I've Officially Fallen Off the Face of the Earth...

....am not sure when I'll be back either, as I am writing this 4 days before a scheduled cesarean. You'd think little short ditties like this post could be written in a flash, but nooo... I henpeck type and don't always think so fast and then, sometimes, revise here and there (I'm incorrigible).

So I am gonna type everything I can think to "announce" and then let it be. I hope I'm not jinxing myself in any way by doing this ahead of time... I know, I'm a 'worry-wart'... an incorrigible Worry-Wart.

Our little C (though I'm not sure how "little" he will be, at 5' 2+ inches short, I feel like that girl that ate ?? something blueberry on Willy Wonka and needed to be rolled out)...

Arrived on Jan 12, 2010

At 1:23 PM

Weighing: 8 lbs. 2 oz.

Length: 21 inches l-o-n-g

With black hair and long legs and fingers (yes, this was typed before delivery and is correct!).

Pics to come when ?? downloaded.

A Note to our Little Someone:

E Sweetie,
I have been savoring as much as possible our time until your little brother comes (cesarean is in 6 days, unless I go before then). I will miss the time alone with you. Things will be different, but I think we will see you in another light as well... an additional one. You will be a wonderful big sister. But, yet ...at the same time, you will always be my favorite little girl.
I love you more than words can say.
Your Momma/Mommy
***
Sweetpea,
I have been noticing you more than ever now that we all are about to have the newest member of our family join us in our home. You have benefited from our full attention and now.....that is about to change. You will adjust just fine. I think your intelligence and desire help out will see you through this change and allow you to develop in a way you otherwise wouldn't have. I look forward to watch you teach your little brother the ropes. Especially with reading and writing. The foot races will be a sight for sure but this time, I won't be holding your hand. I melted the other night when I was washing your hands and I said to you that I just love the little Emma. You said to me " Why do you say that Daddy?" I said "I am afraid if you get big you won't want to give me hugs and kisses." You replied " Silly daddy, I will always want to give you hugs and kisses."
Hugs and Kisses,
Daddy

I Didn't Fall Off of the Face of the Earth on Christmas!

What I mean is NO CHRISTMAS BABY WAS BORN!! Yippee!!
Feeling like a waddling Oompa-Loompa, I was worried about going into labor on Christmas --the further from Christmas, the better is our thought (cesarean scheduled for 1/12)... SOOO, point is... phewww!... Christmas will be just that -no (future) birthdays on the same day.
:-)
Ohh, and the "falling off of the face of the earth"... that is what happens with me when a newborn arrives. Took me about 5-6 months to crawl back over earth's edge with our daughter.
Hope y'all had a good Christmas!

Compare & Contrast II

So, here we have another Compare and Contrast (you can see the 1st Compare & Contrast here). So, with the two pics below... notice any differences?
Yes, I know in the first one on the left, there is a towel on the mantle because we had a (arrghh) leak and in the second pic (on the right), stockings are hung and Christmas decorations are abound.

Any other differences?
Well, I'll tell you the difference. The pic on the left was taken in the summer, in the early morning hours before we left so our daughter could be delivered (via cesarean).
The second pic was taken A MONTH BEFORE I am scheduled for a cesarean (sched. for the 12th of Jan.) -Ha! ...wonder if I'll make it... seeing as I am as big as I am.

We think our Little Someone-that was there in the first pic, hidden, will be a great big sister!

Looks Like We're Covered...

...err, I mean HE will be covered. Boy, oh boy! (no pun intended). Seeing as we... I am major huge pregnant with a boy and we have a girl, I have few hand-me-downs from her. Welllll, not any more!

Wowey, wow, wow. Indeed. As things currently stand, looks like we're covered for boy clothes until about age two.

You see all these clothes below ... on the table. There's more there than meets the eye. A friend of mine from our local library (and her sister-in-law) gave me TONS of baby (and older) boy clothes. That stack on the left of the table....

...see closer below here. That stack alone has 26 little baby onesies.

