My blessing

I had a little time to people watch on Monday. A family of 5 drove up in a 2 door car and they all got out, went into the store for a few minutes, and came back to the car. It took quite awhile for all of them to get back in the car, especially to get the baby in the car seat.
After ECFE this week, I used my keychain remote to open the doors to the van and the Lambs ran out and started to get in their seats. A dad with a 4 door car was jealous of that. He had gone out to the car earlier than we did, but his kids still did not have their seatbelts on and they hadn't left yet when we came out.
It made me think how spoiled I am to have minivan that the doors open automatically. We had an old SUV when Lamb 1 was a baby. When I was pregnant with Lamb 2 we bought our first minivan. Last fall we replaced that first minivan with a used minivan. Our new minivan even has automatic trunk opening. I could live without automatic trunk opening if I had to. We did not have this on our first minivan and it has been a very nice feature.
There is no way that we could have gotten all 3 car seats in our old SUV when Lamb 3 was born. With the minivan we are not worried about where we are going to put Lamb 4 when he/she is born. The minivan gets better gas mileage than our old SUV. I was never one to dread joining the parents club and have to get a minivan. Ours is not fancy-we do not have a DVD player or extra features.
Since we have had a minivan for 5 years, I had taken this blessing for granted. Could we get by with a car instead of a minivan? If we could figure out car seats then we could for now, until Lamb 4 comes. But it would be very inconvient, especially on our long shopping days and long trips like taking the boys to the dentist on Monday.
Thank you God, for providing us with the blessing of a minivan. Thank you for providing a few reminders this week to remind me that I am blessed with a minivan.

Lamb 2

There is a family that comes to ECFE faithfully and their dad brings them. The dad doesn't interact with his kids as much as the other moms seem to interact with their kids during ECFE. I am glad he comes to ECFE and his kids get some educational play time at ECFE.
Yesterday at ECFE, Lamb 2 noticed this dad's baby girl. Lamb 2 took the initiative to hold her hand and talk to her. Lamb 2 was not quite 2 years old when Lamb 3 was born so he didn't have too much time to be the big brother for Lamb 3-he was almost a baby himself. I had to watch Lamb 2 very closely around Lamb 3 for fear of him hurting or biting him.
At ECFE, Lamb 2 was so gentle and knew just how to treat a baby. I was so proud of him. I was glad he gave this baby girl a little extra attention. I pray that we have a girl for him to continue this next fall. No matter what gender the baby is, I could tell today that Lamb 2 is ready to be a big brother for Lamb 4. He will be so happy to be a big brother again. May the Lord bless and keep Lamb 4 until Lamb 2 can hold and eventually play with him.

Family Update

Ewe: 12 injections down: 476 to go
Slight nausea. Hooray!
Working hard to declutter-in the meantime the house is more messy as I work on decluttering projects.
Ram: Bought himself new shoes for every day shoes for an early birthday present. Doing his first premarital counseling as a pastor and looking forward to performing his second wedding. Baked peanut butter chocolate chip recipes (thanks for the recipe agnusdei1996!) tonight for a treat for us.
Lamb 1: Needs more dental work done. The last visit there were a few teeth they were going to watch and hope they didn't get any worse. He needs 2 caps and possibly 3. Grr! We really do brush and floss regularly.
We've had a busy schedule the last few weeks. We have been a little more unschooly than classical school. Lamb 1 has spent a lot of time with Legos on his own. Ewe is looking forward to getting back on schedule for school, but Lamb 1 is not.
Lamb 2: Begins speech at the school on Friday. It took almost 2 months to test and do paperwork to satisfy the state. He qualified with a score of 65 in articulation and you need less than 70. Passed the rest of the test (vocabulary, grammar, etc.) as above average.
Lamb 3: Will be 3 on Saturday. He enjoyed wearing his "Warning: I am two." shirt today. Finally answered what he wants for his birthday meals. Brunch: pancakes and sausage. Supper: Pizza and chocolate cake. We may need to be a little creative because our church has a wedding on Saturday so we will probably celebrate on Sunday. His box of presents from Grandma has been here for a while tempting all the Lambs.
Lamb 4: Doing well, looking forward to our first prenatal appointment soon (heparin appointments don't count!).

Trusting God

Now that I'm pregnant and also trying to drink lots of water, I go to the bathroom A LOT. I saw the ultrasound of one of our babies that was just fine one week and the following week we lost that baby. I've had 3 miscarriages. Due to the nightmares of those and some other issues in previous pregnancies, I get nervous EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I go to the bathroom when I am pregnant. Before we lost our third baby, I always thought that seeing the ultrasound would be enough to calm me down that everything was well with baby. I have not had an ultrasound with this pregnancy. Seeing an ultrasound is not enough to calm me down any more. I believe I will calm down more after the baby in my womb has outlived all 3 of our babies in heaven, but it will be in the back of my mind until I am holding Lamb 4 in my arms.
I have done a little research about my blood clotting disorder called Factor II. After my little research it is amazing to me that it was so easy for me to get pregnant 7 times and even more amazing that we have 3 healthy boys. It is amazing that during each of the pregnancies/births/postpartums of all 3 boys I had very few problems. Sometimes I wonder "What if I would have known I had Factor II before any of my pregnancies?" Maybe it is better that I was naive about the whole situation and when I wasn't sick with morning sickness I enjoyed my first pregnancy without the facts about Factor II in the back of my mind. I would have totally freaked out when I had spotting with Lamb 2 if I would have known about Factor II then. But perhaps Lamb 3 would have gained more weight if I would have known about Factor II then. It doesn't really matter because the fact is that we have 3 healthy boys and now I have the knowledge that I have this for this pregnancy and any future pregnancies.
The Lambs really want another sibling, preferably a sister. They completely trust that in November they will have a sibling. They are completely naive that we could lose the baby before then. I know that if we would lose the baby, they would completely trust that it is in heaven and not grieve it too much-other than the fact that they lost the hope of getting a dollhouse and girl toys in our house in November. I can not be completely naive about the situation like they are, but I can trust in God.
Starting the next time I go to the bathroom, I am going to recite Bible verses and pray about this situation. Think of how many times I will recite Bible verses and all the prayers I will say over the next 240 days! That sounds like a much better way to spend all those trips to the bathroom instead of worrying.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1

