Ed/Bump Update - Week 17

Hey all, quick updates this week because I'm not near a computer and I find writing on an iPad or iPhone enraging. 

I'm in Colorado visiting my sister, brother in law and absolutely wonderful new niece, Emilia Mae! 

I'll give more details later but I can say with absolute certainty that she is a sweetie pie. I held her for the first time today and I didn't break her or make her cry so, I felt like a real champion! Ck and Joe are amazing parents and are just so good with her. I've been taking pictures like crazy so expect a couple cute shots in later posts. 

Ed is ok. He's been moved from Stanford Hospital back to rehab. We're still working out this new weirdness that we're living in, waiting for things to change. Ed is holding up the best he can. He appreciates all the jokes and love sent his way, it does help a great deal.

Ok now for a quick bump update:

Wearing one of ck's maternity dresses!

How far along? 17 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? An onion

Sleep: Once again a rarity that is not enjoyable even when it does happen.

Best moment this week: Holding Emilia! Was just such a comforting experience. A teeny, tiny, warm, burrito of cuteness.

Movement: Nothing yet, but I am spending more time feeling around for him/her in there. 

Symptoms: I'm a complete dragon lady. Joe gave me the diagnosis and I'm in complete agreement. Mom said I could control my emotions but, I truly cannot. I'm a fire breathing, weepy dragon lady thanks to my dragon egg. So my sincere apologies to everyone who crosses my path. I'm aware of it and totally helpless to stop it. 

Food cravings/aversions: I was really into sweets, cheesecake and hot chocolate and ice cream. But I'm coming back around to food sounding pretty bad in general, unfortunately. Hopefully it's just the emotions and when they calm along with the stress, I'll enjoy eating again.

Gender: tbd

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Being relatively level headed. Being in a rage spiral or having unexpected cases of the sads is exhausting.

What I am looking forward to: My next OB visit. We get to see the baby again and maybe find out the gender. I just can't wait to see the little alien. 

Funny moment of the week: Holding Emilia. She was passed out but had a big full body sleep jerk. It scared her and me equally. I think we both jumped a foot :)

Labor Signs: Ha.

Weekly Wisdom: Be forgiving and cut some slack for people going through things - babies, illness, or just a plain ole bad day. If you're friends with me on Facebook I recommend that article on the 'comfort in, dump out' theory of communicating with people in times of crisis. ( http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/07/opinion/la-oe-0407-silk-ring-theory-20130407 )

Milestones: Becoming an aunt to a wonderful, healthy, strong niece that I cannot get enough of. I love imagining her and my baby growing up together all goofy and brilliant. :)

Ed/Bump Update Week 16

Whoops, sorry for the delay. I had most of this written and then forgot to post it. Yesterday kind of got away from me...

So, not great news this week. Ed had another set back and is back at Stanford Hospital receiving IVIG treatments. We still don't know why he has these waxing and waning symptoms, and the doctors don't seem to have a great idea either. All he can do as the patient is get through the treatments and hope that one of these times they stick. They may set up a schedule of treatments that gets Ed through so he can recover. There's a lot of speculation about what is going on. Ed is doing his best to keep up good spirits about it but he's pretty frustrated as you can imagine. He's ready to be better and able again.

Symptom wise, he's lost a lot of the gains he made with the plasmapheresis and we've also lost function of both sides of his face now so his speech is a little garbled. All in the course of maybe 3 days. He's pretty skinny. One of the tie ins with GBS is an increased metabolism apparently.

The IVIG really helped his face before, unlike the plasmapheresis, so fingers crossed that comes about again.

I want to reiterate to everyone that Ed will be ok. We're in the weeds now, but the prognosis is still really good and he will come around. He will walk, climb stairs, regain his facial expressions... That's what all the Dr's say, all the websites, and all the papers... Right now it's just about having faith in his body, the treatments, and waiting out this roller coaster ride. Please keep reaching out and remember, you don't have to talk about his health, just hearing about what you are up to helps to take his mind off things. Being back in the hospital is no fun and he doesn't have physical therapy to break up the day. So if you have a moment during your day and, a random thought pops into your head, reach out to him. :)

On my end, I'm holding up ok aside from a killer cold that crept in right as my mom left to see my sister on Monday. Nothing dire, normal cold stuff (nose, head, throat) and low grade fever, just supremely inconvenient and uncomfortable as you can imagine. I'm glad my favorite shows are finally starting up. I've been needing some laughter and distraction in TV and good music - thank goodness for Spotify.

