Why I shouldn’t Google
Current mood: annoyed
Category: Life

So, when I was at the chiro last Tuesday he took x-rays.  First he congratulated me on being one of only .5 of the population that has a seventh cervical rib, and said that I should tell my husband to be super nice to me because of it.  I’m not sure what that means, but now that I have looked it up, I intend to ask Dr. K about it.

1 example of why I shouldn’t Google.  Apparantly, having a seventh cervical rib can cause something call TOS (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome).  It’s symptoms are often misdiagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome, bursitis, and rotator cuff syndrome.  I have had symptoms of carpal tunnel which were later diagnosed as faciitis in my forearms from typing and mousing at work.  I have also been diagnosed with rotator cuff syndrome, or more specifically supraspinatus tendonitis (rotator cuff impingement).  Of course, now that I have Googled 7th cervical rib, I’m wondering if both of those problems were misdiagnosed.  Item 1 on my list of things to ask him about next week.

 After the 7th cervical rib thing, he pointed out that I had a bone fragment floating around in front of one of my thoracic vertabrae (I don’t recall which one).  Then he pointed out the spot that it must have chipped off of.  He asked if I was a really active kid.  I told him yes, that I had been in ballet for 13 years.  He thought that this would be more likened to something that would result from tumbling or gymnastics.  I never took either of those, but I loved to summersault, cartwheel and flip around the front yard when I was little.  Then it occurred to me that it may have happened when I fell off the front porch when I was just shy of 2 years old.  He asked if I ever had a little tickle in the back of my throat.  All the time.  I just assumed it was from my asthma and sinus issues.  Maybe it’s all tied together.  I didn’t Google that (How could I even if I wanted to?), but it does make me think (overthink), and overthinking is not good when you are prone to insomnia anyway.

Then comes the kicker.  He points to a white mass in front of my thoracic vertabrae on the head on x-ray.  He tells me that it’s my thyroid and that it has a lot of calcium around it (thus the reason that it shows up on the x-ray at all), more than normal at least.  I asked what that meant.  He said it means I need to tell my doctor and have them check it out.

Reason 2 why I shouldn’t Google.  I had two doctor appointments today.  One was a well-woman exam.  My OBGYN knows me well.  During the last trimester of my pregnancy with Livvie I practically lived at her office.  I was there twice a week for 13 weeks, sometimes more than twice.  Having had 2 babies in 2 years, naturally I have seen her more than any other doctor for some time now.  I have been to my GP so little in the past couple of years that I couldn’t get a CT scan a month ago when Luke gave me a concussion when he head-butted me in his sleep (he has night terrors) one night.  I hadn’t met my deductable, so they needed me to pay full price for it.  Holy Shite!  CT scans are EXPENSIVE!!!  Anyway, I mentioned the x-ray, and the calcium around my thyroid.  She said that I had always had a slightly enlarged thyroid.  This was a surprise to me.  Had she mentioned it before and I didn’t hear, or had she merely noticed it and written it down without mentioning it?  She felt my thyroid again and said that it was still slightly enlarged, and to mention it to my GP that afternoon at my appointment.  She said that they would probably order an ultrasound of my thyroid.

I did mention it to my GP.  She was already ordering a full blood panel, because it was a physical afterall.  I hadn’t had a full panel since just before I found out I was pregnant last time.  So she ordered a thyroid screen also, and true to Dr. Moore’s word, she gave me a lab slip to have my thyroid ultrsounded.  I’m going to the same place that I had most of my ultrasounds for the kidlets (except for the fetal echos), and where I had my kidney’s ultrasounded about 3 years ago.  It will be the same Dr. that did that kidney US and both of my early pregnancy USs (when I had early spotting).  He is awesome, and I’m glad that she is asking for him to do it.  She seemed mildly concerned about the calcification around the thyroid and suggested that may be why I’ve had trouble losing weight, and why I’ve been fatigued (I thought that was just because I have a toddler and an infant, and a full time job, but what do I know?).  I lost all of the pregnancy weight within 3 weeks postpartum, but have put 10 pounds back on since then, and have been careful about what I’ve been eating (I’ve sworn off fast food - not easy with my type of job, and cut way back on soda - major weakness!) especially in the last couple of months, and have not only not lost, but also gained.  I thought I just wasn’t trying hard enough.  I guess we’ll see when I get my lab results back.