And, oh my gosh, the socks. May not look like that many here. But I counted: 56 pair! ...and that isn't all of them. I told my friend, she must be the Emelda Marcos of socks.

And if that wasn't enough, another friend from the library, that has two boys, blessed us even more(!). One of her boys is a month older than our 3+ y/o and she has another that just turned 2 y/o. (I can never complain to her because she is around my age with TWO boys that close in age). ANYway, just LOOK what she gave us (and that's a king-size bed all that stuff is on):

And I'm talking NICE stuff! Just look at this jacket:

And CUUUUTE onesies...

And shoes...

We are truly blessed. Before we got all this, I had only bought FOUR things from a city-wide yard sale from the the itty-bitty town down the way.

There is so much to do with taking care of four horses, 2 huge dogs, a kitty, a HOUSEhold; doing dishes, all meals, washing laundry (that, I swear, breeds in the hamper), cleaning, bills, horse business taxes/paperwork... keeping an active, smart 3+ y/o little girl stimulated... I haven't even gotten to getting baby room ready, stuff stored, etc.... much less getting to the clothes thing... and you know, uhh, that's a necessary thing (I do have some unisex baby clothes from our daughter and had planned on getting those out-so I wasn't completely lagging in that department) ....but heck, now, NO worries!

WE ARE COVERED!

Compare & Contrast

Do you remember those papers in school that you wrote whereas you had to compare and contrast paired items from a list? I didn't mind them because I could always find some offbeat tangent to go on.

Sidebar: Evidently, I am or have been found to be "offbeat". More than one person has said I march to a different drummer (you know, my drummer doesn't sound different to me?!?). With this in mind, my mom even had a Robert Frost poem done in Calligraphy with my name intertwined off to the side... the poem is one of my favorites: The Road Not Taken. She said it reminded her of me.

ANYway, where am I going with this... Oh, compare and contrast... Aside from standing in a bit different position and other small ancillary background things being present/not present in the below pics, what IS the difference between these photos??
Do a little Compare and Contrast, you won't hurt my feelings... I'm a brick hooouuuse.

So have you studied and found anything?? Okay, well, I'll tell ya... the pic on the left was taken during my first pregnancy at 30 weeks ~ the pic on the right was taken during this current pregnancy (3 & 1/2 years later) at 26 weeks... yes, that is ONE month earlier in the pregnancy than the 1st photo.

Oh Lordy, oh Lordy and I'm forty (hey, it rhymes) ....and feeling like a h-o-u-s-e... like an imMobile home.

Okay, well enough for now, it's time to park this motor home and go to bed.

High Elevation Expansion

We got back from Colorado a few days ago. For those that don't know, when you're in the higher altitudes, food items, etc., that are vacuum packed, expand and bubble out to the sealed ends of the package.
That happened to me.
But, since we have come back down to our Texas elevation, I have yet to decrease from my expanded mode.
Pregnancy... hmmph.

Hey! (poke, poke)... Hey You!.. (jab, jab) Yeah, you!

Holy Moly... okay, it's one thing if you're lying down to sleep and your bladder is being poked from the inside. Yes, makes sleeping difficult... but, come on, SITTING at the computer or watching a little TV... now that is becoming unnerving at times. So much so that I had to stand up and walk around the other evening while at the computer. I couldn't focus.

Geeez... I thought someone was practicing some martial art like Jiu-Jitsu -when I realized that, 'Taekwondo' deals more with kicks... so that's it... whatever, I've never been into martial arts... I know I am just thinking 'sheesh, I'm only half way (5.5 months)... is it gonna get worse?!?
:-)

(and this pic was taken a month ago!)

p.s. My husband says 'boy muscle is different and that's why' ...hmmm.. maybe like chimps have more strength per weight compared to humans... what, do they have super amounts of testosterone coursing through their veins?? Seriously, what's that super strength about??
But, I digress... while being jabbed.

Just For the Record

1. Well, my 'I could be doing something better' work paid off... though "paid off" is not the term I'd use since we're not getting paid -just getting reamed less. Was able to get what the CAD says our 'Market Price' per acre is down -from $31,600 per acre to $21,700 per acre.

