Found my camera!

I found my other camera!  And so I need to quickly put all the pictures on my blog, before our Disney World trip, because there will be lots more pictures to post when we get back from there.

The majority of the pictures are from August:

 Brielle with a crocodile on her head, at the State Fair.  The Reptile Man does a show that my children love. He comes to their school once a year for an assembly, and then we also get to see him at the Fair.

 Hyrum and Clara grinding corn at the Fair.

 Watching new baby pigs at the Fair.

 Clara's birthday, when we went to the zoo.

 New baby otters at the zoo.

 Still playing at the zoo.

 Eating at Red Robin for Clara's birthday.

 Back at the State Fair a second time, this time with cousins.  

Clara and Victoria on one of the carnival rides.

 One of Hyrum's soccer games.

 Occasionally Hyrum would stop mid-game to play in the dirt.  Then his parents and coach would yell "Hyrum, run!  Hyrum go after the ball!  Hyrum, Hyrum!!"  until he stopped playing in the dirt and rejoined the game.  Kids are funny.

Russell's brother Matt came to Seattle on Business and got to come see us.  Uncle Matt took us out to P.F. Chang's, one of our favorite restaurants.  Thanks Uncle Matt!!

OB Appointment

School was cancelled on Friday due to snow, so instead of sending my kids to school before my OB appointment, I had to take them with me.  I drove to Edmonds (20 minutes away) through the snow with all three kids to be told that my doctor wasn't there, she was at the Mill Creek clinic (one mile from my house).  I was slightly frustrated.  They had NOT told me it would be at the Mill Creek clinic, and I've never been to the Mill Creek clinic before so I wouldn't assume it would be there.  Very inconvenient.  Anyway, they had me see a different doctor, but we had to wait for 45 minutes in a small exam room, and the kids were not amused.  There was a lot of: "Don't touch the gloves, stop pushing the chair into the walls, you can't have those tongue depressors, don't pull the stirrups out of the bed, leave the blood pressure cuff alone, I don't know how much longer, no stop that, stay in here, stop teasing your sister, you go sit over there, it's not supposed to be fun, we're here because we have to be....."

The baby's heart is still beating, so that's good. I've been worrying because I haven't felt the baby move yet, and I'm 20 weeks along.  Normally I feel the baby moving weeks before this. The doctor I saw was a man, he seems much more concerned about my AVM (and subsequent embolization) than my usual doctor (a cute young girl fresh out of med school).  He thinks it might end up restricting the baby's growth in the last couple months. So apparently now they want to watch me for Fetal Growth Restriction, and afterward for serious Postpartum bleeding.  Other than that I should be fine.  ; )

From some of the Medical Papers I've read, I didn't gather that Fetal Growth Restriction was greatly increased after embolization, but the doctor has probably read more about that than I have. 

Postpartum hemorrhaging seems to be the greatest risk, based on the 200 cases of women getting pregnant after having an embolization (which is a tiny number considering how many women in the US have had embolizations in the last 10 years.)

On the bright side, I'm not throwing up as much anymore.  As long as I take all the medicines at all the right times, I feel okay.  But sometimes I forget or miss a dose, and then I'm up throwing up at 2:00 am.  But this is much better than usual, so I'm happy.

1:1 Ratio

Russell, Brielle, and Hyrum wanted a boy, Clara and I hoped for a girl, and it looks like the majority won this time.  We're excited about our new addition coming in early May!

Hyrum wanted a boy because he wanted a brother, Brielle wanted a boy because she likes for ratios to be even.  She's funny about numbers.  Clara wanted a girl so the baby could wear her old clothes, and because all her dolls are baby girls.  I wanted a girl because Russ and I have a girl name that we love, but our boy name we haven't been "settled" on for as long. (Though of course we had both a boy and a girl name chosen long before I became pregnant, but it takes me awhile to feel really good about a name.)  We both like the boy name we've picked, but I think I was more excited to use the girl name.

Christmas Preparations

 We started our Christmas decorating in November.  The kids get so excited to pull out all of the Christmas things.  Clara thinks the stockings are pretty funny.

 We went to downtown Bellevue for a Christmas Parade, and they make it snow up and down the street, it was a freezing day, but the "snow" looked so magical.  We had a lot of fun.

One of the parade people pulled Brielle out to join in the dancing for a bit.

After that we went to the church building next to the Temple to see a Nativity Display with Nativities from all over the World.

Baby News

I had an ultrasound done 5 days after Thanksgiving, on December 3rd.  Check our Christmas cards to see what we are having!  (Or check back here in a couple days)

My ultrasound with the hospital isn't until Dec. 18th, but on Monday Dec. 2nd I received an email from a Medical Company that I had been hired by, saying that they needed me the next day to be an OB Model.  They make new, cutting edge, medical equipment, and the Ultrasound department is always in need of OB Models on which to try out their new ultrasound machines.  So I went in, was a perfect guinea pig, and they nicely informed me what type of baby I'm having, and then took some 3D images and videos to send home with me.