Still pregnant!

I guess, I really shouldn't complain since this means Abrie's still getting a good chance to grow and develop all those important things needed to arrive safely, but I'm not gonna lie...I'm in pain! I also don't feel like a have a lot of room to complain as I've followed a couple of friends from back home that have recently had twins and were more miserable than I could imagine, but in comparison to my last pregnancy, this one's been pretty rough (at least the last month or so)!

Just to recap, I had the pleasure of experiencing kidney stones and had to go to the E.R. on March 25th, and they put my nephrostomy tube in on the 26th (the day I supposed to have a baby shower ;). Although they've never actually seen the stone, my right kidney was completely blocked and building up fluid...hence the pain. The Dr. that put my tube in thinks he pushed it into my bladder when he shoved the tube in my back (yes, and it felt like a "shove" with only being given some local anesthetic!). So my "tail" and I have have been friends for over a month now, and they won't take it out until after Abrie's born because they don't want to risk having another stone develop...blah, blah, blah! I understand why, and really NEVER want to experience that kind of pain EVER again in my life (they really should give epidurals to people with kidney stones!), but this stinking tube is not to comfortable either! My muscles in my back around the site are constantly sore, and if the tube gets kinked, the build-up causes a horrible pressure! Like I said, so ready to get rid of this sucker.

To add onto all of that, I've been having contractions for the last 3 1/2 weeks, and as of Tuesday, I was still only dilated to a "1" and only 25% effaced! Some nights (like last night) they were stronger and about 5-6 minutes apart, but then after an hour start to wear off! They had me on medicine until Tuesday to stop my contractions (which they never did stop), and I was really hoping that I would progress a lot faster! My neighbor's trampoline is looking very appealing at the moment.

And, since I've never been this pregnant before, I'm getting to enjoy all the later discomforts of pregnancy! I'm pretty sure she's dropping (I really hope), because I now have pain on the right, lower side of my pelvis which is making walking very difficult! I have no idea what to even do about it, because there's not much stretching I can do, guess I need to call my brother the chiropractor ;). Needless to say, I really want this to be over, as I'm sure every pregnant woman feels at this point. I go into the doctor again on Saturday, so hopefully I've made more progress, unless I get lucky and deliver before then ;). I'm supposed to work tonight, and honestly I'm really hoping it puts me into a more active labor. At least I'm right there at the hospital and can just go upstairs if I need to ;).

I've been praying a lot, and had a priesthood blessing a few weeks ago that promised me that my body would have the strength to make it through all this, so I know it will, it's just my mind that is failing me! I know that if Heavenly Father wanted her here, she would come. I also recognize how much we've been blessed through this whole ordeal of the military taking a couple of weeks to change our insurance. I'm so lucky I didn't go into labor during the "dark ages" of that time! I was really worried I might with all the contractions, but I was again blessed with peace of mind that helped me know everything would be all right. So, now I'm just being impatient and quite frankly, super excited to meet this little girl! I still have so much to do to get ready for her (like finish her bedding), but I can't wait to see her and see if I get to have a child that looks like me ;). So, complaining session is over, I feel better and hopefully the next time I blog, it will be to introduce her!!!

Our Easter Festivities

Here's a quick catch up of the week of Easter (mostly in pictures). On Monday, we dyed our "monster" Easter eggs. Landen loved them so much that he cried when he couldn't sleep with them that night and it was the first thing he asked for when he woke up the next morning. Needless to say, by Sunday, they were all cracked!

The little "monsters" (please ignore the spongebob tablecloth, it was the only plastic one we had!)
Landen annoyed that I'm taking his picture with all his monster eggs lined up!

Saturday morning we went to the Rexburg Easter Egg Hunt. It was over in about 1 minute and Landen didn't get a single egg!!! As you can see, he's walking around confused with an empty basket. A boy took pity on him on the way out and gave him one of his eggs. It was pretty pathetic how much the parents were getting super aggressive about the whole thing and were even grabbing eggs as quickly as they could to put in their kids baskets...LAME! This is what we teach our kids?!

Anyway, I felt pretty bad for Landen that he didn't really get to experience a hunt, so we hid some eggs in the backyard and let Landen find them all. He LOVED it!

Finding eggs in the sandbox

The basket's getting heavy (don't worry, we're taking one for the team and helping him eat all his candy ;)

Easter morning, Landen woke up to his surprise from the Easter Bunny. We even let him pick something to take to church. On a side note, the magic colors markers are amazing! I love that they don't color on anything but the special paper!!

