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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

More Tests/Results

I saw my sinus surgeon a week ago, just to have him check on the surgery he'd done a year ago, and I also had infection up there.  I mentioned to him the heart problem I have and how the baby doc's had just basically told me to watch out for the signs of heart failure... I wanted to know his opinion as a professional if i should be looked at.  Personally I felt like there should be some kind of step between now and heart failure? Right? Intervention? Medication? Not having to worry cause it looks fine?! He agreed and immediately referred me to a cardiologist.  I saw the cardiologist Monday, he was such a funny guy and referred to himself as a "Pollyanna" for his unfailing optimism... lol (mind you he was a 50 something, overweight, scraggly looking grey haired guy... as a Pollyanna).  They did an EKG, and he discussed with me what kinds of risks I could have... turns out it's not only excess blood volume during pregnancy but also labor itself that could be strenuous on my heart. He said most all women he has treated with some kind of heart condition while pregnant have been fine, but that he hadn't treated any for a year and would have to do some research on my specific problem.  He also wanted to check for 2 things (he used the technical term and I didn't have time to write them down) and I went in the next day for an ECO.   If labor would prove too strenuous for my heart he would suggest a c-section.  It just all depends on what the results of the test show.  I should get them tomorrow or friday.  Whatever the outcome, i'm glad I went to prepare my  birth team for whatever risks might come up. The doctor will also be able to make an informed suggestion on whether or not it will be safe to have more children.  I confess I am worried.  I had finally gotten used to the idea of birthing on my own if I went into labor without Danny being here, and this adds a whole new dimension of worry.  We'll just see what they say.  I also have been in terrible pain almost constantly from my bladder condition :( , I hope to see a urologist soon... oh goodness. All of this medical stuff feels as though it's turned into a full time job minus the pay! Sometimes I feel like a crazy person.  Its been a rough week, I miss Danny so much and just need him.  People keep telling me that i'm strong...and they don't know how I do it, I... don't feel strong, some days I feel like i'm barely doing it.  Anyway, not looking for pity here, i'm just worried and sleeping very little because of it and pain lol, thought maybe if I go some of it out there I could maybe sleep? Danny received our anniversary package today :) he said he'd had a crap day and that it made things a lot better, first thing he mentioned that he liked was that little vintage car onsie I sent :) he said it made things more real for him and that everyone said "Ahhhhhhhh!" when he pulled it out!  It made me happy to see him happy.  Hopefully i'll update results tomorrow or the next day and they'll be good news...

RESULTS UPDATE: The nurse just called (Friday) she said it was pumping fine but that there is some minor aortic stenosis. (Narrowing or buildup of the aortic valve.) He said I was ok to proceed with the birth, I will just have to have my heart checked every now and then for it worsening.  He's going to see me again just before the baby is due. From what I understand after reading the link below they just monitor it up until IF the point of the risk of heart surgery outweighs the risk of not having it done.
  For more info: http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/tc/aortic-valve-stenosis-overview

Monday, March 11, 2013

Deployment Packages

Hey all, I just thought I would start posting little things I sent Danny overseas, maybe give others ideas of what to do for holiday's etc when loved ones are far away and get any ideas you have as well!

Easter (Danny if you haven't received your package don't read this.) 

Arrrrg! I did another package and totally forgot to take a pic of it before I taped it up! I always do that, I get so excited to get it in the mail that I literally remember right after i've taped it up and addressed it. Hopefully Danny will remember to take a pic before he tears into it this time... lol usually he's too excited :P! For Easter I wanted to do something a little more spiritual and special for him.  A good friend of mine sent me an email of small symbols corresponding with scriptures about the resurrection.  I found some cool blue camo Easter eggs and put the scripture along with is corresponding symbol inside of each egg.  There are ten in all, and then in the 11th I added a short testimony of the risen Lord. Here are the scriptures and symbols:


1.        And he went a little further, and fell on his face and prayed, saying O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but  as thou wilt.  Matthew 26: 30 (sacrament cup)
2.       When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:  And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Ponitus Pilate the governor.  Matthew 27:1-2 (rope)
3.       When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person:  see ye to it.  Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.  Matthew 27:24-26 (piece of soap)
4.       And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.  And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!  And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.  Matthew 27:28-30 (piece of scarlet robe)
5.       And after that they had mocked him; they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.  And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. (Matthew 27:31-32 (cross)
6.       And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots:  that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.  And sitting down they watched him there.  Matthew 27:35-36 (dice)
7.       And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, an put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.  Matthew 27:48 (sponge)
8.       Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. Matthew 27:50 (nail to remember His sacrifice)
9.       And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed. 
Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
So they went and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.  Matthew 27:60,65-66 (rock)
10.    He is not here:  for he is risen, as he said.  Matthew 28:6 (empty egg)


Sooo ya,  I sent him that along with April's Ensign.  I also found a GIANT easter egg at Target that I thought was way cute, I got him a green one and filled that with candies to ship as well.  I got him an Eastry type tie too, (he doesn't have many) and sent that along with his Easter package.

Cookie Box
This week I spent a few hours  baking baking baking! Danny's favorite cookie is peanut butter, so I made him a bunch of peanut butter cookies, some chocolate chip cookies, as well as a batch of no-bake cookies (upon request.)  My chocolate chip did NOT turn out! What a bummer. I have had trouble with that recipe ever since I moved back home.. elevation maybe? I'm no sure but I don't think I can use that one here. Anyway.  I hope they got to him fresh! Mom had baked a fresh batch of honey wheat loaves the day I baked up the cookie storm so I included that as well! He says it wasn't moldy by the time it got there but.... i'm not sure how it couldn't have been!

Danny's Birthday


Danny's Birthday is March 28th, he's turning 24! I'm glad we're going to be the same age again, haha i'm 7 months older.. and he graduated TWO years after I did! My mom actually picked up a bunch of treats for Danny and she wrapped them all in YELLOW wrapping paper.  I haven't decided what present to get him... he's hard to buy for and I have run out of idea's already! We're doing a "Box of Sunshine" themed package as many of you have seen on Pinterest and my friend Jaimee did for her sister on a mission.   Here are some pics!

Instead of the traditional birthday card we wrote on blown up balloons and then deflated them! So he has to blow them up to read his birthday message! 
Dad's writing looks awesome! 

I don't know why this pics are being freaking retarded and I can't get them where I want so sorry...



Our Anniversary

March 17 marks our ONE YEAR anniversary. Yes, I am very sad we are not going to be together for it, we just will have to make the next one extra special! For our anniversary I designed a book of our wedding photo's for him through MyPublisher.

http://www.mypublisher.com/?gclid=CLmNtoL39bUCFW2nPAodNRcAug

They have bogo deals for new customers as well as other bogo deals going on ALL of the time. It was fun to make him something personal to remind him of our special day.  I was really pleased! I thought for my first one it turned out pretty nice.  I would only say make sure you have good quality photo's,  I had trouble uploading a couple photo's from our wedding disk so I took them off of Facebook and those ones turned out pretty blurry, but other than that it was really nice!  It cost me about 60$ for two books and it has 20+ pages.

Front Cover

Back Cover


Preparing for the birth of our baby is fun, but doing it without Danny can be difficult.  Especially when it comes to explaining the HypnoBirthing classes, the birth process, or just helping him to also prepare to be a parent. So I sent him one little Calvin Klein onsie that had vintage cars on it (SO Danny) and one teeny teeny newborn diaper.  I also included a copy of the HypnoBirthing book, in which I had highlighted and written notes in.  That way he can turn to what i'm talking about and we can be "on the same page..." literally... I also made copies of some of the handouts. I'm lucky he's so willing to learn along with me and understand the birth process so he can support me and be my advocate during labor. Knowledge is power people! He's going to get so much crap for having that book.. poor sweetie, I made sure to use a pink highlighter too :D ! 

Of course I also included some little treats and snacks as usual, as well as some pictures he requested to hang in his work space.   I also sent one of the mints we served at our wedding reception, they had our names printed on them and the date, I had saved two so we could have them on our first anniversary. 






Valentines Day

For Valentines I did the "52 Reasons I Love You" stack of face cards as many of you have probably seen on Pinterest.  It was cheap, personal, and really fun to make! Thank you Pinterest!


