"Hello World"

I checked myself in to CHOMP  (Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula) at 7am Monday morning. I had been dilated to a 3 for most of March, and I was having contractions, but they weren't getting regular, and weren't really dilating my cervix. My original due date was March 13, but when I went in for my Dr's appointment the Tuesday after my due date, my Dr couldn't induce me, because CHOMP was completely full (I found out today that they didn't have a single empty room in the ENTIRE hospital. Crazy) So all inductions were being cancelled that day. 

So my Dr decided we would go by my "20 week ultrasound" due date of the 19th. He said if I didn't have the baby by myself by Monday, to check myself in at CHOMP by 7am. So, that's what I did.

Monday morning at 7am, Russ dropped me off at CHOMP on his way to the presidio for formation. Michelle Saavedra met me at the hospital (to be my coach while Russ went to his morning classes and took a test). My Dr came over around 8am to break my water. Since I was really hoping to go into labor spontaneously and naturally, the two of us made a deal - he would break my water and give me until 10am to make some progress. Well, he broke my water (took him a few tries - he says my amniotic sack was really full) around 8:30 am. Michelle and I walked the halls of the birthing center until about 9:30 am. The nurse had said to be back by 9:30, but I think we were a little early, since breaking my water did absolutely NOTHING to help start labor... no contractions, nothing. So I figured that we might as well just go back and get this thing started. 

The nurse hooked me up to pitocin at about 10:30 am. She increased the dose every half hour until noon, when she came back in to check me. When she started the pitocin (and when I had my water broken) I was dilated to a 4 (so I had made at least SOME progress since the last week), but only 30% effaced. Well, the pitocin was definitely doing its job. The contractions got stronger and stronger. For the most part, they weren't particularly painful. Just a lot of pressure, and some pain in my hips (I supposed from the pressure). Other than that, they were very edurable. However, once she had increased the dosage the second time, I was starting to think about what kind of drugs they could give me to help me get through the contractions. Of course, I didn't know how far dilated I was, so I wasn't sure exactly how much longer I would have to endure. My nurse finally checked me around noon, and I had only dilated one centimeter, but I was almost completely effaced.

At 5 centimeters, knowing the worst contractions were yet to come, I said "Bring on some drugs." It wasn't bad enough to want an epidural, and knowing that I only had 5 more centimeters to go (and knowing they wouldn't take TOO long), I just wanted something through my IV, to take the edge off. So I got some Fentanyl, which was a nice narcotic that made me relax really well (almost forgot about some of the less painful contractions), but only lasted about 30 minutes on me, and could only be administered every hour. Needless to say, I got a dose every hour, and luckily after the second dose, I was so used to relaxing on the drug that between doses wasn't too bad. 

Russ got there just before I asked for the drugs, and he was a great coach (once he stopped calling me a wimp - I think he didn't realize exactly how far advanced I was into labor by the time he got there. Heh... he thought I was still in the stage where you can laugh between contractions). I dilated to a 6 in the next hour (since I was getting pain killers every hour, they checked me every hour), and was completely effaced. This boosted my confidence, just as the contractions got harder. 6 to 8 wasn't too bad, and I made that in an hour. 8 to 10 was in just about the same amount of time, maybe a little longer, and it was HORRIBLE. That's when the "pushing" contractions started coming. Anyone who has had a baby knows what I'm talking about - those contractions when your body yells "PUSH!" and your nurse/doc/midwife says "Breath through it."

Anyway, by the time my Dr got there, I was dilated to a 10 and basically said, "Ready or not, here I push." As he walked in the door, I asked if it was him, and when it was, I was like, "I am pushing now, like it or not." I think my Dr might have actually said it was okay to push. I'm not sure whether or not he said I could, but I pushed with a contraction - not a very effective push - mostly it was my body doing what it had been WANTING to do for the last hour. My Dr started scrambling to get his gloves and booties and stuff on, the nurses were racing around to get the bed ready, and Joseline was crowning her little head into this world. When my Dr said "Give us one good push, and we'll have this baby." I seriously thought he was joking. But then I did it. One good push (and maybe a half a push after that) and out popped Joseline. It was a miracle.

There she was, after 2 hours of not so intense labor, 2 hours of intense labor, 1 hour of misery, and one good push. 

No perinial tears, no pushing for hours, no funky head shaped baby from pushing so hard, just a beautiful baby, and a mama with energy to spend loving her baby, instead of passing out as soon as she's born.

