50 Questions - If you're interested!

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought that I would fill it out. I don't have any other news to report, so here goes....

1) Do you like blue cheese? Cheese, Yes! Blue Cheese, No!

2) Have you ever smoked heroin? No, never done a drug or smoked anything.

3) Do you own guns? No, I don't even think we have any toy guns, unless there are some in Matt's boxes filled with his old toys in the garage.

4) What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I've never been to a Sonic. You can add flavors to the drinks?? Where are Sonics at?

5) Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Depending on the appointment and reasoning. I tend to get more nervous at appointments for Ethan, especially if we think there will be bad news.

6) What do you think of hot dogs? I like them and actually had a couple yesterday. I love them cut up in Mac & Cheese!

7) Favorite Christmas song? Wow, that's tough...I love so many of them. O Holy Night, comes to mind. I love trying to sing Silent Night in German, well at least the first verse :)

8) What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Juice, but right now I'm stuck with the tiny amount of milk I'm allowed in my cereal bowl and water.

9) Can you do push ups? Maybe a push up, although I haven't tried in years. I really don't think my muscles could even think of it right now!

10) Can you do a chin up? Wow, memories of my name being on the wall under zero in high school just came flooding back. Why did they make us do that and then post it on a wall??? I hated Phys. Ed. and I still do. I do not like bringing my students back from it, because 6th graders have a funky smell after P.E.

11) What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My favorites are my wedding and engagement rings and the earrings that Ethan and Matt got me. But, I love all of my jewelry, I have a lot of interesting pieces.

12) Favorite hobby? Currently, the internet, especially anything having to do with my pregnancy. I also love making blankets and bibs and right now some Christmas decorations for my church. I also like to read when I can actually do it, which I have finally had some time for lately.

13) Ever been in a car wreck? Yes, I can count 5. One when I was about 14, we were in PA on our way to NY when we got into a 6 car accident. We were only hit from behind, but were inches from going over a bridge. I remember it like it was yesterday. When I was about 17, Matt and I were hit by a drunk driver head-on on a snowy night, Matt's car was totaled and I have had some long-term effects from it. I hate driving in the snow and get really freaked out. I am also scared to drive at night because the last thing I saw in that accident were the headlights. So, to this day headlights really scare me. The other 3 were all when I was driving and in each situation I was bumped from behind by morons! Two were in the rain and the person behind me couldn't stop and one was in a drive-thru line. No major problems with any of those and luckily no major injuries to my cars.

14) Do you have A.D.D.? Sometimes I wonder, because I can never just do one thing. I have to have a t.v. on when I do just about anything.

15) What's one trait that you hate about yourself? My weight. I hope I will finally get it under control after the baby comes.

16) Middle name? Tamarika - My dad made it up based on my 3 older sisters names, Taia, Mary, and Erika. Believe it or not, it was almost my first name!

17) Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment. I can't believe I'm filling this out. These questions are really making me think about a lot of stuff. I can't believe that I've watched nearly the first 3 seasons of Grey's Anatomy in the past 2 or 3 weeks.

18) Name 3 things you bought yesterday. I don't really do that anymore, but I can name some things Matt bought yesterday. A Mud Hens Hat and T-shirt for Ethan and lots of stadium food!

19) Name 3 drinks you drink regularly? Currently Water. Normally, water, juice and pop.

20) Current worry? Will this pregnancy go full-term and will this baby come home with me? Will the baby be healthy?

21) Current hate right now? The fact that I can't go anywhere with Ethan. It is heartbreaking when he asks if mommy can go and then he has to answer his own question with "after the baby is born" once he sees my face starting to say no. This is the hardest thing besides the health of the baby to deal with right now!

22) Favorite book? I love Jude DeVeraux books, she has a way of writing that just drags you into the story. She does a lot of time jumping books, which I love.

23) How did you bring in the New Year? With my family at my oldest sister's house. We have done this every year since she got married and I was about 11 or 12. Matt and I always stay the night there and end up spending the next day watching movies with my sister's family. There was only one year we didn't do this and that was the year my entire family had the flu. For a few years we did the same thing but at my other sister's house.

24) Where would you like to go? Right now, anywhere but my house!! I really want to go to a hotel for one night, just to do something different! Plus, it is something Ethan really wants to do. I figure I can lay in a bed there just as much as I can here and we have some really great hotels within a few miles of our house :) We'll see!

