Baby Shower for Ethan

Yesterday was my baby shower. Dan and Nikki hosted the shower for us and it was sooo much fun.

We had so many wonderful friends attend the shower and so much yummy yummy food. Eric helped Dan with all the food, so we had a sandwich tray, chicken wings, pizza, chips and dips, cake, oreo truffles.

Nikki planned some really fun games and even got the guys involved. We had a bottle drinking game for the guys (and Susie), fill in the blank in the nursery rhyme and list the baby items based on the baby's name (Ethan Scott), the guys blew up balloons and then had to stuff the balloon under their shirt and put a coin in between their knees and then walk/waddle to drop the coin in a cup, and then fun facts about everyone. For the fun facts game, we were to put a comment on a card that many people may not know about us. Eric picked my card and read it and didn't even recognize my handwriting (pretty sad). There were a few games we couldn't get to, one of which was for the guys which was called pin the sperm on the egg. Looked like it was going to be pretty funny.

Opening presents was so much fun. A few of our friends kept Loryn in mind, and she was able to open her own presents. She also enjoyed going through Ethan's gifts. Besides the new pillow pet that Loryn got, her favorite toy is the one that Jeff and his parent's bought for Ethan. Not sure where we are going to put it yet, but Ethan (and Loryn) are now the proud owners of a very fun rocking horse. We received so many wonderful items for the kids as well as some great books. Lots of people brought diapers and wipes to be entered into the raffle. We were so lucky to receive all of those extra gifts from all of our friends. My mother-in-law Lisa actually won the raffle. She won a $25 gift card to The Cheesecake Factory.

The party ended up going from about 3pm until after 8pm. I left around 7:45 with Loryn to try to get her into bed. Then spent several hours trying to sort and put a few items away. Ironically there aren't too many pictures of me from our shower, but below are some of the pictures from the awesome time that was had by all at the baby shower.

Eric and I with our friends Ron and Sarah and their little girl Kianna. Was so great to be able to celebrate with them before Ron had to leave again for his next trip with the military.

Eric had just cut off the tip of the nipple in order to try to win the bottle game.

The next game the guys had to blow up balloons and stuff them under their shirts.

Lara had to help her husband stuff the balloon in his shirt. It was so funny. Wish I had more pictures of this.

Bert and Mike were the finalists. They ended up having to be blindfolded on the 3rd round of this game.

Eric had so much fun with the "sing-a-ma-jig". We let Loryn play with hers and then the one that we got for Ethan. We may end up needing to get lots more of these for the kids.

Reading one of the Dr. Seuss books that we had received

This was one of the pizzas that we had gotten. Eric ordered 28 inch pies. This was our friend Bert's hand so you can see just how gigantic these pizzas were.

Brian and his son Gabriel enjoying swinging out on the porch.

32 weeks pregnant

Already???

Time seems to be going by so fast as I look back on this recent pregnancy. However, during the normal day to day life, it does seem like it is going on forever.

I am currently 31 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I am measuring at 32 weeks, which has been consistent through out the pregnancy where I have been measuring several days ahead of schedule. The baby's heart rate today was around 131 bpm. The doctor let me watch the monitor once she found the heartbeat and it was ranging from 127-131 bpm while I was watching.

Not too much I can do now about the shortness of breath or the back pain that seems to be a constant (at least the last 2 or 3 days). Sleeping has become more of a challenge as I am just not comfortable anymore.

Today I saw the same OB that had helped me out with the postpartum that I had with Loryn. I absolutely love her and wish that she was able to deliver Ethan (even though I did like the doctor that delivered Loryn). Well, I found out she is definitely not on the schedule for when I am due as she is due with her first child on April 8th. A bit bummed out about this, as I find her bedside manner to be great and she is very easy to talk to. After discussing the postpartum issues I had with Loryn today, I found out that my chances of having postpartum again are greatly increased. This is a bit upsetting, but they at least will monitor me closer this time around. Chances are that I will not be able to breast feed at all. But we will take that one step at a time (starting with how I feel after I have Ethan). During my visit they went back to check Eric's lab results compared to mine, and couldn't find where his results were for the genetic diseases that I tested as a carrier for. Several hours later, I received a phone call from the office and it was confirmed that Eric is not a carrier. Apparently his file is only linked to mine, so they could only see a snapshot of the labs that he had done and not the entire file. So that is good news.

My next visit is in 2 weeks when I am at 34 weeks.

If you give a mouse a cookie

I took Loryn to the library for a book reading. They made mouse puppets, ate a cookie and got to listen to a book reading. The book was "If you give a mouse a cookie". After the reading, the mouse came out to take pictures with the kids. Here are some pictures of Loryn. (Really wish I could have kept her from chewing on her finger during the pictures).

