World Watercolor Month and Poison Ivy

I've been doing a lot of posting over at the horse blog, but honestly not much has been going on other than normal life. I am battling a nasty spread of poison ivy which I acquired while trying to get yard work done on the farm. I'm on my second prescription of Prednisone and I'm pretty much slathering myself in numbing lotion 24/7.


Have some fun proression pics of this, from my trip to the ER last wednesday where I was having breathing difficulties to two days ago at my followup with my primary doctor. It's also all over my forearms and now on hte right side of my face as well as my left. Benadryl gets me through the night.

Out of Sorts Healthwise

I had my Novasure ablation a couple weeks ago and while recovery seemed to be swift, it jumpstarted my period two weeks early and it hasn't stopped. Things are weird, is the best way I can describe it. If this is my period it's nothing like I've ever had before, which is nice, but it also hasn't stopped, which is less nice. I've also had bad cramps to go along with it.

On Friday, while at work, what felt like a combination of constipation and uterine cramping pretty much brought me to my knees. I was sweating from the pain. I'd rate it equal to my gall bladder attacks and more severe than pitocin contractions in labor, only because I at least got a couple seconds to breath pain free between contractions. On friday it was just an unending torrent. After vomiting and promptly googling my symptoms, I shot a text to my husband to come take me to the ER. Michigan has horrid potholes right now. The drive to the hospital was basically torture. Every jolt made things worse.

We spent the afternoon there and I got an ultrasound and CT scan to be told "UTI".  I also got morphine, which was nice, if surprising.

Well damn. That was awful. I've never had a UTI before that I know of and this was not what I would have expected.

I recovered through the weekend, barely eating Saturday because my belly was still tender. My poop habits were also weird, so I do wonder if it wasn't a touch of constipation as well, yet today, after having a day of normal goings (Sunday) I get to work and I was hit by the pain again, just not as bad. I took a ton of ibuprofen and it faded off again.

I still feel bloated and my metformin hasn't caused me to have my normal bathroom habits. I didn't dare get coffee because I was in too much pain when I would normally get coffee.

Things that concern me:

This period thing started the day after I did a long ride on Gwyn. I was told no sex but figured I'd be fine for riding. I wonder if I over did it? I have a followup this wednesday with my doctor to pursue this.

The period is on day 8. It started last monday and while it hasn't changed it also hasn't stopped.

It's WAY stinkier than I am normally. It makes me think complications yet the ultrasound showed normal stuff for after this surgery.


Either way, I'm glad that I'll be having my followup in a few days. I'd like to figure out what my normal is, or my new normal.

January Fitness Roundup

This is for accountability.


The goals I set for myself in Endomondo include treadmill walking/cardio 3x a week, yoga/core workouts 2x and 30 minutes minimum of riding each week.   The 30 minutes is more to encourage me to actually get out and ride, not because I think that's near enough with my show goals for the year. I'll actually be tracking mileage.


Let's see how I did, eh?

Endomondo has a handy visual calendar we can use!

The first week is a known bust. This challenge to myself starts on the 8th

Week 1: 4 cardio, 1 horse (.33 miles), 1 day of yoga/stretching
Conclusion? Pretty good.

Week 2: 1 riding (2.53 miles), 2 cardio on the same day, 1 yoga, not as good

Week 3: 2 cardio on the same day, nothing else, bleh

Week 4: 1 awesome ride! (6.31 miles), 1 cardio session

So I was gung ho the first week on, and okay the rest. I was active every week, and that is an improvement from nothing. Each week is a fresh start!

January Mileage Total for Riding: 9.17 miles
This will only increase as I figure out scheduling and as the weather starts to improve. This is way better than January of last year.

Health Updates

Content: Menstruation, cup, doctors visits, IBS. THIS WILL BE BLUNT.

Last month I went to a scheduled doctor appointment to discuss updates about my PCOS and IBS. I had mentioned in my intake that I was using adult diapers as a good way to keep my clothes from getting messed up on the heaviest days of my period.

The NP, when she heard, told me that that WASN'T right, especially if I was on metformin which should reduce period severity due to PCOS. I got an order for a GYN and an ultrasound immediately. She asked a couple other questions about the severity of cramps (it takes about 800 mg of ibuprofen or naproxen to cut through), the size of clots (dime size? No... quarter) and length of period (7+ days, at least 3 are heavy enough to bleed through overnight pads in 2 hours)

Last week I had my ultrasound. Pretty quick procedure, exterior with a full bladder and then an intravaginal one after I'd peed.  I got the basic results today from my doctor. I have soft markers for endometriosis (suspected, given my symptoms) and will be seeing a gynecologist.

Uterine ablation was mentioned and I'm interested to see where this all leads. I'm also interested to see what life might be like without having to go to ridiculous means to not bleed all over everything for a week.

It could be nice.


Given, also that I have a very heavy flow, menstrual cups haven't really been the magical cure-all they're sold as in the online community (not so much from the manufacturers). I can't go 12 hours wearing mine without leaking significantly. Like using a cotton ball to stopper up a dam's leak. Thought that analogy might be more apt for a tampon. I haven't bothered with a tampon in almost a decade. They were laughable, I needed a pad anyway, so what was the point?

Even with the cup I still needed backup.  Period panties were also laughable given that they're really only to protect against itty bitty leaks, not gushes of clots. I like them for my light days, or days where incontinence is worse (colds, coughs... etc, thank you pregnancy). Did you know that Thinx do eventually leak? I DO! The chinese knockoffs are a bit better imo, in both fit and coverage. 

Anyway, all of that to say, I got a new cup. It's apparently the largest on the market for volume so I'm hoping it will work a bit better for me. It's not nearly as stiff as my old Diva cup, but it is stiffer than my collapsible one from Intimina (which I cannot find, curse my children)

My period is in full swing now, so we'll see how this holds up. 

They have a couple different colors. I chose blue.

Brand info.

Comes with a little drawstring cotton bag.

Thinx Period Underwear

Content Warning:  Frank talk about menstruation, vaginas

Something New for 2017

This is a kind of horsey post, I'll likely xpost it to my horse blog too. 

Since moving to Michigan I've gotten pretty involved in the Great Distance Derby, which has connected me with some local, likeminded horse people. I've gone to Flint to donate water with them on two occassions and gone on some trail rides. I even 'walked' a trail ride with Gwyn in hand just to get out and socialize while I was pregnant since I wasn't allowed to ride. 

