Mady has an obsession of watching everything that goes on in the kitchen. She has a step stool in her room to use for things like turning on her own light, washing her hands, brushing her teeth, ect. Lately she thinks it's necessary to pull it into the kitchen and examine everything that I'm doing. It's pretty cute and pretty fun but sometimes it's a little overwhelming to have her right in the middle of everything that I'm doing. It's pretty funny because the minute I tell her that I am going to make something, off she runs to her room and I know what she's going for.
Within the past couple of days she finds it necessary to tell me everything that is in her meal. The funnies thing happened about 3 days ago when she picked up her piece of bread and pointed to the seeds on the top of the crust and said "Yellow Nuts." Now every time she has bread she points out the "yellow nuts" even though I've corrected her many times :)
I love the things kids come up with! The two words as simple as "yellow nuts" make me smile and brighten my day!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Back to the Gym
Mark and I have been talking a lot lately about him getting a gym pass. With his health issues, exercising is really important. We used to have a pass together at Gold's Gym and we faithfully worked out .. until Mady was born. After she was born, we quit going and canceled our membership. Last year Mark had a pass to another gym in town but didn't really like it. They also closed their doors. During this time, I got into the habit of running and I was running about 4-5 times a week which kept me in good shape.
This past week Mark decided to get a pass to a local gym in town. I was slightly jealous (because I love exercising) but wasn't sure I would use the pass because of my twin pregnancy. I figured I would just continue to use the treadmill in our basement.
The more I got to thinking - the more I really wanted to get a pass. According to my doctor, running is not the best thing for my pregnancy because of the high impact. But, she said that using an elliptical was fine. After talking it over with Mark we decided to sell our treadmill and I got a pass at the gym. The nice thing about selling our treadmill is that it frees up a lot of extra room in our basement. Plus, it was really hard for me to get motivated to exercise in my own house so I barely used it.
So, now I have a gym pass and I'm super excited. I can do the elliptical and if that gets too hard I can just simply walk. But at least I can feel like I'm staying in shape. They also have a room for kids if we pay a small fee a month. This is good if Mark and I want to go together... like we used to before child :)
The one cool thing that I wanted to mention... I was really nervous that I might possibly have pregnancy complications down the road that would restrict exercising (let's hope not thought!). I was nervous that I would have to cancel my gym membership. (I already got a good sign up deal by only paying $18 versus paying the normal $99). I didn't want to have to cancel and then after the babies were born and I was ready to sign up again I would have to pay the start up fee again. Apparently at this particular gym they have a medical option where you can have your doctor send in a note and they will keep you as a member but you won't have to pay the monthly fee for those months that you are unable, medically, to use the gym. Pretty good deal I think!!!
This past week Mark decided to get a pass to a local gym in town. I was slightly jealous (because I love exercising) but wasn't sure I would use the pass because of my twin pregnancy. I figured I would just continue to use the treadmill in our basement.
The more I got to thinking - the more I really wanted to get a pass. According to my doctor, running is not the best thing for my pregnancy because of the high impact. But, she said that using an elliptical was fine. After talking it over with Mark we decided to sell our treadmill and I got a pass at the gym. The nice thing about selling our treadmill is that it frees up a lot of extra room in our basement. Plus, it was really hard for me to get motivated to exercise in my own house so I barely used it.
So, now I have a gym pass and I'm super excited. I can do the elliptical and if that gets too hard I can just simply walk. But at least I can feel like I'm staying in shape. They also have a room for kids if we pay a small fee a month. This is good if Mark and I want to go together... like we used to before child :)
The one cool thing that I wanted to mention... I was really nervous that I might possibly have pregnancy complications down the road that would restrict exercising (let's hope not thought!). I was nervous that I would have to cancel my gym membership. (I already got a good sign up deal by only paying $18 versus paying the normal $99). I didn't want to have to cancel and then after the babies were born and I was ready to sign up again I would have to pay the start up fee again. Apparently at this particular gym they have a medical option where you can have your doctor send in a note and they will keep you as a member but you won't have to pay the monthly fee for those months that you are unable, medically, to use the gym. Pretty good deal I think!!!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
A Saturday Evening with the Bettinger Family
Last night, I had some things to check on at Sears and Mark had wanted to look at getting some new work out shoes so we decided to make a trip to the mall. We used to go to the mall quite a bit when Mady was younger to let her play at the playground. However, we haven't gone much lately. Madalyn does, however, know that the mall is where the "horsies" are. She loves riding the Carousel when we let her. Tonight was one of those "special" nights.
