Skyla having a conversation with my stepfather 

Evan eating his little piggy cake (this was funny because my brother is a cop) 

My mom, Skyla, Evan, Steve 

Chip and Evan 

Steve (my brother) and Evan 

Sharon (my SIL) with my nephew Evan 

My Nephew's 1st Birthday Cake 

I am so F'ing tired!

BLAH!!! I am so tired. I love my beautiful daughter more than life itself don't get me wrong. But this no sleeping thing is getting OLD!!! She had just started sleeping for longer periods of time and then the Teething Monster decided to show up at our house for an extended visit. Out the door the sleeping went. And ofcourse my little sweetheart will not take a bottle of EBM for nothing from nobody. Nope .. only straight from the tap will do for our little princess :)

I daydream about sleep these days. I can't even remember the last time I got 8 hours of consecutive uninterupted sleep. It was several months before Skyla was born! She will be 15 weeks old on Monday! She's growing up so fast!

Yesterday was the day from H E double Hockey sticks! Ofcourse my body didn't get the memo that you aren't supposed to get a period when breastfeeding round the clock so I am in less than a perky mood. Then the teething Demon rears its head and Skyla proceeds to not nap for crap and proceeds to scream all day, despite the meds for teething and even meds for gas.

That was bad enough but then I had a whiney 3 year old who was tired of listening to sissy scream and didn't understand why mommy had to hold her all day and couldn't play with him.

I love being a mom, I wouldn't trade it for the world, but some days .. it's FREAKING HARD!!!

Thank God for my sweet loving husband who brought me home a huge boquet of yellow and purple mums!

Back from my moms!

We made it back last night :) We had an amazing trip and took TONS of photos. The kids and I had a blast. I think Mema and Papa had a good time too. Daddy missed us terribly, but we talked on the phone (and the net) everyday while gone. When I walked into my kitchen last night there were 3 dozen roses (12 pink, 12 white, and 12 pink with fushcia tips)in a vase and a mylar heart baloon that says I love you on my kitchen table. What a sweet hubby huh? Luckily the kiddos crashed early and mommy and daddy had time to make up for lost time.

And here are some of my favorite pics.

I know it's been slow lately here

Please forgive me!!! It's been rough this past week. Skyla has been teeting and going through a huge growth spurt and we have all been strung out by it. Well except for Chip. He ofcourse hasn't noticed a thing. The screaming doesn't seem to bother him. Lucky him!

I am goingto be gone for a bit. My mother has been begging me to bring both kiddos down to Georgia and stay with herand my step father for a week or so, and I finally said yes! They are coming to get us this weekend.

I am very excited because while we are down there I am going to get to get together with 2 of my friends and their kids (they each have a 3 year old boy and one has a 1 year old girl and the other has a 2 week old girl). It's going to be soooo much fun.

And now for the Photos :)

So hard to choose just a few but I will try not to overload you.

My angels


Chip helping Skyla play with her Jungle Gym


Chip trying out the gym


The biggest smile you ever saw


Another smile


The bored Princess face


Our Princess is even cute when she's angry

Being the mom of two :) (Major Mush post)

Is absolutely wonderful! It's been alot easier than I ever thought. Don't get me wrong, I never seem to get everything done that I plan or want to but oh well! We worried so much before Skyla was born how Chip would do with being a big brother. Well we worried in vane. He is a WONDERFUL big brother and no child has ever loved their baby sister any more than he loves her. It is truly amazing and heart warming to see them together. I hope and pray they always love each other as much as they do now. To me our family feels so complete (Charles keeps saying these two are so great why not go for a 3rd?).

I have never in my life been any happier than I am right now staying home and loving my two babies. Every day Chip comes up with something new to make us laugh. He literally keeps us in stitches every day. We are raising a regular Drama King. He's either going to be an actor or an artist we can't decide which.

Skyla is growing and changing every day and I take photos constantly because I want to always remember her this way. Thank goodness for digital cameras!!!

I am so blessed !!! I can't say it enough. I can't imagine my life without my children.

Skyla's 2 month appt.

She weighs 9lbs 15oz, 23 in long, 37 cm head. 25%tile weight, 75%tile length, and 10%tile head. She's gonna be tall and skinny like her daddy and big brother. The Dr. says she's perfect. The shots were rough but soon as she nursed she was fine.

Photos of my little sugar britches

As promised here are some new Skyla photos for your viewing pleasure

Her favorite way to sleep swaddled and with her pacifier


Isn't she soooo precious?


I have always heard when babies smile in their sleep angels are whispering in their ears, I am convinced my dad is telling Skyla jokes the way she laughs and giggles in her sleep!


I original put the baseball hat on frontwards, apparently my little fashionista decided it was much cooler to wear it off to the side!


Skyla's a bowhead! (My mother and brother hate these headband bows .. but I think she looks so cute wearing them)

Update on us

I know I have been sucking about posting lately. Please forgive me ? It's been busy at our house. Chip turned 3 on Mother's Day!!! I can't believe my baby boy is getting so grown up!!! Sniff sniff. We had a wonderful day with him and grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, and we had a Blue's Clues Chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream!! The next day my mother and stepfather came and got him and he's gone with them for a week and a half!!! I feel like I'm on vacation. When you have your first the newborn phase seems so hard, when you have a 3 year old and a newborn and then suddenly your 3 year old is at Mema's house having just the newborn feels like a peice of cake!!!

P.S. Pics coming soon!

Skyla's first "real" smile

I received my first ever "real" smile from Skyla today. OMG!!! I looked down at her and I tickled her chin and said "Hi baby girl" and she busted out with this humongous and adorable grin and then proceeded to mimic the word "hi". She is the cutest thing. Before now we have gotten a few half smiles but nothing like this one. She's got great timing since I am sick and feeling crappy and worn out.

Awesome 1 Month Appt!!!

I apologize in advance of the sentimental sappy mommy drivel !!! I'm gushing today, I just can't help myself. Must be the post partum hormones.

Skyla is doing FABULOUS!!! She gained 15oz in 2 weeks!!! So she's gaining a little more than an once a day. She weighs 9lbs 4oz, is 21.75" long (1.5" growth) and 36" head. All on Mama milk!!! Woohoo! I am so proud of her :) She got her first Hep B shot. She cried for like half a second and then was over it. I didn't even have to nurse her after.

I can't believe she is already a month old. Time goes way too fast when they get here.

What's worse is there is only a week and a half left until Chip turns THREE!!! My baby is a big boy now. He is such a charecter. I love him so much!!!

he comes up to me with his toy stethescope and says "See Mama, My stetacope" (hey I was impressed he even knew what it was) and He "listened" to my heartbeat and then says "Mama you sick!" Geee thanks. LOL. I felt better when he "listened" to the Tv's "heartbeat" and said "My tv's sick Mama". He also had to listen to Skyla's heart beat .. too funny. . she just looked at him like "What in the world are you doing to me?".

