Seriously, 2011?

I'm pinning my hopes on the 2nd half of 2011 as being great for Team Green.

So, it took me about 2 and a half weeks to stop being sick. That SUCKED. In the mean time, we've had a tremendous amount of Baby Mama Drama that's landed us in court with more court in the future. The worst part is far and away that she has kept the kids from us since January 2nd, and we will not see them again until maybe dinner on February 10th. Its excruciating to not see them or even be able to talk to them. We feel very confident that God has a plan in all this, and our hopes are that 1. the kids will not be scarred by her actions (we already know she's hurting them, but the extent is what we worry about.) 2. that her actions will backfire on her and 3. hope of hopes, that we would be granted primary custody of them. We absolutely want them to have time with her, to always have a relationship with her, because it is obviously in their best interest to have that with both of their parents, contrary to her belief. We trust God that the truth will prevail, and her lies will be exposed. This is not a battle we would've chosen to get into 3 months before I'm supposed to give birth, but it's not about our time or our plans, now is it? Plus we both know that the best blessings and God's most perfect growth come from the times of suffering. So we're enduring, praying, and appreciative of the prayers and support of our loved ones.

In happy news, Eli is perfect. He kicks ALL. THE. TIME. We talk to him and he acknowledges us with kicks. He kicks so hard Sheldon can easily feel it by just laying his hand on my belly. Sometimes he kicks so hard that my body sways a bit. Its amazing to me how strong he is! My most favorite is the battle between Lucie and Eli. She's one of those cats who loves to snuggle and REALLY loves her mommy. I've known from Day 1 there would be competition between the baby and her for my attention. I didn't realize Eli would be getting in on the action from the womb... When Lucie is laying in my lap, especially up against him, he kicks her. Last night, he was kicking her so hard I know she could feel it. They aren't hard enough for her to be phased yet, though, so I just laughed and laughed. My little guy is spunky! I had my 24 week check up yesterday, and while we frankly discussed a lot of very scary potential realities, I couldn't be happier. From what I understand, he's around 2/3 of his birth length, so his big focus now is for his lungs to form and for him to gain weight. He's getting close to a pound and a half in there, and should gain about 1/4 a pound every week from here on out. His heart rate was a solid 164, he kicked me 3 times while we were in the exam room (a great sign!), and my blood pressure is "beautiful". In my first trimester, there was some concern about my blood pressure, and I kept trying to tell them that it was totally because I was rushing out the door at work to make it to my appointments and that things were stressful at work. Now that things have calmed down at work (and the end of my time there is closer and closer... praise Jesus!) and I have more of a cushion between leaving the store and arriving at their office, my blood pressure is great. It was so great yesterday that my nurse said, "Perfect! You're taking your meds, aren't you?" Nope! That's just how I roll! My hemoglobin A1c is a little higher than I'd like, but still substatially lower than where it was back in August. My endocrinologist agreed that the week long spike in November when I was on steroids for my migraine combined with being sick for almost 3 weeks in January caused it to rise. It's still only a few tenths of a point above ideal, so no one is worried. Our big milestone this week is that if something crazy happened and he was born now (which there's really pretty much no chance of), he would (with intense medical care) probably survive. His premature birth survival rate goes up exponentially every week from now on. Its something I just haven't let myself think about the entire time. I've chosen to focus on the positive, believing that he would make it to 36 weeks and be born perfect and with tons of hair (that last part is because every boy dream I've had, he had a ton of dark hair like mine. We'll see!!). My next check up will be at 27 weeks, and I have some milestone labs scheduled. It also signals the beginning of "bio-physical fetal surveillance." That means ultrasounds every visit, "measuring" his weight on ultrasounds (that got quotes because its such an estimate.), listening to his heart beat for longer times, and potentially non-stress tests for me. They want to monitor my fluid level and make sure there are no signs of fetal distress. I have such a peace about the whole thing. I'm just like, "Yay! I get to watch my son move and grow all the time!" and not "OMG what if something's wrong?!" We also went over again why and when I'll be induced. The answer is sometime between April 18th and May 2nd, or between 36 and 38 weeks. Diabetes puts a whole new set of risks on a pregnancy, and so far we've dodged all of them, but I'm on the eve of my 3rd trimester, and there's a lot that we have yet to face. The reason he will definitely be born no later than 38 weeks is because there are a large number of risks that arise after that point, the biggest one being intrauterine demise. There are some risks with being a preemie, but they're much lower than the risks of leaving him in after 38 weeks. I mean, babies are technically considered term at 36 weeks anyway, so I'm not concerned. Even when he said, "intrauterine demise", I was unphased. I was too excited about getting to hold my baby earlier and being able to see the end of my puking (yea, I did it 5 times this morning and subsequently did not go to work.). Plus, as far as Eli is concerned, this pregnancy has been awesome, so it seems silly to start getting worried now. Another bit of awesome news? There's still a good chance I'll be able to have a vaginal birth. I mean, I've been mentally prepared for c-sections since I was 19. But I've had abdominal surgery and it SUCKS. If Eli can be born without surgery, I'm all for it.

