Today was the perfect way to spend the day. My family celebrated Easter a little early this year, so this Sunday was kind of scheduled to be a normal Sunday. But we took a different direction. Our background music was the “Pitch Perfect” soundtrack, our game of choice with Dekker was waving with both hands, and his new discovery was the sunroof 🙂

Instead of getting up for church in the morning, we slept in. I know, heathens, right? Nope, just jokes. I genuinely think that God rested on the seventh day, and that while church is a significant part of my life, once in a while, resting my body on a Sunday in this way feels amazing and not guilting at all. So we slept in and had breakfast in bed. When we got up, we gathered up all out ingredients for our baked chicken spaghetti and headed to my parents place for lunch. We had SUCH a casual afternoon with my parents. We had spaghetti and cold veggies for lunch, and played some SkipBo afterwards. Usually Brady and I stay the whole day, but this time, we headed to Saskatoon for the rest of the afternoon. We played a little at Value Village, since we can’t seem to go to Saskatoon without making an appearance there. I found two great tank tops to fill with my ever-growing belly, a bigger and fancier-looking trifle bowl, some short and super comfy little white heels that I’ll be able to walk in while being pregnant, and a cute zipper bunnyhug for Deks. 30% off for us! It was a good haul.

We had a bit of time left to kill after that so we took to our old tradition and drove around the beautiful crescents along the river. We also checked out a sweet looking house in a newer area of town that Brady is working in. We made it to the airport just in time for a pee break and found some toys for Dekker to play with while we waited for my sister’s flight to get in, exactly on time!

We brought Caity to Dalmeny and headed home. Dekker went down for night pretty much right on schedule, which almost never happens on a weekend. We had a great little cuddle first. I sang him song after song, before I realized that I had never sung him “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” so I tried it out and he lay unmoving on me, just staying at me and smiling, and when it was over he clapped and clapped. My little sweetheart just makes me melt.

And as I mentioned, the ever-growing belly:

Yes, I look tired, in my jammies, and theres paper towel on my floor. Life will go on. But my abs are sooo tired of working to hold in quite this much bloat on a daily basis, so the belly will soon be free!

A very good day. Happy Easter.

 

So I drank more water yesterday than I did today, but I did drink about 4.5 glasses so I figure I’m covered. But again, I was dizzy whenever I was up. Not to the same faint extent as I was yesterday, but still dizzy. Maybe it takes a while to catch up and be where I need to be. I had a litre of saline pumped into me yesterday and I wonder how long that stays. Because its not like drinking water. It didn’t make me have to pee immediately or anything. Sigh. What do I know.

Today was really good though. We watched a couple movies, did yesterdays dishes, and tons of laundry! We also planned out food for this coming week. The chicken for tomorrows baked spaghetti is already cooked up and just waiting to be thrown into the casserole. All these things are really thanks to Brady, since he let me be lazy and be free of tasks so I wouldn’t have to be dizzy unnecessarily. It was nice. We just bathed Dekker, and had a good bedtime snuggle. There are definitely nights when I’m sooo glad the day is done and he can go down for the night, but tonights cuddles were so great, it was borderline impossible to let him go. He was so funny and playful and smelled amazing! He’s so beautiful.

Now for an evening snack of some kind, and a bath. Get to see my sister tomorrow!

The day started great. We watched Friends in bed, had Costco muffins for breakfast, and had a friend drop by with cupcakes. Dekker woke up for a lunch of grilled cheese and blackberries. Everything was fine! Dekker even had a berry beard.

However, I got horribly dizzy and faint again. Unshakeably so. I got really, really ticked. But as that so rarely helps a situation, I ended up in bed with my feet up for several hours while Brady put together the honey chicken that I’ve been sooo hungry for! When nothing cleared up and I was miserable a few hours later, we finally bit the bullet and headed to the hospital.

