More baby news

I had my second ultra sound today. Drinking all that water was a pain. I was about to burst by the time we got in there. I was so happy when she said she had everything and I could go to the bathroom. I drank so much water, I went three times in 15 minutes :)
We had a different view of the baby this time (sorry no pictures) and it was so cool. You could see his (or her) feet kicking. Even his little toes. It was the cutest thing. I never got to see an ultrasound that detailed with liberty.
Unfortunately they found something new. A black opening on the side of my placenta. The doctor said it looked like the placenta was ripping away from the uterine wall. (I'm not sure if I said that right, basically the thing holding my baby inside of me was ripping off) It wasn't a big rip, but still enough to cause some concern.
They sent my ultrasound pictures to Lincoln so the radiologists there can look through them. I will find out what he thinks later on today (hopefully). My doctor said it is very likely that this is the cause of all of my bleeding. She said there isn't any medicine that can fix it so if the radiologist in Lincoln thinks it is bad, I will be put on bed rest... I'm only 4 months along. That would be way to much time off of my feet.
The baby was healthy looking and his heartbeat was normal (145 beats per minute). Also he's measuring out at fourteen weeks exactly! So if he doesn't have a huge growth spurt, I may have an average sized baby and not another giant :) But he was healthy and that is what is most important to me right now.
Also I got my medicine for my infection today and I have to ask... Why is it everything doctors prescribe to you contradicts each other? The first medicine he put me on is to get rid of my nausea and headaches. This new medication has side effects that include nausea and headaches. Oh, and it also causes diarea! Yea me right... Yuck... I feel they may be canceling each other out... hmmmm... I will let you know.
Thank you so much for your continued prayers.

I have to go and read to Liberty now. She has decided The Pokey Little Puppy is her favorite book and if I don't read it to her at least twice every morning, she gets cranky :)

The Baby is Ok!

My baby is fine and so am I. Please read the rest of this with a sense of humor because I was cranky and whining the whole time I was writing it:

So my appointment today wasn't full of bad news but it wasn't all great news either. They hauled me from one checkup room to another for over two hours and they still didn't get what they wanted. I had to pee into two cups! Two cups! That may sound funny to you but it was annoying from my pint of view. I don't care if the baby is kicking my bladder and making me need to go to the bathroom all of the time. It is still hard to pee on command like. Especially twice!

It turns out they found some form of staph infection in my tests. The doctor tried to explain to me that it wasn't the "bad" staph...but it is still staph. I'm upset but he says it's very manageable. They are starting me on antibiotics (I think) tomorrow. I should only have to take them for a week and then the infection should be gone. He assured me the medicine would not effect the baby. That made me very happy.

I also had an ultra sound done. I had to drink water to fill my bladder to get a better view of the baby for a belly ultrasound, but it wasn't enough, so I had to had an intra-vaginal ultrasound instead of a belly one. Which meant I had to walk all the way to the other side of the hospital (back to the clinic) to pee in their second cup. Rrrggg! The intra-vaginal ultrasound sounded very unpleasant but it wasn't bad at all. They found the baby just fine. He (or she) was doing good. I left feeling good.

Then 15 minutes later (after we had left the hospital) we get a call saying they need to do a full ultrasound. The radiologist had done a quick one since that is what is normal when you're only 14 weeks (they don't do full ones until your at least 20 weeks). Anyways, I have to go back in for a full one tomorrow morning. And this time it is a belly one so my bladder HAS to be full. They want me to drink 64 ounces of water before I come in.
SIXTY-FOUR OUNCES!!!!!

I'm about to wet my pants if I drink a 12 ounce bottle of juice and they want me to drink 64 ounces and hold it for the entire ultrasound (A full one can take half an hour)

Doctors are mean...Really mean :)

I thank everyone for their prayers the past few days. They meant so much to me. As a reward, here are the first pictures of my new little Bundle of Pain... I mean Joy :)

They aren't the best ultrasound pictures. I'm hoping they will take some better ones tomorrow.
In this one the head, tummy and leg are labeled.
This one was the best shot they could get of the baby's face. Kind of hard to see but trust me, it is there.

