Praise Report

It's funny the things we get excited about, but...
My body does not produce progesterone while pregnant. So I have been on an oral medication and will be switching to shots this week. Our insurance denied the shots a week ago so we would have to pay out of pocket for every shot for the duration of my pregnancy. Yikes $$$. We got a call on Friday that our insurance not only decided to accept them, but they are covering it 100%! Praising God for this blessing!!!

Pregnancy is terrifying

I hope I'm not the only I've who thinks so.  I looked up facts on my blood disorder. If you have a blood disorder, don't do that. There's a maternal mortality rate. It's terrifying. And to add to my current "Prenatal doctor appointments are terrifying" feelings, my doctor informed us that there is still a risk for miscarriage or stillbirth, although he is optimistic about the outcome of this pregnancy due to it going so smoothly so far and my making it to 15 weeks. It's comforting to know that he is optimistic, but it was also difficult to hear there's still a risk. I did noted the percentage of the risk. My heart doesn't need to know that, you know?

However, I am extremely blessed that Good has given us our beautiful daughter and this new baby. I heard that a large amount of families that seem out surrogate mothers do so because they have Factor V Leiden and can't get pregnant. What amazing grace and mercy He has on our family!! I have been brought tears multiple times since hearing this and it is just so wonderful! No matter how terrifying I may think this season is, I am eternally thankful that God has not only protected our babies, but has also protected me. He has given us such a gift in our daughter and I cannot wait to hold our newest little one in a few months! God is so gracious to us!

Easter Basket

What do you put in an Easter basket for a 15 month old? I had 500 great ideas for homemade fun things for C's basket. Then reality hit and I realized that I'm preggers a d chasing a toddler around and I'm pretty much just exhausted...always. Then I realized that Easter is on Sunday. This Sunday. And I haven't made her basket or her 2 princess cloth diapers or her dress or playdoh or special yummy fruit snacks that look to die for on the pinterest or a baby doll bed or...or....or.... I have great intentions. I just don't have the energy in this season of life. So off to the sfore we went and I wandered the aisles looking for inspiration. So what's in the basket?

*The Jesus Storybook Bible (because we haven't gotten her her own Bible yet and it's about time)

*a pinwheel (because it looked fun, righr?)

*a mermaid doll (for the bathtub. It has been inspected for choking hazards since the package said 3+)

*my little pony (because every little girl needs a my little pony)

*sand toys

*playdoh

*frozen themed crayons

*a roll of paper for her easel

*a hair brush (she loves brushing her hair)

*a bubble blower similar to the kind Gymboree sells, just not feom Gymboree.

So I may have gone a little overboard and I'm sure the playdoh and pinwheel won't last long, but it's fun and I enjoyed making her a basket since last year's was mai ly stuff we already had yet hadn't introduced to her yet. :) 

We also have plastic eggs filles with stickers and snacks for the Easter egg hunt...which will likely happen after church on Sunday. I had grand plans of easter egg dying this year, but she's 15 months old and I apparently had a reality check on that one. Hahaha

Preggo hormones, weaning, blood disorder, baby EG movement and bacon cheeseburgers.

Sometimes you just try your hardest and you still feel defeated and pregnancy hormones absolutely suck. I feel like I've killed myself all week trying to keep on top of everything and I'm looking around and there are dishes to put away and dishes to load, 800 loads of laundry (ok 4), and there are chips on the floor that need to be vaccuumed. And here I am, exhausted with sciatic pain, other back pain, shoulder pain, headache, tummy ache and just utterly exhausted. Business trip weeks are hard. I'm so looking forward to the day we can say goodbye to that aspect of the job. But until then, whenever a business trip pops up, I might be a little extra tired, a little extra stressed and a lot extra emotional.

In other news, I have successfully weaned the baby! Woohoo! I cut her off cold turkey a few days ago (a week ago? I lost count). She no longer has a melt down when I tell her that mama's milk is all gone. She asks and then quietly accepts the fact and opts for a hug and a snuggle. I love those moments. I'm doing much better with it than I thought I would too. Though, I guess, when you've gone a week nursing a baby shark you lose all warm and fuzzy attachment feelings to the idea of breastfeeding. We made it over a year...just shy of 15 months since I didn't nurse her right away. The whole being 9 weeks early and in the NICU and gavaged for a couple weeks thing interefered with that whole plan, but I'm so thankful that we were able to breastfeed and have that special time.it is definitely a sweet time to cherish in my life and I am thankful for all the cuddles we now get to enjoy uninterupted by eating.

In other news, I am supposed to be switching from oral medicine to injections in 11 days. When I spoke with the company (refered to now as MC) in charge of handling my injections, they informed me that this is how the negotiations with our health insurance (HI) have gove for the past month and why they have now escalated it to the head honcho guy of MC dealing with HI:
MC You are contracted with us.
HI No, we are not.
MC Yes, you are contracted with us.
HI No, we are not.
MC I'm looking at our contract right now.
HI Oh, we are contracted with you.
MC So what's the problem?
HI We're not contracted with you.
-AND REPEAT-

Here's to hoping they get THAT figured out quickly since I was supposed to have the injections in my possession right now and they are beng held until HI decides to follow through with the fact that they are contracted with MC.

I was also diagnosed with a blood clotting disorder. I haven't read too much about it because what I read freaked me out and,since I know at least one other person with it, decided I didn't need the extra stress - at least not until after September. But, from what I do know, my blood clots too much or too easily putting me at righer risk for things like a stroke or blood clots in my legs (I'm sure it's probably not only limited to legs though) and explains my 2 miscarriages and why our daughter was early. Although, the doctor and PA have also said that it could have also been poorly monitored low progesterone in my pregnancy with her (which I also have with this pregnancy as well - though it started off in the normal range, it decided to plummet 2 days later).

I'm really just rambling here, but I emotionally feel better after writing some of this stuff out so I may keep going. Kudos to you if you've decided this is interesting enough to keep reading. Although, honestly, if it was someone else's blog and someone else's life I'd probably keep reading too.

I finished C's Easter basket today and filled up plastic eggs with stickers of puppies and kitties and also some fruit snacks. Tomorrow we will try to go see the Easter Bunny. Shall be interesting. Our E. Bunny interactions so far have been waving from a distance and then freaking out when he comes close. Hopefully we'll be able to get a picture tomorrow and hopefully it won't be traumatic for it. Also, I'm VERY thankful that there are places around here that DON'T charge $26.99 to take a photo with the Bunnny. It may be over 30 minutes away, but that's worth it.

Also, I'm beginning to feel Baby ElGi move every few days. That's fun. And I don't have blood clots in my leg thanks to the results of a fun leg ultrasound - just some charlie horses that are no where near as severe as when I had them with C. Woot woot! This pregnancy is so much different than with C. Not nearly as sick (yay!), lots more blood draws and ultrasounds, less severe charlie horses, less cravings, less appetite (boo). The one thing I am craving ALL the time is ice water. Other than that it's rare something sounds good. Although Bacon Cheeseburgers always sound good haha. Now I'm hungry and want a bacon cheeseburger, but there's no way I'm getting out of bed or leaving my house right now...maybe the Hubster will get me one ;)

****Disclaimer: our second child's name is NOT ElGi. That's not a real name. I even looked it uo because a few people thought we were naming the babt ElGi. We have simply taken the first 2 letters of the boy and girl name we have chosen and smooshed them together until we find out the gender of the baby. The Gi part has a middle name. The El part does not yet have a middle name.