I'm seriously awful at updating the blog. Not like there's tons going on, but still.
Asher is still having a rough time at school. His anger issues got worse to the point that he was sent home three times and suspended for one day in the first three weeks of school. That's gotta be a record somewhere. We're in the process of having him evaluated for sensory disorders, emotional disorders, and autism, hoping that some diagnosis will lead us in a direction of coping mechanisms and different tactics we can take to help him.
He's been doing 2nd grade math and reading this semester and it seems to be pretty easy for him. He complained one night that the math was hard and a few days later we got home a math worksheet with everything done correctly. It was basically analyzing simplified bar graphs. It's a good thing Austin's good at math because this kid is going to surpass my abilities in a couple years. If not sooner.
During this evaluation period, he's being taken out of PE and music, the two classes he struggles in the most. Instead, he'll run on the track at the school and spend some time in the library. He's bored after reading a couple books, so maybe they can find him some worksheets or something? I dunno. We'll see when this is all done.
We should get results around the end of February, which is when HoneyBee is due, so....we'll see how that all works out. Could be an interesting time.
Elijah and Eden are doing pretty well. Eden is sassy and has started acting 2, so that's super fun. She gets into everything, even five minutes after getting a swat for getting into it. She's opinionated and likes things her way. Elijah still has his rage moments, but they seem to be fewer and farther between. Most of the time, he's pleasant and sweet.
HoneyBee and I are doing great, too. She's growing (so I'm growing, ugh) and seems to be in the right position. We're officially "term" on Friday, the 10th, so we're hoping she'll come fairly soon. I keep telling myself it's just a couple more weeks, because I'm so uncomfortable and ready to have my body back. That first night after the baby is born, I sleep SO WELL. Even waking up to nurse a time or two (I figured out very quickly how to sleep nurse. It's the best thing ever). Probably has something to do with having spent time pushing a large object out of my body but still. I'm looking forward to that first night's sleep.
And that's about it, really. The freezer is full, but not terribly organized and I hate to eat on it while I'm still pregnant but I have no energy to cook right now. So every week, I restock a little. The baby supplies are in place, as are the birth supplies and the back up plans are known by all. (Midwife is in DeLeon, so there's a chance she won't make it.) Since one of my due dates (based on her size so I ignore it) is March 6 and Mom's leaving the country on March 8, I even have a back up plan for my back up plan. That trip is a huge factor in me hoping she comes sooner rather than later.
So if you think of us, wish on stars or at 11:11 or whatever, tossing an occasional "Hey, let the HoneyBee hatch soon" wouldn't hurt my feelings.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Thursday, December 29, 2016
We're changeable
I know, I said we weren't going to find out, that we were ok with not knowing, blah blah blah. But....we (meaning I) felt like it was a good idea to have an actual sonogram to check everything else on the baby since there's already a VSD just to make sure everything else was ok. So on the 20th, we had an actual sonogram. I know, it wasn't even a week after the echo, but we did talk about it quite a bit, I sought opinions and advice from other people who I trust and it was almost all unanimously "go ahead and get a sonogram to double check everything else."
The baby is perfect (besides the VSD). At that appointment, the weight was estimated between 2.5 and 3.5 pounds, which is right on track. I had a baby check up immediately after and everything there was good, too. I'd gained 7 pounds and 5 cm in the previous 4 weeks because of a baby growth spurt (which explained all the aches and pains and feeling like I was practically exploding). I even got a birth kit to keep at home just in case the midwife doesn't make it to the birth and an updated birth list since we changed midwives. And I have everything on the list already, just a week later. I'm on top of this.
We debated being surprised at the birth on the gender, but Austin said "well, if they're checking everything else, might as well check that too so we can be ready." And I agreed. So....are you ready?
We're having another girl!
We're excited. We would have loved a boy just as much, obviously, but I'm excited for Eden to have a sister. Plus I got rid of a ton of boy stuff after she was born so this works out in the shopping department, too. We have so many adorable girl outfits that Eden either wore only once or not at all because there was just. so. much. I try to curb my shopping but it's all adorable!
I think we have a name, but we're keeping it close to our chests again. It's just easier that way. Most of you will remember posts from Eden's pregnancy about people complaining about our picks for boy names, some actually rude comments about them in fact, being our reasoning for keeping her name a secret. Since hers was announced after it was bestowed, we got nothing negative, and that was really a nice change. So we're going to do the same with this one. So stay tuned for that. Coming to a bedroom in Abilene sometime in mid-February to early March, a new Mullins baby girl!
The baby is perfect (besides the VSD). At that appointment, the weight was estimated between 2.5 and 3.5 pounds, which is right on track. I had a baby check up immediately after and everything there was good, too. I'd gained 7 pounds and 5 cm in the previous 4 weeks because of a baby growth spurt (which explained all the aches and pains and feeling like I was practically exploding). I even got a birth kit to keep at home just in case the midwife doesn't make it to the birth and an updated birth list since we changed midwives. And I have everything on the list already, just a week later. I'm on top of this.
We debated being surprised at the birth on the gender, but Austin said "well, if they're checking everything else, might as well check that too so we can be ready." And I agreed. So....are you ready?
We're having another girl!
We're excited. We would have loved a boy just as much, obviously, but I'm excited for Eden to have a sister. Plus I got rid of a ton of boy stuff after she was born so this works out in the shopping department, too. We have so many adorable girl outfits that Eden either wore only once or not at all because there was just. so. much. I try to curb my shopping but it's all adorable!
I think we have a name, but we're keeping it close to our chests again. It's just easier that way. Most of you will remember posts from Eden's pregnancy about people complaining about our picks for boy names, some actually rude comments about them in fact, being our reasoning for keeping her name a secret. Since hers was announced after it was bestowed, we got nothing negative, and that was really a nice change. So we're going to do the same with this one. So stay tuned for that. Coming to a bedroom in Abilene sometime in mid-February to early March, a new Mullins baby girl!
Chubby cheeks! I can't wait to squish them.
Again, the only time I will intentionally post pictures of my kids' genitals online.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Medical Updates
I'm doing better at this right now!
Medical/family updates:
Last week, the first full week of December, Austin was gone from Tuesday night until late Saturday evening. The kids and I survived (obviously) but Eden had a really hard time letting Austin leave again for work on Monday morning. She collapsed on the floor and cried for a full half hour. He was doing BEST robotics stuff, as many of you saw from his pictures. It seems like his trip was fairly uneventful, aside from misplacing his keys on Saturday and having to call a locksmith to break him into his car where they were sitting in the cup holder under his hotel coffee cup (this is why I throw my trash away).
