Cassie is silly.

Did I mention to you all yet that Cassie is really into buckles lately? She wants to buckle every buckle she sees be it the grocery store cart, a high chair, her carseat, etc. You know, the buckles that just snap 2 pieces together? I HATE the buckles on carts and public high chairs. They totally gross me out. I have never, ever let her touch them. We always say, "Don't touch the buckle" as soon as we sit her down. Well, 4 times now lately, Mark has gone to get her out of a high chair at a restaurant or out of the cart at Target only to find her securely buckled in. HA! Have you ever watched someone try to pick up a kid that is buckled in still? It's pretty funny. Cassie just cracks up each time. SO ORNERY!!! I don't know what the facination is with buckles, but she goes around the house buckling things. Her booster seat has 6-8 straps that all can fit together because it hooks onto a regular chair. She'll buckle them in all kinds of configurations and then just giggle. It is a pain to unbuckle all of them just to let her sit down! They criss-cross all over the place and have to all be undone before she can sit in the seat. Also, she does the straps on her high chair here at home countless times each day.

You know those learning dolls where they have zippers, snaps, buttons, buckles, etc? I think that I need to buy a doll and just sew tons of buckles to it. Hmmm...that might be a good idea. :)

FABULOUS sister, update, and randomosity

First of all, Kelly, I guess my sis-in-law is not worried about spelling it out for me on here! I knew what you meant, but she let the world know. :) Actually, Mark is weirded out by the thought of "doing it" to get the baby to come out. He said, "I don't want to make him come out with a headache!" HA! He knows that it doesn't work that way, but I think it offends him that I want to "use" him that way! HA HA HA!!!

NOW, on to bigger and better things...my fabulous sister, Dani. Last night, she won the Jester Award for outstanding female lead vocalist for the entire Wichita area for her performance in the operetta, "Amahl and the Night Visitors." The show was back in December and then she found out that she was nominated a month or 2 ago. Last night, they had the awards show...kind of like a local Grammys. There were like 15 nominees or something from various musicals around the Wichita area. They also had chosen her to be one of the performers between awards...you know like how the Grammys will have Faith Hill perform? That was my sister last night. :) Anyway, she got a really neat glass award that has her name and such on it. She was thrilled. I am so excited for her, as I know that this has really boosted her confidence in herself. I just hope that she has many opportunities in college to shine brilliantly! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, DANIELLE!!!

Let's see...update...nothing too exciting going on here. I did have lots of contractions yesterday afternoon. I had them every 4 minutes for 40 minutes before they slowed down to 6 and then 10 and then further down until they were just every once in awhile. BUMMER! They have to be every 3-4 minutes for a full hour before going to the hospital, so that was just a big tease.

Cassie and I are going stir crazy. We had decided that I was not going to drive anymore until Conrey is out...not sure if I'd mentioned that yet or not. Also, I am not taking her on walks and such by myself. The risks of me passing out are just too great. I don't want to risk a wreck or risk passing out on the sidewalk and Cassie running off or into the street or something. So, we're stuck here and are incredibly bored. We have watched WAY too much TV and it is just getting old. If for no other reason, that is reason enough to want to get him out...freedom! Wait...does having 2 kids to get ready, get in and out of the car, and lug around lead to freedom? I'm not so sure...

Oh, Meshellyn...will you call me sometime when you're awake. I know you worked last night, so I didn't want to bother you. But, I need to see about a favor. :)

I made peanut butter cookies yesterday. You know, where you actually use pb and flour and stuff? NOT Break'N'Bake??? I think that I've eaten about half of the batch so far. YIKES! OH! That reminds of something completely scary. Last night, not only did I eat an ENTIRE Chipotle burrito (which NEVER happens), but I BEAT MARK BEING DONE!!! WHAT?!? I finished and looked over and he still had about 1/4 of his left! WHAT?!?!? Oh, Mylanta!!! That is ALL I have to say about that. I don't ever even finish, much LESS finish ANY meal before Mark! YIKES!

Well, I suppose that that is enough rambling for today...or at least for now. :) I hope that you each have a great day!

Hangin' in there...

Well, I'm hangin in there. It's been a looooong 2 weeks since my first passing out until now. I figured out that I have spent pretty much 40 hours at the hospital between my 3 visits in those 2 weeks.

I am actually feeling pretty good. My head feels clear and oxygenated. :) I feel like I can do stuff around here, though I'm trying to be smart about it and not let myself do too much. All in all, I think that it was a success, though I'm not sure if it was enough. They will do a complete blood count (CBC) when I go to my OB on Tuesday to see where my numbers are. I am just really thinking that after baby is born, I'll need more blood. We'll see, though. I would be much happier to NOT have to have it, as it just ups the anty on all of the risks involved, but I'm just not sure that I'm to a "normal" level yet. We'll see what the tests say next week.

On to a topic I enjoy much more...Cassie. She has been such a doll through all of this. It has really stressed her out a few times, but she has just been so, so good like she knows that Momma needs her to be or something. Yesterday, she kept saying, "I help Momma..." I'd say that we needed to clean up and she'd say, "I help Momma keen up." She just has been helpful and loving and wonderful. I have been praising her and snuggling her and trying to reassure her the whole time.

Every morning and then periodically throughout the day, she asks where Daddy went. Either I'll say "work" or I'll ask her to tell me. Yesterday she asked and I asked her and she said, "Work. Daddy works at Target." HA! The Home Depot that we pointed out as "Daddy's work" to her (which isn't really his store) is right next door to Target. I wonder if she wasn't confused. We talked about it and now if you ask her she tells you that Daddy works at "Home Peepoh." Close enough. :)

I don't think that I ever really updated on her doctor's appt from this week. She has gained 4 lbs in the last 6 months (up to 26 lbs), but not a whole lot in height (up to 33 inches). She's on the low end for height now according to the percentages and all of that. I was surprised. They pricked her finger and she just whimpered a bit. She was really brave. However, when they put the cotton and band-aid on her finger...man, oh man! She went NUTS! She started screaming and trying to yank it off. It was such a funny/weird reaction, as she was so brave about the poke! Anyway, we got it off and washed it thoroughly (it had cotton stuck to it) and then she was fine. Silly rabbit.

