Chaos and Cupcakes

Every year I get as excited as the kids about picking out costumes, carving pumpkins, and all the fun things about Halloween. Then, after all the festivities are over and the trick-or-treating is done, I remember that, as a parent, I dislike Halloween! Why? Because the anti-climax of Halloween is a big pile of tooth-decaying, hyperactivity-causing candy! Luckily we get away with getting rid of some of the sugar because we have rules about certain kinds of candy being banned in our home. For example, Nerds are not allowed. They are just little neon balls of horror who like to try to hide in various nooks and crannies in the house. So they get tossed. Double Bubble, gumballs, and jawbreakers are also goners. Then, of course, there are the nasty things that nobody wants to eat so they get tossed. The kids are allowed a couple of pieces of candy a day and before Thanksgiving they have already weeded out their favorites and gotten tired of the highs and lows of sugar consumption so the rest gets dumped. Wow, what wastefulness Halloween wreaks!

But I admit, I do love the excitement of the dressing up aspect of Halloween. The boys aren’t as much fun for me because they always want to be some kind of superhero type guy, be it a Transformer, a Power Ranger, or a Star Wars character. But Olivia is fun. Her first two Halloweens she had 2 costumes to choose from. Her first Halloween she was a princess at some parties and Tinker Bell at others. Last year we bought a Care Bear costume but then saw a Tiger Lily costume and fell in love with it. Oh, it was darling! This year we decided on a witch. She loved her costume and kept prancing around saying, “I am so scary!” She kept twirling around and flipping the tulle of her tutu all over the place. I kept trying to smooth it out for her but then she would take armfuls of it and spin around again so I gave up. I also learned that tulle and velvet are quite attracted to each other as the pieces of tulle liked to stick to her leotard. She looked absolutely adorable.

Sawyer’s costume was very fitting for him as he is quite obsessed with dogs (actually with all animals). He went crazy over his doggy costume and kept kissing himself in the mirror and saying, “Woof.” He looked so cute in it.

So that part of Halloween was fun! Now we just have to keep the sugar consumption in check for the next few days until the novelty wears off. Olivia asked tonight if they were going trick-or-treating again tomorrow. I was quite happy to tell her that it would be 365 days until the next trick-or-treating.

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I had a doctor’s appointment today and there has been no cervical change since last week!  So we’re holding steady right now and the bedrest and Procardia are doing their jobs.  Had a brief scare but all is well.  My belly measured the same last week as it had the week before.  No big deal.  But this week it measured less than either of those weeks.  So the doctor was thinking we need to check the amniotic fluid level.  Then when he listened to the baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler, the placenta was not “whooshing” in the background like it is supposed to.  So he said we need to do an ultrasound right now.  He was worried that the placenta had stopped functioning and so the baby wasn’t growing and that was the reason for the measurements decreasing.  So we moved to the ultrasound room.  The placenta is fine and isn’t even low-lying anymore, the baby is actually measuring 5 days ahead and is estimated to be around 3 1/2 pounds right now at 30 weeks which is awesome, and there is plenty of fluid.  He has moved from being breech to now having his head very low (this would be the reason why on Saturday Jared said I was doing the pregnant woman waddle- yes, because there is a big ole noggin in my pelvis, Jared).  So now (unless the baby pulls a Sawyer and flips at the last minute) we don’t have to worry about my water breaking with me being dilated and the baby being breech and having a cord prolapse.  One less thing to stress about.

I’m feeling very positive about things now.  Fetal fibronectin results are good for two weeks so tomorrow my positive result “expires.”  We made it!  I am thinking now this baby is going to make it to 36 weeks!  I really want to get past Olivia’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and my parents being out of town before Parker comes so that I can concentrate on Parker and not be worried and stressed about who can watch the kids or missing out on family events.

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In the afterword to his book Empire, Orson Scott Card writes:

But any rational observer has to see that the Left and Right in America are screaming the most vile accusations at each other all the time. We are fully polarized- if you accept one idea that sounds like it belongs to either the blue or the red, you are assumed- nay, required- to espouse the entire rest of the package, even though there is no reason why supporting the war against terrorism should imply you’re in favor of banning all abortions and against restricting the availability of firearms; no reason why being in favor of keeping government-imposed limits on the free market should imply you also are in favor of giving legal status to homosexual couples and against building nuclear reactors. These issues are not remotely related, and yet if you hold any of one group’s views, you are hated by the other group as if you believed them all; and if you hold most of one group’s views, but not all, you are treated as if you were a traitor for deviating even slightly from the party line.

Amen, Orson.