My boys looking all handsome in their Easter best. I love that we found a cheap suit for Landen, he loos adorable in it! And, Landen's actually smiling, he usually hates the camera!

Finally our Easter feast. I was quite proud of myself how well the lamb roast turned out this year! Even Landen asked for more!!!

The fancy table setting (a minute before, Landen had set the table with his cars, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera)

Bear World

So last weekend was the opening of Bear World, and sadly we'd never been there before. So, I decided to take Landen since it was 1/2 price, and "aunt" Suzi joined us too. It was actually bigger than I thought it would be. Landen wasn't too sure how he felt about the animals getting so close to our car, but loved them when they were far enough away. I didn't have my camera, so these are pictures from my phone, not the best quality ;)

Suzi posing as a bear
Landen and Suzi riding one of the rides

Landen loved the trains and had to ride them at least 3 times!

Adorable baby bears! They're about 8-9 pounds, they were a 1/2 lb. and the size of a twinkie when they were born. So cute, I couldn't get enough of them!

More baby bears (there were 3). We even got to pet them!

Change of Plans

Well, according to military tradition, they as usual are being unpredictable! We got a phone call today telling us that they were "cutting" Brian's orders and they had changed their minds! So, we're headed to:

Yay! Bring on the sunshine!!!!

2 More weeks!

That's all I NEED to make it with this little one to be full term! 2 weeks doesn't sound so bad, but I'm not gonna lie, these last 2 weeks have been miserable! Between having gestational diabetes, getting a tube shoved in my back after having so much pain from kidney stones, then trying to go into labor and having to go to the hospital twice to get my contractions stopped...I'm not gonna lie, I wish it were over!!! This morning I woke up with blood in my nephrostomy bag. My back was hurting more than usual at the site where the tube goes into my back. I cried. But, as I sit here and think of all the think of the things going on with my body, I still daydream about meeting this little girl and kissing her cute little feet, hands, cheeks, etc. I try to remind myself that there are so many women out there who will never be blessed with feeling a baby move inside her! I am so blessed!! Yes, my physical body seems to be failing me, but I feel my spirit growing stronger from this experience. Will I do this again? Honestly, I don't know! I've always wanted to adopt, which was reinforced when I came home from Russia and had a mother on my same flight who was bringing a little boy back to the states with her. I love my son and this unborn little girl of ours who we knew was supposed to come into our home, and I will love any other child that comes into our home no matter how they get here! So, even though my uterus is being pissy (as one of my good friends puts it), I have a tail hanging out of my back, and I have to poke my fingers, it's a sacrifice I am willing to make to bring one of Heavenly Father's children into our home and how blessed we are that He is allowing this to happen!

I found a quote that makes me feel better when I'm deciding things are too tough to handle by Quentin L. Cook from this last conference. He said "God placed within women divine qualities of strength, virtue, love, and the willingness to sacrifice to raise future generations of His spirit children."

2 MORE WEEKS!

A Graduate & an Officer

Well folks, he finally did it! He graduated!!!!! One or both of us has been in school since we got married 6 1/2 years ago, and it's crazy that it's finally over (well until 1 or both of us decide to go back ;). Yesterday was a super busy day with graduation at 9:00 am, convocation at 11:00 am and then his R.O.T.C. graduation at 1:30 pm. I unfortunately only went to the ROTC graduation because I had been in the hospital again the night before having more contractions, and was trying to avoid going into labor since we are no longer insured until the 25th of this month ;). Here's a few pictures that family took for us. I'm so grateful they were here! They were so much help with Landen while I was having my "labor pains", and even have been helping us get our house ready to put on the market! Don't know what we would have done without them this weekend! Anyway, here's a few pics:

Brian later told me he got me this flower...I knew better because I got one when I graduated too! Being goofy. Nice finally having all the pressure off!

Brian receiving his plaque after being sworn in as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army.

All his graduating class and staff of the ROTC program. There's 9 in his class, which is one of the largest to go through BYU-Idaho.

Quick little family picture (oh, and my poor mom in the background). Evidence that I was actually able/allowed to come to something.

I was super impressed by the ROTC graduation ceremony, and yes, I did cry! I'm so grateful that no one has tried to remove the acknowledgement of God yet from the oath that the officers, or any military person takes when being sworn in. That will be a very sad day! I'm so proud of Brian and all his hard work and sacrifices he's made to make this day possible. He's such a good man and will be an amazing leader in the Army! Now I think it's time for a little vacation...well I guess after Abrie comes ;)

Finally (big sigh)

So after years of anticipation and months of waiting, we finally (unofficially) found out where we're going to be stationed:

That's in Washington in case you were wondering ;). I have mixed feelings about moving there. Yay for finally knowing, but not sure how I feel about a lot of rain...might need depression medication! I am however excited to be close to Seattle and all the new things we can do and see, oh and of course there's got to be more shopping options than I currently have!

