Sesame Street Live

Last Saturday I took Izzy to go see Sesame Street Live. I bought the tickets months ago and was super excited to finally see her reaction. Was she going to be scared of a 6 foot tall Elmo or love it?

Before the show

She sat on my lap for almost the entire performance and seemed pretty entranced with the whole thing. It was a lot of singing and dancing which seemed to keep the kids interested. Every time Elmo and Abby left the stage she would ask "where Elmo and Abby?" LOL. Clearly her favorite characters.

My pregnancy hormones kicked in part of the way through the show and I started tearing up. I think because I couldn't believe that my daughter was old enough to take to a show? I couldn't definitively pinpoint the reason for the tears but I felt like an a**hole. Oh well.

Towards the very end of the show during the last number, Izzy finally felt comfortable enough to dance in the aisle. It was mostly jumping around to the music but it was adorable. I was a little worried that Izzy was going to be too young for the show, but she did great. I definitely saw younger kids there but personally I wouldn't have shelled out the money for a kid younger than Izzy. She was also at a great age as she didn't complain when I had to tell her that I didn't have any cash for an Elmo balloon ($10!- I really didn't have any cash anyway). She won't remember the show much longer, but it was a fun mother-daughter activity.

Hospital visit

Sunday night as CP and I were headed to bed after watching Game of Thrones (yay! It's back!), I started to get a stabbing pain in my lower right belly. I tossed and turned for a few minutes but quickly realized that I was just going to keep CP up so I headed downstairs to see if I could get into a comfortable position on the couch. After two hours of considerable pain and no relief no matter what position I was in coupled with nausea, I called my doctor's office who told me to go to Labor & Delivery. 

CP was worried about me driving myself, but we didn't have anyone to watch Izzy as she was upstairs sleeping, so I drove myself. I arrived at 12:15am and started to feel a bit better but figured that because I was already there I would get checked out. Labor & Delivery checked me in and led me into the room where CP and I got ready before Izzy's delivery. Baby boy looked fine on the monitor and the cervix check went okay. My urine was a little cloudy, but tests on it and my blood showed elevated white blood cell count. At this point doctors were not concerned about the baby or anything going on in my uterus- they thought that it was something happening unrelated to the pregnancy.

No ultrasounds happen in the middle of the night until it is a true emergency, so I was moved to another floor and told to get some sleep before an ultrasound in the morning. According to my Fitbit, I dozed off around 3am and woke up at 5:45am. Another blood draw to see if my white blood cell count had changed and CP showed up after dropping Izzy off at daycare. He had been scheduled to fly out to NYC that morning, but with me in the hospital and with no idea what was going on, his trip was cancelled.

It took two different IV nurses to get an IV in my arm since I hadn't had any liquids since 7pm the night before. The first nurse hit a nerve and the pain in my thumb finally went away yesterday. From the four tries to get an IV (two on each arm) and the two blood draws, I ended up having 6 holes in my arms after this experience.

See the blood at the bottom of the lower gauze?
I thought that these nurses were supposed to know what they were doing???

The general surgeon came in to let us know that they were thinking possible appendicitis because of where the pain was located and the higher white blood cell count. My 10am ultrasound was inconclusive because it's hard to see your appendix normally- even harder when you are pregnant. The tech also checked out my gall bladder, which was normal.

Meanwhile, I was hungry and thirsty as they wouldn't let me eat anything because I may have to go into surgery. Finally around 2pm I was taken in for an MRI so that they could get a better image of what was going on. I have never had an MRI before, but it was pretty awful. The tech put on some Billy Joel and took about 5 minutes worth of shots but realized that baby boy was kicking so much, he was moving my appendix and that they would have to go over/above my uterus to get the right shots. 

I'm not a claustrophobic person but the worst part of the MRI was having to try to hold my breath as long as possible so that my belly would stay still while the machine made loud noises. Holding your breath for long periods of time when you are 26 weeks pregnant is not an easy task. Not to mention that at the beginning of the MRI I wanted to cry because baby boy was kicking so much and I kept thinking that the MRI was hurting him or something (I know that doesn't make any sense- if the MRI wasn't hurting me then he was also fine but I was running on less than 3 hours of sleep and worried about a potential surgery while pregnant). 

