I had a beautiful, healthy, baby boy and I adore him!!!!

I had my six month appointment a couple weeks ago, when I was 25 weeks. Check out his leg...

The sonographer estimated that the little guy was 1 lb. 10 oz, which means he gained 8 oz in two weeks. The doctor said that I had only gained a pound since my last visit and she would normally be concerned about that, but she checked baby and he was measuring at 26-27 weeks. She said, "You are eating aren't you?" I answered affirmatively and she said, "Well, you must be eating healthy." I just laughed since I've been on the Girl Scout cookies and pizza diet.

He's been kicking me a lot, which A enjoys feeling. She loves to put her hands on my stomach and talk to "her baby" and give him kisses everyday. She tells him goodnight and came up with a great name for him (which I will be keeping a surprise). We wrote a countdown on her calendar so that she knows how many days are left before he comes home. She is pretty impatient, but I love that she is so excited and so involved. I would have thought that she would have forgotten about him or become disinterested by now, but she literally talks about him all the time. She includes him in conversations and asks me what he thinks and plans what she's going to help with and what she's going to teach him.

Anyway....I've had a cold for the past two weeks that I can't get over and am completely miserable. Which is why I'm up at 4 am...again...because I can't breathe and can only sleep for an hour at a time before I have to get up to hack up pieces of my lung. I remember having a cold for the entire last trimester with A. That better not be a pattern.

The issue of whether or not we can keep the house is still being debated, but I'm getting down to the wire so I need to start working on the nursery while I still have energy. We'll see how that goes.

This is part of the development sheet from the Munchkin's 4 year check up. Some of her answers to the questions cracked me up. What is a ceiling? "It is up there with the lights." She was supposed to draw a person and she did, complete with a baby in its tummy. She had her Tinkerbell party and it was lots of fun.

So, I started a job at the beginning of the month. The people I work with are super nice.

I'm 24 weeks now. I had my 5 month appt in December and there wasn't much to report. I'll start having monthly sonograms now and then at 32 weeks, I'll start the non-stress tests, whatever those are. I've only gained a pound in 2 months, so I guess that shows that stress is good for weight management. I'd probably gained 20 pounds by this point with the Munchkin. I can't actually take the medicine that they prescribed to stop my contractions because it put me right to sleep and left me completely groggy the entire next day. I tried to explain to my doctor that since I have a 4 year old to take care of by myself, that just isn't an option. So, I've just been dealing with the contractions and they haven't been too bad.

...until Wednesday night. I had a 2D ultrasound at the perinatologist that day. The little guy weighs 1 lb, 2 oz and I got to see him yawn.

I felt kind of strange that afternoon, but I wasn't really sure what was wrong. I ate a little dinner, but I was having contractions and just didn't feel right. Around 7 pm, I started having painful ones. I was actually crying at one point. My husband was here when they started (they seem to happen more frequently when he is around), but he had dinner plans (no comment), so he left and my mom came over to be with me. The painful ones were coming every 10 minutes, so I called the doctor on call. She said to go to the ER, of course, because that's always what they say. So, my sister came over to watch the Munchkin and my mom drove me to the hospital.

Because I'm over 20 weeks, they took me directly up to the Labor/Delivery Ward. They hooked me up to a fetal monitor and all that fun jazz. I threw up a few times and the contractions stopped. My back was killing me and I suddenly just felt sick all over.

I was dehydrated, so they stuck an IV in me and gave me some juice and an anti-nausea medicine. The nurse finally decided that I just had a stomach bug. She said the contractions were probably just stress and the back pain was likely from a little fall I had on the stairs a few days before. I slept most of the next day and felt much better on Friday. I did ask my husband to take the Munchkin to daycare and pick her up, so I really appreciate him doing that.

I don't know what the deal was with those contractions, but I hope they don't come back because that was not cool. The baby moves around a LOT. I remember being so awed by the movement with the Munchkin. It is a lot less magical this time around, as this whole experience is, given the circumstances. He is making things very uncomfortable for me. All that energy I had a couple weeks ago is suddenly gone. My hips kill me at night, so I switch sides every hour, at least. The acid reflux was bad in my last trimester with the Munchkin, but it started early with this one. Doesn't matter what I eat or when I eat it...I'm going to suffer. It is especially bad with chocolate, though. :(

The Munchkin does love talking about the baby and feeling the baby kick and coming up with names for the baby. She is the only one excited, it seems, but I do love that she is. She kisses him goodnight and "tickles" him and talks to him. And she tells everyone she sees about her baby brother. It is pretty adorable.

I'm pretty worried about her, though. I thought things would get easier for her, but they really haven't. She's always been such a great sleeper. She stayed in her bed pretty well and once she was asleep, you didn't hear from her until you wake her up. When her dad moved out, she asked if she could sleep with me and she has been ever since. The two nights when I was sick, I told her she needed to sleep in her own bed so that she didn't get my germs. Both nights, she woke up in the middle of the night crying and she had wet the bed. She said she had nightmares about her family disappearing.

In the class for divorcing parents that the county made me take, they mentioned that young children would be worried about the parent they live with leaving too. That makes me so sad that she thinks I might leave her. It breaks my heart. I try to reassure her constantly that I will always be here.

Her first week back at preschool went well and the teacher was very impressed with her. But, then the next week she told a kid that she was going to kill them, got caught dumping a bunch of toilet paper in the toilet for fun and hit a kid with a block. She throws insane tantrums now where she screams as loud as she can and throws things. I sense a lot of anger in her and I don't blame her one bit.

At her 4 year check up, her usually reserved doctor was downright chatty with me, expressing sympathy over the situation and offering any help. She suggested that I take her to a therapist. How sad is that? My 4 year old is going to have a therapist. Ugh.