Long story short, we had really great nurses and doctors. Everyone was positive and interested, and everyone listened really well. I was hooked up to a cardiac monitor in five different places, a blood pressure monitor, and one of those finger monitors at all times. I also had my blood taken and an ECG, which was connected in ten places! After being hooked up to everything, running bloodwork and a urine sample (just try peeing in that tiny cups while hooked up to everything under the sun!) they decided I was dehydrated and put me on an IV. So I think that means I was hooked up to 18 things?! 17 at once, since I wasn’t on the ECG and getting bloodwork at the same time, but you get the idea. It was a little nutty. However, the saline fluid went in well, I only needed one litre, and they said I was probably good to go. I was pretty miffed about being dehydrated, since I drank TONS this morning! Two water bottles, a glass of milk, and a Gatorade. Dehydrated my ass. But  guess I could be a bit behind in it so hopefully I’m caught up and now I’ll just be diligent with it, as I am trying to be with my food.

Its been a crazy day. But the staff was great and my boys were sooo patient! Dekker was cooped up in that tiny room where he really wasn’t allowed to touch anything, for several hours! And he was awesome! Very tired, but good. He started doing this new thing where he pulls up his tshirt and smacks his belly. You think his mom is pregnant or something?! Anyway, a few photos for your interest.

I have to just say about this last one that Dekker wasn’t fevering or anything but he was feeling really warm I guess because he was struggling pretty hard until we figured out he wanted out of his bunnyhug. Once he was out of that he fought sooo hard to get out of his tshirt, but he really didn’t feel warm to the touch at all! He eventually gave up but clearly his belly wanted to be aired out 🙂

All in all, it wasn’t a terrible day actually! The boys were great company, and I finally got some checking done. And right before we left, a doctor came in and gave us a quick ultrasound to check on baby. It was very fast but I saw lots of movement, which thrilled me.

Turns out our babys into fist pumping. Totally worth the evening in the hospital to learn just that fact.

 

 

Today was a big day in the city. I woke Dekker around noon to get him fed and ready before we headed out. He was finished about fifteen minutes before we needed to head out so I pulled him out of his chair to go play but he immediately wanted up. The kid wouldn’t stand on his own all freaking day. It was a looong day.

We headed to my doctors appointment first. We talked in detail about my faintness and she asked if it was related to missing a meal. I sort of sheepishly told her that I’m more of a “one meal a day” type of person and was working on correcting that using meal planning, as was suggested by my mom. She seemed a little surprised, commented that she didn’t know that, and then said she was more than positive that was where my problem rooted from and we would focus on that and worry about bloodwork at my next appointment hypothetically. I was left with “Listen to your mother!!” Lol 🙂 I liked it.

We left our appointment and had a few hours to kill, so Brady went back to work and I headed to a nearby mall to waste some time with Dekker. We did all sorts of things! We ducked in at Telus, we shopped for shirts, we purchased body butter for half price, and we shared a booster juice. Dekkers first Booster Juice, and he LOVED it!

He drank a solid half of this small one we got. I wish I had known in advance because it was super delicious and I wanted more. I just didn’t know how thick it would be and thought he might not even really be able to get any for a while! I was wrong. Go Scaryberry.

After we ran into some friends and chatted for a bit, Brady texted that he was close to where we were and was gonna come hang out before we had some family to meet up with. While we waited, we took some more pictures.

He was just such a sweetheart, all cuddled up to me. While it was a little frustrating that he would not be put down at all today, he was a great snuggle buddy.

We grabbed a fast supper, went to visit some family, and headed home pretty quick after. Dekker slept on the drive home, and was sooo ready to be home when we walked in the door. He squirmed to get down and raced over to the fridge to play magnets. He was running all over the place, dragging toys around, completely thrilled. When I brought his bunnyhug into his room, however, he followed me, stood by his change table, and burst out crying. Someone was finished. So a diaper change and a cuddle later, baby boy sleeps.

