Contractions, Contractions go away....

So I guess that I am paying for feeling so good the past few days. I have been shaky and having contractions all day long - you know the ones that seem to last forever. I am not having more than my allowed 8 per hour but they are still very annoying. The Dr that I saw on Monday seems to be of the mindset that if you are feeling good then you can get up and around but if you are not then stay down. With our lack of babysitters Mon and Tue I was up a bit more than normal helping David out around the house. I didn't do much - but enough that I am paying for it today.

And of course just when we thought that we were all on the mend - Isaac threw up again last night. He didn't cry and scream so we didn't know it until we got him this morning. Of course that meant that it was all crusted over him and the bed - NASTY STUFF. He has also been oh so fussy today too. I sure hope that it is just a fluke. I think that I have had my fill of sick kids this year. I am ready for the spring/summer!

We decided to go for a drive or do something yesterday that would get everyone out of the house. In the past month the boys have only left the house twice and both of those times were for Dr's visits. We needed to get out of the house!! We just ended up going to WalMart to get some much needed overnight diapers. Don't worry - I used one of those electric carts that go .5 miles per hour. When we went into WalMart it was extremely windy out but rather warm (60+) degrees. We were in WalMart for close to an hour and by the time that we left the store it was still extremely windy but it was 20 degrees out. It literally dropped 40 degrees in less than an hour. And we wonder why our kids are sick. We were in the 70's yesterday and now they are forecasting sub-zero wind chills and 3-6 inches of snow for the next two days.

On Monday night I made a really easy dinner. I think that I found a new dish for pot lucks and many other things. It was soooo easy to put together and everyone ate it. Well everyone except Aidan who is the pickiest kid on the planet and will still only eat baby food. Okay so do you want to know what it is??? I'll tell you. First I got a casserole dish and put a good layer of broccoli on the bottom (either fresh or if you are using frozen thaw it first) then on top of the broccoli put a layer of cooked shredded chicken. To top it off I mixed a can of cheddar cheese soup and broccoli and cheese soup and one can of milk (to make it creamy) and poured it over the chicken. Just add it right on top - I then topped the whole thing off with a good layer of uncooked Stove Top. I baked it (just to warm it through and through) at 350 for about 40 minutes. I then cooked some rice to go with it. It was great. The cheese sauce just melted through the whole dish and it was sooooo good. Let me now if you try it and like it.

I am not sure if I have mentioned it our not but I am also taking my last 3 classes right now! I am so excited at the prospect of being done in just a few weeks. I am taking Human Sexuality, Public Speaking, and Intercultural Communications. There is so much work in those classes but my teachers are aware of my situation and are going to let me work at my pace - I am hoping to finish early. I am just really hoping to finish before I land in the hospital again.

I think that I have now procrastinated long enough and I need to now attempt to complete some school work.

TTFN!

I am offically 26 weeks!!!

I have decided to finally post a preggo picture of myself. I have gained 1 lb. since my last Dr's visit. So in just 4 more pounds I will make it to my pre-pregnancy weight. All and all my Dr's appointment went well. No change in my cervix - still holding strong at 3.1. I get to lower my insulin to 8 units AM and PM from 10 units - good news but it still means that I have to give myself 2 shots a day. I didn't see my normal Dr, but I did see one of the Dr's that I saw in the hospital. He told me that I could start weaning myself off of my meds to stop contractions. He said to just start with my Procardia - he actually said that I could stop it altogether but I am just going to go down to every 6 hours from every 4. I mean I am still having contractions so I am sure hoping that I won't have more. Lets see, what else? I still am going in every 2 weeks for right now - I get an ultrasound each time - they do a cervical length each week and a growth scan every 4 weeks. Oh this week when the nurse measured my belly I actually measured at 26 weeks. So far I have been 2-3 weeks behind. I guess that I have a baby bump now!.

Well it seems that we are all on our way to getting better. No one has thrown up in 36 hours! I decided to be proactive and combat my nausea sympathy feelings with my Compazine prescription. So far it has worked. Heres to hoping that it stays that way.

Well that is it for now. I am needing to take a much needed nap, and then try to scramble something together for dinner. Until later...

I guess its just going to be like that

Okay well since my last post - Aidan in fact did get sick and was up with David from about 3:30am to 5am. Then they all went to sleep and just when we thought that we might get some sleep - David started to puke!!!

So now everyone except me has got this stomach bug. Other than a headache and extremely low blood sugar I am feeling okay. Lets just pray that I don't get this too.

2 AM and even the cat puked.

So why is it that when kids get sick it is always at 2 in the morning??? So this morning we were awoken by the sounds of one of the brothers coughing on the baby monitor. I told David that it didn't sound like just a cough - but it sounded like he just puked. Well sure enough it was Isaac and he had puked everywhere. I went and got a screaming Aidan while David cleaned up Isaac. Just what we need another sick kid. Isaac continued to puke as David was cleaning him up and changing his sheets. Ethan soon joined me in the big chair with Aidan. Ethan wanted to make sure that Aidan was not sick because he did not want to throw up again. Ethan has not thrown up in 24 hours, but is still running a high fever and not feeling good. He didn't want to eat anything yesterday because he didn't want to throw up again. I am sure some of him stomach ache that he says he has is because he is hungry. So David and Isaac are upstairs and Ethan, Aidan and I are in the living room watching my Tivo'd episode of Wife Swap and Elmo (our cat) comes and joins us. Aidan gets a kick out of petting him. No sooner does Elmo jump on the arm of the chair does he start retching, I push him off the chair just in enough time for him to puke on floor. Lovely!

So now at 3am David is sitting upstairs with Isaac - who is still throwing up, Ethan and Aidan are back in their bed, and I am in mine. I can't afford to get sick. Not like David can either - but who wants to be a bedrested woman throwing up??

I sure hope that this bug runs its course through our family quickly - and if Aidan is going to get sick it is awful of me to ask that he gets sick sooner rather than later? This waiting 24 hours between kids puking isn't all that fun. Let them all be sick at once then we don't have to worry about separating them and keeping contaminated germs away from the well. Some job that we have been doing of that anyway - so far it has just postponed the inevitable - the kids still puke.

I mean even the cat caught it.

And just when we thought everyone was getting better......

So this morning and by morning I mean 3am Ethan came down into our room crying saying that he had thrown up in his bed. Well David went up and cleaned everything up, put Ethan back to bed and then came back to bed himself. He turned up the monitor so that we would be able to hear him if he woke up again. Well he ended up throwing up 4 more times through out the morning. UGH!!! The brothers are literally on day 28 of antibiotics and are STILL not getting any better. Now Ethan - Good thing that David was off today - I have no clue what I would do if it was just me and the babysitters here.

Oh and the babysitters. Just a little background - The awesome woman that has arranged all of our childcare runs a Christian School. Well she called me yesterday to let me know that they had to close the school Thursday and Friday because 2/3 of the school were sick!! Out of 60 some students only 20 or so showed up for school Thursday and most of them were sick too! This massive sickness that is going around really needs to stop! The news is now reporting that there have been a bunch of outbreaks of Whooping Cough in the St. Louis and surrounding area. Great just what we need!!!

Oh and sometime between laying in bed and getting up to pee and laying in bed, I have managed to pinch a nerve in my lower back! I can't even go up or down my stairs without crying. This just sucks!!!!!

Okay I am done complaining for today. I just have to look on the positive side - in 2 more days I will officially be 26 weeks!!