We turned into the mall parking lot and Madalyn starts yelling, from the backseat, "Mall! Mall!" Then it turned into "horsies, horsies" - mixed in with some high pitched squealing and giggling. It's really cute to see her get all excited. The 2 other places that cause this kind of reaction are the church and the library.
We did some walking around and ended up in a shoe store where Mark was looking at some new work out shoes. Mady was quietly sitting in one of the provided chairs when this young college girl started to sit down next to her and chat with her. The girl had a Hello Kitty key chain on her purse which she pulled off and let Mady look at. Of course, Mady was all over that. They were chatting about what color she was and pointing out body parts. At the end of the conversation the girl asked me if I minded if she gave the key chain to Mady. I told her that she had just made Mady's evening and that was the truth. Mady proudly held that key chain the rest of the time we were at the mall. She had Daddy attach it to her pants and even walked back over to the girl to show off her new prize. It was cute.
Before we left, we stopped off at the Carousel. Mady and Daddy picked the very best horse and she, of course, loved it. I think this was actually the first time that she didn't cry when it was time to get off. I heard Daddy telling her as they were done and walking towards me, "Go tell Mommy all about it." Mady proudly ran to me and said, "ALL ABOUT IT!" Super cute!
Here are some other fun things from the night - we had a good time as a family:
*Mady can tell you what her first and last name are, what city and state she lives in and the name of the street she lives on. So tonight, in the car, I was asking her all of these questions. I got to her name and asked her what her first name was. She replied "Yellow Dino." I then asked what her last name was and she said "Bettinger." Apparently her name is Yellow Dino Bettinger. Some time ago she told me that she was a Yellow Dino and she proudly roared for me. I guess that hasn't changed :)
*Madalyn has done really well by responding with "yes" when she's asked a question or "yes Mommy (Or Daddy) when told to do something. I have been really proud of her. However recently she's started saying "yep" and it bothers me. So, I've been correcting her. We were driving and Mark had asked me a question and I replied "Yep... Oops, did you just hear what I said." To which he responded, "Yep!" We both started laughing. I guess we need to be be more careful about how we respond if we're trying to teach her...
We turned into the mall parking lot and Madalyn starts yelling, from the backseat, "Mall! Mall!" Then it turned into "horsies, horsies" - mixed in with some high pitched squealing and giggling. It's really cute to see her get all excited. The 2 other places that cause this kind of reaction are the church and the library.
We did some walking around and ended up in a shoe store where Mark was looking at some new work out shoes. Mady was quietly sitting in one of the provided chairs when this young college girl started to sit down next to her and chat with her. The girl had a Hello Kitty key chain on her purse which she pulled off and let Mady look at. Of course, Mady was all over that. They were chatting about what color she was and pointing out body parts. At the end of the conversation the girl asked me if I minded if she gave the key chain to Mady. I told her that she had just made Mady's evening and that was the truth. Mady proudly held that key chain the rest of the time we were at the mall. She had Daddy attach it to her pants and even walked back over to the girl to show off her new prize. It was cute.
Before we left, we stopped off at the Carousel. Mady and Daddy picked the very best horse and she, of course, loved it. I think this was actually the first time that she didn't cry when it was time to get off. I heard Daddy telling her as they were done and walking towards me, "Go tell Mommy all about it." Mady proudly ran to me and said, "ALL ABOUT IT!" Super cute!
Here are some other fun things from the night - we had a good time as a family:
*Mady can tell you what her first and last name are, what city and state she lives in and the name of the street she lives on. So tonight, in the car, I was asking her all of these questions. I got to her name and asked her what her first name was. She replied "Yellow Dino." I then asked what her last name was and she said "Bettinger." Apparently her name is Yellow Dino Bettinger. Some time ago she told me that she was a Yellow Dino and she proudly roared for me. I guess that hasn't changed :)
*Madalyn has done really well by responding with "yes" when she's asked a question or "yes Mommy (Or Daddy) when told to do something. I have been really proud of her. However recently she's started saying "yep" and it bothers me. So, I've been correcting her. We were driving and Mark had asked me a question and I replied "Yep... Oops, did you just hear what I said." To which he responded, "Yep!" We both started laughing. I guess we need to be be more careful about how we respond if we're trying to teach her...
