Wednesday, July 27, 2011

July 18-24

It was a pretty quiet week around the house. I thought we would make it a whole week without anyone being sick, but I was wrong. Poor Bailey was vomiting and had diarrhea, so Thursday afternoon I had to take her to the vet. They are still not sure what was wrong with her, but they gave her a shot to help with and stomach acid and then a radioactive pill in case she needed an x-ray on Friday. She stopped vomiting on Thursday, but the diarrhea didn't really let up until Saturday morning. So, we our carpet cleaner got a serious workout over those 3 days and it was not a lot of fun to do.

Most of the weekend I spent working. They have let me borrow a computer from work so I can do some extra work from home. So, I spent most of my free time staring at a computer screen. While it was nice to make some extra money, I realized by Monday I was burned out from not getting a day off. So, I will probably cut that back the next few weekends so I can actually relax.

Saturday afternoon, we traveled to Clemmons for Traci and TJ's housewarming party. Aubrey was pretty excited about seeing TJ, so we're not sure if she has a little crush on him or she just likes to say his name. The party was nice and Aubrey's bashfulness wore off quickly after our arrival. We stayed and ate dinner with them before we made our way back home for me to do more work.

Sunday was the usual chores and cleaning day. The nesting mode continued as I went on a serious cleaning spree. It was nice to enjoy a super clean house for the day before the usual hub bub of the week destroys it.

So, hope everyone is having a great week!

Aubrey all dressed to go to the housewarming party. She insisted I take a picture of her with her "pretty" hair.

Friday, July 22, 2011

16-week check up

I was pretty excited to go to the doctor today. It seems like its been forever since my last visit. My blood pressure was pretty good, which was a relief after the past 2 visits. My weight on the other hand was not. I've gained 14 lbs. in the past 9 weeks and that's not cool. I told Todd later that we have got to be better about my food and exercise because I do not want to gain 42 lbs again and I am well on my way if I keep this up. So, back to the visit. Baby's heartbeat was 144. The CMA struggled a little longer to find it and true to Pearce baby form, once she did find it, the baby decided to move.  After that, I met Dr. Fishburne for the first time. He came in and said "So, 17 weeks today, huh?" Um, no, only 15 days, 6 weeks. He looked thoroughly confused when I told him this, so he went back to the computer to take a look. He then called me out in the hall to look at the computer and I told him that my due date had been changed at my 1st ultrasound and after looking for a few minutes, he said I was absolutely right and said they must have forgotten to change it in the computer. That was a little nerve wracking, but I was glad we got it figured out. We discussed a few issues that I've been having with my prenatal vitamins and he checked my uterus and said everything looked great. He was about to let me leave when he was like "Oh, yeah, by the way, you have Group B strep in your urine." Nice to spring that on me at the end. He said they will send my urine for a culture over the weekend to determine the level and possibly put me on antibiotics to prevent a UTI from developing. Then during delivery, I will be given antibiotics to prevent it from being transferred to the baby. It can be fatal to a newborn, which is kind of scary. So, at least its treatable for now and we'll worry about delivery when that time comes. He then gave me the go ahead to schedule my ultrasound and 20-week checkup. So, we'll know what baby Pearce #2 is on August 5th and I am pretty excited. We've got to narrow down our names and boy bedding ideas before that time. I guess it hit me today that I am moving through this pregnancy so fast. I know time appears to go faster because of Aubrey, but this pregnancy is flying by, which is kind of sad. Now that I am feeling better, I am kind of enjoying being pregnant. Except for sleeping on my side, I really have no complaints right now. I'm sure that will change as I get bigger and more miserable, but I think knowing that this is my last time to experience these things makes me want them to go slower. I'll just need to remind myself of this at the end when I am ready to explode. Sigh, a pregnant woman is never fully happy, right?!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

July 11-17

We had an interesting week this week. The first big piece of news is I for sure felt the baby move on Tuesday. I think I might have felt it move before that, but it was confirmed while I was trying to go to sleep that night. I was lying there trying to figure out my comfortable spot of the night when I felt the "popcorn feeling." I never felt that with Aubrey so I was kind of surprised that it really did feel like popcorn, or what I guess what popcorn would feel like if it were popping in my stomach. I had Todd press down on my belly and he was pretty sure he could feel it was well. Its so awesome to be able to feel movement this early since we had to wait almost 25 weeks before I was sure I felt Aubrey.