The person who organizes GDD has also started organizing a Michigan and Midwest Mounted Archery organization, and is bringing clinics to the area. I wasn't able to do anything last year, but I have done some mounted archery with the SCA back when I lived in Florida. I was a fan of it then and I see no reason why I could do it now.  At this point I'm trying to dial back my expectations of what competitions we can do without really sinking time and money into some training for Gwyn and myself and being realistic about what is within our reach and what is possible in the future.  

Anyway, that's musings for a whole post on its own. Suffice it to say, mounted archery is a pretty darn reasonable hobby and the clinics are reasonably local and kind of budget friendly with the added bonus of including camping! Yay! I love camping!

So for christmas, Eric got me a very basic, junior archery set.  Two arrows, a cheap bow and finger and arm guards that are not meant for my fingers or arms. 

A nice January day! 

For winter training, my friend Heather organized a group of us to meet up and do an activity called Archery Tag at a local indoor sports complex. 

You get totally cool face shields that fog up the moment you start sweating.

And play on an indoor field with fake grass and 'obstacles' 

It's basically like dodgeball but with a bow and arrow.

AND SO MUCH FUCKING FUN OMG

The arrows are blunted foam and while you can feel them make contact, you aren't hurt, mainly because each team is kept separate from one another. You don't cross into the other team's territory and the  neutral middle is where you aren't allowed to shoot from or be shot. 

You can see me in the top part of the picture aiming at Heather, lol.

I've just let loose an arrow!

The game starts with all the arrows in the middle, Hunger Games style like the Cornucopia. 

The referee counts down and then it's a mad dash to the middle to grab arrows and then back to be out of range (or at least at an easily dodgeable distance)  or hop behind an obstacle to snipe the other team.  

You get someone out by hitting them with an arrow. But, if you grab an arrow, the person who shot that arrow is out and someone on your own team can rejoin the game.

I like hiding behind things, but the constant crouching and standing up to shoot and dropping back down. Let's just say I did a LOT of squats. My legs burned FOR DAYS. 

You can also see the white target with black spots. The game was won if you either took out all the opposing team by hitting them or if you knocked out all five of those foam circles. Our team won boths ways!  

Team "Don't Shoot Me!"  which is retrospect was in poor taste....

The plan is to do this monthly in the cruddy winter months (Feb and March) before clinics start up and riding can begin in earnest again.  Until then, I'll be using my baby bow to desensitize Gwyn because I'm planning to do a clinic in June!  I'm so excited!

Hell Yeah

After considering just not showing up, begging my body to get 'er done, and fantasizing about how rebellious I could be, I finally just gave in and decided to see how everything went. We had a solid plan for Kaylee care, so I knew that wouldn't be stressing me out as much as something last minute, and really Eric and I were ready for Hazel to arrive.

I showed up in labor and delivery at 6:30am as instructed, only for the registration lady to say "Oh, you were signed up for 7:30. Well, that's Ferrucci for you."

Thanks, Doc. I was anxious anyway and had woken up at 4 am to pee and just couldn't get back to sleep anyway. It was good I didn't need to delay the inevitable.

They did another ultrasound to confirm she was still head down and got my IV started for the pitocin. I was unhappy I was being given fluids and tried to get the resident to just let me drink and stay hydrated that way. Nope. Ice chips. I stared him down and took a drink of water and he backed away slowly, saying "I think I just lost. I'm not sure what I lost. But I lost..." Either way, Joanne came in later and said that pitocin needs to be diluted anyway, hence the fluids. Well gee, if the resident had said that BEFORE....  She got a chuckle out of the encounter.

Eric kept me in good spirits too, especially after he accurately described Ferrucci as Michael Cerra. IT'S SO TRUE!

Anyway, pit was started around 8 am and contractions didn't start immediately but when they did they were super mild and about 4 minutes apart. I had been told that it would increase by a unit every hour and I got grumpy when they popped me up to a 2 after only 45 minutes and then a 4 45 minutes after that. Ferrucci came in to talk to me about the game plan and immediately was talking membrane rupture, which I didn't want to do artificially. I don't like being on a timer. However, upon consideration, I realized that usually membrane rupture means labor gets going in earnest (even if that wasn't true my first time through) and it might mean that they wouldn't increase the pitocin, which was my bigger hope. I made sure to call in my doula at this point.

When Ferrucci broke my water at 12:25pm I was 3.5cm dilated and 70% effaced. Some progress from when I started, but not nearly enough.  As soon as my water broke, hell broke loose. Contractions got VERY strong, very quickly. Pitocin was at 8 units at this point and did not increase the rest of my labor. The doula and Eric together were invaluable to help me cope. I was everywhere, on the bed, on the ball, on the toilet, standing. I didn't want to stand/squat because my legs were shaking so much from the pitocin contractions that I didn't trust myself to remain standing during one. It was hard to remember to relax. Before my water was broken, my contraction strength on pitocin alone were what I recalled from transition with my non medicated labor with Kaylee.

A lot of low, deep vocalization helped, and doing semi-lunges on the birth ball. I definitely threw up,  a lot and could only think that when I was throwing up with Kaylee I was in transition but there was no way I was in transition at that point with Hazel. Total denial. Even the doula was telling me transition, but I don't think I wanted to get my hopes up. At the peak of transition I could feel my cervix opening, it pinched and was a different kind of pain from my uterus. Totally crazy weird. Apparently when I got up from the birth ball to use the toilet I had had my bloody show. Joanne said to look for it, it meant I was around 7 cm dilated. I kept trying to pee while on the toilet, but every time I was ready to get the stream going, a contraction would start and I couldn't do it.

It was getting really hard for me to relax between and save my strength. Tiffany (doula) suggested I try laying on my side on the bed. I was hoping it would help reduce the pain. No luck. At this point I was begging for it all to be over. In my head I was seriously thinking that an epidural might not be a bad idea at this point. In contractions I was feeling better when I bore down and kind of pushed, but again was convincing myself it was all in my head and just a frantic urge to have it all be over.

There started to be a lot of activity in the room and Joanne came in to do a cervical check, my second the whole day. I was at an 8/9. Wait. What?! Hearing that, and then hearing Tiffany describe how there was a ton more activity in the room, they were bringing in the warmer and were gowning up, it helped bolster me. I could handle this a little bit longer.  Joanne wanted me to switch sides I was on because I was more dilated on one side due to how I was laying. She told me, just a couple of contractions on the other side. The pit was turned down to 4.

