21 Weeks!

I am so relieved that I haven't been having any contractions lately. PTL! His kicks are a lot stronger. I think Nadia could feel them from the outside, but every time I say something to her, he stops kicking. He's the most active when I'm in bed. One morning when Ian was in bed with us (on top of me), I was getting kicked by both of my sons at the same time. It was kind of surreal. I think Ian felt him kicking, but Ian had no idea what was happening as he doesn't grasp the concept that I'm carrying his baby brother.

The main "side effects" of pregnancy right now are: going to the bathroom far more often, having heartburn, and having trouble sleeping at night. The heartburn still has been more manageable than the last two times, although my list of foods and drinks to avoid keeps growing. Paul's mom brought some powder to make (sugar free) grape drink when mixed with a pitcher of water. It tasted good, but the heartburn it created was not worth it. The fruit punch also gave me heartburn last night, but I love that stuff so much I'm sure I'll have it at least once moer this trip since it's such a rare treat. Hopefully if I take an acide reducer I won't suffer too much if I have another cup of it on our snorkeling trip.

The reception at our resort was nice last night. They had banana bread, fruit punch, rum punch, cookies (including Paul's favorite - white chocolate macademia nut), chips, salsa, and three different types of baked spicy meat patties (another Caribbean specialty).

Paul and I were supposed to go on a 5 hour "Safari Tour" today of some historical sites, a blowhole, botanical park, have lunch, etc. This morning our tour guide cancelled the tour due to the weather. I am really disappointed. The two things I most wanted to do here were the Safari Tour and visit Stingray City. She suggested rescheduling for tomorrow, but that's when we've rescheduled our Stingray City tour (which was originally scheduled for Monday). Ironically, I could have rescheduled the Stingray City tour for today, but I didn't due to the Safari Tour plans. My guess is that if we couldn't do a tour by Land Rover today that we also couldn't have done the catamaran tour today. I wish I brought more stuff for us to do in our unit. I didn't expect to spend so much time inside. Ironically I brought books and/or lots of magazines on our last few vacations, and I didn't have time to read them. This time I only brought one magazine. I could have read a lot of books on this trip.

Not as much rain

I can't say the weather was exactly "ideal" today as we haven't really seen the sun or the sky (just clouds), but it rained a LOT less than it did yesterday - thank goodness! This morning Grandma, Ian, and I spent some time at the beach while Paul, Pop Pop, and Nadia took a bus into Georgetown (the capital) and took a 90 minute boat ride (45 minutes of that was in a submarine). The Marriott, which is a few resorts down the beach from ours, has some nice things floating in the ocean that are anchored down. Ian had a blast in one of them. It had an orange ring around the outside, and across the middle it had a material similar to what you'd find on a trampoline. An inch or two of water was above the material. He could sit on it, stand on it, jump on it, etc. It's big enough for a couple of adults to lie across it at the same time. It sort of made a baby pool for him in the ocean. I would kick my feet under the material, and this made him laugh hysterically when I kicked him with my foot or knee. He also enjoyed standing up and kicking his feet around so that some water would splash on Grandma. The water wasn't as clear due to all the storms that have passed through lately so we didn't see as many fish today. Grandma and I had pancakes for lunch (that we cooked). The three who went to Georgetown had lunch at KFC.

Ian woke up at 5:30 (6:30) so that was better than yesterday but still 30-60 minutes earlier than usual. He did take a nice nap in his crib today though. This afternoon Paul and I took Nadia out to the ocean. Unfortunately the Marriott had taken their things out of the ocean, but she had fun anyhow. Paul also took the kids in the swimming pool. The water was much colder in the pool today than it was on Sunday in light of all the rain that went into it yesterday. The pool also had a lot more water in it.

Paul and Pop Pop were able to go to the grocery store this morning, and it wasn't even raining when they went! We're making spaghetti for dinner tonight. There is also a reception tonight (rum punch and appetizers). Yesterday there was a free breakfast (scrambled eggs with cheese, pound cake, and bacon). I'm hoping they have some punch without rum because I absolutely love Caribbean fruit punch. That's one of my favorite things to have in the Caribbean. I wish they sold it in the US! I'll make sure to have some before we leave on Saturday.

