I've had a few people ask, so I thought I should share... my nausea days are coming to an end, HALLELUJAH!!! I haven't taken any Zofran in three days now (including today). I only threw up once Tuesday and Wednesday... and today... so far so good!!! I kinda gagged in the kitchen this morning, but so, no bolts to the bathroom!
But as I've been telling everyone... it wasn't the actual throwing up that was bothering me for 10 weeks.... it was the constant sick feeling in my stomach mixed with the SHEER EXHAUSTION. That makes it very hard to function. So now I still feel a random need to 'bring back up' anything in my stomach, but I don't have that constant nauseous feeling like I did. Now, if I keep food in my stomach I'm pretty much good to go.
And as for the energy thing- for the most part I have lots of energy to get done whatever I need to do and then I'll lay Abby down in the afternoon, put a movie on for the girls in the other bedroom, sit on the couch and wake up two hours later like it was 5 minutes! What a weird feeling. Good thing Abby's a good napper. :) Now lets hope Pavel is too!!!
Laundry and Poison Ivy
No, it wasn't a tribute to Earth Day, but my drier decided to break down last week. Which wouldn't be the end of the world if I wasn't coming off of almost 10 weeks of severe morning sickness and difficulty doing much of anything around the house... much less laundry. So we have mountains of laundry that need to be done and my drier goes and breaks. And if we weren't trying to save every last penny for our adoption right now, we'd just buy a new one.
Rashelle and I were hanging out at the McDonalds playland a couple days later (yes, this is the glamorous life I lead) and she was talking about how when she lived in Belize that they would just string yards and yards of clothes line between trees and posts and whatever.
And SOMETHING needed to be done, so I bought a good long clothes line and about 150 clothes pins and went to work. And its been working pretty good. At first I was having a lot of fun with it. The girls were "helping" and Abby enjoyed sitting on a quilt under the shade while we hung and pulled down clothes from the line. I was pretty proud of myself.
Except now I have a couple of issues... for one, one of the tree's I tied my line to has poison ivy but I didn't recognize it until it was too late. Oops. (Its all over one hand and in the crook of the other elbow. Itching me like CRAZY!!) And now its supposed to rain the rest of this week. :(
I think my new goal is to load up as much as I can into my van and have a day at the laundry mat. Won't that be fun with three kids? :) I could take it to my grandparents, or my parents, or my in-laws, or my sister in-law's... but this way I can do a bunch of loads at one time and be done with whole thing. In fact, I think I'm gonna do it today. Wish me luck.
Rashelle and I were hanging out at the McDonalds playland a couple days later (yes, this is the glamorous life I lead) and she was talking about how when she lived in Belize that they would just string yards and yards of clothes line between trees and posts and whatever.
And SOMETHING needed to be done, so I bought a good long clothes line and about 150 clothes pins and went to work. And its been working pretty good. At first I was having a lot of fun with it. The girls were "helping" and Abby enjoyed sitting on a quilt under the shade while we hung and pulled down clothes from the line. I was pretty proud of myself.
Except now I have a couple of issues... for one, one of the tree's I tied my line to has poison ivy but I didn't recognize it until it was too late. Oops. (Its all over one hand and in the crook of the other elbow. Itching me like CRAZY!!) And now its supposed to rain the rest of this week. :(
I think my new goal is to load up as much as I can into my van and have a day at the laundry mat. Won't that be fun with three kids? :) I could take it to my grandparents, or my parents, or my in-laws, or my sister in-law's... but this way I can do a bunch of loads at one time and be done with whole thing. In fact, I think I'm gonna do it today. Wish me luck.
Just for fun...
I came across this video today when I was looking for the worm one and thought it was just too funny not to share. I think I laugh harder every time I watch it.
What do you get when two people who can't dance have kids? ...
Its amazing how a little toy from Sonic can create HOURS of fun. :)
(And yes, Ashley is wearing PJ pants under her skirt. Don't ask me why.)
What do you get when two people who can't dance have kids? ...
Its amazing how a little toy from Sonic can create HOURS of fun. :)
(And yes, Ashley is wearing PJ pants under her skirt. Don't ask me why.)