I dutifully switched. I was hanging onto the bed bars like they could save me and had my eyes squeezed shut. Bearing down kept feeling better and better.

I couldn't tell you exactly what made me do it, but I had a REALLY big urge to be on my hands and knees. I was convinced that was going to be a better position to handle the contractions. I wanted the damn hospital gown OFF.

Being on my hands and knees, those contractions changed. I was still bearing down through them, but instead of my whole lower belly just aching and aching, I felt like I needed to poop. I even announced it, "I'm pooping..."  and several people, nurse, doula, midwife, all responded, "No that's a baby."  Joanne had me stick my ass in the air like a modified child's pose in yoga. I complied, no fucks were being given at that point, and she did one last cervix check. I very ferally screamed at her into a pillow because it FUCKING HURT and I had no idea what she was doing. Apparently she was stretching one tiny lip of cervix out of the way during a contraction.

Then, each contraction, I was pushing and I could feel Hazel moving down and feel myself stretching out. It's the darnedest thing. And as before, it felt so fucking good. It felt like worthwhile effort. And it was kind of crazy because it was a bit automatic, kind of like when you start throwing up and you're stuck in a vicious cycle of heaving one after the other. I would push, and need to push again and push again. But I could feel her coming and oh that gave me strength.

I did get the ring of fire this time as I stretched. Joanne cautioned me to watch it, to not go too fast. So I tried to push with less frantic energy, to control how much. I could feel myself stretch and was torn between getting her head out or preserving my vagina and vulva. Somehow, both won out. Her head came, and then she needed to turn and her shoulders stretched me again but not nearly as much. Then the rest of her body and it was slippery relief. Adrenaline just coursed through me and I was shaking.

Eric helped me rip the rest of the gown off as we carefully maneuvered me onto my back without getting tangled up in the still pulsing umbilical cord. Amniotic fluid poured out onto the bed, but I wasn't bleeding. Kaylee was handed to me and I snuggled her while we waited for the cord to pulse. Eric said her face was blue when she was crowning but she pinked right up, scoring 8/8 for Apgar. She had a set of lungs that she made use of right away.

Eric cut the cord once it pulsed down and I let Hazel go be measured and weighed immediately so I could have uninterrupted snuggle time. They cleaned up all the puppy pads and I delivered my placenta. It was complete with no pieces left inside and the nurse brought me warmed blankets for my legs. I was shivering and shaking still. I was told to not fight it, just let it happen, otherwise it would last longer.

Hazel came back. She looks a little like her big sister did, but with the old man bags under her eyes and not nearly as plump, vorpal cheeks as Kaylee had. I think Eric and I were both hoping for more vorpal cheeks. LOL

Hazel Ophelia 8 lb 2.9 oz, 20 3/4 inches long. Bigger than her sister was

We declined a bath and erythromycin for her eyes but she did get her Vitamin K shot and Hep B. I snuggled her for a bit and DAMN that kid had head control immediately! She was bobbing for boob from the start and latched beautifully on both sides.

Eric snuggled her and I got up to pee and take a shower. The bathroom looked like a murder scene when I was finished, LOL.

Very relieved and happy to be done. Elated that I fucking did pitocin with no pain meds, holy fuck

After the shower was more snuggles and Eric alerted family with pictures and text. She was born at 3:46 pm and we invited family over anytime after 6pm.  Both of us ordered dinner from room service and that felt amazing to eat. I had stuffed shells and chocolate cake. I was famished.

Big sister Kaylee holding Hazel for the first time

Grandma and Hazel

When Kaylee came in she was so excited! She gave me a hug and immediately wanted to see Hazel and hold her. She was so gentle and just genuinely happy. She was less happy when she found out that I would not be going home with her that night.

We had a ton of people in the room for around an hour. Grandma and her husband, step sister Olivia and her boyfriend Rahul (they brought us an edible arrangement, which I personally believe was the best idea ever) and Elyse and Brandon who brought Kaylee.

I just chilled, Hazel got passed around a bit and soon everyone headed out. Eric took Kaylee home and I was left at the hospital with Hazel.

It was a bit of a rough night, though I don't know what Eric could have done. I just tried to sleep when I could. Hazel was taken for her hearing screen at midnight so I slept while she was gone and don't remember her being brought back, just waking to hear her cry and nursing her. I was naughty and coslept in the hospital bed because I just... couldn't do it any other way. I got my first blood thinner shot at 4:30, a little over 12 hours after birth as planned. As the sun rose, I finally decided to get out the ring sling and wrap Hazel up on me so I could sleep and hold her at the same time. She wanted to look out the window, then she passed out. She likes to look and be upright. I got a little more rest.

So tired

Dressed to go home!

Judy visited with me in the morning, which was nice. There were a few more tests through the day and Hazel needed to be retested for hearing, which was not successful because she likes to snuggle and I wasn't with her. Eric brought Kaylee down after preschool as the plan was that I would be discharged around 4-4:30.  Hazel wasn't brought back until around 5 and then we had to wait for paperwork and patient transport. Transport got mixed up, but eventually we were all on the way home, exhausted and a family of 4.

Troll Body

Tuesday night and early wednesday morning I had timeable contractions that persisted through all the things that I've been taught they'll persist through if it's really labor.

And then I ate breakfast on Wednesday and everything stopped. I had already tapped Eric to stay home so it was nice that he was with me, but it was so frustrating.

I had a bit of a mental breakdown Thursday at the thought of now having so much less time before my induction Monday morning and sent a panicked message to my midwife, who never actually saw it before I was able to talk to her in person on Friday.

Having the induction puts restrictions on me that I do NOT WANT. I have to be constantly monitored, I think they're going to want me to have IV fluids in addition to pitocin, which I do NOT WANT. I can handle the pitocin, I just want to be able to hydrate myself. I might be restricted to ice chips only, which is a fuckery beyond imagine because you need energy to deal with labor and if I can't even have clear fluids (which is a minor enough fuckery to me) that's just bullshit on all levels and I'm just being set up to fail.

I'm planning on bringing in food anyway. Because fuck those policies. Especially  now that the American Society of Anesthesiologists recommends a light meal in labor and not the fasting that was previously pushed.