This Last one here you can see the baby's arm under his belly, some fingers and if you look at the head, That is my baby's brain...Already smarter than daddy :) I love you Cowboy :)

More Bad News

No, I haven't gotten my test results back yet. Although I'm pretty sure they're not going to be good. Today I started cramping and bleeding. Not heavy, just a little, but it is still pretty scary. My doctor has put me on house arrest until my next appointment. I'm supposed to drink lots of fluids and get lots of rest. I'm also not allowed to lift heavy objects which is really hard with Liberty being so cuddly lately. She jumps on me all the time.
I'm not sure why this baby is causing me so much pain. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. I know I haven't been eating as much because of all of the nausea but Liberty was the same way. This pregnancy just doesn't seem right.
My next appointment is on Monday. Hopefully, they will be able to tell me what is going on.
I would appreciate all of the prayers you can send in my direction.
Thank you.

A little Scared

So the last few weeks have not been nice to me. I've been nauseated all morning long. I can't keep anything down until after 2:00. When I do finally stop throwing up, I get these horrible headaches and I'm exhausted. I'm useless all day long. I don't feel like me until about 10:00 at night and then I go to bed. Also, the last few weeks I have been passing out. I don't know what happens, I just wake up on the floor and Liberty is rubbing my head.
I went to see the doctor today. He asked me all sorts of questions and then had blood taken. He thinks the only reason I was blacking out is because I've been throwing up everything I've been trying to eat. That's making me malnourished. I've lost weight since I got pregnant, haven't gained any. He's given me some medicine that will hopefully stop the morning sickness, but now my blood work has come back "irregular". I don't know what that means. My thyroid was "irregular" and I may have a uterine infection. The nurse said they were sending it out for a "culture" again, I don't know what that is. Now I have to wait a few days to see if there may be something wrong with me.
I'm freaking out, probably more than I should, and I don't like that I don't know what's going on with me and the baby... Please pray for us.

****We're Flooded****

But since I don't have a basement, I don't have to worry about any damage :) So it's a fun flood! The water got within five feet of the house in the main lot and went half way into the yard on the empty lot. When the rain died down a couple of girls came over with tubes and floated around in the water on our street. They were having fun until some guys in a big truck came and ran them off. They kept driving back and forth. Splashing like crazy. It was kind of mean. I thought they should have let the girls have fun but I guess idiots with big trucks are selfish... Anyways. Here are some pictures of my yard and one picture of the girls. It's really blurry but you can still tell how deep the water is.

*** FireWorks***

I Had to add some cute ones of Berti before I got to the fireworks :)

Fireworks are a lot of fun! We had a blast shooting them off. Here are a few of my favorite pictures. They turned out pretty good once I figured out the right setting on my camera :)

Enjoy!

Also, if you click on the pictures, you can see a bigger version.

If it looks like there is a black bar in this one (above) it is because I was sitting in a swing when I took this picture and the bar got in the way. I still think this is one of my favorites.
This one (above) reminds me of a pheonix. I don't know why it just kinda looks that way to me.

This one (above) makes me think of a Chinese Dragon from a parade. Again I have no idea why...It just does.

This one (above) is not taken from the air. You can't tell from the picture but this is Ross shooting a Roman Candle at Jeff and Eric. There were no injuries, just a lot of swearing.

I found it all very entertaining :)

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

Eric and I will be going out to the farm for a family cookout! We will be joined by a few of our friends and Lowell's girlfriend. I'm making macaroni salad and brownies (yum yum) Alma, Lowell's lady friend, with be grilling her famous ribs. We will also have hot dogs, chips, dip and watermelon.