2. Am still pregnant. Wasn't sure. Had some bleeding. Wasn't liking the roller-coaster ride of wondering, so I went in to know one way or another and all is still going. Still very early, so I defer to 'what will be, will be'.

3. I'm tired....... oh..... yeah...... you're probably getting tired of hearing that. I can assure not as tired as I am.

Nuff Said?

I'm one month away from Forty. I'm pregnant. I handle the WHOLE household (bills and ALL else)... plus five horses, two dogs and one cat. Oh, and my husband and I have a coming on three yr. old toddler.
I'm tired.

SOMEthing's Up

Blogger has been adding spaces (like herein) AGAIN to my posts so that I, then, have to go and delete them repeatedly (very annoying).





I'm having weird dreams... like my shorts are too small and my diapers are showing in gym class





OR





dreams that I have a thick magnolia leaf in my mouth and it's unpalatable so I need to get a new, thin, fresh, soft leaf and put butter on it and it would be fine.





A few times, Blogger or ?? has not let me open up certain website unless I log out and come back and try again (arrghh!).





My *$#@ legs have been driving me nuts in the middle of the night making sleep quality stink.
{I have RLS (restless leg syndrome)- your legs can wake you up with this horrible tickling feeling (or like you have ants crawling under your skin) -you can only stand it so long before you jerk your leg to get the tickling feeling to go away. I counted... once I move my leg, the feeling comes back after 3 seconds and builds until at 10-12 seconds, I HAVE to move my legs. Taking Iron helps... guess I'll have to up my Iron more... and then there's lovely side effects with that. Sorry, I digress.}.




When lay down to go to sleep, my heart beats so loudly, it keeps me awake for awhile.




AND





I've been questioning -am I hungry or not hungry? ...should I be hungry?





*





What is up?!?





*





Hmmm...





*





Maybe this............







*








If all continues, E.T.A. is Jan. 19.

By the Way... Not Pg. Anymore

No, we are not watching more 'R' rated movies. "Pg." is medical shorthand for 'pregnant'. I merely write this post for any that have read my previous post (A Planned Surprise) about getting pregnant. Since I was asked last week, "How are you doing?" (with that special questioning look), I thought I'd update anyone left thinking I'm pregnant. I was, but am no longer.

On Christmas Eve day, my husband and I went in for my OB appt./ultrasound at 11 weeks/1 day. But, there was no heartbeat and the size was 7 weeks/1 day. I could tell within a second or two of the ultrasound... just didn't look right. And when the doc kept moving the transducer this way and that... I spoke first... he confirmed.

It happens. And I know that research shows, when it comes to early miscarriages, it is most often the case that there was a chromosomal abnormality. Something wasn't right. So, that's how it goes.

Part of me is/was bothered that if we do have another one, there will be that much more age difference with our daughter. Then I realized that by thinking that way, I was counting my chickens before they hatch... can't do that. Just can't. What will be, will be. I'm just happy we have our 'Little Someone'.

Oh Go Ahead, Flatter Me

Met my new OB doc a few days ago (my regular girly doc doesn't do pregnant woman anymore, just GYN stuff, so I was referred). Am not one to fall head over heels quickly ......but...... I think I love her (I'll get to why shortly). Course, it was just one appt... and she's also a she. Many woman have all sorts of differing opinions on this... and if your doc fits you, then great. I am used to a man girly-doctor- and an older man girly doc at that. Not an over the hill geezer, but one that has experience. My experience with male girly docs (I've had a few of both in the past) is that men tend to be more gentle, if you will. I think the reason is because they don't have those parts, thus they don't know exactly how gentle or not they can be... and a woman does.

Anyway, back to why I might "love" my new doc. She is very thorough (yeah, after the labs she ordered, the bloodletting commenced-FIFTEEN tubes of blood. I was able to walk out on my own two feet). Other reasons; she is high-energy without being hyper. She does a thorough ultrasound....