The final result? My appendix looked fine and because the doctors couldn't figure out what was causing the pain, they let me go around 6pm Monday night. I still had some pain that night but it was nowhere near the pain I had Sunday night and by Tuesday morning as I got up for work it was gone. So now of course I feel guilty that I subjected baby boy to an MRI for nothing (my Google research has shown that MRIs are okay when you are pregnant). I'm so thankful that I didn't have to go into surgery and that everything seems to be back to normal but I was really hoping to not have to visit Labor & Delivery prior to July 15th.

Sick day

Way back in late March Izzy's daycare director called to let me know that Izzy had hives on her belly. She otherwise seemed fine, but was obviously itchy. I couldn't figure out a reason for the hives- she hadn't eaten anything out of the ordinary and I hadn't changed laundry detergent or any other cleaner at the house.....by the time I picked her up she was fine. 

Proudly showing off her belly hives to the daycare director so that she could send me a picture

In the past month, she has gotten hives a few more times. There has been no rhyme or reason as to when or where on her body she gets them, but I have been able to give her Benadryl (when we are home) and they have gone down. 

Every time it happened I would think back to what she ate and at one point I thought she may be allergic to chocolate around Easter because she got hives soon after eating chocolate. Finally, I decided to make a doctor appointment on Wednesday to figure out what was going on.

The doctor asked about whether Izzy ever had trouble breathing or if her lips/throat swelled up with the hives (nope). She also didn't have a fever, an ear infection, or anything showing on her tongue/in her mouth when the doctor checked her out. However, when the doctor felt under her neck, she did feel swollen lymph nodes. Little did I know that viruses such as strep can cause off and on hives without any other symptoms- sure enough Izzy's strep test came back positive.

Since Izzy was feeling completely fine but couldn't go back to school until yesterday, we had a fun day together (CP was in North Carolina so I had to take the day off). While picking up her antibiotics I decided to get her a bubble machine and boy was it a big hit on her sick day!

We ran into my neighbor who told us that her oldest son has the same thing as Izzy- no regular symptoms of strep but as soon as a notice goes out at school that someone has strep, she looks for cold sores around his mouth and knows that he also has strep. So, next time Izzy gets hives and/or there is a strep notice at daycare, it's time to take her into the doctor again!

#Themoreyouknow

Microblog Mondays: Botanic Gardens

Yesterday it was a gorgeous day in Chicago so we headed out to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I tried to keep my picture taking to a minimum- I asked Izzy to sit still to take a picture in only four spots. Isn't 2.5 years old too early to be annoyed at your mother for taking your picture?

Want to read more Microblog Mondays? Go here.

Scheduled

Yesterday I had a regular appointment with my OB and the most pressing matter was the recommendation that I received from the MFM during my second Level II ultrasound to deliver at 37 weeks. My OB said that while there is a greater risk that I would deliver early because this is my second delivery, she was surprised to see the recommendation. Usually that recommendation is for women that have paper thin uterine lining because of previous surgeries- I don't have that issue.

So after talking it over, we decided on delivering exactly at 38 weeks. The risk of the baby having breathing problems goes from 5% (at 37 weeks) to less than 2%. So, baby boy will be delivered on Friday, July 15th! You hear me baby boy? No coming out any earlier!  

Otherwise, the appointment was rather boring as this pregnancy is rather boring (which is a GOOD THING). Heartbeat sounded good, belly growth is right on track. I also did my gestational diabetes test which I am crossing my fingers that I passed because I ate breakfast and lunch beforehand (I didn't have any notice). I'll find out soon enough. If I passed, then no more blood donations the rest of this pregnancy!

Today I'm 25 weeks so I am one week past viability. YAY!

Big girl bed

Some day soon I hope to stop reading about all of the other issues parents have in raising their kids. My brain thinks that reading about the issues and then glancing through advice from other parents will help me if that problem happens in our house. But mainly, it just makes me worry about big transitions for no reason.

Three weekends ago we took the plunge and bought Izzy a big girl bed, along with a dresser and matching bookshelf. We started to talk to her about moving to her new room with her new big girl bed. We picked out sheets and a comforter for her new full size bed. The next weekend the furniture arrived so we had to rush around the night before moving out the old furniture (it was the spare bedroom). Izzy's new room then sat there for a week while CP was in North Carolina for work. Izzy asked about sleeping in her new bed, but I told her that I had to wash her sheets first. 

