Week 27 Update!

Time for another update! I'm linking up over at My Joy Filled life again so be sure and click the button at the bottom of the page if you want to read about other ladies in their pregnancy journey. And now for my own news.....

I'm 27 weeks and 3 days along according to the doctor's guess date....27 exactly if we go by mine. :-)

Medical Stuff: Had my 1 hour glucose test on Thursday and it was slightly elevated so of course they want me to do the 3 hour now. Not something I'm looking forward to at all for sure. I also have low iron (which isn't all that unusual for me) so I'll have to work on boosting that up more. They recommend pills of course but since that doesn't agree with my stomach I'll be doing liquid chlorophyll instead. As long as it raises my level that's all that matters to me! As for the glucose stuff I'm already eating better and keeping it regulated myself. Why wait for the test, right? :-)

Symptoms: I'm still having alot of issues with my hips at times. They can be very painful and make walking or basically any activity hard. Pelvic pain/pressure has gotten worse after I'm on my feet much as well. My babies tend to drop and I carry low usually early though so it's pretty normal around this time for me. Not comfortable for sure though! Also seem to be having some weird bladder area pain this past week but I haven't figured out what that could be yet unless it's just from him dropping lower. Really hoping it's not a uti or anything. :-/

Weight Gain: Another 4 lbs at the checkup which means I'm still averaging about 1 a week. I've actually only gained 13 total and if I stay on that track will have gained less than with any of my other pregnancies. But since I started out bigger this time I still feel huge already! My stomach measures pretty much right on target too though so I guess I'm not bigger than I should be or anything. Now if I can just convince my poor, over-stretched skin of that! lol

Sleep: Definitely not getting near enough of that! :-)

Movement: He's a little on the wild side these days. Seems to almost constantly stay busy! I'm wondering if that maybe has something to do with my glucose being a little elevated the past week or so? Or maybe he's just gonna be a little hyper? Let's hope it's the first and he'll settle down some soon. I need the rest now and for sure after he gets here! haha

Family Stuff: The kids still love to talk about the baby and interact with him through my stomach. It's both hilarious and seriously sweet at the same time. Especially Darcey doing things like knocking on me while saying, you in there, baby?! Love it! The older kiddos ask almost daily how much longer it is til he comes and declare that time seems to be passing slowly. I definitely agree. :-)

Discussion Questions: (answering for last week and this week together!) #1~Where will you give birth? Okay, so a week ago I would have said we were about 90% sure we are delivering in the hospital this time, but in the past couple of days we have been seriously talking about changing to a midwife/birth house option. Crazy, huh?! I don't have all the details and we haven't made a final decision about it yet so I will update about that later. Prayers for wisdom in this area would definitely be appreciated in the mean time though!
#2~Are you finding out the gender? I think I probably mentioned this in one of the earlier posts I did but we did find out and it's a boy! We've found out (or tried to) with each of ours so far, the only one we weren't totally sure about being the second. We pretty much expected girl but planned for either just in case. :-)

Well, there's another update for you! Hope you enjoyed reading and don't forget to check back for more news next week. I can't wait to find out and share what we decide! 


                                      Tyra

Things I Love {Thursday}

This is a crazy, busy week around here for us but I wanted to take a minute to share some things I'm loving in the middle of all the other stuff going on.

~ Starting therapy for my hip pain and looking forward to getting some relief hopefully!

~ Sharing scriptures with the kids and us all working to apply it in our every day life.

~ Almost being finished with this school year and looking forward to picking out new curriculum for the next one.

~ Finally having Darcey's 1 year old pictures made even if it is a little later than we planned!

~ Rocking one baby to sleep in my lap and feeling her little elbows in my stomach, while also feeling little elbows poking me from the inside. :-) 

~ Being reminded again about God's grace and forgiveness and how faithful He is no matter what. Also how much I desperately need His help to be a mom to these kiddos and how He always stands ready to give it when I ask!

