Protected?

I hope so. Today Malachi and I got the H1N1 vaccine. Malachi needs to go get a booster in a month, adults don't need boosters. Malachi goes in for his four year well check on Dec. 2nd, so I think I'll just wait until then for the booster.

Malachi and I stood in line for two hours before we even got the paper work. He was amazing! I brought about ten books to pass time but I didn't think about bringing food or drinks. I really didn't think it would take that long. Malachi didn't whine or complain about the wait. He did tell me he was hungry, and he also told the mom next to us in line that he was hungry.

We were both injected six hours ago, and so far there have been zero adverse affects. Malachi's injection site looks great, I haven't checked mine yet.

In other news, I had my monthly Obstetrical check up yesterday. The baby's heart beat was very strong, I measured well, my blood pressure was good, and my weight is good. Everything was very positive. We did discuss the pre-term labor I had with Malachi a little bit. For now I don't have to worry about anything.

I do have to go in for another ultrasound on Nov. 30th to check the placement of my placenta (for those who don't know, if it's too low it can separate from my uterus and it would cut off contact between me and the baby), and the thickness of my cervix. If it's too thin they'll be putting me on bed rest, if it's thin enough they'll be sending me to the hospital. A thin cervix is the precursor to my water breaking. I assume that putting me on bed rest will delay that from happening. By the time I go in for the ultrasound I'll be one day short of 29 weeks along. If they do find something wrong it could mean anywhere from 7-10 weeks of bed rest. My mother-in-law has offered to take Malachi in case that happens. I'm praying hard that that wont happen.

I have the glucose test at my next check up in three weeks. With that test we can find out if I have gestational diabetes. With all the halloween candy I've been eating (yes, yes I know that it's not even Halloween candy yet) I wouldn't be surprised if I did have it.

The round ligament pain has been a little better since that one day, but if I do too much it gets kind of bad. I just pushing through it now, knowing that it's nothing bad and I don't have to worry about it. Over all, things have been better.

Guatemala

John is leaving on the 30th of November for a trip to Guatemala. He'll be gone for two weeks. I suppose I better get used to this. As the wife of a diplomat there's bound to be work travel involved in his job that I don't join him for. In Guatemala he's going to live with a host family, go to class with a teacher from the Foreign Service Institute (one goes with them (them being the group of 7 people that we know and love that are going with)) and then spend the rest of the day immersed in the Spanish language and culture. He's very excited to go.

I'm a lot less excited. I hate being alone (yes I know I'll have the company of my son, but I dislike being with out an adult). I've never lived by myself and honestly I'm a little scared of being by myself. Even though we live in a secure building there are still over 150 apartment in this building and I don't know very many of the tenants. There are just so many strangers.

I know that it's very likely nothing will happen. I just have a very active imagination. On the plus side! I'll have the King Size bed all to myself for two weeks! I LOVE having the bed to myself!

Week of Adventures

It's been a while since I updated. The last week has been interesting.

Wednesday I didn't do much because I was in extreme pain. It may have been the worst pain I've experienced since I got pregnant, it brought me to tears. Someone suggested on mamasource that the pain might be Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) and I got really scared of that after reading the wiki info about it.

I called the Dr's office on Thursday morning because I really didn't want to wait until my next check up to talk about it. The office assistant asked if I'd experienced any discharge (sorry to anyone who's reading this that doesn't want to read this kind of stuff, it comes with pregnancy). I told her that my bladder has been leaking but I didn't know if anything else was. A little while later, after discussing my symptoms with a Dr she called back and told me to make my way to the hospital. I brought Malachi to a friends house and drove my way there.



After some tests and discussion with the Dr on call he told me it's not SPD but rather Round Ligament pain, yay! Also, I do just have a leaky bladder (supper leaky compared to the last pregnancy). The Dr released me and the nurse gave me a great list of symptoms that should make me call the Dr's office. Now if I'm experiencing anything that's not on that list, I can just wait until my next appointment. I was home by lunch time, but I was exhausted. Even though I spent most of the time there laying down it was an emotionally exhausting experience and it drained me. I don't think I did much more that day.

