Thanksgiving and such

Where to begin!

• We ended up switching Jayna back to her mixed formula and she has been GREAT! She sleeps from 10-7 almost every night! We are truly blessed in this regard!
• I finally got to a pain-free state a little over a week ago, which was blissful. I went to my gallbladder Dr. on the 20th and he cleared me for full-on exercise and I was all excited to go on a major walk on Thanksgiving day... That was until that night :p  Can you believe that the very day I got cleared to exercise I ended up in the ER again?!?! I know, I couldn't believe it either. In fact, I refused to go back to the ER and was in the worst pain of my life (I know I say that every time, but this time it just happened to be worse than the gallbladder pain and birth pain) from 11:30pm to 3:00am. At 3:00, after my 3rd ridiculously hot shower/bath, 3rd time throwing up, and not being able to lay, sit, stand or walk I asked Scott for a blessing. In the blessing it said something about knowing what I needed to do to give myself relief. Almost immediately after the blessing, I was humbled, yet again and knew that I HAD to go to the ER. I was almost immediately put on Morphine and had to have a CAT-scan (I have no idea how to spell that). They found kidney stones :(!!! One still in my kidney and the other stuck in my ureter (that's the painful part). They gave me some heavy pain pills and some Flomax to help the stone move through easier. The stone has now moved into my bladder, but refuses to pass. I'm constantly amazed that just as I feel everything is good, yet another thing has to happen to me. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to learn from all of this... I really am trying to take care of myself! I've done everything my doctors have told me to do and am trying to work on getting my weight back off, but am running into bump after bump. I'm praying this is the end! I don't think my psyche or my wallet can handle anymore, let alone my husband and baby. I do have to say that Thanksgiving dinner on pain pills is a whole new experience! If you ever get the chance to experience it, you should. Haha!
• Scott and I have decided that we want to start some Christmas traditions of our own. The first one we got excited about is going to the grocery store and paying for the groceries of the person behind us in line. However, since we've had so many unexpected bills lately, we'll have to wait until next year for this one. I am pleased to say, however, that my amazing sister Stephanie fulfilled it for us this year. She was in line at the grocery store and the man in front of her didn't have enough money for the Thanksgiving meal he was trying to purchase. Though money has been tight for them this year as well, she generously offered to pay for the remainder of this man's groceries. She said it made her realize how much they truly had, because they had never been without. I HAVE SUCH AN INCREDIBLE FAMILY!!!
• I am so incredibly grateful to have such an amazing husband who has been nothing but supportive through everything we've had to go through and I'm grateful that we've been able to grow closer through all of our trials rather than farther apart. I'm grateful for a beautiful daughter who makes me smile and laugh every single day. I'm grateful for my family who constantly sets a great example for what I want to become. I'm grateful for loving and giving in-laws that live so close by. Most of all, I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who watches over us. Even when we feel abandoned, we look back and see that he truly has a hand in everything. Though we've had a lot of trials, we've been blessed even more.
• Here are the many smiles of Jayna that keep me entertained every day :) Thanks to my sis-in-law, Becky, for capturing them on camera... I'm not so good at that part. Haha!

Ramblings

So I feel the need to write, even though I really have nothing important to say. I'm amazed at how my pregnancy emotions have seemed to return since my gall bladder surgery. It's hilarious (or not) that I felt totally normal the week after having Jayna, but have been an emotional mess for the last couple of weeks. I hit my limit last Friday night and had a huge breakdown. I feel that overall, I've been very positive about everything Scott and I have had to endure in the last year and a half. However, after bed rest, c-section recovery, gall bladder attacks, and gall bladder surgery (and recovery) I was excited to be through everything. But no, I have now had a sore throat for 1 1/2 weeks, which is SO not ideal for teaching voice, and then last Friday night I threw my back out picking Jayna up... That's when I lost it! I threw a 2-yr-old tantrum and bawled for hours.