I am so happy we decided to have a second child. There is nothing any sweeter than the two of them together. Chip loves his baby sooooo much. He keeps tabs on her and gives us a constant status report (as if we didn't already know when she's awake, asleep, crying or happy .. but feels it's his job to let us know). She loves him too you can tell!!! If she is crying he goes up to her and as soon as she sees Chip's face she stops crying immediately and just gazes at him with these wide eyes.

God I love being a mom!!!

My New Favorite Photos of Skyla

For your viewing pleasure I figured I'd give you all a Skyla fix :)

First here is our first family photo of the 4 of us (notice Chip's lovely art work on the walls? UGH .. that's what happens when you have a pregnant mommy on bedrest that needs to nap and a toddler that doesn't. Good thing we hadn't already painted the living room).



Skyla in one of her cloth diapers


Her first real bath


And my favorite: Skyla doing her baby J-Lo impression with her floppy sun hat

Ahhhh the beauty of silence

Both my little darlings are asleep (GASP!!! And at the same time even... we should write this down in the baby book) and Charles is at his new job, he works 3rd shift. The house is so silent. I just can't get over it. If I was smart I would be sleeping. Hehe. But hey I mean after months of not sleeping why should now be any different right? I am enjoying being "alone" and just enjoying the quiet. No one truly appreciates quietness the way a mother of a toddler and a newborn does. I am sure it won't last .. Skyla will wake up hungry and want to nurse, or Chip will wake up from a bad dream and want some juice or milk and the silence will be broken and who knows when it will be back .. so I am appreciating it to the fullest.

As for sleep we might be on our way to Skyla sleeping better at night. Last night she went 4 hours between feedings!!! So I got a whopping 3.5 hours of consecutive sleep. Before last night the maximum ammount of consecutive sleep was 2.5 hours at a time .. and some times only 1.5 hours if she woke up to feed every 2 hours which happens some times too. Now if we could only get her to like sleeping in her cradle. Right now she will only sleep one of two places .. on mama or in her fisher-price cradle swing.

For any of you new moms or mom's to be .. I HIGHLY recommend you invest in one of these cradle swings. We bought ours when I was pregnant with Chip. He more than got our money's worth out of it .. and now Skyla loves it too. It was a wonderful purchase!!!

Well I think I will be smart and try to catch a little shut eye now. Hard to believe 3 weeks ago right now I was being sewn up from my c-section!!! How time flies when you are having fun.

Our little Doo Rag Darlin'

Some new photos of our chubbalicious baby girl.












And for your viewing pleasure Skyla's Birth Announcement :)

Being the mother of 2

Wow .. feels so weird to say that. For so long I have just had Chip. Being the mother of 2 so far has been an AMAZING experience. Skyla is night and day different as a baby than Chip was. She is so tiny and dainty and delicate compared to him (he weighed 9lbs 1oz at birth and was HUGE).

Skyla had her 2 week dr. appt this Monday and she is up to 8lbs 5oz (she started out at 8lbs 3oz) and gaining an average of 1/2 an ounce a day :) YEAH!!! All on mommy milk which makes me feel great. With Chip we had supply issues and he just never gained quite right and by 5.5 months we had to suppliment with formula to keep up with him. I have so much more milk with Skyla and she is already showing a trend of gaining better than he did, so hopefully we won't have to suppliment with her.

Chip is an INCREDIBLE big Brother. He loves Skyla so much. He lets us know every move she makes, every sound. We hear all day long "Baby awake" "Baby asleep" "Baby Happy" "Baby crying". He also likes to give her kisses and then he says "I love you Kyla" (still working on trying to get him to pronounce the S) which totally melts our heart. He also helps out with diaper changes. The other night I was trying to get her to sleep, she was in the swing but the batteries weren't working so Chip was pushing the swing and singing to her "Sleep baby sleep" over and over. He has matured soooooo much since we brought her home. It's an amazing thing.

My main issue is lack of sleep. I have a toddler that won't sleep during the day and a newborn who won't sleep at night .. so where does that leave me??? REALLY FARKING TIRED. Other than that .. I am on cloud 9.

Now if I could just get my house clean before my company comes on Friday I won't be such a basketcase.

Skyla's (Very LONG) Birth Story

Skyla's (Very LONG) Birth Story

At my 38w1d appt. we found out that Skyla's amniotic fluid level had jumped from 21pts to 31pts a jump of like 50% of water in about 7 days. The dr. said that if I didn't go into labor on my own by 39 weeks that we would need to induce. Being that I wanted a VBAC I was naturally a little alarmed at the prospect of being induced because I know it can increase your chance of having a uterine rupture. My Dr. assured me that they would monitor me and the baby very carefully and make sure that we had no negative out comes. She said "Worst case scenario you end up with another c-section. Best case you end up with the VBAC you want".

I never went into labor on my own, so on Sunday Night (Easter Sunday) at 5 pm we check into Duke University Hospital's Labor and Delivery. The Dr. on call, Dr. Hilton came in and checked Skyla by ultrasound to make sure she was still head down before starting the induction. She was still head down. He proceeded to check me. I still wasn't dialating but I was like 50% effaced and softening. He forced me to dialated about a centimeter and stripped my membranes to try to get things going about 6:15 or so. He said we would see what happens and if nothing happened we would insert a Foley Bulb Catheter to manually dialate my cervix. My heart rate and Skyla's were both elevated and I was dehydrated so they hooked me up to an IV and started pumping me full of fluids. That helped get both me and Skyla's heart rates under control.

Well apparently there was a rush of babies to end up delivering that night, so it was a while before he came back. About 8:45 he came back to do the Foley Bulb catheter. My cervix was still super high and no change since he stripped my membranes. He and the nurse tried to insert the Foley Bulb Catheter. OMG. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life. The first time they tried to insert failed. They had to go get a longer speculum and they tried again. This time they succeeded. All combined it took like an hour to get that catheter in me. It was horrible. My lovely husband decided to take a photo during the procedure, don't ask me why, I can't even look at that photo.

About 30 minutes after they got the Foley in, I started contracting. They were rough, and from the beginning were within 2-3 minutes a part. Everything in my instincts were telling me to get out of bed and move and change posistions, so that's what I would do for awhile. It really did help me cope with the pain of the contractions. Only problem was whenever I would move into a different posistion Skyla would fall off the external fetal monitor. So I ended up being forced to stay in bed and indure the contractions laying on my back. Never a good thing. I was only allowed out of bed to go to the bathroom at this point, which was pretty often being 9 months pregnant and all. About 2 am I had to go pee so the nurse came in and helped me to the bathroom. At this point the pain was so bad I couldn't breath through the contractions anymore it was bad. I used the bathroom and stood up. I had just long enough to get the words "I think I'm going to be sick" out of my mouth before I started throwing up in the bathroom sink. I threw up like 4 or 5 times. I was so sick. I hate throwing up and by this point between the contractions and vomitting I had tears running down my cheeks.

