Time is flying

In a couple days I'll be 30wks pregnant. Where in the world has this pregnancy gone? Ellie will be 20months on the 4th, so close to turning 2yrs old. I feel like I should be pregnant with her, not her turning 2 soon. She's growing up too. She has so many words and is clearly learning a lot. She was sitting on my bed watching Max and Ruby this morning when I took my shower. I could hear her talking to the TV and saying football which sounds like botball. I didn't think much of it until I got out of the shower and noticed that Max and Ruby were throwing a football around. When she hears a dog bark she knows it's a "dogga." She has many other words that honestly I have lost count and track of. Oh, maybe the hardest word of all she is saying is Christmas. When she sees Christmas lights she'll say Cicmas. We got her a big girl bed. It's actually just a longer twin mattress and box spring. It works for now, but soon I want her to have an actual bed. She sleeps well in it when I let her. She has fallen out a couple times, I really need to dig the railing out of storage, but I'm hoping I can get Simon to do that. But it seems it's a lot easier for me to just put her in bed with me. I kinda like the company in the bed, even if it means a foot in my side or I get way less than half the bed. She insist on sleeping sideways in the bed or she'll turn upside down. The pregnancy is going GREAT. Exact opposite of what was going on when I was pregnant with Ellie. I'm still able to wear my rings with very minimum swelling. I do have heartburn, but who cares about a little heartburn. All in all I'm doing great and cherishing every little movement. I'm not too thrilled with the constant peeing with a toddler in tote. Oh and the worse of it all is my underwear are falling to my knees, don't ask me how the croch stays up but the rest fall down. Time for new undies. But it's all good though. Oh something else about Ellie, she pees and poops in the toilet. SCORE!!! She still wont tell me so I have to put her on quite often, which I'm not consistent with. But when I do, she generally goes. My mom told me to put her on after meals and before and after nap, and when she wakes up and before going to bed. That seems reasonable, hopefully soon she'll start communicating her need. Some days she will hold her poop in until I sit her on the toilet then immediately she goes. I am so blessed to have such an awesome daughter. I hope this boy is just as great as his sister.

We sure have changed

As I was thinking about our parenting style and beliefs EVERYTHING has changed. Well nearly everything has changed. Ellie and Elijah will not even be 2yrs apart, yet things will be different between them. First of all if Ellie was a boy she would have likely been circumsized. Now, Elijah will likely NOT be circumsized. There's no reason to do it. Simon shared with me his disapproval of vaccines. I have been pro vaccines, but not against delayed vaccines. The only thing is I'm not sure if Tennessee even allows that, so we'll see. We disposable diapered Ellie, up until now, but he will be cloth diapered from the beginning. I do less and less canned and jarred and frozen foods and more fresh foods. I don't buy things for convience anymore. I don't mind taking a little longer to prepare food so I don't have to get stuff with additives and preservatives in it. I am learning more vegitarian dishes, as I'm really not much of a carnivore and Ellie more often than not doesn't like meat. It amazes me just how much changes once you become a parent. Oh and yes Ellie has slept in my bed with me when she needs it. We were very against co sleeping, but honestly I'm more for doing what the child NEEDS. Ellie needed to sleep in her own room rather early on, but she's had her nights, which I have no problem with.

I'm not sure if I have revealed the name to you all. Maybe I have. Anyway in case I haven't, it's Elijah Scott. Scott is Simon's middle middle name. I want to have one back up name, a totally different style of name just in case. Right now he's Elijah, but he'll probably end up being Eli. So we will have Eli and Ellie.

I have something else to say but it's pretty much a post of it's own. Soon, very soon, promise.

Hi all

Nothing much is going around here. I'm growing bigger and BIGGER. Simon questioned if I'm having twins, but I'm not. I've always thought I would have twin boys, but I guess that will never happen. We are 95% sure this baby is our last. Ellie is doing great and having so much fun in life. I took her to the zoo a couple weekends ago, then last weekend to a pumpkin patch. This weekend we went on 2hr trip to see some of my family. Next weekend we're going to the Apple Orchard. Then after that I'm kinda out of ideas, but I'm sure I'll fnd more things. Pregnancy is going GREAT. It's unbelievable how "easy" a pregnancy can be, knock on wood. I mean with Ellie I was way beyond the normal sickness with morning sickness all day and night for months. Then my stinkin blood pressure and HORRIBLE swelling. So far so good, now that I am on medicine for the thyroid I have energy to do some things which feels amazing. I guess this was a little bit of nothingness, as there isn't anything to really blog about.

A bunch of randomness

This is a post about a little of everything. Nothing specific just where life is now. I apologize if I repeat something I said in my previous post.

