So let's start with the first, obvious thing (obvious if you follow the time ticker above)! My due date has been moved back QUITE a lot! Apparently I really didn't have any idea what was going on with my body, because my due date is now December 5 - I am only seven weeks along! We were really surprised. Even with my best guesses, I never fathomed at all that my cycle started the last week in February (which was when seven weeks ago was). I didn't even have a real period at that time. That was when I had one day of VERY scant spotting. At the time I thought that maybe it was my next cycle starting again, because it was two weeks after my last one, but when it never really got past very light spotting, for just an afternoon, really - not even for a whole day - in retrospect I figured that maybe it was implantation spotting. Well, nope! According to the ultrasound measurements of the little peanut, the baby measured on Monday at 6 weeks, 6 days, + or - 2 days. So I still have lots of time to be in my first trimester, oh goody! (Phil and I are actually glad that we have more time than we thought, because now Ethan will be almost 2 1/2 and Natalie will almost be 5, and we don't have to worry so much about avoiding late summer travel plans because of potential early fall pre-term labor.) But as my doctor said at the appointment, "it's good that your nausea has started to subside, but don't be surprised if it still comes back with a vengeance." Well, last night it did, and I've been feeling pretty horrible all day too. I've found that whenever I eat any kind of red sauce (pizza, or pasta), I feel really sick afterwards. (Before I knew I was pregnant I thought I was just getting sick from the Chuck E Cheese pizza I had for two birthday parties within a week...) Last night I made gnocchi with red sauce for dinner, and I felt really sick afterwards. This weekend we ate lunch at CiCi's, and I couldn't even get one bite down of anything with red sauce. As Phil said last night, well, we can just have white sauce for the next several months- which I love the taste of, but compared to the veggie power in red sauce, having white sauce on your pasta or pizza leaves much to be desired for nutrition! 

So, when we went into the ultrasound appointment, the doctor first started doing the scan on my belly, since we figured we were at LEAST at 9 weeks. When we didn't see much, he said, "I don't think you're quite 9 weeks..." When he then did the internal one, the baby came into view right away. We saw a nice strong heartbeat, which we also got a picture of on the ultrasound. (Phil is going to scan it in for me so I can post it soon.) Seeing the heartbeat is always a relief. It was a little peanut, though! He set my due date for December 5, which is a good date - that will be the 9th anniversary of the day Phil proposed to me. Not that the baby will be born then, of course. I'm still expecting it to be sometime in mid-November. (That's not thinking pessimistically, it's thinking realistically!) 

Okay, so now on to other news. Yesterday Natalie had her speech therapy evaluation. It was about two hours long and VERY thorough. Most of the time she sat in one room with the speech pathologist and Ethan and I sat in an adjoining room, which we could see and hear what was going on using headphones and one-way glass. Just by listening to Natalie's response to all the questions, I knew they were going to suggest we start therapy for her. Almost every word that was tested, Natalie spoke incorrectly in some way. She did so good, though - she sat there at this little table the whole time and went through page after page of words and exercises, to go through all the different sounds. At one point, near the end, Natalie said "I'm all done with this now." It took about an hour and a half to get to that point though. I was so proud of her for sitting still so long and going through all that. You'd think afterwards that she would have been tired from all that talking, but when we left she was a chatty with me as usual. The lady said that Natalie's vocabulary and usage, and the amount of words in sentences she actually says, were way above average for her age, but she's mixing up speech sounds in ways that most kids do not. She said that at Natalie's age, actually many kids still speak incorrectly, but the sounds that Natalie switches the right sound for are completely different than most children use, which is why other people can't understand her. She's not making the "common" errors that people are used to hearing in kids' speech.  She makes uncommon sound switches, so people other than those who hear her day in and day out, ALL THE TIME (in other words, me) don't have ears that have been trained to hear Natalie's particular sounds. After all her paperwork goes through, we'll be starting her on a half hour of therapy every week. The pathologist we worked with yesterday said she's confident that Natalie will respond really well to it, because she's so quick to learn and wants to work hard. I could have told her that - the kid wants to learn ALL the time.  She taught her how to position her tongue to make the "f" sound ("bite and blow") and also how to make the "L" sound (she called it the "LL-ifting" tongue). The other one we have to work on until our first session is the "g" sound, by touching under her chin toward the back of her throat, to prompt her to remember where to make the "g" sound. She also thinks Natalie will respond well to therapy because at this point she's not even aware that she speaks "funny", (as our neighbor girl pointed out with such six-year old honesty). I know from experience that the more people point out your speaking difficulties, the harder it gets to talk correctly. (Which is really frustrating.)  I don't know why this happens, but it's a mental or emotional thing, I'm sure. Natalie doesn't have this hang-up yet. When she was learning different sounds yesterday, it was just a game and she was happy to play.