~ Enjoying the sunshine and playing outside with the kids. Especially drawing all kinds of stuff with sidewalk chalk. :-)

~ Blake getting to little projects around the house that have needed finishing for awhile and kept getting put off while we did other things.

~ Seeing how much Delancey loved getting her ears pierced and how excited she is to start picking out more pairs after they heal up.

~ Planning a birthday party with friends for this weekend and looking forward to how much fun everyone will have!

~ Counting down the days til we meet this little boy growing in my belly. :-)

So there's a few things I'm pretty fond of around here lately! I would love to have you join in and tell me some of your own things. Until next time.....

                                        Tyra

Another Pregnancy Update!

Maybe it's just me but it seems like the days between doing these posts are flying by! (of course I have been late in writing some of them so that could be why?) Anyway, here's a couple new things going on with me and Daxton. :-)

How far along: I am 25 weeks, 5 days today. (according to the doctor's guess date)

Weight gain/loss: While I am definitely sure to be in the gain department I haven't even been keeping up with it much here at home. My appointment is next week so guess we will see how I did then. Personally I feel so much bigger this pregnancy, especially in the hips/behind area, but I think that's just because I had some left over weight from last time compared to my other pregnancies.

Symptoms/Medical Stuff: My allergies have been a killer recently and I'm not sleeping too well. Also, I started therapy yesterday since I have some pretty major hip/low back issues that have started interferring with my every day activities. As of right now I'm just sore but really hoping that it will help after going a few times. On a more comical note, my last couple of pregnancies I have gotten more clumsy for some reason and that is totally kicking in right now. Thankfully I haven't dropped anything too important. Yet. Does anyone else do that while expecting?

Prayer Requests: Better health and strength for me as I finish out the pregnancy. Some relief from these allergies would help SO much I think as well as being able to rest better. My glucose test is next week so I'm hoping to pass that. I'm also looking ahead to discussing the kind of birth experience I want with my doctor and the hospital soon so please pray that goes well. I know just having it planned is only the first step and there are no guarantees it will go that way, but I think it will be good to have a plan and then just try to trust the Lord to take care of the rest!

Thoughts from the family: The kids like asking about if he's moving, feeling him, and even telling him goodnight sometimes. It's sweet! Darcey of course isn't sure what all is going on but she will point to my stomach and say baby since she's heard the rest of us talk about it so much. Fun!

Discussion question: Who will be attending the birth? Actually we aren't totally settled on this question at the moment. Obviously my husband will be there and since I'm doing a hospital birth this time it will also be the nurses and doctor but I haven't decided if we may want to hire a doula or not as well. I plan on trying to stay home as long as possible so there might not be a need for someone else being there for extra support, but it's hard to say since we won't really know how things are going to go until it happens! I will definitely keep you update on this decision though.

Well, there's the update for this week! Look forward to next week since I'll have some new info after the checkup. Be sure to click the button at the top to visit the link and read about other ladies who are expecting! :-)

Tyra 

Homeschooling Stuff

I don't post very often about homeschooling on here, which is something I may try to change in the future. And since I had some thoughts on my mind about that subject at the moment I figured now would be a good time to start! :-)

We are almost done with this school year as far as days go, although we do have some more work in a few books that I want to finish up this summer as well so that we can start with some different things for the next year. I'm a little torn over what I want to try for the next grades just to be honest. We did some unit studies at the beginning of this past year but while we liked some things about it there were others that we didn't. We then ended up doing some Abeka and Bob Jones books in a few subjects which is what we are working to finish up now. I'm also still doing some of the upper level Sing, Spell, Read and Write with Delancey and she has caught on so amazingly well with her reading just recently. Due to various reasons it has taken her longer to pick up on stuff than it did with Dathan but knowing that every child is different I wasn't all that concerned about it really. I'm so thankful to have a homeschooling background that I believe enables me to be more easy going with things and willing to just go with the flow while the kids are young. They will get it when they get it and pushing too hard or worrying about it is just pointless I think.

