Taniyah's Doppler

Taniyah goes with me to my midwife appointments. She gets to listen to the baby when the midwife does the doppler.

Well she is a fast learner and she made her own doppler.

Destini has a barbie cash register with a handheld scanner.

She's started using it to "listen" to bellies.

Here she is talking to her "patient"

Then she turns on the register

Then she makes sure that I can hear that "grumbly tummy"

29 weeks!

I've made it to 29 weeks. One more week and I'm in the single digits as far as weeks go. 77 days until my due date. I found out yesterday that I failed my one hour glucose test so now I have to go back tomorrow and do a three hour. That stuff is SO nasty. I had to do the three hour with Jaleel and I passed. It's the whole fasting for 10-12 hours and then drinking what tasted like 10 pounds of sugar in orange soda that's warm. It is probably one of my least favorite parts of pregnancy. Hopefully I will pass the three hour and be done with it. The cutoff is 134 and mine was 147.

I'm feeling really good. I've gained 14 pounds total with this pregnancy which the midwife says is great. My last appt baby was head down but I think at the moment baby has turned head up. Baby seems to be using my bladder for a trampoline. Good thing I've done lots of kegels!!

Rod's ship left out to sea yesterday after being in the yards for 4 months. So starts the work-up schedule. In and out, out and in. The ship will return in a few days but he has duty so won't be home until the next day. I'd rather have it that way then him having duty the day AFTER he gets in. I'd rather just get it done.

Side fence

We finally got the side fence finished. We got the gates done and installed. Now we can close the gate and Taniyah can't go into the front yard. She has her own play area in the back yard. Now we just need to do the back yard so that she can't go around the back of the house.

So it went from this:

To this:

The weather here is getting nice. The rose bush in front of the girls bedroom has exploded with blooms.

The flowerbeds are starting to fill in with plants from last year. I don't think I will have to add any plants as what is in there should fill in all the empty places.

Third trimester!!!

I'm two-thirds of the way done. Today is the first official day of my third trimester!!

Time is going by so quickly. It seems that I just made it to double digits and now I'm down to 90 days on the official counter to my due date.

I think that we may have finally found a car seat that we like. The colors that are out there tight now are just - YUCK!!

I also started my registries at Target and Babies R Us as I've had people ask me about them. I did them online but haven't yet made it to the store to add to them.

I'm 27 weeks and with Taniyah I was put on modified bedrest at 35 weeks. That's 8 weeks away! I need to get so much stuff accomplished before then in case that happens again! I need more time!!

HAPPY EASTER!!

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!

We got up this morning and headed to Easter Service. I was suprised that we didn't have the normal large crowd. Maybe they went to Sunrise Service. Rod turned off the alarm so we did't make it to that service. It started at 6am.

Then we came home and the kids got their baskets.

Taniyah got Disney's princess and Gabby got SoccerGirl

Makkiah got Scooby skateboard and Jaleel got Fear Factor

Destini got PollyPocket cheerleading stuff and Brayana got SpyGear

The older three kids got solid chocolate bunnies

Tyreque helped Tete dress up in her princess gear. Isn't she cute?!

The boys bedroom-progress

Before we started with their room it was a powder blue. I think the previous owners got a good deal on the paint cause over half the house was powder blue.

We pulled Tyreque's bed out of the closet area and moved it to another area of the room. Makes a lot more room over there.

Then we hung shower curtains up to make the closet look like a closet instead of just haven't closet rods hanging.

We are going to paint the short half wall dark blue to hide fingerprints and we are going to paint circles on the green wall.

This door goes out to the patio and the shower curtain works well for curtains.

26 weeks!

I'm 26 weeks today. I took some pictures but they kept coming out really fuzzy.

One more week and I'm in my third trimester! I'm almost 2/3's of the way done. Technically speaking I probably AM 2/3's of the way done.

I hit officially hit double digits yesterday and now have 98 days left until my due date. Mom will be here in 2 months - YEAH!! Can't wait to see her and Poppa again.

Things are going by so quickly!

Makkiah's CT scan

Makkiah had his CT scan today. His appt was at noon. We got there at 11am as there was no traffic and the tram came just as we parked the van so no waiting for it. We got there much quicker than expected.

I took Tyreque since I knew I wouldn't be able to stay in the room with Mak. They wanted to try to do it without sedation and I was afraid that he might freak out without a familiar face in there with him.

At 11:05 they called us back. Mak climbed up on the table, laid down and said he was scared. The tech was great in explaining everything to Mak and promised to show him his pictures after he was done.

I got to watch the scan from the booth and see the pictures first. It was pretty cool. Tyreque did a great job talking to Makkiah during the scan and Mak did an AWESOME job of laying still and not moving a muscle.