But, the number one reason why I like her is because of something she said while she was doing the ultrasound. It was a trans-vag ultrasound and she had looked and measured all and was finishing with finding/measuring the right ovary. I watched the monitor as she was having a time finding it. As she was finagling around looking, she said, "I would think it would be easy to see because you are so thin". ....so thin, she said?!? Did you hear that?!?

Now, for those that don't know. I am not like I used to be. I used to be thin. I used to be a double-aught (that's farrier talk for a double zero). And speaking of doubles, my weight used to be double digits. Hasn't been double digits for 18- 20 years. So when she said this, my first response was a knee-jerk response, "I'll have to let my husband know you said that."

It was then, I started the internal dialogue, "Did she really say what I think she said? Yes. Well, maybe she meant my internal parts... like the lining between each is thin... maybe she didn't mean me". So I said aloud, "You mean internally, like the lining between things?" (I know, I'm such a dork at times). Anyway, she said, "No, I mean you. I mean you're not fat, you're thin."

That, folks, is when the love affair started.

{Footnote: Okay, all semi-facetiousness aside, I actually find it really appalling how most all forms of media portray that a woman's bod is what makes them important... which, in Hollyweird, is often a stick figured, hot-dog lipped (my unique other half's word for botox lips), helium balloon chested young woman. If they focused more on what's realistic than what's starved & surgically altered, a lot more woman wouldn't be so unrealistic with what to expect with regards to their looks. Hey, what's important is health ...and that can look different on different people}.

A Planned Surpise

Ohh, I'm tired. That's my first response.

Second response: Oh how surprised I was! Even though we were planning.

How does THAT happen you ask. Well, I'll tell you, but I have to first post a WARNING for those that proclaim "TMI" (too much information) more than your average person. If you think this might apply t0 you, then Stop Reading.

So, how was this planned, yet it still surprised me?

"Not in a nutshell"... the story starts a LONG time ago- when I was in the womb of my dear mom. Sometime in her second trimester, she started bleeding. Back then the docs sometimes prescribed Diethylstilbestrol- a synthetic estrogen better known as DES.

DES was first used in the early 1940's. Its use continued until 1971 when the FDA -finally- removed it from the market because of links to cancer and other reproductive anomalies found in the children of the mothers that took it. Funny enough, a double blind study of pregnant women was not published until six years after DES received FDA approval for prevention of miscarriage. This study was published in 1953, when DES was at it's peak in sales, and concluded that DES had no effects in helping the prevention of miscarriages. Other studies were also published showing links to anomalies and cancer... Hmmm... I was born in 1969... a whopping 16 years after findings were made public.

Call me a critic of powerful drug companies.

Okay, so enough on that. But I did have to lay that groundwork to get to the next part. So, to continue on, I had my share of 'problems'~ namely pre-cancerous biopsies... gees, I have had so many, I can not recall. I even had the LEEP procedure done- where, with an electrosurgical wire (kind of like a cheese slicer, but electric), they cut & cauterized all in one swipe the top of my cervix off. Still didn't take care of the pre-cancer, so I was sent to an Oncologist Gynecologist -a cancer girly-doctor. Upon being referred, I was told/'prepared' that the worse case scenario, I could have all girly parts removed. LONG story shorter (I'm trying), what I had was "Adenosis" -that is, normal cells in an abnormal place, thus appearing as cancer. Through all of this (surgery and all), my husband and I also learned that... I'm "small" ...well, hellllo, I could have told you that! All kidding aside, my doc said, "There's no way you could deliver a baby, it would have to be cesarean. You would be split stem to stern because your cervix is so small." That is a quote from my forward doctor, of which I love.