I'm praying the weather is at least as nice as it was today the rest of our trip, and of course if we could have at least one REALLY pretty day (as in a day we could see the sun and blue sky) that would be greatly appreciated. Paul and I are going on a 5 hour tour tomorrow in a Land Rover. Thursday we're all hoping to go on the Stingray City tour (by catamaran), and Friday we're planning to go to the turtle farm.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

On Saturday we could see evidence (on the pavement) that it had rained earlier that day, but when we arrived (around 1pm) it was sunny, and it didn't rain that afternoon or evening. Yesterday it poured all morning, but the rain let up enough (light sprinkle) for us to enjoy a few hours at the beach and pool in the afternoon. The beach here is really nice in that there are so many fish you can see swimming around you - all different colors, and some of the fish are rather large! It rained a little as we walked to XQ's for pizza last night, but it wasn't raining when we walked back. We went for their "pizza happy hour" in which their 12 inch pizzas (European style) are much cheaper than usual. From 3-4pm they're all $4 (the menu lists them as $11-$18 each), from 4-5pm they're $5, and from 5-6pm they're $6. We arrived at 3:45 their time (4:45 our body time). We brought home leftovers, which we ate today.
This morning we were supposed to go on our catamaran trip (snorkeling with a trip to Stingray City). A few minutes before they were scheduled to come pick us up, they called to cancel. We've rescheduled for Thursday. I really, really hope it works out to go on Thursday because this was the reason we chose to come to Grand Cayman. Aside from Aruba (which is a very dry island), we're accustomed to experiencing a brief rain shower most days, but we've never been to the Caribbean and had it rain almost the whole week. It has poured most of the day today. Our patio is flooded. It let up a bit (was still raining but wasn't torrential) around 11am so Paul took Nadia to the pool for awhile. Ian got up really early this morning (4:30am according to the clock/ 5:30am DST). I decided to let him nap in my arms today because he only napped for 30 minutes yesterday in the crib, and I am hoping that the "good sleep leads to good sleep theory" will apply. I thought maybe a good nap would lead to him sleeping more tonight, as he only slept 9 hours last night. He slept 2 hours in my arms, and he would have slept longer except my backside was literally numb (from being in the same position that long), and I was also hungry for lunch and had to go to the bathroom. Ian was napping during their whole swim time so he and I didn't leave our unit today.

I definitely have a case of cabin fever. I did bring some toys, books, and DVDs for the kids, but I didn't bring TONS because I was expecting we'd be outside most of the time (playground, swimming pool, or beach). I wasn't expecting to spend several days cooped up in our unit. Paul and his dad will have to venture out tomorrow to the grocery store because at lunch and dinner today we finished our leftovers from Chicken! Chicken! and XQ's. If it was just one rainy day, it wouldn't be so bad, but the forecast for the week looks identical to today. I'm praying the forecast is wrong and that the front moves on. I didn't take any pictures on Saturday except one at the restauran. I wish I had because it was the only time we've seen the sun/blue sky thus far. There are beautiful flowers all over the resort.

We're in Grand Cayman!

Saturday Paul and I got up at 3:45am, and we carried the kids from their beds to their car seats around 4:20am. We were hoping they’d fall back asleep once we got on the interstate, which is just a few minutes from our house. It took Ian an hour to fall back asleep, and it took Nadia 75 minutes to fall back asleep. Unfortunately, that’s also the time I was going to stop and go to the bathroom. Since they had fallen asleep, I tried to wait as long as I could, but we stopped a little after 6:00 at McDonalds, and that woke the kids up. They both lost more than 2 hours of sleep. We arrived at an offsite parking lot at about 7:45am. Paul’s parents were waiting for us there. The long term parking at the Newark airport is $18 a day. We didn’t way to pay that much just to park our cars for a week!  The offsite parking service was really nice. As soon as we pulled up they started loading our luggage into the shuttle, and they immediately took us to the United terminal. When we bought our tickets we got them through Continental, but since then United took over Continental.

We had no problems going through security except they tested Ian’s can of EleCare, and they confiscated the two Yoplait yogurts I had brought for Nadia and I to eat on the airplane. I asked if I could eat it right there on the spot, but she said I’d have to go back through security again. No thanks. We sat on the plane longer than usual before we took off. Part of the problem was the weight was imbalanced. They asked 12 people from the back of the plane to move to the front of the plane. The flight was rather bumpy. The kids did pretty well. Ian got a little fussy a few times, but overall they did really well during the 4 hour flight. Ian slept for 90 minutes in my arms, and he would have slept longer, but I had to go to the bathroom. During the ultrasound last Thursday the tech showed me that our little guy was kicking directly on my bladder. I have reached the stage of pregnancy where I have to go the bathroom rather frequently. Nadia took a short nap as well. She stayed in her seat the whole time. This was Ian’s first flight that I had to buy him a ticket as he was under 2 the last time we flew (to Florida in August 2011). Ian only was in his seat for the very beginning of the flight. The rest of the flight he was either sitting in Nadia’s seat with her (watching the DVD) or on someone’s lap (mostly mine).