Proof of why I REALLY shouldn’t Google medical stuff:

This is what I found when I looked up "thyroid calcification"...

"Calcification within the thyroid gland may occur in both benign and malignant thyroid disease, and its detection on ultrasonography is frequently dismissed by many clinicians as an incidental finding of little significance."

WHAT, WHAT, WHAT?????????  I really didn’t need to read that.  I was hopeful that a diagnosis of a thyroid problem might be helpful in explaining some stuff I’ve been dealing with.  I don’t need to have to worry about cancer.  Christ on crutches!  I was just hoping to find out some good info on different possible treatments, and maybe what successes those treatments typically bring about.

That’s what I get for Googling.

Bah!!!

1:46 AM - 4 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Oy! What a pain in the neck!!!
Current mood: anxious
Category: Life

Two Sundays ago, I fell asleep on the couch, holding my baby girl.  A few hours later I woke up with a very sore neck.  I didn’t think much of it at the time, got up and went to bed.  In the morning I woke up and my neck was still sore.  Grrrrrr.  I took a shower and let the hot water run on it for a while.  That helped a little, and I got ready and started my day.  I got to work and sat down in front of the computer with a fresh cup of coffee, eager to get through the slew of new e-mails and voice-mails and get down to the business of planning.  An  hour later I got up to fill up my water glass, my coffee now long gone, but when I got up, something wasn’t right.  During that hour, my neck had grown increasingly stiff, which I certainly noticed when I got up.  Hold crap!  Anyone who has ever worked out with a personal trainer is familiar with stiffness and soreness, but this was a whole ’nother Oprah.  I could barely turn my head to the left, and instead had to move my whole body to answer a co-worker down the hall.  I have seen other people in this predicament......I have even laughed at other people in this predicament.  I won’t laugh again.  I have since decided that I must be getting old.  I’ve never been knocked on my ass by something that started so simply as a sore neck from sleeping wrong.  I had a really bad cough from a cold that had been lingering for about 2 weeks, so you can imagine how pleasant each and every cough was, let alone the 3 minute coughing fits that I’d been having once or twice a day.  The more I coughed, the more I pulled my shoulders up to protect my neck, and the more I did that the tighter my neck and shoulders got.  When I wasn’t better on Tuesday morning, and had hardly slept at al the night before, and was afraid to drive my car, because I couldn’t turn my head to check traffic when changing lanes, my co-workers insisted that I go see the miracle worker chiropractor that they all go to.  So I called and made an appointment for later that afternoon.  He sat down with me and we chatted for a bit, he asked how this had happened, I told him I woke up that way the morning before and had no idea, he came up with the rediculous notion to try to turn my head to the left, I laughed at that idea......laughing hurt too.......and it made me cough some more.  He took some x-rays (here’s where the real adventure begins), and then he put me on this table with a roller in it (it looked old, and out-moded, but it made fast work of relaxing the tight muscles in my back, after a while of laying on that table, he put me on a chiropratic contraption the likes of which I have never seen.  It is obviously a chiropractic "table," but it stands straight up, and then cradles your body (so’s ya don’t fall off) while it lays you back, keeping pressure off the offending, sore, tight, achey (insert pain adjective of your choice) body part.  He adjusted me.  I haven’t been adjusted since 4 weeks after Livvie was born.  It hurt, but afterward I felt what I always like to describe as, "like a sack of potatoes."  Immediately I had increased mobility, but still a lot of pain.  Apparently my wonderful new chiropractor had mentioned that I needed to start taking Motrin three times a day for 10 days.  Also apparently, I didn’t hear him say that.  The next morning I woke up, and optomistically convinced myself that I still had increased mobility, but I still had a lot of pain.  I had another appointment to see Dr. K at 10AM and would be getting massage therapy beforehand.  The prospect should have been enticing.  Who doesn’t love a massage?  I was a little trepidatious.  Considering that I was hurting, and have trouble relaxing anyway, I wasn’t sure how effective it would be.  I needn’t have worried, by the time my hour was up I was so relaxed, I could barely feel the pain in my neck.....until the massage therapist left the room, and I stood up to get dressed.  Immediately the pain was back, albeit to a lesser degree.  Then it was time to get adjusted again.  So much for my massage, right?  By the time I got through the rest of my work day and got home that night, I could barely move my head at all.  I had started drinking water when I left Dr. K’s office, but I didn’t take any Motrin, because I was out (mind you, I hadn’t taken any at all so far, because I don’t like taking that stuff anyway, and I never heard Dr. K’s instructions the day before), and I probably should have drank more water than I did, but I’m terrible about that even when I didn’t just have a massage therapist release all of those nasty toxins from my muscles.  I picked up the kids from day care, and called John, who was thankfully on his way home from a little extended day OT.  I asked him to pick me up some Motrin on the way home.  I thought about calling him back and asking him to get some IcyHot too, but I’d never used it and just figured I would alternate ice and heat the old-fashioned way.  I had to wait in the car for John to get home, because I couldn’t lift Livvie’s car-seat out myself.  I couldn’t believe how badly I was hurting.  Not only did my wonderful hubby get me the Motrin I so badly needed, he also read my mind and brought home some Bengay.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love him?  So I took my Motrin, and put some Bengay on my neck and shoulder and sat down on the couch, because.........well, that was all I could do.  I fell asleep sitting up because I was afraid to lean my head on anything.  When I got up off the couch a few hours later, I could move again, and felt tremendously better.  When I woke up in the morning I felt 80% better, maybe even a little more.  I had an appointment to get adjusted again the nect day, and felt like giving Dr. K a hug.  He asked if he passed the new chiropractor test and I said resoundingly YES!!!  By Friday I barely had any pain anymore.  Saturday, I was good as new.  I missed my appointment  on Monday, because I thought it was in the afternoon and it was actually in the morning.  Tuesday I never had an appointment, but I had made an appointment for Wednesday that I wasn’t going to forget.  Dr. K had asked that I make another appointment with the massage therapist.  It’s funny how we think we don’t have pain anymore, but find out in the oddest ways that we do.  Once the therapist started working on me, I realized that I still had pain in the places that I’d been compensating for my neck pain the week before.  My shoulder blades were super sensitive and my middle back too.  I got adjusted again after my massage, and felt great.  I took my Motrin right away that time and drank enough water to float a boat in the rest of the day.  When I left the office even my hips were swinging again, and I realized how rigidly I’d still been holding my body.  In fact, I don’t remember swinging my hips when I walked since before I was pregnant this last time....maybe even before that.  Yesterday one of my co-workers even noticed how much more relaxed I looked.  Now I have new worries, but Hey!  My neck is all better, and if anyone needs a referral to a great chiropractor, drop me a line.