I could hug Major Dickson (sp?) if I ever meet her for pushing so hard to get Brian his orders so that we can get back on insurance ASAP! Not sure how she would handle a hug, but she would get one! As is looks/hoping, we should be insured again as soon as next Friday the 15th!!! Hip, hip hooray! So, baby girl just needs to keep cooking until then (but hopefully longer). Still having some contractions, but they're a lot better and I can usually make them stop if I just sit down and drink water. All good news, now to go cheer up my grumpy 2 year old. I swear naps make them grouchier (if that's even a word) sometimes!

"Taking it easy"

So I went to the hospital AGAIN last night because I'd been having contractions since about 12:00 that afternoon, not the horrible, painful kind, just the annoying braxton hicks/menstrual cramp feeling ones. When I got there my contractions were irregular (which is normal for Braxton Hicks) anywhere from 2-8 minutes apart! They were able to get them to slow down and be less intense after getting 3 shots of terbutaline (which makes your heart race and makes you super shaky by the way...not cool!). So, I was able to go home, thank goodness and met with the doctor this morning.

He checked my cervix again, and said that I'm "maybe" dilated to a "1" but Abrie's head is nowhere near my cervix, still "floating" up above, so he's feeling good about it. He's putting me on some medication that's supposed to keep my from going into labor and I've been ordered to "take it easy" and not work for 2 weeks. Oh, and I'm on "pelvic rest". I'm one of those people that needs things specifically spelled out for me, so being told to "take it easy" is way too vague! Basically, Brian's putting me on partial bed rest. As I've mentioned before we're losing insurance for hopefully no more than 2 weeks this Saturday, so we LITERALLY cannot afford for this little girl to come during this time! I'm supposed to be going in twice a week for ultrasounds, but as we found out today it's $500/ultrasound and visit, so we're thinking we can only afford to go once a week for the next 2 weeks and still have to be on a payment plan for it. Oh, they'll give us a 20% discount if we're paying out of pocket...so that helps a little ;). I've seriously never felt like I was relying on so much faith before and literally stepping into the dark trusting that things will work out for the best. We keep hoping that our insurance (since it'll be the same insurance only as an "active duty" military instead of "reserves") will still pay for whatever treatment during that time! So, I'm trying not to stress out about it, lay on the couch and watch Netflix shows and hope that my 2 year old doesn't feel neglected by him momma. Thank goodness Brian's done with his schoolwork and can be home more!!!

My "tail" update

So after going to 2 different doctors a couple of times this week and after having a study done of my nephrostomy tube done yesterday, the decision has been made to leave my "tail" in until the end of the month until I will be insured again. From what they could see, the upper portion of my ureter is clear, but the lower portion is a little harder to see with Abrie's head in the way. Yes, this is the "safer" alternative because there's a chance of another obstruction occurring during that dark abyss of no insurance and we'd have to pay for everything out of pocket to get it fixed, but there's also a risk of something going wrong with the tube during that time too. I just want it out, but am forcing myself to be patient with it because in the long run it's probably what's best for me and Abrie. It's making me slow down so I don't go into early labor again, so I'm trying to see this whole situation as a blessing. Brian's super worried about me even working, but my doctor is leaving it up to me. I don't work again until Thursday night, so we'll see how I feel. Anyway, here's a picture of my "tail" taken a week ago when I got it put in. Sorry if the blood grosses you out, but it doesn't look like that anymore! It's all clear now ;).

In other news, I'm now supposed to be getting ultrasounds twice a weeks to check Abrie, her growth, and movements since I'm such a "high risk" pregnancy. It's nice to be able to see her so often, but once again there's the issue of not having insurance for hopefully no more than 10-14 days. 2 of my OBGYN's are retired from the Navy so they're very understanding of how ridiculous military/government programs can be, so they're going to talk about how to work something out! We've been so blessed and watched over during this whole ordeal that it's very humbling. As much as I think about this most likely being our last baby because I really don't want to deal with all of this again, it's very hard to ignore my Heavenly Father's hand in all of this. Our prayers are being answered, just in VERY unexpected ways! I have much to be grateful for!! Here's Abrie at 32 weeks, 3 days. Sorry the picture's horrible, it's a picture of a picture taken from my phone.