It was a good, loaded day. Doctors appointment went really well, I’m measuring right on where I should be and haven’t felt faint in two days. Dekker and I had a great little date and discovered a new smoothie we both love. Visiting family went great and everyone is in good health. Drove home while the sun set. Couldn’t ask for much more than that! Except maybe a bubble bath and a snack…

To those wondering, no, not every post will be dedicated to my food intake. But it was my first day so I figured I’d better talk about it!

My meal plan was for a muffin with cheese and a banana for breakfast. I had the muffin and was full. So I had half of a banana with Dekker when he woke up at noon. However, then I was good and topped up, and it was time for me to eat lunch! I quickly saw that its going to take time for my appetite to catch up to my plan of getting back to being healthy! My lunch plan was cucumber salad and chicken broth. So I had some chicken broth around 1:30 or 2:00, and then cucumber salad around 4:30 when Deks woke up from his nap. I kind of skipped my snack, but either way, I got in my two meals, just over time. And then supper was delicious! Perogies, chicken wings, and green bean casserole. Sooo good! I only got dizzy once or twice, and didn’t feel faint once, so I’d say there was a definite improvement. But I felt like I ate all day and was a little overfull, so I may have to tweak the plan a little. But its still something I’m going to pursue!

So something I didn’t write about yesterday (because I focused on meal planning) was my purchases that arrived! I bought a whole bunch of makeup off of someone and Brady picked it up on his way home. Call me unsanitary if you want, but I’m super excited about it!!! Tons of new colors to play with! Also, we purchased a few movies I’ve been really excited about for a while off of Amazon a week or two ago and they came yesterday! We bought “What to Expect” which we’re watching in pieces this evening as we’re running around doing things. I love it actually, its got some good comic relief in it. I hear its extra funny watching it while pregnant so maybe thats why. And we bought “Pitch Perfect” because its amazing. We watched it when we were out visiting my brother and sister in law and figured its not something we’re willing to live without. So there we go, buying movies. But seriously, to drive to and from the city twice, plus the cost of rental, plus the hypothetical late charge, its way cheaper to buy. So buy we did.

Lastly, here’s a few randoms of my son and his new favorite accessories:

The end. I don’t have a whole heck of a lot left to say. Doctor tomorrow. Curious what she’ll say about all the faintness and hot flashes and headaches. Come on health!!!

I got an email from my mom late last night. It was about 11:30, but I think she sent it a few hours earlier asking if I would call her if I was still up. I’m sure I was up then, but I missed it and as a rule, I try never to call anyone past 10pm. So I emailed her back saying I’d call in the morning.

She emailed when she was awake and when I received it, I called her up. She had read my blog from yesterday, which was a pretty low post about just feeling like crap. She wanted to come over and lend a helping hand. I accepted without a doubt. I love my mom. She is crazy busy these days and is about to enter an even busier, more uncertain time, so I was very thankful that she fit me into her busy, busy week.

Turns out a mother has lots of great insight and experience and can be a wealth of information. We compared my pregnancies and now my last one felt so much better. However, I was up and around at my job, drinking TONS of water and I always had a lunch packed. Now, at home, I have fallen into a bad pattern of really only eating supper. I know, I know, its awful. But don’t tell me none of you have done the same thing! Last time around, I didn’t have amazing eating habits, and my doctor never really encouraged or forced me to change them, but they did change, because they needed to. I think morning sickness really freaked me out, and I am now a tad more suspicious of food, so my habits haven’t formed around my pregnancy the way they did last time. I clearly needed a bit of a kickstart. So, to break it down, I will try my hand at meal planning. I’m going to try a very easy version of it. I’ve currently planned the rest of this week and next week. My mom and I compiled lists of really easy breakfasts, lunches, afternoon snacks, and suppers. Nothing hard, all just quick. Especially the morning stuff, since I’m so dizzy and headachey in the mornings. Every meal or snack has to consist of a fruit or veggie, and every day is planned around protein. Breakfast and lunches are things like a bagel with cheese and some tomatoes, or maybe a muffin and a banana. Snacks are raisins, cashews, cold veggies, or an apple. And suppers are just my regular suppers – chicken spaghetti, stroganoff, chicken BLT salads, etc. Even throwing a ham in the crock pot is sooo quick, takes little to no planning, and would be great for snacking on throughout the week! Its all obvious stuff I guess, but sometimes its really hard to get out of the rut you’re in. Whether you’ve been in this one or not, I’m sure everyone can relate in some way.