Back to the question of what curriculum to use this next year though. Knowing that we'll be adding a new baby in the mix come August or September makes it even harder to decide what direction would be best to go in for everyone. I'll have a 4th and 2nd grader to teach plus an almost 2 year old and newborn to deal with at the same time! And since my 8 (he'll be turning 9 in August) year old and 7 year old seem to learn in different ways and even like different subjects that makes it a little hard to school together really. Any thoughts, advice, or suggestions would be appreciated in this area!

To be honest, academics isn't really my highest priority when it comes to schooling my kids or the main reason we choose to keep them at home. (gasp!) I'm not saying there's anything wrong with learning or that we will hold them back if they have the desire to advance as far as they are able, but it's just not where I want to put the most importance. Especially while they are little. I'd much rather see them learn how to become Godly young men and women who use their lives for His glory rather than get caught up in a certain career or worry so much about what they know or can accomplish in life in other ways. That being said, I think a certain amount of learning is good and beneficial to everyone, regardless of their goals in life so that is what I want to be able to help them with as they grow up. Not to mention that they both happen to be smart, little boogers who love to learn (about the stuff they're interested in anyway! lol) and I want to encourage them in that the best way I can. :-)

So anyway there's a few thoughts about homeschooling I had at the moment. I'm sure there will be more to come in the future! For now though if you have anything to share with me pertaining to this subject I would love to hear from you. Until next time....

                                           Tyra

p.s. I am linking this post up to The Modest Mom blog but seem to be having trouble with buttons recently so just click on the name above to visit her site! Thanks! 

Our {Big} Baby Girl is 7!

Where do the years go?! Seriously, it seems like only yesterday we were bringing home a beautiful, baby girl and now instead she is 7 already! We were so busy celebrating and having fun that I didn't even take the time to write on her actual birthday but wanted to go ahead and share some memories now. Guess I might as well just start at the beginning, right? :-)

For various reasons we chose to birth in TN for our second baby, at a house, with a midwife. I was a little nervous about the longer drive, natural labor, etc but also excited and hoping to have a much better experience than with our first in the hospital. We only did one ultrasound and couldn't tell for sure what the baby was (although the opinion leaned slightly more towards girl than boy) so we prepared for either on the big day. I was 4 days over my due date and had been trying a little of everything to get things started but nothing seemed to work so far. We went to the chiropractor who did some acupressure to stimulate my uterus, in addition to the regular adjustment then headed out to eat with a friend before going home to see what would happen.
After leaving the restaurant I realized while driving home that I seemed to be "leaking" something. I called Blake, who was driving separately, and told him we should pull over to check if my water had broken. Um, yeah, it had. Completely. Which I quickly found out after standing up. Ha! I almost immediately started having pretty hard contractions so we debated whether or not we'd have time to drive all the way home (30 minutes further away from the birth house than where we were) and then the whole way back or if we should just head out from there. The only drawback being I somehow didn't have the baby bag we had packed in the car with me so I wouldn't have much for it to wear. We decided that was still best though and called my parents so they could pick up a couple of outfits and then meet us there to watch Dathan during the birth.
Long story short, we made it to the house and I got cleaned up and changed. The doula arrived and then the midwife (finally!) thankfully since by then I was hurting pretty bad and wanting to get in the birthing tub. She had to check me first and was surprised to find I was already a 7! (she had convinced herself since I was so calm and quiet during the contractions that I probably wasn't far along....which is also why she didn't hurry to get there) Anyhow, the tub was filled by then so I got in, which felt good for a few minutes but the pain quickly became alot worse and I started feeling different. The midwife was kinda casually walking through the room during a contraction and I said what does it feel like when you need to push?! She got a shocked look on her face (since I was only a 7 like 10 minutes before that) and quickly got some gloves on. I didn't even feel like getting out of the tub so we decided to just try birthing in the water. Three pushes with lots of screaming (on my part, that is, since she was face up! Ouch!) later and out came our baby girl!! :-)
It was an amazing, unforgettable experience to say the least and I wouldn't change anything about it that I can think of. (okay, so I would have preferred less pain and tearing while pushing but all that was quickly forgotten anyway once she got here!) I can definitely say that the beginning of her life was just as unexpected as she has proven to be herself since then but I wouldn't trade either of them for the world.