A few things I noticed that had changed since the last time we flew on an international flight (May 2009) were: 1) we had to pay for our bags (you still get one bag free on most international flights but not to the Caribbean any more). We had two suitcases so that was an unexpected $100 (RT) that I wasn’t expecting to pay. 2) There wasn’t any free food on the airplane. The only things that were complimentary were the drinks. I knew about this change so we had brought some crackers for our lunch as we were landing at 2pm EST. According to the clocks here in Grand Cayman, it was 1pm because they don’t follow DST. I was leaning towards keeping the kids on DST schedule, and that was confirmed on Sunday morning. I hadn’t told Paul my plan, and he had PopPop didn’t bring the kids back from the playground until 8pm (DST), and they needed baths as the surface of the playground is sand. They went to bed about an hour later than usual, but they woke up earlier than usual (which was really early according to Grand Cayman time). The rest of the trip I plan to have them go to bed according to our body clocks not the time down here. 3) They now charge to watch anything on the flight. I had brought our headphones because in the past it was free, but I wasn't going to pay $7.99 to watch tv on the flight. 4) They now have electrical outlets under the seats on the airplane. This came in very handy for plugging in the DVD player as the batter doesn't last that long.

We had a short drive by taxi from the airport to our resort, which is on Seven Mile Beach. Check-in went very smoothly, and we were delighted when we walked into our unit. This unit is bigger than the first house Paul and I lived in! We have a large living room, a dining room, a kitchen, two full bathrooms, and three bedrooms. Paul’s parents are in one bedroom, Paul & I are in another, and the kids are in the third. There are two twin beds in two of the bedrooms, and a king size bed in the third bedroom.  Ian is sleeping in a crib. I had to say something to him last night because he wanted to keep talking to Nadia after I put them to bed. I heard Nadia tell him “Go to sleep, Ian” which cracked me up. I think she was more tired than he was. The location of our unit is amazing. We are on the ground level (no stairs to climb, YAY), and we are REALLY close to one of the swimming pools. We have a large screened in patio off the living room, and we can walk through the patio right out to the swimming pool. We also have a view of the beach from our living room and patio because this pool is located right before the beach!

As soon as we unpacked, the kids wanted to go swimming. Paul and I took the kids in the pool on Saturday afternoon, and they had a blast! The pool has quite a few different toys (rafts, noodles, etc.). In our unit there are tennis rackets, sand toys, etc., which is really nice. Our unit has a washer and dryer, dishwasher, garbage disposal, etc. There isn’t any maid service, but they will come and exchange our towels on Tuesday.

On Saturday evening Paul, Ian, and I went to a restaurant (Chicken! Chicken!) to pick up our dinner. We got enough for two meals, since we have a large refrigerator. The package we got included two whole wood roasted chickens, 6 pieces of delicious Caribbean cornbread, and 4 containers of side dishes. We picked sweet tarragon carrots, buttermilk mashed potatoes, rice 'n beans, and garlic 'n herb potatoes. The food was delicious! There are many restaurants within walking distance of our resort, but I hope we avoid the American ones as much as possible (we walked past Subway, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, and Quizznos on our way to Chicken! Chicken!). When we’re in another country, I like to eat at places we can’t eat at when we’re at home. The one disadvantage of Grand Cayman (compared to other islands we've been to) is that the food is rather pricey. I did research to find the cheaper places to eat, but even so it's not cheap, especially as it takes $1.25 USD to get $1 of their money. While I was giving the kids a bath, Paul and his dad walked to the grocery store (about 1/2 mile away). They bought thinks like milk, bananas, cereal, and orange juice so that we can eat breakfast in our unit as well as a few things like applesauce and chocolate creme cookies for Ian since we don't buy food for him at restaurants yet.

This morning the kids wanted to immediately go swimming, but it was raining. I’m praying it stops raining soon as the kids have cabin fever! The adults were all in favor of taking a nap at 9am, but the kids are full of energy.

Daddy is Home!

