Whoa, Glucose!

This is what Bishop looks like at 32 weeks :). I'm actually 32 weeks and 3 days now. I had my appointment today with my midwife to see how all is going. It was a fairly good appointment. After getting good news today, to go onto hearing Bishop's heartbeat was just the icing to the cake. However nothing in my life can go simple, can it? Haha - nope!

Ah so, I didn't have to use the restroom when we got there so we decided go ahead with our appointment as usual. I brought up my concerns to her about my period cramping and stabbing pain on my left side, right where my c-section scar is. That scared me the most, I was afraid something was going wrong. Thankfully she believes it has to do with his positioning and how the cramping is contributing to that. She stressed water (which i chug) and resting as well as trying to put heat on the area. So either a nice hot bath to soak in the heat or a hot towel with castor oil rubbed on the cramping area. So she had some left over castor oil, when it starts to happen again, i'll try that then a bath.

My BP was good, 128/78, lost a pound or two. I can't remember the exact weight of last appointment. Then, then, I did my urine check. My protein tested negative but holy mother of glucose, that tested between 250-500! I couldn't believe it! So, now we're doing urine checks till saturday twice daily. I also have to check my blood sugar at home and see how that goes. So it'll be interesting. I surely hope it was a fluke! I couldn't believe how fast that turned from yellow to a deep green, just shocked.

So here we stand. I'll do my testing and call her on Saturday like she wants me too. Hopefully everything remains normal and doesn't skyrocket back up. I just want it to be a fluke.

Did you know Bishop weighs as much as a jicama? I have no clue what a jicama is but supposedly that is what he weighs as much aha. I can't wait to meet him. I can't wait to have him at home and to add to our family of boys. I'm very excited. He is a blessing to our lives, just like my other boys. I feel he was given to us during a time we needed him. Gage also cannot wait to have a baby in the house again. He can't wait to help change Bishop's diapers haha. Child has no clue what he just offered himself up for!

xx Marisa

Stress and stuff

I have definitely learned a lot about myself in these past few months. Well honestly, since last December. However it has definitely become a lot more showing to me these past two months when everything in our lives has been extremely stressing.

These past few months have really brought my strength to me in a whole new light. We have been living very tight because of the current situation. It has taught me something about myself that I never knew. I can live frugally. It was hard to adjust too but I have really learned a lot. Its been easier to go without things that I want and only buying those things that we need, but making sure we find a deal on it so we can stretch our money a bit better.

I’ve always been decent with money but I admit, I liked to get extras when they weren’t warranted. Mainly on the boys but who doesn’t love spending money on their kids? With how our money situation has been lately we’ve definitely learned if you don’t need it, you don’t buy it. We’ve taken to doing some very stealth grocery shopping and making a small amount of money last as long as we can.

Hopefully come Monday we’ll hear good news and that’ll only bring this tight budget time to a close. I won’t lose what I have learned though. I’ve already explained to Jason that when things are better again, we’ll still practice our frugalness to stretch our money as far as we can. To make sure we have a good savings and If something heaven forbid like this happens again, we’ll be better prepared. Even though all of this came at us out of nowhere and we couldn’t have predicted it, it has definitely brought wisdom to us.

The stress has been hard and I know my pregnancy emotions are a big role in my moods lately. They have not helped a slight downfall of feelings because they’re bad. I hate being probably 110% angrier then I normally would be because of the hormones.

I hate that we’re living in this situation right now, I hate that millions of others are as well. I am thankful for one thing, it has taught me a lot about myself. About who I am, what I can and cannot do. I am thankful for that. 

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day!

I hope all you fathers out there had a wonderful day with your families. I want to do a quick post to honor my husband, the awesome, loving, caring father to my two almost three boys :)

I love you and they do too!

Jason and Gage ♥

Jason and Dane ♥


I can't wait to add Bishop and Jason's photo!

Midwives and Well child visits

Lets start with my midwife visit. I was 29 weeks and 4 days (image is 29 weeks. I'm now 30.) along and had to pee like nobody ever had to pee before haha. I know this is a bit TMI (too much info) but honestly, normally I forget about my appointment and go before we leave. Duh, doesn’t work very well for myself that way.  So this time I actually remembered and I had to pee so badly I bolted for the bathroom when we got to our midwives house.