"A light meal could include fruit, light soups, toast, light sandwiches (no large slices of meat), juice and water."
https://www.asahq.org/about-asa/newsroom/news-releases/2015/10/eating-a-light-meal-during-labor

The cherry on the fucking top is after having some awesome sex last night (I'm beyond caring about TMI at this point) I woke up early in very timeable, very painful contractions that were around 4 minutes apart, lasting for a minute. I started timing them to get to the hour mark and right at the hour mark they started spacing out. And then I was just exhausted from getting up early (and I had eaten at that point)  so I laid down and they fucking disappeared entirely.

I got a nice nap in though. But I was pissed off.

So I went across the street to the high school and walked a mile. Goddammit body, stop fucking with me and just get it done with already. 

I did snuggle with my pony.

And then I walked.

Soon...

I'm 40 weeks pregnant as of Sunday and had my series of appointments yesterday down at the hospital. Induction was discussed and I had a second sweep. That evening I tried two sessions of nipple stimulation with my breast pump and lo and behold, contractions started up and didn't stop, even through a bath.   I went to bed last night, moderately hopeful.

I didn't get much sleep, maybe 5 hours, and contractions have been continuing this morning so I'm reasonably sure I'm in early labor. We'll see how much faster this labor is from Kaylee's. I'm not anywhere near hospital intensity yet, or even needing support from someone else and contractions are nearly close together enough in frequency.

Kaylee finds my breast pump fascinating

Still doing my chores

Saffron has become very friendly

Yay selfies!

Still Pregnant

Everything looks great. My body is definitely getting ready to go but I'm not quite there yet. I'm doing everything I can that old wives tales suggests. I should go on a long walk in addition, but I figure I'm so busy every day that that should count.

Hazel is FINALLY in the most ideal position, which is awesome, so now all that's left is for labor to start.

I'm generally achy, which I think is a good sign. In fact, as I'm writing this I'm having a random contraction. Now for them to get regular! Midwife is hopeful, my mom is hopeful, Eric is hopeful.

Mom and I have been making freezer meals for after Hazel is here. So far we have several meals worth of manicotti, two breakfasts worth of blueberry pumpkin french toast and we'll have some portions of a ground turkey sweet potato chili. My house smells amazing.

And my mom is a rockstart, even if little things annoy me sometimes. She's helped me get on top of laundry, clean and everything.  Kaylee is having a blast having her here and I get some downtime when I'm just tuckered out. My sleep is all off and while I'm getting some longer stretches (yay coughing got nearly fixed!) I'm waking up too goddamn early. I won't tell you what time, because you working types will laugh at me. But I seriously need my normal schedule and I'm not getting it.

The zantac and inhaler combo seem to have REALLY worked well! Of course this morning I woke up with more sinus pressure with a returned cold so that sucked, but I'm stuffing myself full of fluids and elderberry syrup on the offchance that the woo works. But my coughing is significantly reduced.

Health Stuff, frank TMI stuff. Read if you definitely want to never get pregnant

So I've had this cough that wouldn't quit. It's been getting worse, keeping me up at night hacking away. A couple nights ago I ended up sleeping upright on the couch because laying down just wasn't going to happen. It's been hell. I've been bringing it up at every appointment, but they listen to my lungs, say I'm clear and it's just an upper respiratory infection and it'll eventually go away.

Then, this past weekend, I started getting breathless again. My mother in law is a nurse and came over yesterday to help us finish the tiling project. She took a listen and heard rattling and tightness. I called the nurse line and between the two of them made the decision to go to the ER. I was worried that having a less than effective cough meant I was potentially at risk for pneumonia.

I drove myself in around 6 pm. After my last trip to the ER I decided to pack a bag *just in case*.  I wasn't sure what the outcome would be, but I'm glad I was prepared. I was, thankfully, over prepared!

As soon as the ER doctors heard of my previous history with the pulmonary embolisms they pulled blood to check for coagulability and effectiveness of the heparin that I'm now on. It was not working at therapeutic levels like it should be. Because the breathlessness was acute (i.e. happened recently and not slowly) I ended up getting another CT scan.

After that I was sent up to Labor and Delivery because I'm 38 weeks pregnant to wait for the scan results.

Scan came back clear. Even for pneumonia, but definitely for new clots, which was GOOD!

I had a NST (non stress test) done on Hazel and she passed with flying colors. They even picked up two minor contractions I had. The nurse asked if I thought I had contractions, my answer "one or two minor ones, like braxton hicks" and she nodded happily and said I'd had two. So yay!

My midwife was on call and she came in as well to check on me, which was really nice. I LOVE this lady. Seriously. I was a huge fan of the midwives I had in Washington and I'm so glad I found a provider here in Michigan that I get along with just as well. She never fails to put me at ease. She brought in an ultrasound and we got the BEST NEWS OF THE NIGHT!

Hazel is head down! She's sunny side up, which means back labor if she tries to get out in her current position, but hell, I'd take back labor over breech! I've been trying nearly everything under the sun to get this kid to flip around. I've been avoiding reclining positions, I've been on my hands and knees, sitting up straight, laying on an incline with my head at the bottom, anything to open up my pelvis and make room for her. I even went to a chiropractor and was on the verge of making an acupuncture appointment!

I wasn't ever admitted, and was discharged at 1 am. I got to go home and sleep in my own bed, thanks to the assistance of a benadryl. And then promptly peed myself coughing because my bladder was so full when I woke up and the pad I used from the hospital was crappy and barely caught anything.

Kaylee was happy to see me and we started the morning off with a nice hour long soak in the big tub. We're getting snow off and on this week, so it was extra cozy to be in the warm water.

I'm happy to be home, I just wish I had a magic potion I could drink that would take the damn cough away. Because I still have that. Guh.

Tuesday I had my regularly scheduled midwife appointment. Hazel is still head down! Blood pressure is awesome, no signs of Pre-E. I got a copy of the report from the CT scan to bring to my primary doc since they're not in the hospital system, but then, my next appointment with the specialist and they were ON THE BALL. I walked out of there with an inhaler and a supply of zantac.  What I suspected, and what the doctor thought was happening, was that the acid reflux from pregnancy was irritating my esophagus at night when I laid down to sleep. The irritation was making me cough, and that combined with a few colds, revived my dormant asthma.

AND, and this was cool to learn, people who have asthma quite literally have thicker mucous than those who don't. So it's harder to cough up and clear your lungs (in addition to have bronchiole restrictions). So I've been in this negative feedback loop for two fucking months, no wonder it's not getting better! And no wonder the breathing treatment I got at the ER helped me feel a bit better for a short while (until I laid down).