Thank God for my night nurse Agnes. She was my angel. She came in the bathroom, got me cleaned up, changed my gown. She got me back to bed. She asked me "are you sure you wouldn't like something for the pain?" At this point .. I would have taken crack if it made me feel better I think. So much for going natural. I said "Yes please!!!" By 2:30 she had me some Stadol and some Fenigrin (for the nausea) put in my IV. Literally within 4 minutes of her putting that stuff in my IV I literally passed out. I woke up 2 hours later with Dr. Hilton pulling out the Foley because it had done it's job and dialated me to like a 3.

After that they started the pitocin it was around 4:30. I decided since there was no way I could get up to labor for fear of Skyla's heartbeat dropping and I had to have the pitocin to get going I might as well go for the epidural. I realized that there was no way I would have been able to handle that pain with being made to labor in bed like I had to. I really hated having the epidural go in. It hurt. The contractions hurt worse though. Not to mention the severe back pain I had been in since about 6:30 the night before. They had it in by 5:30 or 6 in the morning. The relief was pretty instant to both my back and my contractions. I was still able to feel the contractions .. but there wasn't so much pain there, just pressure.

Dr. Branham came on duty about 6 am (Dr. Hilton left saying I'll see you tonight .. I had really hoped he was joking). Dr Branham was worried that Skyla's head wasn't coming down because of all the fluid around her. She took a needle or something and went up in there to poke tiny wholes in my bag of water to hopefully get some of the water to slowly draing out so Skyla could come down farther. She was afraid that if she went ahead and broke my water that Skyla's cord would come down before her head did which would have been very dangerous for Skyla. After several hours of slowly draining the fluid Dr. Branham came back and broke my water completely. The relief of pressure on my uterus was AMAZING. There was ALOT of water, Dr Branham and the nurse were both amazed by how much water came out. I think my uterus actually told them thank you!

They continued to crank up the pitocin for most of the day. I ended up eventually by say 5:30 pm having dialated to a 4 .. but my contractions had begun to be ineffective. Apparently my body had been over saturated with the pitocin and stopped responding. They turned off the pitocin for a while. I continued to contract with out the pitocin but it was spaced very well out. The baby's head was still really high.

Dr. Hilton came back on call. First words out of his mouth "I told you I would see you tonight." Gotta love a Dr. that says I told you so. The Dr. and I had a serious talk. I told him "I don't still want to be pregnant tomorrow. I think if I give it till 10 o'clock tonight that will make 24 hours of labor .. if by then we haven't seen any real progress, I think we should call it quits and go for the c-section." He told me that it was entirely up to me and that we would do this as long as I wanted as long as me and the baby were doing well. He turned the pitocin back on. The contractions started back but they just never became effective again. My body was just not responding to it any more. He came in again at 10 pm and checked me again. I was more effaced slightly .. and had dialated about another half centimeter .. but that was it. I told him that we had just decided to go for the c-section. By 10:30 pm I was in the operating room. We had 3 surgeons delivering Skyla, and 2 anesthetioligists working on me, not to mention countless nurses in there.

The c-section dose of the epidural made me really nausious and gave me a headache. The anesthesioligist who was standing behind me got it straightened out. They had to actually give me stuff to bring up my BP. Charles was finally brought in the room and he held my hand as they started the surgery. I was pleased that Duke doesn't strap your arms down for a c-section. I started to shake violently I thought it was from the meds but the anes. guy told me it was from the labor that alot of laboring women get the shakes badly.

Skyla came into this world at 11:04pm on Easter Monday. Charles of course stood up to see her, just like he did with her big brother. This time the Drs. and nurses didn't yell at him. Her apgars were 8 and 9 just like her older brother's. She was alot quieter and didn't cry as much as Chip did .. which scared us to begin with. Turns out .. She's just a quiet little girl and there was nothing wrong. It was so neat this time because they didn't take Skyla and Charles to a different room. They cleaned her up and weighed her and everything in the operating room. I couldn't see anything .. but I could talk to Charles and he told me what was going on and how she was doing. I asked him who she looks like. Turns out she looked just like me. After the nurses were through they gave her to Charles and he sat down beside my head and held her out for me to look at her. I got to talk to Charles and look at Skyla for about 15 minutes. Charles was scared to let me hold her because I was shaking so bad, so I just looked at her. Turns out she was only 8lbs 3oz at birth and 19 1/4 inches long. She weighed the exact same weight as I did at birth. She was much smaller than the Drs. had been predicting my whole pregnancy. She was so tiny and delicate after having had Chip first. Charles was scared he would break her!

They took Skyla and Charles off to the nursery and finished up my c-section. Apparently I lost quite a bit of blood thanks to having been on pitocin for a whole day as I am now on heavy duty iron pills. I spent 2 hours in recovery after the c-section and then finally got back to my new post partum room at 2 am. They brought Skyla to me about 2:15 .. by 2:20 I had her nursing and she was nursing like a champ. I had been worried that not getting to nurse her for over 3 hours would keep her from nursing well. I was so happy to see her doing so well.

Skyla's birth was an amazing experience for me. I in no way regret going for the VBAC. I hate that I still ended up having to have a c-section but I so enjoyed being able to participate in her birth by laboring. I know that both the Drs. and I did everything we knew how to get her here safely. It didn't work, and we will probably never know exactly why she didn't drop on her own but I have no regrets

Photos of Skyla :)

Hope this makes up for keeping you all waiting so long!!!


trying link again
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2128728941

So sorry for tthe suspense!!!

We just got home a couple of hours ago. Skyla was born Easter Monday night at 11:04 pm after a 30 hour induction (25 hours of labor) and was eventually born by c-section.

She is beautiful and perfect. She weighed 8lbs 3oz, 19 1/4 inches long and is an absolute angel who looks just like her mama!!!

More details and photos coming later.

So much can change in a year (Forgive me for rambling)

Last year on this day (Stella's due date). I was living in Arizona. Far from all my friends and family (except for Charles and Chip) and felt so isolated and alone. I spent the whole day in bed crying. I had so hoped to be pregnant again by her due date, but it just wasn't happening. I had started wondering if I'd ever be pregnant again. Last year today I was in the utter pit of dispair.

Now here I am 365 days later.We are living back in North Carolina. I will be spending the day in bed again but for all different reasons, because I am pregnant and on bedrest. By tomorrow night or Monday sometime I will be holding my new daughter. We will have come full circle. Any tears cried this weekend will be tears of joy. I still feel Stella's loss, but this year we are so full of joy surrounding Skyla's arrival, that it really helps me come to terms with her loss. We will always mourn Stella, but we can't change what happened. We can only welcome Skyla into this world and be grateful that we got a second chance at bringing a new life into this world.