We at home hibernated through the cold snap that hit on Thursday, ate food, and prepared cookie dough that I then baked on Sunday for teacher gifts to be distributed on Monday. It was a quiet, relatively calm week.
This week has been nuts. Tuesday, I drove to Dallas for the fetal echocardiogram scheduled for Wednesday morning. I only missed one left exit in downtown Dallas, due partly to construction, due partly to I hate left exits. A nice long hot shower without a little girl peeking inside, a yummy room service dinner, and I went to bed.
Wednesday morning, I realized about halfway through breakfast that I wasn't really sure where I was going. That's problematic because Children's is massive. BUT I have a pretty good memory for directions and locations, so I went to the same parking garage and used the same entrance we'd used for Eden's echo last summer and it turned out I was right. I got a little turned around trying to find the elevators but after that everything went pretty smoothly.
The fetal echocardiogram had to be done in Dallas because they don't have the equipment to do it in Abilene. It's stronger than a regular ultrasound machine because it has to go through two bodies. It was basically an ultrasound focused on the baby's heart, and that's what the tech looked at for the full 45 minutes I was there. We chatted about baby names and some of the more ridiculous ones he's encountered in his 20 years of working with children. I gotta say, Yomajesty is now a contender for this baby's name. ;-)
Dr. S came in to do her own scans and when she heard we don't know this baby's gender and haven't had any other ultrasounds, she attempted to find genitals and make a guess. It wasn't conclusive, so we're still not sure and are still picking out names for both genders. We talked Tuesday night and decided we're ok with having a surprise. It's our (hopefully) last baby, so it's now or never.
The baby's heart looks good for the most part, but it does have a small mid-muscular Ventricular Septal Defect, a hole in the wall between the ventricles. It won't close up on it's own before the baby is born because the baby isn't using their lungs so the pressure is equal. I asked if it would get bigger once the baby was born and breathing and she said no. It'll close up naturally after birth, but we're still going to have an echo done on the baby within a month of birth to check on it. I'm assuming that if it hasn't closed up or showed signs of closing at that point, we'll schedule another one and keep an eye on it until it does close. She was positive this would not require surgery.
She also said there wasn't a reason that this would prevent us from having a home birth, which was a relief. I'll still discuss it with the midwife and make sure she feels comfortable delivering a baby with a heart defect. If she doesn't, we'll reassess. Mom is on board. And of course we'll make sure that the pediatrician knows in advance so she's not caught by surprise when we go in for the baby's newborn shots.
So yay for that! I'm honestly not upset about this. I think if I weren't Eden's mom, I might be. I'm not saying that a VSD isn't scary for a parent, but for us, it's kind of old hat at this point. We've already got that echo scheduled for late April, so we'll get everything checked out and that baby is taken care of.
Eden had her cardiology appointment today here in Abilene. When Dr. S realized how we'd scheduled everything, she apologized and said I could have brought Eden with me yesterday to Dallas. Oh well. She would have had to miss her class party and I would have been worried about her getting into EVERYTHING while I was being scanned. It wasn't the most ideal way to spend my week, running all over the place, but it's not the worst.
Eden is still doing great. The cardiothorasic surgeon at Stamford strongly advises we leave her alone and not do surgery until/unless necessary, and I'm fully on board with that. She hasn't changed, heart wise, since her last appointment in June. She is at risk for heart block (abnormal heart beats) but Dr. S said that it's possible, if not likely, that that won't show up until late adolescence. Signs would be more tiredness or passing out during exercise. (She may be able to get out of PE when she's older because of this...lucky girl.) She's wearing a halter EKG machine to do a 24 hour EKG right now, and we'll take it off and return it tomorrow afternoon. She wasn't super thrilled with the echo she had today, but she was still fairly sweet and pleasant to everyone she encountered. She even tried to steal one of the pillows off the table and one of the techs was willing to send it home with her.
Dr. S does want us to make sure Eden sees the dentist on a regular basis. One of her valves is a bi-cuspid instead of a tri-cuspid, which apparently is great for bacteria growth, so we need to make sure she keeps her teeth clean and healthy. I'm not totally 100% sure I get how that all relates, but ok. Our appointment was at 1, we didn't get to the clinic until 1:30 because of some issues in the check-in, and we didn't leave ARMC until after 3, so I was a little distracted with trying to get my kids all gathered together from their various locations.
Tonight is Milsoft's Christmas party and tomorrow is Asher's last day of school and Saturday we've got a special Christmas gift for the kids to do so the dashing around hasn't stopped yet. Then Sunday morning we've got church where Austin's leading Grace Falls worship and Sunday School and our family is lighting the advent candles in the traditional service.
I may sleep all day on Monday. I'm worn out from the first half of this week and there's still some big stuff coming. It's all good, though. We'll have several days of relaxation before Christmas festivities, then a few more before New Year's and Asher's birthday (which he's looking forward to almost as much as Christmas). Austin will have a couple days off, so I'll probably hibernate and try to rest and let him solo parent a bit on those days.
So that's all for now! Everyone is doing great and there are lots of plans in action, with back up plans for most of them. We're truckin' along here, waiting for March and a new baby to shake things up again....but hopefully not TOO much.
Medical/family updates:
Last week, the first full week of December, Austin was gone from Tuesday night until late Saturday evening. The kids and I survived (obviously) but Eden had a really hard time letting Austin leave again for work on Monday morning. She collapsed on the floor and cried for a full half hour. He was doing BEST robotics stuff, as many of you saw from his pictures. It seems like his trip was fairly uneventful, aside from misplacing his keys on Saturday and having to call a locksmith to break him into his car where they were sitting in the cup holder under his hotel coffee cup (this is why I throw my trash away).
We at home hibernated through the cold snap that hit on Thursday, ate food, and prepared cookie dough that I then baked on Sunday for teacher gifts to be distributed on Monday. It was a quiet, relatively calm week.
This week has been nuts. Tuesday, I drove to Dallas for the fetal echocardiogram scheduled for Wednesday morning. I only missed one left exit in downtown Dallas, due partly to construction, due partly to I hate left exits. A nice long hot shower without a little girl peeking inside, a yummy room service dinner, and I went to bed.
Wednesday morning, I realized about halfway through breakfast that I wasn't really sure where I was going. That's problematic because Children's is massive. BUT I have a pretty good memory for directions and locations, so I went to the same parking garage and used the same entrance we'd used for Eden's echo last summer and it turned out I was right. I got a little turned around trying to find the elevators but after that everything went pretty smoothly.
