Christmas Eve

What's a family with no Christmas decorations and no Christmas presents to do on cold wintry Christmas Eve? Go swimming of course!
I got a text Christmas Eve morning from a friend asking if we wanted to go swimming. I was really perplexed because where do you go swimming in winter. She said they were watching their sister-in-laws house while their family was away for Christmas and they had an indoor swimming pool. We packed up the swimsuits and got on our jackets and coats, except for Sam he scrapped the ice off the windshield in a t-shirt, swim trunks, and flip flops.
The indoor pool was so much fun and I loved that there was a two story wall of windows that let the warmth of the sun shine right in. In the direct sun it was actually too hot and I had to move to a shaded area. It was as close to CA as I was going to get. I was so happy because when I found out I couldn't go to CA all I could think about was sitting with my Grandma on her porch swing and having the sun burning my back, I didn't have my Grandma but at least I had the heat. The warmth of the sun and the humidity of the pool made it a perfect greenhouse too and they had an avocado tree and citrus trees. I told Sam that if I had an indoor pool/greenhouse that I wouldn't mind staying in UT forever.
It was great to get to spend some time with friends, have something for our kids to do, having fun, and getting the kiddos tired so they would go to bed on time. Thank you Kim & Devon!
We stayed for a few hours but had to leave because we still didn't have any presents. Sam went to Walmart and we hoped they hadn't run out of toys. He got food for our Christmas feast and found toys that the kids would love!!!

Grounded

We were planning on leaving for CA on Dec 23rd and staying through the 27th. My Mom had graciously gotten most of my kids presents for me since I couldn't go shopping and the rest I had mailed to her house.
Sam had been bugging me for a couple days that I should check with my Dr. to see if it was okay for me to travel, after all my first bleed was while we were on vacation. I procrastinated calling but finally remembered on the morning of the 22nd but wasn't able to get ahold of him because it was a surgery day. So I had did laundry and packed for the trip all day.
The next morning I noticed I had missed a call from my Dr. office and called them back since we were leaving in a few hours. I told the nurse why I was calling and she said "Oh yeah I am pretty sure you are grounded. I was in shock because I really did not believe I wouldn't be able to sit in a car."
"We are just driving not flying" I said in hopes that she had misunderstood.
She replied "I will ask the Dr but I am pretty sure that includes driving."
She talked to the Dr. and he confirmed it NO TRAVELLING!

So as the news started to sink in I started to cry because we didn't have a Christmas! It was December 23rd we were planning on leaving in a few hours, I was mostly packed and ready to go. We didn't have a Christmas tree because there would have been one at my parents house. We barely had one or two Christmas decorations and now we had to get ready for Santa!?!?! What the heck were we going to do?

I called back the Dr. office (FYI- I apologize every time I go in to the office because I know I am one of those patients that is a pain.) and asked that my Dr. call me about the travelling restrictions so I could understand why. He did call and said that travelling is hard on any pregnant woman and if you have any pregnancy complications it may make them worse. But why? The altitude change, the stress on the body of sitting in one position for extended periods of time, the STRESS of packing, basically it is all really stressful.

I tried to get my family to come to me but with the short notice it just wasn't possible. I had to get over it and try to figure out what we were going to do for Christmas. Luckily I have Sam!

It's A Boy!!!

We had the big ultrasound today and we are having a boy! Porter and Sam are really excited to be getting a new wrestler in the family. Ruby threw her head to the side and said "I DONT WANT A BABY BOY!" After some convincing she no longer hates the idea but did tell Sam that she didn't want him to wrestle her baby brother.

So at the appointment the technician wouldn't even let me see the screen for 20 mins but Sam was sitting further back and he got to see the whole thing. When she finally turned on the TV for me to see the ultrasound she showed up lots of pictures of hands and feets and was really nice about it. She started to look for gender and there was no question I knew it was a boy before she even said it.

He was a really good baby and let us have lots of perfect profile shots. His hands and feet were scratching his head. We saw him swallow and his tongue move. Luckily they put all the pictures on a CD so I could post them on my blog.



The turtle climbing the mountain, aka It's A Boy!

Merry Christmas!

I had planned on having a christmas card photoshoot with my kids since before November so I could make a beautiful card and mail it to everyone I know. We all know that life went crazy and it didn't happen. The other day Ruby's hair was cute and her and Porter were slightly dressed up for our ward Christmas party so I took some pictures. None of the pictures turned out with the two of them together so I cropped them, made a photostrip and quickly made a card.

Merry Christmas to everyone who I wanted to send a card to but couldn't get around to it! Sorry it didn't happen this year but my goal is to have cards printed and ready to mail before December next year. Good luck to me and Merry Christmas to all y'all!

18 weeks!

Being 18 weeks pregnant doesn't seem like a huge milestone since it isn't even half way but for me it feels like an accomplishment! At 13 wks 4 days 18 weeks seemed like such a safer number and yet so very far away. A month of taking it easy and I made it! Now we are almost to the next ultrasound and are hoping for some kind of miracle, I doubt it but keeping my fingers crossed.

Taking it Easy!

We have the same old same old almost every day. The only thing that breaks up the monotony is Porter's preschool. We are always looking for activities the kids can do so we were slightly excited for the snow storm that hit the other day. Sam and the kids got all bundled up to go outside. Sam had to clear the driveway which is torture except we have a snow blower which makes it manageable. The kids just got to play around outside and Ruby loved walking in the snow. Last year she could barely stand in her snow clothes and now she loves it.

I scheduled my big ultrasound for December 21st! It will be really nice to know if it's a boy or girl so the kids can get use to it. Ruby told me this morning that she wanted a baby sister and boy babies are bad. She might need the next 5 months to get use to it if its a boy.

Still resting and still hating it! We found someone to come clean twice a week and it has been nice to have clean floors but who would think watching someone else clean would be torture.

No Optional Activities

Sam and I both went to my Dr. appointment so we could figure out what was going on and what to expect. It was reassuring to hear the heartbeat which the Dr. said was a good strong heartbeat. We, mostly I, asked lots of questions and here are some of the answers.

I am on rest for who knows how long. I dont have to lay in bed all day but if there are any optional activites that I could get someone else to do then I am not supposed to do them. I specifically asked about going to Walmart and he said optional try to get someone else to do it.

My placenta does cover part of my cervix which is a partial placenta previa, and continued bleeding is not uncommon.

Hopefully as my uterus grows the placenta will move with it. He just delivered someone whose placenta didn't look like it was going anywhere until it finally moved around 30 weeks.

If the placenta doesn't move it is an automatic C-section.

I will have a few more ultrasounds to keep checking. My next ultrasound will be right before Christmas.


My wonderful husband has been and unfortunately will continue to hold down the fort, work tons of hours, do all the shopping, and help with the kids, while I do a lot of nothing and feel worthless. When Sam teases me in the morning telling me he has to go to work because not all of us get to lay around all day I tell him I work all day and all night because I grow people, I may not be doing it very well right now but its still work, ha ha.