After the scan was done he showed Mak the pictures. He pointed out his teeth, nose and sinuses. Mak thought they were pretty cool.

I knew right away that one sinus did not look like the other and asked the tech about it. His right side is "filled with something" and his left sinus was clear. He said the final report would take 2-3 days. Dr W told me to contact him on Friday morning for the results and plan.

By 11:30 we were downstairs eating lunch at McD. and by noon we were headed back to the tram stop. By 12:10 we were in the van and headed home.

23 weeks!

I had an appt yesterday with the midwife. I've gained 12 pounds so far. Baby's heartrate was in the 130's which she says is "boy range". I think everyone is determined that this is going to be a boy. Guess we'll all find out in about 4 months! Can't believe that time has gone by so quickly. Pretty soon my Mom will be out to visit and then I know that I'm really close!

Potty training success

I think we can officially say that Taniyah is potty trained. We went to the lab on Thursday so I could get some blood drawn. While we were there she told me that she had to "pee" which I thought was funny cause she hadn't been going at home. She wouldn't go there once we went into the bathroom though.

On Friday I decided to leave her diaperless and she did great. Only one accident all day!!

Saturday we went over to Will & Marsha's house. Tete said she had to "pee" but everytime we went into the bathroom she would say "no potty" and cry. After a while she was hysterical, she would say "pee", "no potty", scream "no" when I pulled her panties up or down. I didn't know what the issue was. After about 30 minutes of the ongoing drama I put her on the potty and moved the step stool so she couldn't get down. She FINALLY went pee and then she was fine. I think the big potty was to traumatic for her. The kids and I went to football practice with them (Rod had duty) but stopped on our way to buy a little potty for her. She did great at the hours of football practice with her little potty.

After football the kids went home with Will & Marsha and Tyreque & I went to Ross to get shoes. Tete said she had to "pee" but once she saw that big potty she said "no potty"! She stayed dry all the way home and went potty when we got there.

Then she went with me to pick up Ladaria and the rest of the kids and stayed dry that whole time and all night! Yeah Tete!

She's done great since then, even with trips out to church, Ikea, Lowe's and lunch. We even had a breakthrough yesterday when she went pee on the big potty at Ikea TWICE!! Woohoo! I think maybe some of the "big potties" are just a little TOO big for her comfort!! Maybe she thinks she will be flushed away.

Footballs and gophers?!

The kids and I went to football practice with Will, Marsha and the kids. Marsha is helping to coach this year so I had to go see her skills put into practice.

Yep she's got it down, stand around with the whistle and shout orders.

And guess what? Will's got it down to!!!

Sometimes the kids copied the coaches.

But other times they really did play.

And some of the coaches, well, I think they pretended to play!

Just kidding!!

Then I saw this little guy pretty close to where I was sitting and I decided to get some pictures of him. The first time I saw him he came all the way out of his hole.

Then he disappeared so I put a french fry near his hole. He came out again until Will walked almost on top of him and he closed off his hole and was gone!

21 Weeks 5 Days

Rod took new pictures last night. So here I am at 21 weeks 5 days. Everyone seems to think that this is a boy although I think I'm carrying like I did with Taniyah. I don't know what the old wives tale is about carrying.

I didn't even erase my stretch marks this time. I really don't think that I have very many for this being baby #5.

This morning I woke up with my first leg cramp. That means that sleeping on my back is out the window for the time being. I have my Tums and need to pull out some pillows! I can still sleep on my tummy although I try really hard not to.

Update on Appointment

I had my Fetal Assessment Appointment today. I met with the genetics counselor and then had my ultrasound done. The doctor who did the ultrasound said that the ventricles all looked good. She looked at the feet from all angles and said that they looked good as well. She said that the baby looks PERFECT!! I will have another scan done around 34 weeks to look at the lungs.

The baby had it's hands clasped together and resting on it's cheek. It was really cute but she didn't get a very good picture of it. We also saw the baby yawning.

How I spent my evening!

Mom called to talk after her babies were all in bed for the night. Usually mine go down long after hers do.

So as I'm talking to her and catching up Taniyah came to join me. She got a nap of about 2.5 minutes yesterday so she was tired I guess. She laid across my lap and fell asleep.

Pretty soon Coco came to join us. She either thought that the bottom of my legs were cold or Taniyah needed company. I'm not sure which. She certainly wanted to make sure that her pillow didn't go anywhere though.

So this is how we spent the duration of the phone call. Taniyah finally woke up. I think her legs were scrunched and fell asleep on her. She moved down to the end of the couch and went back to sleep until Rod moved her to her bed. I guess she was really tired.