A Whopping 12 Weeks
Earlier this week, I hit the 12 week point in my pregnancy. According to the nurses, this is a huge step as the rate of miscarriage drops immensely. I'm doing well and feeling great. I think I'm finally over the random bouts of nausea (I never got physically sick just felt "oozy" at certain points of certain days) and also the cramping that I was having earlier in the pregnancy. We've had at least 5 sonograms and about double the amount of doctors appointments so we've been able to see the babies quite frequently. About a week ago I had my 3 hour glucose test. I didn't pass the one hour so I had to take the 3 hour. I wasn't real optimistic as I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with Madalyn but much to my surprise I passed the 3 hour too!!! So, as of now I don't have to prick my finger 3 times a day. I will repeat the 3 hour two more times later in my pregnancy though.
My last 2 ultrasounds have been especially entertaining as the babies have been moving quite a bit. The one I had at the end of January was a basic ultrasound to see how things were growing. Both babies were right on scheduling - measuring only days apart from each other. Mark and I joke as Baby A was very calm and relaxed while Baby B was spinning, flipping, moving every part of its body. Baby A's heartbeat is also running about 10 bpm faster than Baby B's believe it or not.
My most recent ultrasound this past Monday confirmed our suspicions that Baby B is going to be the ornery one! The ultrasound tech was measuring the nuchal fold on the back of each baby's neck. She first went to Baby A, who is on my right side, and as we guessed, Baby A was relaxed and just chillin. The tech had a great view of everything that she needed and even commented how Baby A was "so photogenic." Ha! Then we get to Baby B... The tech went in for the picture and what do we see on the screen... Baby B's back! The baby was facing my back and obviously not in the position to see the fold on the back of its neck. The tech had me lay on my left side for a bit... nothing. no movement. Then she had me lay on my right side. Nothing. No Movement. Then she started pressing on my belly to try to "wake the baby up." Nothing. We probably did this about 2 more times before finally the baby rolled over and the tech was able to see what she wanted to see. After the tech measured both babies she went back to get a picture of them side by side. Baby A was, of course, still in great form while Baby B decided to be contankerous again. My picture of my little babies side by side in utero contains a picture of Baby A stretched out - great side profile - and the top of the head of Baby B.
I wonder what this means? Haha. I wonder if Baby A will be quiet and content and Baby B will be ornery? I guess we'll have to wait and find out :)
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Twice the Blessings
As most of you know, Mark and I are pregnant with TWINS! It definitely hasn't been an easy journey to get where we are now but it's been such a blessing. I wanted to give a quick synopsis of the entire process that we went through to get to the place that we are today... 11 weeks pregnant with twins!! Let's back up...
We had to use fertility options to get pregnant and we started back in July. We didn't tell any family or friends that lived far away as we wanted it to be a surprise (only those close to us at church knew what we were going through). Three days before we were to go through the first part of the procedure, Mark was admitted to the ER with all kinds of medical complications. You can read about that here. It was a rough few months of many ER visits for him. He was put on blood thinners and we canceled our round of fertility treatments. Praise God for healing him completely. We are so thankful for Him getting better! He was able to go off of the blood thinners and we restarted the fertility treatments in October.
After all the injections and meds, we had our first procedure on October 27th with the 2nd part on November 2nd. All went well until the 7th of November when I ended up back at the doctors office with complaints that I was having trouble breathing. I just couldn't get deep enough breaths. I was immediately sent over to the hospital procedure center and I had a paracentisis done. Basically I was suffering from a severe case of Ovarian Hyperstimulation. My ovaries were very enlarged and there was a huge amount of fluid collecting on my abdomen and chest. It was causing pain, extreme shortness of breath and abdominal swelling. A paracentisis is a procedure where they locally numb a spot on the abdomen, each layer at a time, and then stick a big needle in the stomach to drain the excess fluid. Ten pounds of fluid was drained off of my belly at this time. I was measuring 4.5 months pregnant! After the procedure was done, I was given more fluids via IV so that my body wasn't so "shocked" for losing 10lbs worth and then I was watched for a bit as my blood pressure got very low. I was eventually released to go home and told to drink lots of fluids.