So since I was in there, I did my urine test and weighed myself. With all our stress I figured I had put on weight. I know stress can cause you to lose weight but I admit, I’m a stress eater. I didn’t watch what I was eating. I managed to lose 4lbs. That is great! A big shock but actually great.

We went into our meeting and it was nice. My midwife was happy with my weight loss and we talked about all of what is going on. My BP was still very good! Surprised but a good relief. I have honestly felt I would have ended up in pre-term labor with all that was going on. My midwife even thought so and we were just both thankful I haven’t.

She then went on to check up on Bishop. His heartbeat was 142bpm He was head down and his back facing my left side. Which is good, meaning he’s in an anterior (facing my back) position and that is what we want for labor. She suggested I do knee rocks in order to open my pelvic bone and if I can manage it, to see a chiropractor again. I’m going to check into it and make sure I can get in with her again. I was at that appointment measuring 31 weeks. Which was interesting because I always measured on time. Oh well, I know it really doesn’t mean anything significantly so we’ll see. Jason feels he’ll only be a day “late” I hope so!

All is well, which is all I want. She did have a student there who is going to school to become a physician’s assistant. I am hopeful that with her witnessing natural home births it may lead her to being open minded. She seemed really nice and will be at our birth for Bishop.

Now onto Dane’s 18 month well child visit. It went really good. He again was very well behaved. He seems to be getting better at this haha. His weight was 27lbs and he is a smidge under 2’9”. His head was 18.5” round. When his doctor came in she said his weight and height did go down some but isn’t concerned. It is a normal thing for kids to fluctuate with their weights. I figure it also was because he was just recently sick and didn’t really want to eat. He would but it was very little.  He is developing just as he should for his age and that’s great. He loves helping get undressed but thinks getting dressed is a game haha. His words are growing and his favorite at the moment is No. He had his leg check up which I posted about a while ago and we discussed what happened at that appointment. So we’re hoping that the leg will fix itself and just basically waiting to go from there.

So that is my appointment update J boring I know. I have a post to do for tomorrow, well now actually today. I am going to get some sleep though, my wonderful bed is calling my name!

xx Marisa

Surprises and Sickies

So, I'm late on updating our blog and I do apologize! This post is basically about two things, a surprise and two sickies.

Life lately has been, hectic. Stressful, frustrating, unnerving, living in limbo basically. I have one absolutely wonderful friend. We go back, what, thirteen years? She's been there by my "side" through a lot of things in my life. A great friend and is just an awesome person.

With all that has been going on in our lives she has been there, to listen to me vent/cry, rant - whatever it was, she listened. I do the same for her and about 90% of the time we have the same mind on life. Anyways, she sent me a wonderful package. My mom got it at her house and brought it over to me, I loved it!

Now, we have not done anything for Bishop yet. It's been hard given the circumstances and sorry, I won't be able to go into them right now. So if you don't know, hopefully soon you'll have the full story. Anyways, we've been in a position where we could not plan out rooms and such, or even really put anything together. Bishop is going to be a summer baby and the other boys were winter babies. I saved all of their clothes and yet here we are with a summer baby haha. Jason and I were getting things out a few weeks back during all the moves and it hit us. We have nothing summer related for a baby! Well, we do, but not in the right age for the season.

She was so wonderful to send us a small package of things for the baby and even some Australian play money for the boys. Oh and I got some candy haha. Her seasons are different then ours (she lives in Australia) and so she sent us a few small newborn outfits. I adore them! Absolutely adore them. My mom loved them as well. We also got a beautiful adorable polka dotted Elephant for him.