Worms
One of the fears Jake and I had as we found out that we were having THREE girls was that there would be no balance in our home... we feared that only having sisters, that the girls would become, ya know, OVERLY girly. And if you know my kids... they are definitely girly, no doubt about that. But somehow they have developed this balance... I don't know where they get it... but Ashley and Emily are the kind of girls that you will see in a giant 'dress up' ball gown, a tiara, and black mud boots playing in the back yard. They love playing outside. And they love mud. And their growing passion? Worms. YUCK. (They did NOT get this from me!)
Here is a little video I found... I actually caught their first worm experience on film. This video was taken one year ago this month. Notice the volume of mud on my children... and the very first worm the "tiscovered". Turn up your volume. :) (And yes, she IS still picky about her nose.)
And her we are a year later. We have an array of worms "living" in cups, bowls, and whatever dishes they can sneak out of my house, on the back deck. If I had a dime for every time I've had to say, "The worms HAVE TO STAY OUTSIDE." Gross. They love them. And are no longer afraid as you can tell by these pictures. They are professional worm digger-outers. Although Ashley hasn't yet realized that you can 'cut' a worm in half... she doesn't realize she's pinched them apart and thinks she found a 'baby'. :) Anyway we found out the other day that Papaw has the very best house for worms. He has LOTS. (Slide 7 looks like an abundance of worms, but they've just been covered with dirt. They know that they need dirt to live. Again- professionals.) And they were very excited. I wish I had another video, but we only got pictures. Photography and captions provided by Papaw. :)
Here is a little video I found... I actually caught their first worm experience on film. This video was taken one year ago this month. Notice the volume of mud on my children... and the very first worm the "tiscovered". Turn up your volume. :) (And yes, she IS still picky about her nose.)
And her we are a year later. We have an array of worms "living" in cups, bowls, and whatever dishes they can sneak out of my house, on the back deck. If I had a dime for every time I've had to say, "The worms HAVE TO STAY OUTSIDE." Gross. They love them. And are no longer afraid as you can tell by these pictures. They are professional worm digger-outers. Although Ashley hasn't yet realized that you can 'cut' a worm in half... she doesn't realize she's pinched them apart and thinks she found a 'baby'. :) Anyway we found out the other day that Papaw has the very best house for worms. He has LOTS. (Slide 7 looks like an abundance of worms, but they've just been covered with dirt. They know that they need dirt to live. Again- professionals.) And they were very excited. I wish I had another video, but we only got pictures. Photography and captions provided by Papaw. :)
If they keep this up, we might own our own worm farm next year!
Need Prayers
I don't really know what in the world is going on. I just know that my second trimester hit and BOOM, the nausea when from a 3 to a 10. I'm taking double the dosage of Zofran, wearing pressure point bracelets, and eating as much as I can keep down.
I REALLY need prayer that this thing comes under control. For my kids' sake, for my husband's sake, for our adoption's sake, and for our HOUSE. Please pray that God would remove this completely or give me Divine wisdom in how to deal with this to keep it under control.
My kids are really grossed out at watching me gag every time I stand up. And my poor family has been living on sandwiches for way too long. I REALLY need to be better.
I REALLY need prayer that this thing comes under control. For my kids' sake, for my husband's sake, for our adoption's sake, and for our HOUSE. Please pray that God would remove this completely or give me Divine wisdom in how to deal with this to keep it under control.
My kids are really grossed out at watching me gag every time I stand up. And my poor family has been living on sandwiches for way too long. I REALLY need to be better.
Bringing Home Boys... I mean Babies
Kind of an odd coincidence but today marked the first day of both my paperwork pregnancy and my physical pregnancy! My dossier (or international adoption application) is officially in the mail to Kiev, Ukraine. AND I am 14 weeks today. :)
It was a pretty nutty day, with lots of running all around middle Tennessee, but I lived. And at some point I lost track of just how many times I cried today. Not necessarily tears of sadness or even frustration, but just any little random thing. A song on the radio. The sentimental thought of my paperwork being sent. The friendliness of the FedEx lady. This is definitely the most emotional pregnancy I've had yet!
Anyway, I thought that was an interesting observation. Second trimesterS here I come!
It was a pretty nutty day, with lots of running all around middle Tennessee, but I lived. And at some point I lost track of just how many times I cried today. Not necessarily tears of sadness or even frustration, but just any little random thing. A song on the radio. The sentimental thought of my paperwork being sent. The friendliness of the FedEx lady. This is definitely the most emotional pregnancy I've had yet!
Anyway, I thought that was an interesting observation. Second trimesterS here I come!
