Thanksgiving, Bed Rest Style

Yesterday I got to get out of the house!! So exciting! Mike quickly escorted me from the couch at our house, to the couch at my In-laws house, where I stayed the entire time. ( I guess I did get up to sit at the table. :) ) The food that everyone cooked was so yummy. My favorite was the cranberry sauce that my MIL made from scratch. There's something about Turkey with gravy and Cranberry sauce. Yummm!!!

Pictures were taken yesterday, just not by me. If you want to see some pictures of how our day went, check out my MIL blog. (I know! How technology savvy a MIL I have!)
http://grandmapegsmusings.blogspot.com/

PS: If you haven't had a chance to comment about my post Gender Games, PLEASE do! I would love to read your guesses!

Gender Games

I know my blog has traditionally been one-sided. I post, you read. BUT let's all make an exception! I would love for you to guess this babies gender!!! The whole fun of not knowing the gender is to guess.

Now you've all seen my baby belly pictures, you've all read that stats on the babies heartbeat and size. So now is your time to throw your hat into the ring! Let me know what you think!

And then, of course, next Tuesday I will bring my computer to the hospital (they gotta have internet, right?!) and post the new baby stats.

So comment away! I would love to read your guesses.

(For those who don't know how to comment, you just click on the bottom of this post where it's counting how many comments there are, ex. "0 comments" then leave your comment in the box. If you don't have a Google account don't worry, just post as anonymous and it will work. (Just make sure to sign your name at the end of your post) then just type in the mumbo jumbo word that the computer asks you to, hit enter, and your done! Easy as Pie. Mmmm, Pie, where's Mike when you need him....)

So Much Fun!

To see how Sofie, John, and Lilia's day has been shaping up, check out my SIL's blog post of their day today.

My kids are going to remember this winter of 2008 as a crazy fun time of their lives!

http://follyandcrisis.blogspot.com/

What are you doing!?!?!

I know, at 1st blush, you'd think I'd be a bloggin' fool during this time of forced bed rest. But when my world has shrunk to a roughly 10'x13'' TV Room. The stimulation needed to come up with blog posts quickly evaporates. :)
Thankfully today was my OB appt. day and so I got the rare treat of traveling outside my shrunken world out into the big wide world all the rest of you inhabit. After my OB appt. I did cheat JUST a little, I took 5 min to walk into Lunds and grab some sweets. Hey! I only have a week left of pregnancy eating before I am back to my Weight Watcher self. And my husband has not been the enabler that I would like for him to be and bring me candy.

Yes, I only have a week left! Now that I have pre-eclampsia on top of my other pregnancy woes, I will be having this baby one week from today. Tuesday Dec. 2nd. Woo hoo! Waa Haa!! I'm so excited! Not just to be done being pregnant (though that is high on the list) but just to meet this little one that Mike and I have been so blessed to have. And no need to worry about the baby's size. At the ultrasound that they did today, it's still measuring two weeks early and already (at 37 weeks) weighing upwards of 7 1/2 lbs.

The appointment went really well. The Dr. didn't lift the bed rest restriction, but did say that I could go to Thanksgiving and a Tea Party on Saturday. I'm just to take it REALLY easy.

Mike and I have been carting Sofie, John, and Lilia inbetween Gma & Gpa's house, Auntie's house, and they were even able to go to their weekly Monday playdate. You'd think with all that being away from home they would be excited to come home. Last night Sofie came home crying, "I thought we were going to Gma's! I wanted to go back to Gma's!" then Lilia kept walking around saying, "Whera my Gamma? Whera my Gamma?" Nothin' like your children not missing you to keep ya humble! (Oh, they did miss me!...right?...)

And lastly, I'm a Christmas junkie from a young age, so to have a baby during the Christmas Season, ya know I HAVE to dress my newborn as Christmassy as I can. So here is what our precious Christmas gift is going to be wearing in exactly ONE week! I'm so excited!!!

Are you lying down?

O.k. you probably don't need to be asked that questions, but I do, I guess.

After my big, fun filled day on Wednesday, I woke up Thursday with some major swelling in my hands and face and a bad headache. Not good. My Dr. had me come in and have the different tests done for Pre-eclampsia, and much to my chagrin, I have it....

What does that mean for me? Complete and utter bed rest. Complete. I'm allowed to get up to go to the bathroom and that's it. This really does not mix well with my current lifestyle!!!!

Thankfully I have Mike's family nearby and they have all risen to the occasion. MIL and SIL are going to take them on different days. Then hopefully we'll be able to have this baby sooner than later.

Bed rest is not as much fun as one would think. I have no idea how I did it for a month with Sofie. I think the worst part is the back ache from laying down for so long... Ah, so much agony for so much joy. My mantra here lately has been, "STRONG, LIKE BULL!!" that's what I keep telling myself...

Any prayers are coveted and appreciated!!

American Girl, Co-ops, and Meetings, Oh My!

