25 Weeks

Cravings: Fruit and CHOCOLATE!!!! Please, does anyone have some chocolate I can have? It's delicious! 

Symptoms: Things are getting loose... which means my lower back is shifting/hurting more. Also having lots of practice contractions, though I don't remember them hurting with the other two kids at this stage, but there is definitely discomfort this time around! Baby belly also popped quite a bit in the last two weeks. Two weeks ago, it was still hide-able. Now? Not so much. 

Complaints: Sore/painful back. 

Weight gain: I believe it's at -8lbs. I think I finally had my month (that we all seem to have when we're pregnant) where all the sudden you put on 5-6lbs in one month. 

Movement: Yes, I can see him move now too. He finally popped up and out enough! 

Doctor appointment results: Um, all I do is get frustrated when I go to my appointments :( This last time I got irritated because there was a medical student with him, which I normally don't mind, but I swear it made my doctor act like an idiot. He couldn't even find the top of my uterus, instead was pushing into my diaphragm, which hurt, and I'm laying there thinking 'um, it's exactly where it looks like I swallowed a cantaloupe... not somewhere magically higher dude' and then he tried passing it off saying 'oh, well, it's just so hard to find on her'.... cause somehow a 24 week uterus is hard to find on anyone, especially when it's popping out while you are laying down... Seriously? If a midwife can find it at 17-18 weeks, and a chiropractor can find it at 12 weeks, he should be able to find it at 24 weeks. Which, then, because he measured way up into my diaphragm, he said I measured 'big' at 26 weeks which irritated me even more because I NEVER measure big. With my other two kids, even when I was nice and big, I measured small, I never even measured on. So now, magically, even though my stomach is the same size as with the other two, I somehow measure big... hmm... maybe if he would have gone a good 2 inches lower, he would have had a more accurate measurement. Ok, so I'm slightly (ha!) more irritated then I should be about the whole thing, but I had Eli with me for his 3rd year check up, in which I talked to the doctor about a shot for Gabriel that he had a bad reaction too when he was younger, and then the doctor gave me this 20 minute lecture about how my kids are going to get sick and die because I don't vaccinate them when they are little and how I'm going to kill other peoples kids too, and how even though Gabriel had a really bad allergic reaction to the DTaP shot it does not mean he should not continue the shot... even though the papers that they give you at the hospital specifically say 'if you or your child have had 'this' reaction to getting the DTaP shot, they should NOT get another dose.' And another doctor that I used to go too also said Gabriel should not get the entire shot, only the DT part of it. And then this doctor refused to get me a separated shot for Gabriel with only the DT in it when he is supposed to go in for his 5 yr checkup in two months.  Seriously, so irritated! 

Also, I'm just permanently irritated with him that he insists my due date is October 19th because that's what the average women's due date would be with my LMP even though I have a way longer then average cycle and two ultrasounds have confirmed that baby should be due way later. I still go with my due date that I've gone with all along, which is in line with what the two ultrasounds I've had... and if they try to convince me I'm 'over due' when Ocober 19th comes along... well, I just may have to give them a piece of my mind. 

BTW, I've just had it with doctors lately. Hence my venting. Hence being way more irritated then needed. Hence needing a lot of chocolate lately. Hence this post being really long. 

Hence.

Hence.

It's kinda a fun word... 

Anyway...

You probably just went WAY further into my head then you ever wanted to go... sorry :) 
Mood: Stressed. 

Planning: Trying to find a place to have this baby. I know everyone thinks that it's about control, that I don't want to have another c-section, but honestly, I just want what is healthiest and safest for me and baby. And, I don't see why I should have to put baby boy and I at risk because of close minded doctors and stupid hospital policies. Ugh, if you saw my rant on facebook, you know how truly frustrated I am about this. 

Advice: I got some tips on doctors in the area. 

Dreams: I had a dream the other night where there was this girl, who was in danger and on the run, and one guy was trying to help her and protect her, and one guy was trying to go after her. Anyway, it's was like this awesome action film dream, involved with bombs, guns, planes, different countries, and even comedy. I kept hitting my snooze button just to see how it ended, but in the end, the fact that I had a client coming that morning and really needed to shower trumped the end of my dream. So, I never got to find out what happened... it was such a bummer! 

Baby Size: He's the size of a head of cauliflower. 

Cute Stuff: My kids :) 

Other events of the week: I feel like life has been kind of busy lately. It's just kind of been getting together with friends and family though. We had a fun 4th of July, 5th, 6th, and 7th of July too :) Then we've just been busy with trying to clean up the house and property from a big storm we had back in June, and I've been having some clients and working at La Peinado as well. It just feels busy! 

23 Weeks

Cravings: Fruit, fruit, and more fruit! I love summer! 

