Sports Injury

Apparantly - I have a sports injury. I guess child birth is a sport. Who'da thunk it?

I've been feeling pain near my belly button every time I bend over or turn or pick up something heavy. Two doctor visits, 4 blood tests, and one ultrasound later - it turns out that I've torn an abdominal muscle! Ouch. The good news is - it will heal. The bad news is - I'm supposed to rest and not do anything that causes pain - yeah right.

The baby was soooo worth every bit of pain and sickness I endured over the past 9 months. I was looking forward to feeling better after I had her, but I guess I'm not done yet. What lesson am I supposed to learn with this one??

By the way, I read up on torn abdominal muscles and apparantly it can happen if you don't warm up and stretch properly before exercising. I didn't know I needed to warm up and stretch before pushing out a baby. Ha-ha. Seriously, I think my abdominal muscles were already stretched to capacity and being so sick during pregnancy made it virtually impossible to retain any muscle tone whatsoever. I'm getting too old for this!

It's Official

I am 36 weeks, dilated to a 4, 50% effaced, and no longer on bed rest! Yay! Now I can start getting ready for this baby. I've got a nursery to decorate and some serious organizing to get done.

Thanks everyone for helping me out during the bed rest. Thanks especially to my Father-in-law who came and stayed most days and kept the kids happy, changed countless diapers, and did the housework like a champ! I always knew you had it in you!

On another note - Here are some pictures from our latest excursion to Black Rock -

The kids made it to the top for the first time!

Here's the crew just before sunset -
The sunset was beautiful!

The BASEMENT

Before sheet rock -After the sheet rock -

Boo and G in their alien spacesuits at Camp Invention -

35 Weeks!

I made it to 35 weeks gestation. I am also happy to say that our little girl has moved on her own and is no longer breech. One more week until they let me get off bed rest. I've had a great deal of time to get some reading done.

The basement is looking great! We'll be ready for paint soon.

34 Weeks and Holding -

I've made it to 34 weeks. Just two more weeks to go! Also, this little baby girl is breech at the moment, so hopefully she turns soon. Thanks everyone for your encouragement and especially your help! Dinners and babysitting have been much appreciated.

School is out! Yep - school ended yesterday. Any ideas on how to keep 5 kids happy and helpful for the summer months?

I'm done home schooling!!!! Those two years of school with my oldest passed so quickly. It was hard at times and sometimes frustrating but overall worth it! I feel like he is in a better place then he was two years ago. It has been fun having him home all the time and watching him learn and grow.

The dry wall is almost finished! Our basement is looking so good! By next week, the mudding and taping should be finished. Then my DH will paint and hang doors and all that fun stuff. Anyone know a good place to buy carpet?

Misery Loves Company

Here's how this goes - I'll tell you my woes and then you tell me yours. C'mon, it'll be fun. At least writing them down will be somewhat cathartic and then we can move on.

I went to the doctor today. I'm sick. I'm coughing and it hurts every time I cough. It hurts my chest, my throat, and the muscles in my very pregnant belly! My DH is sick (strep throat) and several of my kids are sick too. It's hard to be sympathetic and care for them when I feel so miserable and just want to hide in my bed for the next few days.

Add to this my visit to the OB/GYN on Tuesday. I hate that scale! I don't have a scale at home (because I would obsess about it) and weighing myself every two weeks is just more than I can handle. For those of you sitting there saying "Oh, Julie, you do not need to worry about gaining weight" I say, I feel like a big fat cow! I've already surpassed my weight gain from the last 4 pregnancies! Also, my feet, ankles, and hands have begun swelling. On Tuesday it hurt so bad I couldn't stand up to cook dinner. Luckily it hasn't gotten that bad since.

You'd think that the last few weeks of school would be relaxing and fun, but nooooo! My 13 year old is working hard to finish up home school, my daughter Boo has a project due next week that is worth 50% of her grade, then there's "Author's Night" next week the kids are writing books for, and with all of these colds going around, they've missed some of their state standardized testing which will have to be made up next week as well. Enough already!

Thanks for listening (reading). My kids have a book about a mouse who has a really bad day and is complaining to his mother about it. His mother tells him that "It could have been worse" and the illustrations show that the mouse was in mortal danger from a snake, a fox, and an owl and the bad things that happened that day actually saved him from being eaten. I know that things could be worse, I just needed to vent.

Your turn -

I Am Preggers!

Morning sickness

Thyroid disease

Light headedness

Enormous appetite

Heartburn

Legs going numb

Ligament pain

Clothes not fitting

Exhaustion (I can't sit down on the couch past 2:00 pm or I'll fall asleep)

Moodiness (angry to crying back to happy in a matter of minutes)

Food cravings (lettuce, pickles, oranges)

Oh, and did I mention that big bump in the front that is steadily getting bigger!

Suspended

I've been suspended in a time warp of sorts. My life as I knew it has changed dramatically in the last few weeks. For one thing, I can no longer sit up at the computer and enjoy reading blogs and catching up on emails. This little blog post was made possible by a sweet hubby who lent me his laptop for the evening. I hate typing on this thing because the keyboard doesn't have the right feel to it, but it was nice just to be able to log on so I'm not going to complain.

In the past week I asked the primary to find a substitute for me for the next month. I called the school and told them I wouldn't be volunteering for awhile. I didn't make it to church on sunday (my husband took the five kids by himself - yes he is a saint!) I bailed on book club, enrichment, and teaching preschool this week. I canceled piano lessons for the kids and completely forgot about scouts this week.

I have been here before though. This is not a new place for me. It happened about 5 years ago in Colorado when I was pregnant with litte "B". I didn't know then why I couldn't walk across the room without feeling winded and why I had to eat every 90 minutes or I might pass out. I couldn't understand the exhaustion and sickness until an intuitive nurse midwife had my thyroid checked. I had hyperthyroidism (aka-Grave's disease). I was devastated. I didn't know what my future was going to be like with this debilitating disease, but I knew I didn't like it. Fortunately, in my 5th month, it went into remission and never came back, that is until now. I don't know why it didn't crop up with my last pregnancy, but here we are again, sick, pregnant, and with hyperthyroidism.

I don't mean to be pessimistic or anything. There are many great things to look forward to. For one, at the end of all this, I get to have a baby! I'm not worried about the delivery (I'm a pro now) the last delivery lasted all of 16 minutes! I'm pretty sure that my thyroid problems will go into remission again like last time, and I also have a feeling this one is a girl! Also, my husband is motivated now to get the basement finished. So lots of blessings on their way, I am just trying to get through this rough spot.

Thanks to friends and family who have helped us out so far. I feel useless these days. My kids are taking care of themselves or are being taken care of by kind friends and family. Love you guys.