Journal › Personal category

It’s been a really hard week around here. My mom came down with the flu last Friday. She’s never sick so it’s a huge blow when she does come down with something. We knew we relied on her help, we just didn’t know how much. Our friends have been great at offering to help with Emma but yesterday our plans fell apart leaving me to care for Emma alone.

I knew this was going to have an effect on my doctors appointment today. As hard as I tried to stay down, it’s really hard with a 3.5 year old. I wasn’t able to call anyone for help since my “help” kept telling me she’d be here. My help never arrived and I was kicking myself all afternoon.

When we saw the doctor today it was evident that I had become much worse. I’m basically back where I was a few weeks ago. He has doubled my Nifedipine, hoping it will help quite a bit. He also wants to see me flat on my back. We’ll reevaluate our situation again on Monday. Fingers crossed, my mom will be in better shape by this weekend.

To shake things up around here, I’ve been having nosebleeds lately. This is most likely because of the Nifedipine. If they continue my doctor is going to send me to a specialist to stop the bleeds. I’m really hoping the increase in Nifedipine will not have an effect on my nose any more than what’s currently going on.

Today was a little much for me. I’ll admit, I cried a lot. The reality of another 4 weeks of bed rest is setting in and I’m not too thrilled about it.

I understand the reasons.

I know the baby is better off where she is.

I get this. I do.

But I don’t have to like it.

A few things about today’s doctor appointment. It was confirmed, my doctor likes Doug better. But I’m grateful. After spending over an hour in the waiting room, then another fifteen minutes in the exam room, we found out my doctor had to leave for an emergency c-section. I heard him tell the nurse to reschedule all of us who were waiting.  Not really what we wanted to hear after our 45 minute drive. It wasn’t until he saw Doug walking down the hall that he decided to squeeze us in before he left.

I’m still doing well for our situation. We are officially 31 week so things are good. He’s told me at my last two appointments that it looks like we have a “big, healthy baby.” I’m thrilled about the healthy part but not too excited about the “big” part. Overall, we feel we’re officially on the downhill side of things. The best news from my appointment today, he’s pretty sure I’ll be off bed rest at week 34. That’s only 3 weeks away folks! He even said I could attend our preschool auction in early March. He did caution me though, I won’t have the strength and energy as I did 10 weeks ago. In other words, I’ll most likely be sporting a wheelchair until I get my strength back.

In other good news, my recliner arrived today. I’m now able to enjoy the rest of the family in the living room. This is most likely where I’ll try sleeping too since it’s become impossible to sleep through the night.

Again, I can’t thank you enough for all your thought and prayers. Hopefully I’ll be seeing all of you in just a few short weeks!

Today we had an interesting doctor appointment. I didn’t get horrible news but was told that things are changing. We can expect this the farther along I get. Each week that goes by is a big plus, but I’ll most likely be changing a little more for the worse each week. Still, nothing to worry about at this point. We just have to keep doing what we’re doing, I really can’t do any more than that. We are just happy we made it to week 30. Now it seems like we are on the downhill side of things.

I did get some good news. He might let me off bed rest closer to 34 weeks than 36. He knows I’m really struggling mentally and thinks it would be best for me at this point. I’m not to get my hopes up, it was a “might” but at least that’s something to hold onto for now.

More good news, my new recliner will be here next week. Sleeping has become next to impossible. The Nifedipine makes it to where I really can’t lay down anymore. Even with the medications that are suppose to help, I am still getting sick each time I try.  I really hope having the recliner will help. At this point, i’ll try just about anything.

Well, here’s to another week down. 40 more days of bed rest to go! Thank you all for you thoughts and prayers!

Pregnancy week: 30
Days on bed rest: 28
Days until I hit our 36 week goal: 42

I can do this.

For the most part, we had a good visit with our doctor yesterday. First off, we are still stable. That’s the good news. Our doctor is very relieved. But there was some confusion on my due date and how far along I really am.