Some day I'll post Vincente's story and you'll be able to see the drastic difference between that labor and delivery, and this one.

So I did it - I did induced labor without an epidural. And it wasn't that bad. Okay, in all honesty, the last hour was really bad, but Russ was a great coach - he kept telling me to squeeze his hand instead of push when I wanted to push, and squeeze I did. I think I only pushed "on accident" three or four times. With Vince, I couldn't stop pushing, no matter how hard I tried.

Today (Tuesday) as we were being discharged, the nurse said to us "You guys make a great team!" It made my little heart swell. That's actually been something we've been struggling with in our marriage - being a good team, working together, and having unity in our marriage, instead of just two people living in the same house. So to hear someone say something like that was really really encouraging.

Joseline Marie Rowley says to the world "Hello, World!"

No Baby

I thought I would post so that everyone knows that I haven't had a baby yet (unfortunately) but that I'm drinking cinnamon and onion tea like it's - excuse me while I have a contraction - okay, anyway, I am doing everything in my power (short of being medically induced with pitocin... I'm trying to stay away from that drug like the plague... it makes for some nasty contractions, and since I'm not getting an epidural, I'd like for the contractions to be as manageable as possible) to have this baby.

This is the plan - I'm going to try to get into my Dr's office today. If I've changed at all from last week (i.e. I am dilated to a 4 or more) I will talk to him about options for inducing labor (breaking my water, etc). If I haven't changed... well... then I'll will be much less likely to want to be induced (that's when complications can start happening), even though that means more waiting... which I'm not excited for...

So, I've been having contractions this morning, but nothing too substantial. We'll see what happens, and I'll make sure to keep everyone posted. Ha ha, no blogger pun intended.

Preggo Pics

I just thought I'd post some pictures of how my belly has been growing. Maybe this will make Little Sister realize that she really is big enough to come out now.

October 24, 2008 (20 weeks)

January 17, 2009 (32 weeks)

January 24, 2009 (33 weeks)

March 5, 2008 (39 weeks)

March 7, 2008 (39 weeks)

March 10, 2009 (40 weeks)

tick, tick, tick

3 Centimeters and counting! I think my OB has been stripping my membranes when he does the exam. Odd of him not to say anything about it, but since it's one of those things that may or may not do anything for you, I guess it's probably just something he does without even thinking.

I still want to go to the Relief Society thing on Friday... we'll see if I make it until then. I really REALLY want to go. Enough that I don't mind being pregnant for another week! It's not all that bad. Just uncomfortable and I can't eat as much as I want to, and I can't sleep as well as I'd like to (not that THAT will change after the baby is born... that part will probably be worse), and moving around is a pain - not painful, just ... awkward. 

Wishy Washy

First I want the baby to come ASAP, then I want the baby to hold off for a while. Okay, to be honest, this is the first I've wanted the baby to hold off. Our ward is having a fun little ladies' night out this weekend, and I've been meaning to go to RS stuff to meet some of the sisters and get to know people better (I feel like I've been hiding from my ward... mostly because I've felt like I have too much on my plate - first it was moving in, then it was being sick, now it's the fact that I could pop any day now). So anyway, I want Little Sister to wait until next week. My mom is flying in on Monday anyway, so it would be perfect timing! 

Too bad there's no way to really know. 

Well, so don't get all excited, because I'm trying to keep baby INSIDE now... I know, I know, just a few days ago I was doing jumping jacks and riding Russ' motorcycle over large bumps (just kidding... I actually wasn't doing either of those... jumping jacks are too incredibly uncomfortable, and I haven't been on Russ' bike for a few weeks... though that one isn't a bad idea!) 

And the Bomb Keeps Ticking

On Sunday evening I started feeling some major intense contractions. They weren't painful at all. Mostly felt like I was flexing my stomach as hard as I could, except I wasn't doing anything. They weren't regular by any means, but it was exciting anyway! So on Tuesday I went to my OB appt and he said I was almost dilated to a 2. I went home excited that I had gotten so far without feeling anything (if anyone remembers, I felt every contraction from a 0 to a 10 with Vincente. Mostly I was feeling back labor... very very painful). Anyway, Tuesday after my OB appt, I kept having the irregular, very intense contractions all day. They got so intense that I would kind of space out during some of them. Heh, at one point we got home from WalMart and Russ asked me where the house keys were and it took me over a minute to think about it and tell him where they were. Then about 20 minutes later, in between contractions, he asked where is backpack was, and since I was fully functional, I told him right away where it was. The loopiness is a weird feeling.

