October 2009 Archives

Since my last fun and exciting pregnancy update, I have more to add. First, it turns out that my heart and blood pressure issues were from an allergic reaction to the progesterone shots I was getting. So, they took me off of those and I got much better. I continued with a (mostly) modified diet based on the recommendations given to me at the time.

Then, maybe a month ago a test I took at the doctor showed that I might have gestational diabetes. So, they did the 3 hour test and the whole test showed bad blood sugar until the end of the last hour where I was totally fine. So, my body is not technically diabetic, it just takes forever to process sugars. Who knows. So, had to do some diet modifications. Yay, fun!

A few weeks ago I got all swollen and woke up in the middle of the night because I couldn't bend my fingers. My blood pressure was borderline-high so I went in to the doctor. It showed some protein deposits in my urine, but not enough to make me preeclamptic. Basically, my liver is starting to fail and I will hopefully make it through the rest of this pregnancy without it actually failing. If my liver does fail, then they'll have to deliver the baby immediately. Today I'm almost to 32 weeks, so every day is a blessing. I'm hoping to get at least to 37 weeks so I can have a full term pregnancy. And I'm also hoping to not have liver failure since that totally stinks.

I started having severe hip pain about 2 weeks ago. It was to the point that I was maybe getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I went to my doctor (I'm starting to feel sorry for my doctor. Am I the crazy lady they talk about in the break room?) and she said my hips had too much pain and sent me to a chiropractic maternal specialist. I went there a week ago and they found (1) that my pelvic bone was separating, (2) that my left hip was almost popped out of the socket, and (3) that the back of my pelvic bone was tilting into my body. So, they popped my hip back in (ouch!), hit me with a chiropractic hammer looking thing to get my hip tilted the correct way, and pressed my pelvic bone back together. Then they wrapped me up in a belt. I was sore for about 3 days, but have been feeling much much better. I've also been getting about 8 hours of sleep a night since then. Yay! My hips will need to be watched through and after the pregnancy to make sure that everyone stays lined up as they should be. (Sidenote: my body started producing it's own progesterone a couple of months ago, alleviating my need for progesterone supplements. Unfortunately, this increases my production of relaxin, which causes all of my joints to separate like crazy. Yay, fun!)

So, yeah, I'm almost 32 weeks. That means I have at least 5 more weeks to go before I'm considered full term, and possibly up to 8 weeks before the baby is born.

I am requesting that this child be exquisite in every way and eventually save the world or something. That would make all this pain & dealing with every bizarre side effect much better. The end question is, dare I attempt pregnancy again? Will side effects get better or worse? Probably a crap shoot, so we'll just get this one out and hopefully some semblance of health and sanity will return to me. Eventually. Hopefully.

Our church recently memorized all of Psalm 139 for our Fighter Verses. Unfortunately, I totally bombed at memorizing it and was only able to memorize vs. 13-14. But, I got a little melody for it and have officially added at least those two to my memorized verses.

Here is me singing Psalm 139:13-14:

Psalm139_13-14.mp3

Scene 1 - At Menards!

Caleb has quite the vocabulary and has to vocalize everything he's thinking pretty much all day long. Today we were at Menards and it went like this:

Caleb: Mama, where all the pretty ladies go?

Me: What???

Caleb: Hmmmmm... [points to a man] Is that a pretty lady??? ...No.

Me: [thinking my kid is so clever]

Caleb: [points to a woman] Is that a pretty lady??? [woman ignores us] ...NO! Hmmm... [points to another woman] Is that a pretty lady??? [she looks at us] ...NO! Hmmm... where all the pretty lady go? Hmmm...

Me: [backs away from the scene of the crime]

Scene 2 - No Poot.

A couple weeks ago I took Caleb with me to the ladies restroom at a busy restaurant. (Please note, he pronounces "poop" as "poot.") While we were in the stall, Caleb loudly gave a play-by-play to everyone in the room.

Caleb: Mama, you go potty! Yay, mama! You did it! Yay! Mama, did you go poot? Oh no! Mama, how come no poot? You can do it! You can do it! Go again Mama, go poot! Yay! You can do it!

Me: [whispering] No, Caleb, I don't have to go poop right now.

Caleb: Oh no! No poot? Oh no, Mama. You can do it! Go again, go more, you can do it!

Me: No, Caleb, I'm all done going potty, let's go wash our hands.

Caleb: But no poot! Washa da hands with no poot? Oh no, Mama!

When we came out of the stall there were several women laughing. All of them were looking at us, so I said, "In case any of you were wondering, I did not go poop just now." They burst out laughing. One of them thanked me for making her day. Another woman spoke for awhile about, "Oh, I remember those days! Just priceless!"

Yay, motherhood.

My boy officially turned two years old on September 5th. Can't believe it. It's totally awesome. His personality is so magnetic, he's one of my favorite people to be around!

Stats from 2 Year Doctor Visit
Weight: 24.4 lbs. (10th percentile)
Height: 33" (16th percentile)
Head: 18.75" (23rd percentile)

Favorite Activities

• Monsters - He loves his stuffed Ugly Doll Babo, Shrek, Monsters Inc., his monster pajamas, and Where the Wild Things Are.


