So far we have been very blessed with healthy kids for the last 5 years.  We get our sniffles here and there but very few actual illnesses.  Then... illness struck.  Only Gavin, thankfully!  (Knocking vigorously on wood!)  Gavin has been sick starting on Friday and today is Wednesday.  Not all days have been bad days, but we haven't been able to do much outside of the house.

I have this issue with cabin fever.  We live rurally and without getting into a vehicle and driving a mile or so, there might not be any sign of other humans existing.  To make life a little bit more stir crazy, Doug is out of town for work which means that my conversations for the last 48 hours have included:

"Joey, do not sit on your brother!  He is not a horse!!"
"Okay, Mom." 

"Gavin, you and your brother will not both fit into a diaper box!"
"Yes we will."
"Okay.  Good luck with that."

If there is still a such thing as Calgon, I insist that it take me away! 

I decided that since it is raining and ugly out and I have a kid that will have diarrhea at any given moment with no warning, that it would be a good craft day.  I got out a science kit to grow a crystal tree but the packet of crystal water stuff had gotten opened somehow and there was already crystals growing where they shouldn't have been. 

Craft idea number two was to make some sort of balloon filled with corn starch as a "stress ball" or tactile toy.  Well... yeah.  While entertaining to Gavin, this project created a smoke machine that essentially destroyed my already messy kitchen.  I tried this concept again with a different funnel and it worked a little better.  This time, I managed to get corn starch into the balloon but only enough to really look more like a visual aid of a scrotum. 

So I decided that I was done with the messy stuff and that it was time to simply use up some left over helium from Gavin's birthday and that would keep the kids entertained for a while.  I figured there was enough for 3, maybe 4 balloons.  I stopped after filling 9 helium balloons.  It kind of looks like a circus blew up in here, but the kids are having so much fun. 

Until then, I decided that it was time to share my very first belly pic.   

19 weeks

Yep.  I skipped 18 weeks.  I blew right past it.  It was a really busy week or so for us but busy in a very good way. 

I met my new OB and I am pretty sure that I made an excellent move.  He seems like just the doctor to be supportive of my birth choices!

I had already scheduled appointment with a genetic counselor this week so despite my lack of concern with genetic issues, I went anyway.  I haven't yet seen the bill for this but I bet I am going to end up paying a lot of money for what really turned out to be some girl chat (fun girl chat) about funny things kids say, awkward situations that happen as a result of those funny things, and how our kids are our favorite people.  She basically told me in less than 30 words that my risk was really low and the only reason I was there was because I am AMA.   Advanced Maternal Age for those of you spring chickens.  I have heard those 3 letters at least a dozen times in the last few months.  I have decided that regardless of their label of AMA I have decided that I am going to begin wearing a red cape with the letters OBA.  Old But Awesome!

The fun part of that appointment was that we got a nice long look at our little guy.  Things are looking really good!  The doctor (not my OB, but the MFM doc at the hospital that reviews the ultrasounds) wants me to come back again in 4 weeks so he can double check his heart.  He wasn't concerned but just wanted one more peek before he gave his official stamp of approval. 

So today officially makes me 19 weeks pregnant.  Kind of hard to believe, really. 



See you next week!

Now that the first trimester funk has finally eased up, I am trying to make up for everything I didn't do for the last 4 months.  That means laundry, dishes, bathing my children ... Okay.  I still did that, but it was only when I had too and no sooner.  So, overall I am feeling great which freaks me out routinely.  I felt some movement a couple of weeks ago but maybe baby shifted because I don't feel him very often.  If I didn't have a doppler, I would be a basket case. 

One of the things on my list of things I had to do was break up with my OB.  I decided that even if she somehow transformed into someone who urged moms to try an intervention free birth (ain't gonna happen), there was an even bigger reason.  If any of you have stayed overnight in a hospital before, you know how annoying it is to sleep in a hospital bed.  What is even more awful is sleeping on the hospital beds that are found in the maternity ward that are nothing more than a convertible metal frame with a glorified prison mattress set upon it.  It is evil.  My doula shared that there was another hospital nearby that not only had birth tubs available, they had QUEEN sized beds with... wait for it... wait for it... memory foam mattresses for postpartum!!!    Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, she told me that they are very natural birth friendly.  Having this place as an option made the break up so easy. 

I called the new doc, set up an appointment, and called to cancel my appointment with the old one.  I simply told the receptionist about the memory foam mattresses and she understood.  It was over.  Granted my decision to leave her wasn't just the beds, of course, but when there is a dumper and a dumpee, rarely does the dumper really mean it when they say, "It's not you, it's me."  It was totally her. 

I am excited about this new adventure!  I guess I can take the chain mail out of my amazon cart. 

At Easter dinner when conversation had gotten quiet I asked Gavin, "Can you tell everyone where we went yesterday?"

"We went to the hospital!"

"And what did we do at the hospital?" I quickly added.

"We checked on the baby and... It's a BOY!!" he announced! 

On the way home from the hospital I asked Gavin if he would have been more excited to have a sister.  He told me that he was just excited that we were going to have a baby.  "No matter what we get." 

While there is a small part of me that wonders what it is like to have pink frills and little girl drama, I know that God is giving us the perfect little person for our family.  How can I be disappointed about that?