32 Weeks

Yesterday I had my OB visit for them to check m y blood pressure, and again, it was borderline. When my doctor came in he asked how my blood pressure has been and I said, just that, it was borderline. So he said to up my dosage to every 6 hours, of the medication I have been on.

He is concerned about my blood pressure, but I did bring up the fact that I I am having very minimal swelling. I can still wear my wedding ring, and it's not tight. With Adah I started swelling at 25 weeks and had to get a fake ring, and was pitting by 33 weeks (you could press hard on my leg and he pressure would leave a temporary pit). That right there is a good sign!

So now I'm assuming that I will be going to my OB once a week from here on out. You would think that if they want me to rest they would have me going to three appointments in one week every week. Sometimes I think that can contribute to my blood pressure being high when I get there.

Adah has really been acting out the last few weeks. I don't know if it's because I have to leave her more than normal, (not like she doesn't LOVE spending time with her grandparents) or it's because she scenes a big change happening. Everything is a fight with her. I have been reading a few books on parenting, and they advice that in a loving and controlled way, spanking can be a tool for certain punishments. Everyone has their opinions on spanking, and I respect that, but for us it does work. However, society doesn't condone spanking of any kind, so when we are out in public it is really hard to be consistent in our discipline. So it's even more important that Jon and I are 100% consistent at home.

I have 1 more appointment for this week, and then we start all over again. I'm feeling a lot more relaxed as the time passes. Yes, I'm getting very uncomfortable, but the idea that the baby could come at anytime because of my condition is not as scary the further we get.





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Big Family Changes

The last time my grandpa came to my parents house for a visit was July 5th. Being that the 4th was on a Sunday, the church staff was given Monday off. My grandparents came and we had a BBQ with the family. It was nice and relaxing, and created for great memories. Obviously we had no idea that 20 days later, my grandpa would pass away.

My grandparents have always wanted to move closer to my mom and dad, but they have been living in their house for 50 years (I think) and that kind of change has always intimidated them. On that day, we deiced to look at a couple of houses in the neighborhood just up the street. One was a foreclosure that was in not great condition, the other was in pretty decent condition, but was a short sale. No one was living there so we decided to just look anyway through the windows. It was beautiful! 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, with a pool. Everyone just loved that house! But, again, it was a short sale so no effort was made to look into it any further.

With the rapid decline of my grandpa's health, it was forgotten...

Fast forward 8 months later, it had become very evident that my grandma's living conditions needed to change. She was having a hard time keeping up with her house, and got into a car accident, and can no longer drive. Being that they live 30+ minuets away without traffic, if has been extremely difficult for my mom to care for her in the way she needed. She has been staying with my parents for over a month now, due to the fact that she can't drive. We had looked into 55+ apartments and such, but my grandma, the money savvy lady she is, found it pointless to pay that much money when she didn't get to own anything.

Last week we caught wind of a few houses for sale in the neighborhood. So my grandma (on her own) called up a real estate agent she has know for years to come and show us the houses. I say on her own, because my grandma hates being pushed to do anything, so her calling him up was a huge step. They looked at two, one being a scary house up the street that still had people living in it, and the beautiful house we looked at with my grandpa. It had gone into foreclosure, and when the bank gained it, they painted it, put new carpet in, and cleaned the pool to sparkling condition. It was again, beautiful!

Like I said, my grandma hates being pushed, but the agent was very real with her in saying, its a great property, and the price is great too, so you need to do something now because it won't last. So my grandma put in an offer, and her agent wrote a letter to the bank about her circumstances, and how my mom lives in the neighborhood.

We were all praying not that she would get the house, but if it were the Lords will, He would make it very clear. The next morning, her agent called to say they should up the offer a little bit, and by noon, he told her that she got the house! Not 24 hours later, and she was signing papers!

To make it more evident that the Lords hand was in this, she decided when she was making the offer to put up her house for sale in Montclair, and it was to go up on Friday. To all of our shock and amazement, it was sold by noon on Friday! And.... She sold it for more than she bought the house in Riverside for! We have been so thankful for the Lord's hand in this, and I know it will make my Mom's live a whole lot easier, just in not worrying about her, and being that 30+ minutes away. Not she's only 3+ minuets away!

Please keep us in prayer as we move her to Riverside. It will be hard on her and all of us as that was the home that we all grew up at, and the home my grandpa passed away at.

Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4

Abondigas Soup

Jon and Adah have been sick the last couple days, so we are having a sick day today (and possible tomorrow). I wanted to make soup for Jon and Adah. My great friend Shainie gave me this recipe last year, and we LOVE it! It's supper easy and you can add as many veggies as you want. You can also substitute the beef for ground turkey. With the meat and veggies, its a really well rounded soup!

Enjoy!

Albondigas (Mexican Meatball) Soup by Shainie Rickard
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. dried oregano
1lb ground beef/turkey
½ cup rice
2 tbsp. vegetable/olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups water
2 (14 ½ oz) cans beef broth
1 (6oz) can tomato paste
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup sliced carrots

In a large bowl, combine eggs, cilantro, salt, pepper and oregano; beat well. Add ground beef and rice; mix well. Shape mixture into 1 inch balls. Set aside.
Heat oil in large pot over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion is tender but not brown. Stir in water, broth and tomato paste. Bring to a boil. Add potatoes and carrots. Simmer 5 minutes.
Add meatballs to soup; return to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer about 30 minutes or until meatballs are no longer pink in the center.
Serve with flour tortillas.
Makes 6-8 servings

31 Weeks

Monday marked 31 weeks in my pregnancy! This is exciting because if I had this baby around the same time as Adah, I have 6 weeks left to go. Obviously I am praying for a full term pregnancy, but based on this weeks doctor visit, I don't know that that's going to happen.