• Music time - Caleb loves singing and playing the piano, guitar, banjo, harmonica, ukulele, jingle bells, and his favorite time of the week is still Musikgarten. He often requests certain songs be played for him, especially "baby song" (Lullaby and Good Night), "rainbow song" (Rainbow Song from Signing Time), and "Ninigarten" (the whole CD from Musikgarten).


• Being Outside - He needs at least one daily fix of going outside. He loves to dig in dirt, splash in puddles, walk the dog, ride in his car, and just explore everything.


• Puzzles - Man is he good at puzzles. I gave him a wooden alphabet puzzle the other day and he put all 26 pieces in the right place within like 5 minutes. That totally baffled me. When he gets stuck he puts a finger on his chin and says, "Hmmmmmmm..."


• Running (especially with Ella) - He insists on doing a nighttime "diaper run" before we put on his pajamas. This is about 15 minutes of him running all around the house in his diaper.


• Helping - He loves to help me with cleaning, cooking (while standing on the big stool), gardening, fixing things, bathing Ella, doing laundry, vacuuming, and pretty much anything that I'm doing. His favorite person to help though is Grandpa Whiting, especially being outside and carrying big buckets to feed the animals or to use the "big drill" when fixing things. He loves power tools.


• Play! - his favorite playtime toys are his toy horses & trucks, little people, and musical instruments, balls, play-doh, and painting on his easel or coloring at his table.


• Swimming - We try to go swimming once a week when the local pool is open. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the beach much this year because of my wonderful pregnancy complications. He laughs and kicks and plays the whole time in the water, and then sleeps very nicely afterwards! He loves going underwater too, especially to dive after a toy! He still can't swim and needs me there with him at all times.


• Cuddling - He loves blankets and cuddling up to share a snack or story.


• Eating - Caleb is not a picky toddler eater. He eats everything and sometimes eats more than me. If I could bottle his metabolism and sell it, we'd be rich! At dinner the other night he ate 2 eggs, a handful of french fries, hashed browns (maybe 3/4 cup), 2 pieces of bacon, 1 pancake with syrup, a half glass of milk, and part of my ham & cheese omelette. How can someone who eats more than a pregnant woman be so small?


• TVDVD - this is what he calls anything watched on the TV or computer. He especially loves Yo Gabba Gabba, Sesame Street, Shrek, and Signing Time.

Favorite Books

• Little House on the Prairie - we've read three books so far. I got them to read myself but he asked me one day to read it to him and we've been reading it together ever since.


• Puff the Magic Dragon


• We're Going on a Bear Hunt


• The Beginner's Bible: Timeless Children's Stories


• The Big Picture Story Bible


• This Little Chick


• You Can Do Anything, Daddy


• Where the Wild Things Are


• Big Board First 100 Machines (basically... pictures of big trucks & equipment)


• and pretty much anything else... I've seen him looking through my copy of Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine several times, muttering to himself. Also, trips to the library usually end with him screaming something about Elmo and a duck book.

His Personality

• Hilarious! - I asked Josh what we would do if Caleb wasn't the funny child. I think if our next kid is funnier than Caleb, my entire house may spontaneously turn into a circus tent. He wears his cowboy hat and sunglasses when brushing his teeth. He'll make up songs about random things and insist on singing them to us while he plays his ukulele (and they're funny and frequently reveal to us that he understands more about what's going on around here than we think he does). He recently tried singing really high notes to birds outside to see if they would explode (like he saw happen in the movie Shrek).


• Energetic - He runs so far. He'll run from my parent's house to my brother's house (which is next door... but in a country-dirt-road-long-driveway sort of next door) and back again. Clearly he has endurance. He can also successfully do excellent somersaults and has also figured out how to do headstands on the couch. And the climbing... the climbing....


• Outgoing - He says hi to everyone, participates exuberantly in Musikgarten, and participates actively in conversation. I love how Josh and I will be talking at dinner and he'll put his hands on the table and say, "Ah-dee! Grandpa work work work at Home Depot! And Jesus loves me!" He has to get his two cents in.


• Sensitive & Sweet - If he does something wrong he feels so bad and instantly is apologetic. Like hitting the dog. He'll hit the dog, then get a super sad face, then say, "Sorry Ella!"


• Caring - A boy in the nursery at church took the truck he was playing with in an overbearing sort of way. I watched and thought, "Take it back, Caleb! Don't let him take advantage of you!" But, my boy ministered to me even as a little two year old. His response? He went over to the toy shelf, picked up another truck, and gave that to the boy as well! The boy looked at him like, "Um.... okay.... um.... thanks for another truck." Caleb then went and played with something else until he noticed the boy was done playing with the trucks, then he went over and played with them.


• Fearless - Can't think of anything he's afraid of. He loves monsters and dragons and things that make loud noises. He loves to be scared when he comes around a corner and loves hiding in dark places. As his cousin Maia says, "Let's bring Caleb with because he's bwave!"


• Talkative - What can I say? He is our kid. And that means he never shuts up. Even when he's sleeping I can hear him saying, "I did it! Yay you!"