The fetal echocardiogram had to be done in Dallas because they don't have the equipment to do it in Abilene. It's stronger than a regular ultrasound machine because it has to go through two bodies. It was basically an ultrasound focused on the baby's heart, and that's what the tech looked at for the full 45 minutes I was there. We chatted about baby names and some of the more ridiculous ones he's encountered in his 20 years of working with children. I gotta say, Yomajesty is now a contender for this baby's name. ;-)
Dr. S came in to do her own scans and when she heard we don't know this baby's gender and haven't had any other ultrasounds, she attempted to find genitals and make a guess. It wasn't conclusive, so we're still not sure and are still picking out names for both genders. We talked Tuesday night and decided we're ok with having a surprise. It's our (hopefully) last baby, so it's now or never.
The baby's heart looks good for the most part, but it does have a small mid-muscular Ventricular Septal Defect, a hole in the wall between the ventricles. It won't close up on it's own before the baby is born because the baby isn't using their lungs so the pressure is equal. I asked if it would get bigger once the baby was born and breathing and she said no. It'll close up naturally after birth, but we're still going to have an echo done on the baby within a month of birth to check on it. I'm assuming that if it hasn't closed up or showed signs of closing at that point, we'll schedule another one and keep an eye on it until it does close. She was positive this would not require surgery.
She also said there wasn't a reason that this would prevent us from having a home birth, which was a relief. I'll still discuss it with the midwife and make sure she feels comfortable delivering a baby with a heart defect. If she doesn't, we'll reassess. Mom is on board. And of course we'll make sure that the pediatrician knows in advance so she's not caught by surprise when we go in for the baby's newborn shots.
So yay for that! I'm honestly not upset about this. I think if I weren't Eden's mom, I might be. I'm not saying that a VSD isn't scary for a parent, but for us, it's kind of old hat at this point. We've already got that echo scheduled for late April, so we'll get everything checked out and that baby is taken care of.
Eden had her cardiology appointment today here in Abilene. When Dr. S realized how we'd scheduled everything, she apologized and said I could have brought Eden with me yesterday to Dallas. Oh well. She would have had to miss her class party and I would have been worried about her getting into EVERYTHING while I was being scanned. It wasn't the most ideal way to spend my week, running all over the place, but it's not the worst.
Eden is still doing great. The cardiothorasic surgeon at Stamford strongly advises we leave her alone and not do surgery until/unless necessary, and I'm fully on board with that. She hasn't changed, heart wise, since her last appointment in June. She is at risk for heart block (abnormal heart beats) but Dr. S said that it's possible, if not likely, that that won't show up until late adolescence. Signs would be more tiredness or passing out during exercise. (She may be able to get out of PE when she's older because of this...lucky girl.) She's wearing a halter EKG machine to do a 24 hour EKG right now, and we'll take it off and return it tomorrow afternoon. She wasn't super thrilled with the echo she had today, but she was still fairly sweet and pleasant to everyone she encountered. She even tried to steal one of the pillows off the table and one of the techs was willing to send it home with her.
Dr. S does want us to make sure Eden sees the dentist on a regular basis. One of her valves is a bi-cuspid instead of a tri-cuspid, which apparently is great for bacteria growth, so we need to make sure she keeps her teeth clean and healthy. I'm not totally 100% sure I get how that all relates, but ok. Our appointment was at 1, we didn't get to the clinic until 1:30 because of some issues in the check-in, and we didn't leave ARMC until after 3, so I was a little distracted with trying to get my kids all gathered together from their various locations.
Tonight is Milsoft's Christmas party and tomorrow is Asher's last day of school and Saturday we've got a special Christmas gift for the kids to do so the dashing around hasn't stopped yet. Then Sunday morning we've got church where Austin's leading Grace Falls worship and Sunday School and our family is lighting the advent candles in the traditional service.
I may sleep all day on Monday. I'm worn out from the first half of this week and there's still some big stuff coming. It's all good, though. We'll have several days of relaxation before Christmas festivities, then a few more before New Year's and Asher's birthday (which he's looking forward to almost as much as Christmas). Austin will have a couple days off, so I'll probably hibernate and try to rest and let him solo parent a bit on those days.
So that's all for now! Everyone is doing great and there are lots of plans in action, with back up plans for most of them. We're truckin' along here, waiting for March and a new baby to shake things up again....but hopefully not TOO much.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Finally some content!
I actually have something of moderate interest to write about!
Asher is smart. He's really smart. I'm not just biased as his mom, I swear. He reads at around a second grade level and can do beyond-Kindergarten-math in his head. We tried to get him into Kindergarten last year, but they wouldn't take him because of his birthday. We didn't push it too much because we felt like the social aspect of Kindergarten was just as important as the stuff he'd be taught.
We were right.
Asher has struggled a lot with social stuff this year. Standing in line, dealing with loud, chaotic environments like the cafeteria, the gym, and music...all of that has resulted in lots of "intervention" from the staff, mostly just pulling him to the side and taking him out of the chaos. We've gotten two calls within the past few weeks from the principals about his hitting another student. We had the parent-teacher conference after the first call and talked a bit about it but didn't go into a lot of detail. I arranged a time to go and observe him in class to see if I noticed anything, and did that last Wednesday, the 30th.
What I observed is that yes, he is a little lippy with the teacher, but he generally ignores the other students and does his work in a fraction of the time it takes them to do theirs. His lippiness, while not acceptable, I get. She's asking him to do things he already knows how to do. He's bored and frustrated. So after the second call, which came in on Monday, I set up a meeting with the principals to discuss his behavior and possibly advancing him.
All the teachers I've interacted with of his have had lots of positive things to say about him. They all seem to really, genuinely like him. One today told me he's one of her favorite students. He's sweet, intelligent, goofy, and actually has interesting things to say. Everyone is acknowledging how smart he is, and that he's intellectually at LEAST on a 1st grade level. Socially, however, he's not.
The principals felt like if we moved him to 1st next semester, he'd struggle even more. The 1st graders are more mature and are better at behaving than he is, simply because they're older.
They pointed out that he seems to have some sensory issues, mainly in crowded, loud environments. At times he curls up in a ball or hugs himself saying he's cold, even when it's hot outside. He loses his temper more quickly in those situations and lashes out. Apparently these are some symptoms that he may have a sensory processing disorder of some kind, primarily with noises and crowds.
Once they began talking about the different things he does and what seems to trigger them, looking back I realized he's done this for a while. We've found ways of coping with them at home, and since he's our oldest we're just not that aware that this is necessarily anything out of the ordinary.
So we came up with a plan for Asher. We're sending in a written request to have him evaluated for sensory issues. It's too late in the semester to get it done before break, but they'll do it next month. Then they have a meeting and go over the results and decide if he warrants some special education classes or sessions or something to work with him on coping mechanisms and to see what they can do in the classes where he gets most overwhelmed. Then we'll more than likely have another meeting to get that all put into motion. This could take a couple months. I hope its done before the baby is born, but there's a chance it won't be.
