Bonus

The baby finally let Baldy feel her kick. She's been running marathons in there but anytime Baldy comes near me she stops in her tracks. Tonight she was active when I came home from work and she kicked pretty hard when he was waiting for her to. He was thrilled but kind of weirded out. He was gone all but five weeks of the B's pregnancy so he never had the opportunity to feel kicks before.

I told him to imagine how I feel during a meeting when I'm trying to get a point across and she's doing backflips. It's really hard not to ask the people around me "Did you see that?" as I see my shirt move out of the corner of my eye.

I love feeling her kick and move, but I'm still amazed that there's a person in there.

Zits and Mosquito Bites

One of the joys of this pregnancy has been the flare up factor that my face, back and shoulders have had to endure. I never broke out like this with the B and I wonder if for me it's a girl carrying thing? Really as long as we get a baby out of this I would endure just about anything, so although not the most fun or most attractive parts of pregnancy; it's been sucked up and dealt with.

The B asked in the past why I had 'owies' that would come and go. I told him sometimes when you have a baby in your tummy these chemicals called hormones are in your body and they make zits pop up. He understood and carried on with his day. Some may think this response is too technical for a kid his age, but he handles this stuff pretty well.

Well this July brought the Monsoons into town, and with it mosquitoes. Generally we don't get too buggy around here since it's pretty dry. But the past few weeks we've had a decent amount of rain, so we have a bunch of mosquitoes. We didn't realize how many mosquitoes were hanging out in our yard til last Sunday.

The B and I were out in the yard around sunset and he wanted his little pool filled. I occasionally add some baby bath to the pool outside to spice things up. He likes it, the water is warm from the hose and he smells really good after; a perfect combination. So I pulled up a chair and we talked as he bathed. I noticed I was getting bit up something fierce, and swatted a few away from him and realized it was time to go in. I rinsed the B and went inside for bed.

The next morning as he was washing his hands he looked in the mirror and yelled for me, kind of panicky like. I came into the bathroom and this was what was said:

B: Mom, look at all these zits on my face and neck, and my arms, look at my legs!

Me: Babe- those aren't zits they're mosquito bites from being in the yard last night.

B: Whoa- for a minute there I thought I might have a baby in my tummy!

His mind is like a steel trap.

Time is Flying

This picture was taken in March when we were at the zoo. I want to eat his cheeks.

I can't believe we only have three months left. At this time with the B I was on bedrest due to placenta previa. I had bled on July 8th and ended up in the hospital. This pregnancy and the B's are only a few weeks off; his real due date was October 12. Her real due date is Halloween. So as I watch t.v. commercials for the summer Olympics I'm having flashbacks. The Olympics was really the only thing to watch while on bedrest in a German hospital. That was of course during my third stint in the hospital.

During my first 10 day 'vacation' in the klinikum I met my friend Christy. I was 26 weeks and she was at 33 weeks. Once I stayed 10 days without complications and she made it to 35 weeks complete, we would be sprung from our confines. It was great to have a roomate who could relate to my own situation; husband deployed, surrounded with good friends, first baby and we were both having boys. We talked about our deployed husbands, and answered each other's phones when the other was being fetal heart monitored. When I was allowed to walk I'd push Christy in a wheelchair (she wasn't allowed to walk) down to the hospital garden and we got some air and sun. When we were hungry or in need of cold milk I'd raid the fridge across the hall, until the nurses figured it out and started locking the fridge. We watched movies on the laptop, I think we got through every season of "Friends" between naps. We both had a bunch of vistors who took care of us and spent time with us which helped move time along. I don't where I would have been without my great friends in Germany, and I am really thinking about all of them right now. You know who you are the ones that took care of me at home and the one's at the hospital, you all really made a difficult situation not really all that bad.

My second stint was frightening. My next roomate was German and married to an American Soldier, so we had stuff to talk about and could communicate. Her English was perfect, but she never stopped talking. She had a really hairy tush and wore those little net panites the hospital gives you with the hospital gown, so her hairy tush was hanging out all the time. She ended up having her baby the day I got there. He roomed with us which was fine, but the poor kid wanted to eat and be held; and she talked to him. I'm really not kidding, the girl's answer to everything was talking. I didn't want to tell her what to do- but all I wanted to do was hold the poor kid and shove a bottle in his mouth. Within three days my doctor released me and forewarned me that the next time I bled, I was in the hospital until the B's birthday. I had Beth pick me up so quick. I couldn't wait to get home to my puppy, who appropriatly so would also have his hairy tush hanging out.

My third stint was supposed to be the final one, but I was so not ready to stay in the hospital. I pulled a real life German roomy this time. It was fun to try and communicate with my broken German and her broken English. We got along great, but we cried a lot together. I was all hormonal and worried about delivering too early, and of course my husband was in Iraq and I worried about him all the time. She thought she was loosing her baby, and having been through it I knew how horrible that was. Although the company was great, I still pleaded with the doctor to go home. I just was not ready to be in there for the long haul. I was admitted on a Saturday and my doctor was not working, if she had been I would have definitely been confined. The doctor on duty felt I was putting too much stress on myself and I would do better at home. So Sunday morning he set me free. By 6pm that night I was back at the hospital bleeding again and about to begin the fourth and final stint. I had admitted defeat. I had also received a phone call from my real doctor that evening. Besides saying hello and asking me how I felt overall I knew I was done when she said "now you stay." For him and for me I knew I was better off in the hospital, just incase. That was it, and the c-section was set for September 12th. The B had other plans...

Thinking back on where I was four years ago makes me miss so many people. I was fortunate to have such a tough experience go well, and to have such great people support me through it.

I just can't believe we're here. She's kicking and punching. Yesterday it was like she was preparing for the Olympics. She was everywhere, I think I even saw an elbow. It looked like the dorsal fin of a shark on the top of my tummy. It seemed like an elbow. She can be jumping all over and the minute Baldy comes over to feel her kick- she is completely still. I wish she'd let him feel a kick. There is definitely no hiding the fact that she's in there- I'm 50 inches around! I was about the same size at this point with the B. Here's the pic Jenn asked for... just keep in mind, my son was about two months early and still weighed close to 7lbs. Based on the notes regarding circumference, etc that I took while pregnant with the B; it seems as though she's on track to be a big kid too. I only got to 55 inches with the B, but I delivered at 32+ with him. I can't wait to see how big this one gets! Hey, although it seems pretty sick, this is the jist of excitement for the time being.

I still have a bunch to blog about- so much to catch up on, but I have to go get some rest now... I still have to blog about this, I'm so freaking proud of him.

Benefit for a Friend

I only have a little bit of time before I think the B will wake up from his nap and I have about a million things I want to get done before then...but I wanted to get this on the blog before it was too late. This is the link to the benefit for my friend Diana: http://home.comcast.net/~cdrenth28/site/?/home/. I had written about her a while ago, her bone marrow transplant did't take and she will endure another one after more chemo. If you can leave a kind word on the site, great; if you can leave a donation, even better.

Thanks!