After we have stuffed ourselves, Eric, his brother Ross and his friend Jeff will entertain us by shooting fireworks directly at one another as is Johnson tradition... Don't worry those hard Johnson heads have never needed a trip to the emergency room. We may have to watch out for Jeff... When the roman candles run out, the real fireworks will begin! I have already packed extra bug spray and my Camera. I am ready for a long fun night.

I will post pictures later :)

Hope everyone has a great Fourth of July!

Minnesota

So I have been completely spacing on my Vacation. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you all about it. It was wonderful. Just what the doctor ordered. So relaxing but so fun.

We started out at my Grandma's. We didn't really swim. We just floated around until we got really sunburned. Katina's backside of her legs were burnt up. I burnt up the front side of mine. Very painful. Very red...Totally worth it :) I had a blast hanging out with Katina. Eric tried to take Liberty in the water but she didn't really like it to much. She was happy to float around on the tubes with Katina and I. My mom, Maggie, Katey and Hildi were up at my Grandma's the first day we were there. The next few days were just us and Katina.

Grandpa also got his fountain running again. Put in three goldfish. Liberty found them very entertaining. I had to keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn't fall in :)

The last day at my Grandparents, we went out to eat at the Legion. Liberty was crabby the whole time. Which is so unlike her. I thought it was kind of funny. Normally so sweet and well behaved...Just wait until we go out in public with the Grandparents and let all hell brake loose :) Crabbiness aside, It was a lot of fun. I think I hugged Katina goodbye like 20 times. I'm going to miss her but I'm so glad we got to spend time together.

Next we went to my Mom and Dad's house. All of my brothers and sister were waiting to run out give us hugs.

I got to groom horses with Elle. That was a lot of fun. I hadn't brushed a horse in who knows how long. Beau must have been rolling in the dirt that day because he was one dirty pony :)

Hildi and Liberty didn't really get along. Hildi wasn't used to sharing. She was really upset whenever Berti grabbed one of her toys. At one point she tried to kick her down the stairs! I'm not kidding. She did! It was funny. She would run around say everything was hers. Then occasionally, she would hit Liberty. I tried to get it on tape but she just smiled at me. Liberty decided to hit Hildi when the camera was running. They'll probably think it was Berti beating on Hildi when they get older :) Towards the end of our trip they started to get along better. I think if I had stayed an extra week, they would have been playing like sisters.

Jay had his friend Andrew come out from Washington to visit (I think it's Washington...Hhmmmm) Anyways, the boys were very good at keeping us up all night. Very good. I think Eric was ready to knock them out. We had a lot of fun with them but at some point in the night, you just have to shut up and sleep.

Maggie had a play at the county fair. It was really cute. It was about hippies. And MY sister played the straight laced non-hippy :) She was funny. Whenever they would sing to her, she would roll her eyes and give a thumbs down sign. Also the county fair had the BEST donuts EVER!!! They were so good. At the fair, I had a blue braid put into my hair. It's small but cute. It reminds me of my high school days. I'm sure you all remember the crazy hair colors I had back then. Eric bought Maggie an airbrush tattoo that says "Bad Girl". It's cute and it washes off so I knew my parents wouldn't kill me over it. I've corrupted my siblings bad enough...A handful of them have already told me I have to take them to get their first tattoos...I'm sorry Mom...I love you :) Eric wanted to play a game at the fair. I knew he was good at the balloons so that was the only one I would let him play. He bought one dart and popped one balloon. I know he could have gotten the biggest prize there if I had let him keep going but two dollars was enough wasted in my opinion. He won a cute little ducky for Liberty.