Along with the typical cliche candies and goofy romantic card I also sent him a pillow with my face printed on it! HA!!! Ya, I know so awesome. I had him pick his favorite photo of me (he had a hard time narrowing it down to even three lol) then I had it printed onto a pillow through Wal Mart.  He had no idea what I was doing with the pic and it was a fun little surprise! And it shipped surprisingly fast... 

 

Lol... ya its funny, and kind of embarrassing :P I need to have him take a pic of it now that its out of the plastic. I shipped it like that so i t wouldn't get ruined. A little bit of me to go to sleep with :D He said one night he woke up and realized it had fallen off of his top bunk onto the floor, poor guy panicked worrying someone may have seen it hehe :0) 
I didn't take a pic but I also sent him a bunch of treats with little sayings on them that I found on Pinterest.  Like a bottle of Mountain Dew that said "I'd dew anything for you." Jerky- 'Sorry I'm a jerk sometimes", you know, just a bunch of little snacks and goodies like that.  

I also included some photo's, baby ultrasound photo's, and an envelope of spiritual things. A copy of my testimony, a poem I wrote about Christ and a few other uplifting more spiritual little things. 


Sunday, March 10, 2013

Rowan's Quilt in Progress- it's DONE! :D


Here are the fabrics I chose for his quilt, I chose a Chevron style quilt pattern.....



Here are all of his blocks lain out, above, then the rows stacked.




Then the rows sewn together...



Here is his blue bubble minky back...



Here's the top all sewn together, minus the boarders, plus my socks XD haha I had ironed and starched it really well but it has been wrinkled since, sorry. 

I'll be posting the finished product when I have it! 


Because I am doing the back in minky and we are planning on quilting it on the regular sewing machine without a walking foot we had to glue each layer together using spray glue so that the cotton and minky would travel through the machine at the same time.



Here's mom helping me spray down the opposite side of minky. 

haha couldn't resist getting my giant belly shadow in it :D

And now the finished product!!!! THANKS MOM!


Starting Baby's Library

I'm sure all of you who have children and hope to have children have that "list" in your mind of what you want to do or how you want to be as a parent.  Having my major being child development my list was pretty long! But, for some reason... with the deployment and having our first baby here in Idaho living at my parents house I hadn't given those things I wanted for my child and wanted to be as a mother much thought lately! (Sounds so silly I know but the circumstances just allowed those things to kind of slip out of my mind!) One thing on my list was to have books for my children! I LOVE books. I want to read to them daily and foster in them a love of literature and language.  I have wanted to start collecting my favorites for years, before I even met Danny but, when you're struggling to buy  groceries you're seldom going to go hunt down that favorite childhood books! Plus i'm a book snob and wanted them in hardback. :P Last week I started searching for my favorites on amazon and purchases a few of them used. I just thought i'd share my favorites with you all as I receive them.  If you have ones you consider "must haves" add a comment! I'd love to hear! I've kind of been considering making my baby shower a book for baby shower... I just thought that would be so awesome to see what everyone chose... and then my children could use them forever instead of growing out of an outfit in a week! Anyway, still thinking about it, let me know what you think :)

Heckedy Peg
Don and Audrey Wood


Llama Llama Red Pajama
By Anna Dewdney 





King Bidgood's In the Bathtub 
By Don and Audrey Wood 

A Bad Case of Stripes 
By David Shannon


Piggies 
By Don and Audrey Wood

 
(I got this as a board book, so excited!)

The Napping House
By Don and Audrey Wood 




I also ordered a set of board books by Sandra Boynton in a mini box set:

Pajama Time


Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs

Barnyard Dance 


 The Very Hungry Caterpillar 
By Eric Carle 

Your Personal Penguin 
Sandra Boynton 














Saturday, March 9, 2013

Keepin' On

Things have been going pretty good.  I'm now 28 weeks pregnant and my tummy is getting HUGER haha! Danny laughed last time he saw me (full body) on skype... he said it was because it reminded him of while we were dating and how i'd do a little cheerleader type jump every day like "Ta da.. this is me today..." buuuut, I wasn't convinced :P
So being apart is really hard. It's difficult to set up a life with someone and just not have any of that anymore.  I miss everything about our life together, from cooking meals together to bedtime prayers together, holding hands everywhere we went, doing his laundry, having him take care of me, kissing him when he comes home from work every day and making him feel better to even just our things. I am so blessed to be around my family and friends but also struggle with feeling like I did in highschool/early college days by being in the same situations etc. It's just part of the situation.  I am so grateful to everyone who has reached out to me- I have felt so supported and loved by all of you.  To those of you who have been so supportive and really been there thank you :) I know you all have lives and jobs and kids and are busy busy women! I appreciate your friendship.  My parents ward is very kind, they always ask how i'm doing and one woman even asked me Danny's first name so she could pray for him, she said she had been calling him "Megan's husband" and wanted to know his real name! How sweet! Thank you Sister Baird.  Thank you for remembering my sweetheart! Everyone has been really nice at church I just struggle with having my own identity there instead of being "The Shipton girl".  For some reason Sundays are really really difficult! I think it may just be because we just got to be with one another all day on Sunday's.  Sitting next to one another at church and sharing our thoughts about the meetings was something we really enjoyed.
The pregnancy is going well.  I was really sick for about 6 weeks! It just kept getting worse and worse! I'm finally feeling better after getting an antibiotic and am doing more and feeling so much better. I hated going that route but, it was getting kind of bad! lol anyway, I also am still struggling with frequent bladder flare ups :( .  seems like there's always something!  I have an appointment this week and hope I will be seeing our little Rowan on the ultrasound, he's been moving so much and I just hope and pray he is developing as he should and that he will come while Danny is here on leave.  I have been posting all of my little baby purchases on Facebook, i'm so excited to meet our son.  I can't wait for Danny to see his son and hope we will get to experience his first moments in the world together.  I am using a natural method for birthing and preparing myself for it through HypnoBirthing.  YES I am delivering in a hospital, YES I also have a doctor, NO I am not having him in water...... it's not as crazy as you may feel like it is haha, it's learning how the body functions under stress and allowing it to do what it was made to do by staying relaxed.  I attended the classes and had a great experience there, have read the book a few times and am practicing my hypnosis scripts, breathing, and positive affirmations daily.  In the end I feel confident that I will be able to take what comes my way calmly and am hopeful for a beautiful birth. If I choose to be induced because Danny has to go back and we have no baby yet.. then I will! It just depends on what happens but I plan on playing an active role in my birth and approaching that day with calmness and excitement instead of stress and fear.

Danny has been doing great.  He is learning so much and doing such a great job.  I love him dearly and am so proud of him.  It makes me so happy to see him on Skype and love when we can laugh and enjoy one another's company from across the world and feel connected.  I received an awesome email this week from Danny's SGT over his battalion praising what he's doing.  It brought tears to my eyes! I am so happy that if we have to be away from one another, its nice to know how well he is doing. I was so grateful for those words.  Danny finally found the church services there last week and was very happy to attend.  He's been working out! Almost every day... lifting and stuff, he's looking good :D Well, I think he looked good before but he's just looking better and better.  I wish I had more to report on his day to day... but I don't know much more.  We just miss each other.  :( Some days I feel heavy, some moments I feel so so sad and alone and then others i'm surprised by how well I am doing on my own.  I'm so grateful I have his leave and the birth of our little son to look forward to. Thinking of not seeing him for the entirety of the 9 months is devastating to me.  Having our baby to prepare for has helped to pass the time! He's going to be so spoiled and loved! Honestly most days I am just so full of gratitude for having such a wonderful husband who loves and cares for me so much really makes it all worth while.  I guess he's pretty vocal about me, and us in the workplace already haha! He was telling me one day how some guys were having a discussion about something relationship related, one turned to him and was about to ask his opinion on the subject when the other guy interrupted with "Psh, don't ask Tracy, he's like madly in love with his wife!" haha well, I'd like to know what they heard to know that! He said one time they were talking about how nice it is to be married, one guy said basically that it's sex whenever you want, Danny said "No, it's coming home to a nice, clean house, dinner on the table, and someone who loves you so much and is just as happy to see you as you are to see them!" .... It wasn't always like that, especially after we were pregnant but I was still happy to hear his input! :)  Anyway, that's my Danny :)  I'll have to do a couple of posts about baby purchases/projects as well as the packages i've sent Danny so far. Just thought i'd share how things were going. Again if anyone want's to email Danny let me know and i'll get you his address. He may not respond, most of his emails don't go through for some reason but he's still happy to get them.