13 weeks, 2 days, first doctor visit

Monday was my first doctor's visit with baby #3. I applied for pregnancy Medicaid (a joy of living off student loans - primarily) and was accepted, received all my welcome pamphlets and paperwork and was assigned a primary care physician and an OB, but I still had not received my card. I waited and waited and waited and still...no card. I had been waiting to schedule my appt because I can't afford to pay the office visit by myself and I needed my proof of insurance for the doctor to bill it to Medicaid. Finally I couldn't wait any longer. I had been having nightmares of miscarriages and twins and all sorts of crazy things. I needed to hear that heartbeat just to confirm that everything was okay. I went ahead and scheduled my appt hoping I'd get my card in time, and if not, well, I'd just eat it and hope Medicaid would reimburse me. It seems like when I had Jackson my office visits ran around $60-70 each. Nope. $165 for the office visit. OUCH. First visits at my clinic are always with a nurse practitioner and since I was so far along, there was lots to do. I had to have my girly exam first because I hadn't had one since after I had Sam. (I hadn't had insurance.) Then she checked for a heartbeat. After a few scary minutes she found baby, very low, almost behind my pelvic bone. That sound just made me melt. I couldn't help but break into a cheesy smile, and I almost cried. I hadn't realized how anxious I had let myself get. That is so silly because I had been feeling great and Ben had been keeping an eye on me, too, and I should have known everything would be alright. I guess that one miscarriage I had before Jackson always gives me a little panic attack. After a long visit with the nurse practitioner, she sent me to get bloodwork. This clinic does their own lab work, so I just walked down the hall. As I entered the lab and sat down in the designated blood drawing seat, the lab tech asked me, "How would you like to pay?" gulp. huh? "I thought I already did pay, up front." "No," she said, with a grimace, "this is separate. It'll be $240.00" Oh Crap. So what did I do? Shelled out my cc, got the blood drawn, and began my drive home, dreading how I was going to tell Ben what I had just done. Needless to say, he was.not.thrilled. Today's naptime agenda has me calling Medicaid to find out why they are showing that I am not active until May!? And pleading for them to backdate my active status so that somehow I can be reimbursed for the $400.00 I shelled out. I'm trying to look at the bright side: no more nightmares, and I have a confirmation that baby is fine, and so am I.

12 weeks, 2 days

11 weeks, 2 days (This picture was last week.)

I haven't been to the doctor yet. My first appt is on Monday. Those first few appts are uneventful anyway, and I HAVE an OB/GYN trained doctor in my household if I need one, although I am a little anxious to hear the heartbeat and just confirm that everything is fine.

So far I have just been really, really tired. I had some very bad nausea at the beginning, but I started taking my prenatals at night and problem solved. Right now my biggest concern is that I have gained TEN LBS since finding out I was pregnant 7 weeks ago. I always tend to gain more than I should in the beginning, but that still seems like a lot to me. I started exercising at home on my new elliptical at least three times a week for 30 minutes (I normally quit working out during pregnancy because I am just too tired and can't get motivated since I don't see results.), and that seems to have slowed down the weight gain, but it is still rising at a rapid rate.

Maybe I'm just paranoid because I'm overly concerned about gaining after having JUST lost all the weight from Sam? It seems like my belly is measuring a lot bigger than it should at this point tho. I started wearing maternity jeans this week. You could practically hear my jeans squealing in protest every time I squeexed myslef into them. It was becoming painful and I am just not a fan of the open top button/belly band thing. It feels slobbish to me. So it is either stretchy pants or maternity clothes.

Today I took the boys to a doctor appt. As I passed the doctor on the way to the second waiting area, he commented to my husband that he noticed I was pregnant again. Really? He can tell just in passing that I am big enough to be pregnant. Cuz people don't usually say anything unless they are pretty confident. Now I am a little more anxious to get the doctor to make sure I am not measuring too big for this age and if Iam, WHY? No twins, no twins, no twins...how could that even happen anyway? We have no twins in either of our families - the chances are slim to none. But it HAS been on my mind, on others' lips and in my dreams a lot lately. Sigh - well, come what may and love it, right? And I would, of course. Silver lining of twins? I'd get BOTH the names I like (well, if boy/girl). ;)

Samson Jay, 22 months

Samson trying his first Hot Tamale candy. The spiciness didn't even phase him. It was CANDY!

