Pregnancy Notes

Long time, no post.

I did have what I considered to be a good excuse for a recanting of my consistent blogging goal. I have a special condition in which I feel the need to disclose all, and if I wrote I just might have needed to announce my pregnancy early. So, I did not blog at all. That way, I avoided any slip of the keys.

So here we are, I'm 16 weeks pregnant, and things are going well. For the first few weeks, I was tired and quite nauseated. I started taking antacid medicine b/c acid was making my throat swell and inhibiting, you know, swallowing... and you know what? It all but cured my nausea too! Who knew? So now I'm just left with tired and I can handle that through the art of occasional laziness.

Since about 7 weeks, I have been injecting heparin shots in my belly 2x a day. I must admit that I somewhat enjoy the reaction that such a statement invokes. The shots are simply precautionary b/c I have an inherited tendency to form blood clots, although, so far, so good. The shots leave bruises all over my tummy that last forever... I'm talking, like, a year after the pregnancy is over. But really, they don't hurt much at all and I don't mind them. Really. Maybe it makes me feel slightly brave since I used to be PETRIFIED of needles.

On to more fun things. I have a couple dear friends (Sarah and Lacie) who convinced me to drive with them to the Sandy mall at 14 weeks for an elective gender ultrasound. What a great day! By some miracle, Michael was able to take off work, so Lacie, Sarah, Michael, and all our kids hit the road. I walked into that appointment with a VERY very VERY full bladder (partially loaded with OJ to wake the baby). Things worked out beautifully as we could see the little 'it' clearly as it kicked, flipped, and waved. Then 'it' showed us its royal boyhood and he will never be an 'it' again! Well, that little guy is quite the trickster b/c myself, my parents, and most of my friends were duped and swore a girl was on her way. Michael wore his blue shirt as he wholeheartedly rooted for the underdog. He even won 5 dozen cookies in a few friendly gender wagers. But the minute I saw his face (if you can call it that) in the sonogram, I had a feeling a boy was joining us and it just felt right. So although I can't picture a boy (since our only boy looks very little like he belongs to us) and we're stumped on names, we are very excited to welcome Baby Boy Schaefer in mid April. Although Quincy may still be hoping the doc was wrong. :)

We finished off the exciting day with an afternoon at Jungle Jim's for the kids and we LOVED IT. The kids rode the mini-amusement park rides again and again with no lines. Quincy (my 3 year old) rode one super fast spinning ride again and again BY HERSELF. In saying that, I mean THERE WAS NO ONE ELSE ON THE ENTIRE RIDE! Where in the world can a 3 year old demand that a ride be put into motion just for her???!! It was incredibly afforable and worth every penny. Unless you are a germ-a-phobe. At that point, it might NOT be worth every penny. But hey, we wash hands and sanitize, and it's all good-ish.

We will welcome the baby in mid-April. The doc said I'd need to deliver at 38-39 weeks due to my blood clotting thing. April 21 is my actual due date. Avery and Quincy want to name him so bad! They have suggested everything from Jiggly-Puff to Kirby. Uh, they won't have any say in that process. Sorry kids.