The Home Stretch

After such a long time of floundering and wondering about life's little turns, it seems like all of sudden there's not just a light at the end of the tunnel but we're close to just knocking the whole thing down! Could it be that things are finally coming together for us?
Brandon is nearing the end (next week) of completing his nursing pre-requisites. While, of course, there is still a lot to work left to actually become a nurse, at least the path has been started.
We are officially now in the third trimester for Baby #2! Now that's literally a "light at the end of the tunnel." I have some sadness that I haven't enjoyed being pregnant this time as much as I was with Abigael, but maybe that's to be expected when you also have a three year-old demanding your full attention. Physically, this time around has also been much harder on me. As a result, I don't think I've been a very pleasant person for Brandon or Abigael to be around and for that I'm also a little regretful. I don't feel like I've done anything to prepare for the new baby. No shopping, no obsessive reading or list-making, nothing. I did manage to sign us up for a refresher childbirth class. WooHoo! Way to go! But as I was saying, we've now hit the last phase. Not much left to do but just get bigger. Is that even possible? I think my belly is already bigger than when Abigael was born. It feels like it's ready to pop some days, and I still have at least 2 1/2 months to go!I have a feeling this is not going to be another peanut-sized baby.
And, of course, there is the BIG news. We are "this close" finally becoming homeowners! For those of you who may not know our situation, we have been renting for a VERY long time. Brandon and I have been married for 10 1/2 years and have been in rentals for the entire time. We've lived in a variety of houses and apartments over the years, each with it's own personality. Right now we're in residence #6 and it's definitely time for our own space. If nothing else, I NEED a yard to throw Abigael out into! But more practically, with baby #2 almost here, we need more space and we've been aching to put down roots for a while now. We've procrastinated on this big step for several reasons...money, waiting on the fire department job, money, fear of commitment, money, home prices, fear of the unknown. But, we finally reached our breaking point, and decided it was now or never. All in all, the process hasn't been nearly as traumatic as I had feared. When you look the articles and tests to measure stress and possible depression in your life, buying a home (and having a baby) is listed as one of the top triggers. I, for one, was a little worried about this, the past couple of years have been pretty tough emotionally for me. (I'm already trying to prepare myself for any postpartum issues after the baby is born.)But, so far, I'm feeling really good. I'm excited about the move and have had hardly any panic attacks over the impending mortgage payments. Everything is moving along just fine, and we should have the keys in our hands in the next few days. Except for the actually "moving" part, this is going to be pretty awesome.
This is going to be a good year after all.

This and That

We're still plugging away in our little corner of the world. With the exception of the everyday little drama, things are going pretty well.
Thankfully, I'm starting to feel much better with the morning sickness. I was beginning to think only birth would alleviate the daily puking and constant nausea. But, no. It only took a week-long struggle with our health insurance to cover a super-expensive anti-nausea medicine to fix the problem. All they had to do was approve it, and POOF, no more sickness! Go figure...
Our most recent OB appointment went really well. The doctor was very happy to see that I've stopped losing weight and even managed to put a few pounds back on in the past four weeks. In retrospect, I think the severe morning sickness I had was my body's way of putting me in better shape physically to handle the rest of the pregnancy. But it still sucked... All the tests we've had over the past couple of months came back with glowing results. The tests for potential birth defects and genetic abnormalities came back perfect. All of the ratios were at the top of scale showing no problems. Our 20 week ultrasound looked great too. The baby was moving around like crazy (I could have told you that) and even showed a few tricks, like swallowing and playing with the umbilical cord. As far as the ultrasound screening, everything also looked wonderful. No detectable abnormalities and the placenta was attached at the the back of the womb (instead of near the cervix). This is really good news because we will be trying for a VBAC (vaginal delivery after cesarean) and everything in our favor will help. All in all, things are looking very well at this point. We're past the halfway point and I'm actually starting to feel like a pregnant lady now. My belly is starting to pop so that I actually look pregnant instead of bloated. I already feel bigger than I did with Abigael at this point, so it'll be interesting to see how I end up.
Abigael is just as wild as ever and continues to entertain us everyday. As amazing as her sense of humor is, her stubborn independence is just as "challenging." We remind ourselves that we've raised her that way, and she'll be better off for it, but, oh my, the battles we've set ourselves up for. It's hard to believe that in less than a month we'll have a three year old in the house. As difficult as she can be, everyday that comes feels like the best age ever.
Brandon is just a busy as ever. The man just doesn't know how to take it easy. He's plugging away at school and almost finished with his nursing school pre-requisites. When those are done, it'll be almost time for the baby to arrive, so he'll probably take the next year off to stay home with the kids (wow, I just said kidS, as in more than one). His leg continues to slowly but surely heal. Unfortunately, almost two years of recovery has taken a toil on his poor body. While the bone continues to do what only it can do, he's still got a long road to get everything else back into shape. But, of course, it doesn't slow him down any. The itch to ride his bikes is too strong to resist and he's back in the saddle. Sunday morning mountain bike rides and the call of the velodrome keep him motivated and constantly tweaking his bikes.
That's about it for one post. I'll leave you with a rare find indeed. A family picture.

