Almost 37 Weeks

Today we had another doctor's appointment, and after last week's it wasn't anywhere near as exciting.  Here's the rundown: I am officially due on Oct. 18th.  My doctor is going out of town for 2+ weeks on Oct. 11th (evidently going to Hawaii sounds like more fun to her than delivering my baby, but whatever!).  Thanks to some crazy "rules", I cannot be induced more than 1 week ahead of my due date unless there is a medical complication.  Which there is not.  Sooo...the earliest I can officially be induced is Oct. 11 - my doctor's first day of vacay.

At my appointment last week, she told me she didn't think I would last until the 11th; she seemed quite certain that I would go on my own before she leaves town.  GREAT!!!!  I had started dilating and was progressing quite nicely.  However, at today's appointment, I hadn't changed at all from last week (which means all the contractions I had last night did absolutely nothing).  That doesn't really mean anything; I was at this same stage when I went into labor with Brychan.  It was just disappointing to hear.

Anyway, here's the plan (and for any guys reading this, which I'm assuming is zero, go ahead and skip forward.  David doesn't like hearing details, so I'm assuming none of you do either).  If I make it until Oct. 8th, I will have my membranes stripped, which has a 50-60% chance of putting me into labor within 48 hours of having that done.  If that doesn't work (and I'm certainly hoping that it does!), then I am officially scheduled to be induced on Oct. 13th; albeit with a doctor I don't know and have yet to meet. 

 

So...I guess until this little girl decides to come, I will be trying to keep as busy as absolutely possible, and do as much walking as I can to help move things along.  And hopefully she's nice to her momma and listens like all good little girls should.  Because I am physically past the point of being able to walk much at all.  I definitely should have been having babies at 24 instead of 34!!

Time to Slow Down (I Guess??)

This is the little pharmacy currently sitting
on my kitchen counter.

And, yep! It's all for me!

I've known my entire life that bronchitis and asthma
don't play well together.

Turns out adding pregnancy to the mix just makes it that much worse.

 

On Thursday, I started coming down with a little cold.  Nothing too major.  By Friday night, I was feeling pretty crummy, and by 3:00 Saturday morning, I woke up gasping for air.  I had an old inhaler that I tried.  No go.  Sat in a forever long steamy shower.  That worked for maybe 20 minutes.

So, I tried to relax and breathe, and waited for urgent care to open.

(I've learned my lesson about going to the ER over the weekends. 

Especially during the "over-night" hours.  No thank you.)

 

Turns out I have a horrible case of bronchitis, that hit fast and HARD.

Also turns out that the one medication I really needed, I can't take because I'm 35 weeks pregnant!

Instead, I got a bag full of not-quite-as-strong-or-effective goodies to take home with me.

A bag full of goodies that have their own horrible side effects to deal with on top of everything else.

And, after 2 days now of rotating between inhalers, nebulizer treatments and steamy showers, I am finally starting to feel a little bit of relief. 

I'm hoping that within another 2 days, I can function again.

Bless my sweet husband for taking over this weekend,

even though he feels icky himself (he has the same cold Kehlton does).

 

Last weekend, after all of our fun at the Science Center, I was in bed for a day and a half fighting pretty regular contractions. 

Turns out Little Miss doesn't really want to miss out on any of the fun either!

My doctor told me earlier this week that I needed to slow down and rest.

Yeah Right.

But I guess my body decided to take matters into it's own hands.

I'm really hoping that my "mandatory rest" period ends sooner rather than later, cause this is no fun!

Plus.  I have a super cute changing table I want to paint!! :)

 

**I know that nobody really wants to hear about all my sick germs.  However, I'm really trying to do more journaling on the blog since I've become so horrible about doing my own journal.  Sorry!!

 

AZ Science Center

Since it's been awhile since we've had a family fun day, we decided to invite Jocie & Hallie, along with Lala, to come play with us at the Arizona Science Center this weekend.  We had SO much fun!! Brychan just kept telling me "Mom, this is the awesomest place ever!!!".  And we didn't even go to the 3D Dinosaur Movie at their IMAX theatre.  It would have been beyond awesome for him had he known about that! :)

Lala and Kehlton playing in the water

 

Kehlton and Hallie

All 3 kiddos

David had just as much if not more fun than the boys did!