Anyway, so that went on until Tuesday evening (last night) when we started playing Wii Bowling. I had a few contractions, but eventually they went away, and I didn't feel any contractions at all, all night (and I know because I woke up two or three times to go pee and once to take some Tylenol for my sinus headache). So I haven't been feeling any more contractions, which is kind of sad, but whatever. None of these contractions have been painful, so that has been nice. Well, some have been a little uncomfortable, but nothing like my labor with Vince. 

Now I am back to waiting. Oh, and I lied about not have any more contractions, when I got up this morning and started moving around I had a few, and just now I had one. Not as intense as they were yesterday, but at least they are coming again. Yay contractions! I never thought I would be sooooo excited to have contractions :D 

I'm pretty sure this baby is going to come by the end of the week. It only took me about 6 days to get from a 2 to a 10 with Vincente. I'm expecting this baby will come just as fast, if not faster. But we'll see. Maybe I'll just keep having these crazy contractions for two more weeks. Alas. 

Wish me luck!

Ticking

I feel like a time bomb, except I WANT this one to go off. Yesterday I had this sudden burst of energy and started feeling GREAT (I think it was mostly the pseudophedrine and acetametaphine, but I think part of it is because baby dropped - at least, I'm pretty sure she did).

Yesterday after I napped, I started feeling really anxious and nervous. And I was having really strong Braxton Hicks contractions pretty frequently. If I hadn't already convinced myself that I'm going to completely ignore contractions and anything else labor related until I feel like I need to push, I would have thought I was going into labor. The nice thing about it - the fact that I'm having contractions that aren't painful at all. I think it's because she's facing the opposite way than Vincente was. I know that Vincente was facing forward when I went into labor (causing oodles and oodles of back labor, and probably part of the reason my labor was so looooong). I think Little Sister is facing toward my back, which supposedly means less back labor, so I'm thinking that may be why the contractions aren't painful. I just hope I'm dilating some with these contractions. With Vince, each contraction on the road to a 10 was painful. I'm hoping I'm at least getting close to a 2 or 3 with these contractions... so when real labor starts, I won't have so far to go.... *shudder* I don't know what I'd do if labor is like it was with Vince. 

Anyway, so I started getting all "nesty" today - put up the co-sleeper, pulled out all the baby girl clothes, trying to find something suitable for a coming-home-from-the-hospital outift. I actually didn't find anything, so we'll probably go shopping tomorrow for something cute. I cleaned up, did laundry. Basically wore myself out. So, tomorrow I'm going to take it easy. I have a Dr's appt (and I'm probably going to ask about an anitbiotic, just to be sure that this sinus infection will go away before baby is born). 

Yesterday when I started thinking about going into labor, I felt very NOT ready for this baby. Now I feel mostly ready. Except I've got to make arrangements for Vince and for someone to drive me to the hospital, because I'm pretty sure she's going to come before my mom's planning on being here. So yeah. Not getting my hopes up, but starting to realize that we are actually going to add another member to our household in the next few weeks. WEE!

Wow, I was Fatter Last Time

So, I've been looking through pictures of me when I was pregnant with Vince... I gained SO much weight with him! It's weird, though, because I am up to 154 lbs (which is only about 12 lbs less than my weight when I delivered with Vince). ButI don't think it's nearly as much fat as it was with Vince. I got sooo huge. I still have a little more than 4 weeks to go, so I don't want to jinx myself, but here are some pictures to compare (granted these two pictures just show my face, but I think that might be a pretty good indicator of my overall weight gain).

The me on the left is pregnancy #2, and the me on the right is pregnancy #1. These pictures were both taken at about the same point in my pregnancy. I think they may be a week or two apart, as far as gestation goes. 

With Vince, my pre-pregnancy weight was about 112 lbs, and my weight just before delivery was 167 lbs (OH MY HECK I WAS HUGE!!). With this baby, my pre-pregnancy weight was probably 120-125 lbs (I never got quite as small as I was before... but then I don't think I was finished growing when I got preggo with Vince). So far I'm up to 154 lbs... I don't think I'll gain 13 lbs in 4 weeks (that would be crazy) so I think I'm doing a lot better this time. I'll probably have a total weight gain of about 30 lbs, which to be honest was my goal.