Last weekend, despite the fact that CP was going to be away in North Carolina again for work (and thus wouldn't be able to help if things didn't go well with her new bed), we officially moved her into her new room. We moved all of her clothes, books, stuffed animals, etc. and she is absolutely in love. The first test was a nap on Saturday- would she fall asleep or get out of bed? We gave her the one rule with the big girl bed- she couldn't get out and if she needed anything, she could call for Mommy or Daddy (we will obviously have to change this rule when we move her out of naptime and nighttime diapers, but it works for now). Since then, she has yet to get out of bed once we leave the room. 

Here I was worried after reading other stories about having to sit outside the new bedroom (or just the new bed) for days/weeks to make sure that Izzy wasn't getting out of bed and all that worry was for naught. I guess I shouldn't brag just yet since it has only been a week but she seriously loves that bed. And it's nice to curl up with a book to read with her on the bed instead of the glider in the nursery.

Man did we luck out with this little lady. 

She looks so small in her new bed compared to the crib!

Snippets

Buster's 5th birthday was March 12th. I know he knows that something is up (i.e. pregnancy) as he is constantly in my face wanting petting. I wish CP took more of a role in walking Buster, but it falls on me 99% of the time (the 1% is when I physically have been unable to walk him- after my c-section, right around my miscarriage, etc.). I did most of his training when he was a puppy and the fact that I walk him all the time means that he is up in my business all the time and when I am pregnant that is the last thing that I want. Poor buddy probably realizes that he is going to slide even further down the family totem pole in just a few short months.

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Last month with the help of bonuses and dependent care FSA money we knocked two bills off our our monthly list- my student loan from law school and the car loan we took out on the Prius (which had already been paid for once) in order to do the siding for our house. That now frees up $700/month for us which is awesome and definitely needed with infant daycare payments coming in a few short months. YAY!

However, we now have an issue with the Prius. Two carseats and a 100 lb dog are not going to fit in the Prius and when CP is not traveling, he is doing pickups every day at Buster's doggie daycare and Izzy's daycare. So now we will have to do our best to be as frugal as possible in the next few months to stock away some cash for a down payment on a new or probably used slightly bigger car for CP. He is leaning towards a Suburu Outback but we have a lot of test driving to do and I am worried about the increase in the amount we are going to have to pay for gas money. The Prius gets great gas mileage for his 50 minute commute (each way), but there just aren't a lot of hatchback hybrids out there. I told him we have to at least look at the Prius V....We'll see.

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Potty training is less of a fight now that we are using rewards. We simply decided that we didn't want the fights every.single.time we tried to take her to the potty so if she goes #1 or #2 in the toilet, she gets a jellybean. When she is home and at daycare we are reminding her to go every hour or so and she is great with pee....poop is a different story. Sometimes she just happens to be on the toilet and will poop, other times it's in her pants. We have had to walk home twice recently from the park (~two blocks) because she pooped her pants. So still a work in progress, but she has no problem using regular toilets when we are out and about which is great.

Day in the Life: Spring 2016 edition

It's that time again- Day in the Life quarterly post! For more details visit Julia's blog, but basically just document one day, post it before April 14th and email her your information!

Day in the Life- Spring 2016 edition

April 1, 2016

CP- almost 40 years old (2.5 months to go!)

NSC- 37 years old, 23 weeks pregnant

Izzy- 2 years, 4 months old

Buster- 5 years old

The night before this DITL Izzy had a bad night sleeping. She was up from 2:30-3:30 and then up again at 5 from a nightmare. She apparently was scared of a lobster under her pillow. :-/ I put her to bed Thursday night hoping that she wouldn't have another nightmare so that I could get a full night of sleep (CP has been in North Carolina all week for work so I have been flying solo).

1am- up to pee. As I get into bed I am reminded of my sister's bachelorette party by my Cozi app. If the entire weekend wasn't revolved around drinking I would be there.

3:48- Wake up and stir around for no reason.

5:50- Alarm goes off. Izzy slept through the night- yay! Time to pee like a racehorse!