Since feeling so yucky, I’ve become much more diligent with taking all my vitamins. I was taking a prenatal, a folic acid, and two vitamin D, when I found out that my vitamin D levels were still dropping wildly even though I was taking 2000 IUs per day! I was pretty ticked when I was told to start taking 4000. I really was struggling to take 6 pills a day, so I basically stopped taking anything. My doctor suggested drops, so I did, and I’ve finally started taking everything before bed, since I take a sleep aid right now. But my wise mom suggested I take my vitamin D in the day for an extra energy boost.

I’m sure she’ll read this and say to herself what she’s been saying to me all day – “You’re going to get sooo tired of me telling you what to do!” but she would be wrong. I really needed help!! And while I don’t view myself as someone who hides stuff and is afraid to ask for help, this one was puzzling because I had no idea what to ask for! “Um…I’m too lazy to prepare food for myself…” or “I can’t keep up with my dishes.” Seems so unfair and weird to put on another person. But you know what, thats why we are moms 🙂 To back up our kids. My mom came in with amazing ideas! She entertained Dekker while he was awake, changed some diapers, brainstormed with me, and did ALL of our dishes. She unpacked our dishwasher and washed everything else by hand. I would be ashamed if you all knew how far behind I was in dishes. But now, I have a tidy kitchen I can prepare food in, I’ve taken my vitamins for the day, and I know what I am having for breakfast tomorrow. My muffin is even sliced!

I’m pretty confident this will help me feel much better in the near future. This evening I had a good laugh at a commercial on TV and it made my head hurt a bit, but I think I have some catching up to do before I stop feeling like garbage. Onto bigger and better things!

All of that being said, I will be seeing my doctor on Thursday and will likely ask for some bloodwork, just to make sure my sugars are all in order. But I have faith 🙂

Thanks for everything, mom. What a great day we had together. Looking forward to more very soon!!!

If anyone wants to see what I laughed at, lol! Watch the slaps at the end. SEAL!

Today was rough. I felt faint and cruddy all day, to a point of having to change Dekker’s diapers while sitting on the floor since I couldn’t stand for the 1.5 minutes it takes to change him on the change table. My head is throbbing and I feel awful.

Best date night ever 🙁 Sorry Brady! Hopefully I’ll be done being miserable soon and can be back to being a nice wifey.

Looking forward to a bath and hopefully the finale of the Biggest Loser, if we can find it online. And then sleep.

Every Easter, my mom would hide chocolate around the house for us. Whether each kid got a bag with their name on it, or there were just three bags hiding that were all fair game, or there were several different treats hidden all over and we each got however many, there was always a hunt. Now that all the kids are grown and married, my parents have graciously offered a switch from chocolate to some cash towards a date. Brady and I chose chocolate 🙂

So after church today, we searched for our bags. The living room, kitchen, and dining room were our rooms to check. I found mine first, which is actually quite something since we had to find the one with our name on it. I did! I waited until the others were found (plural because my dad played this year) before I cracked mine open so we could all be surprised at once. SUCH a good haul! I got a white chocolate solid chocolate bunny, a Lindt bunny, little Cadbury bunnies, a Reese’s egg, an Aero egg, mini eggs, and lots of little foily ones filled with peanut butter or caramel. I’m pretty sure we made the right choice this Easter!