April 15, 2006
Sometimes I think I must be crazy. How can I possibly keep three kids from killing each other, let alone help them grow into responsible adults?  Natalie and Ethan love each other, that much is very apparent, but sometimes - lately, most of the time - they love each other with a little too much force. Natalie wants to hug him constantly, of course. Ethan doesn't necessarily want to have his head (and neck) continually pulled by his sister... usually he responds with a full frontal tackle on his sister, and they both knock themselves over onto the ground. So far the falls to the ground have been soft landings, with no wall corners or table edges blocking the fall, but I see it happening in my mind every time they fall to the floor. It happens at least once every ten minutes they are playing together, which is usually always, and there is not a bit of exaggeration in that. (The only time it isn't that often is when I've gotten fed up and I institute the "one kid on this couch, one kid on this couch - and DO NOT TOUCH each other!" demand.) It's a continual game they play.  I think I've determined that my tolerance for kid antics is directly proportional to the amount of hormones surging in my body. The last time they were on my last nerve almost continually was when I was still taking the hormonal birth control.  I know they're just having fun, but it's driving me CRAZYYY!!!!

But then there are the moments like I caught this afternoon, when I glanced over at the kids sitting -quietly- on the couch, watching the latest Wiggles DVD we just picked up at the library. Natalie and Ethan were snuggled up together on one section of the couch, and then Natalie put her arm around Ethan's shoulders, and their little legs were all criss-crossed over each other too. I quietly went to get my camera and I turned it on in another room, because I knew that it wouldn't last if they knew I was watching.

Natalie came down with a cold last week, and now the rest of us have it. We're all feeling pretty yucky. At least, this is the first time in recent memory that at least MOST of us are sick at the same time, and not staggered by a week each. It's easier to feel sympathetic to your spouse when you're feeling miserable too. :) The biggest challenge with Ethan has been that he suddenly hasn't wanted to go to bed at night again. He's been doing so good at just going right down, but lately he's been crying again, as well as waking in the middle of the night and not being appeased until he's laying right next to Mama's warm body. Phil's been trying really hard to sit with him until he falls asleep, and then sneaking out, but the boy has some kind of radar system on even while asleep. He can sense even the smallest movement or change in shadow on the wall, and instantly he's fully awake again, sitting up in bed and howling about the injustice. Last night Phil said he snuck out of his room using the fire-escape method: "stay low and go". Well, it worked. We're looking forward to him getting over this cold and back into his easy-to-bed routine again! We only have a few months to enjoy our evenings again before we start all over! 

April 12, 2006
I'm in that awkward stage now where my ordinary clothes just don't fit (I can still get my bigger (i.e., baggy and unattractive) pants up, but then they cut into my waist and make me feel even more nauseous) but maternity clothes just look really silly. So I'm mostly wearing smaller fitting maternity jeans, with some old XL size, longer T-shirts. I went through all of my old maternity clothes earlier this week, and most things I have are size XL - way too big since the maternity size XL usually fit even more generously! I found a few things in size Medium, and I have a small box filled with size Large things that I'll be able to grow into as the summer progresses into fall, but right now they're still way too big. I'm going to have to get at least a few shirts, though. I should be okay on pants and jeans, though I'll also eventually want a few pairs of shorts. I never thought I'd have to get new maternity clothes, after having one baby in February and the other in August! I have every season covered. Well, back to the old familiar Clothes Mentor for me! What's funny is that late last summer I was shopping at Kohl's, and saw a ton of maternity clothes, in my new smaller size, all reduced to about a dollar or two each - for new clothes! I almost got some, "just in case", but I thought, first of all, the chances of us having a third are slim, and even if we would, I'd probably just end up having a mid-winter baby again... Well...here we are...I'm currently estimating my due date as sometime in November (but it's a total guess), but that will still mean I'll be having this baby before it really starts to get cold. (And if I'm off by a couple weeks, AND if this baby follows the pattern and arrives a few weeks ahead of schedule -- those summer clothes would have come in handy.)

I really am looking forward to next Monday! It's been driving me pretty crazy, not really knowing how far along I am. My nausea seems like it's starting to improve. I still feel nauseous but not overwhelmingly so, and not all day long. That's just been in the last few days that I've noticed a significant improvement in that area. I don't remember how long it had been that I felt really nauseous before I took the test, but I think it was at least a few weeks.

Yesterday morning I was in bed, waking up, and Natalie was dancing on the floor over to the side of our bed. She asked me to watch her, so I rolled over to my right side so that I could see her. I didn't even think I twisted in a strange way, but I must have because I pulled some muscle all along my back, from my neck all the way down my right shoulder blade. I called Phil's chiropractor and got in right away, because I couldn't even move. I tried using a massager, and standing in the shower, and lots of different stretches, but nothing helped. After the adjustment I was able to at least move again, but it still hurts really badly to move more than a little to one side or the other. I really don't know what I did - and I don't think I turned over strange at all. I think it may have been related to those pregnancy hormones that do a great job of loosening up everything in my body. (As evidenced by my two-sizes larger than B.C. feet.)

