Easter, Pregnancy, Stomach Bug, etc...
Our PCB meeting was on April 11th. That went well as usual. After that, that Saturday afternoon was spent dying Easter eggs for the Easter bunny to hide, and getting all of the other random Easter stuff ready for the next day. That evening, Jeff and I went out on a little date to our neighbor's birthday party. After that we headed over to Barnes and Noble to find some simple books to read to the kids about the "birds and the bees talk". We figured that since there was going to be a good chance that the kids will be here at home when I go into labor and have Danielle, that we should probably talk to them in very simple terms about the differences between boys and girls, and about how a baby is born. They both have shown a great deal of interest in the subject (of Kanielle being born), and Jeff and I don't want to lie to them, but rather be truthful but not overly detailed. We found a few good books, and have had the talk. The kids seemed to understand and be ok with the whole conversation. I guess the truth will be when the time comes for the baby to come...
Easter was nice. It was pretty low key. We did the usual Easter thing with having the kids hunt eggs and find their Easter baskets. After that was all done with, we made a huge Easter breakfast with waffles, eggs, and bacon. We had a good friend over for brunch, and we all had a nice time. The rest of Easter was spent cleaning and organizing, getting ready for our home visit with our midwife that coming Tuesday, the 14th of April. We got a whole lot accomplished over the course of 8 hours! I got kids clothes hung and reorganized, and Jeff got the laundry room wall in the basement finished.
Our home visit went really well. Our midwife's assistant was also able to come so that we could meet her as well. It was very nice to met her before I was in labor. Gave us a chance to actually talk. Also at this appointment were Jeff and I, the 3 kids, and my two friends who I've asked to attend the birth...one who is in school, trainning to be a massage therapist, and the other who watches Kyle for me 3 times a week so that I can take Natalie to preschool. Everyone really enjoyed themselves at the appt. There were a lot of questions exchanged, and that is good, being that everyone is now on the same page. We discussed the final little details of what I want for the birth, where I want to have the baby, etc. I am so excited about having this homebirth! I think that Jeff is more anxious than I am. He's always the one to worry about things.
On April 16th, I started noticing a definite change in the pain and pressure in my lower back and in my pelvis! And since then I've had 4 or 5 people tell me that it looks like I'm starting to drop. Plus I've had a few other signs that the baby may be coming soon! But you never know. I had the same signs with Natalie, and she came two days later, and the same signs with Katie and she came 3 1/2 weeks later. So who knows...only Miss Danielle knows when it's time for her to make her grand entrence into the world. I just have to be patient and try my best to stay comfortable...which is getting really hard these days!!!
On April 18th, we had our PCB Easter brunch. We were unsure if we would be able to go because that night prior (Friday night) Natalie woke up in the middle of the night, as she had thrown up in her bed. She ate breakfast the next morning and seemed fine. She said that she was tired, but wanted to go to the Easter brunch. So we headed up that way, and on the way, stopped at the mall so that Kyle could get his picture taken with Clifford the big red dog at barnes and noble for his school bok fair. Then we headed on the rest of the way to the brunch. No more than 30 seconds after getting out of the van, Natalie threw up again. She ended up eating a small brunch of bacon and fruth with jello and seemed fine for the rest of the time. When we got home though, she said she had a headache and she started running a slight fever. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and by the time she went to bed, her fever was already starting to go down. Come Sunday, she was mostely back to her normal self. A little lack of appetite, but overall active as usual.
Monday (the 20th), Natalie went on her preschool field trip to the farm. I really had wanted to go, but my baby sitter had called me and told me that she had walking pneumonia and wouldn't be in to help me this week. That actually turned out to work in my favor because I wouldn't have been able to go with Natalie anyways because early that morning at about 4:30am, Kyle woke up screaming that his ear hurt. He didn't stop crying for over 4 hours! So I knew that I had to get him into the doctor. So I took him in, and he has a really bad ear infection. The doctor said that she was really surprised that he wasn't sicker than he was. So he got some antibiotics and numbing ear drops and those meds seemed to really help tremendously! Back to Natalie...she had a really good time at the farm. They went to the park afterwards, and she had lots to tell me when she came home. Our evening had an interesting point in it...the 3 kids and I were out on our back deck (our deck is above the backyard) sitting out there enjoying the nice sunny day. Well, Katie likes to open and close the sliding glass door which normally isn't a big deal. Well, quicker than I could blink, she stepped inside, closed the door and locked it! She thought she was so slick by locking me, Kyle and Natalie outside! And what do you think the first thing she did was? She made a bee line for the candy basket! Now, the three of us are locked out on the deck with no way in the house, and the deck is too high for me to try and lower Kyle down to the back yard so that he could go around to the front of the house to get in. So I tried telling Katie how to unlock the door (that did no good). So then I called my neighbors and couldn't get a hold of them. But was fortunate enough to get a hold of my friend who lives right around the corner from me, and she was able to come over and get in to unlock the door and let us in. Now normally, I don't leave my front door unloxked, even when I'm home, but for some reason that day I didn't. Things all seem to work out in their own way, don't they?