Symptoms: Little guy is super LOW! Seriously, he's kicking things he really shouldn't be kicking... if you know what I mean. The few times I've tried to get Gabriel or Josh to feel the baby, I have to push their hands super low and, of course, whenever their hands go on my belly, little guy decides to stop kicking, every time! 

Complaints: Sore back at times... frequent bathrooms trips as well...

Weight gain: At this point, I have no idea. I think my scale is on crack. I will step on it, it will say -12. Step on it again, -9. Step on again and it's -19. So, it's somewhere in the midst off all those numbers.  

Movement: Yep! 

Doctor appointment results: No doctor appointments recently!  

Mood: Tired, stressed, umm, stressed and more stressed. 

Planning: Thinking about names and where in the world I'm going to find clothes and such for this little munchkin :) 

Advice: N/A. 

Dreams: I'm too tired to remember any of them, haha!  

Baby Size: He's the size of a grapefruit :)

Cute Stuff: I think Gabriel might be opening up to the idea of baby being a boy. He tried to convince me that we should name the baby Gabriel, so that it's just like him :) 

Other events of the week: I turned 26 years old :) I didn't get to do anything for my birthday though. I had gone out to my parents to drop the dog off for the night and I was so tired since I hadn't had any sleep the night before. But, the next day we went 'camping'. Really, we pitched a tent in my parents yard and took day trips to go fishing and play on playgrounds. We also went swimming in their little pool, a lot! We got lots of sun :) I only lasted one night in the tent though. Baby and I gave up on the second night and snuck inside to a nice comfy bed :) 

21 Weeks

Cravings: Fruit, and I have been craving some sweet fruity candy, but I haven't caved... yet. 

Symptoms: At 20 weeks, apparently baby 'drops' out of your pelvis, and that definitely happened to me. I feel like my tummy got twice the size in the last week! 

This is my belly at 20 weeks :) It has popped a bit more since then. 

Complaints: My lower back is starting to hurt a bit more, got to get on those exercises on a more regular basis so I'm not dying in a few weeks!

Weight gain: Last time I stepped on the scale a few days ago, it was -15 lbs.  

Movement: Yes, baby sure loves to kick my bladder! 

Doctor appointment results: Which one? Ugh, I've been to the doctor WAY too much lately, seriously. Lets see if I can go in order... regular doctor appointment a few weeks ago, good! Baby was healthy! 20 Week ultrasound, baby is healthy, a bit stubborn, and a BOY!!! In the past week, starting Thursday, urgent care doctor diagnoses severe UTI (didn't have to tell me, I was crying by the time I got to his office in pain, and, every time baby kicked me I about fell to my knees in pain. I had to go home from there, therefore canceling my next two clients at La Peinado... worst first day of work EVER! I then laid in bed, in pain, the rest of the day until that evening...). ER doctor that night, possible kidney infection, almost keep me overnight but just skimmed out of that one because my white blood cell count was just low enough but still high, they tell me to go home, continue to take my prescription and if I develop  a fever or it gets worse, to come back in... lovely. Next day, chiropractor appointment, and then another doctor appointment to check up from the night before. Thankfully, even though I was having stomach pains all day, they determined I was not in preterm labor, the UTI was getting better, and the kidneys looked good, and I was supposed to take it easy over the weekend... which didn't really happen but I'll get to that. 

Mood: Tired. I feel off ever since Thursday, just tired and sore and, well, 'off'. Maybe it's the meds I'm on, or maybe I just need more rest...

Planning: Nothing really, I should be thinking of names, going clothes shopping, and getting a crib... but in reality, it's kind of been a bad couple of weeks and none of that has happened... hoping for some better days to come! 

Advice: Not that I can remember... besides the doctor telling me to take it easy, lol! 

Dreams: Yes, none about baby though which is odd!  

Baby Size: I believe the last email I got said baby was the size of a pomegranate :)

Cute Stuff: Gabriel is extremely disappointed that baby is not a girl. He tried to convince us that baby girls have penis' too and that's why there was a penis in the ultrasound picture, haha! 

Other events of the week: Well, Eli's birthday was on Saturday (hence why I couldn't just 'take it easy' this weekend like I was supposed too). I spent Friday night up late decorating and wrapping presents. Then on Saturday he woke up to lots of balloons floating about and streamers hanging from the ceiling :) In the afternoon we met some family at the AmericInn in Moose Lake and went swimming. Then we headed back out to our place for dinner, cake and ice cream, playing in the dirt and on the playground, presents, and finished the night off with a campfire and smores. Whew! Then today, Sunday, was Fathers Day. So, I got up with the boys, let Josh sleep in, made him a yummy breakfast, then we had to take care of some things outside like the lawn and my poor garden that needed to be watered on Thursday when I ended up in urgent care and the ER and never got a drop of water until today. We then headed out to my parents for the rest of the day and finally we are home and relaxing. 

