Pregnancy Updates

I was relatively sick with Caleb during my pregnancy. I've had three different miscarriages, and I was sick with each of those. But I have NEVER been as sick as I am this time around. The Saturday after Christmas I woke up with a mild stomach ache, and just feeling a little "off." I continued throughout the day, figuring that I had just over extended myself the day before. By that evening, I was in some considerable pain, but isn't that what happens when you are pregnant?

By Sunday morning, I was running a fever and I could barely stand the pain. Peter convinced me that this probably wasn't going to just go away and we headed into the hospital. After several tests and many more hours, I was admitted to the hospital for pre-term labor and dehydration. They were easily able to stop the contractions and for the next three days I was on continuous IV fluids and medication to keep the nausea at bay. They sent me home with a PICC line and IV Zofran. I'm so glad to be home, even if I do have to give myself four syringes of medicine every six hours. The doctors at the hospital said that even ten years ago, I would have spent most of the rest of my pregnancy in the hospital. Yuck. Caleb is pretty irritated by all of this, he routinely shouts, "Mommy all done! Mommy all better! No! No! NO!" when I am taking the medicine.

Despite the inconvience of having to wake up in the middle of the night and plan my days around medicine doses, the medicine is working well. I had lost about 25 pounds by week 15, and in a week, I've been able to gain a good amount of that back.

All in all, we know how blessed we are to have access to doctors and medical help. We're grateful for the technology and research that has allowed me to come home, instead of sit in the hospital. I'm definitely not 100%, but I'm feeling like a person and that helps a lot. We are so thankful that we have family here to help us. I don't know what I would do without my mother-in-law, she's been a HUGE lifesaver.

We'll let you know how things go, hopefully I'll be off of this PICC line soon! Thanks for all the support we've been given. We can't do this alone.

Nov and December 2009 Recap

So we've been super lame about taking pictures, and things have been a little crazy, so no pictures this time. Feel free to skip this post-- it's gonna be long and probably boring :)

For Thanksgiving we were in Pittsburgh with my family. We spent the day with my parents, grandparents and my cousins, as well as Jeff Meyer, a man who is just as much as a father as anyone could be to me and my siblings. We ate ourselves silly and watched "Up" as we all slipped into pumpkin pie induced comas. That evening my sister, Shayla, and I met up and braved the COLD, windy night to stand in line outside of Toys R US. She was hoping to get a train table on sale for Dean, so we figured we'd take our chances with the crazies and do some Black Friday shopping. We managed to survive the Midnight opening of Toys R US (although Shayla did almost get beat up by a woman with a cane) and we even managed to get all the goods we went there in search of.

Peter and I tossed Caleb off on my sweet sister-in-law so that we could speed back (or sit in a ton of traffic is more like it) to Philadelphia that following Monday for an ultrasound. We sat in awe as the screen lit up with a tiny heartbeat and we knew that we were yet again wrapped around this little one's finger (which at that point, 11 weeks, actually had a finger nail on it!). We've had a roller coaster ride over the past year or so trying to bring another little one into our family, one way or another, and actually seeing that child, with a strong heartbeat and perfect measurements was the best Early Christmas Present ever.

That same week Peter, Caleb and I drive down to Washington, D.C. for a Military Residency Fair. Caleb spent some time with Uncle Soren (who likes fast cars and fast tractors according to Caleb) and Aunt Mandy (who is also expecting a baby--their first, due a week after we are) while Peter and I peppered the Residency Directors with questions. We learned a lot and it was a little strange to know that at the next Residency Fair these same directors will be matching Peter with a program (in Dec. 2010).

Life settled down for a few weeks as we wrapped up our time in Pittsburgh. We spent lots of wonderful days with Bala and Papa, and Caleb absolutely fell in love with them.