On Wednesday morning, Katie woke up throwing up. It continued on every 10 minutes until about 10am. I could time it by my watch. I felt so bad for her! She slept from 10 to 10:30 and then woke up throwing up again, this time every 20 minutes until about 3:30pm. Then she passed out for a few hours nap. When she woke up at about 5:30pm, she acted like she felt a little better, and even ate a few crackers and drank some water and was able to keep those down. So I headed on to parent ed that evening, thinking that she was over the hump of the virus and that Jeff would be able to take care of her. Unfortunately, she was still sick while I was gone, and so Jeff couldn't do the few things that needed to get done while I was gone, and they had to wait until we got home (which was about 9:30pm. Oh well. It was ok. She ended up sleeping really well that night though.
Then came yesterday morning at about 6:30am when Kyle woke up sick. Yesterday was his 6th birthday and he had to have the stomack flu! Poor guy! The course of his virus was very much like Katie's was. Continuous vomiting that eased up as the day went along. Katie seemed to be a little better. She went the whole day eating and drinking little bits here and there, without throwing up at all, but she slept the majority of the day away. She really needed it! Today, she's gotten more of her energy back, and is still working on her appetite and Kyle is having his really tired day like Katie was yesterday. He ate a pancake for breakfast and then took a 3 hour nap! When he woke up, he looked and acted like he were never sick, and he was begging me to let him go to school (at this point there was still enough time for him to get ready to meet the bus). So I told him that if he really felt like he could go, that he could. So he ate a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and caught his bus for school. I haven't received a call yet from the school saying that he's not feeling well, so I guess that he's doing ok.
We were suppose to have Kyle and Natalie's birthday party tomorrow, but Jeff and I found it in our best interest (along with everyone elses) to postpone the party until later on in May. For one, even though we seem to be on the mend from this ugly stomach flu, we just don't want to risk passing it on to anyone else. Plus if we push the date back any further, that makes me nervous that we'd have to reschedule again or cancel due to me being in labor. So I think we're looking at the weekend of Saturday, May 16th. Same party and time...just a different date. The kids are pretty disappointed but they'll understand. We'll still do something special as a familoy together this weekend.
With all of the down time tha tI've had this week with having sick kids, I actually had time to update my pregnancy site. You guys have probably seen it already, but if now, here is the link. I'll also provide the link to my baby guessing poll, if you'd like to e nter a guess for Danielle's birth date, birth time, weight and length. Enjoy browsing and have fun playing!
http://babyschweizer4.tripod.com
www.expectnet.com/games/babyschweizer4
Easter was nice. It was pretty low key. We did the usual Easter thing with having the kids hunt eggs and find their Easter baskets. After that was all done with, we made a huge Easter breakfast with waffles, eggs, and bacon. We had a good friend over for brunch, and we all had a nice time. The rest of Easter was spent cleaning and organizing, getting ready for our home visit with our midwife that coming Tuesday, the 14th of April. We got a whole lot accomplished over the course of 8 hours! I got kids clothes hung and reorganized, and Jeff got the laundry room wall in the basement finished.
Our home visit went really well. Our midwife's assistant was also able to come so that we could meet her as well. It was very nice to met her before I was in labor. Gave us a chance to actually talk. Also at this appointment were Jeff and I, the 3 kids, and my two friends who I've asked to attend the birth...one who is in school, trainning to be a massage therapist, and the other who watches Kyle for me 3 times a week so that I can take Natalie to preschool. Everyone really enjoyed themselves at the appt. There were a lot of questions exchanged, and that is good, being that everyone is now on the same page. We discussed the final little details of what I want for the birth, where I want to have the baby, etc. I am so excited about having this homebirth! I think that Jeff is more anxious than I am. He's always the one to worry about things.
On April 16th, I started noticing a definite change in the pain and pressure in my lower back and in my pelvis! And since then I've had 4 or 5 people tell me that it looks like I'm starting to drop. Plus I've had a few other signs that the baby may be coming soon! But you never know. I had the same signs with Natalie, and she came two days later, and the same signs with Katie and she came 3 1/2 weeks later. So who knows...only Miss Danielle knows when it's time for her to make her grand entrence into the world. I just have to be patient and try my best to stay comfortable...which is getting really hard these days!!!