Friday morning I dropped Malachi off again at the same house as the previous day and made my way to the prenatal echo cardiogram that I had scheduled. I went in with no fear and then was told by the Dr that when a mother has a heart defect (I have a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)) it increases the risk of the baby having one. I didn't know that! All of a sudden my fear level rose. The Dr assured me that any major complications could be seen on a sonogram at this far in the pregnancy. However, he saw that everything was developing perfectly! Everything was the size it should be and the vessels going into and out of the heart are the perfect size and working like they should be. Anything major looks to be ruled out! Praise God! Anything minor can still develop but the pediatrician should be able to catch it when he's born. This time I was done and home before 10am but it was still an emotional couple of days and I was exhausted again.

I did make an awesome dinner that night (Chicken St. Pierre, broccoli salad, crusty salad and garlic mashed potatoes) and had a good friend over for it. In fact Sam made the potatoes and they were awesome!! After Malachi went to bed I watched the season premiere of Ugly Betty and I watched Rachel Getting Married for the first time. That was a hard movie to watch. I'm glad I did, but I don't know if I'll ever watch it again.

Saturday and Sunday were rainy and kind of blah. We did make it to our Pastor's house on Saturday morning/afternoon for Apple Baking. I made Apple Dumplings with a friend and the other things made were: Apple Cider, Apple Sauce, Apple Cake, Apple Pancakes, Apple Pie, and pizza. It was a very delicious day!

Sunday was a normal day. Today I had mom's group. I really started wilting toward the end, but I'm really glad I went. I haven't been sleeping very well the last few days. I've been waking up a lot through out the night. Tomorrow I'll be 23 weeks pregnant. Which leaves 17 weeks of pregnancy which is so crazy! In those 17 weeks we have a ton going on:

Trip to Dallas on Nov. 5th
Anniversary on Nov. 10th
Malachi's b-day on Nov. 23rd (his party is going to be on the 22nd I think)
Family in for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
John leaves for two weeks on the 30th for a Spanish Immersion trip in either Ecuador or Guatemala
Christmas
New Years
John's birthday
and then the birth!

I have a feeling that it'll be a very, very quick 17 weeks.

To Bounce or Not to Bounce

Yesterday after Malachi's nap we headed out west to Sport Bounce. It's a big warehouse full of different bounce houses. John found this place online and thought Malachi would like it.

We got there and Malachi was really excited. We payed his admission ($10 for the open bounce time - we were there for an hour of it) took off his and dad's shoes (parents bounce for free) and headed to the bounce houses. The only problem: Malachi didn't want to bounce.

He ran to the baby room, and when we told him it was a baby room, he then went to the lounge and tried to play Foosball but couldn't find a ball and I wasn't going to the front desk to get one.

Finally daddy got Malachi to play hide and seek with him on the bounce houses. They went through a couple this way and Malachi was a little unsure. Then after Malachi got into one and daddy found him he was encouraged to follow some kids. He followed them right through it and down the slide - which he enjoyed.

Bingo! The key to Malachi's enjoyment was found. He just needed to find some kids to play with. After a while he and a boy found each other and they played together for over half an hour. Malachi ended up doing every single one more than once and when we left and John asked which was his favorite he said the one with the water. There isn't any actual water, it's just decorated like a water slide. We were surprised by this answer because it was one of the biggest and he spent most of his time on another one. It was the last one he did though, so maybe that affected his answer.

Unfortunately we forgot the camera so we have no pictures of this fun time.

After that we made our way over to a mall that was nearby to get a little shopping done before dinner. I bought a book we're going through for Mom's Group, got a pair of pants and some shirts. John got a couple of shirts, and so did Malachi. My son bought Star Wars shirts. Yes people, he chose them. After that we headed to Red Robin to have some very delicious burgers and then headed home.

All in all it was about four hours, but after we were done I was completely exhausted and very sore. It's definitely too much for me to do. Before this pregnancy I could've done that and more. Man! I really didn't expect to be like this, this early.

Costa Rica and Baby Stuff

So, if you haven't read John's blog, then I'll tell you now. We're heading to San Jose, Costa Rica in May! Well...that's the plan, this is the Foreign Service...anything could happen.

John's doing well in Spanish, and I am so excited to live in Costa Rica again. I'm sure two years as an adult with a family is going to be very different from the three months as a young single girl just out of high school. But still, I'd like to re-connect with the friends I had back then.

Now I gotta work on getting my Spanish language skills going again. Until about three weeks ago I was the Spanish "expert" in the family because I had more experience. It really didn't take long for John to get enough of the language down where he is definitely now the family expert. Somehow I need to catch up.