My 16 week appt at the Dr's went well. Baby's heartbeat is strong and I'm on the right track. Still have homework to eat more and try to get and stay well, but truly, all is ok. All is good in babyland. I'll try to get a picture inserted here later, but odds are I won't have a good one until I go visit Ck in CO this weekend and she or mom can snap one. I'm pretty excited for my niece to get here so I can start teaching her to sing asap :)

I'm longing desperately for the holidays. Maybe it's all the pumpkin-food talk or just missing friends and family, but I just wish it were holiday season.

Now for the bump update figures....

How far along? 16 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? An avocado

Sleep: Amazingly, it's the one thing that soothes my occasional back pain so I'm getting as much of this as I can.

Best moment this week: Bustin' out the maternity jeans I bought and having the Dr. say that I gained a little weight. Finally!

Movement: Still too tiny. 

Symptoms: Back pain right around my hips.

Food cravings/aversions: Apparently, for the first time ever in my life, stress makes me not want to eat. So my aversion? All food - when I'm stressed out. Of course I'm still eating, Dr's orders, but boy is it hard when nothing sounds good. 

Gender: tbd

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Beer I suppose! And wine. The other night was filet mignon for dinner - cooked 'well' which breaks my heart (normally I like it mooing). Had that with a nice glass of orange juice. Travesty.

What I am looking forward to: Looking pregnant. Right now I just feel silly telling people I'm expecting and they immediately look at my 'beer belly.'

Funny moment of the week: Mom going to BuyBuyBaby with me and after walking around for a moment, deciding she could just leave the job of picking things out to Carolyne. I completely agree. Ck you have your marching orders :)

Labor Signs: Ha.

Weekly Wisdom: Be grateful for what you have because it can all change so quickly. And when they do, try to just roll with the change. No expectations, just be present. 

Milestones: Breaking in the maternity jeans and stepping into a Buy Buy Baby for the first time. Talk about overwhelming and a reality check. 700 dollar strollers? No thank you, I'm not insane. I miss my doing my wedding registry, when it was a question of what pan makes the crispiest loaf of bread - not car seats, you know, things that directly decide the life or death of a tiny human.

Ed/Bump Update - Week 15

It was an exciting week! Mom flew in again and is here supporting the troop. Ed was moved up to Stanford for a second opinion. He's feeling so much stronger and looking happier, fidgeting around as much as he can. This last round of treatments have had a big impact. We're really looking forward to the next steps: moving back to rehab for a few weeks and then moving him back to home and continuing on the path to recovery. Please keep reaching out to him, it really helps keep him connected to life outside of the hospital. The best thing this week? Ed stood up! Without assistance or holding on to a walker or wheelchair! So wonderful. It's the first time he's stood on his own since August 7th. This process is slow, but it is thrilling when we get to those milestone moments. 

Now for a bump update!

How far along? 15 Weeks

How Big Is Baby? A navel orange

Sleep: Crazy. Crazy. Dreams. Living in the Great Depression. Plagues. Being in high school again. Aliens. Winter in Russia. Though I did have one featuring Alexander Skarsgard that is welcome to return!

Best moment this week: Mom coming in for a second visit :) 

Movement: Still too tiny. 

Symptoms: Increased hunger and fatigue. Everything else seems about normal.

Food cravings/aversions: Still feelin' the orange situation. Aversions? Chinese food... namely stir fry. Everytime I hear the word it makes me a little queasy. 

Gender: tbd

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Sushi. Namely saba. I could really go for about 20 pieces of that right now.

What I am looking forward to: Feeling the baby and starting to look like a pregnant lady. I'm ready for that belly!

