Friday, May 30, 2008

Update

Pregnancy Update

I'm eleven weeks pregnant and still have some morning sickness, but I only toss my cookies about every other day now. Should subside next week. Of course, I said that last week. I'm now showing and wearing my smallest maternity clothes, as my pants no longer fit. With my first, I didn't show until the twentieth week. I think that means I have no stomach muscles left to hold it all in?

No sign of miscarriage. Haven't been to the doctor yet, for fear of tossing cookies on him. I have an appointment next week. Should definitely hear a heartbeat, if all is well. They've always been able to find one around the tenth week with my other children. I think I'm kind of bracing myself for that first visit. Waiting for the heartbeat is always scary, for those of us who've been through that heartbreaking appointment during which no heartbeat was found. I've lost my first and fourth babies, so my innocent joy regarding pregnancy is long gone.

Good News about Daniel

Daniel has calmed down considerably! Joy! Joy! His ADHD symptoms have become less bothersome, which is more the norm. He's also having many fewer intrusional/anxious thoughts. I think my children like me again.

One thing I'm very grateful for is that despite all we've had going on, Daniel is doing very well in school. God is faithful! It is so true that He doesn't give us more than we can handle. Both boys catch on to new concepts easily, so schooling them at home isn't much of a stretch, even when life is a little topsy-turvy.

God helps out in every regard. Even to the point of enhancing our science time by giving us great views of a robin's nest through our sunroom-like dining room window. We watched the building of the nest, and now enjoy seeing momma robin snatching worms from our grass and feeding them to her babies. They've been eating as much as human newborns, if you ask me. Momma Robin has been busy.

At first, we couldn't see much of the babies except a tiny peak of beak. Now, they are large enough that when she feeds them, we see much of the babies as they open their mouths for the tasty morsels. Any day now, they might be flying away. The boys and I will be sad to see them go.

My husband is an avid bird watcher, and over the years he's developed some favorites; robins are not among them. He thinks they're mean. So when Daniel announced one morning that the robin's nest is a gift from God, Don wisely kept his mouth shut. He's been none too amused to see mom and pop robin fighting daily with the squirrel, who lives high up in the same tree. For my part, I'm not so sure the squirrel is that traumatized. I think it gets a kick out of finally getting past the robins. It always seems to come right back down the tree, as if the whole thing were a game. I suspect he doesn't even reside up there anymore.

Emily Rose News

Emily Rose is now only waking up once a night, always around 4 or 5 a.m. She nurses briefly and then goes right back to sleep in her crib, until about 7:30 a.m. My milk diminished around the ninth week, to the point that I don't think she's getting much more than a few ounces, stretched over three to four daily feedings. She hasn't seemed to mind the change, and is sometimes too distracted by my wedding ring, belly button, or my moles to nurse very long during the day. I feel very fortunate that all is smooth in that area. She doesn't like cow's milk, thus far, so I'm giving her cheese and yogurt, which she loves. We'll have to worry about the whole vitamin D thing come winter, since neither cheese or yogurt are fortified with it.

I'm happy to report that despite her climbing, she hasn't taken any spills. We've continued to move furniture as she's attempted climbing to even greater heights than the dining room table. I'm wondering how much longer I can keep her in her crib, as I've seen her lately trying to get her tiny leg up and over the rail, to no avail. Her arm muscles are getting stronger from her efforts. Eventually that arm strength could help her make it over, much sooner than I'd like.

Daniel loved his crib dearly and stayed in it until he was three-and-a-half. Timmy co-slept and never took to his crib. We moved him into Daniel's room, giving him a twin bed with a rail, as soon as he turned two. We'll see how it goes with Rosey. There's a queen bed in her room, so I suppose we'll either put the mattress and box spring on the floor for her eventually, or we'll try to find a rail for a queen-sized bed. They probably don't exist? I'm hoping to keep the queen bed around for guests, so I don't want to trade it for a twin; we only have three rooms. Looks like the new baby will sleep in our room, until he or she is old enough to share with either the boys or with Emily.

That's enough of an update, I think. I still have that first-trimester exhaustion and don't know how I've stayed up this late tonight. Wow!

I hope all is well with you!

3 comments:

Evenspor said...

Rails do exist for queen size beds! We have one. I don't recall the brand off-hand, but it seems like I saw quite a few that are mae for queens when I was searching two years ago.

Thanks for the update. Glad all is going well.

Ashley said...

I'm so glad all is going well and we got to hear from you again. I missed you! I'm sorry your 'innocent joy regarding pregnancy is long gone.' I didn't know you had gone through two miscarriages, and I will be praying for a loud, strong heartbeat the second the doctor places the doppler on your stomach. Oh, and we also had robins outside our dining room window. They just left their nest this morning one by one. It is sad to see them go!

Andrea Frazer said...

Good luck on your appointment.