Ultrasound Pics and Screening results
Baby Spencer #5 at 13 weeks gestation:
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This one is my favorite. You can see the full profile, cute little tummy, and kneecap. And those faint lines in front of his face are little fingers. :).jpg)
This one has got to be one of the strangest ultrasound pictures, lol! Its barely discernable even by me. But this (somehow) is the front of his face. Don't ask me how. I'm kind of upset that these are the only three she "took" because we saw so many great shots. :(.jpg)
This is what I stared at for about half an hour. Pictures of the back of his neck. :) Do you see the two very white lines along the back of his neck? She was measuring the dark area (or fluid) between his skin and his neck (from what I understand). That is supposed to tell them the chances my baby has any extra chromosomes. Amazing.Actually, I was asked a lot of other questions and had some blood drawn as well, which all contributed to the final results of the screening. Questions such as, "Do you have any current children with Down syndrome?" Yes. "Do you have any relatives at all with Down syndrome?" Nope. "Do you or anyone in your immediate family have a history of multiple miscarriages" No. "Is there any history of birth defects {chromosomally} at all on yours or your husbands side of the family?" Nope again.
So all of that combined with the actual test results, we found out Wednesday that this baby's chances of having Trisomy 21 (Ds) are 1 in 200! Thats great! And the chances of Trisomy 18 (click if you don't know any thing about it) are 1 in 99,000. :) Pretty good too. :)
Knowing that-- just the fact that we have one baby with Ds should have made our odds more like 1:100 or less--we feel pretty good about this. :) Again nothing is for sure until we see this sweet face in October, but I'm definitely breathing a little easier this week.
Can I be REALLY honest for a minute? When I hung up the phone with the Drs office, I cried. Just the thought of having one more baby that will develop ON his own... with no fighting for it... no pushing for EVERYTHING he does... milestones like rolling over, talking, walking and using a spoon with out countless prayers, fighting and pushing... made me cry. Anyone who knows me at ALL knows that I wouldn't trade one day with Abby for the whole world and I am absolutely LOST in love with her. But raising a child with special needs is not a challenge for the faint of heart. And now I'm doing both... adding one child with Ds and one likely with out. I can't believe that I'm going to have five children, but I am already so in love with each and every one of them. My cup runneth over.
Families in Tennessee:
Announcing the
Spencer Family Adoption Fundraiser:
Parent's Night Out
Friday Night, April 24th
5:30pm-10:30pm
Grace Chapel, Leipers Fork, TN
(First Chapel and Jr High rooms)
$25 per child
First sibling $15
$10 for additional siblings after that
Your child(ren) will enjoy games, dinner, craft, movie and more while YOU enjoy a night out!!!
Pizza and drinks included for kids 2 yrs old and up.
For children under 2 yrs old:
(and for children over 2 yrs old that have an allergy issue
with pizza or just doesn’t like it)
we kindly ask that you would pack a dinner.
(and for children over 2 yrs old that have an allergy issue
with pizza or just doesn’t like it)
we kindly ask that you would pack a dinner.
To sign up please contact Amy at
Or you can sign up in the church lobby-
look for a table between services.
Payment is due at time of registration.
Cravings
Has anyone seen all the Cool Whip commercials on TV recently? Cool Whip and Reddi Whip (ya know, "Oil... or Cream?" Ok you have to see the commercials) must be competing because they both have a ton of commercials out right now. (Or maybe its because I watch too much Food Network.... hmm...)
Anyway, seeing these the other night, I started CRAVING one of my Grannie's Chocolate Pie's. Now, typically, we only get these things for Thanksgiving... MAYBE Christmas and certain birthdays.
Well, it was almost 10pm, so I texted my Papaw to tell him that I'm craving a chocolate pie. And sure enough, I get a call the next day, and Grannie made me TWO pies!! She told Papaw, "the kids will want some, and she's pregnant- she might want a whole one to herself!" And boy do I! They were GOOOOOD. Mmm. :) The girls loved it but scraped it all off and wouldn't eat the crust, which I personally find tragic. But Abby loved every bit of it. Like mother like daughter. I think the kids are enjoying my cravings every bit as much as I am. :)
Screening and check-up
Yesterday I had what felt like a marathon appointment at the OB. The plan was to have a screening at 11 and a check-up at 1:40. Jake was going to drop the littler girls off at a friends house and bring Ashley up at 11 so they could be with me for the ultrasound. (We thought it would be fun to include her.) But after sleeping in a little longer than we planned to and waking up to almost freezing cold rain outside, AND getting an email from our friend that she and her daughter may or may not be a little sick... we opted for Jake to stay home with all of the girls and I trudged on to my appointment alone.