Paul gave his presentation this morning at the SIMS conference in Philadelphia. His presentation was titled, "Studying the Effects of C60Bombardment on a Model OLED Interfaces Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations."  Don't feel badly if you don't know what that means because I don't fully understand his research either (although I do understand his title). When I proofread his papers I am only checking his grammar because the content goes right over my head! He arrived home around 2:30pm, and the kids were thrilled to see him! Karen (OT) had arrived shortly before he did. She didn't try to compete with Daddy for Ian's attention. She had him wear a weighted vest while Daddy played with him, and she spent about 30 minutes talking with me. I told her I was really tired of doing 5-6 meals a day (having done that for about 14 months now). She said it was fine to go to 3 meals and just feed him little snacks in between if he says he wants something. I'll just have to keep track of his weight to make sure he's getting enough calories in those meals. I asked her for suggestions as to how to keep making progress (I don't want to stay at a plateau). She suggested not fork mashing the beef stew anymore, teaching him to drink from other cups, and giving him more variety in the finger foods (ex. peas). I've also decided that after we get back from vacation I'm not going to let him have cookies at breakfast. I'll give him dry cereal (ex. Froot Loops) after his bites of cream of wheat. I don't want Oreos to become the norm for breakfast! I felt as if our conversation was helpful. She'll be back in about 10 days as she's going to switch to Mondays at lunch time.

I kept hoping my rose bush would bloom this week. There are more than 100 buds. One bud did bloom today. I have a feeling the rest are going to bloom while we're on vacation next week. Oh well. I'd love to see my rose bush in bloom, but if I had to pick between seeing pretty roses and spending a week on Grand Cayman, I'd definitely pick the vacation!!! Last year it only bloomed once, and I've never had anywhere near that many buds on the bush at one time before. I'm also hoping that it rains up here sometime while we're away because I planted my flowers over the past week, and they're still at the stage where they need pretty frequent watering if it doesn't rain. Paul picked up some mulch on the way home today, and he's going to put that down. Hopefully that will help. He's outside mowing right now. I mowed once last month, but there's no way I'd mow right now given the contractions I had on Monday.

I had Paul call PSU's pharmacy this afternoon, and it was a BIG relief when they said the vial will cost less than $60. Whew! How can some pharmacies charge $3K for this same thing?!?! It will actually be cheaper to go this route because the OB office will charge something for the service of giving the injection. Our copay for medications is 20% (presuming the insurance will pay for it) so it will only cost $12 a vial (much better than $600!). I called the other hospital about the bill I received yesterday. The one charge ($136.28) is definitely in error because it's for a part of the embryo transfer, and we paid for that in package price last October. Actually it probably means they owe us a refund because our current health insurance paid $76.72 toward the embryo transfer (which is a drop in the bucket compared to what it cost, but Blue Shield doesn't pay anything for the egg retrieval or embryo transfer).

The bad news is that they said it was not a mistake that they charged $850 for the one pregnancy ultrasound I had at the RE. The insurance paid $331.20 towards itThe insurance said our part was $157.80 ($75 of that being my deductible), but the hopsital says we owe $518.80. I called the hospital today because it seemed to be a mistake. I had the very same type of ultrasound done at the OB's office two weeks after the one at the RE's office, and that hospital charged less than $300 for the very same procedure. I also know that Blue Shield doesn't pay anywhere near $850 for an ultrasound. The woman at the hospital said I was correct. They would have received less than $300 from Blue Shield, and because they have a contract with them, I wouldn't have owed a dime. Even though our current insurance paid MORE than what Blue Shield would have paid, they are insisting we still owe them another $518 - for an appointment which lasted 5 whopping minutes. It's just not right! I don't understand why they can charge such different amounts to people based on what insurance they have. Paul wants to fight the bill. I've already made two calls to the hospital (to two different people), and I have a feeling we are going to have to pay the $518. If I had known, I would have skipped the ultrasound and just had it at the OB's office. At least I only had one ultrasound at the RE! I had 3 ultrasounds at the RE with Nadia and with Ian. I am glad we have been avoiding this hospital. It was worth driving to Philadelphia with Ian to avoid medical bills like this. I just feel badly because I try so hard to be careful with our money. I won't pay more than $1.50 for a box of cereal, and now I am probably going to pay $518 for an ultrasound (and if I had it at the OB's office instead it wouldn't have cost us one penny), and I might be paying $486 for a blood typing test, even though I told the OB at my first appointment that I have O negative blood, and they had tested my blood type when I was pregnant with Ian so that information was actually already in my file. Why did they order this test to be run again? Ugh. I am trying to learn from this to be REALLY careful about what tests I allow them to do on me. I plan on saying "no" as much as possible.

One thing we did learn from all the bloodwork lately is that both Paul and I have O negative blood. I had assumed they had tested Paul's blood type in 2005 (with the ectopic) to determine that I needed the Rhogam shot, but it turns out if the woman has negative blood, they automatically give the Rhogam shot (in case the husband has positive blood). I will definitely be declining the Rhogam shot this pregnancy! I've had the shot 5 times thus far - all for naught because there's no way our children could have positive blood. Well now I need to forget about all this medical bill stuff because I want to relax and enjoy our time on vacation! Last year when we went to the Caribbean (on the cruise in January 2011) we didn't ever make it to a beach. We'll definitely be at the beach this time!!! I can't wait!! I'm hoping to go to bed early tonight as we're leaving the house at 4:15 tomorrow morning because we're flying out of Newark (3 hours away) so that we can have a nonstop flight to Grand Cayman.