We're so excited about the hospital I'll be delivering at. Before we were even pregnant, Sheldon and I both really wanted to have him at the new Methodist West Houston. They aren't even delivering there until valentine's day, so the timing is great for us. We went to take a peek last week and were so happy with the decision. We couldn't take a full tour of the L&D floor yet (which is fine) because it's still under construction, but we met with the director, and its great. We're going to have to take our classes at a different hospital, but that's not a big deal. Its just exciting!

So, yea. Our lives are pretty solidly kid-centered. And we love it.

I'm not joining the 2011 fan club yet...

I made a huge, huge, huge mistake. I made a comment on a friend's blog that my #1 resolution for 2011 was to puke less. God did not think that was funny. At 11:45, right before 2011 started, the puking came like a tidal wave. I was too sick to fully count, but I'm estimating that I ended up puking around 30 times by 3am, when we were already in the emergency room. I am beyond grateful that God knew this near-death feeling was coming and Hubs was able to be home. He was out on a job but there was an engine problem on the barge so he got to come home. He arrive about 20 minutes after the mess was flying. It was generally an awful way to start the new year. I regret letting Cherie stay up to have midnight with me... instead of that special moment, she watched me get incredibly sick which terrified her. Owen thankfully slept through it. At the ER, I had 3 bags of IV and 2 hefty doses of nausea medication. We got home around 8:30 Saturday morning. The kids very sweetly let us sleep until 1:30.

We're not exactly sure what brought on that bought of stunning gastrointestinal pyrotechnics, but it paved the way for what is known as The Crud. I missed Monday and Tuesday at work, have had a Z Pack, and will start Tamiflu tomorrow. I hope to be able to stop coughing and "breathing" glue soon.

Thankfully, Eli has apparently been oblivious to it all. Cherie was really worried about him during all my toilet hugging, but I told her that he likes all the bouncing. His heart rate has been consistently in the upper 150's (when they checked it in the ER and then again today at my doctor's office.) He's about a foot long now, and quite the wiggler. I love the little thumps of him moving around! I was propped up on a bunch of pillows in bed the other day and Lucie came and laid across my belly. Eli was trying to kick her, which cracked me up (and then made me cough for 5 minutes). My doctor was beyond pleased by his last ultrasound images, going on and on about how great he looks. He's growing at the right pace, anatomy is proportional and looks as it should, etc. He's a healthy baby! When they weighed me today, I'd lost 3 pounds since my 18 week check up (I'm 21w4d now, was 18w2d then), which puts me back at 4 pounds under prepregnancy weight. My doctor isn't worried, because I was overweight to begin with. They want me to gain a max of 15 pounds during the entire pregnancy. Plus I'm sick and have thrown up a substantial amount lately. It stands to reason. And since Eli's growing on pace and is totally healthy, there's nothing to be worried about. Yay! (other preggos who gained a lot of weight, I am not bragging. I promise.)

I don't like to have my belly touched. Ever. Which is going to probably become an issue by my 3rd trimester. Basically, I've always been self conscious about the fleshiness of my belly, and then when I started doing insulin injections there which caused lots of bruising, and now I have my pump site there... its just not an area I'm comfortable being touched. There are now 2 exceptions, and they surprised me! I like it when Sheldon rubs my belly. Today at my check up, my doctor said, "Let's touch your belly." and started poking at it, measuring my uterus, etc. When he said, "the top of your uterus is right here *poke poke, grabs my hand to poke* which is exactly where it should be right now," I LIKED IT. So maybe it won't be as big of an issue in my 3rd trimester...

Speaking of my belly... I only really look pregnant in 1 sweater. Otherwise, I just look like the donuts call to me. I expected to feel a bit rounder by now. Subsequently, I'm not thinking I'm going to end up super huge. That's okay, but at the same time, it's a little disappointing because that's part of the fun of being pregnant.


I'm so in love with this kid... 15 or so weeks to go!!