Saturday, March 28, 2015

Oh Welcome Back! (UPDATE)

Welcome Back!

My goodness what a long time it has been!
Let me update all of you and then quickly explain why I decided to start blogging again. :)
Since the last time I was here, I was going over my second pregnancy and I was around twenty weeks. Since then I have delivered my sweet tiny little squish. Her name is Chloe and she is currently SIX months old. It is crazy how quickly time flies, isn't it? The remainder of my pregnancy was not terrible, but it also was not a walk in the park. It was full of lots of heartburn, aches and pains, hormone shots, and gestational diabetes. Brian made it home from his deployment in time for me to deliver. I was induced at 40.1 weeks due to the diabetes. My labor was not long, but boy was it hard. It did not go nearly as planned, but by the time it was over I had this beautiful 7 pound, 11 ounce squishy baby in my arms. Postpartum was interesting and I am still trying to adjust to being a family of four.
This passed February our family relocated from North Carolina back home to our roots in Northern Illinois. Brian finished his active enlistment contract with the Marine Corps, so it was time for us to end that chapter of our lives and transition into civilian life and begin our new journey; which has been really interesting to say the least.
What makes it so interesting? Because I mean, really? Families do this all of the time. Well, about a month prior to our move, I discovered I was pregnant. WHAAAAAAAT?? Yup, I said pregnant. Before Chloe was born and before Brian returned home from Japan we both decided that we were going to be done expanding our family. We were happy with our two girls, despite really wanting to have our boy. That conversation led to the decision of permanent birth control between one of us. If I were going to need a cesarean, then I was going to look into having my tubes tied and if not, he was going to have a vasectomy (much less invasive, especially for me). I delivered Chloe vaginally, so he began the process of scheduling his procedure. I was so full of mixed emotions the day "surgery" day arrived. I was essentially devastated at the thought of never being able to experience pregnancy again. It wasn't that I couldn't physically have children, I just knew I would never have children again with anyone else other than my husband. The procedure was done in less than fifteen minutes, he was SIQ (that is "sick in quarters" for you non-military folks ;) ) for eight days and then ten days of light duty. During this time I remained pretty emotional. Then the emotional feelings lead to extreme fatigue. Then it lead to extreme nausea. And then, well it lead to me thinking two things. Either my thyroid medication needed to be adjusted or I was pregnant. And of course there was no way I could be pregnant because one, I was on the Depo shot and two, we weren't even able to have relations after Brian's surgery. But something told me to take a test to rule that out (since I knew it would be negative) and then contact my doctor.
To our surprise, that test came out positive. And it wasn't just a faint little line positive. It was a BAM YOU ARE SO INCREDIBLY PREGNANT line positive. I was home alone with the girls when this happened. I was in the middle of making Chloe a bottle. I nearly passed out. I mean, wouldn't you??? Not even two months postpartum and learning you are pregnant again. A little over a month passed your husband's vasectomy and you are pregnant. Pregnant while on the Depo shot. I'm not going to lie, I was a little devastated and terrified to tell my husband who was gone at work. I ended up telling him through a text message (which sounds terribly shady...I wasn't planning on it happening that way!), he called, I cried, he came home early, and I went straight to the doctor.
So, needless to say this entire transition from military life to civilian life has been VERY interesting.
Now that we are in our new rental home, we are slowly settling in and trying to fall into a new lifestyle routine. It has been pretty stressful and difficult particularly because Brian's new job requires him to work third shift and because my pregnancy has been pretty complicated already (we are only 18 weeks in). In my spare time (what spare time, right?) I have still been going to school part-time and working towards that Bachelor's degree and I just recently became a wellness advocate through DoTerra essential oils. I had zero intentions of making oils a business thing, but I fell in love with this company and decided that I wanted to give it a try. Every day I get more and more excited to share this company and their product with people. Not to mention that I am a part of a wonderful team who has done nothing but lift me up and make me feel that I made the right decision.
I have decided that I wanted to share this journey and how it has changed mine and my family's lives so far. I also hope to help other people by teaching them about more natural ways to heal their bodies.
So stay tuned for all of my personal experiences with the oils, updates on my expanding family, and of course life in general.

Welcome Home, Daddy!

Happy Birthday Chloe!







Monday, May 12, 2014

Twenty Weeks (and up) w/ Baby #2

Hello friends!
Well I have made it to my twenty-second week of pregnancy and the nerves have been high since we are now in the "danger zone". Until I make it passed twenty-eight weeks, I will be hoping and hoping that my body will maintain this pregnancy.
I did get some bad news this morning at my cervix check. Today was supposed to be my last one, but it appears that I will be going back in about a week to have things checked out again. My cervix has started to shorten and my placenta is approximately two centimeters from my cervix.
It appears history is repeating itself.
The only difference is this time I've got a toddler here at home and my husband is deployed. So you can only imagine how scared I am to go through everything again. The doctor was very blunt with me, stating that there is not anything that can be done if I happen to deliver before the next appointment because the baby is not viable. If delivery were to occur, I fear this baby will not survive.
So, when I go in on May 21st, we will know what the next step will be. I will either be prepared for a cerclage or I will start preparing for a premature delivery; complete with steroid shots, antibiotics, etc. etc. Just like before...
I have taken all of the necessary steps that I can in order to let Brian know what is going on. The battalion has been informed and we shall see where that takes us. Unfortunately nothing can be done until I know the results of this next appointment.
So we wait...

But bad news aside, everything has been great. I have been feeling little baby move and kick and I have been feeling great aside from the sore rear from the weekly Makena shots. I have been experiencing the usual pregnancy woes, but nothing out of the ordinary. So of course you can imagine the shock I experienced with the news from today.


How far along? 22 weeks, 5 days.
Total weight gain: 20 pounds.
Maternity clothes?  Yes.
Stretch marks? Yes. 
Sleep: Still tossing and turning.
Best moment of this week? It's been a tough week...
Miss anything? Missing Brian (every day!)
Movement: Lots of little kicks and bumps. 
Food cravings? None really.
Anything making you queasy or sick? When I don't drink enough water I get really nauseated.
Labor signs: Shortening cervix.
Symptoms: Basic aches and pains, nothing unusual. 
Belly button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? Still wearing them.
Happy or moody most of the time? Very worried.
Looking forward to: Finding out what is going on...anxiously awaiting this next appointment.


We found out baby's gender and I am happy to announce that baby is a girl and that she has a name.