17 Weeks!

As of today I am 17 weeks pregnant. Even though it's my third pregnancy (and it's supposed to be more obvious each time around), I haven't yet hit the point where people can tell when looking at me that I'm pregnant. In fact people look surprised when I tell them I'm pregnant. Of course I'm referring to strangers who don't know what I look like when I'm not pregnant. Hopefully if someone who knows me (but doesn't know I'm pregnant) saw me, it would be easier for them to notice the change and figure it out. In my pregnancy with Ian, this proved to be the half-way point, and with Nadia I reached the half-way point at 18 weeks. To celebrate turning 17 weeks, I had bloodwork done. My first titer levels were drawn on March 20, and the OB says they should be done every 4 weeks for the rest of the pregnancy. I am hoping the results will be much faster at a bigger hospital (Hershey). I was surprised to see on the orders that they wanted both titer levels drawn again. I don't get that. If Paul's blood is the same as mine in terms of the K antigen, why would it matter what my titer levels are? I'm confused. I do understand why they are checking the Duffy one again. I'm hoping it has stayed nice and low!

Yesterday I promised Nadia we'd go to Red Robin for dinner and then shop at the Disney outlet today. That was before I knew they were having scalloped potatoes and baked ham for dinner here at the RMH! Hopefully there will be leftovers I can have for lunch tomorrow. I had a coupon for a free (birthday) meal and ice cream sundae at Red Robin so our bill came to $4.23 before the tip. Nadia only ate half of her meal so she can enjoy the other half tomorrow. The waitress goofed up my order some (I wanted a tomato on my well-done burger w/o the mayo or lettuce). She served me a burger w/ mayo, w/o tomato that was definitely no where near well done. I didn't want to complain because #1 I knew I was getting my meal for free and #2 it's challenging to take a 2 and 3 year old to a sit down restaurant so I didn't want to extend our stay any by sending my burger back. I did ask for a tomato though. Unfortunately I had forgotten that I had packed some cookies in my purse for Ian. I didn't remember until near the very end, and it would have helped a lot if I had remembered earlier! He's my little cookie monster! I have to break the cookie into small pieces, but then he will chow it down. He showed no interest in the fries (which he used to lick in the past) because he knew he'd have to chew and swallow them.

The kids were in awe at the Disney store. Nadia would have bought half the store if I had allowed her to do so! She was squealing with delight over so many things in that store. I let each child pick out one toy. Ian picked out some vehicles (Mater and such) that were on sale for $5 (the set was normally priced at $20). Nadia's selection wasn't on sale, but I got it for her even though I knew I could buy it cheaper online (from the Disney website ironically). She's been a trooper the past almost 4 weeks. We also spent some time in the Motherhood Maternity outlet. I was so excited and assumed I'd come out with some purchase (such as a bathing suit or some skirts), but alas the prices were just horrible and the skirts didn't look very summery (more suitable for fall/winter).

Today Ian chewed some new foods for the first time - tiny pieces of a grape, a strawberry, and a cooked carrot. And I do mean very TINY pieces. He strongly objected to each of them. I don't think it had anything to do with the taste. I think it had everything to do with the texture (he prefers dry/crunchy such as crackers and cookies to wet/soft fruit). She pureed a hot dog for him today. He seemed to like that. Tomorrow she said she'll give him a tiny piece of hot dog to chew and swallow (not pureed). At the last meal today she had me feed him some fork mashed (not pureed) sweet potatoes. Almost everything he ate by spoon today was pureed. I feel like the first week Kathy taught him how to drink from an open cup and the second week she taught him how to chew. What we've done last week and this week I feel we could have done at home instead. She has me do most of the feedings. I keep wondering why we have to be there so someone else can watch me do something I could do at home. At least I know he's leaving the clinic a lot farther along in his feeding skills than when we arrived. He's definitely made progress. He will eat anything we serve him by spoon - almost always without crying. He can drink from a tiny cup. He likes to eat cookies and crackers and is working on learning to chew and swallow other small bits of food.

There have been three other kids here in the intensive program while we've been here (Ian was alone last week because Leah dropped out after only one week). Dylan was 3 1/2 years old, Leah was 3 months older than Ian, and Brayden is 6 months younger than Ian. All three of those kids already knew how to chew and swallow table food before they arrived at the clinic. So obviously I can't compare Ian's progress to theirs. The sad thing is that Brayden (who started this Monday) came to the clinic farther ahead than Ian will be at the end of his 4 week stay (and he's 6 months younger and had a feeding tube for many months). However I know Ian is not alone as there was a 4 year old boy (with Down's syndrome) there today (for a one day treatment) who is just now learning to chew and swallow. One thing that struck me is that our family situation is not the norm these days (married). None of the other three kids mentioned above live in a house with two married parents. Only one of them (Dylan) lived with both (unmarried) parents. Brayden's mom is 22 years old and lives with her parents. She has two kids (her youngest will be turning 2 months old next week). Her boys' father has had a total of 8 children thus far (with at least 4 different women), and the woman he's living with now doesn't have any kids yet.

At the RMH it's been interesting to see people of all different cultures living together. For example the first week I was here there was an Amish family, a family from Israel, etc. The Israeli children didn't speak English, but their parents did. They had been staying at RMH for 4 months while one of their children participated in a research drug trial (cancer). The dad fried a bag of lettuce in the frying pan for breakfast each morning. The Amish father kept the paper bracelet we're supposed to wear (which is to identify we're staying here) in his pocket. I talked to quite a few parents over the past several weeks here at RMH and many were here either because a child has cancer OR for a feeding issue (some older children are in a different feeding program at Hershey - not the one Ian has been in). When I would start to feel overwhelmed, I would try to remind myself of what it would be like if my child was facing a life threatening disease like cancer. I'll take a feeding disorder over cancer any day of the week.

Not all the stories have been sad. One that amazed me was of a girl who needed a transplant, and they couldn't find a match. The doctors said that only a bio sibling could help. The mom had two kids at that point, but the first one was from a different father. She asked if they should start ttc, and the doctor said their daughter wouldn't live another 9 months. Well it turned out she was pregnant at the time (which was a surprise as her eldest was about 20 years old), and her daughter amazed the doctors and did live long enough to receive the cord blood transplant from her baby sister. She's now a teenager. The youngest one was here to get a feeding tube. She has issues also, but at least they aren't life threatening!

Only two more days to go. The end is in sight for us! I'm teaching tomorow night so Joyce will be coming back to watch my kids while I teach. On Friday Paul's parents are planning to return. They came for several hours yesterday, which was a big help.