The pictures are also taken from different angles, so that throws things off, but I can tell they're much different because I've been looking at myself in the mirror, waiting for my face to explode. And I've been waiting for my pants to get tighter, and my thighs to get huge, and my love handles to triple in size... and nothing is happening... yet.

Quickie

I haven't written in a while, and I always hate that. Sorry, no pictures to go along with this post - although my camera is holding a few pics of Vince reading on the potty (adorable, let me tell you). I'll post those when I have enough time to sit down and let the pictures upload.

Potty Training - it's going well, we're mostly just putting him in pull-ups and telling him to "have a potty break" every 30 min. or so, and asking him if he needs to go potty. Usually, the answer to that is "NO!" although I think he's starting to say "No, thank you" since I've been redirecting that one. Earlier today when I asked if he wanted to eat lunch he said "NO! Thank you." Hee hee, self correcting is hilarious in little kids.

Baby #2 - I have my first OB appointment today in about an hour and a half. I'm going to go take a shower and get ready, since Vince fell asleep on the way home from the Presidio (we had to drop Russ off because it's a little rainy today). I'm really excited, but kind of anxious to find out how this little chickie is doing. I keep having Braxton-Hicks contractions. Mostly they happen in the morning, but any time is good for them. They are particularily uncomfortable, but as long as I just ignore them, they are bearable. It's a new experience for me, because I never really had Braxton-Hicks contractions with Vincente. The midwives would ask me every time and I would be like "My uterus does what?" Yeah... so I'm already feeling better about this baby's delivery. If I'm having Braxton-Hicks contractions, that means my body knows what the heck it's doing this time. Last time I think my body had no clue what was going on. So, we'll see.

Russ and school - he's doing pretty well. I'm trying to be supportive and let him study as much as he needs to. Some days are better than others, because some days I just want him to hang out with me and not study, which is completely selfish. Oh well. It'll be all good.

The mama - I am exhausted. Worn out. I wish I could sleep more. I don't sleep well at night (congestion from being preggo - starts at about 12 weeks for me and lasts the whole time), and having to pee. If Russ gets out of bed at ALL, I wake up, and then because I have to pee so badly, I can't go back to sleep unless I pull my achy, stiff body out of bed and go pee. So I do, and then I go back to bed, only to be awoken again when he gets up to go to work. Which is early. This morning, though, I completely slept through him getting up and getting ready! It was amazing. And then I had the fan on in my room, so I didn't hear Vincente at all until I got out of bed at 8 and went in to check on him. Of course he was just playing in his room. Sweet kid. I'm trying to keep the house clean, you know, do all the stay-at-home-mom stuff. Playgroup with the other RS sisters is a beautiful thing. Naps are wonderful... too bad those don't happen very often... in fact, I can't remember the last time I had a nap. *sigh* some day.

Anyway, this turned out longer than I thought it would, and I've gotta get ready to go, so yeah... hope you enjoyed the little updates.

Recent Developments

Our HHGs arrived one day early! Which was a fabulous surprise. I managed to get almost everything unpacked and organized in 24 hours. We still have a few things to organize and maybe go through some things and get rid of stuff. It's a liberating feeling to get rid of things. Anyway, we have a couch, a kitchen table, our bed (although our bed frame still needs to be put together, and I can't for the life of me figure out where I stashed the bolts when we put it in storage.... so we may need to take a trip to the hardware store). Last night sleeping on our new mattresses was bliss. I slept nearly the whole night. I think the only reason I work up for a little was because instead of sleeping propped up on two pillows, I was only sleeping on one, and since I'm always more stuffy when I'm pregnant, I woke up with my sinuses all stuffed up. Once I shoved another pillow under my head, things were much better.