18 Weeks

I can't believe that I am almost half way through this pregnancy already! 

Cravings: Chocolate :) 

Symptoms: Growing belly, a little bit discomfort during the night, constant trips to the bathroom, and still a little morning sickness and fatigue, but it's finally getting a little bit better!!!! 

Complaints: Nothing really! 

Weight gain: Somewhere between -10 and -13... I'm a fluctuate-r normally and I weighed myself two days apart, so I either am fluctuating or I gained 3 pounds in two days, lol.  

Movement: Yes! Baby is definitely moving now! Love it! 

Doctor appointment results: Good! Babies heart rate is good, and we scheduled the big ultrasound!!! Yay!!!! Two more weeks and we get to see the baby!!!!

Mood: Good!

Planning: Trying to figure out where to give birth! I've met with a midwife for the new birth center opening up in Duluth, and that went well... I'm just not 100% sure yet. So I'm going to make an appointment at Essentia and interview some doctors there as well. Moose Lake, Cloquet, and St. Lukes are out of the question, so really my only options left are the birth center or Essentia. 

Other planning, I need to get back into exercising again! Now that I am finally feeling a bit better, I really need to be disciplined and do my exercises every day. Why? Well, not only is it good for you, but I get severe pubic symphysis when I'm pregnant. It was awful with Eli and it only gets worse with each kid you have... and I for one don't want to be on my knees in pain multiple times a day, and in public, because my pubic bones slipped so far out of place while I was walking around or standing. The only way to lessen/prevent the pain is to strengthen the muscles in and around your hips, so I really need to start working on it before I start experiencing the horrid pain on a multiples times a day basis. I did some squats last night, but I need to actually write down what I need to do so I don't forget it and so that I can make sure I get all the muscles targeted that need to be worked on. 

Advice: Nothing that I can remember or that was new! 

Dreams: Yep! I had a dream that we had a boy, and that we had it sleep in our pantry... haha! Also, the most random people show up in my dreams! Last night I had a weird dream about lava, vampires, and the girl from Mama Mia... 

Baby Size: The size of a sweet potato! 

Cute Stuff: Gabriel is still convinced the baby is a girl, haha! We were joking around about naming the baby 'Jack' if it was a boy, just for the shear sake that it's Eli's favorite character in his favorite movie. Well Gabriel overheard us talking about it and got so mad, 'No! The baby is gonna be a girl cause we don't have one! God is giving me a sister! And we are going to call her 'Princess' and that is going to be her name!' Also, Eli went with my to the doctor appointment I had this week and the doctor pulled up a chair close to the table and Eli got to help measure me and listen to the babies heart beat and stuff, he thought it was pretty cool! 

Other events of the week: My husband and I got to celebrate our anniversary! This is the first year we didn't go away for a night or plan anything 'big'. We just went out for a movie, stopped to get Rocky Mountain Mints (date night tradition!), sat in Barnes & Noble looking at books, and then went out for dinner! It was fun and we haven't had a chance to be kid free for a super long time, so it was nice just be alone together for once! 

Fire

Last Tuesday night, Josh and I decided to start working on my new garden. Now, where we wanted to move the garden to was at the edge of our yard in the back, where the field begins. Last year, before we moved in to our home in September, the people who lived here before us never hayed the field, so when we moved in the hay in the field was up to my waist if not a little higher. Over the winter it got packed down, so there was a good 3-4 feet of hay that was now packed down into about 6 inches on the ground... so in other words, it was thick! 

Josh was going to remove a layer of sod with his skid steer from the new garden plot so we could prepare the dirt underneath for gardening. In order to make it a little easier, so he wouldn't have to push through the 6 inches of packed hay, we were going to burn at least the four corners of our garden so he could get into the ground a bit easier. We figured if we got the four corners done, he would know where to plow up the sod and it would give him a good start in each area. 

So, on Tuesday evening, we decided to burn the four corners of the garden. It had rained that morning, and then it became rather warm throughout the day. It had been windy at times, but the wind seemed to die down before we wanted to burn the garden, and since we only wanted to burn a small section of each corner, we knew it wasn't going to take a long time at all. We prepared ourselves with rakes and we lit the fire. Now, I thought we were only going to light one corner and work on that first, but Josh lit my corner and then immediately walked over and lit another corner. Which, was just a little miscommunication on our part, but still, it wasn't going to be that big of a deal since it was just a small section after all. 

Within about 60 seconds of lighting the fire, everything was going well. We were stomping out the fire along the edges and it wasn't going too fast to be out of control... and then, the wind picked up. A strong wind came along and Josh and I looked at each other and I said 'Um, this better stop, the fire is going really fast...' But our not so windy evening turned into a very windy evening after all. Once the wind started, it didn't stop. And the fire, got out of control. 