Our Delancey Paige is the most loving, sweet, stubborn, funny, independent, girl imaginable.....with a personality that is all her own! From dressing up like a princess to playing with worms out in the dirt, she never ceases to surprise us in how she looks at things. I can't wait to see what God does in her life as she continues to grow and learn every day. We are so blessed and honored to have the privilege of raising her. Sometimes I feel like I'm the one that is learning things just from being her momma! I'm so thankful for the Lord giving her to us for these seven years and hope to enjoy many, many more birthdays with our girl! And now I will end by leaving you with some pictures of her day.......

p.s. I almost forgot to add that she asked to get her ears pierced as a special surprise for her birthday. She loves it and they look so cute! So proud of my big girl. :-)

Traveling Pregnant, Swimwear, and Other Things

We are finally home after a fun, crazy, loooong trip to Florida! It was nice making memories with the family but let me just say that traveling while pregnant isn't the easiest (or most comfortable) thing in the world. It's nice to be back and spend the day just trying to rest up! I thought I'd share a few things about my pregnancy during the trip this past week, show a picture of my modest, maternity swimwear and whatever else comes to mind. :-)

I'm linking up with a couple different places today as well so be sure to check those out at the end of the post if you want to read some other good blogs too!

First off is a picture of me at the beach where we spent a couple of days. Cute, modest swimwear is hard to find anytime and of course pregnancy only adds to that but I was pretty pleased with this outfit I came up with. The top is a maternity one from Target that I got on sale during my last pregnancy but ended up not using since it was intended for when I would possibly be having a water-birth and that didn't happen. I did choose to wear a black tank top underneath since the back is a little low-cut and I wanted to be more covered. Also the straps were originally unattached and intended to be tied around the neck but I just sewed them on straight since I liked that better than the halter style. The skirt is one I got from Wal-mart last year that is made from swimsuit material. I love it! I've worn the matching bottoms to the swimsuit (which are longish, maternity swimshorts) or just some longer speedo type shorts underneath. Whatever you're comfortable with works! So anyway here's my maternity swimwear.....

Now on to some pregnancy updates for the week:

My dysautonomia symptoms flared up alot on the trip since it was super hot in Florida and my body doesn't regulate it's temperature well. Add all the walking around we did on top of that and my feet were feeling pretty painful at times. Plus just the general pelvic pain/pressure from being up and doing more and sleeping on a different bed made things a little uncomfortable most days. But I made it and didn't do too bad really all things considered.

No particular food cravings at the moment that I can think of. I did want cold stuff to drink and preferred to eat kinda light at times on the trip since we were out in the heat so much.  Oh, I did have an unusual craving for peanut m&m's one day which I did indulge in but kinda regretted afterwards. I can definitely tell that I rarely eat those kind of foods anymore! Actually eating lighter stuff and having fruit, smoothies, etc still sounds pretty good most of the time. I should definitely take advantage of that and eat that kind of stuff since it would be so good for me!

I am pretty much totally in maternity shirts now I guess, although I still have a few skirts I can wear that have some give or elastic in the waist. And maybe a few t-shirts that aren't too fitted. Maternity clothes are definitely the most comfy thing for me now! Which leads me to the fact that I feel and look huge even though I still haven't gained just tons of weight. I really can't imagine growing for 15 more weeks like this but I guess I will get to find out just how much I do in the next few months! :-)

I am starting to look forward to buying some baby stuff and get more ready for this baby's arrival. Also, planning a trip to tour the hospital we plan on giving birth in this time to discuss natural birth options, etc so I'm excited to see how that goes. We would love to do a home birth if it was legal to hire a midwife here but since it isn't we can still hopefully get the best natural birth possible in the hospital.