I head into the bathroom, stick my Fitbit on the charger, put my contacts in, and jump in shower. While in shower I think about work stuff and how I need to clean the shower curtain. Get dressed and take weekly pregnancy picture- one more week until viability! Although it sucks that I lost one of my work from home days after becoming a supervisor, at least I get to wear jeans on Friday.

23 weeks and a messy room!

6:25- Grab two pairs of pants for Izzy to bring to daycare because she had a poop accident yesterday and head downstairs with Buster to let him out. Run downstairs to get his breakfast because sure enough he does a quick pee and then rushes back to the door to be fed. Decide to grab his heartworm and tick monthly pills now while I am thinking about it.

Grab a swig of OJ, pour Izzy's milk, get my food for work in my bag, and head upstairs, hoping that Izzy isn't too cranky this morning. Wait on giving pills- maybe Izzy will move faster if she wants to help give Buster his pills?

6:30- Upstairs into Izzy's room where she is still sleeping. She is not particularly happy when I turn the light on in her room, like usual.

Completely passed out

"Turn light off mommy." And then "Is sun out?" She takes a few minutes to stir in her crib so I get clothes out for the day and talk to her about Daddy coming home today on an airplane. I also ask her of she wants an egg for breakfast and if she can help me give Buster his medicine. That seems to get her excited and from there it is a relatively easy time of getting her to sit on the potty (she pees so she earns a jellybean, making me also eat one), getting her dressed, and doing her hair (no crying- amazing!).  

Dressed without too much of an issue- WIN

We head downstairs where I put a plain bagel into the toaster and let her pick out a hard boiled egg to eat. She only eats a few bites (I eat more) and is excited to give Buster his medicine. She also takes a quarter of my bagel to eat with her milk in the car.

Excited to eat her egg

Bagel stealer

Can't believe the hyacinths are out before our daffodils!

7:00- Leave the house. "Green light go!" She says as I drive to Buster's doggie daycare. I am happy that she hasn't asked me to put on "Izzy moo-ic" (music) today. I run in and drop Buster off and then we head to Izzy's daycare. She is snuggly but allows me to leave without crying (unlike yesterday) so I call that a win. I drive to the train station and for a second day in a row, don't have to run to catch the train. The new drop off schedule (Buster first then circle back to drop off Izzy) seems to work better than dropping off Izzy first because how much time I spent with Izzy before I leave daycare really depends on the day.

I get on the quiet car; most people are sleeping. I quickly check work emails on my work phone and start to fill in this post. 

As I get off the train I turn on the new NPR podcast "Embedded" for my walk to work. It is about Opana- an opoid that is now being cooked like heroin in places like Austin, IN. The needle sharing in the town has led to an HIV epidemic. I hear about 15 minutes of the podcast before arriving at my building and turning it off.

8:15- I drop my backpack in my office and head over to my boss' office to ask him how his big event went yesterday and to discuss a meeting that I attended yesterday. Afterwards I fill up my water bottle and start to read emails while eating a few dried apricots.

I write a quick report, I remind colleagues of deadlines, and I read a few blogs on Feedly. At some point I also eat a banana and yogurt as this baby keeps me starving throughout the morning. I feel little kicks and movements and hope he is enjoying his second breakfast. :-)

11:00- I head into a meeting with program directors, my boss, and his boss. Quick snack of a hard boiled egg between meetings.

12:00- Conference call.

12:30pm- Lunch of Easter leftovers- lamb over freekah and fresh peas/snap peas. During lunch I quickly check Facebook and feedly before rolling my eyes at an email I get from someone who works in my company from DC.

1:30- Work on a Powerpoint presentation for a speech I am giving on Monday around human trafficking. Once I finish writing up my notes I "present" my speech with my office door closed to make sure it flows.

3:30- I give into the afternoon slumps and buy a can of Coke. I was really hoping to kick the soda habit during this pregnancy (I was thisclose during my pregnancy with Izzy), but being pregnant + a husband that travels + a toddler and a needy dog at home= mamma needs her caffeine and wants the sweet, sweet taste of Coke.

4:00- I write and answer some more emails before CP texts me and asks what is for dinner. We have a quick conversation before he lets me know that he has to go back to North Carolina next week as well (third week in a row). BLERGH. I was hoping it was an April Fools joke, but no luck. I'm already exhausted thinking about next week.