In the meanwhile, we're not waiting to get those results back to work on his intellectual stimulation. Starting on the first day of the new semester, he'll go to a 1st grade classroom for some more challenging classes. We're going to start with reading and possibly add math later. I don't think 1st grade reading is going to be that hard for him, but that's where they'd like to start and they're hesitant to put a Kindergartener with social issues in a 2nd grade class, which I agree with.
At the end of the school year, we'll see how he's done with the 1st grade classes during the day and whatever coping we can work out and have him take an advanced placement test to see if he needs to go to 1st next year or just move on to 2nd.
We're looking into the Threshold Program, a program run at HSU for gifted and talented children over the summer. It's by invitation only, and the children have to be nominated and then take a test to see if they qualify. It's a bit of a process but it sounds like it would be a great thing to get Asher into if we can. There's a fee for it, but it's not that much and if it would help him, it's definitely worth it.
It's a little overwhelming but at the same time, a relief to have some kind of plan in place. We've noticed his issues this year more than before simply because he's been around kids a lot more this year and so the issues have been more visible.
Austin and I feel good about this plan of attack, and hope that the evaluation show that yes, he needs this special attention at school to help him cope with his issues. That or that they can point us in the right direction to get him some help outside of school. We're comfortable with him staying in Kindergarten for the rest of the year with the addition of harder classes to help keep him engaged and interested. We love his teacher so I'm relieved that we don't have to get to know a new teacher so soon.
Starting school for the first time is rough and Asher has actually done fairly well, all things considered. He keeps all the adults entertained, though he does have an arch nemesis in his class (that's a whole weird thing....). He doesn't dread school, which is good, so hopefully if we get some things figured out, we can make it something he really enjoys. Fingers crossed.
Asher is smart. He's really smart. I'm not just biased as his mom, I swear. He reads at around a second grade level and can do beyond-Kindergarten-math in his head. We tried to get him into Kindergarten last year, but they wouldn't take him because of his birthday. We didn't push it too much because we felt like the social aspect of Kindergarten was just as important as the stuff he'd be taught.
We were right.
Asher has struggled a lot with social stuff this year. Standing in line, dealing with loud, chaotic environments like the cafeteria, the gym, and music...all of that has resulted in lots of "intervention" from the staff, mostly just pulling him to the side and taking him out of the chaos. We've gotten two calls within the past few weeks from the principals about his hitting another student. We had the parent-teacher conference after the first call and talked a bit about it but didn't go into a lot of detail. I arranged a time to go and observe him in class to see if I noticed anything, and did that last Wednesday, the 30th.
What I observed is that yes, he is a little lippy with the teacher, but he generally ignores the other students and does his work in a fraction of the time it takes them to do theirs. His lippiness, while not acceptable, I get. She's asking him to do things he already knows how to do. He's bored and frustrated. So after the second call, which came in on Monday, I set up a meeting with the principals to discuss his behavior and possibly advancing him.
All the teachers I've interacted with of his have had lots of positive things to say about him. They all seem to really, genuinely like him. One today told me he's one of her favorite students. He's sweet, intelligent, goofy, and actually has interesting things to say. Everyone is acknowledging how smart he is, and that he's intellectually at LEAST on a 1st grade level. Socially, however, he's not.
The principals felt like if we moved him to 1st next semester, he'd struggle even more. The 1st graders are more mature and are better at behaving than he is, simply because they're older.
They pointed out that he seems to have some sensory issues, mainly in crowded, loud environments. At times he curls up in a ball or hugs himself saying he's cold, even when it's hot outside. He loses his temper more quickly in those situations and lashes out. Apparently these are some symptoms that he may have a sensory processing disorder of some kind, primarily with noises and crowds.
Once they began talking about the different things he does and what seems to trigger them, looking back I realized he's done this for a while. We've found ways of coping with them at home, and since he's our oldest we're just not that aware that this is necessarily anything out of the ordinary.
So we came up with a plan for Asher. We're sending in a written request to have him evaluated for sensory issues. It's too late in the semester to get it done before break, but they'll do it next month. Then they have a meeting and go over the results and decide if he warrants some special education classes or sessions or something to work with him on coping mechanisms and to see what they can do in the classes where he gets most overwhelmed. Then we'll more than likely have another meeting to get that all put into motion. This could take a couple months. I hope its done before the baby is born, but there's a chance it won't be.
In the meanwhile, we're not waiting to get those results back to work on his intellectual stimulation. Starting on the first day of the new semester, he'll go to a 1st grade classroom for some more challenging classes. We're going to start with reading and possibly add math later. I don't think 1st grade reading is going to be that hard for him, but that's where they'd like to start and they're hesitant to put a Kindergartener with social issues in a 2nd grade class, which I agree with.
At the end of the school year, we'll see how he's done with the 1st grade classes during the day and whatever coping we can work out and have him take an advanced placement test to see if he needs to go to 1st next year or just move on to 2nd.
We're looking into the Threshold Program, a program run at HSU for gifted and talented children over the summer. It's by invitation only, and the children have to be nominated and then take a test to see if they qualify. It's a bit of a process but it sounds like it would be a great thing to get Asher into if we can. There's a fee for it, but it's not that much and if it would help him, it's definitely worth it.
It's a little overwhelming but at the same time, a relief to have some kind of plan in place. We've noticed his issues this year more than before simply because he's been around kids a lot more this year and so the issues have been more visible.
Austin and I feel good about this plan of attack, and hope that the evaluation show that yes, he needs this special attention at school to help him cope with his issues. That or that they can point us in the right direction to get him some help outside of school. We're comfortable with him staying in Kindergarten for the rest of the year with the addition of harder classes to help keep him engaged and interested. We love his teacher so I'm relieved that we don't have to get to know a new teacher so soon.
Starting school for the first time is rough and Asher has actually done fairly well, all things considered. He keeps all the adults entertained, though he does have an arch nemesis in his class (that's a whole weird thing....). He doesn't dread school, which is good, so hopefully if we get some things figured out, we can make it something he really enjoys. Fingers crossed.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Kids and Turkeys...sometimes the kids ARE turkeys.....
Maybe someday I'll be good about updating this, but we're a fairly quiet household without a ton going on that I feel would be of interest to others, and my thoughts aren't usually....public friendly at times. lol
Asher went on his field trip to Cowboy Stadium and enjoyed himself. He got sick on the way up there and threw up on himself but luckily his grandparents were meeting him so they graciously went to Target to get him some clean clothes to wear. He doesn't like to talk about school or the field trips, so it took a while before he finally said anything about it. He enjoyed it and would like to go again, but only if he doesn't get sick again. I've thought for a while now that he has my Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome and nervous stomach, so we'll have to teach him how to control his emotions some for that.