11:46 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Another one...
Current mood: proud and emotional

...from the heart of a lineman's wife...

LINEMAN'S CHOICE
A. Maddox

Lineman's Choice

Where is he now?

Dinner is on the stove done,

And he should've been home.

I guess he couldn't phone.

A storm came through this mornin'

With wind, ice, snow, and sleet.

He must still be at work,

With all of his duties to meet.

Our electricity is fine,

But somewhere it must be off.

I guess I should've known.

After all, I'm a lineman's wife.

I feed the baby dinner,

Then sit alone once more.

I sure miss him now.

We usually share this chore.

The baby is in jammies,

And ready for her goodnight kiss.

Me and Teddy aren't enough.

She wants to know where Daddy is.

I know he loves his job,

But this is growing old.

I can't think of anything,

'Cept him out in the cold.

Is he wearing hooks and belt

Climbing up on a pole?

Or is it a problem with underground

Somewhere in a water-filled hole?

His job is so dangerous.

I hope he is all right.

I pray there won't be

Any problems tonight.

He finishes the job.

It's already four.

He tries to sneak in,

But I hear his key in the door.

With sudden and complete relief,

I lean into his embrace.

He tells me of his night,

Sounds like he just ran a race.

His breathing is fast,

And there is excitement in his voice.

Now I'm glad I'm a lineman's wife.

I understand why he made this choice.

A. Maddox

lineman's wife

9:23 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

A lineman’s wife...
Current mood: contemplative

I found this on Powerlineman.com amongst a lot of other poems and letters written by lineman, and their wives, and even mothers...

These words could have come out of my own mouth.

Neither job is easy...

MY HUSBAND
Kelly Guerrero

My Husband

You just hung up the phone and again I'm eating all alone.

I work for the power company too so I thought I could handle the job that you do.

I thought I knew about the lineman's life but not until that summer I became your wife.

I know our marriage will last for many years but promise me you'll always work safe, my dear.

I worry about the safety of all our crews but you're the only lineman my heart belongs to.

so when you think about taking a shortcut remember that I'm the one who will get hurt.

