Surprise Mrs. G

My ASL 3 students surprised me yesterday with a party!

Their partner dialogues were due yesterday and the topic was to plan a surprise party. The last group that went signed about planning a party for me. I thought it was cute and went a long with it. When they were done someone turned out the lights and a group of kids walked in the door with balloons, a gift, food and yelled "Surprise!"

It was really sweet of them. They know that I'm craving chocolate right now so one girl make chocolate cupcakes, one brought a cookie cake and another brought Hershey's Kisses. 

 They gave me this blanket and out for Reese. When I showed it to Ryleigh she said "That's the most gorgeous outfit I've ever seen."

You can't really see the card but if you look close you'll see it's the inside of a fridge filled with bottles and a champagne bottle. I found it funny since I love champagne. Luckily they didn't know that was the real reason I was laughing. 

It's sad to think I only have a few more weeks with these students before my school year is over. I'll always remember how sweet they were to do this for me. 

Pictures at 24 Weeks and 5 days

Got to see Reese today! She looks great!

 She's measuring at 24 weeks and 3 days and weighs almost 2 lbs.

Can't wait to meet her! 

Welcome Baby Reagan

Reagan Kelly 

 January 20, 2012

2:40 PM

7 lbs 7 oz 

20 1/4 inches long

Last Friday my cousin, Kristin gave birth to her first daughter. On Sunday Ryleigh and my mom went to meet her. Unfortunately I was unable to go. It's hard for me to ride in the car. 

The kids had fun playing with Jackson's band. I wonder if Reagan liked all the noise. 

Great-Grammy with her two grand-daughters. I love the look on Ryleigh's face in this photo.

She had a lot of fun meeting Reagan and getting to hold her. 

When Ryleigh saw photos of Reagan just after she was born she asked me: "Is Reese coming out tomorrow?" I told her that Reese needed to stay in my belly for a few more weeks. I'm hoping at least till I'm 38 weeks.

Getting Ready for Baby Reese

Down the hallway going to the girl's rooms on one side we've created a collage of photos of Ryleigh. Last Sunday we started Reese's side of the wall with this photo and frame.

I also finished her name and Brandon hung it up over her bed. 

We're using the same bedding from Ryleigh's nursery. It's gender neutral and doesn't have any pink in it. This time I'm adding touches of pink to make it look more girly. 

Ryleigh hasn't been using her animal blankie in a while so she gave it to Reese. When she saw her blanket in this photo she said: "What is my blankie doing in Reese's room?" I guess she's not ready to pass it on just yet. 

This week Reese's "Little Sister" shirt came in the mail. It's just like Ryleigh's "Big Sister" shirt. I can't wait to get my first picture of them together wearing these. 

When I showed it to Ryleigh she asked: "Can I dress baby Reese everyday?" She's going to be such a great big sister! She can hardly wait to meet her!

We were able to purchase the double stroller we registered for at Buy Buy Baby this weekend thanks to my Grammy, Aunt Cecile, Aunt Kathleen, and cousins Kristin and Amanda. This view of the stroller is how it will look when we no longer use the car seat. You can take the front off and there's an attachment that connects that allows any type of infant carrier to fit. 

24 Weeks

At 24 weeks I'm craving chocolate! Anything chocolate: Hershey's kisses or chocolate bar, ice cream (Magnum ice cream bars are my favorite), and donuts. Chocolate milk sounds good right now as I'm writing this. 

 Reese is moving around everyday. I can even see my belly move sometimes. Ryleigh loves to talk to her and give my belly hugs and kisses. 

 My favorite thing to do right now is taking warm baths. After work I take one to sooth the pains from the day and from the stint. I would sleep in the tub at night if I could. 

 I've officially signed up for FMLA at work and will start bed rest on February 20. I've decided to try and at least finish up this 6 weeks before leaving. This will give me time to make lesson plans for the remainder of the year. I just hope I can make it one more month!

I'm lucky we were able to find a long term who knows ASL and will be able to teach the class just like I was there. This means I don't have to make a lot of videos and won't have to grade papers while on maternity leave. I will have to for the first three weeks I'm on medical leave because my sub won't be available yet but after Spring Break I won't have to worry about it. 

 I'm having to go on bed rest because of the pain from the stint. I have stones in both my kidneys and my left one is giving me problems. That's why my urologist decided to put the stint in. Every 6 weeks I'll have surgery to have it replaced. Last time I had to be admitted to Labor and Delivery because I couldn't keep the meds down. The pain gets worse when I move and/or when Reese moves. It doesn't help that I'm carrying her so low and she likes to kick and play with my bladder. Which not only hurts but feels weird. It's hard for me to stand up and to walk long distances. I've been using a wheelchair at work to get around.

