23 Weeks-- Really Long Post!

Almost 10 weeks later, still not feeling too great, but I think that the worst of it is behind me. At least I hope! At 16 weeks, I had an appointment with my doctor and he was a little worried that instead of gaining any weight, I had lost 5 pounds. He gave me 4 weeks to gain 15 pounds or else he was going to send me to a nutritionist. His advice was for me to eat a lot of ice cream, but it was the middle of December! I did my best over the next couple of weeks, but it was hard because the morning sickness hadn’t subsided. After a particularly sick day my stomach started hurting so bad! It was almost as bad as my appendicitis. I called my doctor, and he was out. His nurse directed me to the walk-in clinic at Grace. The doctor there notified me that it was probably a miscarriage and sent me to the ER. I called Dan, and through my tears, was able to tell him to come pick me up and take me to the ER. After multiple tests and several hours, the ER doctor was unable to come to a single conclusion and sent me home. The good news being that I was NOT having a miscarriage.

At 18.5 weeks (Dec 20), I got a break from all the stressors of weight gain and morning sickness, when I got to see my little angel for a second time! I had my 20 week ultrasound a little early because I was going to be out of town until the day before my next doctor’s appointment. For those who don’t know, the 20 week ultrasound is when most parents find out the gender of their baby (if they are planning on finding out before birth). It was hard having to tell our friends that even though we knew what it was, we wanted to tell our families first. And since I was going to get to see most of my family at the end of the week for Christmas, the announcement would have to wait.


GIRL PARTS

 Unfortunately, on Dec 21, I got really really sick. I tried to go about things as normal. I spent Dec 23 having Christmas with my Dad. It was a struggle to make it through the day, but I was able to get home early and go to bed. The next morning we got ready to go to Muleshoe. The car ride was long and uncomfortable, but I knew that in order for Dan to keep our plans to go to Woodward, OK that night, he needed to have time with his family. Well, this is the day that everything got really, really bad. Dan’s sister was able to provide me with IV medication and other drugs, like dissolvable zofran. But as the day went on, I just kept getting sicker. I tried calling my doctor’s on call partner, but the answer was the ER. I think it is understandable why I wouldn’t want to go to the ER on Christmas Eve, 2 weeks after they weren’t able to do anything for me but still charged me tons of $ for it! Brianne and Corey were heading back to Plainview that night, and Dan and I had to make the hard decision to forego our trip to Woodward in order for me to take care of myself. This meant I wouldn't be able to tell my family the gender in person. So, I called them and told them, and then I mass texted/facebooked our virtual Christmas card. We followed Corey and Brianne back to Plainview and Brianne raided her clinic for what she thought would help me. Corey started my IV, and Brianne got me some nausea medications that could be given through the IV. She wrote Dan very detailed instructions on how to change the IV bag, and where to input the nausea meds. It’s important when you are sick to rest so she sent me home to sleep it off and just relax.



CHRISTMAS CARD

 On Dec 25, I spent 16 hours or so asleep in bed and my poor husband was left to his own devices on Christmas! By dinner time, he was so bored and needed to get out of the house. Dad had told me that we were free to come by his house and watch Joey, Brett, Katlyn and Cheryl open presents. It sounded easy enough to me and I needed someone to give me a shot, so we headed to Dad’s. It was fun and everything, but that day was just SO different from any other Christmas I’ve ever had. And it wasn’t the huge Graves Family Extravaganza I had envisioned. The extravaganza still took place, I just wasn’t there. That was probably the hardest part. I knew that Dan and I would eventually spend Christmas alone at our house, but this was forced upon us and I just wasn’t prepared.

So, Sunday, I slept while Dan when golfing with Dad. Jenna and I met them at the country club and had dinner. They ate, I watched them eat. On Monday, I woke up and I was feeling lots better. All I wanted was a burger from McDonald’s! Dad didn’t understand it, but he got me one anyway! I ate it and kept it down and felt great! Just in time to start packing for Cancun!

Wednesday morning at 5:00AM, Dan, Nathan and I made our way to the Lubbock Int’l Airport to begin our family vacation in Cancun. Things you need to know about the vacation: 1) I always over-pack. 2) I snorkeled, even though pregnant women are not allowed. 3) I swam with dolphins, even though pregnant women are not allowed. 4) I went to Chichen Itza. 5) I left the resort and went into town and ate at an amazing Argentina-inspired steak house, even though I was told not to. 6) The day we left, I was attacked by the chest cold from hell. Think ear infections, chest congestion, sinus pressure, sore throat all worsened exponentially by the cabin pressure in an airplane. I pretty much wanted to die by the time we got home.

Luckily, I had a follow-up with Dr. Burkholder first thing in the morning when we got back. He gave me a prescription for a zpack, told me I had double ear infections. I spent the weekend sleeping and resting and trying to get over that cold. I came back to work on Monday, and Tuesday, things at work got crazy. By Thursday, I was so sick and tired and drained that on Friday I went to the walk-in clinic at Grace, where they told me I needed to go to the ER. Now, there are two letters at this point in my life that I will be okay if I never hear spoken together ever again. I told the doctor at Grace that I wanted to talk to Dr. B before I got to the ER. Unfortunately, Dr. B told me to go to the hospital (Covenant Women’s and Children’s). Within 5 minutes of walking in the front door, I’m changed into a gown, hooked up to an oxygen mask, and I have an IV in my arm. The highlight of my 27 hour hospital stay was a 4D ultrasound of my baby girl! The lowlight was the botched ABG (where I was stuck 10 times) and all the other million blood tests. I guess there isn’t much difference between bronchitis and a pulmonary embolism. Well, there is, but no doctor wants to say it’s not a pulmonary embolism if it is. Also, while I was in the hospital, I sent Dan and Dad to buy the nursery furniture I picked out (okay, Dan and I picked it out). My week was sort of terrible and I wanted something good to happen!