Funny moment of the week: Mom and I were riding in the elevator in Stanford's hospital and I noticed the permit had one section circled in red. It read: "Expiration Date: 4/15/12" or something close. I laughed and told mom. Immediately, the elevator started to shake violently. We stopped laughing and haven't taken the elevator there since. Best not to tempt fate. 

Labor Signs: Ha.

Weekly Wisdom: Once again, try to release expectation. Things will happen as they are meant to happen, worrying about it doesn't help anything.

Milestones: Ed standing :) That is enormous. Also, while I do not look or feel pregnant, I can no longer wear my 'skinny Carly' jeans without the assistance of a rubber band. :)

And now for some pictures of mom's visit so y'all can be envious of her new retired life. (Some of these are from her previous visit that I've just recently yoinked from her phone):

Sad pregnant lady sitting out the fun at the beer garden.

Mom 'enjoying' our brisk salt water pool

A little preview of how I'm styling the nursery.... Swedish explosion! (EDIT: This is not the nursery, this is the Ikea display room with a crib in it that inspired my nursery)

What is a trip to Ikea without some meatballs!

Visiting Half Moon Bay. Had to get mom some beach time!

Notice all the fog rolling in... really took over!

Fog dancer :)

Celebrating the first official day of Mom's retired life! Champagne was absolutely necessary.

Visiting Ed at Stanford, playing in the trees!

Ed/Bump Update - Week 14

Ed is doing better. The new treatment seems to be having a bigger, positive impact on his strength. The other symptoms are in a holding pattern. He has been moved out of the ICU which is fantastic, and is now in a regular room. Hopefully, he won't be in that room for long and he'll be on his way back to the rehab facility. I was telling my mom today, it's so frustrating because unlike so many other issues that require rehab, Ed truly cannot "work" through it. It's not a matter of his determination or will or strength - it's just time. You see so many people go to rehab and through 'hard work' they get better or get released quicker. In our case, 'hard work' would probably have the reverse outcome. Ed just needs the support to make it through these long, waiting days. He will get better, he will regain a normal, productive life, just not on a schedule of his choosing. All of us that know him, know how much he likes to give things his all, so I ask you to just keep cheering for him as he waits this out. Texts, emails, phone calls, visits... it all helps so much. :)

(I'll try to add a picture when I'm with someone with a camera, but I'm not looking much different)

How far along? 14 Weeks - hellllloooo second trimester!

How Big Is Baby? Lemon

Sleep: I cannot get enough of this. I'm suddenly beset by unending fatigue.

Best moment this week: Celebrating our anniversary! Time has just flown by... I can't believe it. A year ago we were on our way to Palm Island for our honeymoon. 

Movement: Too, too early. 

Symptoms: Along with the new bout of fatigue, my dizziness is back. It makes me want to lay down all the time, so that coupled with the fatigue, equals a very lazy Carly.

Food cravings/aversions: Cravings - oranges. I plowed through a big bottle of juice and followed it up with three whole oranges. I'm an animal for oranges! No real aversions currently. 

Gender: tbd

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Red wine. Dad and Debbie were just here and every time they poured a glass I looked at it longingly. I'd love to go tour wine country right about now!

What I am looking forward to: This continuing resurgence of my appetite, with it hopefully expanding to things other than oranges.

Funny moment of the week: This may sound terrible, but when Ed was in the ICU we kept hearing them announce "Code: Brain Attack!" Without looking it up, we decided it was more light hearted to imagine these cartoon-y brains invading the suite, stomping around to attack people at ankle height. 

Labor Signs: Ha.

Weekly Wisdom: Try not to have too many expectations, it just leads to a lot of unnecessary worry. Re - when Ed will get out, lack of weight gain/whether I'm eating enough, what the future holds.

Milestones: Our anniversary, Ed moving out of the ICU, the second trimester? It's been a big week apparently!

Anniversary

Wait, where did that last year go?! Thank you to everyone who came and made it such a beautiful day one year ago. For the many of you who helped with set-up and tear-down, you know it's the truth when I say it would not have been possible without you!

I've never felt happier, healthier and more loved than I do with Ed. I'm very, very lucky. The wedding was nice and all, but waking up everyday, married to you, is far more wonderful. :)

Happy Anniversary Edward!