As for the discussion question about fears on the pregnancy link-up, I think the Lord really helped me deal with alot of fear during my last pregnancy. It was mostly due to health issues for me and the baby. And although I do still occasionally have those same fears this time as well I try to just pray about them and trust the Lord to take care of things. Since I'm not really in control of any of it anyway! I love the verse in Timothy about fear not coming from God and also a verse in Colossians that says to let the peace of God rule in our hearts. It helps me to remind myself that after I pray that I still need to work to just not worry and allow His peace to rule in my heart and mind.

Hope you all enjoyed reading another update! I can't wait to keep on counting down this pregnancy and also posting more pics of the outfits I come up with. Until next time...

Tyra

Linking up today with The Modest Mom and My Joy Filled Life. Be sure to check out their links as well!

Road Trip!

We are off to the beach for a couple of days and then on to Orlando to visit Seaworld! Hoping to get left around bedtime tonight so the drive will be easier on the kiddos. (although Dathan is such a bad sleeper he probably won't get alot of rest) We'll be by ourselves at the beach but are meeting up with family afterwards so it should be alot of fun!

You're probably thinking that I'm totally crazy to even consider going so far while pregnant with all the health stuff I have problems with.....and you'd be absolutely right to think so. It is crazy! haha But I'm sure we'll make it through it somehow. I plan on lots of breaks, rest, and if worse comes to worse renting one of the scooters to drive myself around SeaWorld on. Isn't that a scary thought?! lol

I'll be taking lots of pictures to post when we get back and hopefully will have an update of how super fun, relaxing and dare I say easy this trip was! :-) See ya'll soon!

                                       Tyra

Pregnancy Update

Since I was wanting to do an update on how the pregnancy is going and had an invite to a link-up as well I figured it would work out to just use the same post for both! Be sure to click through the link at the bottom if you want to read about some other moms pregnancy journeys as well. And thanks to Sarah for this fun idea!

How far along: As of today I am 23 weeks and 5 days. My guess date is August 23, 2012. (I like saying guess date since when the baby actually comes or is due is usually so unpredictable in my case! lol)

Baby's Growth/Movement:  He is approximately 12 inches now and weighs about a pound. It's amazing that something that small can pack such a huge kick but boy does he ever! I love feeling and seeing him move around in there though. He's supposed to be hearing more sounds now to get him used to all the noise after being born. Let's hope it works since things are rarely quiet around here!

Gender/Name: Since some of you may be reading for the first time I will add that it's a boy and his name is Daxton Judah. :-)

Medical Stuff/Symptoms/Prayer Requests: I have something called dysautonomia which gets worse during pregnancy so that's a little hard to deal with at times. It causes tachycardia, low blood pressure, shortness of breath, dizziness, tiredness, and sometimes swelling, achy, burning feet and ankles....especially in the heat. (which is a given here in the south this time of year!) I also have severe allergies to lots of things so with both of those along with "normal" pregnancy issues there can be some rough days. Prayers for health and strength during the rest of the pregnancy would be greatly appreciated!

Weight GainStretch Marks/: I've gained a total of 9 pounds (give or take a few ounces. lol) since the beginning of pregnancy. 4 of those being in the past four weeks! Really hoping that doesn't become the pattern in the time I have left, although that would actually end up being less total than what I've gained in my other pregnancies. But I did keep about 10 pounds after our last so that has made a huge difference this time in how I feel and look! I don't seem to be getting any more stretch marks so far other than the ones I've had since my first baby. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Cravings/Aversions: I tend to crave both sweet and salty things at different times I think. Not really anything at this particular time that I just have to have or can't stand now that the all-day morning sickness is over with. Thank goodness!