I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I feel very excited for the months to come, as they are loaded with lots of events for Brady and I to enjoy together. However, I have them all recorded in different places, whether in my phone, my wall calendar, or on my computer. Heck, I have my list of doctors appointments in my car still! So I’m really excited to sit down and write out everything that is coming up this year that I know about. I adored being pregnant with Dekker! I felt amazing all the time. I’m not feeling so hot this time around and I don’t want to wish these months away. So this way, I’ll be able to look over them and see all the exciting things I have to look forward to. I think that will be a goal for tomorrow. See how much I can fit in while leaving myself some good solid rest time, and room for one or two day trips to the lake. Perhaps a small goal, but if I set like seventeen big goals, I guarantee not even one will get done, so this is just a better option for me.

Anything exciting coming up that I should know about? Who wants to add to my calendar?!

Brady worked today. At this point, he’s so happy to be back at work that he’ll take as much as possible, and I fully support that. While it was great to have him more when I was feeling my worst, breakfast in bed doesn’t actually pay bills. So, Brady worked Saturday.

Being at home with Dekker everyday really takes me out of the outside world. In a lot of ways, thats probably a good thing. But on most occasions, I couldn’t tell you what date it is, much less what day of the week it is. The other day I had to sign date something, and it may have been my first time ending the date with /13 ever! So while everyday seems like a Saturday in lots of ways, I am so used to having my husband home for that one solid day. It was different, but worth it, of course.

However, with the change in routine, I had terrible cabin fever. I could see that it was sunny and nice, but with Dekker being a bit sick these days and sleeping insane amounts, getting him all ready to go outside is somewhat fruitless when he would last about 10 minutes before an emotional breakdown would ensue. So we stuck with our normal routine of eating and then playing toys downstairs until Deks needed a nap. He had a few cries, and instead of just wailing on the floor, he came over to the couch where I was laying down and reached for me. I grabbed him right away and hauled him up. He would lay on me and have a good cry, and then shuffle off the side of the couch and go back to his toys. He has never really come for a cuddle when he’s sad, so I found that very special. Maybe our nice long hug the other day when he was taking care of me made him feel safe too.

When Brady got home, I was sooo ready to be out of the house. So we did the irresponsible parent thing and took Dekker to Saskatoon waaay too late in the evening. Dekkers bedtime is usually around 8:30 and we arrived in the city around 8:15. Shame on us, I know. But we hit up Walmart and got him some toys and me a cute top that really is beautiful, and is designed perfectly for a pregnant body but for some reason, isn’t maternity wear! Weird, but its super cute, so yay! Then we hit up Timmys and went home. My roll-up record so far this season is 0 for 10-ish. Either way, I haven’t won at all. A little ticked at the system.

A short trip, and poor baby was so tired, but he was great and I feel better. Totally worth it. I’m so thankful my highway is all clear 🙂

And just for kicks, here’s a few randoms for you tonight!

Ok, the end of a very random post. Everyone have a good sleep. I will be up for a while. Why oh why would I cheat and have my caffeine before bed?! I’m going to be hyper and peeing all night.

Dekker woke up at 12:30 this afternoon. He was crying in his crib when I went to get him, laying flat on his back. He just reached and reached for me, desperate to be held but not wanting to stand. I really wanted him to stand on his own, mostly to make sure he could. So I bent all the way down and peeked at him through the bars of his crib. He stopped crying right away and rolled over to get to me. When I stood up, so did he. I changed his diaper and brought him out for breakfast. I observed his ear infection symptoms as not-so-infection-ish. He was fussy, and he was obviously tired enough to sleep past noon, but those are also pretty common teething things. No fever, no ear-pulling, no nothing. So I took some advice from you lovely people with information and decided we’d stay home.

