Life with a 3 year old

Last week Caleb turned the big 3..

 We didn't have a big party this year but we did have a family dinner with all the grandparents, his aunt and uncle and best friend/ cousin Scarlett. He loves his new train set and iPad (him and I share the iPad).

Everyday caleb is learning new things and becoming more aware of the things around us. He asks a ton of questions and really takes in the answers. He has also become a back seat driver telling me where to go and how fast I should be driving. Overall he is a very loving sweet little boy who loves to give kisses and hugs. Most moms say that the snuggles end as they get older but for now he is my little snuggle bug and I take it all in.

Being pregnant and dealing with a 3 year old can be really difficult some days. Between night terrors and growth spurts his sleeping hasn't been the best. He is also learning how to have an opinion and make it well known. Before having kids I always heard of the terrible 2's but let me tell you the threes are way worse. As much as I love seeing him grow and learn things it also makes the fights over things a bit harder and it makes it harder to distract him from throwing a fit.

As this pregnancy goes by (which feels like snail speed) I start to think about how life will be different once the twins are here. Part of me feels guilty that caleb's life is going to change so much. I know having siblings can be amazing but I worry about how much time I will have for him and how much harder things will be for me. It makes me sad that this christmas will be the last one he has without babies around. I know many moms feel this way when they get pregnant with a second child but i feel like for me its more about the fact I am having twins than just another child.

Cerclage

Today I am 15 weeks 4 days. I feel a little better than I did a few week ago.

My nausea is better and not constant and I am sleeping better at night.  In the last week or two I got my heartburn back. Which I only had with Caleb so I remember it well but was hoping I wouldn't get it this time around. Overall my body is pretty sore and i get lots of pelvic pains already. It makes me worry about what I will feel like in the coming months. My biggest struggle now is trying not to pick Caleb up. I am able to now but I know coming up soon i won't be able to and I want him to get used to it. It's just hard because at 3 he still wants me to hold him and carry him plus the convenience of being able to make him do things like get in bed or a shopping cart.

It's not a great picture but it is from about a week ago. Its amazing how quickly I started showing. I feel like I look now how I looked at 6 months with caleb.

A couple weeks ago I had my cerclage procedure done. Mike and I went into the hospital around 8:30am and were able to leave finally around 4pm. Everything went really well.  It took a while for the epidural to wear off so I couldn't leave until I could walk and go to the bathroom. Every person I dealt with at the hospital was amazing. My favorite was the anesthesiologist. He is a fellow there and I am hoping he is there when I deliver. The L&D department was pretty busy like always but i didn't feel like anyone was rushed in helping me or talking me through things. I got to ask the nurse a bunch of questions about delivery. Since last time my C-section was not planned this time around it will be different and I will be more prepared for it.

Since the cerclage was placed I haven't had any problems and at my check up last week she said everything was looking good. At this appointment I also did my first glucose test and passed. Because of my PCOS an the fact that I am having twins the Dr wanted me to do an early test and i will have to do another one around 26 weeks. Many things are more common with twin pregnancies like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia so my Dr wants to keep a closer eye on me. She wants to see me every 3 weeks for now and then later it will be every 2 then every week. 

I'm pregnant!!

It's taken me a while to get time to post with all the exciting things happening around here.

I am about 11 weeks pregnant with TWINS!!

I knew taking clomid increased my chances of twins but i didn't really expect it until the Dr said during an ultrasound.. "yep its twins". I have seen them on ultrasound about 5 times now so I know its real but it still feels a little crazy.

My due date is May 2, 2015 but twins usually come early so they will most likely be born in early to mid april. I am hoping everything goes smooth and I deliver them at 36-38 weeks.

When I was about 8 weeks I had some bleeding and had to rush to the emergency room. After many hours at stanford ER, the ER dr.'s told me that the babies looked fine but that my placenta was pulling away from my uterus. This really freaked me out like any mom would be. I went in on a saturday and on monday I had a follow up with my Repro Endo and he said he wasn't sure what the ER Dr was seeing but the bleeding I had was pretty normal and not a huge problem at all. He said if my placenta was separating I would be in a ton of pain. Since I wasn't in any pain at all he said I was ok. He did another ultrasound that day and made sure everything was looking good. Since that day I haven't had any more bleeding and every check up has been good.

Next week I will have my Nuchal Translucency ultrasound to check if the babies are at risk of down syndrome, trisomy 18, trisomy 13 and a couple other chromosomal abnormalities. This is a pretty common test that most women have during their pregnancy. It is just a blood test and ultrasound.

Next week I also have my cerclage surgery scheduled for friday. It is a lot all in one week but I am glad it is all moving along. It really helps me to feel more relaxed about the pregnancy and try to enjoy it a bit more.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Caleb's first day of preschool. It was more of an intro to the teachers and class today so I stayed the whole time and he just mostly played. He was so excited to go and I am so excited for him to get the time to play and learn. I am also excited for the days I will now get 3 hours to myself twice a week.

 I know caleb is still on the young side since he doesn't turn 3 until november but since he was potty trained so early I figured why not. He loves to learn about new things and he really analyzes everything new he comes across. He asks tons of questions and usually really wants to know the answers. Since he is young it means he can be in preschool until he will hopefully go to transitional kinder when he is 4 almost 5.  I can't wait to see all the new things he learns and gets to experience though school.