Two days later, I was miserable. It got to the point where I was cramping so bad that I couldn't move. I wasn't urinating normally and I was extremely swollen again. I was also having serious bouts of nausea. I had Mark call the Nurses Line who in turn contacted the nurse practitioner I had been working with at the clinic. She gave orders to take me to the ER. Who would've thought that the ER would've been so busy on a Sunday afternoon. When we checked in there were 17 people in front of us! I sat in a wheel chair in the middle of the waiting room bent over in pain. At one point I had to ask Mark for a basin because I was feeling very ill. *The easiest way to get into the ER to be seen when it's full is to start throwing up.* The nurse asked me if I was pregnant and I had to say that I could be and BAM! they rushed me to the back and got me in a bed. I don't remember much after this as I got a bunch of pain medications. Our good friend, Paul, was working and he took good care of me. They took lots of blood and even took a pregnancy test (we found out for the first time that we were indeed pregnant! Rather anticlimactic). Eventually they told me that I was dehydrated and that they wanted me to stay overnight. I was admitted, put on a morphine pump for pain, and was given an injection of blood thinner. My wonderful husband Mark went and got us Jimmy John's for dinner so I didn't have to eat hospital food!!!
I was released the next day despite the fact that I kept telling the doctor on call that I felt like I might need to be "drained" again. And sure enough I was back at my doctors office on Tuesday. I had gained 20 pounds in 2 days because of extra fluid retention. Everything on me was swelling.. legs, fingers, thighs, hips! It was extremely hard for me to handle and very discouraging. I did appreciate the fact that the nurse called my fertility doctor (who is based out of Indy) and had him talk to me. I thought that was awful nice of him. I was sent over to the hospital again for another paracentisis and another 10 pounds of fluid was removed! I was sent home and told to drink lots of fluid... By the way, during this whole thing I was drinking about 32-64 oz of fluid per HOUR!!!
About a week later I slowly started to get better and I could see that my abdomen wasn't getting any bigger. I was feeling better and was getting more encouraged. I had this hyperstimulation when I was pregnant with Madalyn but it was definitely mild compared to this.
We had another follow up pregnancy test a few days later and learned that I was indeed still pregnant. My beta had doubled perfectly which led us to believe that there was just one baby in there. The first week of December we had our first ultrasound and were shocked to learn that I was carrying two babies! We were definitely excited but it just didn't seem real. I've had two more ultrasounds since that day and it's definitely feeling real now :) I'm so excited to be carrying twins and I'm excited to see what 2009 holds for us and our family.
I have to say that this was one of the most discouraging times of my life. I've never really had any serious health issues and so this episode scared me a lot. I was on bed rest and couldn't do much of anything. It hurt that I couldn't take care of my daughter or my husband and I hated feeling so helpless. I was extremely discouraged a lot throughout this time but I definitley learned what it means to truly lean on God through the good and the bad! It was a growing period for me and my faith and I'm thankful to my wonderful friends and my amazing husband who helped to encourage me! The biggest lesson that I learned through all of this is that I need to be thankful for whatever the Lord brings my way. He does all things for a reason and even if something gloomy is thrown my way, I still need to be thankful. His purpose is bigger than I can ever imagine! I will praise Him in the calm and the STORM!!!
We had to use fertility options to get pregnant and we started back in July. We didn't tell any family or friends that lived far away as we wanted it to be a surprise (only those close to us at church knew what we were going through). Three days before we were to go through the first part of the procedure, Mark was admitted to the ER with all kinds of medical complications. You can read about that here. It was a rough few months of many ER visits for him. He was put on blood thinners and we canceled our round of fertility treatments. Praise God for healing him completely. We are so thankful for Him getting better! He was able to go off of the blood thinners and we restarted the fertility treatments in October.