So the zantac is to better control the acid reflux (so long, Tums!), and the inhaler is to help manage the asthma. I'm hoping this will help me get over the current cold I have (seen on the CT scan, and exactly where Judy heard crackling when she listened two days prior) and I'm on order to not eat anything 2 hours before bed to help with the reflux.

Otherwise, I'm a go for labor any time and it looks like the MFM will want to induce around 41 weeks which I'm hoping doesn't need to happen, and I'll push for 42 because I'm like that.

Monday I had a final prenatal visit with my doula and that went really well. We're pretty much prepped for labor to start anytime.

My mom flies in on Saturday and I'm hoping I go into labor while she visits just so having someone to watch over Kaylee will be a non issue and I can focus on Hazel.

TMI for Norovirus experience

So the creeping crud a.k.a. stomach flu has hit our house pretty badly.

It was a nice day last wednesday that I let Kaylee play on the playground after school was over. I wasn't doing much, just sitting and starting to feel really awful. I finally convinced her to go home and as soon as we pulled in the driveway I was emptying my stomach contents into the grass.

I sent her inside to play and quickly went out to the barn to finish taking care of the animals. Thankfully I'd already prepped a lot of dinner so it went quickly.

I was back inside, making sure Kaylee was set to be independent for a while, and promptly laid down. Then the evacuation started. I had the foresight to grab a bucket (from Home Depot) and spent the next 12 hours alternating between passing out on the bed and sitting on the toliet with the bucket between my knees. It was not a pleasant time.

Eric, thankfully, had gotten home not long after I laid down and took over Kaylee duties.

Thursday, while the vomiting had ceased and I was tentatively keeping liquids down, the diarrhea continued. He stayed home and worked from home, going out only briefly to retrieve his work laptop and gatorade for me.

I slept for a good part of Thursday, off and on. He was awesome and took care of the animals too.

Friday I was feeling much better, good enough to take a shower and get dressed in real clothes. I got Kaylee ready for school since Tuesday was a primary so they rescheduled for Friday and as we walked in, she vomited all over the sidewalk.

We promptly went home. She vomited a few more times and had a diarrhea accident in her pants, which was more distressing to her. Thankfully, she was really good at vomiting in the bucket, until she vomited all over Eric. I put her back in a diaper to control accidents and got her situated on the couch.

She didn't vomit again but did have another accident in her pants on Saturday and successfully pooped on the toilet later.

Eric and I started counting down the hours for incubation for what we suspected was norovirus.

Sunday afternoon he started to feel off. At first we thought he would get away with just intestinal issues, but the full effects of the virus have hit him now and we've had it make its way completely through.

Through this whole thing, I've slowly added solid food back into my diet, but I lost 12 pounds in two days thanks to the evacuation and liquid only diet I dealt with.  My whole upper body is sore from clenching during vomiting. And today I had prodromal labor as my body tried to deal with constipation, of all things, from the solids coming back through my digestive track.

I spent a lot of the day laying or sitting, or in some kind of inverted position, breathing through cramps/contractions. I even went so far as to time them, but at every 10 minutes, they weren't enough to call or go in.

Of the three of, Kaylee bounced back the quickest and had it the most mildly. I'm hoping Eric doesn't suffer like I did. I don't know how we'll manage a vivacious 3 year old with him knocked out from Noro while I deal with contractions.

Thankfully I've got plans to get us out of the house tomorrow (us = me and Kaylee) since I've got a chiro appointment to try and get Hazel flipped. The small part of me that hopes that chiropractic woo has some basis is also hoping it'll get my gut in better shape, but it's a tiny part and ultimately I know I just need to take it easy.

And just let me tell you. I wouldn't wish norovirus on a 3rd trimester pregnant lady even if they were the most evil person in the world. It is a crazy thing to be sitting there with baby kicking happily away while you vomit. NOT PLEASANT.

Nursery Organization plus voting plus Birth Center tour

I was a beast today getting things built. It finally warmed up so while the snow melted, I built IKEA furniture.  Here's the Trofast with bins full of all of the baby toys and board books. After I got this all nicely organized Kaylee came through and decided she needed to play with it all.

The drawer system in the closet plus all of the clothes finally organized by size. I have up through 24 months in those rubbermaid bins and anything larger is downstairs, also in rubbermaid. Left hangers have dresses. Right hangers have coats. I will not need to buy clothes for Hazel. 

As I said, the snow is melting today. It was in the mid 60s. Yesterday it barely broke 40F!!! Gwyn was taking a nap.

She did not bother to get up when we drove by in the truck. She just kind of nodded and said "Hey." I think she really likes being here. It's probably a pretty awesome life.

Eric and I went to the hospital for the birth center tour tonight. There was a definite difference in hospital culture compared to the tour we did in Washington state. There, they were quick to label themselves Baby Friendly, the label of which has significant meaning (baby doesn't go to nursery unless requested, immediate skin to skin, breastfeeding promotion, you don't move rooms, lots of natural birth pain relief options encouraged).  Here, those similar things are available, but it felt like we were being sold them, almost as though the women in this area aren't as familiar and need to be convinced, especially on the skin to skin point.

Some of the things were encouraging to hear again as being routine now, some other things I internally was smirking and going "Uh huh, we'll see if I follow THAT rule"  (no eating, a bad idea if you're low risk since you need energy!)

The nurse did make a humorous offhand comment about some women coming in with birth plans and the nurses going "Oh, THAT one."

Eric murmured to me, "You're going to be that one." We chuckled together.

Since Kaylee was hanging out with her Aunt and Uncle, we took the childfree time to go grab a quick dinner after the tour. I hadn't really felt Hazel moving all day but I had been SUPER busy and active. It wasn't until I got home and took a bath that she reassured me to her presence. Kaylee had fallen asleep in the truck on the way home so I just left her in the car while I fed the critters. Eric helped too. It was a good day. Kaylee didn't even wake up when I got her out and I was able to put her right into bed. Easy peasy bedtime!

Eric is home tomorrow since I have a ton of appointments to go to. I've got an early ass ultrasound to check on Hazel's growth, then back to back midwife/MFM appointments, which are now going to include a non stress test. I'll be going to bed very shortly.

PLUS... IT'S PRIMARY VOTING DAY IN MICHIGAN!

I fully intend to exercise my right as a citizen.

FEEL THE BERN!

I tend not to write about terribly awful stuff unless it's really bothering me and I need to sort things out in writing to clarify my feelings.