And remember this my dear Paul that working safe is always your call.

Love Always,

Your Wife

 Dedicated to my lineman, my mom, my dad, and all the other lineman and their wives that I know, and even those I don't.  Work safe my love!  We'll be waiting for you at home.

8:40 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Exploring my options......again.
Current mood: resolute

So, I had the option to be induced this coming Tuesday.  I actually scheduled the induction after being assured that I could cancel it on Monday if I decided that I wasn't ready and wanted to wait a little longer.  I came to a decision last night....

I'm not ready.  I want to wait a little longer.  I want to give my body a chance to do what it's supposed to do.  For reference, see the blog I posted about induction last May when I was coming close to my due date with Luke.

John's going to be disappointed, but I know he is behind me 100% in whatever I decide. He told me so last night...

I'm going to call when the office opens in the morning and cancel the induction. I am posistive about this decision. At my appointment last Tuesday, my doctor said that the baby is still fairly high, even though I am dilated to 3 and 40-50% effaced. That really is all I need to hear to know that the baby is not ready yet.  Little M has been moving around a lot too. Big movements that are too big for a baby that is even close to being engaged. My body isn't ready yet either. I just have a "feeling." I already face induction whether I want it or not at 40 weeks (due to borderline gestation diabetes). I want that extra week to see what will happen. Maybe I am like my mom, who never went into labor on her own.  Her doctor said that she was built to have babies (as my doctor says about me), but apparently she was not programmed to have them naturally. I may be that way too. I accept that possibility. Maybe I will have to be induced next week, but I'm going to give myself that extra time. I will go in on Tuesday to be monitored and checked by the doctor, and ask to have her strip my membranes (which now that I think of it, I'm surprised she didn't do last week). I will start bouncing on my birthing ball, and keep walking. I will clean my house obsessively, and spend time with my amazing son, and I will ignore that impatience to meet my new baby. I am already limited by the threat of medical intervention. I am not going to speed up that process.
I'm so glad that I've made this decision.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's the right thing to do.

With that in mind.......get engaged and get outta there kiddo.  Mommy and daddy and your family and friends want to meet you.  Don't keep us waiting much longer.  You have 9 more days before you are evicted, and at that point it's out of my hands.

1:34 AM - 6 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

BOLU girls - DNS flush instructions...
Current mood: bored

Flushing the DNS cache on Windows XP

1. Click the Start logo in the bottom left corner of the screen.
2. Click the Run command in your start menu, and when it appears type in cmd.exe in the Open field.
3. C:/ prompt (DOS) window will appear
4. At the prompt type the following and then hit enter:
ipconfig /flushdns (Make sure you leave the space after ipconfig and before the forward slash.)
5.You will see the following confirmation:

"Windows IP Confguration"
"Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache."

Flushing the DNS cache on Windows Vista

Here is how to fix that corrupted DNS cache in vista.

1. Click the Microsoft Vista Start logo in the bottom left corner of the screen
2. Click All Programs
3. Click Accessories
4. RIGHT-click on Command Prompt
5. Select Run As Administrator
6. In the command window type the following and then hit enter: ipconfig /flushdns
7. You will see the following confirmation:

"Windows IP Confguration"
"Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache."

I tried it just a few minutes ago, and it didn't do anything, so obviously the OLU upgrade isn't complete yet.  Just keep trying until it's back up.

Currently watching : The Godfather DVD Collection Release date: 09 October, 2001

12:47 AM - 5 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Check out my video!

11:56 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Well, we made it through our first official childhood illness.
Current mood: relieved

So Luke's fever finally broke early Thursday morning.  He was still grouchy and out of sorts all day that day nad not interested in eating.  On Friday a little rash started out on his face around his hairline, and then spread to his neck, and then his chest, and then his back, and then his diaper area: front and back.
I'm just relieved that we (my mom and I, and as good a confirmation that you can get from a doctor over the phone) figured out what it is. I am 99% percent sure that what Luke had all last week was...............................
ROSEOLA! My mom suggested that maybe that was what it was, as I had it when I was a toddler. So I looked it up online and the picture of the rash I found looks and is described identical to his. Plus the description of the way the virus manifests itself is identical also. Check it out.

This is the abridged version of about three different articles I found...