 

Brychan and I testing our brain power



 

Digging in the dirt

 

 Pulling themselves up the pully. 

I was shocked that I was able to pull myself up too!

 

On the ride home, not even 5 minutes after he told me his body was not tired and was more than ready to keep playing.

We spent about 4 hours at the center, and could have easily spent much more time there.  We ended up buying an annual pass for our family, so if anybody ever wants to go; we're totally game!

And...for those of you in the Phoenix area...did you know that the first Friday of every month is "Adults Only" at the Science Center?  And it's 100% free.  David and I are excited to use it as a date night soon, so we can play on all of the stuff without worrying about losing a child! :)

Reflection & Gratitude

Last night, David and I were talking (Okay. Well, I was doing most of the talking and he was listening).  I was telling him how much I wished we were at the point where we could just upgrade to a newer and bigger home now, and wondering how to get us to that point just a little bit faster.  Anyway.  After a bit of me venting my little frustrations, I quickly realized something.

We have been married for just over 5 years.  5 years isn't really a very long time.  But in those 5 years, we've had 3 babies, who are healthy and strong.  We've owned 2 homes and moved once. We still have an excellent relationship and marriage.   But with the biggest "milestone", right before our 2nd anniversary, our entire lives crumbled before our eyes.  We lost SO much.  All of our financial security was gone,  leading to most of our assets soon disappearing.  And while our marriage was still solid, there was definitely a lot of rebuilding to be done and egg shells to be walked on.  There was physical and mental health to be strengthened.  We had a lot of work that needed to be done.

In the last 3 years we have had to totally rebuild everything.  So...while we're not quite back to where we want to be (yet), we have accomplished quite a bit in 3 short years.  Obviously, we have lots of family members and a loving Father in Heaven to thank for helping us  But to make the amount of progress we have in the last 3 years is no small feat.  I just need to remember to be patient, and to look backwards every so often just so I can see how far we've come.  And to keep in mind, that with as much as we've been able to accomplish in the last 5 years; who knows how much we can do in the next 5 years!!  Maybe...maybe I can have my newer and bigger house before those 5 years are up! ;)

Back To School

I can't believe that summer is "over" (it's still 115 outside, but you know...), and Brychan went back to school today. He has been so excited; asking me every day for the last 2 weeks when he gets to go back, and then today asking me every 20 minutes if it was time to go. This year, he's in the afternoon class, so he had a very LONG morning. He has the same teacher as he did last year (we love Ms. Mellisa!!), and quite a few of his same friends are in his class again this year.

I can't believe how big my boys are getting!!

 Kehlton is still very sad that he doesn't get to go to school with brother.  He loves getting to go visit the classroom, and he loves talking to Ms. Mellisa too.  Technically, he can start in January, but I'm not quite sure I'm ready for that yet.  He definitely is.  Momma not so much.

To help with Kehlton's sadness this afternoon, we met Daddy at his office for lunch.  Kehlton loves going to Daddy's office!  He gets to see Amy (she's the receptionist and both of my boys absolutely adore her), play at Daddy's desk and make big and important phone calls, and he almost always gets a piece of candy.  Plus it doesn't help that all the other agents there stop and tell him how stinkin' cute he is (as if he doesn't already know!).   Kehlton sure loves his Daddy!!

Friends

Both boys LOVE playing with friends as often as possible, and they get to do so quite frequently! While I was at the doctors this week, they got to play with the Kurzawskis: There's Kaden, Landon, Brychan, Brenden and Kehlton.  My friend, Alicia, sent me the photo while I was gone.  They're all too cute!

This is Why...

I have been looking for a lock to go on my refrigerator.

That would be chocolate syrup drizzled ALL OVER the carpet (luckily the furniture escaped unscathed).

It took both David and I (and a carpet cleaner, and 2+ bottles of hydrogen peroxide and stain remover and a now ruined towel) scrubbing for 2 hours to get it (almost) out of the carpet.

The culprit