25) Name three people who will complete this. I really don't know.

26) Do you own slippers? Yes, I grew up in a house where everyone wore slippers and my feet feel really dirty if I don't wear slippers. I love slippers. During the summer I wear a pair of sandals from Italy as my slippers.

27) What shirt are you wearing? A red maternity t-shirt. I don't think it has any stains, which is rare since I have to eat mostly lying down, so I have a lot of clothes that don't get worn outside of this house and only a couple that do :)

28) Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't think I have. I love flannel sheets though.

29) Can you whistle? Yes

30) Ringer on your phone? One that came with the phone.

31) Would you be a pirate? No

32) What songs do you sing in the shower? Usually whatever is on my radio or CD, if I know it.

33) Favorite girl's name? Don't know.

34) Favorite boy's name? Don't know.

35) What's in your pocket? Maternity pants don't have pockets.

36) Last thing that made you laugh. Probably Matt or Ethan, they both have a great sense of humor.

37) Best bed sheets as a child. I remember I had sheets that were very 70's/80's style. They had stripes of yellow, orange and brown flowers. You know the flower power type of flower!

38) Worst injury you've ever had. As a kid, when I got bit by one of our rabbits, I still have the scar. As an adult, when my dog dragged me across someones yard and I hurt my shoulder. It was when Ethan was in the hospital and I couldn't pick him up by myself and I had a really hard time driving and doing anything with that arm.

39) Do you love where you live? I love the part of town we live in. We have just about anything within 5 miles of our house. I also really like our house right now. Although, someday we would like to be in a neighborhood.

40) How many TVs do you have in your house? 4 that work and one that doesn't. In our garage we have 3, 1 that works and 2 that don't. Out of all of our tv, I think we have only bought one brand new one and one from a garage sale. The rest have all been given to us second-hand and one as a gift.

41) Who is your loudest friend? I've never really payed attention to that. Most are probably louder than me :)

42) How many dogs do you have? 1, Maggie

43) Do you like sushi? No, I hate fish.

44) Best friend in grade school? I had a lot, but my longest 3 were, Erica, Colleen and Kelly.

45) What is your favorite song. Hmmm....I have too many to name.

46) Favorite candy? Anything chocolate, especially with hazelnut, almonds or walnuts.

47) Favorite Sports Team? Do Matt's favorites count?? I guess I would say Ohio State and Mud Hens for me, but Matt also likes the Browns, the Pistons, and the Tigers. So, when we watch any of those games, those are the ones I root for.

48) What song do you want played at your funeral? Amazing Grace

49) What were you doing 12 AM last night? Working on falling asleep.

50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? Did Ethan pee yet? and Why is he up already?

Good News - Bad News

I ended up having to go in for my first official trip to labor and delivery today. I had cramping for about 3 hours this morning and decided to call the doctor about it. It is on the list of preterm labor symptoms and since it was constant and didn't go away, I decided it was time to call. They called me back and told me that the doctor wanted me to go to L&D instead of the office. Matt and I would have much rather gone into the office, but we were able to get some tests done that we would have had to wait for results on if we went to the office.

We got in there and I was put onto an incredibly uncomfortable bed, they hooked me up to the monitors and told me they would be back soon. You know how that works at a hospital. Eventually, instead of the nurse coming in to get me checked in, the doctor came in. He talked to the woman next to me and me at the same time. It turned out that all three women in the triage area had doctors in the same group, which he found odd. He then saw each of us individually and that is where the good news comes in.

The baby was doing well on the monitor and I only had a couple of contractions while I was there. He checked me and I was not dilating, which was great news! He also said that my cervical length was still 3 cm, which was really good! He performed the Fetal Fibronectin (fFN) test and we waited an hour and a half for those results. Basically, it is a test for preterm delivery, it shows if you will deliver in the next two weeks or not. They did it when I was in the hospital with Ethan and it came out positive and I had him a week and a half later. This one, thankfully, came out negative!! We were so happy with all of this news today.

