out and noticed a "Keep Unread" checkbox at the bottom of each article. And it works! I swear this wasn't there a week ago and now... have I mentioned that I love Google? It's as though they're in my head absorbing my innermost thoughts and... okay, that's creepy.***

Ability to Rank Articles with 1-5 Stars Instead of Just One - Currently I have the option to "Add Star" to an article and that's it. I have been in conversations recently with other Google Reader users and we all use this feature for different reason. I use it to mark things I may want to easily access later and think are useful (Josh uses Delicious for that). Josh uses it to mark things he likes. Truth is, I wish I could add more stars to review the quality of an article, and, after a period of time I could look at how I have been ranking articles in a blog to determine if the blog has good value to me or not... see next wish.

More Individual Statistics on My Reading and the Ability to Send Feedback to a Blogger or News Site - So, I think that people who read blogs through a reader system take in a lot of information. And the truth is, the quality of that information is constantly in flux as bloggers fall off the face of the earth or suddenly start blogging only about their new baby (who would do that???). And, I want to be able to stop reading things that aren't of value to me and continue reading things that are. So, if I could rank articles with 1-5 stars, and even add a comment to each individual entry as to why I ranked it as such, I could use that compiled information to organize and edit my reading list. And the bloggers could even access the information submitted by all of their readers to see how people are taking their posts. For example, I think I would continue reading a couple of blogs but block certain irritating authors who never have anything good to say. Currently, I have difficulty figuring out who they are because of the sheer volume of articles I read. I recognize that we could use comments within an individual's blog to review an article, but those are more used for discussion of the topic at hand (or questioning a person's sexuality or calling people douchebags or saying "wow! you're so great! i love everything about you!" or saying "are we still on for pizza friday night?"). A review, on the other hand, is feedback on the type of content you're presenting, the manner in which you are presenting it, learning what appeals to readers, improving writing style, etc. And, with Google's awesomeness, they could compile statistics for bloggers and blog readers to help both of us read and write better.

The thought of these things makes me drool and feel happy.

Today Caleb and I were eating pancakes. He kept asking for more pancakes and more syrup and was very delighted as he ate them. When we were done, I cleaned him up and we went off to do some errands. Somehow, though, I kept getting sticky or I noticed that he was sticky somewhere I had already cleaned. I finally stopped to do a full search to see where the problem was.

Turns out that as we were eating, Caleb had been stuffing syrup and pancakes in the pocket of his shorts. As I emptied it and did my best to clean him off, I asked, "Caleb, WHY did you put pancakes and syrup in your pocket?"

In his best toddler-English, he replied (using spoken language & sign language), "Wait.... Eat!"

I think he was saving that sticky goodness for later.

This is the official announcement that Josh and I are expecting baby #2 in mid-December!

So far the pregnancy has gone very well and we have finally been over the many positive markers that make us feel open to tell others (especially the fact that people have started looking quizzically at my growing belly). At this point we are very excited, and feeling tired in advance of all the extra hoopla that a second child will bring. I am glad that I feel much more confident this time around.

As many of you know, I have a history of miscarriage - 4 to be exact. With Caleb I was doped up on progesterone supplements (just a random dosage) until I was 20 weeks along and was also put on several bed rests. I was eventually induced with him after being diagnosed with preeclampsia and HELPP Syndrome. After a lonely 6 day hospital stay, we finally brought Caleb home along with blood pressure equipment and regular calls to our nurse. (Really makes you want to try for another child, doesn't it?)

I will say that my tumultuous pregnancy history has left me both smarter and more skeptical about medical processes and my body in general. It has increased my faith in God immensely. That being said, I think this pregnancy is going much better in part due to much more informed medical care and a very good doctor. I have been getting progesterone weekly, this time it is regularly adjusted to make up for what my body is (or is not... usually the case) producing. (Caleb likes to go into the clinic and loudly announce, "Mama SHOT!!!" to the receptionist.) I have also had regular ultrasounds to show that my cervix has developed correctly (unlike 2 of my miscarriages where it just fell apart while the baby was still alive). My doctor has also been doing more regular physical check-ups as well as monitoring both my nutrition, my activity, and my hormone levels.

After nearly blacking out at a car show a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a pattern of ringing in my ears, dizziness, nausea, clamming up, and near fainting whenever I am "up and about" for awhile. My doctor looked into this and said that my body basically cannot handle activities that rely on the large blood vessels, so I am not to do them anymore. The obsessive workaholic in me feels like a slacker, but I do treasure the health of this child over my fantastic work ability, so I sit and make lists for other people when I need help with something.

During my last doctor visit my doctor said, "Would you listen to that baby move? I haven't heard a baby move like that for a long time." She paused, looked at Caleb, and asked, "Did he move a lot?"

I replied, "Oh, yes. I actually had bruises down the left side of my rib cage from his moving."

She said, "Well, I think you're really going to have your hands full with these two."

I have recently been nick-naming this child Hyper-Hypo since I'm a little over 15 weeks and his/her movement sometimes makes me stop and consciously refocus my breathing & balance. I don't think I felt Caleb moving until I was maybe 19 weeks or so. So, perhaps little Hyper-Hypo Lewis is just living it up in there right now. Like a little hummingbird swimming in nectar.

Also, I am not bringing anything to any Christmas gatherings, so be forewarned. I've actually started mapping out my Christmas gifts (crazy, I know) already so I can have them ready well in advance of the "launch date." We are also working on reorganizing Caleb's room to accommodate two little monsters instead of just one. I am in the market for a toddler bed, but am really eyeing this one. Last, I am working out a plan to get back in shape & lose some weight after I've healed from this baby. I didn't lose all of my baby weight with Caleb and I don't want to keep tacking on a few pounds with every child. I'm so serious about this I wish I could start now, but you know, the whole high-risk, passing out, still nursing the toddler thing is keeping me from that. But, I can put together a plan and imagine myself in my favorite jeans again.

So, there's the news. Hooray and hooray! We pray that, Lord willing, we will add this fourth member to our family come December. Thank you in advance for all of your love and prayers.

(Here's Josh's post on this news.)