My thyroid blood test led my OBGYN to do nothing. However the high risk doctor found it importnant to put me on a low dose of synthoid. I've been taking it since Friday. I also had an ultra sound of my thyroid, but haven't received the results yet. I'm not too concerned about the results.

I LOVED the high risk dr. I saw, and hope I see more of her. With Ellie I mainly saw this guy that was very shy and soft spoken. They were always wierd appointments. But with this lady who has only been with the company for a year, I felt like it was a real informative appointment. I will be seen in a few weeks and then we will schedule the amnio, unless I decide against it. I'm leaning towards finding out as the results will help me prepare mentally, but then again it's not like Ellie has a real bad case of CF, so we aren't 100% sure we'll follow through with the amnio. I loved seeing baby boy on the ultrasound again. We got a profile pic and face pic, which the face pic is kinda scary looking, but the profile is cute. He was still measuring ahead with his legs and arms, and right on for his abdomen and head. He is measuring a little ahead with his weight, but nothing concerning.

Ellie is starting to have her runny nose, much as she did last fall. I noticed a week or so ago she had a gland behind her ear that felt swollen to me, so I thought this may be coming. I hate her being one of those snot nosed kids with dry snot all over her face. It's clear so I'm not runny to the pedi, if she has a runny nose for a week they give her antibiotics, which unless the snot turns green, or she starts running a fever, I am against. I am going to be taking her to a chiropracter and they will do something to her sinus' and adjust as needed. That may and may not help, but it's a less invasive procedure and way safer than medicating her or removing adnoids. Plus it's way cheaper so it's great. Hopefully it works.

Speaking of chiropractor I will be seeing the chiropractor as well. The one I found will do adjustments on my back. I'm thrilled as maybe this will help as I get further in the pregnancy with back and hip pains and maybe it will some with my desired VBAC. I mean I don't know for sure, haven't read anything about it, but my logic would say that it may help.

Ellie is doing fantastic, other than the runny nose which doesn't slow her down. It seems like she shows me something new nearly everyday. Her vocabulary is what I would consider average for her age. She has about 12 words she will say and use correctly. Her first 2 words were "thank you" which sounds more like tonka, and "doggy" which sounds more like "doga." She says thank you when somebody gives her something or when she gives you something. It's so cute.

She knows no stranger. Seriously I had her in Kmart with my mom and her friend last week. Ellie ran to another mom holding a little boy around her age. The mom put the boy down just to be attacked by Ellie. LOL. It was amusing, as she wanted to play, and tried to hug and kiss the boy as he tried to step back with a dumpfounded look on his face. That family went on their way, and a couple minutes later another young boy came with his mom and Ellie repeated, and of course scared the 2nd boy. Poor kids, having to endure the wrath of Ellie's friendliness. She is seriously such a loving and gentle kid who loves to play with her peers. No shy bone in her body, that's for sure.

Since Ellie is NOT shy at all, and clearly 2-3 times a week being in nursery with 6-12 others her age isn't enough, I have officially joined a mom's group. I was kinda in one before at the church, but due to inactivity it went on. They are hoping to get it going again. I decided to join our local MOM'S club. I was invited to a meeting by a friend, and had already made the decision to join. I paid a $20 dues so yeah, we'll be doing stuff. I already have several things circled on the calender that I want to do with Ellie in the month of October. They have over 40 moms in the group and from what I saw there are tons of kids in all age groups. I'm just hoping that I get more and more energy as between doctor's appointments and MOM's Club activities, and church, I will be very busy.

Speaking of doctor's appointments I will officially be changing OB's this week. I discussed a VBAC with the high risk doctor and though respectful of my wishes, she was a bit apprhensive. However she was very supportive of me switching doctor's, she said if for any reason I can deliver where I had Ellie and they will do the c-section, since I will be going to a doctor in a different county. She's just thinking I wont be able to have a VBAC. My first OB appointment with the new doctor is this Wednesday however I will be seeing the physician's assistant rather than the actual doctor. That's cool with me, I'll have to see her at some point anyway.

There's other stuff, but I've written enough for now. All in all, everything is great!! Life isn't always easy but thankfully there's no drama going on right now.

Gender Announcement

It's a BOY!! I was shocked and scared when she said boy. I know nothing about boys. Oh well, I was still excited and got teary eyed. It'll be a fun experience.

I was 18w5d when we had the u/s and the boy measured 19w5d in his legs, arms, and head, but his stomach measured 16wks. I will talk to the doctor on Wed. at my 20wk appointment.

Ellie is doing great, turning into a little toddler. She's having temper tantrums, LOVES her grandma's, and has words now. She understands so much more than she can say though. She is such an amazing little girl, most of the time, just those tantrums can be so embarrassing.

I'm doing great, a bit hormonal/emotional though. I am senstive and cry easier now. Oh well, must be the pregnancy. LOL, it's kinda funny though since I'm anti showing emotion. It's almost a fun way of being, to actually cry. But then I turn around and laugh at myself because there really is no need for the crying.