This is not that kind of post. This is self indulgent whine. I am not ashamed.

I woke up to Eric's alarm this morning, peed and tried to fall back asleep. The light from the bathroom (we don't have a door, just a doorway) kept me awake so I browsed facebook. It was briefly nice to say goodbye to him this morning, because normally I'm passed out asleep.

But then, after he left, I just lay there. And realized my left nostril and sinus was utterly blocked. And that my mouth was dry and I felt like shit and that lingering sore throat had finally ramped up after weeks and weeks of simmering on low.

UGH.  I have a cold. Possibly sinus infection because my gums ache but more likely just a cold and I can't take anything for it to alleviate symptoms.

So I'm going to wallow in my own misery. Especially since I couldn't get back to sleep. Kaylee woke up at 8 and came in to snuggle with me. She turned on her kindle to do something and finally sleep was within reach. But only briefly.

Thankfully she's an independent sort of kid and we try and keep kid friendly snacks and meals within reach for her, so she brought me a juice box and some stuff to open for her to eat while I tried to snooze.

I gave up at 9 and coffee loaded myself up in an effort to make it through to the afternoon when she'd go to school.

She's now at school. I told Gwyn last night I'd play with her today, but honestly I don't have the energy to be out in the cold.  So I'm going to work on my sewing projects. I can sit, turn on music and zone out if needed. If I watched tv I'd probably fall asleep. Or if I laid down. That may still happen.

Fabric for my projects. I'm planning to make a labor gown and summer dress. I've got enough fabric for at least 3 in this picture. The pink is reversible and will be one on its own. The b/w print will go with the solid teal, the black and teal solid will go with the upper gray.   The bottom black is a swim suit lycra and the bottom gray is a quick drying sports knit. Those were more impulse purchases...

On a positive note, I bought a wrap and ring sling from my friend Laurel and it arrived today!  I'm so excited to use it, it's beautiful and feels so soft. I think the ring sling will be on the list to bring to the hospital and I'll babywear Hazel immediately.

The bottom rainbow is the girasol wrap. Very high quality wrap and already broken in! The more pink one is the ring sling. It's nice and light! I think it'll be perfect for summer. She also threw in a pair of baby legs, two swaddles and an amber necklace that Kaylee is currently wearing.

30 weeks down! 8-12 weeks to go!

Blah blah this is all tentative, but it serves to illustrate the things that are going to be important for me to have done or not done.

I've been slowly coming to terms with being required to have a hospital birth (versus the home birth that got waylaid by my blood clots) and it's been stressful trying to plan for every possible scenario that could result from being in a hospital setting.

So I'm writing this keeping in mind that these would be ideal, but I understand that they're not necessarily all going to be possible, especially since I need to have my high risk doctors on the same page and I don't know what things they're going to require or be okay with easing me on. I've also got back up plans! And sources, because despite everything I'm still expecting to meet resistance and it's been nice to not see that so much.

ALL SCENARIOS

• Please DO administer Vitamin K shot
• Please DO NOT administer Erythromycin antibiotic to eyes
• Delay cord clamping until cord pulses down
• http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004074.pub3/epdf
• Please DO NOT bathe infant
• No formula
• Immediate skin to skin

IDEAL

• No AROM!!!!!   (artificial rupture of membrane)
• Limit cervical checks
• No pitocin, let us try natural methods first (nipple stimulation)
• Intermittent monitoring please unless medically indicated (please explain why)
• Do not offer pain medication, I prefer to move or use water for comfort (walking, squats, shower, tub, birthing ball) 
• I do not want to be on my back to push and would prefer squatting or hands and knees
•  (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22592681)
• A heplock is fine, but I will self hydrate with water
• Food if desired 
• (https://www.asahq.org/about-asa/newsroom/news-releases/2015/10/eating-a-light-meal-during-labor)
• NO EPISIOTOMY
• Do not bathe infant, give her to me in all her goopy glory

INDUCTION

• If contractions are consistent, do not increase pitocin (please explain why if you need to increase dosage)
• Do not offer pain relief, I will request if I need it
• NO AROM
• Limit cervical checks
• Please give me time to consider each new step that might need to be taken
• NO EPISIOTOMY

CESAREAN SECTION

• Disclaimer: I understand this may not be possible in the event of emergency on mine or my infant's part, I would appreciate anything that can be done in such a instance
• http://www.doulamysoul.com/#!The-Organic-Cesarean-A-protocol-for-a-gentler-surgical-birth/c1c55/5696f6b80cf2e94e3fb671e4
• Please take a vaginal swab for use in skin to skin to mimic vaginal birth bacterial seeding for gut flora
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3110651/
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16189184
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1896187/
• http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.4039.html
• http://www.kplu.org/post/researchers-test-microbe-wipe-promote-babies-health-after-c-sections
• Lowered drape please, I REALLY want to watch
• Please describe what you are doing! If I can't see I'd like to hear!
• Please perform heart/lung checks during skin to skin if possible
• Immediate skin to skin, preferably with Mom, if not, with Dad. 

Stuff about things

I'm so behind on posting but after the day I've had... oi!

However, it's kind of a lesson learned sort of day. The lesson is this:

If leaving the trailer hooked up to the truck overnight, make sure ALL running lights are turned off and/or the trailer hook up is unplugged.

I went to go get Kaylee ready for school today and my truck was dead. D.E.D dead.  The door locks wouldn't unlock, I had to actually use a key (First world problems) but it does emphasize how dead the battery was. There was no juice left. So much for my planned walk on the Polly Ann with Gwyn.

Kaylee, of course, insisted we still go to school so I hooked the bike trailer up and biked the 1.5 miles to her school in town. Boom! Her teachers were horrified and insisted that they bring Kaylee home. Something something blah pregnancy blah something. Whatever, I'm not a fragile porcelain vase.  I walked 1.5 miles yesterday and 3.5 the day before (more on that... eventually? who knows)  I'm staying active, come hell or high water.

Pregnancy, is in that weird "no more morning sickness not yet pregnant enough to be impacted" so it's easy to forget sometimes that I am pregnant. I'm starting to feel flutters from Babydos, so that's cool, but it's not reliable yet. Yay second trimester. If I wasn't painfully reminded twice a day by a self injection that I can't ride I might forget completely. I'm still wearing my old clothes and I haven't gained weight at all, just like last time.