The weird thing is we have decided that Skyla will be our last child. I have today and tomorrow (and maybe some of Monday) to be pregnant .. and I will never be pregnant again. This is an odd thing for me because for the last 4 years of our lives things have revolved around getting pregnant, being pregnant, having a son, being post partum, deciding to get pregnant again, getting pregnant, miscarrying, trying for a year to get pregnant, hoping to stay pregnant, and now getting prepared for delivery again.

In most ways I am relieved. Never getting pregnant again means never having to deal with the possibility of miscarrying another child, never having to deal with that fear and devistation that came with my miscarriage. It also means not having to deal with the hard pregnancies that I have. Each time they keep getting worse and I am terrified to go through another pregnancy again after how rough Skyla's has been.

On the other hand never getting pregnant again means never again feeling those first kicks, never again knowing the joy of carrying a tiny miracle inside me again. Never wondering again whether the baby will come out looking like me or Charles or some relative back 2 generations ago. It's a bittersweet conclusion we came to, but it feels like the right decision.

I feel like though at this point I will have a healthy little boy, and a healthy baby girl (assuming everything goes perfectly with delivery .. I can't even consider the alternative right now) and I will have survived 2 high risk pregnancies, how can I ask for more?

Most of the time when you come to a point where your whole life changes you don't realize it ahead of time. The amazing thing about having a child is, you know ahead of time your life will never be the same, but you don't know exactly how everything will change. It's exciting and freightening at the same time.

Skyla's U/S pics !!!

My best friend scanned all of Skyla's ultrasound photos for me yesterday and put them on a disk. I am so excited to finally get to show her off!!! We got one last u/s photo yesterday. Guess what it's of? Her headfull of long hair!!! I can't wait to meet her in a few days. If you would like to see Skyla you can see the photo album of her ultrasounds here.

The Sweetest Thing Happened Yesterday

After my Dr's. appt I was waiting for the elevator to the parking garage (it was taking an unusually long time for it to come). I was having some contractions and was rubbing my belly. This really sweet older black man (he was a tall guy reminded me of a cuddly teddy bear) standing beside me looked at me and said "You look like you are in pain.". I said "Yep. I feel like I'm gonna explode .. but that's okay .. because we only have 3 more days before she is being evicted. So we are almost home." We proceeded to talk as we rode the elevator up to the 5th floor parking garage. We both got off the same floor and our vehicles ended up being parked right side beside each other (what are the odds of that?). When I got ready to get in my car he said to me " I know you don't know me from Adam's house cat, but I want you to take this and buy your baby something from me" and put a 20$ bill in my hand!!! I was so surprised. I told him he didn't have to do that. He said "I know but I want to." So I thanked him and gave him a hug. He was such a sweet man. So last night when I went shopping with Melissa Skyla's gift from him ended up being a cushy pad with head rests for Skyla's carseat, covers for her straps to protect her little neck from scratches, and a crib sheet and some velcro bows for her hair :)

You hear so much about people being bad this day and age .. I just thought I would share my experience with running into a really sweet person.

We will be taking the laptop to the hospital

So that we can take as many digital photos (at the highest resolution) as we want and just download them straight to the computer and then take more. We are also hoping that we might be able to pick up some wireless internet connection at the hospital that will allow us to get online and update things.

You can keep a look out for updates on Skyla's webpage that I made for her.

I have been having a Pamper mommy day today. Took a 45 minute long bubble bath. Shaved my legs (a feat in itself when 9 months pregnant) and even gave myself a pedicure and painted my toenails a shell pink color. I'm feeling human again :)

I figure I might as well do it now while I can .. once Skyla is here and having Chip too .. there is no telling when I will get to take a bath again .. lol .. I will probably be lucky to get more than a 5 minute shower in.

I am getting soooo excited. Only 5 more days until the induction. My best friend is predicting that Skyla will be here by 11:45 Easter night .. so we will see if she is right. I can dream right???

Oh and check out her outfit for her hospital photo. Hers is the pink one.

Easter Bunny isn't bringing chocolate this year..

But he is bringing a baby !!! My BP was perfect when I went in for my NST despite being a little wonky this morning. Only problem was I had gained 4 lbs in 1 week time. My NST was perfect though. Then they sent me for an u/s to check Skyla's amniotic fluid like they do after every NST.



Normal amniotic fluid is graded on a scale of 6 points to 24 points .. anything under 6 is considered too low .. any thing above 24 points is too high. Skyla's amniotic fluid was 31 points(it jumped from 21 points in only a week). Which explains where all this extra 4lbs came from. So I have developed Polyhydramnios. Good news is .. BP was great .. and absolutely no protein found in my urine.. so I am not pre-eclamptic. But after Dr. saw the results from the fluid check and the weight gain she decided baby girl needs to be evicted. If I don't go into labor by Sunday I have to go to the L&D at 5 pm Sunday night and will be induced. Skyla will probably be here one way or the other Monday the 28th sometime.



The Dr. and I talked very seriously about the whole induction thing .. because all along I have been under the impression that induction wasn't the way to go after having had a c-section. Dr. said that as good as I am doing she saw no reason to jump straight to the c-section. She said being induced wasn't optimum for VBAC but she said it didn't total shoot it down either. She said she has many patients that still go on to have their VBAC even with being induced. She said they would watch me like a hawk to make sure nothing like uterine rupture would happen. She said worst case scenario we end up with another c-section, best care scenario we end up with a VBAC.



I have been reading on the Polyhydramnios and it says that it can cause you to go into labor itself because your uterus just gets too full to keep it all in .. so there is still a chance I will go into labor between now and Sunday on my own .. which would be great. If not .. Skyla will be getting her eviction notice Sunday night.

38 weeks !!!

Wow .. can you believe I only have 2 weeks until my due date??? Thank goodness! I am the most emotional and cranky pregnant woman ever I think at this point. I think I have been hanging out with my 2 year old too long !!! I actually cried and threw a tantrum over shampoo this morning (Don't ask).

I don't know if I have ever discussed how pregnancy effects me mentally before. If I haven't it's pretty screwed up .. when I am pregnant .. it's like being bi-polar for 9 months. I can be happy as a clam one moment and then crying like I lost my best friend the next minute, with really no rhyme or reason. This ofcourse means poor DH never can tell what my mood will be like from one moment to the next. If it tells you anything the first test I took with Skyla turned out negative and I sat and cried. Charles's looked at me and said " I don't care what that test says .. I know you are pregnant! You are only this psycho when pregnant." He wasn't exaggerating. Oh and the bad thing is after 36 weeks it only gets worse!!! So at this point I can't wait for delivery. We know at the very latest she will be here in 3 weeks, because Drs. will not let me go over 41 weeks because of my PIH and the fact that Skyla is probably going to be macrosomic.

