Friday, June 14, 2019

I'm an Apenatic

  The common curses are the worst, I tell you! So I was pregnant in January. I was excited and started the rounds of medical appointments that come from that. I was sent to do an ultrasound to identify how far along I was on March 18th. I found out that the baby was dead. Had been, apparently for some time. It was 8 weeks along. I was shocked at first and then when the technician left to find a doctor I broke down. I was confused and bitterly disappointed. This sort of thing just didn't happen to me! But it did. So I visited with a nurse who told me what to expect. In a few days, I should feel a rush of blood that should last up to 2 hours and then the miscarriage would be over. Okay.
  In the meantime I was still feeling all the crazy hormones of pregnancy...nausea, exhaustion, mood swings...all waiting to catch up with what I now knew. That there would be no baby. Unfortunately, exhaustion lead me to see a sleep specialist because I was falling asleep all the time. He decided I had sleep apena. I didn't think so, but he insisted that I go in for a sleep study. Here I am hooked up to a million wires and expected to sleep! Ha!

    I had a young man named Andrew be my lead technician and he was training a young lady named Michelle. We had fun joking about the procedure. He did wake me up at 1:30 to try the sleep apena machine. I was severe apparently. I put the nasal mask on and had trouble breathing. I just couldn't get the air in. We took it off and I still was having trouble breathing. It took a few minutes for my breathing to regulate. We tried the full face mask next and I did much better with that.  
Here I am the next morning unwired.

   Luckily I was able to go home and take a Hot shower to get rid of all the contact goop and then head to the temple. I so love going here.

   Anyway, so there I was waiting for the baby to drop so to speak. Waiting and waiting and occasionally throwing up for good measure. Still no rushing. So life went on and I went up to Bremerton for spring break. On April first I started spotting. So it had begun, but like everything in my life, it couldn't be simple. Oh no! Go big or go home, I should have gone home. I was still bleeding heavily the next day and had had some bloody discharge. As I had been told that it should only take up to 2 hours and to call if it was going longer, I called my nurse's line and asked what to do. After hearing my symptoms, she said to go to the hospital.  So my sister watched the kids while my Mom drove me to the hospital. I was feeling weak by this point and was changing my pads out every 20 mins. I was placed in a room and then they ordered an internal ultrasound to see what was going on. The baby was still there. Dad came and gave me a blessing and I passed some tissue, but it was just not stopping. They decided that doing a D and C at this point was frivolous and sent me home with some pain meds. That was nice because I was having full on labor pains by this point. 
  Long story short, it took me over a week to completely discharge my baby, I was seen by my Obgyn and she did a partial D and C.(My amniotic sac was still intact after 4 days of bleeding.) It was horrendous and painful and long-suffering for sure. And I didn't even get a baby out of the deal! To top it all off, I was asked to teach RS, take over a ward party for the next week, lead book club and promote the RS activity. Because I obviously did not have enough going on. Needless to say, this month has been hard on me. At least the nausea is gone. Tender mercies.

Springing to Easter

We were egged! Some kind souls layed Easter eggs for our family. 


Emily had to give blood for a lead teat for school. She was super happy until the needle hit. She took it like a champ though!
Our local park does a fishing derby each year. The kids love going and I love that they get some experience without too much effort.

Lizzy's class studied monarch butterflies and then made these beautiful butterflies that were showcased at the library. Her's is right above her head. 

 We went to see the tulip gardens and the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens. The day was a bit drizzly, but it was so gorgeous!





 Every year for the last 3 or so, we go to the local Methodist church for their annual Easter celebration and hunt. I really like it. They have a short sermon before releasing the kids.  A small section for younger kids and a bigger section for the older ones.


 This year they also had cookie decorating and a stuffed animal for each child.


 Preparing the Easter baskets.








Spring has Sprung

Dad's birthday landed on the outside of spring break so we thought we'd head up to Bremerton to celebrate that and my sister's bachelor completion.
 We went to the Puget Sound Navy Museum to play with robots.


 The Bug Museum


 Exploring Evergreen park

 Bird watching
 Bowling on Base


It was a fun break and the kids loved hanging out with the cousins, Grandma and Papa.

March Madness

The kids have been having fun at school. Charles got to go on a field trip 


 Then Lizzy had her performance in the orchestra.

   Then Daniel and I got all dressed up and went to the Valentine dance that had been postponed due to weather in Feb. It's a 1940s era dance with a live band and dinner. We really had fun. I hope we can do it next year. I may convince Daniel to were his whites! This was the only decent pic I got. I had asked a lady sharing our table to take our picture for us and she warned me that she was rubbish at it. She was true to her word! I'm not sure she could work a phone. So after we thanked her and sent her on her way Daniel snapped this shot.


January and Beyond.

   In January we were ready to transition Henry into his own bed. Alas, we needed to provide said bed. Daniel found this rather perfect one on Walmart online so we took down the old captain bed and put up this new triple bunk. The boys love it and it really opens up the room.


 We needed to replace the dressers so Daniel came up with this option.  The kids liked helping Daddy out.


Daniel took the girls to a father-daughter dance at the Pearson Air Museum. He took Lizzy last year too. They always have a blast. It was hard with both girls though. Next year I think I will split them up. They offer an afternoon and evening dance. 

 Daniel is working on a Gallifreyan design for me. 

 And I finally took him to experience C’est La Vie A lovely french creperie and bistro. They are only open for breakfast and lunch so I had not been able to get him over there. We have been raving about it for a year now. Needless to say, he enjoyed it immensely.

As did I! I mean, behold!
To finish up February

 we took the kids to the Zoo and the gristmill.




We had a lovely time! 



Easter

 I found a Baptist church that hosted an egg hunt. We went and it was so much more, they had games and they fed us lunch. It was nice.  Lizz...