Monday, I had my NST (monitoring) visit, and my blood pressure wasn't good but wasn't bad. My systolic number is getting high. Which is weird because it was diastolic number that went up with Adah. I told them I had a OB appointment the next day, so they didn't make a big deal about it.

So yesterday, I went to my OB, and sure enough it was 148/72. So they made me wait, and took it again and it was 128/84! I don't get it!! One thing I love about my OB is he approaches everything in a very calm manner. While the nurses may make comments about how high it is, he approaches the facts, and tells me what he wants me to do. That's exactly what he did. He said that he knows with a 2 year old it can be hard, but he wants me to rest as much a possible.

I hate that most of them time when I go to the doctor I leave discouraged. I can't help it. This is not the way pregnancy is suppose to be. I feel robbed of having a "normal" pregnancy. Plus I feel good, with Adah, I didn't feel good at all. Every fiber in my body wants to rip into the closets, and get things ready for the baby, but I can't. I can keep up on the day to day things for the most part, but that's about it. In know this is a season, and I will be holding our baby boy very soon.

So, now I rest. I'm not on full bed rest. Adah and I hang out I in the living room for the most part. We play with her toys, color, watch TV. She is very compliant, yet still a 2 year old. ;) My family has been really helpful with taking Adah for a few hours, or coming by to help me out. Just wrapping my brain around who can watch Adah for my NST appointments has been (for me) daunting. My mom has been really helpful at figuring it out. It's only about an hour and a half, but its at 1pm, right at her nap time. Usually she stays awake and plays with whoever is watching her, but it's never 100% that she'll go to sleep when I get home. That can be hard because I have always been insistent on naps.


I need to rely on the fact that things are good right now. But I also know it can take a swift turn at anytime, so I'm preparing myself for that.


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Location:Home

Lets Do Lunch

Going grocery shopping is a love and hate thing for me. I love filling out fridge and pantry with food and having that feeling of accomplishment, but I really don't like going grocery shopping. When I'm in the store, I get really overwhelmed. In my head I want stretch my dollar as far as possible, but that is a daunting task by itself, even when I have a list. I just got the grocery IQ ipad app for my ipad, so I'm gong to see how that goes.

I have a hard time menu planning in general, for a few reasons... 1) Jon is gone 3 (sometimes 4) nights a week. So I'm not going to cook a whole meal for just Adah and I. 2) like I said before, I get really overwhelmed, and end up forgetting something. 3) This is the biggest. I like to include (like most people) every meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast is easy, but lunch really throws me for a loop. I never know what to make. I am so sick of sandwiches, and being that I can't eat cold meat, it limits my options even in that area. And, we are not really salad eaters.

So, I am curious... What do you do for lunch at home?


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Location:Home

30 weeks

This week got off to a rocky start. I went to my dr appointment on Monday, and my blood pressure was a little high. This wasn't surprising to me because i noticed it started getting high on Friday. It doesn't usually bother me because when i lay on my side, it goes way down. So they took it again after laying on my side, and sure enough it went down. With Adah it was so high, that when i would lay on my side it wouldn't go down that low.

I was pretty discharged because last week was so good, that the high on was on came to a crashing fall. But I managed to keep it together. We went to my parents for dinner and i forgot about it.

Today, i have been working on the kids room. I don't want to push it too much, but i got a lot done. Throughout that time i was working, i would take my blood pressure, and it was more normal that it had been in days. Yesterday, before my appointment, I really took it easy. But then today it don't, and i have normal readings??!! I don't get it. But I'm not going to complain.

While working on the kids room, Jon and i decided to turn Adah's bed into a toddler bed. She did great for her nap, she was really excited. She is totally getting the boundary thing. When she woke up from her nap she called us instead of getting out of her bed to find us. I know that will change quickly, but it's funny for now.

Not much has changed, Jon leaves this weekend for the jr high retreat. I'm not going this time. It would just be too much with Adah and all the walking, so i decided to stay home.

I hope to blog about Adah updates soon. She is getting so big and mature it is unreal!


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Location:Home

29 week Ultrasound

Today we went in for my 29 week ultrasound. I was nervous (as always) and anxious to see our little bambino. He has been way more difficult to see during ultrasounds than Adah ever was.

My blood pressure was good, and it has been good with all my monitoring appointment so far, and i am really grateful for that.

I was expecting this ultrasound to be like the last few we've had (lasting only about 3 minutes) in that they just start shooting ultrasound lingo left and right without telling you what s going on and at the end saying everything looks great, here's your pictures.

I was delightfully surprised to walk in to 2 techs, and a NP in the room. The NP started asking me a lot of questions pertaining to my pregnancy with Adah and what i went through with the preeclampsia and such. She really let me talk about it. She was really happy with my BP. Then while she was letting the techs do their work, she said " I'll narrate what's gong on for you." in my mind i was thinking, i really like her! They looked onerous his spine, bone structure, brain, brain fluid, organs including heart valves, face and mouth. I can't even begin to tell you how good that made me feel! I have noticed such a disconnect (with communication) with doctors and nurses with their patience, and she was so informative. She even made mention that his cord blood flow looked really good. Apparently the blood flow in the cord can indicate whether or not someone may get preeclampsia because decreased blood flow can pop up before symptoms even occur.

All in all, it was a great visit. I am so thankful to all of you who have been praying for me. The Lord has really been showing me the power of prayer throughout this pregnancy. I really feel like the Lord is taking care of us, and guiding us a day at a time through this.

From the bottom of our hears,
Thank you!!!


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