I got there almost 15 minutes early expecting to need to fill out paperwork but didn't need to after all. Then they had some emergency and couldn't see me until 11:30. So I sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes reading prego magazines and laughing at all of the advise that anyone who has a mom of their own or even just a friend with kids would already know. :)
Finally they took me back and started the ultrasound. This "nuchal translucency screening" or "nuchal fold scan" was basically just an ultrasound where they focus on measuring the fluid in the back of the baby's neck and that is supposed to tell them if my baby could have a chance of having Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) or even any other chromosomal abnormalities. (To read more about this screening you can click here.) Anyway, I got to see my sweet little baby and he/she was beautiful. :) It really is amazing how much the baby has grown since the last ultrasound just a few weeks ago. I could see the baby's face, fully formed, arms, legs, fingers, elbows and kneecaps. And what a wiggly little thing! Every time the tech would get a good shot of the back of his neck, the baby would snap his head way back and then fall into a completely different position. And his little legs were crossed and the ankle. It was so cute. :) She said it was way to early to tell the gender yet, so we didn't even try to get a look. And Jake still wants to wait and not find out, so that was probably a good thing anyway.
After the ultrasound, I had lunch with my mom which was nice... I can't remember the last time we had lunch, just the two of us! Then back to the Drs office for my 3 month check-up. We went over some typical 3 month stuff and she said everything looks great. Oh and we got to hear the heartbeat which was cool since I was just watching the heartbeat a few hours before. :) Then more blood drawn and I was done.
We'll get the results from the screening by friday. She basically said that if the results are "negative"... then they're negative. But if they are "positive" then they will just be giving me the baby's odds or chances of having a chromosomal abnormality. So if its negative, we are in the clear; if its positive, the baby could still be "typical" and healthy OR could have a chance of having Ds. Does that make sense? Anyway, we'll know more on Friday. And I still feel the same way- I'm just not that concerned about it. God is good. :)
(I'll post the ultrasound pictures soon... she didn't give me very many good pictures, but one was pretty sweet.)
I got there almost 15 minutes early expecting to need to fill out paperwork but didn't need to after all. Then they had some emergency and couldn't see me until 11:30. So I sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes reading prego magazines and laughing at all of the advise that anyone who has a mom of their own or even just a friend with kids would already know. :)
Finally they took me back and started the ultrasound. This "nuchal translucency screening" or "nuchal fold scan" was basically just an ultrasound where they focus on measuring the fluid in the back of the baby's neck and that is supposed to tell them if my baby could have a chance of having Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) or even any other chromosomal abnormalities. (To read more about this screening you can click here.) Anyway, I got to see my sweet little baby and he/she was beautiful. :) It really is amazing how much the baby has grown since the last ultrasound just a few weeks ago. I could see the baby's face, fully formed, arms, legs, fingers, elbows and kneecaps. And what a wiggly little thing! Every time the tech would get a good shot of the back of his neck, the baby would snap his head way back and then fall into a completely different position. And his little legs were crossed and the ankle. It was so cute. :) She said it was way to early to tell the gender yet, so we didn't even try to get a look. And Jake still wants to wait and not find out, so that was probably a good thing anyway.
After the ultrasound, I had lunch with my mom which was nice... I can't remember the last time we had lunch, just the two of us! Then back to the Drs office for my 3 month check-up. We went over some typical 3 month stuff and she said everything looks great. Oh and we got to hear the heartbeat which was cool since I was just watching the heartbeat a few hours before. :) Then more blood drawn and I was done.
We'll get the results from the screening by friday. She basically said that if the results are "negative"... then they're negative. But if they are "positive" then they will just be giving me the baby's odds or chances of having a chromosomal abnormality. So if its negative, we are in the clear; if its positive, the baby could still be "typical" and healthy OR could have a chance of having Ds. Does that make sense? Anyway, we'll know more on Friday. And I still feel the same way- I'm just not that concerned about it. God is good. :)
(I'll post the ultrasound pictures soon... she didn't give me very many good pictures, but one was pretty sweet.)
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