Breathing easier

The doctor called me yesterday and Hannah doesn't have VLCAD, but she is a carrier. It feels good to finally have the info. We felt like that was probably the case, but it is nice to know for sure. The funny part was the the doctor told me that the specific mutation that Hannah has is usually found in people of Japanese descent, and the lab wanted to know if we had any Japanese in our lineage. I was like, I've seen/done the geneology back fairly far and I don't remember seeing anyone who was Japanese at all. Weird, huh? Now I'm wondering if we should have the older two tested to see if they are carriers or not. The doc said that this has only been part of the tests for the past 5-6 years, so they weren't tested for it. Rachie was, and she's ok, but I guess it's something I will tell them about when they get married and they can decide to do genetic testing if they want to.

Ladybug has arrived!!

I know I am very late, but it's been a busy couple of weeks. Hannah Rose arrived on May 21st at 7:58am. She weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces (my tiniest) and was 20.5 inches long. She has a good amount of dark brown hair. She's such a good baby! Hardly ever cries, and is pretty tolerant of the love that she gets from her big brother and sisters. Especially the "rough" love she gets from Rachel. Poor baby! :)
I have been recovering fairly well. My experience in the hospital was amazing compared to any of the other times. The nurses and other staff at Legacy salmon Creek Hospital as wonderful! Steve and I were both really impressed, and I feel like that helped make a huge difference in the way I felt before, during and after the surgery. I would definitely recommend them to anyone who is considering delivering there. It was awesome!
Our one concern about her is that one of her screenings came back as abnormal from her PKU test. She has had additional bloodwork (it was awful!) done and the results will be back sometime this week. It is to see if she has VLCAD (very long-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency). Basically, it's a metabolic disorder that won't allow her body to break down the fats in the foods she eats. As long as they catch it in time, it is controllable by diet, but it is fatal if it isn't taken care of properly. Her number was really low. The cutoff is .75 and she was at .78. The docs have told us that no one with a number that low has ever actually had the disorder, it was either a false positive or they are a carrier of the gene. She doesn't have any of the symptoms either, so we aren't super concerned. If she is a carrier, and she marries a carrier, their kids would have a 1 in 4 chance of having the disorder, so it's a good thing to find out at least. It is rare, 1 in 125, 000 people have it. Even though she is showing no symptoms, we have to treat her like she has it until we get the results back, just in case. So, I have to wake her up and feed her at least every three hours, night and day. That has been exhausting. The daytime isn't such a big deal, but she would sleep longer than three hours at a time at night if I didn't have to wake her. So, if you could send us some prayers for her health, we would appreciate it!
I will post some pics asap. The big kids are fighting downstairs, Rachel wants breakfast and I can hear Hannah squeaking. The day has officially begun!

One more day!

Tomorrow morning is the big day! I went in for my pre-op admission this morning, so everything is ready to go. We arrive at 6am, and I should be out of recovery sometime around 10:30-11:00ish. I'm not sure it has really hit me yet that I'm having this baby tomorrow. It still seems all so unreal.
Today was extra fun for Rachie because she got to play with Kylie while I was at the hospital, and she also got to go to Kindergarten visitation. They had the kids go into the Kindergarten rooms and play, read a story, make a project, etc while the parents had their meeting in the library. She is very proud of her "callerpittar" that she made, and was amazed that the book they read (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) was the same as the one we have here at home. :) When I asked if she made any new friends she said, "Well, I was thinking about it and I smiled at them, but I didn't talk." She was a little bit apprehensive about going until we got there and then she was fine.
My mom is coming over tonight to spend the night so she can get the kids up and off to school in the morning, and Steve and I have a few smallish things we need to get taken care of. I've been doing so much laundry this week I feel like I should be paid. After the next load, it will all be done! Well, it will be washed and dried, I still have to fold and put it away, ick! I never got the kids' rooms clean like I had hoped. They just weren't exactly cooperative about it and I decided I wasn't going to do it all on my own. It is one of those "choose your battles" things. They can deal with it if they don't like it. I'm done! :)
Saturday is Rachie's dance recital. I am still feeling so guilty about not going. I have made everyone promise to take videos and pictures and bring them to me right afterward so I can see them.
I am feeling excited, but still a bit nervous. This whole pregnancy has been hard on me. Not only physically and emotionally, but mentally I really feel like I am tempting fate. I have three perfect, healthy kids and I keep thinking that this time I may not be quite so lucky. There haven't been any signs or reasons for me to be feeling like that, but I still have that small fear deep inside. I did reread my patriarchal blessing a few weeks ago and it says that the children born into my marriage will be healthy and happy, so that makes me feel much better. I will just be able to let go of that small fear once I see Little Miss Ladybug and know that she's ok. I also have this irrational guilt about taking her a week early. What if there is something she needs that she can only get in the last week inside of me? I know it is a dumb thing to worry about, which is why I described it as irrational, but these are the random things that float around in my head, lol.