He's doing fine so far!

Yesterday I got up at 6:40am. I still haven't gotten over the novelty of being able to get up at that time of day and shower before the kids get up. We were out the door at 8:30am for Nadia's gymnastics class. When we arrived I discovered they were having their semi-annual yard sale. I bought a dress for Nadia, a pair of shoes for Ian, a princess plate, a princess pillow, a Blue costume (the dog), a road carpet, and six books. I was really excited about two of the books as they were on my list of books I had been wanting to buy. The only downside of yard sales is that sometimes I see items for sale there that I have recently purchased elsewhere. For example another book that was for sale there for 25 cents I had recently purchased online (a used copy) for $3.00. Nadia loves the pillow and plate - a very well spent 75 cents!

At gymnastics I discovered I had forgotten to put the double stroller back in the car. We've never gone to Knoebels without a stroller before, but I figured we'd survive since we weren't staying too long. Paul's parents met us there, which meant Nadia wasn't restricted to only riding kiddie rides. Early Intervention provided lunch (hotdogs, baked beans, jello with fruit, and cookies) and then we rode rides for 2 1/2 hours. We rode more rides in that time span than we did in the 5 hours we were there on Saturday since we spent VERY little time waiting in lines yesterday.

The weather was gorgeous. They didn't have all the rides running, or I would have gone on the flume with Nadia as it was warm enough to enjoy that ride. Nadia did better on the bumper cars. They both said the Whip was their favorite. They did really well considering we didn't have the stroller. PopPop carried Ian in the parking lot at the end, but other than that they walked all around the park. Ian was asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot, and Nadia slept in until 8am this morning (she usually wakes up at 7am). The kids handstamps were free, and I used less than $5 worth of tickets. Parking is always free there. I love that place! I didn't have any contractions the past three days, which was also very encouraging. I'm hoping to take Gabby and Alexis to Knoebels in early June before they head out to Oklahoma. I thought that would be a nice farewell gift (I'd buy them 4 hour handstamps). We are really going to miss them!

This morning I had another ultrasound with MFM. This time it was at my local hospital (they drive up from Harrisburg every other week). It was such a relief that (including driving time) the total trip was 90 minutes - compared to 5hr 45 minutes two weeks ago and 2hr 45 minutes last week. It would have been 75 minutes today if I hadn't needed the P17 shot (added 10 minutes) and stopped at McD's for an Egg McMuffin (5 minutes). He was very "modest" today so the woman doing the ultrasound couldn't verify the gender.

The doctor said everything looked good - no signs of fetal anemia. He said that the baby has a 50% chance of developing anemia, and he said a transfusion could be needed even in this trimester (I thought it wouldn't be needed until the third trimester) due to how high my level of antibodies are. He said that how the baby looks at the ultrasound will determine when we need to switch to weekly (rather than every other week) ultrasounds. They didn't measure the cervix today. They're going to measure that again in two weeks. I'm praying that we can stay on the every other week schedule through the end of June (6 more weeks) because I really don't want to drive to Harrisburg. If I need to be seen every other week, I'd like to switch to the MFM clinic at the hospital where we did the IVF. I told him about the contractions I had on Monday, and he said that aside from taking it easy and drinking lots of water, there's not much more I can do.

The nurse gave me the P17 shot and gave me an extra one for next week. She questioned if I really wanted to fill the Rx at PSU. She said the pharmacies around here charge $3K per vial. WHAT?!? I had looked online and had seen MUCH lower prices. I called Paul and told him not to pick up the prescription until he finds out the cost. If it costs anywhere near that much, I will just keep going to the doctor's office to have it every week because we have to pay 20% at PSU and that would be $600 per vial. I think a vial has 5 doses. It will be well worth the inconvenience to go there every week if it will save us about $1,800 (I'd need 3 vials if I make it to 36 weeks). Speaking of bills, I got a large bill from the hospital where we did ivf. It was for the "difference" between what our current insurance paid and what they billed for one Beta and one ultrasound. They billed us over $600. I'll be calling about that tomorrow as that seems way too high.

Paul comes home tomorrow afternoon, and we're leaving for Grand Cayman on Saturday morning. YAY!!!!

Five Months!