Isn't it funny how day to day life is SO different. Yesterday I was in the thick of baby decisions and the trial of this 4th pregnancy. Today I didn't even have time to remember that I'm pregnant. :)

We had a FULL day today. We started off our morning by leaving home at 9:15 to make it to our Homeschool Co-op. We then left straight from there to head of to the Mall of America and enjoy lunch at the new American Girl store. We spent the entire afternoon there, ate a quick bite of supper at the in-laws house. Then we were off to a meeting with some people from church. We had to leave early from that meeting to pick up the kids from AWANA's, and have finally made it home at 9:00pm tonight. Whew! What a day!

I would like to thank the new and exciting drugs that I am taking for making today possible... :) Modern pharmaceuticals, they are very helpful.

When you visit the American Girl Bistro and store, you MUST bring along your baby.
My dear MIL. The woman with the vision.
Lilia couldn't get the ice-cream in fast enough, so Grandma had to help...
The day was actually a celebration of my SIL birthday. Somehow, in our warp and twisted Wolfe family way, celebrating an adults birthday meant taking all the children to American Girl for lunch. And my SIL would not be her fabulous self with out deciding to end the extravaganza of HER OWN party by giving Sofie and Isabelle a ride in the adjacent indoor theme park.

Calming the child

Do you see my Lilypie counter?!?! 21 days left! I'm getting close! So close!

There's a popular Christian song right now that has the lyrics, " Sometimes He calms the storm, and other times He calms His child." In other words, sometimes the Lord does take our trials away, but a lot of times He walks through our trials with us and gives us the strength and comfort to get through them.
This pregnancy has been a trial. From the two previous miscarriages before we even got started, to the rough start with this one and all the medical interventions, and now the intense physical pain I endure daily as my body gets ready for the birth. ( I wish I could communicate with my body and say, "NEWS FLASH, we're having a c-section, you don't have to get ready for birth!)

But I can't tell you the JOY and EXCITEMENT I feel when I think about this baby. This baby is COMPLETELY wanted and prayed for, loved and cared about. Even after four children, it's still a tiny, miraculous joy when the baby kicks and I'm assured of it's presence.

This has been a trial. With the hardest weeks still in front of me. But my Lord has promised to hold me up, and to love me and never forsake me. I am truly blessed.
All that to say, this morning was my latest OB appt. Despite the physical discomfort, the baby and I seem to be doing fine! All systems seem to be working well and I'm so thankful. The baby was active and the Dr. could hardly pin him/her down to hear that the heartbeat was in the 140's. The baby also must've had a recent growth spurt because now it's measuring a full 2 weeks early!

The Dr. and I did talk long and hard about my options with pain management. I've been put on some pretty exciting drugs to, hopefully, take "the edge" off the pain and be able to make it to the schedule c-section date. But there is some talk about doing an amniocentesis soon and taking the baby if the lungs are mature.

Please pray for Mike and I as we try to make some wise choices about all this. It's really trying to balance the pain that I am in vs. the health of the baby. At what point is the baby strong and healthy enough to, not just survive, but thrive outside the womb? How much pain should I endure? Am I just over-reacting and should buck-up and take it? Or am I doing actual harm to my body and should try to minimize the damage? Like I said, please pray for us and the decision that we have ahead of us. I guess right now I am just taking this one day at a time and the day that I just literally can't take it anymore might be this baby's birth date!
To end on a fun note. John, my son, he really does ask the darndest things. This morning I was sitting on the floor in the girls room and John had been "petting" my tummy:

John:" Mom, does the baby go to the bathroom?"
Mommy:" Yep, the baby does"
John:" Does he go potty into your tummy?"
Mommy:" Well, not exactly, the cord (they know about the cord) that takes food and air to the baby also takes away it's waste"
John:" But Mommy, there IS water in there and that's what pee is, water."
Mommy: "Yep John, there is water in there..."

Thankfully he was then distracted by his sisters' antics. He always stumps me. I keep trying to give him "age-appropriate" responses with out being too graphic or detailed. And he keeps figuring things out in spite of my trying to "tone-it-down". For pete-sakes, what are the questions going to be AFTER I actually have this baby?!

Tuckered

Well, Momma's not the only one tired today. We had out Monday play date this afternoon with our homeschooling friends and the kids were worn out. Thank you so much Amber!! I have cuddled my evening away with my worn out children and we've all had a great time being tired together. Aaah, the endearing joy of tuckered children.

Blood

As we were walking into church on Sunday Night, I was waddling a little behind the pack so my precious John stayed back and held my hand as we entered the building. It's a long walk from the parking lot into the church so John had time to ask me one of the questions he'd been mulling around in his brain.

John: "Mom? Do I have blood inside of me?"
Me: "Yep, you do"
John:" Mom? Does everyone have blood inside of them?"
Me:" Yep, they do"
John: "Why do we need blood?"
Me:" So that you're whole body can be nourished with food and air."
John: "Do we run out of blood"
Me:" Nope, our bones keep making more blood"
John:" Did Jesus have blood"
Me:" When He was here on earth he did"
John:" Does God have blood?"
Me: " Probably not, He's too powerful to need blood."
John "Jesus and God are the same. Do they have blood?"
Me: "I don't know John, I don't know...."