Luckily after Chip's birth I didn't have any PPD ..thank goodness. I did have one or two days of the baby blues as the hormones started dropping, but compared to the 9 months of mood swings during the pregnancy .. it wasn't so bad. Hopefully with Skyla I will be just as lucky and skip PPD.

I nested really bad yesterday. I broke my bedrest .. but I made sure to rest lots and take my BP constantly and made sure to keep it under control. I just had to sort and wash her baby clothes and her cradle bedding. Dh has been good about doing most everything since I have been put on bedrest .. but when it comes to baby clothes and baby bedding he is clueless.

Only a week until Easter, and only 6 days until Stella's Due date anniversary. I am hoping and praying that Skyla makes her arrival before then. I think it would be so awesome for her to be here for Easter .. a time of rebirth and healing. So if you ladies want to start sending some labor vibes .. we definitely won't turn them down!!!

A Tribute for Stella (our Angel baby)

(Back to regularly scheduled blogging)

What should have been Stella's 1 year old birthday (had she been born on her due date) is coming up in 9 days. I really thought being pregnant that it would make it not such a big deal. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Just because I am pregnant now, it doesn't make me any less aware that I should be getting ready to celebrate our 2nd child's first birthday here in a little over a week.

Side Note : Since being on bedrest I have taken up a new hobby : Digi Scrapping. It really has helped me keep from losing my mind while on bedrest the past 14 weeks. I was never organized enough for paper scrapbooking, and even if I was .. there is no where to do it here at the house that Chip wouldn't get in to it. With doing it on the computer I can keep everything organized and I don't have to worry about Chip getting into it and messing up my supplies.

This week I did a Digi Scrap Page for Stella. I cried while doing it, but it turned out so beautiful and I really feel like it was a good way to honor her memory. Very theraputic.

For all of my friends that have lost children .. if you haven't done something to remember your angel(s), I highly recommend it. I think it really helped me deal with some of the pain I have been experiencing as I get closer to March 26th.

So I will stop yapping already and show you Stella's page. This is actually a shrunk down jpg format of it. The actual page is much larger and made to print out 12"X12". Eventually all the pages I do I would like to print out and put in an album.

For the anonymous poster who keeps posting

Since you want me to defend myself (not that you deserve it).. here it goes:

For one the Dr. that made the comment about my weight .. if she had said hey your overweight .. blah blah .. that would have been fine. I mean geez you act like you are the only person whose ever told me I was overweight. I can promise you there are plenty of assholes out there who like to point out the obvious. I guess you think just because I am plus size I am blind and deaf too.

The comment she was made was about us not hearing our baby's heartbeat till late in the pregnancy .. which is because I have an anterior placenta .. which means in the front of the uterus rather than the back .. which is known for causing it to be hard to hear the heartbeat. She blamed it on my weight rather than the anterior placenta. Which I know for a fact is not true .. because I actually weigh less this pregnancy than I did with my son and we heard our son's heart beat way earlier.

Oh and as for my comment about eating at the Valentine Party .. I was mentioning not telling my dr. because of the sodium content of the food. I am on a low sodium diet because of Pregnancy Induced Hypertension. I have been very good about staying on my low sodium diet since I had to go on it at 19 weeks. Oh and the actual portions I had were pretty small, my soon to be 3 year old ate more than I did. But after not having sodium for awhile .. I felt like it was alot. Sorry to give you the wrong impression. I am sorry if it totally bugs you that I fell off the wagon one day for a party. I have perfect blood pressure when not pregnant but for some reason when pregnant it goes through the roof. Which before you comment why this will be my last pregnancy. I am sure you will be glad to hear it since you seem so against me.

Oh and as for cheating that one day .. okay so I have occasionally eaten not perfect every day of my pregnancy. I have tried really hard to eat extremely healthy. So much so infact I am 37.5 weeks pregnant and have gained exactly FIVE lbs. And that's with having been put on bedrest at 23.5 weeks because of the BP. So you can go jump in a lake complaining about me "feeding my face." Oh and that's with me carrying a baby that probably already weighs around 8-9 lbs (which doesn't come from me before you start jumping to conclusions.. my skinny husband's side of the family makes BIG babies .. his grandpa weighed 15lbs at birth they come out big .. but then the are tall and skinny as they grow up. My son was 9lbs 1oz at birth and is now a string bean at almost 3). I have technically actually lost weight while pregnant.

It must be nice to have nothing better to do in your life than to go around and pick on fat pregnant women. I hope you are proud of yourself. You don't even have the guts to post your real name or anything.

It's obvious you don't like me, you find me fat and disgusting .. that's perfectly up to you. Everyone has their opinions. I can't change your opinion of me. I am not forcing you to read my blog. I don't know you. I don't care to know you. Go away already.

As for the rest of my blog readers. I am really sorry that you all have to be exposed to this. It's a shame that it's come to this. I guess I should be the bigger person and ignore this person, but I guess they caught me at a weak moment tonight. Lots of love to all the nice sweet wonderful people I have met through my blog!!!

I think Skyla is going to be LONG (musings from the pregnant mind)

She has been dropped for about 2 weeks.. but the last couple of nights .. she is kicking me so high that my breasts are literally jumping from it. I guess she is going to be like Chip. They told us he was only 20" at birth and everyone looked at them like they were smoking crack. At his first Dr. appt they measured him and he was a few centimeters shy of 24"!!! They just didn't stretch him out.

I was doing the math last night. Chip went from weighing 6lbs 14oz at his 36.5 week ultrasound to being 9lbs 1oz at birth 3 weeks later (his ultrasound the day before birth judged him at 9lbs 2oz so the lady was right on the money with him). So at 34.5 weeks Skyla EFW put her weighing 6lbs 10oz and it's been almost 3 weeks .. if she grows at the rate Chip did .. she could be getting really close to 9lbs at this point. ACK.

The really screwed up thing is .. I was having loads of contractions before I hit 37 week mark on Sunday .. and since then .. you guessed it .. I have not had one single solitary contraction!!! BLAH!!!

I so hope to go into labor sometime soon. I don't want to be pregnant for 3.5 more weeks (that's the deadline the Drs. have given me that they won't let me go past)!! And I don't want Skyla to be like 11lbs or anything insane at birth.

Full Term Today!!!

Woo hoo!!! My due date is only 3 weeks away .. that means Miss Skyla can show up at any time now. At the very latest she will be here in 4 weeks. I'd do the happy dance .. but don't want my BP to get high LOL. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by. I swear it doesn't seem like long ago at all that I was thinking I was never going to get pregnant again, and now she's almost here.

