Today's Dr. appointment

I went to the doctor again today. It's weird not to have Kirt going with me, because he always has before, but our lives and schedules are too crazy lately. Dr. Lunt is THE BEST Dr. ever. I love him! He asked about my bout with the swine flu and we chatted about it for a minute.

I am always nervous before I hear the heartbeat for the first time because of my miscarriage. Today it took awhile for him to find the heartbeat. I was so anxious I was SHAKING! When he finally found the racing little heartbeat I was ecstatic!

"158 beats per minute sounds like a healthy little girl to me," he said.

I laughed and told him the kids would be so excited to hear that he said it was a girl! He chuckled and said, "Oh no! You can't tell anyone that. That gets me in trouble ALL the time!"

I'm breathing a bit easier since I've heard the heartbeat, but until I see the 20 week ultrasound, I still don't feel safe. Hurry up and wait.

The little peanut at 8 weeks

Piggy Flu

Now that I am (almost) fully recovered, I guess I should blog about my HORRIBLE experience of the "piggy flu" as Mia calls it. I was nervous when my kids came down with it, because the mortality rate of pregnant women who get this sickness is 30%! My Dr. told me that at my last appt. ACK! Scary. I was SO, SO careful the whole time they had it, but alas, I still ended up with it.

The first day, I thought I had a bad head cold. I was thankful, because I was sure that I had something different than the kids had. I went through a whole box of tissues as my nose ran and ran and ran. That night my mom and dad came and my dad helped Kirt give me a blessing. I was sure I was going to be fine, so I went to bed. That night I woke up coughing about every 2 seconds, and every time I coughed it felt like my head was going to explode! I had a SUPER bad headache, but suffered for awhile because I AM PREGNANT, and I hate taking meds while I am pregnant!

The next day I gave in and took Tylenol for my headache. I called my Dr, and they strongly suggested I take the Tamiflu, because this flu is SO hard on pregnant women. Kirt went and picked it up, and I began the 10 day treatment. My cough persisted into the night, and finally at 3am, we made a trip to the ER because I was having trouble breathing. They told me, "Yep, you have the swine flu", "Your oxygen levels are fine", and "phenergan with codine is safe to take during pregnancy". I was SO miserable at that point, I had to give it a try. Codine makes me really sick, but I figured I couldn't be any sicker than I was, so I took it. And slept. For 2 days.

I don't really remember those two days, but I think I got up to use the bathroom and get a drink. Period. Luckily, Dallin was home with the "piggy flu" too, but had much milder symptoms, so he took care of the kids during the day (with GREAT help from my neighbor Heather) and Kirt ran the house.

After I surfaced again a few days later, I still couldn't do much. Hacking away, I got worn out REALLY quickly. I wish I could remember more details, but this sums it up: I have never been more sick in my LIFE! I finally felt a little better on day 4, but day 5 I was back in bed. Day 6 too. Day 7 I finally felt among the living again, but the Tamiflu was making me really nauseated and sick. It gave me a really bad headache too. I almost stopped taking it, but since the Dr. said that was a bad idea, I believed him and stuck it out. I sure hope the Tamiflu didn't do this baby any permanent damage!

I'm now on Day 14, and STILL struggle with energy at the end of the day. I do pretty well until about 5:00 and then I'm toast. They say it can take up to a month for a full recovery in pregnant women. Whew. I guess I'll feel better just in time for the Reno trip. :)

I am glad I survived it, but MAN that is NASTY STUFF! Hopefully my little peanut survived unscathed as well.

Ultrasound

On Monday, we went in for an ultrasound. I've never had one this early in my pregnancy, but when I went to my first dr. appointment last week, I wasn't measuring as big as I should have for being 10 weeks along. So, Lisa (my CNP) asked me to come in for an ultrasound. She was right. I thought I was 10 weeks 5 days, and really I was only about 8 weeks 5 days. DARN! The fun part was that we were able to see this little one's heart beating a million miles an hour, so it made me happy. Everything looked well, so my new due date is May 27th, 2010. *sigh* Seems like forever away, but I'm sure it will be here before we know it! And yes, there's only ONE.

Heartburn City

BLECH. There aren't many things I hate worse than heartburn. It is SO bad already! I've already downed a big, mega bottle of tums. Kirt keeps telling me that I just don't remember because it's been 5 years, but I SWEAR it's never been this bad this early. The heartburn, chest soreness, and back pain are at least twice as bad as they've ever been! No morning sickness and not really too much fatigue! YAY!) Kirt says, "That's because it's twins." Ever since he agreed to another baby, he's been praying for twins because he knows I'll want one more and he'd rather not have to endure ME through another pregnancy. What about me?? HA! Kill me now. I guess we'll find out this week. I'm sure there's just one. Kirt's sure there's two. My first doctor's appt. is on Thursday. More to come then!