One of my favorite things to do is go back and read my blog to remind me what things my kids said and did at certain ages. It especially helped me to look back at Jackson posts when Sam was about that age so I could see what things I needed to work on with Sam. Sometimes I feel like poor Sam gets a little neglected. Jackson got a year of undivided attention from me before I started the preschool, and Sam never got that. I started working again when school started when he was three months old. Even breastfeeding shortly went by the wayside once other kids came into play. I can't tell you how excited I am to shortly have an abudance of time to just BE with my own kiddos! Sometimes after a long day with everyone else's kids, I have very little left for my own kids. I prepare a healthy dinner, bathe them and get them in bed at a proper time, but that is about all I can handle! This makes me sad because they are the reason I started an in-home preschool -so I could be with them and take care of them and teach them myself, but I have just spread myself too thin this last year and I know my family has suffered for it. Ben, too. Anyway, major source of guilt for me, but let's not dwell on that, shall we? ;) So...this post is to document some of the funny phrases and things Sam does so that when Ally (I am convinced baby Blake #3 is a girl) hits this age, I can compare. Funny Things He Says

• "Ah yoo okay?" (Are you okay?)


• "Mmmm...like it!" (when trying something yummy)


• "Wuv yoo!" (randomly, but a lot of times when he WANTS something, like to sit with me)


• "Mama, I unna te-yoo sumting!" (and then random babbling afterwards, this is repeated as many times as he chooses or until I go crazy, lol).


• "Mama, whattawe havin' today?" (at snacktime, dinnertime, etc.)


• "I no-no" (complete with a cute shoulder shrug -If you ask him where somthing is, i.e. his sippy cup)


• "___ is hutting me!" (diaper rash, a scrape,a smashed finger...)


• "I ate AWMYDINNA!" (which may or may not be true, and may or not be dinner, but he likes to get excited about it either way.)

Funny Things He Does

• LOVES to get in his big boy bed!


• makes a scowly MAD face upon demand


• sings the ABC's pretty well - at least the letters kinda sound like what they should be, lol


• counts to ten


• LOVES to sing ABCs, the Popcorn Primary Song, Skidamarinkydink, and the Sunbeam song


• LOVES bubbles ("buggols") in the bathtub


• LOVES to play guns (grrr...) and falls down himself whenever HE shoots someone (not quite grasping the concept, but I'm ok with that)


• LOVES movies and will sit quietly for sometimes 30 minutes to watch (a nice treat while I'm cooking dinner)


• LOVES to swing in a big boy swing as long as someone pushes him. And he will swing high, too. He is fearless!


• He has very good fine motor skills for his age. He handles utensils and pens/crayons very well. Much better than Jackson at this age.

Not-So-Very-Fun Things He Does Sam is SO stubborn and persistent! He thinks he is just as big as Jackson and the other kids. Therefore, he wants to do everything they do, and sometimes that is dangerous for a little guy! Case-in-point: Last Saturday, Katy and I both brought our two kids to Garden Ridge to do a little shopping. Jackson and Bradley were REALLY good. They started out in my cart, while Katy pushed the babies in a double stroller. Soon, we needed the room in the cart, so we asked them to walk. As soon as Sam saw that the big kids got to get out, he wanted out, too. He proceeded to throw a level 10 screaming temper tantrum. I tried everything! I put him in time out right on the floor of the store, I swatted him twice...nada. Finally, I made room for him in the seat of my cart, and I had to pin his shoulders to the cart for 40 minutes, and the ENTIRE time we shopped he writhed around and screamed bloody muder. Finally, he decided to knock it off and he was fairly cheerful, but wore himself out and was asleep within minutes after we got back in the car. During the fit, a lady even stopped me and told me that if I put him on my shoulder, he'd probably fall right to sleep. I laughed and said, "Uh - no he won't. You don't know him." This whole incident was well before his normal naptime. Sidenote: Child expert yentas really annoy me. Why do people assume all children are the same and that they know what triggered your child to get upset!? This incident is just par for the course with Sam. His strong, independent personality can be a good and a bad thing. I just don't know where he gets it from! ;) (Actually, I think he got a dose from both sides, lol.) Also, Sam is a VERY picky eater. Most meats, fruits and veggies are a no-go with him. He will ocassionally eat grapes and he loves green beans and sometimes corn, but that is it. He will nibble at fish and chicken,but no beef. Hot dogs have just recenlty become do-able. Any type of bread is like candy to Sam, and he loves to drink anything but water. He asks me for a drink all day long. He'll drink 2 full sippy cups in minutes and ask for more, but give him water and it is temper tantrum city. How do I handle this? I refuse to give in and I refuse to make him his own special meal. I keep preparing healthy foods and putting them in front of him. When he doesn't eat them, he gets nothing else and he goes to bed hungry. When he does eat them, I go over-the-top on excitement in my voice and give him a treat for dessert. He loves fruit rolls-ups or fruit snacks, cookies, or candy, of course, but I only give them in small doses and only for a reward.