I just can't wait to see her for the first time. I can't wait to see if I am right and she is going to look like Chip. I can't wait to see whether she will start out with dark hair like me and Chip, or come out cotton top like her daddy did. With her being the first girl grandbaby on either side I know she is going to end up spoiled rotten I can't wait.

Not to mention I am quite excited about the prospect of being off bedrest and my BP being back to normal so I can eat not quite so strictly.

Belly Pics Galore :)

Yesterday after I had my NST and US (both of which were perfect. Skyla is behaving and she has plenty of amniotic fluid and she is in prime birthing possition !!!) I went over to my best friend Melissa's house. Melissa is extremely handy with a camera and we had a ball breaking in her new one!!! We took like 100 or so pics and deleted probably 25-30 of them and here are the rest (I am plus size mom so if you have a problem with that .. might want to just keep on going):

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2129684805
Because of some rude people I have password protected my album. If you are one of my friends and blog readers just email me I will be glad to give you the password. It's a shame I have to do it this way, but there are too many asshats around and I choose to prevent them from further trashing something I feel so good about.

I am so happy to have these pics. When I was pregnant with Chip I never got any decent pregnancy photos and I have always hated that. At the time I felt way too fat and unattractive to want to have my photo taken. Stupid me. I have definitely learned a thing or too since then!!! (To the asshat who left the message yes I have learned something. I have learned just because others are too small minded and petty to see anything other than disgust doesn't mean I can't love my pregnant body .. fat or not. But thanks for catching my typo.)

You should have seen us trying to do our photo shoot with Melissa's soon to be 3 year and her 1 year old daughter wanting to get in on the action. It was hilarious. At one point the girls were on the floor pretending to be cats and "meow"ing to their little hearts were content. It's very hard to keep a "serene" look on your face when you want to crack up!!!

And then there was my friend Melissa (a klutz of the worst sort) jumping up on the top of her table or in a chair or on her couch because she wanted to get just the right angle. I informed her she was totally not allowed to fall and break her neck because I didn't want to have to be the one to explain it to the EMTs I would have to call if she did!!!

Luckily no one was injured in the making of these photos and all of us had a blast!!!

An apology

Sorry I haven't been around much lately to blog. These days I am so miserable (I hurt all over) and just so tired of being pregnant that I haven't got a whole lot to say about it. I am just ready to hold my baby girl. All though she can't come yet. We have had the sickies at our house the last two weeks!!! Chip and I caught a cold. Mine turned into an upper respiratory infection what fun! Then when Chip and I got better Charles came down with the cold. Charles was finally feeling some better when all of a sudden Chip starts coming down with spots all over!!! I was super mad because we thought they were chicken pox and here Chip has had the vaccine already to prevent the chicken pox. Well the spots kept getting bigger and bigger and were starting to all run together. I was freaking out last night thinking we should take him to the ER. Charles had been researching online and said that we were doing everything suggested for child hood rash or chicken pox, and that every thing we read said there was only one really dangerous rash for kids to get and his didn't have any of the signs of being that rash. So we compromized and decided that if Chip wasn't doing any better today we would take him into the Pediatrician. Well we got up around 4am to check on him .. and suddenly his spots were fading and no longer raised and welted looking. Today he has acted like a different kid. He has been eating and drinking more and playing and been alot more demanding than the last couple of days. So we ended up not taking him in. Apparently it's just a garden variety child hood viral rash. What fun. We figure odds are he got exposed to it when he went to a valentine party on the 14th (they say these things have like a 2 week incubation period) and it was exactly 2 weeks since the party and he hasn't really been around other kids since then.

There is nothing like having a sick child. To me its 10 times more painful than being sick myself. I would take any pain or illness to protect my child from feeling bad. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

Holy Big Baby Batman!

So we had another NST today and Miss Skyla did very well. Then we had our growth scan to see just how big she is measuring. According to all the measurements the lady took today we have an EFW of 6lbs 10oz as of today at 34w4d. Our last EFW was at 25w2d and she weighed 3lbs 8oz. She has gained 3lbs 2oz (estimated of course) in 5 weeks and 2 days. We have 5 weeks and 3 days left until our due date. So if we make it to 40 weeks and she keeps growing like this .. she's gonna be another big'un. She is sooooo cute though. You can really tell she is filling out in the pictures I have today compared to the last profile picks I have. The u/s tech thinks she looks like me .. so we will see :) I definitely think she has mine and Chip's nose. Oh and she is up to 88th %tile .. so if she gains 2 more %tile points she will be considered macrosomic. She looks really great though.

Skyla had her first NST today

And according to the NST tech and I quote "Your daughter is beautiful!!!". Apparently she behaved herself very well today despite my fears. Skyla has a history of being hard to track down so I worried that it would be stressful. However Marie had a bead on her within 30 seconds of putting her hands on my belly. Marie said she likes to see atleast 2 accelerations (where the little line jumps up) in the 20 minutes that they monitor the baby. Miss Skyla had 3 accelorations within the first 4.5 minutes I was on the monitor. She continued to perform her little feets for the rest of her 20 minutes. Marie said she lost count of how many accelorations there was so many. Already she is an overachiever! Must get it from her daddy! So then we go and check the fluids surrounding her on the ultrasound. The tech said we have plenty of amniotic fluid right now so she did well on that too. Then I waited for like 45 minutes to wait to work me into get to see the Dr. because of my upper respiratory infection. Well I finally get into see the Dr. and she says she doesn't want to give me any antibiotics and to get some Robitussen to help make it easier. BLAH. I was like gee I waited 45 minutes for this??? She did talk with me about Skyla's size. She said that it wasn't even worth measuring my belly since last week I was measuring 41 weeks already. She said that she wanted another ultrasound on Thursday for a growth scan to see how big she is right now. She told me that back at 29 weeks when Skyla measured 3lbs 8oz she was already in the 80th %tile and that once a baby hit 90th %tile they are then considered to have macrosomia (basically it just means .. really big baby). I told her I knew this all because Chip was born weighing 9lbs 1oz at 3 days early. She said that when a baby measured to have macrosomia they liked to induce but because of my history of c-section that they wouldn't want to do that. I told her I was aware of that. I let her know that I realize that I have to go into labor naturally .. or either I end up with a c-section. There aren't really any other options at this point. She seemed to understand that I have done my research and I know the pros and cons about everything and I mentioned the fact with Skyla being a female that hopefully even if she is big she won't be built like a linebacker like her big brother was at birth. She said that's a good point because girl babies and boy babies tend to be built differently. It should be very interesting to see how big she is Thursday. I am feeling huge and miserable .. and everyone keeps telling my my belly is sticking out farther with Skyla than I was with Chip at the end and I am only 34 weeks, so it's a little daunting. But whatever size she is. She is almost here!!! I can't wait!!! 7 weeks at the most. I know they won't let me go over more than a week past my due date without wanting to do a c-section. So we are down to short time!!!

No wonder I feel like a beached whale!!!