12:00 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

My baby boy is sick...
Current mood: sad

My poor boy!  I hate it when he's sick.  He's been sick so few times in his 14 month life, and everytime before he's been too little to really be phased by it or know what's going on, but this time he is so sad and doesn't understand what's happening.  He sill be playing and acting normal and then all of a sudden I can tell that the Tylenol is wearing off and he's starting to feel bad, because he comes up to me and puts his arms up, and just whimpers and whines and whimpers, because he just plain ol' doesn't feel good.

On Monday afternoon, I was sitting on the couch watching him play, and all of a sudden he came up and wanted to be picked up.  He's usually far to busy to want to cuddle except at night before bed when he's winding down.  When I picked him up he put his little head on my shoulder and fell fast asleep.  I noticed then that he was really warm, but I figured it was because I had all the windows open (we had people coming to see the condo, so I was trying to air out the place), and usually I have it fairly dark and cool in here with the AC on.  Working for the electric company makes one rather conservative when using the AC.  I didn't think anything more of it, until he slept for a while and continued to be really warm.  He sleeps warm though and sweats a lot, so I thought when he woke up from his nap I would take his temp.  Even then I figured if he was running a fever, he was probably just teething.  When he woke up 3 hours later (that's a fairly long nap for him, he's usually no more than two and then he's up and running again), I took his temperature, and it was 101.3 .  Not scary, but warmer than I expected.  So I gave him some Tylenol and took it again about 45 minutes later 100.3.  Still figured that he was teething.  He played for a while, had some dinner, I gave him a haircut, and then before he went to bed I took it one more time.  It was down in the high 99s then.  We both fell asleep on the couch and about midnight he woke up crying.  He felt super hot then, and I took his temp again 103.  Yikes!!!

I gave him some more Tylenol and by the morning it was down to 99 again.  I just thought maybe he got overheated, and we went about the rest of the day, but I had to cancel all three of my Dr.'s appointments for the day, because I couldn't take him to my in-laws to watch him with a fever.  My mother and father in law typically watch him while I'm working and since I've been off, while I have doctor appointments.  They were supposed to take him for the day yesterday, and then John and I would pick him up and stay for dinner.  I also didn't want to take him with me to the doctor's office or hospital, because one of my appointments was actually to take place inside of Labor and Delivery, so I cancelled and rescheduled them.  Luke spent a good deal of the day in my lap.  He hasn't been really interested in eating solid food.  He ate about half of what he usually eats.  I have tried to get him too drink as much Gatorade as possible, but he really wanted milk, even though I was hesitant to give it in case he had a stomach bug.  That's a surefire way to end up with projectile vomit.  Yummmmm!

He continued to run a fever all day yesterday, but it was fairly low-grade, so I was still thinking, 'teething.'  He never ran a fever when teething with his first teeth, but did when he cut his first molar last month, so it wouldn't have been out of the realm of possibility (except that 103 that was still bugging me).  Once we got to the evening I was starting to worry that maybe he had an ear infection.  He's never had one and everytime we go to the doctor she says that his eardrums look really healthy and "perfect."  I think he must be getting used to having his temp taken, because last night around 9:30 (He didn't get to sleep until 11, because he slept a lot yesterday), he brought me the ear thermometer to take his temp, and it was 97.1.....YAY!!!   It thought it was over.

