This one's a BEAST!

From the first time I started asking mom questions about what was happening to my body after we found out I was pregnant, she started encouraging me to keep a journal of what goes on, and if it's a problem, how I took care of it. For example - the morning sickness awesomeness - stages and stories of, and solutions that helped with or at least made me feel like they were helping. So finally wrote down all that I could remember at the beginning of November. It ended up being a sort of time line of the whole pregnancy, good and bad I guess. It looks like I even wrote a little about politics as well, which is surprising because I don't really know probably as much as I should about our government and the people who are involved.

I haven't been the best at blogging what has been going on - looking over the last few posts it's mostly been "taggage", which is more along the lines of spam in my opinion, even if it is fun to do once in awhile. So, I decided that I would post excerpts from the last family journal entries, and since we find out TOMORROW whether we're having a boy or a girl (or twins! ha jk) today seemed like a good day to insert the timeline UP to tomorrow. :0] Maybe then I will be better at talking about our LIVES, which seems to be the best thing to hear about from all of you so... Ok now the babbling will end. :0]

Just a note: we started this family journal over a year ago but currently have only 10 pages filled. We're getting better now especially since mom talked me into keeping journal of the pregnancy, but that will explain the first quoted sentence.

"Nov 6, 2008
Ok, so we obviously didn't do too well with the gratitude journal.

3 things I'm grateful for today:
1. Agency
2. our future baby (due May 1, 2009!)
3. bean and cheese burritos. (note: the bean and cheese burritos were my staple for a couple of weeks during this time. seriously, it was all I could stomach, often times even with the aid of the nausea medicine.)

This IS the month of Thanksgiving, so perhaps I will try EXTRA hard to remember to write "thanks" more than just this once. Election day was a couple of days ago - neither Trent or I voted - we forgot to sign up for absentee ballots - anyway and senator Barac? Obama will become the first African American President of the United States on Jan 20, 2009 I guess. It's weird to think this little baby inside me will be almost 4 by the time he's served his first term. Makes it seem like an eternity! I'm sure it will go by more quickly than I want though. I just can't imagine ME being a mom, let along having a 4 year old and by that time probably a 2 yr old and a new baby! Maybe even more - you never know :0)

Anyway. I don't really know too much about Obama except that 1. He crushed Senator McCain w/electoral votes & 2. He wants to make the rich pay more so the middle and poor classes don't have to. What does that remind you of? Without knowing much more detail, it reminds me of 2 things - Robin Hood and a Zion society. The difference is huge (intent/desire of those giving up their $) but I guess it's SIMILAR. I don't know. ... .

So that's my political banter. I'm not really too kept up on the Political world - but I DO know that everything will turn out ok. The world in general is INSANELY wicked and topsy-turvey ... it's SO HARD to always stay focused on what really matters. I think (HOPE!) that having this baby - and becoming parents, will help us to remember more often what is the MOST important in our lives.

So my purpose in even picking up a journal to write in was to try and record my morning sickness-ness ... mom keeps encouraging me to - and since I've been literally doing NOTHING this past month - almost 2 months - I really don't have an excuse not to.

I'll try to include dates as well:
July 19th - first day of my last period before I conceived.
July 23rd - My birth control (IUD) was removed. THis means I can get pregnant ANY DAY now.
August 17th - Positive Pregnancy test (peed on a stick)
August 20th - confirmation of pregnancy through a lab test @ doctor
End of August - beginning to feel weak and nauseous, but not throwing up
Begin September, especially into the 2nd week - I am throwing up and feeling sick ALL the time. I probably threw up 2-3 times on AVERAGE a day. Sometimes it was much more. I tried "eating crackers before I got out of bed in the morning" but I would still throw up. One day I couldn't even keep water down and I was having a panic attack. I called my nurse and she suggested I go to the ER and get IV hydration. I called my mom and she said ask the nurse if I can go to urgent care. Trent took me to urgent care and they gave me IV hydration with some morning sickness medicine in it which took over 3 hours. I felt a billion times better, but started feeling sick again not too much after we left the student Health center. The doctor at urgent care gave me 3 pills to try.

1. First try vit. B6 supplement. If that doesn't help,
2. Try sleeping pills every 6 hours. Then, if those don't take the edge off,
3. She gave me a prescription.
The B6 didn't work. The sleeping pills worked for about 2 days, then stopped working. The prescription worked for about 2 days as well.

In the meantime (while I tried her 3 suggestions) I had my first OB/GYN appt. with Dr. Jae Baxter. His nurses gave me a different prescription (which worked for ALMOST a week, then stopped.)