I have some photos that I will post at the end of the entry. But Zoe, we thank you so very much for the wonderful package. You are honestly an amazing friend and one day hopefully our lives will cross and we can finally meet. Or you know, when you're in the states, drop by MI - duh! Its funny to think how far our friendship has grown in these years. Who would have thought it would have lasted this long? You truly are a wonderful friend beyond amazing. You're one of my closest friends, well, you knew that. I love you dearly! We all do <3


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The sickies. Ah, my sickies. It was odd that it came out of nowhere. Last Saturday (the 5th - see, I am behind!) Dane started out fine. He was himself, playing and being trouble. We were playing outside and he was doing just fine. All of a sudden he had a dirty diaper and i went to change it. It was obviously a bad one and I put ointment on it. From there I noticed a change. I thought maybe his tush hurt and he was just being a bit sulky about it. So we cuddled outside while Gage played and Jason worked on a set of stairs for the back door.

Something was off. All of a sudden he was burning up. His head, back, tummy, under his pits and back of his knees. It was seriously too hot to the touch. I took his temp; 101.3°F. I know its not too high to be so concerning but he started showing other signs that didn't sit well with me. He all of a sudden was lethargic, breathing short and fast (if that makes sense. It was hard to describe), jittery and his heart was racing. You could feel how fast it was going. He also was making this odd noise. I sat with him for an hour inside (started at 5pm and we came in at 6pm) mentioned it to Jason and he checked him out. I told him something in me didn't feel right. Right there he told me to go to Urgent Care.

I don't normally panic over sicknesses. The last time I had a gut feeling Dane ended up being hospitalized for a week with an abscess in his neck. Then had surgery on it to drain it. So when my gut says go, we generally follow it. I'm just very thankful that this time it wasn't so serious. We were in Urgent Care and his vitals came back to his heart rate being much faster then it should be for his temp. I forgot to ask what his fever temp was. The doctor told me that what she could see what he had was viral. So a viral bug. She said for his vitals, she wanted us to stay another 20 minutes to give him Motrin and retest the vitals again then. Dane was seriously not himself. We honestly do not call him trouble for nothing. He was super snuggly and laid on the table in the room. He snuggled his blanket and actually fell asleep! That never happens with the doctors. He sat still for her exam, again, something that never happens!

They tested his vitals again 20 minutes later and his heart rate thankfully went down. His fever however didn't break. We were sent home with it being a viral bug but in the back of her mind she was not ruling out the possibility of it being the start of pneumonia. His lungs were clear and his oxygen levels were good though. But she said it could still be a possibility. If he got worse to come back. Thankfully he got better. It took about if you look at it really 3 days total to get better. We flip flopped between tylenol and motrin for him. Kept him hydrated, gave him easy foods to eat. He slept so much. On the 2nd day of it all he took a 4hr nap in his bed in our room (moved him away from Gage to avoid him catching it.. ha) and then another 3 hours on me. That was not him! He was so irritable at night too. Jason and I got no sleep during the duration he was sick but he is much better so no sleep was worth it.

Gage finally caught it. He thankfully beat it much quicker then Dane. He went down for a nap on Tuesday (unlike him) and woke up burning up. Sure enough like Dane; it struck out of nowhere! So we started the same treatment process with him and within 2 days Gage was back to himself. Thank goodness. Having sickies is no fun. I hope I can handle it when I know I will have 3 sick kidlets in a row. I'm sure I will! I am just very thankful that Jason and i escaped it. I don't know how I would have been handling it being 28 weeks at the time.

I have my 2 healthy happy boys back and I am so very thankful for that!

Here are the surprise photos + 1 belly picture from 28 weeks and 5 days :) One will be on the main page and to see the rest click "read more>>"

xx Marisa

(follow this link!)

A Sunday "Adventure" (image heavy.)

This has been a long weekend due to the holiday today. With all going on in our lives we wanted to get out of the house, spend time with the boys. Just the four of us. We spent a few hours in the morning trying to figure out what we could do that would be fun for all of us but didn't cost a lot of money. We came up with going to the Dunes.

Where we live is a gorgeous area of the state. However, being a tourist town prices are jacked up during summer and it can make those on a budget a bit difficult to do things there. So, we sat down and talked it out. Decided that since we're not that far from Lake Michigan, we'd head out to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. Its only $10 for the park fee and its good up to 7 days. So thats a slight perk :). We packed up the boys, some drinks and snacks, bought some sunscreen (which I have been meaning to do!) and headed out.