THAT'S HER FOOT IN HER FACE

After I was discharged, I filled my Rx for blood thinners, and went to my mom’s house to celebrate Christmas. Baby girl got bows and a tutu, and I got TV on DVD and a Disney movie! Dan got drill bits and a ladder. I think it’s obvious who had the better Christmas list! At 9:00, I made my mom stab me with a pretty serious looking syringe. On Sunday night, we went to Carino’s for her birthday and then I made her stab me again. Monday was Dan’s awards banquet with work. He wore a bow-tie and apparently that’s a big deal. I don’t know. I thought he looked really good! Tuesday, Nathan wanted grilled cheese sandwiches and a blueberry muffin cake for his birthday, so mom slaved over the stove making a dozen sandwiches and a muffin cake. As always, our family is awesome and we were too busy being awesome to remember the cake. Fortunately, it wasn’t too burned and we could still eat it, which Lorna and I did… before Nathan got to blow out candles. WHOOPS! I’m pregnant and hungry, but I don’t know what Lorna’s excuse is! Last night, Duke played NC State and they won of course. And that brings us to today.

I’m 23 weeks pregnant, and I am VERY pregnant. I drop everything. I switch out words. For instance, last night I said, “He should let him say pregnancy.” I was commenting on Conan and Andy Richter. I was trying to say that if Conan is trying to get the word THRICE back in use, he shouldn’t mock Andy for using the word thrice, but I was texting Amber about her pregnancy, and replaced thrice with that. So my thoughts just overlap and I say weird things. I am SORE everywhere—back, neck, thighs, arms, shoulders, feet. And yesterday, I had my first big tumble, signaling that my heels need to be retired. I’m not sure if I slipped on something or just slipped, but I was carrying my computer bag, large purse, and my breakfast, and when I lost my footing, I knew I was not going to recover. So, I’m laying on the floor in the lobby of the HealthPoint building, and as I try to get up, I realize there is no way I have the strength to get up. I compose myself, focus ALL my energy, and force myself to stand up. Standing up, I think, “Man, I’m really, really sore.” And I look down and see the huge mess my breakfast made and I sigh. I have to clean it up. So, I do. Thankfully, Mary walks in and helps me, and escorts me up the stairs to our office. I don’t think anyone saw me fall, but I did. Also, I’m kind of an insomniac. I say, “kind of” because I want to sleep, I just can’t because I’m uncomfortable, coughing, or I have to use the restroom.



BABY BUMP

 All this to say, I have all the crazy symptoms of pregnancy without appearing to be pregnant. Now, I know that I’m gaining weight and I know my pre-pregnancy clothes don’t fit, but I think I’m at that point where people may think I’m pregnant, but they aren’t going to say anything about it. I’m not getting any of the kindness from strangers… like no one is opening doors for me or asking to help me with things. You know, people just stand there watching me struggle. That, and the phrase that I hear most is, you don’t look pregnant. People confuse not looking pregnant with having a comfortable pregnancy. The only reason I don’t look pregnant is because I’ve been too sick and tired to eat. Now, I know that lots of women have had worse pregnancies, but how come I never heard their stories until after I got pregnant! Everyone makes it sound like it’s awesome when they want you to get pregnant and then as soon as you are, they drop all these stories about how awful their pregnancy was. WHY IS THAT? You'd think these ladies would care about me enough to warn me BEFORE I get pregnant. Although, to be honest, as sick as I’ve been, and despite everything that has happened, I feel her move, and I see her face through the ultrasound and I know she is worth it. I can only imagine what I’ll be thinking when she finally gets here!

A super cute story… Dan is mad at me for not giving my little girl enough space. In her most recent ultrasound (above), her foot is straight in her face. Dan keeps telling me that she has to be so uncomfortable and I need to gain some weight so she has more room. I keep trying to tell him that that’s just how a baby fits in mommy’s belly, but he doesn’t think she should be that uncomfortable. What a good daddy! He’s already looking out for his baby girl’s well-being!

Side note: If you could keep my friend, Ali, and her family in your prayers, I would appreciate it. Her dad was in a head-on collision where both cars were going 70MPH. The first update said he shattered his knee and broke several bones in his feet and a bone in his arm. Right now, they think the damage to his legs is permanent, but we all know that with God all things are possible! I don’t care what a doctor thinks, God is more than capable of COMPLETELY healing him! This happened last night, and they are still assessing everything, so now is the perfect time to be covering him in prayer!

Picture #1: Baby's girl parts!
Picture #2: Our virtual Christmas card/gender announcement
Picture #3: The ultrasound I got while I was in the hospital. I have a 3D picture to post later, but she just looks like a blob. This one is a lot cuter!
Picture #4: My growing belly. Some days it looks round and other days it just looks fat. It looked round when I took this photo!