 I tried to make it till May, then Spring Break but Thursday night I was in so much pain. I woke up at 1:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. That's when I knew I needed to go on medical leave.

It's hard sitting around and having Brandon do all the work around the house and not being about to play with Ryleigh. I'm looking forward to May for two reasons: 1.) to meet my baby girl 2.) to get these stones out and remove part of my left kidney!

Silly Ryleigh

 Ryleigh spent Sunday night at Gramz and Papa's so Mommy could get some rest on Monday. That night while reading a book with Papa she said: "I need Papa's magnifying glass to read him a book. I forgot my glasses." So my mom found these old 3D glasses for her to wear. Where does she come up with this stuff? She makes me laugh everyday!

Kidney Update

So this stint in my left kidney is causing me more pain than my doctor told me about. I didn't realize the stint goes from my kidney to my bladder. I thought it was just a small piece of plastic in my kidney. Nope! This lovely thing is causing my side and bladder pain plus I fell like I have a UTI 24/7!!

I'm being careful of how many times I use the pain pill because of  the baby so I've started taking them only when I feel like I'm going to die! Saturday night was the worst night and I was experiencing the worse pain in my life.

Monday I called and told the nurse I wanted to get this thing out of me. Before the doctor will do anything she wanted me to get an ultrasound of my kidneys, bladder and the stint to see how everything is working. Well, before I left the sono-tech told me that now I have stones in both kidneys and my right kidney isn't releasing a normal amount of urine to my bladder. Yeah... that's why I've got the stint in my left kidney!

I have to wait 2-3 days to hear back from my doctor but I'm not expecting good news. I'm afraid she's going to want a stint in my right kidney now since it seems to be blocked too by the stone.

Every week is one more week my baby has had a chance to grow and be born healthy. I'm counting them down now and looking forward, even more now, for May to get here!

This pain is interfering with my life, at home and work. I have to sit down with heating pads to maintain the pain which doesn't make for a very fun Mommy or a very helpful wife. I can't walk without being in pain so the nurse at my school is letting me borrow a wheelchair so I can get to the workroom, library and the office. Luckily the restroom is right around the corner from my room.

If the pain and discomfort doesn't go away or becomes worse I may have to take off more time from work than I'd planed for maternity leave. If I can make it to April I have enough days in the sick leave bank I can get a pay check. I know two months is a long time but I'm going to try and stay positive about it and look forward to the end results ; a beautiful baby girl and removal of the stones.

22 Weeks - Back to school, Super Dad, Pain and an Ear Infection

At 21 weeks we headed back to school. I was still in pain and walking around slowly. Brandon got me a bar stool chair for me to sit on at school so I don't have to stand a lot. The less I move the less pain I'm in. I have to take each day one at a time. One day might be a good day and the next not so much. I'm making it through with my heating pads (yes I use two at a time) and pain meds. I only missed one day last week because of the pain.

Brandon has been doing most of the work around the house while I'm sitting down trying to ease the pain. It's hard for me to sit down and not help out. I really appreciate everything he's been doing. My family has helped out a lot too. My mom has picked up Ryleigh from time to time and my dad has dropped off random grocery items for me. 

It's hard for me to get down and bathe Ryleigh now so Brandon does that every night now. Dinners are easy throw in the oven meals or Brandon will make dinner when he gets home. When I get home in the afternoons I take a nice hot shower and sit down with my heating pads. By the end of the day I'm worn out.

This past weekend Ryleigh had fever with a bad cough and wasn't feeling good. I took her to the doctor yesterday to find out she was starting to get an ear infection. Poor thing hasn't felt good for the past few days but she seems to be feeling better this morning. Since I'm out of sick days Grandma came over and took care of Ryleigh. She's been hooked on "Full House" lately. Season 2 came in the mail yesterday and that's all we've been watching.

I also went back to the doctor yesterday for my post op appointment with the urologist. Luckily she thinks that some of the pain I've been having is due to an unwanted UTI. She gave me some antibiotics and today I'm not in as much pain. In a few weeks I'll be getting another ultrasound to make sure the stint is working properly then when it's close to the next time for surgery we'll do another ultrasound to see if I need to replace the stint at that time or if we can wait a little bit. 

One thing that as really become an inconvenience it the amount of times I have to pee! I will go to the bathroom and by time I've washed my hands and sat back down I have to pee again! Luckily the bathroom is right next to my classroom but it's a pain in the neck at bed time. Just about the time I get my heating pads and pillow situated I have to pee again. I'm looking forward to a normal pee schedule  again.

My mom brought over flowers for Ryleigh and I this weekend and Great Grammy sent a get well card.