September 16, 2008 - my first Baby doctor visit. They took an ultra sound to see how far along we were and determined we are due May 1. (Note: the ultrasound picture will be included in the journal entry of the actual journal once we're getting closer to packing up the living room, so I thought I should include it here. Plus it's so cute! The head is pointing down and to the left)


Ondansetron/Zulfran = a prescription that actually works! I went on a trip with Dad and was able to have a fairly normal time. I only threw up maybe 3 times, and I was gone for 2 weeks. Awesome! The only thing I don't like about THESE pills are they make me intensely hungry CONSTANTLY. But I would much rather HAVE to eat than not be able to keep anything down.

October 14, 2008 - 2nd baby doctor visit, nothing new/noteworthy. I ran out of pills on a Thursday (oct 16) and couldn't get them until the following Monday - Oct. 20th, and ever since then my system has been so crazy. I now only take a pill when I start having a "bad day" which means I throw up more than once or twice. So far I've had probably still more bad days than good ones, but I have had a good 6 or 7 good days in the last 2 or 3 weeks. I'm almost, well tomorrow I'll either be 15 or 16 weeks along, I don't remember. I think it'll be 15. Anyway so that means I'm officially in my 2nd trimester, and I'm HOPING the morning sickness goes AWAY soon. We'll see.

My hand is killing me - I'll give it a break and ponder about if I've left anything of consequence out.

Ok. I'm "showing" a little bit, but I was pretty chunky when we got pregnant, so it just looks like I'm getting more fat. I definitely don't fit in my regular pants/skirt, so I purchased a pair of maternity jeans (amazing!) But no shirts yet. Grandma Meibos actually bought some jeans for me, but they were a little too small in the bum -AND too short. Also, they have the thick, shorter elastic waist that is supposed to support the weight of the baby, but I hate it because it puts pressure on my already sensitive stomach. My regular jeans are just as uncomfortable (equally uncomfortable rather) as that supportive waistband.

The pants I bought, and LOVE, are just as comfy as a super comfy pair of sweats. The elastic is thinner and it goes all the way almost to my bra. There is absolutely NO pressure on my belly AND when I do start poking out more, my skin/garments will always be covered if my shirt flips up w/out me knowing because the elastic waistband is SO BIG, but thin. I LOVE them! They really are more comfortable than sweats, they don't feel like I'm wearing ANYTHING, but that I am. Awesome.

Baby Little #1 - we are SO excited to meet you! In another month and 1/2 we will find out if you will be a boy or a girl. Then we can start spoiling you like crazy with lots of outfits and blankets etc. We hope you are comfortable in momma's tummy - and hope and pray that you are growing in a strong and healthy way!

All your family (aunts, uncles, g'mas and g'pas) are SO excited to meet you as well. You are lucky to have such loving extended family.

We love you! Be safe and le me know if you need anything.
:0]
Love, mom and dad
jami and trenton :0] (it was too strange to call ourselves mom and dad so I had to make sure I knew that's who I was talking about, so the names were more for my sanity than anything)

PS we've both dream t about you. In my dream, you were a cute little girl. Trent doesn't ever remember much more than that you were born. Both are good! We'll see what you ARE!"


"Dec 1, 2008

So Trenton and I now have a storage unit and we've even started moving stuff in it. We still have SO MUCH stuff though. It's really overwhelming. I'm still not feeling even 75% good, so it's extra hard for me to actually spend quality time packing and storing.

We get to find out the gender of our baby on Thursday, Dec. 4 and we are way too excited! If it's a girl, I'm rooting for Brooklin Naomi Little, and if it's a boy, I'm not sure what to root for! There are a lot of names that I think are super cute, however I don't yet LOVE any of the names I've thought of - AND I can't really imagine my little male toddler with a name in particular. But it'll be OK if it is a boy because we are only just 4 days into the 5th month so we have more than half of the 9 months to go. Plenty of time to come up with the perfect name for our little boy (if it is a boy). :0) One thing I do want to try and talk Trenton into is using 2 middle names for our boys. The hard thing will be coming up with the names, but it's something my mom really thinks is a neat thing and I know my brothers have really enjoyed having their 2 middle names.

Baby update! -->and kind of the purpose for me getting the journal out to begin with-->

I felt the baby kick for the first time! I've felt him kick 3 or 4 times now, and I'm excited for more! I think Trenton felt a kick too, but he's not sure. It's easier for me to feel because it really does almost feel like a little "thump" just under my belly button and usually a little to the right. It almost felt like a heart beat the very first time I felt it, but it was definitely not just a heart beat! It wouldn't have been the baby's heart - and I don't really feel my heart beat without my heart racing or my hand on a pulse - especially not just ONE beat then that's it.