On April 18th, we had our PCB Easter brunch. We were unsure if we would be able to go because that night prior (Friday night) Natalie woke up in the middle of the night, as she had thrown up in her bed. She ate breakfast the next morning and seemed fine. She said that she was tired, but wanted to go to the Easter brunch. So we headed up that way, and on the way, stopped at the mall so that Kyle could get his picture taken with Clifford the big red dog at barnes and noble for his school bok fair. Then we headed on the rest of the way to the brunch. No more than 30 seconds after getting out of the van, Natalie threw up again. She ended up eating a small brunch of bacon and fruth with jello and seemed fine for the rest of the time. When we got home though, she said she had a headache and she started running a slight fever. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and by the time she went to bed, her fever was already starting to go down. Come Sunday, she was mostely back to her normal self. A little lack of appetite, but overall active as usual.
Monday (the 20th), Natalie went on her preschool field trip to the farm. I really had wanted to go, but my baby sitter had called me and told me that she had walking pneumonia and wouldn't be in to help me this week. That actually turned out to work in my favor because I wouldn't have been able to go with Natalie anyways because early that morning at about 4:30am, Kyle woke up screaming that his ear hurt. He didn't stop crying for over 4 hours! So I knew that I had to get him into the doctor. So I took him in, and he has a really bad ear infection. The doctor said that she was really surprised that he wasn't sicker than he was. So he got some antibiotics and numbing ear drops and those meds seemed to really help tremendously! Back to Natalie...she had a really good time at the farm. They went to the park afterwards, and she had lots to tell me when she came home. Our evening had an interesting point in it...the 3 kids and I were out on our back deck (our deck is above the backyard) sitting out there enjoying the nice sunny day. Well, Katie likes to open and close the sliding glass door which normally isn't a big deal. Well, quicker than I could blink, she stepped inside, closed the door and locked it! She thought she was so slick by locking me, Kyle and Natalie outside! And what do you think the first thing she did was? She made a bee line for the candy basket! Now, the three of us are locked out on the deck with no way in the house, and the deck is too high for me to try and lower Kyle down to the back yard so that he could go around to the front of the house to get in. So I tried telling Katie how to unlock the door (that did no good). So then I called my neighbors and couldn't get a hold of them. But was fortunate enough to get a hold of my friend who lives right around the corner from me, and she was able to come over and get in to unlock the door and let us in. Now normally, I don't leave my front door unloxked, even when I'm home, but for some reason that day I didn't. Things all seem to work out in their own way, don't they?
On Wednesday morning, Katie woke up throwing up. It continued on every 10 minutes until about 10am. I could time it by my watch. I felt so bad for her! She slept from 10 to 10:30 and then woke up throwing up again, this time every 20 minutes until about 3:30pm. Then she passed out for a few hours nap. When she woke up at about 5:30pm, she acted like she felt a little better, and even ate a few crackers and drank some water and was able to keep those down. So I headed on to parent ed that evening, thinking that she was over the hump of the virus and that Jeff would be able to take care of her. Unfortunately, she was still sick while I was gone, and so Jeff couldn't do the few things that needed to get done while I was gone, and they had to wait until we got home (which was about 9:30pm. Oh well. It was ok. She ended up sleeping really well that night though.
Then came yesterday morning at about 6:30am when Kyle woke up sick. Yesterday was his 6th birthday and he had to have the stomack flu! Poor guy! The course of his virus was very much like Katie's was. Continuous vomiting that eased up as the day went along. Katie seemed to be a little better. She went the whole day eating and drinking little bits here and there, without throwing up at all, but she slept the majority of the day away. She really needed it! Today, she's gotten more of her energy back, and is still working on her appetite and Kyle is having his really tired day like Katie was yesterday. He ate a pancake for breakfast and then took a 3 hour nap! When he woke up, he looked and acted like he were never sick, and he was begging me to let him go to school (at this point there was still enough time for him to get ready to meet the bus). So I told him that if he really felt like he could go, that he could. So he ate a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, and caught his bus for school. I haven't received a call yet from the school saying that he's not feeling well, so I guess that he's doing ok.
We were suppose to have Kyle and Natalie's birthday party tomorrow, but Jeff and I found it in our best interest (along with everyone elses) to postpone the party until later on in May. For one, even though we seem to be on the mend from this ugly stomach flu, we just don't want to risk passing it on to anyone else. Plus if we push the date back any further, that makes me nervous that we'd have to reschedule again or cancel due to me being in labor. So I think we're looking at the weekend of Saturday, May 16th. Same party and time...just a different date. The kids are pretty disappointed but they'll understand. We'll still do something special as a familoy together this weekend.
With all of the down time tha tI've had this week with having sick kids, I actually had time to update my pregnancy site. You guys have probably seen it already, but if now, here is the link. I'll also provide the link to my baby guessing poll, if you'd like to e nter a guess for Danielle's birth date, birth time, weight and length. Enjoy browsing and have fun playing!
http://babyschweizer4.tripod.com
www.expectnet.com/games/babyschweizer4