I miss Team China from John's Orientation class, but I think there are a lot of fun/neat people heading to Mexico, Latin, and South America so it's fun to hang out with them and plan trips to see each other. Sorry Mexico people, but I wont be heading that way.

There's a ton to do to prepare for living there. There's also a ton to do to prepare for the new baby. One of those things is working with the State Department to get all of the baby stuff out of storage. Normally I would have to wait until we moved to C.R. to get it all out but since there's a baby on the way I should be able to get those items. However, I do think there are about four different departments I need to talk to in order to make this happen. I need to find out from John exactly what the process is so I can take care of it.



Our registry is mostly complete and is at Baby's R Us. It was a little hard doing that with out having gone through the stuff we already have, but some of the stuff I KNOW for sure we don't have, for instance, a glider. The one we registered for is so comfortable I may never get out of it. Some of the stuff I registered for is just for fun. I know we have enough clothes for two babies so I didn't register for any of that. I love registry stuff, and I can't wait for my shower in Dallas. The ladies that are throwing that for me are amazing. I'm so blessed that they're doing this for me.

2nd Pregnancy

So many things are different with this pregnancy from the last. I've heard so many people say that every pregnancy is different, and I didn't believe them. I especially didn't believe them in the first couple months of this pregnancy because it started out exactly the same as the last one. My morning sickness was exactly the same, the headaches are the same, and the excitement is the same.

However, the more this pregnancy progresses the more different it becomes. I've done a lot of whining lately. It's unfortunate for anyone who hasn't had a kid, and for my family. I have friends who I think I've scared from having children because of all the whining, it's too bad really.

I want to use this as an outlet instead of my mouth. Of course, this will reach many more people, but I think a lot of my readers are moms of more than one child and can understand and sympathize.

I had no idea coming into this pregnancy how hard it would be on my body. Only half way through my pregnancy and I'm so easily exhausted and really quite sore. Sleeping is very difficult because it's hard to get comfortable. Although, the last week has been a bit easier because I'm just so exhausted.

Doing chores is quite a...well...chore. I've decided that instead of doing everything at once and completely wearing myself out, I'm going to have to change my habits. I'm going to have to do laundry every two to three days so I can use my wheeled cart. Dishes are probably going to have to be loaded as closely to when they're used as possible instead of letting them pile up.

Also I think Malachi is going to be helping me a lot with picking up the apartment. He's really good at it, so he will be a big help. I've come up with a system to put all his toys from our room and the living room/dining room on a side table next to the hall. He knows prett well now, that when he sees toys there he needs to put them away. I wish I'd thought of this sooner. I'm so thankful that he's big enough to do a lot by himself. He's also pretty good at occupying himself. Bending is quite a hard thing lately, so I think he's going to be picking things up off the floor for me. Although, I am pretty skilled with my toes.

John has been a really big help the last few days. It was hard for him to understand why it's been so hard for me. In my last pregnancy I worked until I went to the hospital (I worked a full shift the day I went to the hospital), and I had a lot more energy. Some how, taking care of a four year old is harder than standing for 8-9 hours a day. After I explained to him that this pregnancy was so different, he's realized I really need a lot more help. I'm trying to not take advantage of him because his work is pretty stressful. He feels like he's under a lot of pressure to learn Spanish for our next post. I know though, that if I need him to do something, he's there for me. All I need to do is ask.

So, I think I'm done here. I hope I haven't scared anyone away from pregnancy. I know that it will all be worth it in must a few short months when I get to see the fruit of my labor.

Whew! Part 2

Saturday morning John went to the store to pick some things up and I cooked and cleaned. We were preparing for a visit from our friends from TX. The Salerno Family moved on the same weekend we did to a town two hours south of us. They got here around 12:30 and we went outside. The men grilled the hot dogs while the moms watched the kids play on the playgroung. Since hot dogs don't take too long to grill, the kids didn't get to play very long, but I honestly don't think they cared.

After lunch with them we hung out for a bit and then went back outside where everyone but the moms played tennis for a bit. My child and the youngest Salerno felt like coming in before everyone else, so I brought them in. The Roys and Salernos hung out for a few more hours and then they made the long treck home.

Saturday night it was John's turn to go to a movie with friends. I stayed home with the boy. The weekend had been so exhausting so I enjoyed just chilling the rest of the night. Malachi and I watched part of a move before he went to bed. John came home and we vegged the rest of the night 'til I fell asleep (around 10:30 - early, but so needed).