After all the injections and meds, we had our first procedure on October 27th with the 2nd part on November 2nd. All went well until the 7th of November when I ended up back at the doctors office with complaints that I was having trouble breathing. I just couldn't get deep enough breaths. I was immediately sent over to the hospital procedure center and I had a paracentisis done. Basically I was suffering from a severe case of Ovarian Hyperstimulation. My ovaries were very enlarged and there was a huge amount of fluid collecting on my abdomen and chest. It was causing pain, extreme shortness of breath and abdominal swelling. A paracentisis is a procedure where they locally numb a spot on the abdomen, each layer at a time, and then stick a big needle in the stomach to drain the excess fluid. Ten pounds of fluid was drained off of my belly at this time. I was measuring 4.5 months pregnant! After the procedure was done, I was given more fluids via IV so that my body wasn't so "shocked" for losing 10lbs worth and then I was watched for a bit as my blood pressure got very low. I was eventually released to go home and told to drink lots of fluids.
Two days later, I was miserable. It got to the point where I was cramping so bad that I couldn't move. I wasn't urinating normally and I was extremely swollen again. I was also having serious bouts of nausea. I had Mark call the Nurses Line who in turn contacted the nurse practitioner I had been working with at the clinic. She gave orders to take me to the ER. Who would've thought that the ER would've been so busy on a Sunday afternoon. When we checked in there were 17 people in front of us! I sat in a wheel chair in the middle of the waiting room bent over in pain. At one point I had to ask Mark for a basin because I was feeling very ill. *The easiest way to get into the ER to be seen when it's full is to start throwing up.* The nurse asked me if I was pregnant and I had to say that I could be and BAM! they rushed me to the back and got me in a bed. I don't remember much after this as I got a bunch of pain medications. Our good friend, Paul, was working and he took good care of me. They took lots of blood and even took a pregnancy test (we found out for the first time that we were indeed pregnant! Rather anticlimactic). Eventually they told me that I was dehydrated and that they wanted me to stay overnight. I was admitted, put on a morphine pump for pain, and was given an injection of blood thinner. My wonderful husband Mark went and got us Jimmy John's for dinner so I didn't have to eat hospital food!!!
I was released the next day despite the fact that I kept telling the doctor on call that I felt like I might need to be "drained" again. And sure enough I was back at my doctors office on Tuesday. I had gained 20 pounds in 2 days because of extra fluid retention. Everything on me was swelling.. legs, fingers, thighs, hips! It was extremely hard for me to handle and very discouraging. I did appreciate the fact that the nurse called my fertility doctor (who is based out of Indy) and had him talk to me. I thought that was awful nice of him. I was sent over to the hospital again for another paracentisis and another 10 pounds of fluid was removed! I was sent home and told to drink lots of fluid... By the way, during this whole thing I was drinking about 32-64 oz of fluid per HOUR!!!
About a week later I slowly started to get better and I could see that my abdomen wasn't getting any bigger. I was feeling better and was getting more encouraged. I had this hyperstimulation when I was pregnant with Madalyn but it was definitely mild compared to this.
We had another follow up pregnancy test a few days later and learned that I was indeed still pregnant. My beta had doubled perfectly which led us to believe that there was just one baby in there. The first week of December we had our first ultrasound and were shocked to learn that I was carrying two babies! We were definitely excited but it just didn't seem real. I've had two more ultrasounds since that day and it's definitely feeling real now :) I'm so excited to be carrying twins and I'm excited to see what 2009 holds for us and our family.
I have to say that this was one of the most discouraging times of my life. I've never really had any serious health issues and so this episode scared me a lot. I was on bed rest and couldn't do much of anything. It hurt that I couldn't take care of my daughter or my husband and I hated feeling so helpless. I was extremely discouraged a lot throughout this time but I definitley learned what it means to truly lean on God through the good and the bad! It was a growing period for me and my faith and I'm thankful to my wonderful friends and my amazing husband who helped to encourage me! The biggest lesson that I learned through all of this is that I need to be thankful for whatever the Lord brings my way. He does all things for a reason and even if something gloomy is thrown my way, I still need to be thankful. His purpose is bigger than I can ever imagine! I will praise Him in the calm and the STORM!!!
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