Dekker finished his breakfast and I let him out to play while I had a banana and chatted with my mom on the phone on speaker so Dekker could talk to grandma as well. Randomly, towards the end of our phone call, I started to feel very faint. You know that faint feeling that you get in your head, where you have to close your eyes and its almost like your head hurts but not like a headache? Its such a weird feeling to describe, but I had it. I tried to rest my head on the table, to no avail. I very abruptly got off the phone (sorry mom) and bolted out of the dining room to my living room couch. I actually jumped for the couch. Luckily I made it, but I don’t remember hitting it. I came back to reality very quickly I think because Dekker was still in the dining room, crying. I’m sure he was surprised and scared by my moving away from him so fast. Now normally, if I leave him while he’s crying or upset, he sits down like a lump and just wails. He will not move. From the couch, I just called to him, and he came right over. He dried up right away, and I called my mom to explain what had happened and apologize for basically hanging up on her. Then I called Brady to let him know and ask him to check on me once in a while throughout the day in case it happened again. And then I decided to call Health Line, just for feedback. It informed me I needed to hold for a nurse. As I was holding, Dekker came up to the couch and started climbing. Dekker isn’t much of a climber yet at all. He’s gotten up on our ottoman maybe twice, but he’s not too interested in it yet (thank goodness!) But he came over and climbed up on the couch by himself. He crawled on top of me and lay down with his head on my chest. He stayed put. He stayed the entire hold time of about ten minutes, he stayed while the nurse couldn’t hear me and hung up, he stayed while I held for another twenty minutes, and while I spoke to a nurse finally. He didn’t move. During all the holding, we took some pictures 🙂 They may all look the same to you but they are all super beautiful to me!

I have no phone to my ear because I was on hold on the phone I’m taking pictures with, in case you were wondering.

I have maintained through my whole pregnancy that Dekker knows I’m pregnant. He may not understand that there’s a baby in my belly, but he knows somethings up. As soon as we conceived, he started walking. He got much more cuddly, and he is more gentle with me. He has grown more obedient as well. He knows. He is an older brother. Today, more than ever, I know that he knows. My son is like every little boy in the way that his attention span may as well not exist. But he spend likely about 45 minutes hugging me this afternoon. He took care of me the way a son should take care of his mother when she’s old and sick and weak. He knows.

I felt so blessed by him today. After our long cuddle, he was actually completely bushed. If I hadn’t moved, he would have slept on me. Which would have thrilled me, had he not pooped. With his little bum being red already, I didn’t have the nerve to leave him in it, but it was terribly hard for me to move him when he was being so sweet to me. I put him to bed after his diaper change and he stayed asleep until Brady got home.

He reported that the highways were good so we decided to head to a walk-in. And tonight was the night to do it! There was no wait. Not one person in the waiting room or even the parking lot! The doctor was lovely to us. He listened to everything we said, and agreed to check me, Dekker, and the baby out.

Dekker’s ears still have fluid in them, but he says they actually could for up to a month! However, everything I described to him determined that Dekker really doesn’t have an ear infection. He gave us some tips of how to keep it away and how to help him drain well, and basically said not to worry unless we get more fevers. He listened to my heart and said it was perfect. My blood pressure was actually high today, but I was pretty anxious from before. He suspects that my blood pressure will actually be low like it was when I was pregnant with Dekker and he encouraged me to not shy away from salt. I made a joke that I was craving chips pretty seriously and he said likely that was because my body knows it needs salt! No, I’m not going to gorge myself on chips, but its nice to know I don’t need to avoid them either. Best of all, we listened to the baby. I’m pretty confident the baby was sleeping, since it didn’t move at all and it has in the past. I don’t know what its heart rate was at, but it sounded a bit slower, another thing that leads me to think it was sleeping. But it was strong and loud and much heartier than last time when baby was so much smaller. I felt amazing. I was so happy with the appointment. I sailed out of there feeling healthy and relieved.

We hit up Costco really quick on our drive home for hot dogs, and now Dekker’s in bed and we’re about to hit the tub. I just want to thank everyone for being concerned and caring about my family and our wellbeing. We are in good hands, and for tonight, we’re all in great health and will hold onto that as long as its offered to us!

Sleep tight.