So I went to my Dr. appt. And I LOVED the Dr. I had today. He was awesome. Totally VBAC pro, totally thought I was doing a great job keeping my bp under control with the meds and bedrest. Didn't even sweat the fact that we have big babies. And he was HOT!!! I didn't know guys that looked like that became OBs. LOL. Turns out when he was a resident .. he delivered my best friends second daughter Averiegh!!! LOL. Melissa and I had fun talking about him when I got back to her house to pick up Chip. Oh and back to the beached whale comment. I am 33w1d .. but he measured me today and I am measuring 41 (ACK) weeks already. Baby girl is apparently on miracle grow suppliments in there. Oh and I weighed 2lbs less than my starting weight (and this was after feeding my face with Pizza, chocolate-chocolate chip muffins, and cherry cordial hot cocoa at Melissa's valentine's party ..sssshhhh don't tell my Dr. !!!). So that definitely explains why I am soooooooo incredibly uncomfortable these days. Starting next week we are going to start bi-weekly NSTs and weekly Biophysical profiles.

Spent the morning in L&D

So Charles and I DTD this morning, and when we were through he looked down and said "Holy Shit!" there was blood everywhere, him, me the bed. I started freaking out. Called Drs. office they told me to go to L&D. So go to L&D and they monitor me and the baby, I'm not having any contractions, baby was moving so the woman had to stand and hold the fetal monitor the whole time so she could keep a bead on her. The CNMW comes in and talks to me, gives me the whole speculum treatment (medieval torture device at its finest), then a manual check. Cervix is tight and long. She did see some more blood around the cervix and tested it for infection. It came back fine. They then gave me a vaginal ultrasound to check and make sure I didn't have any placental tissue near my cervix. Then they gave me a regular abdominal u/s to check on the baby. They did a biophysical profile on her. Out of a possible high score of 8 .. she got an 8. She she is doing perfect. We also got another confirmation that she is still a girl. :) And a picture to proove it. She is head down and now face down so I didn't get to see her face but got a cute photo of her right ear. So CNMW said that everything looks good with both me and Skyla. Oh and my instructions were to go home and play checkers (in other words .. no fraternizing with hubby until after my regular appt on the 14th).

I found a doula

that is willing to assist my birth for free. She hasn't yet completed her Dona certification so she is going to assist my birth for free. I found her on a site that links up women donating their services to moms. I wasn't sure whether or not she would go to the hospital that I am delivering at but she said she would be delighted. She seems really awesome. Been chatting via email and trying to arrange a meeting for this week as weather permits I am super psyched. Right now money is tight so I couldn't have afforded to chunk out an extra 600-800$ for a doula .. and had given up on it until a friend shared the link of free doula's with me. I am excited because I know having a doula on my side .. my odds of getting my VBAC increase!

Hunkering Down for the winter weather!

Chip, Skyla and I are hunkering down for the winter weather expected today. Calling for snow and ice. FUN FUN FUN. Charles got stranded out of town and won't get back maybe until after the weekend :( He was going to come back last night but then his car wouldn't start. So this morning he works on his car and gets it going, but by the time he was through fixing it, the ice and sleet had already started. His car is a 2 wheel drive and he needs new tires. So looks like he is going to be stuck there for a bit. Chip, Skyla and I should be okay .. but really hoping we don't lose power!! Because if we lose power .. we lose heat. Oh and all my family is towards the part where things are supposed to be even worse .. so going there would be no help. Plus I don't exactly need to be out driving in ice and snow when 7 months pregnant and supposed to be on bedrest. Especially with a 2.5 year old toddler in tow. So keep your fingers crossed that we don't lose power.

Bawling my eyes out

Discovery health is showing a show today called Baby Lab. It's got stories of different couples going through IVF.. I am crying like there is no tomorrow. So many of my friends have had to go through this process .. and reading their messages and emails .. I knew it was hard .. but watching it on TV .. just makes me realize how hard all of this has been on them. Several couples' IVFs didn't take .. and 2 couples did. One even had triplets!!! It's just such a crapshoot. It's so not fair that it works for some and not others .. and no one knows whether it will be them that it works for .. or it will be them that it doesn't work for. I just wish I could make it succesful for all that tried it.

Met the first Dr. at Duke that I didn't like today.

Ugh .. I hope I don't see her much. She made a couple of comments that just irritated me. And she is the first one I have run into over there that acts like she isn't totally up on the whole VBAC idea. Oh and she thinks epidurals are great. Not what I want to hear when I am wanting a natural birth and a VBAC .. oh and she is already starting the whole your pelvis might not be big enough to birth a big baby .. the woman hasn't been near my pelvis .. so how in the world would she know??? Not to mention .. we all know women who have 9 and 10 lb babies all the time. I'm a big woman and I have a large frame .. why the heck wouldn't my pelvis have plenty of room? Heck .. my 5'4 125lb SIL had a 9lbs 2oz baby girl no problem. I just don't like it when the first things out of the Drs. mouth is hemmin and hawing about negative stuff. I've spent the last 3 years researching VBACS .. I know the risks, the things that make it more likely to happen or not happen. I figure .. if we can keep my BP under control with the meds, I actually dialate on my own and my body goes into labor on its own.. and we skip the whole preeclampsia thing .. who cares how big the baby is .. atleast give me a trial of labor right? I am really hoping to avoid this Dr. in the future. I really like the other ones I have seen and they all seem very pro-VBACs and having that positive outlook is a definite plus in my opinion.

Ohhh and she made a crack about my weight too! Which didn't make me like her any better. We discussed the anterior placenta and I told her that finally explained why we hadn't been able to hear the heart beat via doppler for Skyla until 19 weeks. She told me it wasn't because of the anterior placenta that it was because of my weight! I said "well that's funny since I heard Chip's heart beat at 14 weeks and I weighed 20lbs more when I got pregnant with him". She did say that they would pay special attention to the location of the placenta during my next growth scan (aka ultrasound because they think I'm growing a monster baby in there). She said that more than likely that the anterior placent wouldn't be a problem when it came to giving birth .. so we will see.

Thank you Jen!!!

After seeing that amazing photo of Jen wearing Miles in her new Hotsling. I became obsessed with finding a pouch sling for Skyla. I checked out Hotslings and liked the idea of the pouch sling but none of the patterns she had quite jumped out at me. So I obsessed and obsessed and found all kinds of places where WAHM's made pouch slings. I decided to try ebay. I hit the jackpot there. I found a lady who makes custom sized pouch slings for you, she pairs up the fabric .. you win or buy it now on ebay. You pay .. she get's your measurements .. and whammo .. in 2 weeks you have your own personalized pouch sling!!! I went ahead and bought it now and paid shipping at it came out to a total of get this 22.95!!! What a great deal. Oh and it's reversable. Here's the auction

I totally love that it's got a bright and vibrant fabric on one side for when I want to pep up my outfits .. and it's got the solid blue panel on the other side so that I can wear it that way to tone it down when I need to. I think both Skyla and I will LOVE it!!!