He's doing pretty well in school. The content stuff is a piece of cake. He knows all of it and has all year long. He's reading beyond 2nd grade (he passed the TPRI reading test for 2nd grade with flying colors, spelling "mule" as "maul" and "which" as "witch") and the math stuff is, in his words "so easy."
Where he's struggling is participation in gym and music and his behavior towards his classmates. If he doesn't like an activity, he won't do it. He says that the activities are dumb or stupid and preschool activities.
Honestly, music and gym are not the classes I care about that much. Not doing well in those is not going to hold him back. I do want him to participate, but I really don't care if he doesn't do well in those classes. I never enjoyed PE classes or piano lessons, so it doesn't surprise me that he doesn't either.
I had a parent/teacher conference about a week and a half ago with his teacher and she admitted he knows everything. She gives him the handouts and while she's explaining it to the other kids, he does them. Then he gets to read a couple chapters in a book and go on the computer. Since it's a kindergarten class, the books are easy readers and he's read pretty much all of them, most of them multiple times. So we personally bought some older kid books (Encyclopedia Brown, Boxcar Children, and the Magic Treehouse) and sent them up there so he'd have something more challenging to read. There was talk about trying to get him into a 2nd grade classroom for a part of the day to see if that helps challenge him but so far it hasn't happened.
He says his behavior comes from sometimes just getting angry, so we've talked to him a lot about ways to handle his anger that aren't destructive or harmful. We've had mixed success with that, but we've only been working on it for a couple weeks. I've noticed a difference at home, but we'll see if it sticks.
He's a pretty typical 5-almost-6 year old in his behaviors, but I think being bored in class is also contributing to his behavior issues. So I've set up a time that I'll go observe his class, mainly him, and see what I think. We're really leaning towards pushing to have him moved up to 1st grade next semester. Even if he ends up doing 1st for three semesters, I really feel like he needs to move up soon.
Elijah is so 4 it's not even funny. He's at times crazy and sweet and endearing and lovable and cuddly and at other times you want to pull your hair out. He's doing well at school, too, with his occasional 4-year-old fits of anger. He had some struggles at the beginning of the year but he's doing better. He still has fits of rage at home but he's quit throwing things and instead growls and stomps his foot. It's still annoying, but decidedly less destructive. He frequently comes to me wherever I am and acts like a goofball because he wants to make me laugh. He's usually successful.
Eden is sweet and sassy and so much her own person it's crazy. She's opinionated and bossy and sweet and adorable. I swear, each kid is cuter than the last, but she's going to be hard to top. She loves to poke her head around the doorframe when I'm in my chair in my room and say "Hi!" in this bright cheerful voice and as soon as I respond she says "ok bye!" and leaves. She also loves cheese, almost as much as her older cousin. She saw me grating cheese last night for our Thanksgiving dinner and insisted she get some. I had exactly enough for the recipe so when I finished, I gave her the scraps in the grater. She stood at the bowl until every last morsel was in her mouth.
I'm doing ok. I'm 26 weeks tomorrow, so beginning the 3rd trimester, and definitely feeling it. The round ligament pains are worse every pregnancy and they started about a month ago. I basically can't sleep comfortably. I've also got some indigestion, which I never had before, and a variety of other pregnancy things that aren't fun. I'm already counting down until 37 weeks when I'm full term and safe to deliver at home. I seriously sleep fairly well the night after delivering, mostly because delivering is hard work, but also, I'm not pregnant anymore and some of the pains are gone. It's weird, I know, but what are you gonna do.
Some interesting things have come up with our midwife and based on my previous deliveries, we've made plans to have a birth kit in my house starting at 37 weeks, with Mom agreeing to be my back up baby catcher. I'm not at liberty to discuss the issues (they're not mine) but we did get some resolution today about them. I'm trying to stay positive, but the resolution is making me a little anxious. Someday I'll be able to be less ambiguous, but this is not the forum for that. Rest assured, I'm ok, the baby's ok, everything will be fine in the end.
We're prepping for the annual Walke Thanksgiving trip this week and that is a real chore. Getting five of us packed up to go is hard enough, but throwing in the food we have to prepare, either at home first or there, and all the sundry things we have to bring because we have small children....well, we've been packing and prepping pretty hard core for about three days at my house. And we're not totally done. I'm most looking forward to my birthday dinner at The Melting Pot on Friday with some friends of ours who's wedding we had to bail on in July because of my morning sickness.
We've got lots going on the next few weeks with travels and holidays and doctor visits and I'm so exhausted I just want to take a nap and sleep until New Year's. We'll make it through, though, and then kids will enjoy all the stuff we have going on, so that makes it worth it. Mostly.
I'll try to post more regularly as things happen. Nothing super exciting is happening for about three weeks, so we'll see how I do.
Asher went on his field trip to Cowboy Stadium and enjoyed himself. He got sick on the way up there and threw up on himself but luckily his grandparents were meeting him so they graciously went to Target to get him some clean clothes to wear. He doesn't like to talk about school or the field trips, so it took a while before he finally said anything about it. He enjoyed it and would like to go again, but only if he doesn't get sick again. I've thought for a while now that he has my Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome and nervous stomach, so we'll have to teach him how to control his emotions some for that.
He's doing pretty well in school. The content stuff is a piece of cake. He knows all of it and has all year long. He's reading beyond 2nd grade (he passed the TPRI reading test for 2nd grade with flying colors, spelling "mule" as "maul" and "which" as "witch") and the math stuff is, in his words "so easy."
Where he's struggling is participation in gym and music and his behavior towards his classmates. If he doesn't like an activity, he won't do it. He says that the activities are dumb or stupid and preschool activities.
Honestly, music and gym are not the classes I care about that much. Not doing well in those is not going to hold him back. I do want him to participate, but I really don't care if he doesn't do well in those classes. I never enjoyed PE classes or piano lessons, so it doesn't surprise me that he doesn't either.
I had a parent/teacher conference about a week and a half ago with his teacher and she admitted he knows everything. She gives him the handouts and while she's explaining it to the other kids, he does them. Then he gets to read a couple chapters in a book and go on the computer. Since it's a kindergarten class, the books are easy readers and he's read pretty much all of them, most of them multiple times. So we personally bought some older kid books (Encyclopedia Brown, Boxcar Children, and the Magic Treehouse) and sent them up there so he'd have something more challenging to read. There was talk about trying to get him into a 2nd grade classroom for a part of the day to see if that helps challenge him but so far it hasn't happened.