We went to a Drive In Movie with my friend Julie...Actually the movie was before the fair...Sorry I'm all out of order. Whatever, it's the stories, not the order they are in :) Anyways, It was so much fun. I haven't seen her since the wedding. I missed her so much. Besides our hair colors and my baby weight, not much has changed...Oh and on the subject of my baby weight. I may be pregnant but I am still too SMALL to fit in my wedding dress. I'm too small, the dress is too big. How awesome is that? :) Ok back to Julie. The drive in had three movies in a row but they don't start until it gets dark so we were only going to stay for the first one. It happened to be Get Smart. It was too funny. I suggest everyone go see it. It was funny but not sick or raunchy at all. It was a good family movie. I loved it. Eric loved it too. We agreed that it was definitely a buy when it comes out on DVD. Seeing Julie was great. I'm planning another trip up to MN this summer and she is planning a trip to Omaha this summer. We don't have the dates but we are definitely going to get together both times.

I went shopping with my mom at a bookstore called Borders. I had heard of it but I had never been there before. I picked up two books for Liberty. Peter Rabbit and Madeline. I was looking for Miss Spider books but we couldn't find them anywhere. Even my mom thought that was weird. Those books are good. I also wanted Eloise. They had new books of her but I wanted the original. My mom bought me to new journals that I will be making into baby books for Liberty and Henry (No I haven't found out if it is a boy or girl, I just like calling my belly Henry. It'll be funny when Henry comes out a girl) Most baby books ask all kinds of dumb questions. I'm a stay at home mom and I didn't pay that much attention. I don't think anyone could honestly fill out those entire books. Also Mom gave me my baby book. She warned me that it would be empty buy it actually was pretty full. Better than what I have filled out in Liberty's book :) It had so much info I didn't remember or know about plus there were a lot of really cute pictures. You may not believe it but I was one cute little peanut back in the day :)

I had a wonderful time with my family. As always, with a big family I feel as if I may not have been able to give equal time to everyone but I am truly happy for the time I got to spend with Maggie. She is one sibling I know I hardly had time to spend with when I visited in the past. It was awesome to have time alone with her this time. To whoever I missed this trip I'm sorry. Yell at me and I'll make an extra effort with you my next trip.

For the most part, Henry was good. I wasn't too noxious. My ankles did swell up a little but that didn't last too long and it hasn't happened since. I used to say that this pregnancy is definitely better than Liberty's but now I feel that it's not better... It's just a different kind of annoying. I hope that makes since.

On the way home I was once again defeated by the evil trees of Le Sueur. It is a funny story involving my inability to get a picture of the Jolly Green Giant. He is my Big Foot and I will defeat him...someday :)

Obviously I made it home safe. We are all happy but at the same time sad to be home. It is a pain to be so far away from my family. But I have my own family now so I guess it's Ok that I'm so far out on my own...

Life in General

I think that everyone has a plan in life. Even those who seam unorganized...But I've been starting to wonder lately how many people get to accomplish their goals.

There are so many people all around me that I see on both sides of the line. Some are working to get there (although they are not there yet). Others are simply crashing and burning... So many wanted college but never went and are stuck in dead end jobs. Of those who went to college, only half got their degree AND only half of those are putting there degree to use.

A close friend of mine feels she is doomed to work for her father for the rest of her life. She constantly complains and talks about doing things differently, but it's all talk. She never makes any changes. It's not just her father. Her boyfriend walks all over her too... She knows it but she does nothing. She told me that she will be breaking it off for good this week when I'm up in MN visiting my family. But I know when I get home, she will be all cuddly and lovey dovey with him, same as always.

Another friend of mine has a college education they don't use. They do have a good job and they do make good money. But even that is wasted. They could be saving to get their own place and be off on there own. Instead, they live at home with their parents and spend all of their money on "toys"...you know, cars, t.v.'s and such.

Yet another of my friends does nothing. NOTHING! That is all they do....

Another one of my friends "treats" himself whenever he's feeling down. The only problem is he feels he deserves these "treats" three to four times a week. He hasn't paid his rent in at least 4 months (that I know of for sure, I think it may be more) This one bothers me because half of me feels bad, but the other half wants him to know that there is NO WAY his sorry butt will be sleeping on my couch when he gets kicked out of his apartment. He did this to himself.