Finally got an appt

I finally have an appt with the Fetal Assessment Unit! I called last week and they didn't have a referral. I was told to call my midwife to have the referral put in and they would give me a call to schedule the appt once it was recieved. Still hadn't heard anything from them today so I called again. I was told that they had gotten the referral but it didn't say why I was being referred so the doctor would need to review my ultrasound. About 1.5 hours later I get a call from the Genetics counselor asking if I was aware that I had been given a referral to see her! Yes I'm the one who called you guys - twice - to see what was going on. So my appt is for March 6th at 9am. I will have a level 2 ultrasound done by the perinatologist, then I will see the genetics counselor, then we will discuss the results of the ultrasound and decide what to do based on the results. So I have the appt scheduled. One step closer.

Pictures!

I got out the camera the other day and took some pictures of Taniyah. I put a few of them on my Flickr account. This one is my favorite out of the bunch though.

I dressed her in pastel colors and loved the way she was looking down. I gave it a soft focus to add to the ambiance of the photo. I submitted it to a photo group to have it critiqued and they all said it needed better focus and color so obviously they didn't like it as much as I did. Of well! I still like it no matter what they say.

20 weeks!!

I've made it to the halfway point! Time has gone by so quickly with this pregnancy. It seems to be just flying by! Technically I'm probably more than halfway since I've never gone to 40 weeks. With Taniyah I made it to 39 weeks and made the doctor nervous so he induced me at 39 weeks. It was probably a good thing that he had scheduled the induction at my 38 week appt for the following week. When I went in for my induction I was 5cm and 80% effaced and not having any contractions. I had gone the night before to pick up Mom and Poppa from the airport and I felt perfectly fine. I think the doctor was concerned that if he let me go any further that I may not make it to the hospital in time.

Ultrasound

I went in for my ultrasound yesterday. My appt was at 7:50 am and I had to drink 34 ounces of water in the two hours prior to the appt so I had to get up early. I also had to get all the kids ready for school and Makkiah his meds before I left.

We headed out and Taniyah stayed at the Children's Waiting Room and played. She really enjoyed it and didn't want to leave when I came to pick her up.

Now on to the ultrasound. We are not going to find out what we are having so we don't know what the gender is. It will be a suprise until the end.

I got some pictures of the baby. One of the "darth vader" face. One of the measurements in the head was on the high limit of normal so I am being referred to the Fetal Assessment Unit. I will see the Genetics counselor, the Perinatologist and have a more detailed ultrasound done.


And one of the spine.



And one of the leg and foot. There is some concern about the baby having club feet. They will be looked at again when I go to my FAU appt. In the picture you can see the kneecap on the left. The leg comes down and you can see the top of the foot with the little toes. You can see how the foot seems to be straight down from the leg and bent in.

Update

I know, I know. I'm WAY behind and I'm not even going to try to go back and catch up.

We are putting in a new fence. In putting in the new fence I think I have an idea on how to fix the front gates. I'm not sure that I want to try to do it myself. We'll see after we get the side fence done.

We wanted to make a play area for Taniyah so she is a little more contained than she has been. So we are putting a fence on the side yard. In the back we are going to fence off the heat/AC unit and the terraces with a gate on the side to go on the pathway.

We are going to go a walkway across the front of the flowerbeds and around to the gate. The gate will be a double gate that will be 5 feet wide so we won't have to worry about access to the backyard for big stuff that has to go back there. Not sure if the walkway will extend through the gate to the other side or just to the gate.

We were not wanting the fortress look so we did the open slatted fence. It's about 4.5 feet tall which is a little taller than I had imagined but Rod thought it was a good height so that what we went with. I think once it's painted it will look much better.

I will update again on Wed after my big ultrasound. Rod has duty so he won't get to go but I will scan pictures and post them for everyone. Can't believe how quickly time is passing.

News!!

Bliss
By: Jolina Cura
Tiny movements like tiny kicks
Tiny baby, a mother’s bliss
Can’t wait to give the tiny you
Huge hugs and lots of kisses too

What tiny dreams you might have now?
I would understand someday, somehow
I dreamed last night, your tiny face
An angel indeed, made from God’s sweet embrace

How else would mommy know?
How much her tiny little angel has grown?
How else would mommy guess?
If her little angel have some requests?

I know that somehow you could now hear
Oh, what a thrill you will bring us here!
Now hush my baby, it’s time to rest
Inside my womb, your own calm nest

May God help me to keep you safe
And always keep you strong, I pray
I love you right before I planned you
And I love you more now that I have you

Baby #8 is on the way!!