The bad news is that I have another bladder infection, which is really frustrating. I had been having some symptoms and I was going to ask about it at my regular appt. tomorrow, but it was good to get the news today and get started on antibiotics. It turns out that progesterone not only relaxes the uterus, but it also relaxes the bladder, hence the UTI's. Gestational diabetes also causes UTI's, so I have a double whammy on that one. Speaking of that, I just posted that my blood sugar numbers have been pretty good and today that was all completely changed. I had a high one this morning and then I had to eat a hospital lunch, which caused it to be really high this afternoon. I think all of this was working together today and now I know that the UTI was causing all of the irritation this morning.

Hopefully, we'll stay out of the hospital for several more weeks with no more visits :) I have my nonstress test tomorrow and a regular appointment, which I probably won't have much news from since I went in today. If there is anything new I'll let you know. Otherwise, my next appt. is next Wed, I think. By the way, I'm 30 weeks tomorrow, the doctor's original goal!!! 6 more weeks until the cerclage comes out and then I'll have the baby anytime after that :) I'm getting really excited!

My Numbers Seem to be Good

I started my new diet on Thursday night, after Matt went shopping for me. So, I did not really count my blood sugar level tests until the one after dinner on Thursday. At this point, I have only had one high number and now I think I should have retested, just to be sure. I had one high one yesterday and when I retested a few seconds later it was not high and more true to what I had been doing. Even the one I did record that was high was only slightly above the range, so I don't think it was too bad.

The diet has gone pretty well so far. I think there are two things that I have found to be a little difficult with it. First, I am finding the dinners hard, breakfast and lunch are a breeze for me, but the dinner is where I normally eat a yummy, tasty meal. So far, it has been hard to get used to making the dinner fit in with the diet and make it yummy. Second, Matt, Ethan and I have not shared a dinner since I started the diet. We haven't even eaten at the same time. With this diet I have to try and stick as close to the time schedule as possible. Matt and Ethan have not been on the same schedule as me due to various reasons. It doesn't even matter if we were not eating the same thing, but it would be nice to at least eat at the same time. I guess it will take some getting used to.

One benefit that I have noticed is that I am finding a taste for a few new things and maybe it is rubbing off on Matt and Ethan. Tonight all Ethan wanted for dinner was salad with dressing and grapes. He even had almost 2 servings of salad. Even Matt had some veggies and salad added to his dinner tonight. Hopefully, at some point we will start to make a meal that we can all eat, rather than 3 different meals, which is what is happening right now.

One fun part is when I find something that I'm allowed to eat for a snack that actually tastes yummy! Like, vanilla wafers, graham crackers or even cheese. Poor Matt is going to have to go to the grocery store a lot more, at least until I get this whole thing figured out.

The goal here is to get a healthy baby out of this and hopefully, a better diet for all of us :)

Ethan Update

Ethan has had a lot going on lately, so here goes...

He had a dentist appointment on Tuesday and he did really well. He got a rating of excellent and he did a great job with the x-rays, even the hygenist was impressed! He has no cavities, which makes us so happy! His mouth is a little small in terms of having room for his adult teeth, but that will be something we'll deal with later, if we need to at all. We are really proud of him and how good he was for the dentist.

We've also been working on potty training more seriously since my spring break. He's been in underpants only since then and we have been about 50% of the way there, up until last week. Around his birthday we told him that 4 year olds go poop in the potty and last week, he must have taken it seriously. We had a few accidents last weekend, but he has no accidents this week! We are so proud of him. Last week, he wanted to call someone every time he went, but we have moved this week to him wanting, in his words, "3 things, a hug, a kiss and a five". So, now he is happy to have those three things and to be told how proud we are of him. We are so happy to have this done before the baby comes. We are hoping it is done and that we will have enough time for him to get it down completely so that he does not revert when the baby is born.

Ethan just finished his 8 week Nature Explorers program. It was a program that was held once a week for 2 hours at local metroparks and it was through his private therapy. He was able to get extra speech and occupational therapy while there, which is a big reason we signed him up. We also signed him up to help him get more opportunities with kids and adults he didn't know as well. It has been great because he has been so much better about playing with and near other kids, including groups of kids. We really noticed it when we had his b-day party with my family a few weeks ago and if you know my family there are a lot of kids, 10 total. The 7 youngest were at the party and Ethan impressed us so much by playing with them in the little pool, in the yard and even just talking to all of the adults in the family. Normally, he gets very shy and clings to either Matt or I and doesn't play with any of the kids. He also went to our church VBS this summer and he did a great job there. We think that the group therapy he got this summer really helped him. We are so proud of the changes he has made in the past year especially. We can't wait for his teacher to see him now, as he has changed tremendously during this summer also :)

I wanted to put a few pictures and videos of Ethan also...