He says his behavior comes from sometimes just getting angry, so we've talked to him a lot about ways to handle his anger that aren't destructive or harmful. We've had mixed success with that, but we've only been working on it for a couple weeks. I've noticed a difference at home, but we'll see if it sticks.
He's a pretty typical 5-almost-6 year old in his behaviors, but I think being bored in class is also contributing to his behavior issues. So I've set up a time that I'll go observe his class, mainly him, and see what I think. We're really leaning towards pushing to have him moved up to 1st grade next semester. Even if he ends up doing 1st for three semesters, I really feel like he needs to move up soon.
Elijah is so 4 it's not even funny. He's at times crazy and sweet and endearing and lovable and cuddly and at other times you want to pull your hair out. He's doing well at school, too, with his occasional 4-year-old fits of anger. He had some struggles at the beginning of the year but he's doing better. He still has fits of rage at home but he's quit throwing things and instead growls and stomps his foot. It's still annoying, but decidedly less destructive. He frequently comes to me wherever I am and acts like a goofball because he wants to make me laugh. He's usually successful.
Eden is sweet and sassy and so much her own person it's crazy. She's opinionated and bossy and sweet and adorable. I swear, each kid is cuter than the last, but she's going to be hard to top. She loves to poke her head around the doorframe when I'm in my chair in my room and say "Hi!" in this bright cheerful voice and as soon as I respond she says "ok bye!" and leaves. She also loves cheese, almost as much as her older cousin. She saw me grating cheese last night for our Thanksgiving dinner and insisted she get some. I had exactly enough for the recipe so when I finished, I gave her the scraps in the grater. She stood at the bowl until every last morsel was in her mouth.
I'm doing ok. I'm 26 weeks tomorrow, so beginning the 3rd trimester, and definitely feeling it. The round ligament pains are worse every pregnancy and they started about a month ago. I basically can't sleep comfortably. I've also got some indigestion, which I never had before, and a variety of other pregnancy things that aren't fun. I'm already counting down until 37 weeks when I'm full term and safe to deliver at home. I seriously sleep fairly well the night after delivering, mostly because delivering is hard work, but also, I'm not pregnant anymore and some of the pains are gone. It's weird, I know, but what are you gonna do.
Some interesting things have come up with our midwife and based on my previous deliveries, we've made plans to have a birth kit in my house starting at 37 weeks, with Mom agreeing to be my back up baby catcher. I'm not at liberty to discuss the issues (they're not mine) but we did get some resolution today about them. I'm trying to stay positive, but the resolution is making me a little anxious. Someday I'll be able to be less ambiguous, but this is not the forum for that. Rest assured, I'm ok, the baby's ok, everything will be fine in the end.
We're prepping for the annual Walke Thanksgiving trip this week and that is a real chore. Getting five of us packed up to go is hard enough, but throwing in the food we have to prepare, either at home first or there, and all the sundry things we have to bring because we have small children....well, we've been packing and prepping pretty hard core for about three days at my house. And we're not totally done. I'm most looking forward to my birthday dinner at The Melting Pot on Friday with some friends of ours who's wedding we had to bail on in July because of my morning sickness.
We've got lots going on the next few weeks with travels and holidays and doctor visits and I'm so exhausted I just want to take a nap and sleep until New Year's. We'll make it through, though, and then kids will enjoy all the stuff we have going on, so that makes it worth it. Mostly.
I'll try to post more regularly as things happen. Nothing super exciting is happening for about three weeks, so we'll see how I do.
We were the Mario family for Halloween: Toad, Mario, Bowser, Princess Peach, and Luigi
Me last week. I'm looking rather bulbous here. I'm in the "cute" phase currently.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Another boring update on our lives
It occurred to me last night as I was trying to fall asleep that I haven't posted in a while, so here's a long overdue update.
Not much is going on. Asher has been enjoying school for the most part, we think. He doesn't like to talk about it. The most we typically get is that he had a good day. Occasionally we'll get other little nuggets, but not often. We don't push it, because we figure eventually he'll talk.
He had a fundraiser at school a few weeks ago and he sold enough items to earn a free trip to Cowboy Stadium for a day, which he's super excited about. Luckily our family is big enough that we didn't have to hit up people outside it to sell items. lol That field trip is next week, so I'll try to report back on that.
Elijah is now officially 4! And still having some behavioral issues on occasion. I'm beginning to wonder if its some misdirected anger about the baby or something. He's had occasional rage issues for the last couple of years, since Eden was born, but they had tapered off for a long time. Then a month ago they started back up. The kids are always worse behaved after a trip or a visit from grandparents, but this was beyond any of that. He's slowly calming down, though we had visitors this past weekend so this week has already been a little tricky. He's so funny, because he gets angry so fast and then calms down just as fast. He's definitely got my temper. Most of the time he's a pretty sweet kid, though.
Eden is the same old same old. Cute, sassy, opinionated, independent, doing great. She was sick for a week, but didn't have much in the way of symptoms other than lethargy and reduced appetite, so we didn't call a doctor (other than my mom). She bounced back and is totally back to normal.
Austin is enjoying work and the extra-curricular activities he's involved in (church music worship leadership, which is technically a job, a band that he's involved in, BEST robotics, etc).
I'm doing well, too. The baby is growing, so I am too. I'm trying to watch my weight, but I'm not dieting or anything, so don't worry on that front. I just started this pregnancy about as heavy as I finished the other three, so I'm trying to keep my weight under control.I know I should exercise more but ugh. I get tired and just want to sleep.
Because of the position of my uterus and my placenta, I don't really feel the baby move that much. It's weird to be nearly 21 weeks pregnant and know I should be feeling lots of kicks and flutters and hiccups and feel only a little tap occasionally, like at the very beginning of a pregnancy, and even though it's not always clear if it's baby or body. Everything is good, though. We're measuring right on target, so nothing to worry about. I just hope my placenta shifts so I can feel stuff soon.
Coming up is the craft fair, some field trips, fall fest, and an open house for TLCA, Halloween, stuff for church, the annual Walke Thanksgiving trip, BEST robotics, trips to DFW for the echo, a Christmas gift from Aunt Cari, and then we're into Christmas and Asher's birthday. It's getting busy and I'm not just loving that. I like my quiet boring days and weeks. My calendar being crowded isn't my favorite thing ever....lol
Oh well, it keeps life interesting.
Not much is going on. Asher has been enjoying school for the most part, we think. He doesn't like to talk about it. The most we typically get is that he had a good day. Occasionally we'll get other little nuggets, but not often. We don't push it, because we figure eventually he'll talk.
He had a fundraiser at school a few weeks ago and he sold enough items to earn a free trip to Cowboy Stadium for a day, which he's super excited about. Luckily our family is big enough that we didn't have to hit up people outside it to sell items. lol That field trip is next week, so I'll try to report back on that.