Another development is the (hopefully not) cancerous mole on my belly. I have had two moles on my belly, just north of my belly button, since as long as I can remember. They have never had problems or given me problems. When I was pregnant with Vince I remember them seriously expanding and I thought that was hilarious (they just got stretched out with the rest of my skin). After I had Vince and my belly went back to normal(ish) the moles pretty much went back to normal as well. Anyway, just about twenty minutes ago when I sat down to my computer, I bent over the computer to move something from behind it, and my belly hit the table. It hurt at the point of contact, and I thought maybe I had a crumb stuck in my shirt. Upon further inspection, I discovered that my belly near the northern most mole was a little red, and blistery looking (kind of like a zit). I thought "Wow, that's a weird place to get a zit... on my belly... right next to a mole." Then I looked at it closer, realizing that the whole mole was kind of tender, and compared it to the other mole on my belly. The more southern mole looks just the same as it always has... but the northern mole has little black speckles all over it, like blackheads. So now I'm pretty sure it's cancerous or something. Maybe it's just pregnancy related and will go away. Either way, first thing Monday morning I'm going to find a Dr. I've been putting it off because finding a Dr in the military world is a little challenging, but last week I found the Tricare office, so I'll start there and spend my day driving around Monterey County where ever they send me, because I really want to get this checked out. I wonder if they can remove it while I'm pregnant or if they'll wait until after I deliver. If it's cancerous, I definitely want it as far away from my epidermis as possible as soon as possible.

Anyway, so that's that. 

Soon I will post pictures of my new house, once we finish getting it put together and everything.

The Best Day of My Life

After the day I married Russ and the day Vincente was born... so technically the third best day of my life, but that doesn't make nearly as catchy a title.

This morning we woke up super early so we could get through the gate at the post and find the theater where the graduation was held. We got there in plenty of time (and good thing, because by the time the thing started it was standing room only!). We got a seat in the third or fourth row back. Just before the ceremony started, Delta Company, 48th Infantry Battalion marched in to the theater. They kind of went around the back, so we went out on the front steps and watched them come in.

Russ has been Platoon guide for the past two or three weeks, so he was at the corner of his platoon right in front of the Drill Sergeant, which was nice because it made it really easy to see him. I kept pointing him out to Vincente. They marched across the stage first when they came in, and then they stood up on stage in platoons, introducing themselves. When Russ introduced himself, I think Vincente finally recognized that Papai was here (he heard Russ' voice!).

After the ceremony, the platoons lined up outside to meet their families. I don't know what I was expecting from Vincente, but when we walked up to Russ, I said "Here's Papai!" And Russ reached out to see if Vincente would come to him. At first, Vince looked a little unsure, but when I started handing him off, he got all smiley and went right to Russ, and started touching his nose and eyes and mouth and cuddling against Russ' shoulder.

It was the best thing I have ever seen. Vincente knew exactly who Russ was, and become Russ' little buddy right from the first moment he saw him.

My dad took us out to eat and then watched Vincente for us for a while so we could have some couple time. Then we took Vincente to the park while my dad went golfing. Vincente was super fun at the park. It was amazing to me how much Portuguese Vince spoke when he was with Russ! It was like the lights turned on, and he started spewing Portuguese!! I've been trying to keep him familiar with Portuguese - using the Portuguese word for things, etc, but Vince never seems to want to speak Portuguese with me. With Russ, that's all he wanted to speak! You wouldn't think he even remembered any Portuguese. Kids are so smart, and Vince picked it up really fast!

We had steak for dinner, then took Russ back to the barracks. Vince was loving Pai the whole way there, saying "Eu te amo, eu te amo, eu te amo..." over and over again. I could tell that he didn't want Russ to leave. He kept trying to get Russ to look at the moon and the stars with him. Then when it was finally time to leave Russ, I held out my arms for Vincente. Usually when I do that (when he is with anyone but Russ) Vince almost leaps into my arms. He actually pushed my face away when I tried to get him from Russ. Poor little guy just wanted to stay with his Papai.

I finally got him back in the car, and his face looked soooo forlorn. It mirrored the ache that started swelling up in my heart. Then I distracted him by promising to buy him chicken nuggets for dinner.

So that was our wonderful day. Oh yes, and I told Russ what we're having - it's a girl!! I will have an entire post for that once I get back to Arkansas. I'll also update this post with a few more pictures from graduation (since all of the pictures from the graduation are on my dad's camera).

Oh yes, and Russ is actually flying out to California... not to Arizona... so instead of us making a big move to AZ in January, we may be PCSing to CA in January... crazy Army orders changing.

Drumroll please...

And the baby is....

Okay, I'm not telling you yet. Russ has to be the first to know (besides me and the midwives and ultrasound technician, of course :-p )

One week from Friday is the very lastest the news will be official!