Today I am 20 weeks or 5 months pregnant! Just yesterday I was told "you don't even look pregnant." However, I've also been told recently by some ladies at church that they can see my baby belly now. The truth of the matter is that it depends on what I'm wearing. Skirts and ruched tops make it far more obvious than pants, and my belly also shows more when I'm sitting down rather than standing. My heartburn has definitely been worse lately, but I still have a day now and then when I don't have any heartburn, and I don't recall that ever happening at this stage with my last two pregnancies. I weighed myself this morning, and I still weigh the same as what I weighed on April 28 (at the end of our stay in Hershey). I'm really happy that I've only gained 8 pounds thus far. I'm doing much better with keeping my weight in check than I did the last two pregnancies.

The spring semester ended last week, and my first summer classes don't start until next week. Not having any schoolwork to do this week has definitely helped me with my to do list. The flowers have been planted, and Paul is going to do the mulch on Friday when he gets back from Philadelphia. I have ordered just about everything for the nursery. I love the changing pad cover I ordered. It doesn't exactly match the crib set in that a monkey is featured (instead of a bear), but the colors match, and I think it's adorable! My sister got me a contour changing pad and two white covers in 2005 (at that point we thought they'd be used by an adopted baby). I've used those white covers the past four years, and they are worn out. It's time for a new one! I'm going to save one of the white ones to use as the spare one when the monkey one needs to be washed, but most of the time I'll be using the monkey one. I decided to go simple for the valances, hamper, and spare fitted crib sheet. I got all three in a solid brown. That was the cheaper route to go for sure.

I splurged a bit more on the light switch cover, bookends, and clock. Nadia and Ian have personalized clocks, but since I might use this crib set with our fourth (if we have a fourth), I decided not to get a personalized clock. As for what I still need to get my list is rather short: Baby Bjorn infant carrier (I plan to buy one on eBay), yellow paint (for the nursery walls), wall letters to spell his name (we need to pick a name first of course!), and some cloth diapers (still not sure what brand to buy). I'm sure at yard sales this summer I'll probably pick up a few more outfits for him as well. I can't wait to set his room up!

Paul's parents are picking up a mattress/box spring set for us at Sears today (to save us the $69 delivery fee). They'll be bringing it to our house on Thursday. When we get back from vacation I'm planning on switching Ian to a twin size bed. The mattress/box springs we had for him got ruined in the basement flood last year. After he's in his bed, we can move the crib to the nursery, but before that can happen we need to move the bookcases from that room downstairs. I'm planning on asking some men at church to help with that. When we get back from vacation a top priority will be to list our dining room table and chairs on Craiglist. Then we can paint the nursery yellow and get it all set up. I can't wait!

Yesterday I typed and mailed an appeal letter to the insurance. I'm hoping they'll end up paying for more of the March 12th bloodwork. If not, I hope the hospital will work something out with us. I noticed yesterday that Hershey billed our insurance over $1,000 per day for Ian's feeding program - even though I know they'll accept $481 per day from Medical Assistance. I remember two years ago my trip to the ER (and resulting D&C and blood transfusion) was over $10K, and yet the hospital accepted a payment of about $1K from Blue Shield. Why are there such HUGE gaps between what they bill and what they have agreed to accept from the insurance? That's 90% off! With the PSU insurance, they pay 95% of what the hospital charges. If we have to pay, I'm going to ask that we pay at Blue Shield's rate! I really think charging over $1K a day for the feeding program is utterly ridiculous. She spent on average 2 hours total with Ian over the course of each day. Granted she needed a little time to prepare his meals, but still we're talking under 3 hours a day. She has a master's degree. How can they charge that much per hour for someone with a Master's degree? We even had to provide the EleCare for him one week. At that cost the EleCare should be included! The PSU insurance isn't going to cover the feeding program (that's what Kathy told me anyhow), and I'm grateful that Medical Assistance will pay for it. I am grateful we went as he's definitely farther along with his eating than he would be if we hadn't gone, but if I had to do it over again, I just would have done two weeks. I think we could have made the same progress at home during the third and fourth week (especially considering she had me do almost all the feedings those weeks), but still it was worth it to go (although I'd never pay $20K for it!).

Early Contractions

Yesterday I had painful contractions. What concerned me about them was they weren't triggered by exercise. Ironically one day last week I walked to the park (slowly) and didn't have any contractions. I made sure to drink a glass of water before I left that time. I stayed home all day yesterday except for taking the kids to Nadia's last ballet class. I tried to take it as easy as possible and drink water. I'll be discussing it with the MFM doctor on Thursday morning.