Answering a few questions

3 injections down; 483 to go

Due date is November 22.

Injections do not hurt, really they don't! The pharmacy didn't have the correct syringes so I ended up with insulin type syringes. They have a shorter needle than it was planned for me to get. But even the longer needle that I received in the doctor's office did not hurt. It does bruise so the bruises will hurt after I get several.

I have a supply of Preggie Drops for myself-just waiting for the day that I need them. In previous pregnancies I have had morning sickness when other women are usually about done with morning sickness. We'll see if the pattern repeats if I'm on heparin.

I talked to our local pharmacist (7 miles away) and they will be able to get heparin for me. There was only one pharmacy in the bigger town that I went to the doctor yesterday that carried heparin to fill the prescription immediately. It was good news that after this first month supply I will be able to get it locally.

Some of my friends have asked why I was advised to do heparin. After my last miscarriage I was tested for basically every disorder they can do a blood test for that could cause miscarriages. The disorder I have is called Factor II. If you do an internet search Factor V will probably come up with lots of info, but Factor II will only show up a little. Factor V is a rare blood disorder, but Factor II is even more rare. Basically there is a 30% chance that my blood will clot and either cause miscarriage or I would have the potential for a blood clot in my leg or even some place more serious. Baby aspirin should thin my blood to cut down on the chance of blood clot. Heparin injections thin the blood to cut down the chance of blood clot even more. Baby aspirin would do a lot for the blood clot situation, heparin injections are doing everything possible with medical knowledge today. I have always had this disorder so it is a miracle that we had 3 Lambs born without major pregnancy or delivery or post delivery problems. My doctor sees mostly high risk pregnancies or trouble conceiving pregnancies. He said nearly every woman that sees him at least takes baby aspirin and many take heparin. Heparin has been given for years and is relatively safe and especially safe for pregnancy.

Some one said to me today, "Wouldn't it be nice if you could have just a regular pregnancy, without being hospitalized with morning sickness, with gaining a normal amount of weight during pregnancy (not just 10 lbs), not doing heparin injections, etc.?" I responded that that is the idea behind heparin injections-the plan is that by doing heparin injections I will gain a normal amount of weight during pregnancy (maybe I'll even take the tags off and wear some of my maternity clothes!) and carry this baby for the entire pregnancy without having a preemie. May the Lord help that to happen. Thank you for all your prayers.

My new daily routine

Although I have a slightly different blood clotting disorder than this video, watching this helped me make my final decision. I had thought about heparin or not for over a year, but it wasn't until I was really pregnant that I had to make the final decision. My doctor gave me the choice of just baby aspirin or also heparin injections. I will give myself injections of heparin twice a day for the entire pregnancy. By doing heparin, I know that I have done everything possible for Lamb 4.
1 injection down, 485 more to go. (Maybe slightly less if Lamb 4 decides to come early.) Praise God for heparin only being $10 per month copay vs. Lovenox being $800 per month (I don't know what that copay would be.) The difference is Lovenox is once per day injections vs. heparin twice per day injections.
If you see me in real life this summer know that I am not abused, it is just the bruising from the injections! My other goal with using heparin is I hope to gain more than 10 lbs this pregnancy (Lamb 3's pregnancy). I do plan to save my needles for a photo, but I'm not making a video.  :)

Here we go again...

The last week has been very busy. Thursday I saw the OB/GYN 2 hours away. At that appointment I agreed to just do baby aspirin. I talked to a lot of family, friends, and my doctors and decided to do heparin injections too. I spent most of Monday waiting for the nurses to call back with info from my doctors. I was finally set to make the 2 hour trip to begin heparin on Tuesday. When the nurse called for my appointment time, she reminded me travel was not advised. What? It was raining. Sure enough, it was close enough to freezing rain and several inches of snow were predicted. I asked for an appointment on Wednesday and she said it was supposed to be even worse then. She finally scheduled me for Thursday, but told me that was tentative as the weather might not allow that either. Another storm is predicted for Friday, so if I don't make it on Thursday, it won't be until the next week. I will do twice a day heparin injections at home for the entire pregnancy. My doctor 2 hours away will get me set up and after I begin I should be able to see the local doctor for the rest of my pregnancy.
The weather is crazy here. All schools in the area are closed. We received at least a foot of snow last night and it is currently snowing and expect a few more inches today. The main highway around here is down to one lane and drifted closed in some places. The local doctor's office and the local cafe are closed. We had such nice weather the last few weeks that most snow had melted from the trees and sidewalks. There were just patches of snow left in the yard and where the snow had been piled from shoveling. Everyone is so ready for spring!