Sleep/Emotions: I tend to have some sleep issues due to my other health problems anyway so to be honest I don't always get much rest during pregnancy. Which of course tends to make it harder not to be more irritable, tired, etc during the day. We're hanging in there though. Maybe I will catch up somewhat before he gets here cause goodness knows I probably won't get extra afterwards! :-)

Clothes: Mostly in maternity now although I do still have a few regular skirts with elastic and shirts with a little give that work for me. Since I try to dress modestly whether pregnant or not it can sometimes be challenging to find cute clothes, but it's definitely worth the extra work to look nice and not show off too much skin. ;-) Haven't taken any new pics recently but will try to post some next time!

Best Moment This Week: Finding out that my placenta previa had totally moved where it needs to be on its own! Definitely praising the Lord for answered prayer with that. I really did not want to worry about all the complications that can bring with it or especially having a c-section. 

What I Miss/Look Forward To:  I really miss being able to hold our 18 month old easily in my lap and also not feeling like doing much with the older kiddos. I look forward to having another baby boy since our oldest is 8. Along with lots of other things of course!

So there's my pregnancy update for this week. Whew, that was alot of information! :-) Hope you enjoy reading though and I look forward to browsing the other link-ups too.

Catching Up

Life has been busy, busy around here and I just realized I haven't posted in a whole week! We traveled to KY for a camp meeting last Wednesday and got home on Friday night.  It was nice to be in the services and hear some great preaching, but I have to admit the trip was a little rough for me. The kids did good on the drive back and forth, especially Darcey who is at that age where sitting still for long is never fun. Dathan's allergies have been a pain lately though and causes some emotional/spiritual problems for him as well so dealing with that was harder when away too. He actually got ready to come back home earlier than we had planned and I can't say I blame him since I know how bad he was feeling! We were glad we took the trip but more than glad to get back home. :-)

Saturday morning I went to a pregnancy class that was put on by a local therapy place. It was fun and very informative, plus they told me I should ask my doctor to write a prescription for therapy to help my chronic neck/shoulder pain and some hip problems I have that get worse when pregnant. Definitely looking forward to trying that and hopefully getting some help!
The rest of Saturday we spent with my parents eating out to celebrate my mom's birthday and then just visiting at their house. We were all super tired from the trip but it was nice to have a relaxing day just taking it easy.

Through the night found me sick with a bad allergy attack so needless to say I didn't rest which ended up for a rough day Sunday. I think the week just caught up with me too after being around so much I was sensitive to, eating different, etc. My dysautonomia had kicked in several times so that had my pretty wiped out too. I mostly just laid around and tried to feel better while Blake helped out with the kiddos. Thankfully he wasn't preaching anywhere and we just had our own devotions here so I could rest.

Today was starting back into a new week with doing a little around the house and getting some school work this morning. My check-up with the OB was this afternoon and I was a little anxious but also ready to find out if there was any change with the placenta previa. Thankfully it has totally moved and everything looked great! Praising the Lord for answering prayers in that area. I appreciate everyone else who prayed as well. And although God had really helped me with it and given me peace over trusting Him, it's still a relief to not have to worry about it anymore.

Tonight we drove over where my Momaw lives and visited with her and my aunt for awhile. We hadn't seen them recently so it was good to enjoy spending some time with them. Finally made it home and got all the kids washed up and into bed. I grabbed a minute to get on here and update but I'm gonna head that way myself now! 

I'll probably do another pregnancy post soon with more specifics and hopefully update a couple more times before we leave to go out of state again this weekend. (yes, we are crazy for taking two trips this close together! haha) In the meantime, prayers for all of our health and especially mine and Dathan's would be greatly appreciated. We really need the Lord to help us with some things that we're struggling with! Thanks so much and now I really am going to bed. :-)


                            
                              Tyra