Would love to take her back to do more of these, but it was a bit crazy with tons of kids and a very small little area.

Not an Ear Infection

She stayed home with me on Tuesday and had a fever all day averaging between 102-104. She stayed home with Eric on Wednesday and her fever averaged between 99-100.7. This morning she had no fever, but when we got to daycare, she felt warm and was clingy. By the time I got to work (30 minutes later) I had a voicemail telling me that Loryn had thrown up and was running a fever of 100.5. I had a meeting at work this morning (which I ended up missing) but picked Loryn up about 3 hours later. She didn't participate with her class today. She spent the entire morning in the corner with her blanket and pillow sleeping and resting. Then of course once I pick her up she is full of energy. We went to her dr after that.

Went back to Loryn's pediatrician today for a second opinion from the Publix Clinic that we went to on Monday. She doesn't have an ear infection and her tubes are still in their places. She may have strep throat, but the antibiotics she has been on prevents us from testing her for strep throat and getting accurate results. We will continue to treat with the antibiotics for a bit longer and see how she does. They did test her for the flu as she has flu like symptoms, but no flu. Her pediatrician has recommended that Loryn stay home tomorrow. So she will go back to day care on Monday. This really stinks. She has been home this week for 3 full days, and then 2 half days.

Loryn's pediatrician also lectured me for not getting my flu shot this year. Not sure if I will be getting one or not. Still trying to figure it out.

First Ear infection in a year

Loryn has another ear infection. Superbowl Sunday, she was up all night with a fever. After some water, Tylenol and some singing with daddy, Loryn went back to bed. When I got her up in the morning for school, there was no more fever (98.5), so I got her dressed and took her to school. She definitely had a cough, but it is the same cough, I can't seem to get rid of too.

Well, I got a phone call at 2pm from Loryn's daycare that she was running a fever (100.7) and just not acting like herself. So I left work and came to get her (which took me about an hour and a half at least since I had to go and pick up my car from getting its routine maintenance). Once I got to the daycare, I found her playing and having a good time with the other kids. She was still a bit warm though.

We went over to the Publix clinic, since her Pediatrician's office had no more appointments, and I didn't want to wait to have to take her to after hours clinic across town (especially not in the nasty rain). Luckily no one was waiting and Loryn got to go in and see the doctor. Her heart rate was fine and so was her blood pressure, but her tonsils were swollen and her ears were red and starting to have fluid. Loryn also after Tylenol (an hour to 2 hours earlier) was still running a temp of 100.6. So the doctor put her on Augmentin and she will be on that for the ears and throat. We also can continue to give her the Albuterol that we have for her if she needs it.

She was a bit clingy once we got home. But she ate pretty well at dinner, she had yogurt and chicken. The doctor had recommended we give her yogurt while on this antibiotic. Loryn was still a bit clingy and as we got ready for bed, she was running another fever of 103. 8. So we had more Tylenol and I let her cuddle with me on the couch until Eric got home. We retook her temperature and it was down to 102.7 which was an improvement. She was definitely fussy going down, she would be quiet for a bit and then wake up coughing and crying for water.

I checked on her about an hour ago and it felt like her fever may have finally broken. Eric and I decided that we will keep her home today from daycare and let her just sleep in and rest as much as possible and as long as she is fever free, she will go back to daycare tomorrow and I can go back to work.

Here is to hoping Loryn gets better real quick and goes back to the active kid that she is.

30 week check up

Yesterday, I had my 30 week OB appointment. Everything went fine. I am still measuring on time and all my blood work from my glucose test came back with me passing with flying colors.

What is an abnormal blood glucose level?
Different practitioners use different standards for determining whether your level is too high. Some will say that if your one-hour blood sugar level is 140 milligrams of glucose per deciliter of blood plasma (mg/dL) or more, you need to have the glucose tolerance test. Others put the cut-off at 130 mg/dL to catch more women who may have gestational diabetes, even though there are likely to be more false positives this way.

If your blood glucose level for this test is higher than 200 mg/dL, most practitioners will consider you diabetic and you won’t be required to take the glucose tolerance test. But any score between 140 and 200 means that you’ll have to take the three-hour glucose tolerance test for a definite diagnosis.

My levels came back in the mid 80's which means, I am not even close to showing signs of gestational diabetes. Everything else looked good too, I am not anemic and doing well with the vitamins that I am taking.

My weight gain hasn't changed. Still up 21 pounds, as I did not gain any weight in the past 2 weeks. I have been told to continue to count kicks and now should be feeling at least 5 kicks 30 minutes after eating or 10 kicks in an hour (whichever comes first). That doesn't seem to be a problem for this baby as he definitely has his ACTIVE moments.

My next appointment is in 2 weeks.