Not worth it!

I hosted Mother's Day here yesterday for my family and I am now regretting it big time. My back hurts so bad from standing and prepping the food, cleaning, etc. I've decided that I'm not hosting any more dinners/parties, etc until at least the 4th of July. I am assuming that will be a given, since we usually have family/friends over for a BBQ and then to go to the fireworks show. I love 4th of July! :) Plus, I know Steve and the other guys are dying to get out on the wave runners! :)

I have now begun to hit the semi-panic part of my pregnancy. The part where I look around and realize how much stuff I still need to get done before the baby comes and how little time/energy I have to do it. My downstairs is clean enough, I have gotten out all the baby furniture/etc and put it together. I just really need to get the office cleaned up (which can't happen until Steve fixes the shelving unit that collapsed. I have all the stuff that was on those shelves all over the floor in here), the kids' rooms at least presentable and their bathroom cleaned up. My mom is spending the night before Ladybug comes here with us so that she can get up with the kids and get them off to school. If it wasn't for that, I would just ignore the office completely. Unfortunately, it also doubles as our spare room, so it needs to look good for her to sleep here. The other part is that Steve still hasn't gotten the box with the 0-3 month size baby clothes out of the attic yet. He's gone up twice and brought boxes down with all sorts of other sizes, just not the ones I need right now. Poor guy! I've given up on any hope of getting our garden in before baby comes. We're just going to have to plant late this year. I have all sorts of loose ends to get tied together for YW girls camp stuff before I have the baby too. I'm assuming that soon I will hit the "I don't care anymore" stage and just give up on all this stuff, lol!

Melissa's wedding is this weekend! Rach is so excited to be her flower girl! :) On Thursday we are making truffles for the reception, yummy nummy!

cravings

All I want to eat lately is crushed ice. I crave a big ole cup of it with just enough water to cover it several times a day. Yummo! Friends have told me it's a sign of low iron. I am anemic, so that doesn't surprise me. I have been eating the ice from our freezer, which is kind of icky tasting. I think the water filter needs to be changed or something. I remembered someone telling me once that Sonic has good ice, so today I drove clear out to the only Sonic I know of around here...in Camas. I got a large ice water with extra ice. Oh my goodness! I'm in heaven! The ice is awesome! Little pellets that are just the right texture...not too hard, not too soft. I am seriously chomping it down. My only fear is that I got so much that it will melt before I can finish. :) Add the yummy ice cup to the three books I got at the library today and I am one happy lady.

I know there is a Sonic not too far from Steve's work. I might have to have him start bringing me cups of ice home every day, lol!

Last night we had our little Doodlebugs Preschool graduation. It was fun! The kids did a great job on their little presentation. I was the one who messed it up by forgetting the words to our graduation song. I hope they all had fun! I'll post a picture when I get a chance.

Sunday

Today we got to go to Lukas' blessing. He was so dang adorable, he had on little slacks, an adorable sweater vest, but the best part was the bow tie! Such a doll! I hogged him at Grandma and Grandpa's house afterward. He's so snuggly and sweet. Makes me excited to hold Ladybug.

Tomorrow is preschool graduation. :) I am excited, the kids have a fun graduation song they have been practicing. I made them each a graduation cap, complete with tassel, lol. Their ABC books are done, and I finished their little "through the year" scrapbooks yesterday. I am a bit disappointed that the weather is probably not going to be good enough for us to be outside. It will be pretty squishy in the house with all the kids and their families. We are doing a (very) short little presentation and a potluck dinner. Our house is a good size, but with that many people who need to all be in the same room at one time, it will be cozy. At least after the food and program, we can spread out into different areas. I am assuming the kids will want to play in the preschool room for most of it anyway, so that leaves the adults with some wiggle room.

I am so ready for preschool to be finished, but feeling a little bit sad that it is over. Does that make any sense? I have had a lot of fun with the kids, they all crack me up every time we are together. Each one of them is so different. They have been an awesome group though, no major issues with anyone not getting along, stuff like that. I know my approach to preschool is fairly laid back, so I hope that the parents/kids got something they were hoping to get out of it. I know it helped Rachel, especially with the "sharing my mom and my stuff" thing. Plus, she is really social and I tend to be not so social, so it helped her get that interaction that she loves and needs.

OK, time to go switch the laundry over and head to bed. I always forget to throw Becka's P.E. clothes into the wash until about 9pm on Sunday night. Usually there is another load in the washer that I have to dry before I can dry the new one and head to bed. Thank goodness for modern appliances though, I don't know what I'd do if I had to wash stuff by hand and hang it to dry.

Oh yeah, and just in case you aren't already tired of me mentioning it... only 19 days left!!!!!