I went to the doctor’s for my check-up today. We were there for quite a while. After the doctor checked me, he put his head in his hands and sat there jiggling his feet for like 5 minutes. This obviously freaked me out but I was too scared to interrupt his thinking. Then finally he said that we had two options. The first, his preferred choice, was to put me right into the hospital and hook me up to a tocolytic pump. The second option was to allow me to stay at home on bedrest if I come in every other day for an NST (non-stress test) and a cervical check. With this option, I have to take procardia every 4 hours for the contractions. He really wants me in the hospital as my cervix has changed since he checked me last week. I begged and cried and said I don’t want to be in the hospital and promised I would stay in bed (I have been doing really well following these orders!). So for now, I am at home. If my cervix continues to change, I will be put right into the hospital and will be put on magnesium sulfate until 32 weeks. I am also going to get another round of steroids at 31 weeks. Jared is freaked out and thinks I should just let them admit me now to be safe. Last week the doctor’s goal was to get me to 34 weeks. The goal changed today to get to 32 weeks. Apparently the combination of the positive fetal fibronectin along with cervical change does not bode well for us. But the doctor thinks that with 2 rounds of steroids on board (4 total shots of them), that with a 32 weeker we would be looking at just a few weeks in the NICU. Andrew was in the NICU for 6 weeks after being born at 33 weeks, but we didn’t have time to get any steroids into him beforehand.

At Jared’s request, I am packing my hospital bag tonight. He said we have had too many hospital stays/births with no bag packed and that this time we are at least going to be prepared.

Want to know something interesting? Vaccines don’t protect you 100%! Although all of our kids have been vaccinated for the chicken pox, Cameron has it. Yuck! Luckily, because he has been vaccinated it should be just a mild case. It hasn’t spread to the other kids yet and we are hoping it won’t. He just has them on his bum and on his thighs with a couple of rogue pox around his ankles. He is being such a trooper! Scratching a bit but not complaining at all. Poor kiddo!

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I had another fetal fibronectin test done at my doctor’s appointment on Tuesday then last night got a call from the doctor’s office. They said the test came back positive. The test results are either negative meaning that you are unlikely to go into labor in the next two weeks, or positive meaning that you are likely to go into labor in the next two weeks. The doctor said to go right to the hospital to get the first steroid shot, then to go back the next night (tonight) for the second shot, and to come in to see him on Monday for another cervical check. I was pretty upset at first but after talking to the doctor last night at the hospital, felt a bit better. He said that when the fFN comes back positive, he knows to watch more carefully and be more aggressive in treating me. He said that only 30% of those whose tests come back positive are unable to have their labor stopped. So I am only allowed to get out of bed for the bathroom and now have both shots on board.

I was not able to sleep AT ALL last night! Not a wink. Also couldn’t sleep at all today. I asked the nurse tonight if that was normal after the steroids and she said yes. I remember from getting them with Sawyer that they made me jittery, but this was so much worse. They made me restless, cranky, and nauseous. I hope this second dose won’t be as bad.

A big thank you goes out to Spencer for watching the kids on Wednesday night and to my Mom for watching the kids tonight so that Jared could take me to the hospital without us having to drag our gaggle of kids along with us.

We have decided to change the name we have picked out for the baby from Matthew Parker to Parker Forrest. Jared’s grandfather, Forrest Wayne Dayhoff, passed away last January and we thought this would be a nice way to honor and remember him.

Taylor is the first grade’s Star Student for the month of October. He ate lunch with the principal today and came home with a huge gift bag. It has gift certificates in it for free kid’s meals at Mimi’s, Chili’s, Fuddrucker’s, Winger’s, PF Chang’s, IHOP, Dairy Queen, and about 15 other places. It also has free passes for bowling and for the new bounce house place, a toothbrush and toothpaste, chapstick, a Star Student pin, a bumper sticker for the proud parents, a star pen, and a bunch of other goodies. I asked Taylor what his favorite part of being the Star Student was and he had many favorite parts: eating lunch in the movie room, eating the provided chicken, fries, chips, cookies, and tiki lemonade, and getting his picture taken. I’m so proud of him! He’s such an awesome kid!

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Part of Andrew’s homework today was coming up with some AB patterns. After Jared and I did that with him, Taylor said to us, “I’ve got a pattern for you.” He then proceeded to spout off some iambic pentameter. Jared and I just looked at each other kind of dumbfounded. We know the kid is really smart, but iambic pentameter coming from a 6 year old? I asked Taylor if they were doing a poetry unit at school. Nope. I’ll just chalk it up to all that reading Shakespeare to him in utero.

His teacher is going to have him work on some extra projects and reports at school to quell his boredom. He finishes his work well ahead of the other kids and isn’t being challenged. He already goes to the 2nd grade for math and reading, but is ahead of the 2nd graders as well. We talked to his school about skipping grades but that’s not really done anymore because it caused social problems (think Doogie Howser).

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Olivia was drawing on her Magna Doodle. She kept erasing her drawings and starting over, saying, “This isn’t perfect!” I said to her, “Are you perfect?” She answered, “Yes, and I am beautiful.” Good to know she’s not lacking self-esteem.

Jared was flipping channels on t.v. tonight with the boys. When he went past ESPN, Taylor said, “Let’s watch SportsCenter!” I had flashbacks to growing up with brothers who dominated the remote control. And to think- it is just me and Olivia in this house full of boys. I see lots of mother/daughter shopping and spa days in our future. Lots.

Now all the boys are ensconced in front of the family room t.v. watching the Rockies baseball game. They want the Rockies to win so that they will go on to get stomped by the Red Sox. Colin has totally brainwashed my sons.