4:30- I'm out the door and headed towards the train with the rest of the Embedded podcast playing in my ears again. The podcast ends while I am on the train and I give it a great review on iTunes, despite my sadness for the people in the podcast. Can't wait for the next episode!

I then listen to another podcast obsession that I recently found- Criminal (episode #16). I love the fact that the stories are about 20 minutes long and have been downloading all of the old episodes to completely catch up.

5:00- Ugh. A heavy smoker just got on the train and cigarette smoke is now all I can smell. THE WORST.

5:15- I finish episode #16 and start up episode #15. I get off the train and it's raining. Booo. I get in the car to pick up Buster. He is super excited to see me and almost mows me down like usual.

5:45- I arrive at Izzy daycare's and find out that she had no accidents all day long. Yay for Izzy! She quickly asks for Izzy moo-sic which I provide.

6:00- We hit up the grocery store. I tell Izzy that we are looking for three items and after I have three items (one was an impulse purchase), she asks "all done?" Smart girl. I hurry around for something to eat for dinner. All I want is spinach quiche but can't find a pre-made one so I buy spanakopita instead. We pay for the items and get in the car. I start singing one of Izzy's songs and she says "Not you Mommy." She sings instead and it's adorable.

6:15- We make it home. I grab milk for Izzy and turn on the oven. Izzy pees and gets a jellybean, and then I put her leftovers in the microwave. I also grab a little bread and baba ganoush for her. She then cries because I didn't use a knife to open up the bread. 

The horror! I used my hands to open the bread!

Thankfully she gets over it fairly quickly and starts to eat while I put my spanakopita in the oven while also grabbing food for Buster. Izzy deliberately spills her ice water, then eats a piece of ice. She then sings "row, row, row your boat." I ask her if she wants any more rice- "Umm no thank you. I'm full." So polite- I wish I could say she did that every night. I eat her remaining mushroom pilaf. She ate ok tonight so she gets a third of a bunny cookie from Easter (usually she gets a piece of fruit if she wants dessert).

"Daddy landed in hawaii? My toe hurts mommy. Take my shoe off."

I quickly text with CP- he is in a car home and we discuss doing movie night with Izzy. Izzy insists on moving over to my lap and eating some of my spanakopita. I take some pics with Izzy and notice how tired I am.

My sad, sad dinner

"Cheese in there?" Izzy asks about the spanakopita. We wash our hands and are about to go outside to get the mail when I see CP's car service drive up. I tell Izzy and she starts jumping up and down. Buster is really excited too. CP gets big hugs from Izzy. She runs around a little before everyone settles down for a movie- Izzy requests Madagascar ("lion movie"). 

7:15- I let Buster outside while CP blows up a dinosaur balloon for Izzy. Once I let Buster back in all he wants is lots of petting from me.

Needy dog

7:30- we finally get the movie started. This is usually when we are upstairs putting Izzy to bed so it isn't ideal.

Izzy entranced by the movie

7:50- We give Izzy a 10 minute warning.

8:00- We turn the movie goes off and Izzy is not the least bit upset. We easily get her on the potty (amazing) and she earns a jellybean by peeing. She gives me a big hug and kiss before bouncing up the stairs to brush her teeth with CP while I head downstairs to do laundry. F*ck. I realize that I put laundry in earlier this week but never moved it to the dryer. Guess I will have to rewash everything. :-/

I could do something useful but decide to sit on the couch and watch an episode of The League instead. CP comes down at 8:30 and makes himself a lamb sandwich. We turn on the monitor and Izzy is babbling to herself. She is finally asleep at 8:45. CP and I turn on Beyond the Tank.

9:30- I take two Tums, switch the laundry and finally get to wash Izzy's dirty clothes from the week. Once back on the couch we watch Last Week Tonight.

10:15- I do one more laundry switch, I take two more Tums, CP heads upstairs and I let Buster out. I head upstairs and we watch Modern Family. CP passes out, I head into the bathroom to pee one last time, take out my contacts, and pluck my eyebrows (I have an eye dr appt tomorrow and don't want to be too overgrown). Get in bed and write up more of this post while baby boy kicks in my belly.

10:45- time for bed!