Josh ran to get his skid steer to try to stop the fire as it was heading right for our neighbors land and I kept running back and forth trying to get the fire to stop with water, rakes, and stomping on it. Nothing worked. While Josh went to get his skid steer, I ran and grabbed my phone from Eli who was contently reading a book on it, and I called 911. 

I couldn't even see the fire anymore, it was out of sight, all I saw was smoke. I grabbed both the kids and ran to the fork in our driveway to tell the firemen where to go when they got here. I could hear my husband driving the skid steer as fast as he could trying to stop the fire but I couldn't see him at all. 

As I stood there with my kids, my stomach started hurting really bad. I am 17 weeks pregnant, and have pretty well been sick since week 8. Meaning, I haven't exercised since then either, so all the running I had just done was not exactly normal for me or baby. I could tell I was contracting, and I was coughing, either from being out of shape and my lungs were trying to deal with all the running, or from the small big of smoke I inhaled, I couldn't really tell which. And I was half crying. I was trying really REALLY hard not to cry... but I'm pregnant after all, stress just makes me cry... and I was scared. 

As I was standing there, I heard something backfire. It didn't really sound like a big boom, just like a car backfiring. I turned around, knowing fully well that my husband was driving his skid steer in a fire, only to see a wall of flames behind our house. The wall of fire was almost as tall as the tree that bordered our field. I kept telling myself that the backfire I heard wasn't big enough for it to be my husbands skid steer exploding... but I wasn't really believing myself. 

Soon, a firetruck arrived, and as they drove past a guy yelled out the window that there were more rigs coming... how many rigs? I had no idea, so I just stood there and waited. I turned around a couple of minutes later and my husband was walking up the driveway towards me. I don't think I was ever so thankful to see Josh! He told me that the flames got so high at one point (only for a couple of minutes, which is when I saw them) that he had parked his skid steer because it wasn't helping at all, and when he shut it off, it backfired. He also said that by the time he got the skid steer and drove it out to the fence that bordered our neighbors land, which he said was probably 2 minutes, the fire was already over the fence and well into our neighbors field. That's a long way people! The fire covered the distance of a good 3 or so acres in 2 minutes. 

More rigs showed up... lots and lots of them! The kids thought this was pretty awesome and I was wondering if it was ever going to end! Josh took the kids back to the back of the house to watch the firemen and all their trucks. At this point I just knelt on the driveway, my stomach was killing me. No more trucks came after that, so I finally, slowly, walked back to the back of the house and sat down in the grass. 

The boys watched the fire. 

And they thought the firetrucks were pretty awesome. 

And this was after they put out a good portion of the fire on our side of things. 

We talked to the fire chief, and then to the DNR, and then just sat there helplessly and watched. At one point one of the smaller fire trucks got stuck, they just flat out sunk right into our field, so Josh drove his skid steer out there to try to help get it unstuck, but they were stuck all the way up to the bottom of their truck so they had to call in help to get them unstuck as Josh's skid steer wasn't big enough. 

Not too long after that, a helicopter showed up. We didn't know what they were doing at first, they just sat in our neighbors field for 5 ish minutes and we were just praying we hadn't given our neighbors a heart attack or something like that. In reality though, it was a fire helicopter and they ended up getting water from our ponds and dumping it on the fire that had spread to our neighbors swampy brush land. 

You can see the little dot in the sky, that's the helicopter. They only were there for about 45 minutes or so...

The firemen were there, mostly on our neighbors end, until well after 11PM. I went to bed first, probably around 10-10:30... I was exhausted and although I stopped contracting, I still hurt. Josh went to bed shortly after the last firemen left. 

The next day, we went out to inspect the damages...

This is standing on the edge of our field, where everything started and looking out over the burnt land. 

Gabriel walked in the ruts where the firetruck got stuck. It was literally up past his knees. 

This is at the fence in the field that separates our lands and looking into what was burnt of our neighbors land. 

This is looking back at our house from the fence line. The fire was started not too far from our house. This is how far the fire went in the two minutes it took for Josh to get his skid steer. Can you say fast moving?

The only thing we have to replace after all is said and done is these two railroad ties that hold up the fence at the corner of our properties (the fire effected three properties). 

And this was the area, and further back that we can't see, that the helicopter was needed to put out the fire. 

After all was done, we figured the fire burnt about 15 acres of just grass and brush. Much more then the few feet that we had planned on burning so we could dig up my garden. Thankfully, neither of our neighbors were mad. One, whom was an ex-firefighter, said he wished it had burnt more of his swampy brush land... and he also said he was really bummed that he was stuck in meetings at work and had to miss the 'show'. 

Alas, it was an interesting experience. And stressful. And emotional. And scary.

Gabriel, and one of the firefighters, said that now I can have a super big garden since it burned so much :) I think not.