The next morning I couldn't even get my excitement up for my first "Join Our Journey" meeting, which I had been so excited about for 1 1/2 weeks. Luckily, Rebecca, Clarissa, and I were the only ones there. Normally, I would have been disappointed in such a small turn-out, but given my mood I was really grateful it was just the three of us. I am hoping to get more people to join us at the meetings (we have some out of town followers on the blog, which I'm grateful for), but figure that will start to happen after the holidays. I am really glad Rebecca and Clarissa are doing it with me, though! I think we have the perfect blend of personalities to help motivate one another.

My back is now feeling better, my sore throat is starting to heal, and I'm almost better from gall bladder surgery, so I'm praying for the best. Now I just have to figure out Jayna's tummy! She was doing so well for a few weeks, but has now returned to her super fussy ways. I'm hoping it will pass soon, as well. She has hit a major growth spurt, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. She is sleeping for 7-hour stints through the night, which is sooooo wonderful!

Scott has a job interview today that I'm really hoping will pan out! If it does pan out, I think it will be something he will be good at and he will enjoy. Sadly, the whole PSR job he currently has, has not been a good experience, though he has gained some new skills and resume build from it. We'll keep fasting and praying for a good job in this economy. Sadly, Scott graduated at just the wrong time. The economy is starting to look up, but they're also trying to hire new grads. When Scott graduated, was when the economy was at it's worst... Needless to say, it's been a journey. :)

Sorry for all the negativity in this post! Just trying to get some things off my chest in hopes that I can get my positive attitude back. :)

Jayna's 10-week stats

Jayna had her "2 month" appointment last Friday, even though she was 10 weeks. These are her stats:

• Head Circumference - 37 cm (10th percentile)
• Weight - 8 lb 12 oz (not on the chart)
• Height - 21 inches (not on the chart)

So there ya have it... we still have a small baby (just now at my birth weight), but her head is too big for her body (just by a bit). Guess we'll have a smart one ;)

Pure Excitement!

So... Just in case you haven't heard yet, my friend (Rebecca Peterson) and I are starting a motivational group geared towards healthy living and weight loss. Though it's geared towards weight loss, this group is designed to give people the tools to be self-motivated to achieve anything in life. We want lots of people to be involved... I do mean INVOLVED. This group will be one that those who participate in, are highly involved in sharing their talents and insights... everyone there will be involved. Anyone over age 14 is welcome, whether thick, thin, male or female. Please check it out and spread the word! We are so excited to get this going!!!

www.joinjerushasjourney.blogspot.com

Those that aren't able to attend, are more than welcome to follow us on that blog and partake in the goodness ;)

First trip to Grandma Cox's

We went to Twin Falls this weekend to attend Lance and Becky's Halloween party. It was great! They have the best decorations (and house to compliment them) ever! Kempton and Bonnie were also there and got to meet Jayna. We had a very fun successful weekend.

Successful was not what I thought would happen, however. Jayna had to have her immunization shots on Friday morning, and the night before she acted like she really didn't feel well. So when we were at the Dr's office and the nurse came in, I expected the worst. The nurse was the fastest I'd ever seen giving 3 shots. Of coarse, the first prick sent Jayna into a screaming fit that matched none other, but immediately after the bandaids were placed and the nurse handed her to me, she was fine. What? My daughter? Amazingly enough, she didn't get sick or anything afterwards and actually slept all day... AND... (ready for this?) She slept from 1:00 am until 10:30 when we finally woke her up to eat. Unbelieveable!!!

Then we assumed that was all from the shots, but she was great all day Saturday, slept the whole night (minus one 15 min feeding at 5:15) and was great today! Could it be she's finally past her colicky period?! I sure hope so... I hope it's not just the fact that she's putting on a show for Grandma. ;) I love the cute stage she's in!

Smiley Jayna

A couple of weeks ago, Jayna started smiling... I mean truly smiling. Since then, I've been trying to get a good picture, but my camera is so dang slow that by the time the pic is taken, Jayna is already done smiling. Needless to say, I have a lot of random, open-mouthed pictures. However, the last couple of days (just before she turns 10 weeks!!!), Jayna has been smiling ear to ear for long periods of time. Last night I finally got some adorable pictures! Unfortunately, I can only get her to smile a lot while holding her, so my photography skills are not so hot.

This is my ABSOLUTE favorite!

Here are some attempts that are cute, but not the full effect.