They got a new ultrasound machine at my clinic, and the pictures were so much better this time! With Vincente, I couldn't tell what anything was, and it was really hard to see anything. This time, I could see all the parts of the baby before the tech even started talking about it. Its little arms... it kept moving them up to its face, and every now and then would move around so I could see AND feel the baby moving! Now THAT was cool. And then the tech took a few 3-D pictures of baby's profile (because she couldn't get the baby to turn profile with the 2-D ultrasound). Of course, baby's face was still really scrawny (it only weighs something like 13 oz!!) but it was SOOO cute. I'll update this post with pictures of the profile once I get them scanned. Cute cute cute. I could really see EVERYTHING. Baby was so cute and looked so comfy all snuggled up in my uterus. Made me want to find a uterus to sit in for a while!

I bet I can even post the entire DVD of the ultrasound once Russ has seen it. I'll have to have my dad help me put it on the computer.

It was a really great experience. It was like I was meeting my baby, sort of. Weird that it was a different feeling than when I had my ultrasound with Vincente. I wonder if it's just my emotions are crazier this time, or if the newer machine really made a difference.

Oh, and my placenta is on the front of my uterus, so that's probably why I wasn't able to feel the baby move earlier (I only started feeling the baby move a few weeks ago, and I'm already 22 weeks!)

So there is the pre-gender review of the ultrasound. Stay tuned for the gender!! To be disclosed in at most one week!!

Internet!

I didn't realize how addicted I have become to the internet until we were without internet (and phone?) for nearly the entire day!! What made it worse is that I stayed home with Vincente today, so I didn't even have school to distract me. It was really hard to find things to do, but mostly I played with Vincente. He's still really in the stage where he likes to play by himself more than with other people, so he doesn't really need me to entertain him the whole day (which is nice, usually!)

I did get a little bit of journal time in, and had time to just meditate and things, which was nice. But I was sure restless. I've been very restless the past few days... waiting to see Russ. It's the only thing I want right now, but I know there are things I have to do in the meantime - school, take care of myself, Baby #2, and Vincente, etc... but man I just wish I could be WITH HIM! My heart aches for him. My whole body aches for him sometimes... okay, I'm going to stop. If I keep talking about it I'll probably start crying - and I've been so good for the past few days!

Just about a week... I can do it! One day at a time. And tomorrow is my ultrasound!! :D Unfortunately for all of you, no one will find out until probably Friday, Nov. 14 (the day after I see Russ). Theoretically you could find out on the 13th, but there are a few people who I have to tell in person (my folks, my sister, etc) and THEN I can publicly display the gender of Baby #2 for the world to see!! So, if I get to tell everyone Thursday night (i.e. everyone answers their phones) and I have internet access, it will be public knowledge that night!! So, keep watching ;)

good days

Today was a great day. I took Vince with me to school, and he got to play with me during classes and between classes and we had a picnic lunch and then took a nap together in a hallway in the ESC, and then played at Jessica's house for a while. It was super fun. I love being able to spend more time with him. Tuesdays are especially good for that at school because I only have two classes, and neither are really "serious" classes (I mean, they aren't full of a bunch of people who are ornery about distractions ;) ) And then I have two hours of nothing in between! So I usually miss Vince a lot during those two hours. But for the last two weeks, I've been able to take him with me on Tuesdays, and I think I will start doing that permenantly. I love him too much, and we have not been able to spend a lot of quality time together for the past few weeks, since I've had to do a lot of school work. I'm almost caught up. I'm mostly caught up as far as the work goes, but still behind a little bit as far as the concepts go. Physics will be the hardest to catch up in. I still haven't taken the last test, because I haven't been able to complete any of the homework, and I don't know when to get help. I should probably email my professor about that. I'm sure he'll be able to help. I just want to move on, but you can't really move on without understanding the stuff you missed, you know? So I'm trying to stay caught up the best I can, but it's hard with the little gaps.

I got a letter from Russ today. It was a nice surprise, becuase I talked to him on Sunday and he hadn't said he had sent a letter. It had a funny story about Russ immitating a Drill Sergeant (for a good cause - he was trying to get some privates to straighten up) and being asked about it by his Drill Sergeant, but not really reprimanded or anything. When I've got the letter down here by the computer I'll post the story. It was great.