Anyway - SOOO exciting!

Ok, the rest of the journal entry is not about baby, so if you were hoping to read more about baby, you can stop now. If you want to hear about Jami's thoughts on her education, do continue.

I'm having some personal drama with school and I've tried emailing my professor but he hasn't written me back. I wrote him about 2 weeks ago...no response.

I should just go in during his office hours- but right now that's really not that convenient. My body needs to stay in bed at LEAST until 10, otherwise I'm guaranteed a crappy day. I got out of bed at 6:45 this morning to go to the bathroom - took a small drink of WATER because my mouth and neck were super dry, and then I threw up the water and everything that was chillin in my stomach and all the digestive juices besides that AND still was dry heaving but there wasn't anything else left to get out... all because I got out of bed too early. It's tricky because if i have to et up at like 5:30 (super early in other words) to go to the bathroom, I'm just fine as long as I go right back to bed. But if it's a time when a normal person would get up my 60% of the time rejects that choice.

And his office hours are M & W 11-11:50. Plus, Trenton drives himself to school now that I'm unable to get up in the morning early enough to take him, so even if I could get myself up and READY by 11 or 11:30, I don't really have the option of just popping over to his office.

Too bad he's a silly adviser and chooses not to reply to my email. Hopefully he's not really that neglectful and hopefully the problem is he just didn't GET the email. BUT that would mean he hasn't made an effort to contact me to see why I haven't came in to see him to talk about my paper or een to pick up my first couple papers.

BIG SIGH

I wish it was acceptable for me to choose not to finish my degree RIGHT NOW. I don't know how easy it would be to finish this class in like 2 or 3 years, like if BYU would let me do that or not, but that's what I really want to do. I have two classes I'll be doing through Independent Study while we're in WA, so I'll still be progressing toward my degree, it just won't be as a full time day continuing student.

After we're back in Utah - 490 will be the only beast left to tackle.

UNLESS my professor will either allow me to take an I (incomplete) for at most a year to allow time to finish OR gives me a passing grade for a paper that won't really relate fully to the topic. Honestly I hope the latter happens. Until I can go in to talk to him or until he responds to my Q's I wrote via email, I will mold 1 or 2 old papers from other history classes into a "fake 490" paper. It's not breaking any - what are those called? Oh copyright laws - because it is my work. The Problem is that the paper - possibly papers - that I'm molding don't go super well with the theme of "church and state". I guess I'll just have to MAKE it work.

College will be tricky for me to talk to my kids about. It's something that I know is important and is definitely (for a woman) a good insurance plan, but I also don't feel like it's for everyone. I don't want to tell them GO TO COLLEGE or else, kind of like my parents did, but I do want them to understand it is important and a very good thing. At the same time helping them to understand (if they're not enthused about University) that there are other options. Vocation school for example - .

BUT, I don't want to hold our boys to a higher standard, but I do want them to realize a degree is not something they can do without. Trenton will definitely be a good example of why it's good to get a degree, and as a man he will be a good example of providing for our family.

CHORES. When we give chores to our kids, I need to make sure I do it with them. I will probably be doing a lot they don't necessarily notice or realize, but I think it'll be important for them to see me doing house work as well - and definitely WITH THEM as they do their chores.

AND - I want to be good at making sure they actually do chores we ask them to. BJ and I grew up with not as strict rules / discipline as Jena and Dan, and I think it shows.

Anyway. My stomach is starting to try and tell me either feed me or run to the toilet. I can't tell the difference quite yet."

Ok, that was definitely more than I was planning on including, but I doubt very many people made it all the way through anyway. A couple side notes: I'm still feeling not super, but I have been able to go a whole week without taking a pill. I think I've only experienced throwing up due to leaving the horizontal position too early 3 at most 4 times this past week. That's not SUPER, but it's definitely a step up from multiple times a day!

Also, BJ and I were just sneaky and were good at catching mom when she was busy and therefore forgetful of prior chores/punishments that she had assigned when we asked her to go somewhere, and therefore our lack of discipline was our own fault. We were a little kaniving. Or however you say that word. Even when we were little and still received the occasional spanking, we knew mom was the disciplinarian of choice. If dad ever asked us who we wanted to give the spanking, we'd choose mom. Her hand was MUCH softer. :0]

Anyway.

Time to get ready for work! Saweeeet. And, vote for the gender if you haven't yet! Just about 24 hours until we find out!!!