Hahaha.  This morning he woke up with a fever again.  Back up to 100.7.  Damn.  Weird too, because usually fevers are worse at night and better in the morning.  Not for my boy I guess.  It told John last night that if it came back today I would take him to the doctor.  So we waited until the termite inspector was done this morning (Oh joy!  He found something in the attic!  ), and we made an appointment for 11.  His doctor listened to his lungs, looked at his ears, and listened to his tummy.  She said everything else is clear, but his bowel sounds are slow.  She asked if his tummy had been gurgling, and I said it hadn't but he'd been burping more than usual after eating or a bottle, so she said she figures it's a stomach bug that he's got.  Not great!  I'd almost rather it had been something we can treat.  This just means that he has to be miserable for several days, and also that John and I will most likely catch it.  We had a lovely bout with something called Rotavirus in April and it was not pretty.  Within a week every single person in the family had caught it.  We didn't get it that bad.  Usually in a adults it runs its course in about 24 hours, and that's pretty much how it was for us, but I was around 20 weeks pregnant then, and my sister in law was 20 weeks pregnant with her baby shower comign up the following weekend.  Luke incubated it for longer than I did, and I got sick before he did.  Throwing up all night on Sunday night, and misesrable the entire next day.  John had taken Luke to the in-laws like normal.  At the time I thought I had food poisoning, so I had no idea that I was exposing everyone (including my then 13 month old nephew who the in-laws also watch during the day) to a HIGHlY contagious virus.  I went back to work on Tuesday and picked Luke up that afternoon.  On the way home he started projectile vomiting in his carseat.  Oh no!  So he had it that night, and the next day, John caught it early Wednesday morning, my mother in law came down with it on Thursday, then my father in law and nephew on Friday, then my pregnant sister in law early Saturday morning (she ended up in the emergency room for dehydration, and missed half of her shower, which my mother in law had to prepare for while still recovering.).  Every subsequent case got it worse than the one before.  We went to the shower, because by then we were all over being sick.  I found out when I got there about my sister in law.  During the shower, my other sister in law ended up getting sick and going home, so she was contagious for the time she was at the shower and she (and my pregnant sis-in-law when she finally got there) ended up giving it to my stepmom and several other guests.  The next day pregnant sister in law's boyfriend and other sister in laws husband came down with it.  OH MY GOD!!!  It was horrible.  We do NOT want that again, so I hope that this stomach bug is somthing else entirely.  Just in case though, I have been washing my hands every five minutes and after every time I touch Luke to make sure.  I don't think there's much chance that John and I will get away with not catching it though.  I just hope that if I get it, the throwing up and stomach cramps don't send me into labor.  I want to start taking Airborne, but I don't hink I'm allowed to while pregnant.

The boy is sleeping right now.  I just gave him more Tylenol.  He's slept very fitfully these past few days, which means that I have also.  Combine that with regular pregnancy induced insomnia and you can understand that I haven't gotten much sleep for a few days.  I'm exhausted, and I'm thinking about turning on the AC and battening down the hatches for a few hours to take a nap.  I think that's just the ticket.  Not sleeping isn't going to help me fight off a virus anyway, so I guess I'll sign off and rest for a while.  I hear that this virus is making the rounds right now, and we were with my family (six other kids) this last weekend, so Luke could have gotten it from one of them.  If not, they are sure to have it after being around him.  Great.  Another family to feel guilty for infecting.  UGH!

I just want MY boy to get better.  I hate seeing him sick, and feeling helpless to help him feel better.

1:34 PM - 5 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The dish on Baby M2...
Current mood: sleepy

So here's all the news that's fit to print on the next Baby M (affectionately known round these parts as the M&M or the Little Person).

Mama is due August 29th, 2007 which makes me 15 weeks today.

The  first trimester was just as rough this time as it was with Luke.  All the same fun, scary stuff like spotting, and still no explanation except that "This is just how you (I) grow babies."  Oh good!  That makes me feel so much better. The general concensus amongst the doctors is that I can expect more of the same thing if we try for a number 3.  If we try for #3 it will not be happening for a couple of years at the least.  Mommy needs a break.  I relish the thought of having my little people so close together, but physically and even emotionally I have not been enjoying being in the family way again so soon.  I dunno that I would recommend it to my girlfriends.  Seeing as though we were planning on trying again in February/March (when Luke turned 9 months) anyway, getting pregnant a few months early didn't make that big of a difference. 

For those of you who don't want to do the math, this will make Luke and his little brother or sister 15 months apart.  Yes, we know we are crazy.  Yes, we realize that we will never sleep (let alone sleep IN) again.  Actually we are really lucky.  Luke is such a good baby, and he's been sleeping through the night since he was teeny tiny, so we really get plenty of sleep.  Well, except for now when the pregnancy induced insomnia is starting to kick in, or that may be because I have broken my first trimester caffeine strike.  So anyway, because Luke is such a good baby, I feel I am probably in for it with this next one.  But many nice parents have stepped up and said that they thought the same thing and were proved wrong when their second child was just as good as their first.  Of course, just as many others have said that whereas their first was an angel straight from heaven, their second was a nightmare.  We'll see, but I stand by my right to believe that God gives us a good baby the first time around so that we'll be sure to have another.

