It's Been Awhile

So, the first post of the new year.

I want to first apologize to those who actually read my blog about not posting in two months. Since we moved out of the hotel, we have been on an internet card and the bandwidth was just not enough to support blogger and I was unable to post updates. So here is what has happened since my last post:

We got our place!! Hurray! It's a very nice 3 bedroom 2 bathroom 1st floor apartment here on one of the local posts. I really like the fact that I only have to climb a total of ten stairs to get to my front door and not 20 stairs or more, especially having a dog, a child, and a baby on the way. The first floor is the most practical. Anyway, the place is very nice. Much more spacious than we had originally anticipated. My only complaint is that my bathroom window faces the main road and the glass only "blurs" out what you can see on the inside, so after a lovely shower you can see everything. We had to get a curtain for the bathroom window, which wasn't so bad, but the only shelving in the bathroom is the large window ledge so that is a bit annoying. But, it is something I can definitely live with.

Amélie had her birthday party the Saturday before Thanksgiving. She had a blast. Quite a few kids showed up from her class and they all had fun. It was a bit strenuous, but as long as my baby girl had a good birthday, it was worth it.

Thanksgiving was nice. We went over to hubby's co-workers place and had dinner there. It was nice to be able to spend Thanksgiving with others and plus, I didn't have to cook, which didn't hurt my feelings.

On December 14 I was admitted into the hospital. I spent a total of 13 days there...including Christmas. I was allowed to go home a few days, for a few hours, but I was under strict monitoring. My blood pressure was pretty high and they were trying to get it under control. While I was in the hospital, I learned that I have placenta inefficiency, which basically means that the placenta isn't providing enough nutrients and/or oxygen to the baby in order to help her grow...so she is exceptionally small with some obvious growth problems. Her head is growing at a normal gestational rate, but her body is behind. The doctor believes that it has to do with my rising and dropping blood pressure, but I have a feeling it has something to do with my gastric bypass surgery I had in 2009. I can't provide proper nutrients for myself, so how would I be able to provide for a baby too? I keep wondering this and I am going to bring it up to my doctor at my next appointment. Anyway, long story short, I ended up having to get a series of steroid shots to help the baby's lung develop faster so if she has to be delivered early, her lungs will be more mature. At my last ultrasound, (December 27...that is also the day they let me come home) the baby had grown a little, but nowhere like she should be. I have an appointment this Tuesday which will determine if they want to go ahead and deliver her or if they think she is safe for another two weeks inside. I asked the doctor what he thought personally and he replied, "At this point, we really don't know until one or the other is done". Not really reassuring. Wednesday I will be 34 weeks pregnant and in what they consider a "safe zone". So we shall see what has happened in a week. I am pretty nervous because one of the leading causes of cerebral palsy is this placenta insufficiency. Apparently it is caused because of the lack of oxygen getting to the baby's brain while they are in utero. I mean, if they baby has it, she has it and there is nothing we can do, but it still worries the crap out of me that I could have caused this by getting pregnant after having gastric bypass. But, there is no point in worrying myself silly. What happens will happen...what is done is done...and I can't change the past, only hope for the best outcome.

BTW -  here is my 33 week pregnancy picture -

Got a little bigger since the last picture, huh? LoL

Anyway, now I am home...five days later...and on bedrest, which is driving me crazy...but if it is for the health of my baby then it is worth driving me crazy.

Carmex

After school let out, I took Amélie over to her doctor's appointment. We ended up being slightly late because I got behind a line of school buses and couldn't figure out how to go around them and by the time I did, they started moving. I think everyone on post who was driving around me probably thought I was an idiot, but I am still a little unsure about the German traffic laws and I would rather not get a ticket or even worse cause an accident.

So the doctor said that Amélie's lip thrush was much better, but she needed to stop licking her lips. She keeps a constant red, dry ring around her lips from where she keeps licking them. Bo and I keep putting Carmex on it to prevent her from doing so and to heal the chapped skin, but it seems no matter how much we tell her, she continues to do it. Maybe coming from a doctor, she might listen a little more now!

After the appointment, we headed over to TriCare and I filled out the forms for my reimbursement for my prescription I had to get filled off post and made the appointment for Amélie with the dermatologist. That appointment is set up for 1 December. I am a little worried that they are going to burn or cut these moles off, I don't really want to have to see her go through that, but a friend of mine told me that usually German doctors use stuff like that as a last resort and hopefully they will try an herbal remedy that will work first. I hope this is the case because I remember getting warts cauterized off my leg every summer for years and how painful it was. I don't want to have to see my daughter go through the same thing.

Housing told Bo yesterday to check back today on the status of the apartment. Hopefully, we will have good news. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Where is the Pause Button?