I’ve been looking forward to the 30 week mark for the last few weeks. 30 weeks was our soft goal. Both Doug and I have been anticipating the 30 week mark since this journey began. Today however, my doctor said I was 28 weeks. I couldn’t believe what he was saying and I started to have an anxiety attack. Seeing my panic we went through my entire chart. He wanted to give us the  most accurate due date possible so we have realistic expectations.  We finally agreed that I was in fact farther along than 28 weeks, but not yet 30.

As of today, we are 29 weeks and 2 days. We will continue everything as we’ve been doing, including 100% bed rest. At this point it has to be ok because it’s what is working the best.

Now I lay here and wait for Sunday to come around. Just so we can hit our 30 week goal…again!

It’s been a very long time since we have posted anything around here. I guess life has taken hold and we just haven’t had time. I have been busy with both websites FrugalDay and NoThankYouPlease. Doug has been working really hard at Twitter.

Unfortunately, our journey in life has forced us to slow down. Well, mine anyway. Many of you know we are expecting a second baby girl mid-April. A few weeks ago we found out she is very eager to arrive a lot sooner than later. I’m on many medications, injections and full time bed rest to try to keep her in as long as possible. After two weeks of bad news, we were told that I am stable for now. We just have to keep doing what we’re doing. Which for me, that means absolutely nothing!

I’ve posted two older posts today from NoThankYouPlease. This will give you a better idea of what’s been happening the last couple of weeks. For now, FrugalDay is on the back burner. It’s actually a huge relief. Many might think “bed rest” would give me a lot of time to get things done but it’s been quite the opposite. It’s actually a very lonely process that is wearing on me more and more each day.

We go to the doctor every Monday for our progress report. We will be posting updates as we get them. Right now we just ask for prayers that I get to stay home for the remainder of the pregnancy and won’t have to move into the hospital anytime soon.

“Everyone gets to experience some kind of challenge or heartache during their life.” Words from Doug when I was really down. Words that were suppose to reassure me. Because the words I had heard from my doctor, just a few minutes prior, didn’t leave me feeling reassured.

I don’t know why, I just assumed that my second pregnancy would be just as normal as the first. Em was textbook, just a little early. I’ve heard of women having complications, but I never thought I would be one of them. continued ›

Today I had my monthly OB follow-up appointment. Doug was actually able to come with me to this one, and we were hoping to get in a quick unscheduled ultrasound. He just wanted to take a peak at our little girl. We have an awesome OB who doesn’t mind doing ultrasounds whenever we like. What we weren’t expecting was a necessary ultrasound that would change the course of my pregnancy. continued ›

I wish I could tell you how awesome the weather was this weekend. We didn’t even have weather like this the entire summer last year. The temperature in the Bay Area was in the high 70s to mid 80s all weekend. We really took advantage of it by getting outside as much as possible.

On Saturday, we drove up to Marin and spent the morning in Tiburon. We had a great brunch and a nice walk around the harbor. Emma loves looking at the water and wanted to hop on a boat and take it for a ride. We should have taken the ferry over from San Francisco, but we didn’t think of it until we were already in Tiburon. We drove around the peninsula and saw some gorgeous homes that we’ll never be able to afford. Emma still wanted to be outside when we got home late in the afternoon, so we went on a long ride with the tricycle she got for Christmas.

On Sunday we drove back up to Marin. This time, we spent most of our time in Mill Valley, where we hung out at the central plaza’s Depot bookstore and cafe. There, Emma talked us into getting her a red velvet cupcake. Imagine that! Note her excitement as she prepares to dig into this cupcake with cute little hearts sprinkled on top.

The town square also has a cute outdoor area where people watching is great fun. Emma even made a new friend: a big fluffy dog. We walked across the street to this unique toy store where Emma and Doug played for an hour with every toy they could find. I went next door to Baskin Robbins to get us some rainbow sherbet just to help us cool down a bit. Overall, we had a great weekend!

I can’t even begin to express our heartfelt “thank you” for all your thoughts, prayer and donations for the Johnston family. Because of you, Brandi and her family were able to have a wonderful Christmas!

Luke has had his first month of chemo and will start again next week. He is proving to be a strong little boy with a lot of fight in him. You can read about and follow Luke’s journey at Caring Bridge.