Well, that's all I know for now, I guess. Mark called and said he'd had a rough morning already and that if I wanted to go into labor today, that would be great with him. :) I said, "If you figure out how to make that happen, you be sure and let me know and I will DO IT!!!" :) So, send me those ideas, ladies! My husband needs me!!! :) :) :)

Oh, and I've done pineapple, spicy foods, raspberry leaf tea, and evening primrose oil, so other suggestions besides those... :)

Are you KIDDING me?!?

Seriously. This has GOT to stop. I passed out yesterday...1.5 times. I know that sounds strange. The second time I do not believe that I lost consciousness fully, but I was alone, so I'm not really sure. The first time, I was sitting and thought, "OH CRAP!" The next thing I knew, I was laying on the floor. Ow. I was feeling GREAT up until then. I'm not sure what happened.

SO, guess what that means? Oh, you're so smart...trip #383 to the ER. Oh...my...lanta.

I got there at like 1:45 p.m. or something. I left at 11:45 p.m. After being a pincushion yet again (4 total pricks this time), it was determined that my blood count was still way down (hemoglobin was 8, which should be at least 12). I ended up with a blood transfusion. I sat there for 2-1/2 hours watching someone else's blood slowly infiltrate mine. There might not be any sensation so odd as to know that the life blood of a stranger is going to help strengthen me and get me through this pregnancy. They gave me 1 unit of A+ blood (you knew I was smart, right? It's because I'm A+). :) After confirming that I had no reaction to it after it was all said and done, they sent me home. That's not to say that I couldn't have had a reaction in the night, but the likelihood diminished greatly the longer the donor blood was in me. The decision to risk a blood transfusion was a very difficult one to make. We went back and forth on if it was the right decision for us to make. With so many diseases and such out there, it is just scary. There is still a chance of me contracting hepatitis or something from the transfusion, but we are relying on faith and trust in God that that will not happen.

SO, with the help of some kind blood donor, I will hopefully not only make it through this labor and delivery at whence time it comes, but I will thrive through it and recover much better than I did last time.

The question I know many of you are wondering is: "What happened to the iron transfusion? I thought that was supposed to help?"

ANSWER: It will...it just hasn't had time to boost my actual blood volume, which is the issue here...blood volume. I did not have enough blood pumping through my veins and the iron transfusion, while it boosted my iron levels, has not had the time to adequately resupply my red blood cells.

There is still a possibility that I'll need another transfusion before this pregnancy is up or right after delivery. If that happens, it happens, but we're praying that it doesn't. They will have blood on hand at the time of my delivery in case I need it. We'll just have to see what happens and pray for safety and health.

I've decided one thing for sure. If this happens again, I'm going to be going in to the hospital demanding (nicely, of course), that they just get this baby out! I cannot keep wasting my life away at the hospital like this and it's getting ridiculous, if you ask me. I truly think that, if this transfusion didn't do the job, that it will just keep on happening until Conrey comes out.

Well, that's my newest story. I'm HOPING and PRAYING that this is the last story I have for you that is not a funny little anecdote from Cassie or something. She's been really stressed out, too, and I'm ready for that all to cease (not that baby brother is going to bring calm to our lives, but you know...).

OK...the end. Peace out.

Links

So, I just updated my links on the sidebar on my "Blogs Worth Visiting" feature. If you're on there and don't want to be or if you WANT to be on there and you're not, please let me know. I was trying to be careful about who I linked to and such, so just let me know. If your blog is invite-only and you're on there, it's still secure and people STILL have to have an invite from you before getting on, so you're still safe.

That's all...just wanted to say that. The end. OUCH! CONTRACTION!!!

Not holding my breath...

So, as I've thought about everything with my pregnancy, I'm really not holding my breath that my due date is earlier. I don't know where the mix-up has occured, but I am sure of my "dates" and of when things happened and have always actually believed my due date to be June 17th rather than 15th. So, I am not fully convinced of the new due date. HOWEVER, my doctor said that he doesn't think that I'm going to make it to June 3rd even, so I guess it really doesn't matter in the BIG scheme of things...it just matters mentally and emotionally to me. If you've been pregnant, you know that there is a bit of a rollercoaster at the end with emotions of being ready to be done...being apprehensive about the delivery...being apprehensive about having a baby (or in this case, a 2nd child)...being miserable at times...lots of stuff. So, the thought of it all being done sooner rather than later is glorious, but not really reality, I don't think. We'll see.

Well, it's 9:40 and I'm exhausted...I'm going to bed. Good night!

Excited???...I THINK SO!!!

So, I had a dr's appt today. Everything looked good. He said my cervix is all softened up and ready to go whenever the ball starts rolling. What's so exciting, you ask? He is now quoting my due date as...NOT June 15th...oh, no...June 3rd!!! Did you catch that?!? TWELVE days early! WOO-HOO!!! I am just so, so excited! He said that he doesn't think that I'll make it that far...in fact, I may not even make it to my appt next Tues according to him. SO, baby Conrey Graham...COME ON DOWN!

I will write about Cassie's party later, but it was great. Everything went really well...until Cassie had a huge meltdown from being overwhelmed, tired, and hot. Oh, well. It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to, right? :) More on that later.

June 3rd, HERE I COME!!!