Geesh, I thought I was doing so well and then he still stumps me at the end. And he's only four! Thankfully we then were at the church doors and it was time for him to go to Sunday School. What will he come up with next!

Following in Mommy's Footsteps

This computer sits in our living room and, as all kids do, they have already learned how to navigate most of the computer. One of Sofie's favorite things is to look at all the blogs that I follow, especially ours.

So last night was AWANA's and Sofie was insistent that she take her camera so that she could make a blog post about her Sparks class.

So here is Sofie and some of her friends from Sparks. She is SO excited to share them with everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

(Another Installment of...) What's Old is New Again

It's a cycle that continues at our house. 1. Kids get a battery operated toy, 2. They play and play with it until the batteries are depleted, 3. The toy then goes into "limbo" because we as the parents are too cheap, ahem.. cost conscious, to continually buy batteries for it, 4. Then we, as the parents, get some kind of crazy idea and decide to get a battery for said toy, 5. Repeat

This time the scenario happened to the battery powered Jeep that we've had since Sofie was Lilia's age. (Before that it was in the in-laws garage for the beloved and only grandchild that they had at that time.)

Sofie drove it around until the re-chargeable battery would no longer charge. It has since moved with us to our "new" house and has been sitting in the garage in various places trying to stay out of the way.

Well, last weekend Mike decided to see if he couldn't buy a battery cheap and low and behold E-bay came through.

So now, even though it's freezing cold, the kids ask to go outside every chance they get so they can drive the Jeep up and down the driveway time, after time, after time....

So what is old, truly is new again!

Not Me! Monday

It's really true, hindsight is 20/20. Things that seemed O.k., or at least within the realm of normal, at the time. Look truly ridiculous,or just plain funny, when you look back. So with that, I give you Not Me! Monday...

I did NOT get 7 inches cut off my hair on Friday. I know I let my hair go on a regular basis, and make it into a hair stylist once or twice a year. But there's NO WAY I let it go SO FAR this time that I needed 7 inches cut off to get it back to some semblance of cute again.

And being the consummate, type A, homemaker that I am. I DID NOT relinquish all cooking and food preparing to my husband on Saturday when we had some friends over. Guilt did not wash over me when our company arrived and, as I was talking to my friend, I realized Mike and the husband were in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the meal. (Mike you are the BEST husband in the WORLD!!!)

(Oh, and this ones a doozy!!) I did not go to church last night (we missed the morning service) with bed head and no make-up on. I surely did not weigh, in my mind, if I would see anyone I knew and decide that, in fact, I probably would not. I did not let myself be swayed by my husbands plea of, "You look beautiful! Let's just go to church..." and just throw on my shoes and go.

And lastly, I have not been ridiculously giddy with excitement (way more than I should be) that a BLESSED friend of mine surprised me by bringing me tonight's supper. It's this gem of knowledge that makes me giggle everytime it comes tripping across my brain. Me, excited? No! :)

So there it is. So many things that I might have done, if I wasn't such the put-together, all succesful mother of three (soon to be four!). :)

You Might Think I'm Crazy...

But I TRULY do love this part about living in the North. Seasons!! There's nothing like 'em.
What's the point of homeschooling if you can't take a break now and then to enjoy the freshly falling snow. We rushed through our school today just so we could get out and enjoy.
The snow is that GREAT consistency for all things like snow men, sledding, and the all-important snow balls to throw at your Sissy's....

The Northern Tundra...

Look what we woke up to this morning!... Can you believe that on Tuesday it was 73 degrees! Ah, the 1st stick-to-the-ground snow. Quite exciting! Especially when it still melts off all the streets and driveways. The best of both worlds. This makes it feel like the baby will be here SOON!

This is me... then

Does anyone know what pop culture the title is in reference to? I can't believe I know any pop culture, but I guess there are some tidbits floating around in my brain.

So this is me now. I thought I would take pictures every baby bump check to show how big I truly do get. I'm a short girl with a short waist. The only place for the baby to go is out....

I did have my bi-weekly check up today. Mike took the kids. I was so amazed that he was willing to do that. It sure was a big help. ( I was amazed because he was at WORK, his place of BUSINESS, with his CO-WORKERS!)

Anyway, besides the fact that I'm in pain all the time, and that I feel like I'm having an overall mental and physical system failure... I'm actually doing really well. The baby is still measuring a week and 1/2 early, the heartbeat was in the 130's today and is doing wonderfully. I still have great blood pressure, and no signs of kidney fatigue or anything! So I guess the end-of-the-world feeling that I have all the time is just the hormones. Ya know, there should be a point where you're body says, "Ok, I know we've been through this 4 times. I guess I'll stop wreaking havoc with your hormones this time." Nope, if anything, it gets worse each time...

Enough belly achin'! I'm so blessed beyond measure to have another baby and I only have 2 more appointments and then I'm done. No need to rush. Because when this part is over, I have to take care of a newborn.... Ya with me Andrea?! :)

As for the pop culture reference, here's a clue - the original Bennifer... :)