Aren't I cute??

"Sleeping" with his football.

"Sleep" Dancing, this is his new thing, pretending to be asleep.

GD Meeting Update

I had my meeting with the gestational diabetes educators today. I was there for a little over two hours and met with 3 different people. The first person went over the medical aspect of it, the 2nd went over the meal plan and nutritional aspect and the 3rd went over how to test my own blood sugar.

I will have to test myself 4 times a day. The menu is not too bad, I'm counting my carbs and watching all other sugars. It seems to be pretty simple, although it is quite different from what I have been eating. I am having to cut my meals literally in half or more. It is crazy. I'm sure it will take me a few days to get my stomach shrunk down enough to not feel as hungry after a meal. I will eat 6 times a day, but as I said they are all very small meals. I started the new diet with my dinner tonight, since I had to wait for Matt to be able to shop for some of the stuff I needed. When I took the bs 2 hours after dinner, it was good :) So, the diet worked for my first meal, which made me feel confident that I can certainly do this. Like I said, I think the hardest part will be the smaller meals and feeling hungry at first.

Overall, I feel a lot better about it and now that I better understand the risks to the baby and I, it really helps. It does seem very easy to drastically reduce the risks simply by changing my diet. The bad thing is that I cannot exercise, which is why the diet has to be a little more strict. But, they did say that as long as the diet works, there should be no problems. I also felt better about the future risks. I know it will help me to better control my weight after the baby comes. I think the diet is something that will really help me to get a handle on eating better. I decided that this is a blessing in disguise :) It really helps me to see the positives in this, rather than focus on the negatives. It will help me to be able to change my habits for the better. I have already thought of ways to work in exercise after the baby comes and they even gave me some tips on what is important to do.

I thank all of you for your continued support through this pregnancy and all of the things that have come our way. I truly believe that I would not be able to see any positives in what I am dealing with if I did not have all of you as part of my support system. So, I thank you so much!

Week 29 Appt. Update

Today's appointment went well! I am now 29 weeks and doing pretty well. I had some lower back pain over the weekend and the doctor told me that the next time I have it where it is consistent to go ahead and get checked by either him or L&D. We also talked about what to look for in contractions. It made me feel pretty good to have a better handle on some of my symptoms and when to be scared and when it is normal. It is so hard going through all of this the first time and being high-risk and knowing what is normal and what is not. I know it is hard enough during a normal pregnancy, but with this I am literally worried about every little ache and pain. I think the closer I get to the end the more anxious I am to get there :)

I will start weekly appointments now and before each one, I will have a non-stress test. He said that is normal for someone that is high-risk and for gestational diabetes. I will go to the nutritionist, finally, on Thursday. I am really wanting to just get this diet started, so that I know I am doing the right thing for the baby.

The baby has been kicking like crazy lately, which has made me so happy. It is so great to feel him moving around so much :) It really eases my mind when I am feeling a little stressed about the other symptoms. Every day that I get at this point is one more day of growth and that makes me happy. I'm really working on a daily basis and then as a week goes by I'm even happier :)

The next big goal the doctor wants me to get to is 32 weeks. He said that is another big milestone in the health of the baby. That is only 3 more weeks and I know I can hold out for that :) The goal after that is 36 weeks, where I will get my cerclage out. After that, it doesn't matter when I deliver. Hopefully, I could go to 37 weeks and be officially full-term, but I'm not sure I will hold out that long, I guess we'll see :)

Thanks again for all of your support through all of this. We will bring home a healthy baby in just a few weeks :)

Guestbook

I'm going to try and set this up as a guestbook for everyone to sign. I will put a link to it on the right, so that you can sign again any time you want. We would like Ethan and the baby to know who was following their stories. It is pretty easy to sign the guestbook, at the bottom of this post, you will see comments, next to the time, just click on that and post a comment. You do not have to have a google account. Just write your comment and then fill in the security letters and then just click on anonymous if you don't have one of the accounts they list.

Just make sure to sign your name, and if we don't personally know you, please let us know where you are from and how you found us.

We look forward to seeing who reads our blog!! Feel free to write a special message to Ethan, or the baby or both, or even Matt and I :)

Thanks!