So, I am 15 weeks which would typically mean that I'd be getting very excited about my BIG ultrasound, which will take place in 4-5 weeks, but for us there won't be any excitement beyond seeing that everything is exactly where and how it should be.  For us the real excitement will come in the delivery room, when John gets to say, "It's a GIIIIIIIRl!" or "It's a BOOOOOY!"  I'm excited to hear either of those things.  Luke will be an excellent big brother to either a little brother or a little sister, and we have all the boy stuff, and know how to parent a baby boy.  Luke has been a joy to us and so much fun to watch grow.  Baby boys are awesome.  Of course mommy is leaning toward a little girl to pamper, and spoil, and dress in ruffles and pink, pink, pink.  I also lean toward the notion of being done if we get one of each.  John would keep going until we had a football team, but I am the one who has to do all the hard work, so I've cut him off at even the IDEA of more than three.  That is what we settled on early on in this big parenting adventure.  I wanted 2.  He wanted 4.  We settled on 3.  But if I keep working, it just isn't financially feasible to have more than two, or I'll just be working to pay for daycare, and really what's the point of that?  Buuuuuut, I can see a couple years going by after the M&M gets here (whether boy or girl) and the thoughts starting to creep in that I just miiiiiight want to have another baby.  I just miiiiight want to have the experience of being pregnant and giving birth one more time.  We'll find out what the future holds.

Right now I'm just living moment to moment and enjoying my pregnancy (just in case it's my last) for everything it's worth.  The nauseau this time was far worse than with Luke.  My complexion has not faired so well as it did with him either.  And everything is happening a lot quicker than it did the first time.  The end of the first trimester couldn't get here fast enough last time, and this time it was here before I knew it.  Time dragged throughout the whole pregnancy with Luke, but this time it just seems to fly.  All those fun stretching and pulling pains that happened around 18 to 20 weeks before, are starting to happen already.  I thought they'd seem less than they did with #1, but they are perhaps more intense.  My doctor says that this is to be expected.  I thought it'd be the other way around, because I was used to it and wouldn't really notice it as much, but I definitely do.  On the other side of the token, other wonderful things have happened sooner too.  I felt Luke start to  move at 15 weeks.  We were on our way back from my Northern California where we had joined the rest of my family to be with my grandma in her last moments.  We had spent the weekend remembering her and spending time as a family.  It was a bittersweet weekend, and I still hate knowing that she never got to meet her second great-grandchild (or any of my cousins' future little people), but on the way home in the car, I first felt those telltale "bubbles" that let you know your baby is moving around in his warm, safe home.  I felt that it was a gift from my grandmother; that in the midst of loss, I felt the proof of life beginning again.  I started to feel this little one move at around the 12th week.  Those bubbles have already turned into definite, sharp movements, that can only be the first kicks of my tiny person in there.  I had almost forgotten the joy those kicks can bring.  How even in the yuckiest moments of my day, I can feel that little "thump" and it turns my entire day around.

If the M&M is a boy, his name will be Jack Anthony, and if we have a little girl, her name will be Olivia Marie.

The M&M is doing just fine, growing right on track, and moving away in there according to the ultrasound I had yesterday.  My doctor is very happy with my progress, and that all of those first trimester troubles have gone by the wayside.  Let's just hope that the events of the last eight weeks of Luke's life in utero do not repeat themselves.  No preterm labor is our goal this time.  But as I have learned since my little booger's entry into this world, baby's have their own idea of when they are coming, and since they cannot share this information from the womb, we are at their mercy.  I had pre-term labor with Luke at 33 weeks, and then he waited until 41 weeks to make his appearance.  AND he had to be evicted at that.

Good news and bad news.  Most labors with 2nd babies are easier and faster.  Luke was born after 13 hours of labor and only 30 minutes of pushing.  Most subsequent pregnancies produce bigger and bigger babies.  Luke was 9 pounds, 3 ounces.  YIKES!

In addition to having a big brother only 15 months older to galavant and cause trouble with, little he or she will also have a cousin only 2 1/2 months older.  Luke has a cousin who is 4 months older than he is (he was supposed to be only 9 weeks older, but was 5 1/2 weeks premature).  This cousin will be 10 weeks older if everything goes according to plan.  How fun!  I never had any siblings near my age when I was a kid.  My cousins aren't much younger than I am, but I didn't even know them until I was 15.  And there were no other kids my age on my street.  I am so glad that my kiddos will have playmates and partners in crime as they grow up.  I'm so excited for them all.  Luke and his cousin get into all sorts of trouble together already.  They gang up on their nonna and papa all day long.  I'm so glad that they have each other though.  What could be better?

I can't think of any other news to share, so I'll sign off for now.  It's past a tired mama's bedtime.  Wishing you all happy MySpacing.

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