One more thing I wanted to mention today. I wrote a while back about Natalie's concern for not eating any "deminals" (which then became "cheminals") in our food. For the last couple weeks, Natalie has been pointing out that we don't eat "ossi-naked oils" because they can make us SICK! I think that's hilarious.

Oh, and for those who are concerned, I have an appointment for Natalie for an evaluation at the Columbus Speech and Hearing Center next week. We just thought we'd get her evaluated so we'd know if it really is a problem or not. I understand everything she says, but most other people (Phil included, sometimes) do not. I'd rather find out now than have her deal with people looking at her funny most of her childhood like I did. What gave me the incentive to finally call was when Natalie was playing with her new neighbor friend about a week ago (she's six), and Natalie was talking to her, and her friend said to me, "she talks funny". I had to remind the friend that she was only four, and not six, like she was, but it hit that old wounded spot in me enough to decide I should just go ahead and get her evaluated.

April 5, 2006
I had my first appointment yesterday with my CNM. I still don't know how far along I am; because of insurance reasons an ultrasound is a second appointment and only one is paid for per day, so I had to reschedule it for another day. Liza, my midwife, wanted to get me in the next day, since the earlier you get an ultrasound the more precise they can be with dating it, but they apparently require special people for the ultrasounds, and the next available appointment was for Monday the 17th, so that's when I'll find out. She did feel my stomach, and her first comment to me was, "well you're definitely pregnant!" She also said that my breasts felt tender and lumpy (yes, thank you, I love hearing about my lumpy breasts). For whatever reason I didn't think to ask her for a guess as to how far along I was, but I'm thinking it may be more than I initially thought, because of some things I've read. Also, according to their files, my last period that was reported to them was Jan. 19. I think I had ONE more after that, at least, but I don't remember if it was a full cycle or if it was just spotting. The more I think about what was going on around the time we moved in here, the less I can remember about how much of a period it really was. So we're just going to have to wait for now. If I hadn't gotten in to the appointment on the 17th, I would have had to wait until May for an ultrasound - I might be in my second trimester by then! So that was no good - I took the one a week and a half from now. This is such a different experience than with my last pregnancy - I really love this new office. Unless I need surgery, or other significant complication arises (more than preterm, which I'm already just expecting this time), all of my care can be done by the CNMs, though there are doctors in the practice too, if needed. I've met a few of them, but I think my primary people will be either Liza, who I met yesterday and REALLY liked, or Susan, who has been taking care of me over the last several months.

I'll also be getting an ultrasound around 20 weeks, so I'll be able to hopefully find out if Natalie is right! When my mom came over for dinner this past weekend, Natalie told her there was a new baby growing in my tummy, and when she said it was a girl baby, Grammy asked her, "What if it's a boy?" Natalie answered very matter-of-factly, "Well we already have Ethan."

One of the best parts of my appointment yesterday - besides getting blood drawn, which is always fun - was when Liza was going through some things with me on the information I was being given, and she told me that "since you're thin, you will need to gain between 25 and 35 pounds." I barely heard the amount I had to gain, because I was just so stunned by the first part of the statement. I haven't heard those words spoken to me in a long time!!! :-)

Speaking of getting blood drawn, when I was filling out the consent form and waiting to get poked, it all felt so familiar this time, like I had just done this a few months ago. For some reason, though this one started really only a few months earlier than my second pregnancy was after Natalie, it feels like it was just a few months ago since I went through this all with Ethan.

I've been having pretty bad nausea over the last week. I'm trying to eat smaller meals more often, but it still just hits me like a tidal wave sometimes. This afternoon during lunch time, I was preparing the kids' lunch when I just started feeling so dizzy that I had to just sit down. I ended up microwaving a bowl of insta-pasta for myself, and I made the kids Easy Mac --which has so many chemicals that we usually get the organic Annie's brand, which makes me feel better. But today I grabbed the first thing I saw which was the fastest (I ran out of my organic natural peanut butter, which is my usual fast staple), so the kids had a bowl full of chemicals today for lunch. I just had very little strength, and I wanted nothing more than just to sit down as fast as possible and start eating!  I still felt a little woozy for the next half hour. I just need to be better at eating before I really feel hungry. It really snuck up on me this afternoon. I had breakfast, and then got busy doing stuff around the house, and didn't feel the least bit hungry - then suddenly I'm not just hungry but feeling like I'm going to fall OVER hungry. Just that quick!

I've got to go, my little four year old reporter just informed me that "Ethan's got poop." Yay! (You know, there's another reason I SHOULD have known - my own kids don't bother me that much, but last week I had to change another kid's poop in the nursery, and I almost lost my dinner... So, denial of 1-tender gums, 2-tight pants, 3-nausea, 4-extreme fatigue, 5-hair out of control even with a fresh hair cut, and, 6-extreme smell sensitivity. Yep, it was denial.)