The 2nd exciting piece of news was that Todd finished his statistics class this week. Smarty pants finished with a 99.4 average. I know he would do well because math is just his thing, but of course he had to make sure he did better than I did in the class because it was the only math class I ever made an A in. I don't remember what my final grade was, but I'm sure it wasn't a 99 so we'll give him the win. I'm just glad he is finished for a few weeks. He starts his grad classes on August 22, so we get a little over a month to enjoy not having to stare at the back of his head at the computer.

The last bit of excitement in our life this week was Aubrey's ear tube surgery. The doctor's office called me on Tuesday to tell me the surgery was scheduled for 10:30 AM and Aubrey couldn't eat after 10:00 the night before.  I was not thrilled at the fact of starving my child over 12 hours and then dealing with her the next morning when she was screaming hungry. Thursday afternoon the nurse from the surgery center called me and let me know the surgery was at 8:30 AM. I told her I was grateful for the change in time and she said she wished the doctor's office hadn't told me a time because so many things change in their schedule over the week and people get worked up about their times unnecessarily. 8:30 was a much more reasonable time because I knew she'd be drugged by 8:00 and would forget about being hungry. So we got to the surgery center at 7:00 and they took us back to the pre-op room. We gave her health history (again, for the 3 time) and then just hung out in the room until 8:00 (I am very thankful for Todd's iPad and the new coloring apps we downloaded to entertain her). At that point, the nurse came in and gave Aubrey Versed, which is an anti-anxiety med. They warned me it would make her loopy and they were right. By about 15 minutes later, Aubrey started loosing her hand-eye coordination. Then, she started laughing at the wall or the iPad, or other not funny things. While I hope to never have to see it again, it was hilarious to watch. Todd and I facetimed so he could watch from his office and we were both crying from laughter. She finally couldn't even hold her head up so I laid her down on the bed and she had to fight to keep her eyes open. Right around 8:30, the nurse came to take her back to the OR and I went to the waiting room to chill. 10 minutes later the doctor came out and said everything went well and made sure I understood her post-op directions. They called me to the back once she woke up and it went downhill from there. When I got to her, she was screaming and fighting the nurse. I took her from the nurse and then she started fighting me. She didn't want me to hold her, but she also didn't want me to put her down. The nurse told me that usually happens when the kids are pretty smart and super aware of the world because they are so confused and don't understand what's happening. I tried to hold Aubrey in the chair but I was afraid she would kick me in the belly or I'd drop her so we moved to the floor. I had to keep an eye on her right ear because it was draining pretty bad and I want to make sure she didn't get blood everywhere while she was so mad. She was still screaming and fighting 15 minutes later so the anesthesiologist came by and said he would give her some Lortab to help the pain. That took another 10 minutes to kick in before she finally started to relax. I was finally able to get her dressed and then out to the car. It was 9:45 by this point and I was starving so I decided to go through the drive through to get something to eat and I thought Aubrey was ok. Until she threw up all over herself and her seat. I knew it could be a side effect of the narcotics and anesthesia, but that still didn't make it any easier to handle. I got her cleaned up, got my breakfast, and went straight for the house. By the time we got home, Aubrey was starting to perk up a little bit and asked me for food. She wanted a few bites of my hash browns, but then decided she wanted fruit. They had given her some apple juice at the surgery center so I thought she'd like that with her fruit. We sat down on the floor to eat and the next thing I know she's throwing up everything she'd just eaten, which upset her even more. I got her cleaned up and then got her to to eat some crackers and drink some Sprite to help settle her stomach before we lied down to watch tv. At 12:00, I couldn't hold my eyes open anymore so I put her to bed and took an hour an a half nap. She woke up at 2:00 and seemed like her happy self again, so I kept my promise and took her to get some ice cream. So, I am glad the surgery is over and hopefully this will take care of her ear infections because I really don't want us to have to go through this again.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to visit Todd's high school friend's new baby. It was the first time we had been around a newborn since last year and we were really curious to see how Aubrey would respond. The last time I held a newborn in front of her, she flipped out and Todd had to take her out of the room because we were afraid she'd do something crazy or make me drop the baby. This time went a lot smoother and she was super curious about the baby. She would rub his feet and legs and the run off to play before coming back to do it again. It was so sweet holding a new baby again and I am glad Aubrey could handle it better. We still need to work on her being gentle, but I am sure that will come with time.