Yesterday, I finally got around to borrowing someone's blood pressure monitor. I really hated to have to buy one since I already own one and it is in storage which hopefully we will be getting into soon! We were told that maintenance should be at our apartment today, which should put us in our place this week. *fingers crossed*

I spent the morning cutting out Amélie's birthday invitations with the broken scissors that were so graciously provided for us in our hotel room. Let me tell you, it is pretty difficult to cut a straight line when your scissors only have one handle. 

When I took the kiddo to school, I informed the assistant teacher who stands outside and gathers the kids before class starts that Amélie had birthday party invitations to hand out to the class today. Mrs. Edgar (the assistant teacher) looked at Amélie and said, "So you are turning 25, right?" I laughed and told her not to jump ahead! She smiled at me and informed me that it seems that way to her because Amélie was not only so much more intelligent that her peers, but very mature for her age. I had mixed feelings about this statement. I was happy and proud that my child could be determined intelligent and mature beyond her years, but a part of me wanted to cry too. What happened to my baby? She needs to slow down! She's going to be a teenager in the blink of an eye and there is nothing I can do to slow time down.

Growing up, I use to think that it took FOREVER for Christmas or my birthday to come around, and it would be even LONGER before I would grow up and have kids of my own. I look back and think sometimes, "Wow, that seems just like it happened last week!" And then I look at my soon to be six year old and think, "Wait, wasn't she born just yesterday?" Growing up and having kids seems to make time speed up while all we want when we are little is for it to be this way. It seems like a minute is an hour and an hour is a day and a day is a life time. All I want to do now is press the pause button!

Bowling Balls & Dances

Friday night, we drove to Heidelberg to get the finger holes drilled into my daughter's bowling ball....trying to do it secretively of course, since it was after all, her birthday present. I told her we had to measure her fingers so we know what size of bowling ball to use when we go bowling. So, we drove the hour and a half to Heidelberg, got her fingers measured, and the guy said it would take about 10 minutes to do. We decided to drive around the post for a few minutes and come back. On our way out the door, the guy comes running out and asks my husband if he still has the receipt for the ball. I waited with the kid, and just a few minutes later, out comes my husband with the box that held the bowling ball. Amélie got into the car, and Bo took me around to the trunk and opened the box. There lie Amélie's future birthday present, cracked all the way around in two different directions. Turns out that the balls are cracking because the resin in the bowling ball makes it's way to the bottom of the ball and settles there so the rest of the ball has nothing to keep it together and with the change in temperature, altitude, and humidity the ball splits. Light weight balls have hardly any outer shell because they have to be made so light, so there is nothing to really keep the resin inside when we experience these changes. Bo asked in Heidelberg if they sold balls there that were that light (she can't really hold anything heavier than a 7) and they said no because of that reason right there....they crack. I didn't completely understand because I know when we go bowling, Amélie using a size six ball, so they have to aquire these balls somehow, right? So now, we are in the process of contacting the company to try and get a refund for this ball that we paid a pretty penny for, and unfortunately, it looks like we might just be out the money because I didn't purchase the warranty, and it has been past the 15 day return point. This is really upsetting since Amélie never even got to use it.

Now...I have to rack my brain and try to figure out another birthday present before her party. If I order something, it isn't guaranteed to get here in time, so it will have to be something I can get locally. She dropped the ball yesterday that she wants an Easy Bake Oven, so that just might be what she will be getting. Besides, Bo says she is about to be six years old, time to start learning how to cook! LoL

Last night, Amélie and her dad went to the Father-Daughter Dance hosted by the Girl Scouts. Amélie was absolutely beautiful. I looked at her and got all teary-eyed thinking about how my little girl is growing up!

Amélie ready to go to the dance!

My beautiful little girl!

Definitely not a baby anymore!

Gorgeous!!

While we were sitting and doing her hair, she told me, "Mommy, I am scared. What if I don't know anybody or don't dance very well?" I smiled and told her that if she got scared or nervous to just tell Daddy and he would bring her back home. She decided that was alright and they went.

When they got back, Amélie told me, "This was the best night of my life!"

Children

Wednesday, I went back to MOPS. I had a really great time with the ladies and of course, enjoyed the food!! At the end of the meeting a little boy, perhaps about the age of two came up to me and latched onto my leg and started crying. A woman came in chasing after him. "Are you his mother?" She asked me. I looked down at the boy a little puzzled and then back to the woman and shook my head telling her "No." She tried to take the boy, but he clung to my leg and started screaming "Momma!!" I scooped him up in my arms and when he finally looked at my face it was obvious I was not the person he was looking for, though he stopped screaming. The woman asked me if I minded carrying him back to the nursery. So, I waddled down the hall holding this little boy who had tears streaming down his cheeks, but kept staring at me. When we got to the nursery, I sat him down and a woman came running up, taking him up in her arms. She looked at me and said, "Thank you." I nodded and told her that I thought he had mistaken me for her at first so that is why I brought him back. She just smiled and thanked me again.