Elijah is now officially 4! And still having some behavioral issues on occasion. I'm beginning to wonder if its some misdirected anger about the baby or something. He's had occasional rage issues for the last couple of years, since Eden was born, but they had tapered off for a long time. Then a month ago they started back up. The kids are always worse behaved after a trip or a visit from grandparents, but this was beyond any of that. He's slowly calming down, though we had visitors this past weekend so this week has already been a little tricky. He's so funny, because he gets angry so fast and then calms down just as fast. He's definitely got my temper. Most of the time he's a pretty sweet kid, though.
Eden is the same old same old. Cute, sassy, opinionated, independent, doing great. She was sick for a week, but didn't have much in the way of symptoms other than lethargy and reduced appetite, so we didn't call a doctor (other than my mom). She bounced back and is totally back to normal.
Austin is enjoying work and the extra-curricular activities he's involved in (church music worship leadership, which is technically a job, a band that he's involved in, BEST robotics, etc).
I'm doing well, too. The baby is growing, so I am too. I'm trying to watch my weight, but I'm not dieting or anything, so don't worry on that front. I just started this pregnancy about as heavy as I finished the other three, so I'm trying to keep my weight under control.I know I should exercise more but ugh. I get tired and just want to sleep.
Because of the position of my uterus and my placenta, I don't really feel the baby move that much. It's weird to be nearly 21 weeks pregnant and know I should be feeling lots of kicks and flutters and hiccups and feel only a little tap occasionally, like at the very beginning of a pregnancy, and even though it's not always clear if it's baby or body. Everything is good, though. We're measuring right on target, so nothing to worry about. I just hope my placenta shifts so I can feel stuff soon.
Coming up is the craft fair, some field trips, fall fest, and an open house for TLCA, Halloween, stuff for church, the annual Walke Thanksgiving trip, BEST robotics, trips to DFW for the echo, a Christmas gift from Aunt Cari, and then we're into Christmas and Asher's birthday. It's getting busy and I'm not just loving that. I like my quiet boring days and weeks. My calendar being crowded isn't my favorite thing ever....lol
Oh well, it keeps life interesting.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Q&A Time
We may have lost our minds, but hey, life's more interesting this way anyway.
We're pregnant! Again! For the last time! Most definitely! At least I hope so. I'm due March 1,2017 so we're anticipating a mid-late February birth.
Here are answers to your burning questions:
1. You do know how that happens, right?
Yes, actually, we do. Apparently we're pretty good at it, too, seeing as how this is the fourth time in six years. Or is that a question? Do you not know? Do you need me to explain it to you?
2. Was this planned?
Absolutely. I know how babies are made (see #1) and we planned every one of our children.
3. Is this the last one?
I really hope so. Surprisingly since I have so many planned kids, I hate being pregnant. Each child is basically a dedicated year of my life to misery and discomfort. And that's before we include all the breastfeeding. I figured out at one point that at the end of this pregnancy, over the preceding 7 years I will have been pregnant, post-partum, or breastfeeding for 4.5. I think that's enough. We'll take permanent measures next summer.
4. Are you hoping for another girl?
Honestly, yes, but another boy would be just as loved and welcomed.
5. You're probably going to move now, right? Your house is so small!
It's actually not. It's 2500 square feet. People forget we have a huge room upstairs that's mostly storage. We haven't quite figured out how things will be shuffled, but they will be. Asher spends most nights in a different room than Eden and Elijah anyway, and the baby will sleep in our room until he/she is probably about 4 months old. Plus I really hate moving. I did it a lot between 2001 and 2010 in various ways (into and out of dorms, switching rooms in Mom's house, moving into and out of houses and apartments) and there's nothing quite like being downtown at this stage of our lives. There's a house I love about a block away that was recently for sale, but at $300k, it's a teensy bit out of our price range. Plus, I hate the thought of ANYONE else living in this house. My current plan is to move out of it in a body bag.
6. Do you know what you're having?
People. I'm 12 weeks pregnant. No.
7. Will you find out?
Yes. In about 8 weeks or so.
Edited: We've decided to wait until our 29 week fetal echocardiogram to find out for various reasons. We don't fault anyone for having as many ultrasounds as they or their doctors want, but reading a few things online make us a little concerned about overexposure and since the fetal echo (see question 13) will be about an hour long procedure, we've decided to skip the 20 week gender ultrasound. All that said, if a reason arises and an additional ultrasound is deemed necessary, we'll do it.
8. Will you tell us the name?
Nope. It was actually kind of fun not telling anyone what we had decided on and NO ONE COMPLAINED ABOUT EDEN'S NAME! It was great. We'll redo that.
9. Really? Not even family or close friends or ...?
I mean, you might get it out of my kids, but that's playing dirty. (And there's no guarantee they'll tell you the real one. Elijah has some doozies of suggestions.) We did tell a select handful of close friends and family with Eden, because we loved the name so much, but sadly, not everyone is on the list of close people we trust not to rain on our parade.
10. Do you have a name picked out yet?
Not really. We have a list of names we like, but it's hard to focus and narrow it down until we know a gender.
11. Will you have a shower?
Well, my Abilene baby showers have a notoriously low turn out, which is disappointing and embarrassing, especially since the wonderful people who have thrown me these showers have put so much effort into them. Plus this is my 4th baby in 6 years. I've pretty much got everything I need. We may have a diaper shower (a friend asked about doing that for me early next year) but we'll see. It feels greedy and uncomfortable to me to have another shower when I had three for Asher and one for Eden.
12. Are you having another home birth or a hospital birth?
We're planning for a home birth. I've seen the midwife twice, once for an establishing visit and then once to hear the baby's heartbeat. She couldn't find it at the first appointment because it wasn't quite 10 weeks yet, but the second time we heard it clearly and strong at 150.
Edited: this may change. We'll keep you posted.
13. So Eden's heart didn't scare you off more kids?
Well....it almost did. But Eden's doing so incredibly well it almost feels like her whole situation was a fake out. She does have a serious heart condition and we do have to keep an eye on it and her growth and development, but...it's so mundane after the first few months of insanity its almost like it's nothing, if that makes sense. All that said, because of her heart, this baby has a 3% chance of having a heart condition as well, instead of a .009% chance every other baby has. That means we need to have a fetal echocardiogram between 25 and 31 weeks (during the holiday season) to check the baby's heart. We're still figuring out the ordering and scheduling of all that but once it's worked out, I'll report back. We're choosing to look at it not as 3% chance something is wrong, but 97% chance everything is perfect. Those are pretty great odds.
