15 Weeks!

Today I hit the 15 week mark. I am very grateful that the morning sickness is no longer my constant companion. I haven't totally left that phase yet. Smelling certain foods will still make me feel like I'm going to throw up. For example someone made some popcorn in the microwave at the feeding clinic, and I thought I would die, and that smell is so strong it seemed to spread throughout the whole place so I couldn't escape it. My heartburn has been more manageable thus far than it was with either of the last pregnancies as long as I avoid the foods which set it off, which I don't do all the time. They served Papa John's pizza on Monday night for dinner, and that gives me heartburn but I ate it anyhow. I have been doing really well at avoiding chocolate. There is constantly an abundant supply of chocolate around here- candy (makes sense since we are in Hershey) as well as brownies and such. I had done a great job of resisting all of it until last night when they served peanut butter eggs for dessert. I love peanut butter eggs, and the only time of year I usually have them is Easter. I had one, and I regretted it for hours afterward. That strengthened my resolve to RUN from chocolate.

Yesterday the kids were begging to go to Grandma's house. I called Grandma yesterday, and she said that she and PopPop would come down today. They arrived at the feeding clinic at 3pm and what a difference it made with Ian's feeding sessions. He was screaming when they arrived, but when PopPop sat down beside him, he stopped crying. Nadia, Grandma, and I went back to the RMH for the last hour of Ian's time at the feeding clinic. Nadia and Grandma played while I was doing some grading and email for work. I really wish I was able to access the interent at the feeding clinic. I would have been happy to stay for dinner tonight at RMH as it was taco night, but Nadia wanted to go to Friendly's. I ordered a strawberry sundae. It has been decades since I had a strawberry sundae. Someone who is about 5 inches big has taken over my taste buds! ha ha! Tonight at Friendly's I noticed a big difference when we handed Ian some french fries. In the past he's only licked them. He was chewing them tonight! In fact he actually consumed part of the first one he chewed! I can't wait to tell Kathy this tomorrow. Maybe we can start working on some other foods besides crackers and chips. It's so nice to see him voluntarily chewing rather than licking foods, even if hardly any of it is going down his throat. It's progress!

I didn't realize what a blessing Dylan was last week until he was gone. Oh how they miss having a playmate. The hours go by much more slowly this week without him there. I'm letting the kids watch more tv than usual, but spending 8.5 hours a day in a doctor's office 5 days a week isn't exactly the norm (thank goodness!). The kids are also really missing Paul. That's why it was such a blessing that Paul's parents came down to visit today, and they're coming back on Friday so I can shop at the consignment sale without the kids and also go out to lunch with my friend, Joyce. We'll both be turning 40 next week (we're 2 days apart in age), and we used to celebrate our birthdays together (1997-2000). When we got back from Friendly's I expected we'd see one dog as all the other night's we've been here they've had one therapy dog here in the evening (from the Red Cross). Well tonight it was a dog PARTY or so it seemed. There had to have been at least 15 different therapy dogs here tonight. Wow! The kids had fun with them before it was time for a bath and bed.

One perk of pregnancy is that you can eat more food than usual without gaining weight. I was really nervous about weighing myself this past weekend because I hadn't weighed myself in a couple of weeks and I felt like I had been eating too much. I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped on the scale as it showed I weighed less than I did on the day of the egg retrieval and 2 pounds more than the day of the embryo transfer. So I chalked it up to having gained 2 pounds total thus far, and I was happy with that considering I've been eating pie and things I don't normally eat. One of my favorite treats has been all the fresh fruit, and at least I have no guilt with that! Almost every day I get to enjoy grapes and/or honeydew, pineapple, etc. YUM! Paul will be having the blood drawn tomorrow hopefully it won't take long to get the results.