I'm going to call an endocrinologist. My mom has hypothyroid hoshimotos disease or maybe it's disorder. Anyway, I've been tested for hypothyroid before but never hoshimotos. I was going to wait till after the pregnancy, BUT I have read 2 totally different things today w/out even looking for it. I wasn't fishing for thyroid problems during pregnancy, but accidently fell across it. One was in relation to labor and delivery that the baby will often times not be in position for delivery thus resulting in c-sections. I think it's important I explore this if I'm going in for a VBAC. Also apparently it also affects milk supply. YIKES!!! More so than wanting a VBAC I want to be able to breastfeed successfully meaning only breastmilk for 4-6months. So if I find out I too have thyroid problems then it may give me a better chance at a VBAC and allow me to be more successful at breastfeeding. Fingers crossed.

So, I think that's all the important stuff for now.

The news

It has been one interesting week, to say the least. Ellie, my mom, and I went to NC then GA, then back home to TN in 3 days. We drove nearly 1000miles. While we were gone, Simon was stuck at home because his truck was in the shop. Now if we knew that he wasn't going to be going out, either he would have went with us or kept Ellie, but there is simply no way we can know things like with this tucking career.
While I was gone, Simon did all the final things to make that 2006 Kia Sedona ours. So now sitting in our driver we have 4 cars, one being my nice minivan. Now we need to fill it up with kiddos. Ok, not really, just this 2nd baby. We are now faced with what 2 cars to sell. We can agree on my 2000 Saturn SL1, for whatever little bit it will sell for. However Simon is kind of sentimental about it and hesitates to get rid of it. It's easier for him to sell that one though. It was my first car I went out and bought on my own. The other 2 cars, is a 1997 Buick, it's big, leather interior 60,000miles on it, drives great, air condition needs to be checked out, but it may just need refridgerant, it needs new tires, the cruise doesn't work. It could probably sell for $3000 or a little more if we got the air working. My grandfather gave us the car. The other car is a 2003 Dodge Stratus, it's Simon's first car that he went out on his own to get. It has 170,000miles, the trunk will not stay open unless you hold it open with one hand, which you try to put a stroller or double stroller in the car w/ one hand. Little bits and pieces of the car are messed up, like the bumper is held together w/ duct tape, thanks to my MIL. The passanger's door automatic lock doesn't work, the door behind the passanger's door is messed up. When we lived in our apartment, somebody hit the car at that door, we had to get it fixed but it was no time before it was messed up and at times the door wont even open. As far as the way it runs, it runs ok however for a long time when you are stopped at a light or stop sign or in traffic it will accelerate just a tad while you are breaking so I have learned to keep a distance between my car and the car in front of me. Simon wants to keep the dodge and get rid of the buick. I think personally the buick will make a better 2nd car. I think we are going to get Simon's brother to look at both cars and advise us as far as the condition. The dodge had a rebuilt transmission put in at 100,000miles too. So which do you think we should keep and which she we get rid of?

Breast pumps

I know I'm early, but not really. I'm in the 2nd trimester now which IMO, it's a time to start thinking about things like this.

With Ellie I rented a hospital grade pump, but had very little luck. It was medela. I just got maybe 4oz total from both breast, and that was after nearly an hour of pumping. My SIL said she never got an electric pump that from her experience manual was just as good, I heard the same from somebody else. So I eventually bought a cheap manual with even less luck. I seemed to consistently have low supply despite blessed thissle and fenugreek and some kind of compound med. the dr. gave me. Who knows if my PCOS affected my milk supply. Or maybe the stress of Simon having broke his leg days after Ellie was born. I don't know which it was. Maybe even a combination. Or maybe I just didn't have what it took to breastfeed.

Now I am faced with the desire to make breastfeeding work way better than it did with DD. In fact, if ok with a lactation consultant I plan on taking fenugreek and blessed thissle to the hospital when I deliver. I would like a good breast pump, but I really hesitate to invest much over $100 since I am afraid it will be a waste of money. I mean seriously, why buy a $300+ pump when you have a history of pumps not working and supply problems? I'm really hoping things will be way different this time around, but seriously what makes me so sure it will be to go out and make that kind of major purchase.

I think maybe I can wait and see if I will be able to breastfeed successfully this time, and if so I'll buy a good pump. That would be an option, especially since I do still have the manual one I can use for the time being. I will hopefully be starting school Mon-Fri 8am-3pm when the little one is 6 months. So I will be needing a pump that will work good for me at that time.

I would love opinions and input. Hold off and don't buy anything until I know I'm going to be able to do it, then invest in a good one. Or buy a half decent one to have from the start, but may not be best.