Sunday was a lazy day around the house before community group tonight. It is so much fun to see Aubrey interact with the kids in the group and to get to hang out with adults at the same time. Our group is pretty close so I hope the kids will be able to grow up together and be just as close.

Hopefully, this week will be pretty calm because we have a busy weekend ahead of us next weekend.

Hanging out before surgery (This was pre-drugs).

This was during the funny phase before surgery.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

July 5-July 10

It was so nice having a 4-day work week. I could really get used to it. However, even a short week brought some not-so-great news. We went to see the ear, nose, and throat doctor on Thursday to discuss Aubrey's frequent ear infections. As soon as he took a look in her ears he told us both ears were still infected, meaning they never really cleared up after finishing the last round of antibiotics on the 3rd. Like us, he was surprised by the fact she had no ear infections before age 2, but he really didn't have a good reason as to why. He said our best option was to go ahead and put tubes in her ears and see where we go from there. So, surgery is scheduled for this coming Friday and I will be glad when its over. I know Aubrey is tired of being in pain and we are ready for the irritability and fussiness that comes with it to be over. While I am a little nervous, everyone has told me it will be a quick procedure and we'll be finished before we know it. I just hope it works and we can put all of this behind us.

I spent the entire weekend doing absolutely nothing and it was glorious. I mean, I did a few chores and took a walk around the neighborhood tonight, but other than that I was a big ol' bum. I can't remember the last time I've gone 2 days without leaving my neighborhood. Todd ran a few errands and went to see Transformers with a friend but spent the rest of the weekend doing schoolwork. We've got busy weekends coming up the next few weeks so I think chilling this weekend was a great idea and hopefully we'll have a great week to go with it.

Aubrey was thrilled that our laziness meant more time for her to play in the dirt. I don't remember what she is doing in the picture, but she looks confused and its funny.

Monday, July 4, 2011

June 27-July 4

This week was a much calmer week. At least we had no doctor's visits for anyone, which was progress over last week. Even though everyone was feeling better, it was a really long week. By Friday, Todd and I were ready to crash and that we did. We enjoyed a quiet night Friday before getting up early Saturday for  cleaning time. After two weeks of sickness and exhaustion, our house was looking like a war zone so I spent the better part of Saturday morning on a cleaning frenzy. Saturday was Todd's mom's birthday, so we enjoyed some yummy Olive Garden for dinner with the grandparents.

Sunday was all about chilling before the Mooresville Independence Day celebration. They always have their celebration the day before the 4th, which I never really appreciated before this year. Going out on the 4th is tough because of how late the firework are and Todd and I both have to work on the 5th. So, by going having the celebration on the 3rd it allowed us see the fireworks and not have to worry about getting up early the next day. We were a little worried that Aubrey didn't take a nap on Sunday, but we decided to take our chances and hoped she would last through the night. We loaded up the chairs and some chicken and off to Mooresville we went with my parents. We met up with Todd's parents and found a shady spot to camp out. Even though it was hot as hades, we enjoyed a picnic dinner and some family time. Aubrey enjoyed the bounce house and the petting zoo while we enjoyed some ice cream. The fireworks started at 9:30 and for the first time in her short little life, Aubrey was scared of them. Mom seemed to think the loud noise hurt her ears so once we covered her ears she seemed to enjoy the fireworks again. It was a long night, but Aubrey made it until 10:15 before she fell asleep in the car, so we considered the night a success.

The 4th was spent at home relaxing. It was too hot to even enjoy outside, so we just hung out in the house and stayed cool. Definitely not an exciting 4th, but I think its what our little family needed to start the week out on the right note.

Dressed up for Gma's birthday dinner.

It was just a little hot at the Independence Day celebration.

Enjoying some yummy dinner.