I made a quilted table runner for halloween. Three of them, two are gifts though only one has been mailed. I also just got a serger for my birthday so I'm looking forward to experimenting a little more confidently with knits. The need for pregnancy clothes is close at hand so I'll be able to make my own. I already have the patterns and fabric, I just wanted a machine to really get a more professional finish on my edges.

Huh...

I was reading a post from another Mom asking for help with her daughter and everything the mother was describing was like a flashback to me as a child. The mom was concerned about her daughter's potential for success since it seemed like she hit every single marker for Inattentive type ADD.

So I look up the traits for both childhood and adult ADD.


Aaaaaaand I fit pretty much the entire description. It's a little scary how damn accurate it is for me. But it also explains quite a lot about how I handled high school (decent, with incredibly management on my parents' part), college (okaaaaaay) and graduate school (HAHAHAHAHA) It explains why I was so successful with my job at Bio-Rad (highly structured with time deadlines throughout the day and week) but failed miserably at the crime lab (highly unstructured with minimal to no deadlines even week to week). It

I'm not sure what to do with this. It does give me an avenue of support to reach out to if I want an official diagnosis to get some behavioral therapy and possibly medication, though I'd rather seek out therapy options first before medicating. I might push for medication if I go back into the workforce, to give me the best chance at success. Right now I think with some more support day to day I don't need anything more than social strategies for managing the home and farm.

I know my mom had mentioned in passing that she thought I might have ADD and never really pursued it, but I think it was before inattentive was classified. When I called her to tell her, she just went, "Yeah, your Dad and I thought so, but didn't want to say anything and let you come to that conclusion yourself".  Apparently, the amount they needed to manage me vs. my younger brother was dramatically different enough for them to go, "Huh, maybe Amy has something going on...."

Knowing is half the battle, right? And now I can devise coping strategies to help me keep my life together.

Information Accessibility

The seriousness of my health issues aside, I'm really loving how a lot of the health care systems are now using an online chart system to track patient care and as a patient, I have access to it. I feel empowered, reading my own test results. I loved looking back and reading the notes my midwife took throughout my labor with Kaylee and similarly, I like having the details, the down and dirty data. I think it's the scientist in me. I can accurately educate myself to a level of detail that a doctor might not delve into (even though I desire it, it's honestly my biggest gripe with standard medicine. This is why I loved my midwife in Washington, he would send me research articles and really get into the nitty gritty once he found out I had a science background. It made me feel like a valued and contributing member of my own healthcare, rather than a marginalized idiot)

Henry Ford Health Systems uses MyChart, which seems to be standard. I think I have a crazy number of accounts with them now from all of the different hospital systems I've been seen by (from back in Washington especially).  MyChart is why I chose to go to urgent care further from home when I had the cramp and it's why, when given the choice of ER, I chose to drive 40 minutes away. I had not heard good things about nearer hospitals and since my prenatal care was within Henry Ford, I found it prudent to have my whole health care team reading from the same page.

I checked  MyChart tonight and saw the results from Vascular Imaging (right above my negative Gonorrhea test, thankyouverymuch). My clot was found in the right peroneal vein, it was called a total occluding acute thrombosis. Very shallow google research informs me that this is a common spot to get a clot. Obesity and pregnancy are my only two risk factors. I'm around the same weight as my previous pregnancy (only 10 lb heavier, really) and didn't have an issue then. But I am thankful things were caught in time.

Interestingly, given my symptoms, I had low probability of my symptoms being a DVT (deep vein thrombosis). My only symptom was pain. I had no swelling or edema, recent long distance travel or immobility. Go figure. This low probability was why they chose to do the D-Dimer test first, rather than jump immediately to ultrasound.  (I found a professional grade Merck manual on the subject, it's been fascinating to read!)

Over the past week I had been breaking down over random things. But reading this very clinical report on what I've been diagnosed with and what the prognosis and expected risks and probabilities are, it's actually quite reassuring. Eric and I both agreed we wish we had this last week. It would have eased our minds significantly.

Now I can't wait for the results of my CT scan to be posted to my account so I can get more specifics on my PEs (pulmonary embolisms)

That damn cramp....

I mentioned, in the same paragraph no less, that I'd been having a cramp in my leg combined with out of breathness.

Well. It wasn't a muscle cramp, tear or strain, like I thought.

Eric finally had enough and made me go to urgent care on Sunday. I drove myself in, arriving an hour after they opened (11am) to find I was the only one there. Sweet! I got seen immediately and related my symptoms. The doctor on call asked about shortness of breath and I did say I'd been having trouble walking up stairs. I think her face paled and she told me that I was going to the ER for suspected blood clot. She asked which one I preferred. We're in this healthcare desert so I could travel to several, all about 25 miles away. I chose to stay with Henry Ford.

The clinic called ahead and gave me paperwork to expedite my ER admission. I drove myself and called Eric and my Mom to give them a heads up. I walked into the ER and again, was seen right away. Sunday morning was slow, apparently, or I was near top of the triage priority. I got brought back and the nurse practictioner explained what the plan was going to be.

The first thing was they were going to do the D-Dimer test with my blood. It's the least invasive test for blood clots(and probably cheapest) but you can test false positive if you're pregnant. If I was negative, that was awesome.

I was positive.

Next I was sent up for an ultrasound of my legs. They were looking for a blood clot, or deep vein thrombosis.

The tech found a blood clot. When I was wheeled back down to my space in triage, the nurse practitioner kind of laughed, and said, "You're staying with us tonight."  In other words, they were admitting me.

Blood clots are serious business. Pregnant women are at a higher risk for blood clots due to excess clotting factor in their blood. Several doctors (both General and OB) explained that there was a risk that the clot broke off and moved to my lungs (where it could cause a pulmonary embolism if untreated) but the treatment was the same. The ER was declining to perform a CT scan because they were just going to treat me anyway if a clot was found in my leg. If one hadn't been found in my leg, I was going to CT next.

I was given a shot of blood thinner and sent up to my room. My phone was getting low in battery so I called Eric and he arranged for his sister to bring me a charger and a book to read. He was busy keeping Kaylee occupied and we both thought that a hospital visit at night would make bedtime a gnarly mess.

I settled into my room and enjoyed a brief visit from family. Then I settled in for the evening. My only hospital experience previous was when I was helping my friend Cheryl with her labor. You get checked very regularly by nurses when in labor at the hospital and I guess that's labor specific because I was not checked or bothered regularly and was basically left to my own devices with instructions that they didn't want me wandering the halls since I was on blood thinners.