YEOUCH!

Okay, so I didn't end up going in for the spotting because it stopped, but I can just say that I NEVER remember my chest hurting this bad in previous pregnancies??? Oh, man! Every time one of my sweet little ones climbs up on me to have a story read or even just cuddle, I get an elbow and it about KILLS me! I really hope that part of it ends in a few weeks when I hit the 2nd trimester...

The back pain (sciatica) varies day to day. Some days I'm flat in bed from it, and others I am totally fine. I'm sure all of you have been wondering what the HECK is up with that, but I can't tell you right now... Can't wait 'till you all read this blog and go "Oh, THAT'S what her problem was!"

It's getting REALLY hard to hide this news. This is my 6th pregnancy. (WHOA!) My belly popped at about 6 weeks and it is SO hard to disguise. I'm sure many of you are wondering, but are nice enough not to say anything. I just keep telling everyone that I keep "finding" weight and it all gathers around my middle. Well...it's TRUE!

Worry

For the last week I have been having a lot of back pain. I have finally pinned it down. It is my sciatic nerve. The pain can be there one minute and gone the next. It's hard keeping my secret and not being able to say, "I know my back pain is pregnancy induced!" I lived through this with Dallin, though it didn't start until around 20 weeks. 8 weeks seems really early to start that, but I'm sure normal in some cases.

I've also had spotting on and off this week. I haven't been worried until today when it turned to a bright red color. I'm debating whether or not to go to the ER just to get things checked out. Having lost a baby before, I'm really uneasy when it comes to thinking I might lose another one! I think I'll go in tonight.

The long, drawn out story...

OK, so I REALLY hope this blog is not discovered until I want it to be, but I want to keep a record of my feelings, cravings, meltdowns, and pains since I haven't proven to be successful at that in that past. As you might have guessed by the title of our new blog....WE'RE PREGNANT! Yes, we thought we could use a little more chaos in our little matchbox of a house. Aren't you jealous? Yeah. I knew it. :)

So, I know that some of you are wondering how I got "my way". That never happens at our house. I am not the boss. Those of you who know me well KNOW that Kirt runs everything around here. That's exactly how it happened. I put him in charge and he took over. End of story. HAHA. RIGHT! This plan has actually been in the works for well over a year now.

I attended the temple in March of 2008 and had a very real revelation that our family was not complete. I wasn't sure WHAT that meant. Having another baby, adoption, a family member passing away and us inheriting their kids...I had ALL the thoughts run through my mind. I told Kirt and he begged to differ. (Of course.) And so my job began. I fasted and prayed and I told Kirt that if he fasted and prayed about it and received an answer that our family WAS complete, then I wouldn't fight it. I think my husband is a very righteous and spiritual man, so why not? Well, his answer to the solution was to just simply not fast and pray about it. Thanks, hon. And so this continued for several months.

When Kirt finally came around, it was about July. He came to me and told me he knew that we were supposed to complete our family. I was SO elated and I had waited for this day for so long! Alas, as we prayed about it together, we felt that the timing wasn't right. WHAT? EXCUSE ME? I was dying to get a baby on the way here, and now I get, "Hold on a minute, not yet." SHEESH.

A month later, my job with Utah Virtual Academy fell into my lap. As always, I had to ask forgiveness and admit once again that Heavenly Father knows ALL. There is no way I could have handled the stress of my very first year of teaching AND being pregnant. (Plus already having 4 kids and a big kid...yeah. Kirt.) So as we continued praying, we just felt we would know when the time was right. We finally felt good about having a baby in June 2010. So we waited. AND waited. And waited some more.

In about May of this year, I (yes, Amberly) started to get cold feet. I decided that maybe I was too old, too far out of the baby stage, too free, yada, yada, yada. This is a part of the story that none of you know! My sweet hubby still took the heat, acting adamant that we were finished. (We all know he's a GREAT actor. HEE!) It became HIM coaxing ME! Isn't that funny??

In July, we took a trip to Texas to visit family and see our new niece, Ariana, be blessed. NOW YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH. That trip was for me! Kirt did such a good job acting like it was still him that was against the baby thing, but it was really me! Well, it worked. So, as much as it kills me to think that I will have 5 kids, (I'm not old enough for that!) it's happening.

And we could not be happier.