I recently discovered a relative of mine has got himself in the worst of spirals (though he doesn't see it). His life is completely preoccupied with drugs and alcohol. It is really upsetting me. I've been sick about it since I found out. I just keep wondering "what happened?" I never in a million years would imagine he would end up this way. And of course, as with all addicts, he is enjoying himself and doesn't see a problem. He has had his license taken away, but he insists it's not the drugs and alcohols fault.

Another one of my relatives tried to end his life... Twice! Again, I never saw it coming...

I know none of my friends or relatives had these lives in mind when they made their plans. My friends bitch and bitch and bitch and bitch and bitch (well you get the idea) about all of the things that went wrong in their lives. I listen to them talk and try to give advice when I feel I can. But lately I am growing tired of it. Why should I give the same advice over an over again if the person makes no effort to change?...

I am by no means judging them. Things happen and sometimes you have no choice...And even when you have a choice, the choices I make aren't the same as someone else. My only point to writing this (and thinking it over and over in my mind) is trying to figure out if Life Plans are worth it. It seams to me, they can just disappoint you in the end if you fall short. I honestly believe all the people above tried hard to get where they wanted to be...but when they couldn't succeed right away, they got depressed and fell back on plan B...or maybe C.

I think that is what leads people to turn to drugs or suicide or living off daddy or even living in denial of their situations... They think they can't do better for themselves so they don't.

I started thinking about my life and the plan I had. I wanted to travel. I wanted to graduate. I wanted to start my career BEFORE I even started looking for a husband... My life is nothing like that. I look at what a lot of my single friends and relatives are doing and I find myself feeling disappointed. I feel like I failed and they are the lucky ones... But then I think "Wait a second, I have a husband who loves and takes care of me! I have a beautiful baby and another one on the way! I have a home that I love and friends and family that are ALWAYS there for me!"

No I didn't get what I wanted. My life may be nothing like I had planned it to be but it is a good life that I'm grateful for everyday. I'm not going to let myself get upset over what I could have done. What I could have changed.

To my friends that feel like they have failed, I say "SHUT UP!"
You are young! You have plenty of time to turn your lives around, and even if you don't get what you want in the end, be thankful everyday for what you did get!

Life Plans are just goals...You may not ever reach them but you can make sure you enjoy one hell of a ride trying to get there :)

**Love to All**

It was a Beautiful Day in the Cemetery

So I got lost leaving Milligan.

.

Let me say that again.

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I got Lost.

.

L*O*S*T

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LOST!

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Loooooooooooooooooooossssssssssssstttttttttttttttttt!!!!

.

It is two simple turns from Milligan to Geneva and I got lost. I ended up on dirt roads and I don't even need to drive on any dirt roads to get to Geneva. I went left and then right and then left again. I would turn whenever the roads got really bumpy and they were hard to drive on. And I ended up at some cemetery I've never been to before. It's not the little one west of town or the big one to the south. It was completely different. So I stopped, got Liberty out of the car and sat down in a grassy area that I was sure didn't have anyone buried under it.

Liberty ate cheerios and pointed at all the bugs in awe. I sat and cried for 45 minutes. I cried until this elderly woman came up to me and asked "Honey, there is no grave there. Who are you crying for?" to which I replied "I'm pregnant and emotional. Which way is Geneva?" She laughed at me and then pointed the way. It was actually really easy. I'm not sure how I got lost in the first place but if I had just kept going the direction I was going (without stopping at the cemetery) I would have been there in five minutes.

My way home from Geneva was a pain too because of all of the construction going on (which may have been why I got lost on the way to Geneva in the first place...hmmm) But I didn't get lost. Two quick turns and I was home safe. I don't feel like driving anywhere again until my trip this weekend to my mom's.

In the end a trip that should have only taken 45 minutes (If the pharmacist got my stuff ready on time, which he did. Thank God) took over two hours. All of this for a stupid trip to the pharmacists...The stuff they gave me for Liberty's big bites better work!