Our next step

It's amazing how life can get in the way of a simple thing like typing up a blog post.

On Caleb's 2nd birthday Mike and I decided we wanted to start trying to have a second child. We have always wanted two kids. With Zoey and with Caleb I got pregnant within the first month or two of trying. This time around it hasn't been so easy.

When I met with my neologist for the first time last year we decided to wait to take any MS drugs because I knew I was going to be trying to get pregnant soon. My Dr agreed but told me she wanted me to get pregnant as soon as I could. This was very stressful for me. The longer it was taking the more stress I was feeling about it. The reason my neologist was pushing me to get pregnant quick is because a woman is protected from MS flair ups during pregnancy.

I started seeing a Reproductive Endocrinologist and found out I wasn't ovulating. The Dr had me take Provera to help force a period and then once it did I started taking Clomid. The first round of clomid didn't work. It is supposed to block estrogen receptors to make the body produce a growing follicle. After an ultrasound to find out it wasn't working we started again with provera and then increased the dose of clomid. This time it worked and created a good follicle. My Dr did an ultrasound to see if it was working and to see how many follicles were maturing. Because of the number of follicles and the timing I had to give myself a shot of Ovidrel to force ovulation.

Each cycle I have to call the Dr on day 1 of my period. Then by day 3 I had to have an ultrasound called a Baseline to check where I was at. On day 3 I start taking clomid until day 7.  On day 10 I start taking daily at home ovulation tests. Then on day 13-14, I have another ultrasound to see if the clomid was working. Having to keep track like this really makes me feel in tune with my body but also feels weird to report to the Dr about every little thing that is happening.

It is nice to know that it is finally working and we got all the medications and process figured out. I feel so much less stressed now.

Medical student

Today I am seeing my neurologist to talk about my pain in my legs and medication options. Before the Dr came in I had the pleasure of having a medical student talk to me and do my exam. Being at Stanford I am pretty used to this and have come to really appreciate it. The medical students and residents are always very nice and have the time to give a bit longer explanations of things. They also are learning so they do things a bit slower, more in depth and explain what they are doing more. I enjoy knowing that what I'm going through might help this student to be a better dr. My BIL is in medical school and I would want his patients to give him the time and opportunity to learn like I do. 

I'm writing this while waiting for the dr to come in to talk. Since it was a last minute add appt I have had to wait longer than normal. For some reason today more than others I felt very nervous and anxious about my appt. I guess the fear that the dr could tell me that the way my legs feel is my new normal or just the idea of having something else wrong and needing more meds that could make it so we can't get pregnant for longer. In the end I think my biggest fear right now is ending up in a wheelchair and not being able to take care of myself or Caleb. I know I'm not there yet or really close but it's a hard thought to shake. 

Infusions

Today is day three of three for a steroid infusion of Solumedrol. I had noticed on saturday last week that I had some numbness in my right leg. I didn't think much of it because it was mostly sensitivity to temperature. Then by Sunday night I figured out it was another flair up. Same feelings as the last time. I talked to my Neurologist and after she looked at my MRI results and saw a new lesion on the right side of my brain she suggested an infusion. This will hopefully help the one in my brain from remaining active and for the numbness in my leg to go away.

During my initial diagnosis last year we decided to wait to start any of the disease modifying drugs until after we got pregnant and had another baby. We knew we wanted to start trying soon so it wasn't a problem. Well now that it has been a year and 8 mo of trying with out any luck I am looking at starting the one drug they say is safe while trying to get pregnant. Once I get pregnant I won't need to take the drugs because women are protected during pregnancy from MS flair ups.

The Drug we are looking at and I will be talking to my Dr about next week is called Copaxone. It is an every other day injection that I will have to learn to give myself. It will definitely be something to get used to but its better than having more and more lesions and flair ups.

I'm Back Again

It has been around 2 1/2 years since I last posted anything and so many thing have happened. Caleb will be 3 in Nov and will hopefully be starting preschool in september. He is so smart, funny, loving and very testing of my patience. He loves to be naked which I think was a huge help in him getting potty trained around his 2nd birthday. He is very healthy and weighs in at about 36lbs right now. He is a great eater and likes lots of different types of food. his favorites right now are tofu, caesar salad, sushi, chipotle and veggie sandwiches from subway.

Since my last post Mike and I have had some major changes. We decided to add 400 sq ft to the back of our house with a master bathroom, a laundry room and an office. We are still in the process of finishing the project. Mike's job changed so we now have better benefits and things and the ship he has been on for a while is on the west coast which is nice. We are also looking to grow our family soon with another baby (I'll post more about all of that later).

The biggest thing I am dealing with right now is my newly diagnosed Multiple Sclerosis. In July of 2013 I was diagnosed with MS after many MRI's and various tests. So far other than some slight memory, processing and balance issues I am the same as I always have been. Many people in my life know I was diagnosed but not everyone because until now I haven't really talked about it openly to the world. I didn't post it on Facebook or anything because I didn't want people to feel bad for me or say the wrong things while I was still processing what this means for my future. I hope talking about it now helps others and helps me to find more people who are dealing with this disease.