Sunday was normal I guess. Church, Chipotle, nap, Volleyball, and dinner. We had a lot of fun at dinner though because a bunch of us hung out at the grill. It was dark and a bit chilly, so I don't know how many more dinners will be out there. It's a nice area though, so it'll be nice to do it again in the spring.

Today was my first Life Group meeting for our church. I might have singed up for a few (Moms, Womens, Meals, Explore DC, and 2:42 (just eating and fellowshipping)). It sounds like a lot, but all of those are maybe once a month, except Moms which is every other week, and Meals is just on a need basis no meetings as far as I know.

So anyway, today I started the Mom's Group. There were a lot more people there than I expected. We had nine moms including me and the two leaders. Malachi was the second to oldest and there were a ton of babies and toddlers. We had a day mostly of just chatting, getting to know each other and then introductions. We're going to read The Power of the Praying Parent by Stormie O'Martian. I look forward to much insight into the power I have as a parent, and how to use it.

On tonights docket: shopping and dinner.

Whew! Part 1

What a weekend!

Malachi and I headed out to the car of Friday morning to go get his hair cut. After getting Malachi all strapped into the car and getting myself strapped into the car I tried starting the car - to no avail. The few days prior to that it would have a hard time starting and we thought it was due to the cold, even though it would get at least that cold (and colder) in TX.

I texted John and told him the problem, and he diagnosed it as a dead battery. I asked my wonderful neighbor Nicole if she could jump my car. Thankfully she had jumper cables and the time to jump our car.

Malachi and I made our way to the nearest National Tire & Battery. After checking us in the guy said that it would be about a 30-45 minute wait for our car. I asked if there was anything within walking distance of interest to a four year old (it's simpler to say that instead of three and four quarters year old). Another employee responded saying there was a Starbucks down the road and around the corner. Perfect! Malachi loves going to Starbucks and getting chocolate milk.

Either I didn't understand the directions or he miss-spoke. Either way, the way I went didn't work. I could see a major road from where I ended up, so I just headed that way. I ended up finding a Starbucks in a strip mall and I was so happy because I had dissapointed said three and four quarters year old with the news that I couldn't find the Starbucks. We got a very healthy lunch there consisting of fruit, salad, chocolate milk (for the boy) and fruit juice (for the mommy and baby). By the time we got there and sat down we had been walking for over half an hour, and had gone about a mile. It was quite exhausting for both of us.

After we ate Malachi said he wanted to go to a store. So we stopped in TJ Maxx and got him three outfits for winter and Malachi picked out a onsie for baby brother. I really love the idea of him buying clothes for his brother (he's done it twice now). I think it'll help him to grow love for him (hmm this could get confusing). After that we walked all the way back to the car shop. Did I mention that half the way is uphill and half the way is down? No?! Well it is...and it's very tiring for both of us. I guess I got good exercise.

After getting back to the store and waiting 10 minutes for anyone to come to the front room to help me, we hopped into the car and finally headed out to get his hair cut. It was WAAAAAAY past nap time by this point and I was starting to see signs of Malachi being tired, so I tried (successfully) to keep him awake on the way to the kids salon. After getting his hair cut, no wait - thank you God, we finally headed home. By this point we had been out for over three and a half hours. Everyone was very tired from the days events.

We got home and Malachi went down for a nap. It was so late into the afternoon that I knew John would be calling after work and I didn't want to go to sleep to be woken up. I also didn't want to put the phone on silent and miss a call in case he got news of where we were being posted. He called promptly at 4:30 and informed me of our next posting. Saddly we're sworn to secrecy (which we've mostly been keeping) because we "stole" the post from the new class. Things like that happen all the time, and they've surely been notified of the change already, but apparently our CDO doesn't want the class to find out who stole it until after Flag Day. What ever. We can share our posting with the cyber world Friday evening (their Flag Day is Friday).

That night I went out to a movie with some girlfriends. We went and saw Whip It. We had a really good time and we all enjoyed the movie. After that I was so wipped out from the day that I watched two Grey's Anatomy episodes and then went to bed.

I have to get ready for my first Mom's Group for church. I'm excited for Malachi and I to meet some new friends. In fact I have to leave in half an hour so I really need to get moving. I'll try my best to do the rest of the weekend later today.

20 Week Picture

I think I figured out the issue and fixed it. Here's the picture, sorry it's a couple days late.