So, coming up in time... I'm a horse breeder. We only breed by artificial collection and insemination (our stallion doesn't know a real mare... he doesn't know any different, so he's happy). What I'm getting at is that I know a fair amount about reproduction and how goes all. Timing is important. So, when when my manly half and I were ready "to try", I had it all planned. Got my LH Surge urine tests... let's you know when your ovulating (thing is, I know when I do already since I can feel it, but wanted to 'be sure'). Well, we tried for 10 months the old fashioned way- hit me at the right time and all, but it was a no-go. So, I told my tired other half that I didn't think his swimmers were getting through ... you know, the small cervix thing. It was simply a matter of physics. They needed a little help. So, I went to my Equine vet... yes, I said vet- as in horse doctor and asked him for an Equine Eye Flush Catheter- it's real small, about the diameter size of a pencil lead. I figured this could help the little swimmers get where they needed to go. All I needed to know now was... how far. Since I had training and artificially inseminated many a horse, I know that your average horse's cervix is about 3 inches long.

So, I called my GYN doc and asked. He told me (and I could hear him roll his eyes) and then he said, "When you're done trying Artificial Insemination, give me a call and I will hook you up with an AI specialist". Well, I did the deed ONE time -with a little help from my XY half, and I was pg (pregnant).

There you have it... how our Little Someone came to be.

So, what's this got to do with a 'planned surprise'? Well, as my other half and I want another child and 10 months of "the typical way" didn't get us our first child, I/we were planning to do the AI deed again. I started with doing the Ovulation LH Surge tests (because timing is important) and it showed that I was getting close, but the little test line was not quite as dark as the control line (though very close). Later that evening, we happened to... well, we're married... anyway, about an hour after we romped in the hay (proverbially speaking), I felt myself ovulating. Didn't think anything of it as we tried the "old fashioned way" for 10 months before AI-ing for our daughter. I continued the LH Tests for a number of days just to make sure. Well, sure enough, the test line got weaker and weaker, so I had ovulated (those ovulation test lines... well, I was obviously being too picky about the hues).

Anyway, I told my husband that we would just have to wait until next month to AI. Well, heck, that never came... I was feeling some pretty good pulling sensations. So, I counted days and realized I was late (something I never am). Then, the following conversation took place in my head: "Nooo way. Well, you have a test, take it. Nooo, it's not possible... just take the test, you have two of them." So I did and about dropped my jaw.

That there, was my planned surprise (due first half of July if all continues well).

{Footnote 1: Actually, our first was also a 'planned surprise' in that I was so... how do I say... 'conservative' with my approach, I totally did not think it took}.

{Footnote 2: Why did I get pg. 'naturally' the 2nd time when I couldn't to begin with? My understanding- pregnancy. It can really stretch, move, flatten and bulge things (internally & externally) in ways you don't want to happen and there's not a darn thing you can do about it}.

Hello, I'm Bz and I'm a Laundry-Room Eater

Ohhh, am I stuffed. It is the day after Thanksgiving and I had this feeling, that I thought that I would learn from, yesterday. I mean, gees, I can understand when a year passes between this feeling ...or even a month (Christmas), but the next day... I obviously didn't learn.

The thing is, when you have fabulous food sitting right under your nose and mouth... and you are hungry... it's instinct, instinct I say, to eat.

Just an example: take a gander at the photo (you can click to enlarge). It is a tin of leftovers that we got to take home from my mother-in-law's house. Look in the upper right of that tin of food, you will see a bit of potato salad. Yes, there was more, but I tried the potato salad last night... then I find myself eating it right out of the tin. The meld of flavors reminded me of how the mouse felt in the animated movie, "Ratatouille" when he first combines wonderful flavors for a whole new world of taste... well, that's what it was like for me... as I stand next to our laundry room's refrigerator... gobbling down potato salad.

Well, the present stuffed feeling comes from, I kid you not, the most scrumptious dressing any holiday has seen (and, let me tell you, I am not superfluous with dramatic language). I am fortunate in that this dressing is made by my mother-in-law, thus I have had delight before in stuffing myself miserably on such wonderful fare. Perhaps the only thing left to figure is how to enjoy such foods without stuffing to a stuffed feeling... well, I know the answer to that as I type- "Stop eating"... or slowdown and give that ole Hypothalamus time to register... yeah, yeah, that is it. That's what I'll do from now on.

Ha.