Edited: a fetal echocardiogram has been schedule for December 14, when I'm 29 weeks. I'll have to drive to Dallas the night before and stay in a hotel (woe is me) for the appointment at 930 in the morning. It'll take about an hour for the echo, then another hour or two for evaluation and the doctor's consultation with me. Luckily, we get our favorite cardiologist, Eden's primary cardiologist, to do the exam. Woo!
14. How are the other kids taking it?
I think for Asher it's old hat at this point. Elijah keeps suggesting weird names. Eden....is 19 months old. She doesn't know.
15. Have you felt the baby kick?
Well, since I'm only 12 weeks, not really. I've felt a few little weird flutters that could just be gas, but might also be baby making him/herself known. I'll definitely start feeling stuff in the next few weeks. I'm already showing (of course, I started this pregnancy looking about 3 months pregnant, so people may not really notice for a while) and I'll just get bigger and bigger and more uncomfortable as the weeks go by.
That's all I can think of for now. If you have any questions I haven't answered, feel free to post them. ;-)
We're pregnant! Again! For the last time! Most definitely! At least I hope so. I'm due March 1,2017 so we're anticipating a mid-late February birth.
Here are answers to your burning questions:
1. You do know how that happens, right?
Yes, actually, we do. Apparently we're pretty good at it, too, seeing as how this is the fourth time in six years. Or is that a question? Do you not know? Do you need me to explain it to you?
2. Was this planned?
Absolutely. I know how babies are made (see #1) and we planned every one of our children.
3. Is this the last one?
I really hope so. Surprisingly since I have so many planned kids, I hate being pregnant. Each child is basically a dedicated year of my life to misery and discomfort. And that's before we include all the breastfeeding. I figured out at one point that at the end of this pregnancy, over the preceding 7 years I will have been pregnant, post-partum, or breastfeeding for 4.5. I think that's enough. We'll take permanent measures next summer.
4. Are you hoping for another girl?
Honestly, yes, but another boy would be just as loved and welcomed.
5. You're probably going to move now, right? Your house is so small!
It's actually not. It's 2500 square feet. People forget we have a huge room upstairs that's mostly storage. We haven't quite figured out how things will be shuffled, but they will be. Asher spends most nights in a different room than Eden and Elijah anyway, and the baby will sleep in our room until he/she is probably about 4 months old. Plus I really hate moving. I did it a lot between 2001 and 2010 in various ways (into and out of dorms, switching rooms in Mom's house, moving into and out of houses and apartments) and there's nothing quite like being downtown at this stage of our lives. There's a house I love about a block away that was recently for sale, but at $300k, it's a teensy bit out of our price range. Plus, I hate the thought of ANYONE else living in this house. My current plan is to move out of it in a body bag.
6. Do you know what you're having?
People. I'm 12 weeks pregnant. No.
7. Will you find out?
Yes. In about 8 weeks or so.
Edited: We've decided to wait until our 29 week fetal echocardiogram to find out for various reasons. We don't fault anyone for having as many ultrasounds as they or their doctors want, but reading a few things online make us a little concerned about overexposure and since the fetal echo (see question 13) will be about an hour long procedure, we've decided to skip the 20 week gender ultrasound. All that said, if a reason arises and an additional ultrasound is deemed necessary, we'll do it.
8. Will you tell us the name?
Nope. It was actually kind of fun not telling anyone what we had decided on and NO ONE COMPLAINED ABOUT EDEN'S NAME! It was great. We'll redo that.
9. Really? Not even family or close friends or ...?
I mean, you might get it out of my kids, but that's playing dirty. (And there's no guarantee they'll tell you the real one. Elijah has some doozies of suggestions.) We did tell a select handful of close friends and family with Eden, because we loved the name so much, but sadly, not everyone is on the list of close people we trust not to rain on our parade.
10. Do you have a name picked out yet?
Not really. We have a list of names we like, but it's hard to focus and narrow it down until we know a gender.
11. Will you have a shower?
Well, my Abilene baby showers have a notoriously low turn out, which is disappointing and embarrassing, especially since the wonderful people who have thrown me these showers have put so much effort into them. Plus this is my 4th baby in 6 years. I've pretty much got everything I need. We may have a diaper shower (a friend asked about doing that for me early next year) but we'll see. It feels greedy and uncomfortable to me to have another shower when I had three for Asher and one for Eden.
12. Are you having another home birth or a hospital birth?
We're planning for a home birth. I've seen the midwife twice, once for an establishing visit and then once to hear the baby's heartbeat. She couldn't find it at the first appointment because it wasn't quite 10 weeks yet, but the second time we heard it clearly and strong at 150.
Edited: this may change. We'll keep you posted.
13. So Eden's heart didn't scare you off more kids?
Well....it almost did. But Eden's doing so incredibly well it almost feels like her whole situation was a fake out. She does have a serious heart condition and we do have to keep an eye on it and her growth and development, but...it's so mundane after the first few months of insanity its almost like it's nothing, if that makes sense. All that said, because of her heart, this baby has a 3% chance of having a heart condition as well, instead of a .009% chance every other baby has. That means we need to have a fetal echocardiogram between 25 and 31 weeks (during the holiday season) to check the baby's heart. We're still figuring out the ordering and scheduling of all that but once it's worked out, I'll report back. We're choosing to look at it not as 3% chance something is wrong, but 97% chance everything is perfect. Those are pretty great odds.
Edited: a fetal echocardiogram has been schedule for December 14, when I'm 29 weeks. I'll have to drive to Dallas the night before and stay in a hotel (woe is me) for the appointment at 930 in the morning. It'll take about an hour for the echo, then another hour or two for evaluation and the doctor's consultation with me. Luckily, we get our favorite cardiologist, Eden's primary cardiologist, to do the exam. Woo!
14. How are the other kids taking it?
I think for Asher it's old hat at this point. Elijah keeps suggesting weird names. Eden....is 19 months old. She doesn't know.
15. Have you felt the baby kick?
Well, since I'm only 12 weeks, not really. I've felt a few little weird flutters that could just be gas, but might also be baby making him/herself known. I'll definitely start feeling stuff in the next few weeks. I'm already showing (of course, I started this pregnancy looking about 3 months pregnant, so people may not really notice for a while) and I'll just get bigger and bigger and more uncomfortable as the weeks go by.
That's all I can think of for now. If you have any questions I haven't answered, feel free to post them. ;-)
We're adding another book worm!
Edited to add:
16: What's this baby's animal going to be?
Well, we've got a bird, a mammal, and an insect. I suppose we should go with reptile or amphibian, but we're leaning towards another insect, a bee. It's gender neutral, which we like, and kinda sorta raises awareness that we need to save the honeybees...so there's that.
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