Many years ago, in a state now called Wisconsin, lived a mother bear and her two cubs. One day, as they were in the woods gathering food, a fire broke out. All of the animals, including the mother bear and her cubs, had to leave the forest. The mother bear and her cubs swam across Lake Michigan to the state we now call Michigan. It was a very long swim. Soon, the two cubs grew very tired and fell behind their mother. When the mother bear came to the shores of Michigan, she climbed to the highest point she could find, a large hill made of sand, and waited for the cubs. She waited and waited and waited. But her cubs could not make the long journey. Instead, the Great White Spirit, who watched over all the animals, turned the cubs into two islands. The mother bear, who soon grew tired, saw her two cubs in the lake and knew that the Great White Spirit had taken care of them. She soon saw the two islands in Lake Michigan. Knowing that her cubs were safe, she soon fell fast asleep. Today, the cubs are known as North Manitou Island and South Manitou Island. Their mother, who the Great Spirit covered with sand to keep warm, now watches over her cubs from her spot atop the giant hill made of sand. We call her Sleeping Bear Sand Dune.

We left a bit later in the day, around 2:30pm I believe. It was a Sunday though and no plans to do anything early the next day anyways. Dane was a bit antsy in the car but did better going there then back. He's not a car baby. Gage, fell asleep 5 miles outside of our neighborhood! Kid was conked out.

This is where our whole "adventure" began. Mind you, we've never actually traveled this way by ourselves. We have always gone with my mom and step-dad, never paid attention to the actual route. We did a quick look up on the internet before we left. No real directions - ha, yeah, that should scream trouble right there. We kinda went out of our way haha, passed right by where we wanted to go. Both of us saw it but never really put two and two together. Yup, we're idiots. We admit it! In a way though, it was nice. Such beautiful scenery. I wish I had taken more pictures then I did but in a moving car, not quite as easy and I wasn't going to ask him to pull over. Dane was in the car and awake, that would have equaled screams haha.

We turned around and *gasp* he ASKED for directions! This is the 2nd time in my life I have ever witnessed a male asking for directions. But then again, i was sitting next to both of them in the car telling them to ask for the damn directions because we're freaking lost. This time, we felt like idiots though haha. However, what's done is done and we finally made it to our destination.

Gage was getting antsy and upset. Understandable but a whiney 4 year old can get old at times. This started to be one because of how he was whining. I was determined to make it up to him so I didn't let his mood ruin mine.

We pulled in, paid and went on our merry little way. Where we passed by our first marker. The covered Bridge. I left the little booklet outside that describes each marker .. I probably should have brought it in haha. Anyways we went through and up to the main destinations. To view the Dunes and Lake Michigan. I have been here several times and still the view of the lake is beautiful. Especially when you go on a day we did, clear skies, just all around wonderful. The first one we stopped at, a view of the Dunes was just awesome. I don't ever personally recall going there, I may have when I was younger or such. I just don't have my own recollection of it. Taking the boys there was fun. Them seeing it, more so Gage because hes at an age where he'll remember. He's been there once before, when he was only 7 months old. But now, he can enjoy it in his own little 4 year old way! Here is a picture of Gage standing in the same spot 4 years later.

It's neat to be able to take him back there. I do wish I had the old photo saved onto this laptop. I'd share it for reference. This trip also lead to it being Dane's first time there and his first time seeing and feeling sand. It was pretty neat. Gage didn't take to sand kindly the first time like Dane. It was cute trying to see Dane walk on it. All in all this trip was nice and honestly, a much needed break from our daily lives with the constant unknowns and stress. Taking the boys out, spending time with them and leaving everything else behind at home was what I believe we all needed. I took a ton of photos and wish I had remembered to bring my tripod, so no actual full family shots of us all. Sad day. I am happy we went and Gage loved playing in the sand. We think we brought half of it back with him in his pockets and shoes. So I will end this with pictures from that day. Not all of them have uploaded and I'm slightly annoyed by that but right now, I have other things in my life that are a bigger worry then a few pictures not being uploaded! I will add them once I can get them on here. 

xx

Marisa

The rest of the photos are under this "read more" link - so just click on that.