It did not take long for me to go stir crazy.  Thankfully the hospital had free wi-fi. I called Eric after Kaylee was asleep and we chatted. Then I was in for a restless night. I slept for 3.5 hours before tylenol wore off and my leg pain was back. I was debating calling the nurse when an alarm started going off in the hospital. I figured she had to be awake anyway, so I called and asked for more tylenol. Apparently there was a fire drill. At 3:30 am. By 4:30a the tylenol was working its magic so I  started trying to get back to sleep. At 5:30 a resident came in to talk to me.  I was ready to kill her. I rolled over but at 6 a patient transporter came to get me. I was heading down for an echocardiogram to make sure my heart looked good.

I zoned out for part of the  morning and people were in and out. The big thing was the doctors changed their minds. They still wanted me to have a CT scan to check for clots in my lungs, even though the treatment wouldn't change.

I went for my CT scan around 1pm. It didn't take long and the contrast dye made me feel like I was peeing my pants for a brief moment and then I had a moment where it felt like I was struggling to breathe but it passed.

My midwife came by to talk to me and that felt really nice that she took time in her day to do that. She splits her time between being at this hospital (why I chose it, so all my care was under the same account) and being at a location closer to me. I really like her and I'm hoping I can still be somewhat under her care for this pregnancy.

I called the home birth midwife and canceled my appointment for today (tuesday). I've effectively risked out of home birth, which REALLY sucks but there's nothing I can do about it.

The obgyn came back with my CT results. I had multiple clots in both of my lungs. It was likely the source of my out of breathness. After she left I had a minor breakdown and just cried. Thinking about how close I came to potentially dying  is nervewracking. My midwife came back to talk about that too, gently and jokingly scolding me for going all out with the risk factor, hah. She also got me in for an appointment with the Maternal Fetal Medicine specialists. All of my appointments now are going to be at the hospital. No choice in the matter, but I may be able to alternate and keep seeing my midwife.

It's weird. The pregnancy is high risk, but me laboring is not, because I'll be pulled off of the blood thinners for that. I just don't know if the OBs are going to be super controlling about timing or if they'll let me go into spontaneous labor (my desire). I absolutely cannot be on blood thinners if I need a C-section, but the plan is that I stay on my current medicine until 35 weeks, then switch to heparin, which can be easily and quickly reversed when the time comes for labor.

Eric came down to the hospital and brought Kaylee. It was so nice to have them with me and Kaylee definitely missed me. She was very cuddly but also fascinated by my IV and the bits of blood that had leaked a little. You could see the little gears turning when the internal medicine doctor came in to talk to me and listened to my lungs with his stethoscope. She plays with her play stethoscope at home and does similar things.

All of the doctors were basically agreeing that I was clear to be discharged at that point. But we also had to talk to the patient advocate at the hospital about my medicine cost. Even though Eric has a great job, and an arguably good insurance policy, my medicine will cost us $3000 for this first month's supply and $2000 for next month (when we meet our deductible) and after that will just be a copay. Until January, when it starts all over again. Of course, some of this might change as we pay for the hospital stay.  The hospital pharmacy only had 10 doses on hand. For me, that's 5 days worth. It was $895.

If I was on medicaid, it would be free.  Thanks insurance companies, screwing over the middle class. Never have I wished more for single payer insurance. We can pay it. We're not going to be broke because of it. But it certainly affects how we had budgeted. I can't imagine how I would be able to get my medicine if Eric made a little bit less.

After getting a flu shot, I was officially discharged at 6 pm. I am forbidden from risky activities where I could fall and experience an internal bleed.

So no more riding for this pregnancy. I am going to go crazy. I did decide that I'm going to ground drive Gwyn, and maybe get her working on the farm and doing the arena dragging and pasture dragging. That would be something we could do together. I have also offered her for lease, so she continues to be ridden, per the suggestion of Jim, my old dressage trainer.

I don't think Eric has fully process this. We were going to have a heart to heart after Kaylee went to bed last night, but I laid down and just passed out, I was so tired. He doesn't have anyone to talk to about this stuff except me, so when something happens to me, he's stuck. I have my online group of moms and this place to get my verbal vomit down and deal with shit. He doesn't have that outlet.

All in all, it was a crazy Sunday/Monday. I'm home and that feels so good. My health issues were found before something more serious than a leg cramp cropped up, and I'm keeping myself healthy for Babydos.

Incubation update

The pregnancy is going well. Exhaustion isn't as bad as it was, or I'm just taking it easier early in the day so I don't crash later. However morning sickness is full upon me. It's worse this time with Babydos than it was with Kaylee. With Kaylee the only time I really threw up was when I was car sick on the way to Eric's grandfather's funeral.

This time I've out vomited myself. I'm also not really into eating red meat this time around, which is similar to last time. When I think about what I'm in the mood for, the thought of a meat dish roils my stomach.

Kaylee has been absolutely sweet about the whole thing. I don't like to sugar coat or dumb down the facts about things in her life so she's aware I'm pregnant and she also knows that the baby is in my uterus. She asks every day if the baby is coming out and if she's a big sister. She confirms that she also has a uterus but will kiss my belly and say she kissed my uterus. It's utterly adorable how excited she is.

I went for a dating ultrasound on Friday because I was slightly doubtful of my last menstrual period. I wasn't sure if the 2-3 days of spotting immediately beforehand were my period starting or if I should count from when the flow started in earnest. There's a 3-4 day window so I guess my CNM (Certified nurse midwife, associated with OBs) wanted to be sure. It was comforting to see the heartbeat and hear it thump away. Up until now the only indication that I was still pregnant is the fact that I'm not bleeding, so anything could have been going on in there. I wasn't overly concerned, but it was still a worry that I can banish now. This child is very much desired and wanted!

I've been getting out of breath really easily. Just walking up the stairs has my heart pounding. And lately my right calf is in an eternal charlie horse. It goes away with two advil but it's annoying and keeps me awake.

Speaking of awake, I realize it's the middle of the night but lately Kaylee has been wanting to sleep in our bed to start so we all climb in and pass out. I went to bed at 8:30 and woke up at 1am. I actually feel pretty decently rested at this point, and my leg was starting to cramp again so I did the dishes and now I'm writing this until I'm tired enough to go back to sleep. Eric already moved Kaylee back to her own bed, so it'll be nice to spread out and snuggle directly with him.

Only an inch long! Like a grape!