I've been a little worried about not being able to feel this baby move, but on Sunday I felt my uterus tightening in different spots, so I'm assuming that was baby moving. I felt Vincente around 15 weeks, and I haven't felt anything and I'm already almost 18 weeks. I think it is a combination of having more body fat than when I was pregnant with Vince (not that I'm fatter now, I was just 19 when I was pregnant with Vince - my body hadn't finished become "womanly"), and being so busy and stressed that I just don't think I'd notice any movement even if it was happening. Life was much quieter back then. I had more time to sit and be still, which is probably conducive to feeling baby movements a little earlier. I have an appointment with my midwives on Thursday, so I'll hear the heartbeat and everything. She'll probably give me a few other reasons I may not be feeling the movement yet, but she'll assure me that everything is just fine.

And everything is just fine :)

stone eggs

The loneliness bird is laying stone eggs in my heart again. 

I only got one letter from Russ this week, and he wrote it before I talked to him on Sunday, so it didn't really have anything new in it. Maybe I should read all his letters again... it may help aleiviate some of the heavy-heart feelings I have right now. I just miss him a lot, and right now with all the stress of dealing with car insurance, doctors, etc and trying to keep up with school, I am just so tired all the time. It doesn't help that being pregnant makes it hard to sleep at night (super bad congestion) and hard to eat in the morning (nausea...). I would say life is horrible right now, but it's actually pretty good, and I can see a lot of blessings in my life. I am just really tired, and I don't like feeling tired. I probably just need a good nap. That's also something hard to get because I'm playing "single mom" right now. So if Vincente needs something, I am the one who has to take care of him. And if he wakes up early, there's no one else to tend him while I sleep in for a little bit. And if I just need a few minutes of shut eye in the afternoon, it has to be while he's napping (which also happens to be the best time to get things done that take a little more concentration). I do not envy the job of a single mom, and I admire every last one of them. It's a hard job, and I live with my in-laws, so I do get help sometimes, when they aren't all busy. But I wouldn't want this to go on much longer than it has to.

Good thing I have so many happy good things going for me. And good thing I love my little Vince so much that it is totally worth it.

Ship the Grad

So it's been a while - things have been crazy with school and getting Russ ready to ship, not to mention raising a 1 1/2 year old and being pregnant all at the same time! Every time you think life is going to get a little easier, it never does, the challenges are just different at different stages in your life.

The plan is to ship Russ to Basic Training here in about a week. There's a lot to do this week - a huge to do list that hopefully will get done before he leaves. He'll be there for about three months, then hopefully we'll be able to go out for his graduation. The plan will probably be to fly into Little Rock and then drive up with my folks. After that it's either 6 months of AIT, or 2 years of learning Chinese in Cali at the DLI. I'm hoping for DLI first, since he can live with us and has the evenings off and such. With AIT, he lives in the barracks and only has the weekends off. In that case, when I have baby, it better come on a weekend!

The two minutes that I had to write are gone, and now Vincente is begging me to take him outside... sooo... outside we go!!

queasy

So I thought I had staved off morning sickness, but it just turns out that it didn't make its full force entrance until this past week. I'm trying to take it easy and try to get over the nausea, but some days it's really hard.

Bleh... hopefully it only lasts a few more weeks (like last pregnancy).

We'll see.

letting the cat out

So, I've decided to just come out with it - we're expecting!

The Baby isn't due until mid-March, and our insurance doesn't pay for ultrasounds unless a doctor requires it. So The Baby will probably be its official title until then. Not too big of a deal... unless it's a girl, because we don't have any girl stuff. I'm pretty certain it's a boy, but you never know!

So I had my intake appointment at the midwife clinic where I was seen for Vince. It's really far away from us now, since we've moved to the inlaws, but since we're moving to Cali in December anyway, I decided it would be just fine to make the trip so I can see the same midwives for a while. It didn't make sense to change midwives now, and then change midwives again when we move to Cali. Mostly I just filled out paper work, then they took some of my pee and some of my blood to do all the routine OB tests, then I found out that I am actually 6 weeks along! Hooray.

Things have been going well, so far. No nausea, which is way different than with Vince. With my first, I was sick by the beginning of week 5. I chalk it up to being more active this time around. I run 6-9 miles each week, at a pretty decent pace, so I feel pretty in shape. I also do more yoga and a little weight lifting (when I can squeeze it in!) I'm also eating more regularily and better food, because I started a nice healthy diet before I got pregnant. Now I'm just used to eating better food more often (in smaller amounts) which really helps with everything!

So there you have it!! The exciting news!