I kept reminding myself that I the painful contractions started at 23w last time, and Ian didn't come until 34w. I know the baby isn't viable yet. As much as I want to avoid the NICU, obviously the NICU is better than a stillborn. The baby needs to stay in 4 more weeks to reach the point where they'd try to intervene and save his life. If the contractions lasted for 11 weeks (like they did last time), that would put me at 29w as they started at 18w. I'll be 20w tomorrow. This past Friday I hit the half-way mark of the pregnancy, if I make it all the way to 9-24. At this point my goal is to make it to 35w (August 29). Please little one, stay in for 15 more weeks.

The reason I didn't call the OB yesterday (although I thought about doing so) is because I don't think there's anything else they can do (except to check to see if maybe a UTI is causing the problems as that did happen once in my last pregnancy). I had the P17 shot last Wednesday and will have my second one this Thursday. They're going to check my cervix every 2 weeks and stitch it shut if it gets too short. I don't really think that's the problem (at least it wasn't the last two times). The only other thing they can "do" is put me on bedrest. I'll do that if necessary, but I'm hoping that just taking it as easy as possible will be enough. I'm thankful that I haven't had any contractions today. That's a big relief! I'm on my own today as Paul left for Philadelphia yesterday and won't return until Friday afternoon. Aside from one quick trip to the dollar store (couponing), we're staying home all day today. 

I was very surprised as I was looking at the latest issue of Parents to see that "Gordon" was listed as one of the top 250 names for boys. Paul did suggest two other names a couple of days ago - Stuart and Hugh. I don't like either of those. Picking names isn't fun for us since our tastes are so opposite. I do like Nadia and Ian, and he came up with both of those. I'm confident that eventually he'll come up with one we'll both like. I'm trying to be patient. I'd like to start referring to our son by name asap!

I'll be praying even more fervently than Nadia that the next FET will result in a girl because Paul said if we end up with three boys, the third one HAS to be named Gordon or Newton. EEK! Gordon has three meanings depending on which origin you are going with - large fort (English), fat (French), and beloved (Gaelic). What French person would want to name their child a name that means "corpulent, fat"? Not me!!! He likes Newton because of Isaac Newton. I'd prefer Isaac over Newton, but he doesn't like the name Isaac.

Favorite Authors

Here are some of the kids' current favorite books and authors:

1. Eric Carle - They both love many of his books. Two that Ian has been asking me to read lately include Polar Bear, Polar Bear What do you Hear? and Does a Kangaroo have a mother, too?.

2. Robert Munsch  - We have several of his books such as More Pies!, Purple, Green, and Yellow, Ribbon Rescue, and We Share Everything, Their current favorites are The Sand Castle Contest and Love you Forever.
3.  Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young (Ian)

4. Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats (Ian)

5. Jonathan London -  Their current favorites are Froggy's First Kiss, Froggy Learns to Swim, and Froggy Plays in the Band.
6. Jan Brett - They both love many of her books such as The Mitten, The Hat, The Three Snow Bears, and Gingerbread Baby.



Nadia with Grandma and Great Aunt Diane

7. Papa's Pastries by Charles Toscano (Nadia) - I bought this book last month at Ollie's at the recommendation of a blog I read, and I have to say it's a really great book!!!

8. Mercer Mayer - They both love his books about Little Critter.

9. Kevin Henkes - They both love many of his books such as Sheila Rae, The Brave and Chrysanthemum.



10. When Dinosaurs came with everything by Elise Broach. Paul laughs every time he reads it. We had the Cheerios box version, but I got a hardback copy (for under $5 at Hallmark) for Paul as one of his Father's Day gifts. Both kids enjoy it.

11. Bernard Waber - Nadia loves the books about Lyle the crocodile.

12. Laura Numeroff - They both love the "If you give..." books. Their current favorite is If You Give a Pig a Party.

13. David Kirk - Nadia loves the books about Miss Spider. Her current favorite is Miss Spider's Wedding.

14. Nadia loves any story that involves a princess - Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White, etc.

15. Tomie de Paola - Nadia's favorite right now is Strega Nona.

16. Iza Trapani - Ian loves I'm a Litlle Teapot.

Happy Mother's Day!

Even though the last 4 Mother's Days were happy ones for me (starting in 2008 when I was pregnant with Nadia), I still felt a mixture of emotions about the holiday. This is the first time that I can honestly say I don't feel *any* sadness as I reflect on the holiday. I'm not sure if it's because enough time has passed to heal the wounds, or if it's because I'm expecting my third child, but it is nice to not have any negative feelings regarding the day.

