Cake and spa

Andy came home yesterday with a cake for my birthday. He ordered it and everything!! That's pretty impressive that he remembered far enough in advance to order a cake!! And after dinner, he gave me a beautiful card with another little card inside. It was a spa gift certificate!!! I've wanted a pedicure for forever and I need a massage in the worst way! So now I get to make a choice and enjoy something just for me!

Anyone wanna come along????

Baby update

We had an ultrasound today to check baby's growth and to check the placenta. Baby looked great and is definitely getting bigger--2 lbs, 10 oz according to the scan. The tech told us when to look away so we didn't accidently see something (or nothing) in a specific gender-determining area. We asked about how many people don't find out the gender and she said sometimes it's as high as about 25% of their patients but it's usually less than that.

I'm about an inch away from bed rest but so far I've only been instruction to "take it very easy" until I see the cardiologist on Friday. My heart has been doing weird things that landed me in the ER last week after fainting several times in public. But hopefully we'll figure out a plan on Friday that doesn't include bed rest. My OB thinks that it's probably BECAUSE of the meds that I'm feeling this way (beyond exhausted, heart palpitations, extreme dry mouth, dizziness, ears ringing, etc) but because of my poor response to beta blockers, we really have no other medication options to control the gestational hypertension. So if I go off the meds, I will have to be on strict bed rest.

He did instruct me to stop taking the one med--and it's the one that I think is causing most of my symptoms--so hopefully that will help. But I think it's also the one doing the most work to control my blood pressure so I might be shooting myself in the foot. The last complication with that is my low iron levels. I can't take the iron supplements because they interfere with the absorption of the blood pressure med I'm now taking 3 times/day. So my iron levels are dropping, which doesn't help my exhaustion level, which is a side effect of the blood pressure med.

So I'm a complete wreck, but Baby is healthy (presumably--we'll know for sure after our visit with the pediatric cardiologist on Monday morning) and that's ALL that matters!

Here are the two latest photos:

Baby's profile

3/4D Image of Baby's face (No, there's not really a big hole in Baby's head)

It's starting already

Today, while the girls were eating lunch and I was making my own, Charlotte said, "Mommy, thanks for not playing with us today because we're having SO much fun!" I have been banished from playing with them lately, unless it is a game of Trouble or some other specific game. But general playroom activities are apparently not Mommy-appropriate. :(

The Mommy-Phase-Out is happening already...and they're only 3 & 5.

Bunco!

Last night was Moms' Night Out for our church playgroup. We met at the Parish Activity Center and played Bunco! I had never played before and neither had most of the others. We ended up with enough people to play two tables and once we got the hang of it, we had a really good time. We didn't play for prizes last night, as we were all learning. But if we had played for prizes, I'd have won the esteemed 50/50 prize. HA!! I won 12 games and lost 12 games. I guess it could have been worse...right?

We're hoping to play again soon. One of our ladies is going back to school and another is due with her second child any day now, so we're hoping to get another rowdy night on the schedule.

I just joined our church playgroup this past winter, though I've known about it since Sarah was born. I felt that for some reason they wouldn't want me to join, so I let my insecurity keep me away for years. I really like these ladies and I am so glad I finally got my act in gear. My life is richer for knowing them.

To be totally cliche, I'm glad I rolled the dice and joined the playgroup.

VBS and Mama Time

Today was the girls' last day of VBS. Last night they did a little performance for the parents. Sarah actually participated! She's really coming into her own. During her first year of preschool, she didn't really join in when her class was singing or doing hand motions. So it was exciting to see her doing the motions and singing with her friends last night. During the preschool part (Squeaky Beekers), Char just stood there sucking her thumb. That's pretty opposite of her personality so we were surprised. I'm sure as she's exposed to this kind of thing more often, she'll perk up.

One of the most exciting things about VBS wa the amount of Mommy Time I got this week. I shopped alone, got my hair cut, ran errands, and relaxed in my "spare" time. :)

I wish they had VBS every week.