We got back to Philadelphia just a few days before a huge snow storm, which brought nearly 2 feet of snow and cancelled everything. We were glad to be home, with the fireplace going, as we sat and watched the snow pile up. Caleb wasn't too sure what he thought of this cold, wet, stuff, but he explored with courage. That following Tuesday we "celebrated" his birthday, a rather low key event. We already had a birthday party for him, so we spent the day at the Children's Museum here in Philly and ended it with ice cream cake. The snow lasted long enough to give us all the much wanted White Christmas and was washed away the very next day. Christmas also brought cousins and aunts and uncles. Caleb thoroughly enjoyed having playmates here and woke up each morning asking, "Where Sam? Where Makayla?" It took a few days after they left for him to stop asking each moment, but even now he asks for them when he gets bored. It was great to see him make friendships with cousins.

Thanks for all the friends and family who made our Holidays complete. We love you and are so excited to spend another year with you all in our lives.

A Little of This and That

"They" say the baby is the size of a lemon at this point. 14 weeks and I'm breaking out the maternity pants just in time to eat my body weight in food for the holidays. {The best thing about maternity clothes is that your belly never gets that "my belt is cutting off blood supply to my abdomen" feeling when you've eaten too much.} Yes, that's about 2 months earlier than I needed maternity pants with Caleb, but why fight it?

In other news, Pete is off of school for two weeks! My semester is over, and Caleb can count to ten, so we figure all education can stop until the New Year. Saturday and Sunday brought us almost 2 feet of snow, so we're getting creative with things to do at home, but somehow, we'll manage to survive all this relaxation.

We're looking forward to the holiday festivities, as well as celebrating Caleb's 2nd birthday and my Bala's un-numbered birthday {because she's timeless:)} tomorrow, December 22. We wish you the best-- may the holidays bring happiness and safety to you, wherever you may be.

Round Two

Peter and I decided that we've done such a good job keeping Caleb safe and healthy (there should be a font for sarcasm on blogs) that we're gonna go ahead and do it to another kid.

Due June 21, 2010.

Once a Fan, Always a Fan

Image via Wikipedia

I think I'm going to start watching Hockey. I love the Steelers, but this is just starting to get painful. We've always been a "come from behind" team, but I think we've forgotten which way we're suppose to be headed. Is this how Browns feel ALL the time? So sad for them.

That being said, I love me some Steelers-- win or lose.

Chemists Know How to Party

Pittsburgh has some great museums, thanks to Andrew Carnegie. One of my favorites is the Carnegie Science Center. Pretty much, my dream is to work at the Science Center some day. Despite the fact that we probably won't ever live in Pittsburgh again (there aren't many Naval Bases here) I can still dream, right?

Anyway, my grandfather (known as Papa) is a retired Chemist, but he still participates in some of the Chemical Societies here in the 'Burgh. Each year, the SACP (Society of Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh) holds an evening at the Science Center. Peter, Caleb and I were able to join him and Bala, as well as my sister Shayla, and her husband (Sean) and her son, Dean. Caleb and Dean had so much fun running around, playing with the robots and checking out the INCREDIBLE train display. The Science Center also has an entire floor designed for children, and Dean and Caleb spent most of the night trying to see just how wet they could get in the water displays.

The SACP also has a Santa come each year and Caleb actually sat on his lap! I thought he would scream and cry, but he sat there in amazement.

Of course, we didn't bring the camera, so we don't have pictures, but we sure had a fun night!

Thanks Papa!

Happy Birthday, Sorta

Caleb's Party - 3, originally uploaded by jaaron.

Caleb's birthday arrives at the time of year when one is:
1. Running around in a chaotic mess --OR--
2. Getting severly annoyed at all the people surrounding us who are running around in a chaotic mess,

Knowing this, and remembering the miserable FAIL we got for his first birthday celebration, Peter and I decided to celebrate the birth of our little monster a bit early.

We did a Halloween/ Birthday Party and had a bunch of friends and family over. Peter's parents were kind enough to open their home for our party when the weather promised not to cooperate. They graciously put up with my crazy party planning and welcomed all with open arms.

Since the party, almost a month ago, Caleb has told us Happy Birthday everyday and frequently sings "Happy Birthday to You" over and over again. We went to Toys R Us the other day (it was Caleb's first time in the store) and he walked up and down the isles singing Happy Birthday to everyone he saw.

Thanks to all the friends and family who came to celebrate with us! My siblings (minus Katie) were all there and it was great to spend some time with them.

Happy Birthday (almost) little boy!