Remind me not to Google anything about pregnancy again!!!

ACK!!! I noticed on the u/s print out that the woman had put on there that I have an anterior placenta. I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, so decided to Google it. Well I found that there seems to be no problems with an anterior placenta UNLESS you have had a previous c-section. Which ofcourse I have had. Here is what a Dr. told a woman on some medical board.

Anterior placentas are extremely common and generally do not cause complications. The exception is if you have had a prior c/section. Then, in some cases, the anterior placenta can attach itself to the old scar in the uterine muscle, a situation called placenta accreta (or percreta or increta, depending if the placenta goes deeper into the muscle, or even through the entire uterus, respectively). This can cause hemorrhage with delivery, necessitating blood transfusion or even hysterectomy. Fortunately, if you have never had a c/section, this is quite rare.

ACK!!! Just how I needed to start off my day!!!

Great appt. and u/s today!!!

So I had my first uneventful appt. in I can't even remember how long today!!! Dr. did tell me she wanted me to drink some gatorade to help with the BH cxs and the leg cramps I have been having. Then I had my ultrasound and Miss Skyla is looking great :) She's weighing about 3lbs 8oz so she is a good sized one for 29w2d. She's measuring closer to 30 weeks. She is quite flexable already and had one foot under her butt (well maybe over it since she is head down still) and then one all cocked over funny. Oh and she has big feet!!! LOL .. the u/s tech was quite impressed with her long feet. I told the u/s tech that she came by it honestly because I wear a 10 in womens and DH wears a 12 or 13 in mens. LOL. Then I went over to my friend Melissa's to see her and her 2 girls after my appts. We had lots of fun and Melissa was sweet enough to give me a truck load of girl clothes!!! She says she still has more but they need to finish going through garage before she will find them. Annmarie and Avereigh were so cute and decided to help us go through the clothes. Hehe. A great day all around :)

An internet baby shower!!!

Not for me .. For Julia and her sweet baby girl Hannah who was born yesterday. You can check it out here.

HALLELUJAH!!!!

Julia had Hannah!!! And the Drs. saved her UTERUS!!!

That is the best news I have heard all week :) I am so happy for Julia and Todd :) I can't wait to see photos of Hannah. I know she is BEAUTIFUL just like her mama!!!

I know there is a collective sigh of relief around the blog world tonight!!!

Saw this on Kether's Blog and thought this was kewl.

Stollen from Kether who stole it from :

The year in review
From The Unproductive Reproductive:This was taken/stolen from Journey Woman1.

What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before? 2004 was the first time I ever lived in a state other than North Carolina. Lived in Arizona/Nevada for 6 months.
Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?I got pregnant .. so yes :) This years resolution is to be the best mom and wife I can be.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes, my sister in law gave birth to my beautiful nephew Evan.
4. Did anyone close to you die?Yes, my grandfather died.
5. What countries did you visit? we lived like an hour from Mexico but never went .. oops.
6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004? a healthy Skyla!!!!
7. What date from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? July 22nd the day I got my :bfp after a year of TTC after my miscarriage
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?Carrying this little girl :)
9. Did you suffer illness or injury?Only morning sickness .. well all day sickness
10. What was the best thing you bought? Skyla's 140$ cradle for 20$!!!!
11. Whose behavior merited celebration? My husband has been a rock through my being on bedrest and having BP problems. He's done the shopping the cleaning .. alot of taking care of Chip.
12. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Seeing all the trolls out there attacking my blogger friends when they least needed it
13. Where did most of your money go? Moving back to NC
14. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Finally getting our little girl!
15. What song will always remind you of 2004? Can't think of anything right now
16. Compared to this time last year, are you:i. happier or sadder? Happier!ii. thinner or fatter? MUCH fatter!!! iii. richer or poorer? richer.
17. What do you wish you'd done more of? lol .. cleaning!
18. What do you wish you'd done less of?worrying
20. How will you be spending New Year's? I spent it sleeping!!!.
21. Did you fall in love in 2004?Yes, with our daughter to be .. and more in love with my husband than ever
22. How many one-night stands? I'm a married woman!
23. What was your favorite TV program? A baby story
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?Hate? Can't think of anyone
25. What was the best book you read? Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon
27. What did you want and get? Skyla
28. What did you want and not get? I got everything I wanted
29. What was your favorite film of this year? 50 First Dates
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I cried. I got a BFN and granddad was dieing. 2 days later got my BFP .. next day granddad died
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Can't think of anything
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?Fat and pregnant .. does that give you a hint?
.33. What kept you sane? My husband and my blogger and message board friends
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Julia Roberts has always been a hero and inspiration of mine. So happy for her and her twins!
35. What political issue stirred you the most? The presedential Election
36. Who did you miss? Always my dad who passed away in April 1999
37. Who was the best new person you met? Can't think of anyone
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004? That good things come to those who wait.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: She will be loved.

Doing the Happy Dance!!!

Well finally something went my way!!!! I don't have GD!!!! YEAH!!! I am so freaking relieved!!! I wasn't looking forward to 3 months of low sodium diet AND low carb diet .. low sodium by itself is bad enough!!! The Lab person I talked with said my #'s weren't even close to being in the GD range :) One less thing to stress over.

Starting BP meds and I may have GD

So I had my appointment today. My BP was 153/93. My urine had glucose, protein and small keytones. After 2 hours of sitting in drs. waiting rIoom then in the exam room they took my BP again. It was 142/99!!! The bottom # is the one that they really stress over the most and it went up after 2 hours of inactivity .. it normally goes down but this time went up. So on to BP meds 30 mg of Procardia? I think .. it's being filled right now. I take one pill every morning .. should last all day starting tomorrow. The dr. also mentioned the keytones in the urine and told me I needed to drink more water .. I told her I had been chugging water all morning. She said that along with the glucose in my urine tended to lead her to think I may have GD this time. So Thursday I go to check my BP (because of the new meds) and have a 3 hour GTT (I have a habit of flunking 1 hour one so going straight to 3 hour). 2 weeks from tomorrow I have another Level II scan of Skyla to keep a check on how she is growing .. with the BP issues, possible GD and our history of big babies .. her growth is a major concern for them. BLAH!!! Why is it that I never seem to get those boring uneventful appts? I saw the nutritionist today and she said that if I flunked the GD test that I would be seeing her again .. and that we would work hard on coming up with a diet for someone who has to be low sodium and low carb. Ought to be interesting. Oh and I still weighing in at 1lb below where I started out this pregnancy .. which the nutritionist said was amazing seeing I have been on bedrest for 4 weeks. She said it normally goes the opposite way on bedrest.