Last week, my friend April brought us some newborn clothes that Jayna is still able to wear for a few more weeks. In the bag, was this cute little outfit with a matching hat. The first day I was able to pick Jayna up after surgery, I immediately dressed her in it and we cuddled like no one has cuddled before. So cute!!!

Speaking of hats... The mother of one of my students made this adorable hat for Jayna. I'm so excited for the cooler weather so she can wear it. Coincidentally, another student gave me a gift card that I used to buy an adorable red sweater (before I got the hat). They match so well! (I don't have a pic of the sweater yet. We just threw the hat on and took a picture.) It's amazing how much Jayna has grown in a few short weeks since this picture was taken!

And lastly, I couldn't resist getting a naked butt shot... it's just so little and cute, though much bigger than it used to be.

She was not amused at all!!!

Surgery #2

On Oct 17th I went in for gall bladder surgery. Seeing as I had had surgery just 2 months previous and healed like a pro, I figured I had nothing to worry about... Especially since most people I've talked to have said this surgery is a breeze and has a fast recovery. So I went in at 8am to get everything prepped for my 10:00 surgery. They asked me about a million questions to make sure I wasn't high-risk for surgery. The only complication I knew about was that my oxygen levels after my c-section went low (below 90), so they had me on oxygen for a bit.

I went into the operating room and they put a nice mask on me, told me to take deep breaths and *Boom* I was out. The next thing I know I have all these people tapping on me saying, "Come on... wake up! Breathe! Come on... you need to breathe! Are you with us? Wake up! Come on!" I heard them, but nothing made sense, and then I thought to myself, "I am breathing... I can hear you, can't I?" Then I heard one last person say, "You've got to take some deep breaths... Come on!" So I took a deep breath and heard a slight sigh of relief and then more pleas to repeat that action. After a few deep breaths (me, still half asleep), everything quieted back down and I heard one person say, "My word! I could not get her to breathe. Her oxygen levels got down to 23 and she made me way too nervous..." and then I was back out.

After I was in the recovery room, all I remember is that alarms kept going off and the nurse would walk by my room and remind me to breathe. Getting checked out was a little frustrating because Scott had to be at work and my mom had Jayna, so she was able to pick me up, but it was difficult for her to actually come all the way in. So, there I was, completely drugged and unable to make sense of much, but it didn't matter because I wasn't given any instructions whatsoever. I found out later that the Dr. had given Scott some info on when I could bathe and whatnot, but apparently all the info was in the nifty little folder they gave me. It would have been nice if the nurse had told me that everything I needed to know was in there. I do, however, remember that I asked the nurse if they called in the prescription and she said, "I haven't yet, but I need to." So I didn't bother looking in the folder they sent with me and sent my mom to the pharmacy, and lo and behold, they didn't call it in. Luckily, I had a bit of the pain killer left over from my c-section and it had a refill on it. I got the refill before I could actually get the other prescription in and filled. Thank goodness for my c-section. I would have been in some serious pain!

Sadly, I didn't not feel better in 2-3 days like most people. In fact, I was in bed, unable to hold Jayna all the way through Sunday. Yep, 5 days in bed, asleep. Then on Monday I felt a bit better, but could still not pick Jayna up... she had to be handed to me. I called the Dr on Tuesday to see why I wasn't healing faster and they told me that I could have pain for up to 2 weeks and since my body had just recovered from another surgery, my body would probably take a bit longer to heal. Good times!

I'm feeling much better today. Still have pain, but it's minimal compared to what it was.

Mom came and took care of Jayna and me, which was so wonderful! I felt horrible because the first night after my surgery Jayna screamed until 7am... Way to initiate Grandma, little one! Funny enough, we had her on a decent sleeping schedule until then. Now she's reversed and we're struggling to get her flipped back around. Today, with me trying to wake her up, she slept from 9:30 am to 6:45 pm with only one 1 1/2 oz bottle at 3:00. Why, oh why, can't she do that at night?! Oh well, welcome to motherhood!

Through this whole experience, I've decided that when it comes time for me to die, I just want someone to give me general anesthesia and let me stop breathing. It was totally peaceful :)