Daylight

Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel...Sorry for my absence, but it has been a rough couple of months for the Mom model of the Lockwood family.
My last post announced our happy news, that we are expecting an addition to the household sometime in August. Well, I'm happy to report that the little person has not failed to remind us of that upcoming occasion every. single. day.
For those of you with nothing more exciting to read, here is recap of my fun-filled 2007 thus far:

January: A couple of days after getting back from Christmas in North Carolina, Abigael came down with a bizarre 24 hr bug. She ran an fever for a day and had a horrible hacking cough. Fortunately, in typical toddler fashion, she bounced back pretty quickly. But, as usual, the "germ factory" ramped up production and hit me full-force. I ended up with a horrible stomach flu that put me down (or in the bathroom) for at least three days. Later in the week, it seemed like I should be feeling better when it hit me over the head that the dreaded "morning sickness" had decided it was time to make an appearance. "OK, I can handle this. It wasn't that bad with Abigael. Eat some crackers. Take a few more naps. No problem." For a week or two, that theory seemed to work. Until, that is, I learned first hand, that indeed every pregnancy is different.

End of January: Yet another cold decided to hit me over the weekend. It wasn't too bad. Or so I thought. A few days later I woke with a tightness in my chest and a little short of breath. Over the course of the day, it turned into full-on coughing and wheezing. It apparently was bad enough that one of my co-workers was like "umm...Christie, you really should call the doctor about that." Honestly, I was getting pretty worried because I could hardly catch my breath. The doctor was able to fit me in that afternoon. The diagnosis was acute bronchitis, some kind of upper respiratory infection. I was sent home with an inhaler, a nebulizer and antibiotics. A few days later I was breathing slightly better, but still feeling pretty crappy. Back to the doctor. "Looks like the antibiotics didn't really work, it must be some kind of virus. And your lungs sound awful, must be pneumonia." Good grief. In a nutshell, it's just something that will have to run its course. At our first pre-natal checkup, I told the doctor that I had been nauseous a lot. She prescribed some medicine for that and sent me on my way.

February: While I've been preoccupied with silly things like breathing, my morning sickness has been growing steadily worse. My appetite is practically gone and it's all I can do to force some food and liquids down my throat. And, of course, that's no guarantee that it's going to stay put. I'm now throwing up at least once a day if not more. Surely, it can't get any worse...yeah, right. The utter exhaustion that comes with the body getting used to being pregnant makes it's appearance. When I was pregnancy with Abigael, it was easy to come home and take a nap after work. Not so now. A 2 3/4 year-old does not understand the concept of someone else being tired.
Anyway, last week I finally decided I'd had enough and called the doctor. I was getting dehydrated, so I was given a full liter of saline via IV. She also gave me a different anti-nausea medicine, which unfortunately puts me to sleep. I'm starting to feel a little better, I actually went two days in a row without praying to the porcelin god. They say that morning sickness is supposed to get better when you get to the second trimester(which happened with Abigael), so I'm looking for that light at the end of tunnel any day now. I'm not so sure though, this has got to be a boy. And I am in so much trouble.

I guess that's enough of my moaning for now. I would like to say though that through all of this Brandon has been a rock for Abigael and me. Even with all the obligations he already has (school, cadet school, leg recovery, etc), he has taken on the extra burden of me being useless and taken care of us all. I don't know what I would do without him.
Oh yeah, I wouldn't be knocked up...

Estimated Time of Arrival - August 22, 2007

I Do!

On this day 10 years ago, Brandon and I exchanged vows before family and friends, beginning our new life as husband and wife. Happy Anniversary! Through good times and bad, richer and poorer, sickness and health, we're still going strong. We're even still wearing the same wedding bands that we bought for less than $200 (combined). Over these years, our 20's have faded into memories and, by the standards we had as kids, we're OLD now. Thankfully it doesn't feel like it. We've had many adventures and a lot of mundane, just-getting-by days. We've shared laughs, tears, anger, and joy. We've made good and bad decisions, living with each equally. Everything a marriage is supposed to be. And by a miracle, we've been blessed with another member to our family. Someone to fill in the piece we didn't even know we were missing.


For your viewing pleasure and amusement, courtesy of the scanner, it's off to the Way Back Machine...