Afterwards, I went and helped carry the Operation Christmas boxes out to a woman's van. One little boy, probably around the age of three would not let go of one of the boxes. When I finally got it from him, he threw an outright fit and started screaming at the top of his lungs. You would have thought I slapped him across the face. It was a complete melt down. I just looked at one of the other moms and we just sort of exchanged the "Thank God that isn't my child" look. I had no idea where this munchkin's mother was, but if that had been my child, I would have been mortified by the way he was acting. There was no reason for that by any means.

That afternoon, I went to my internal medicine doctor and explained to him what had happened Tuesday night. He concluded that whatever it was was not involved with my glucose levels and he suspected my blood pressure got accelerated. It was hard to determine since I couldn't take my blood pressure. This scares me, because elevated blood pressure is a sign of the pre-eclampsia getting worse. I'm at a loss. Thankfully, I have several people asking around if I can borrow a blood pressure cuff until I can get mine out of storage.

No news from housing besides the "next week" statement. Bo's commander now wants a letter from housing stating why we haven't been placed yet and a date that we will be in our apartment. I think she might believe that we are putting it off to make money by staying in this hotel, but that isn't the case...believe me. I would rather be in a house by now than living in this stupid hotel!!! GRRRR!!!! Sometimes, when I see people check into this hotel, I want to look at them and say, "Welcome to The Hotel California." You know, that place where you can check out, but you can never leave...that is what is seems like. Afterall, we have been in a hotel for 63 days.

Anyway, here is my week 25 baby bump picture:

Week 25

I Love My Daughter

Halloween Night -

Amélie had a blast trick-or-treating. We just did around the post we are living on. She made off with a ton of candy though. Admittedly, I ate some, but only that which she had multiples of!! I know, shame on me.

Gold and orange flowers to match her costume!

My pretty little fairy!

Yesterday, I attempted to go get reimbursed for my prescription I had to get filled off-post and make an appointment for Amélie to go to the dermatologist soon. Unfortunately for me, it was  German holiday so I couldn't do either since TriCare uses Germans to work (which is fine, I just picked the wrong day to go).

Then I found out that my hubby had to do CQ (in charge of quarters) which made me a little irate since he did it only two weeks ago. And of course, of all the nights that he is home, last night was the night I probably needed to go to the ER.

I was cooking dinner for the kiddo and myself, when I started to feel a bit woozy and my hands started to shake. I figured my blood sugar was a little low. It was at 68. So, I ate a piece of Amélie's Halloween candy. Not long after, I had dinner. Within the hour of eating that candy, I was convinced I might die.

I got really dizzy, sick to my stomach, my heart started racing, I was seeing spots...so I checked my sugar levels again. They went to 148. All I could do was lie down. Thankfully, Amélie got into the shower and then got into bed with me, no problem. I am not sure what I would have done if I didn't have a cooperative child. At that moment, I realized how awesome my kid is and how lucky I am to have her. Of course, all she wanted to do was comfort me. I love my daughter!

Thankfully, I did feel better this morning. I see my internal medicine doctor this afternoon. Hopefully, he can tell me something!

Fairies and Haunted Houses Don't Mix

My husband has decided that Germans don't believe in connecting wire together. We went to three different stores yesterday on a hunt to find wire connectors so he could work on something with the car...I think he is trying to disable to DRL (daytime running lights). So I think he is going to have to order the wire connectors online. Might be the only way to get it done.

Then we went over to commissary where we had to get some groceries because we were out of about everything. I didn't even have milk so the kiddo couldn't have cereal for breakfast yesterday...but she did have eggs and a bagel! 

Then last night, the kiddo got all dressed up in her Halloween costume and we headed over to the bowling alley for some Cosmic Bowling and free candy!

My little fairy!

After we bowled for about an hour, we headed over to the Haunted House that the Special Forces section set up for the garrison. The kiddo did really well until I freaked out over the spiders and then she started crying about how scared she was. Thankfully, Daddy was there to rescue her and carry her on out of the Haunted House in one piece. She swears up and down now that she will never go into another Haunted House again. So, to make her happy, we headed over to the bounce house and the ball toss games where she had a blast...and even enjoyed it more when she got a cupcake and more candy. So in the end we left with a very happy child!

Happy girl!