Every time I think of the holiday I do say a prayer for those women for whom this is a really hard day. I believe I'll always feel a sensitivity towards single women who long to be married and have kids as well as married women who are struggling with infertility. Paul has never made a big deal about the holiday. That should be translated - I usually don't get any gifts or cards from him or the kids for Mother's Day. This year I asked for two things - a name for our son and cards made by the kids. I suggested he have the kids make the cards while he was watching them when I was at school one night this past week (Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday). He remembered that request yesterday morning, and there wasn't time. I should have asked for something he could buy (like flowers) because he didn't have time to come up with a name. He's been pulling all nighters in his office (leaving for PSU at 10pm) quite a bit over the past week due to his upcoming presentation in Philadelphia. A name would mean more to me than flowers, but the name wasn't possible. Next year I'll ask for something he can buy me at a store. He hasn't bought me any flowers since August 2004, so that would be a very rare treat. However, even though I only got one card (from my in-laws), it's a VERY happy Mother's Day in my opinion. It's a very happy one because I have two precious kids to hold in my arms, another kicking inside me, and one in a frozen state at the hospital. Amazing.

One smaller reason it's a happy weekend for me is yesterday the scale showed a number 2 pounds lighter than it did last Monday. That also put a smile on my face! This means at 19 1/2 weeks I've gained only 8 pounds, and I haven't gained any since we left Hershey 2 weeks ago.

Yesterday we went to Knoebels. The weather was gorgeous (high of 82 degrees with very little humidity and a nice breeze). I did swell up a bit when standing in the sun (due to being pregnant), but if I stayed in the shade (and there are many trees there), it felt heavenly outside. The only downside to the day was that it was VERY crowded. All of us remarked we had never seen the park so crowded before. We typically don't go on a Saturday, and we'll stick with that plan. We went today because it was free for those who are members of the PBS station (we got 6 free handstamps). The kids had a blast, and being at an amusement park with my kids is one of my MOST favorite things. This made it a perfect way to celebrate Mother's Day.

Ian's favorite ride was the whip (as you can see from the pictures I posted yesterday). Normally he doesn't smile on rides, even though he is enjoying them immensely (you can't tell by his facial expressions during the ride but rather his objections to getting off it at the end). He definitely was smiling and laughing on the whip though!!! Nadia's favorite ride was the kiddie rollercoaster. She's a little bit better at the bumper cars this year, but she still has a LONG way to go with her driving skills. She mostly makes her car spin in circles.

We spent about 5 1/2 hours at the park. That was definitely all I could handle. I definitely have to take it easy to keep this little guy inside me as long as possible. I think it will be a sheer miracle if I make it to 35 weeks. After we left we had dinner with Grandma and PopPop at a pizza place just a few minutes from the park. Last year Paul had to go get some milk from the McDonald's near this pizza place because the restaurant doesn't sell milk (and that's all she would drink). This year she was fine with a glass of fruit punch. Ian got to have a sippy cup for the first time in 6 weeks. I was shocked that he rejected it at first! I couldn't figure out how to serve him milk by a shot glass at Knoebels. Thankfully after going without anything to drink for several hours he finally agreed to drink from the sippy cup. I also fed him a coconut milk yogurt and a bunch of cookies at the park. We fed him two meals at home before we left for the park.

Today we went to church and then met Paul's family at a restaurant for a buffet meal. Nadia and Ian met Paul's Aunt Diane and Uncle Jim for the first time. They live in Florida. After lunch we spent some time at Paul's parents' house before heading home. We brought one packed suitcase to their house for our trip to Grand Cayman because the Prius doesn't have much storage in the trunk. We'll be meeting them at the Newark airport on Saturday morning! Yipee!!!

On our way to Knoebels we stopped at a consignment shop that I hadn't been to before. It's risky to have a very particular thing in mind when shopping at a yard sale or consignment shop, but I found BOTH things I was looking for (a pair of size 6 1/2 sandals for Ian and a pair of size 9 water shoes for Nadia). The two pairs of shoes cost me $5.90 total, which is much better than if I went to Target or Walmart or Payless. I had bought size 7 sandals for Ian, but they've been falling off his feet. I have a pair of size 6 water shoes for Ian (used to be Nadia's), but I didn't have any for Nadia for our upcoming beach trip. I think those are the only purchases I needed to make for our trip (since I did buy some maternity shorts and bathing suits for myself already). The kids are already looking forward to our next trip to Knoebels (I'm taking them on Wednesday for a couple of hours as we can get free handstamps through Early Intervention). I'm going to use my kit lens that day. I think that lens will work out better for Knoebels than the fixed lens did yesterday, albeit in general I prefer that 50mm lens. I've been delinquent lately with taking pictures, but I made up for that this weekend! I took too many to share in these two posts. I have more to share in the next few days!