Lately

Not too much has been going on but I thought I would just give a general update.  This quarter of classes for Matthew has been really tough for all of us. His classes this time are just more intense and time consuming. He is definitely feeling more stress and pressure and Austin and I have definitely felt his absence a lot more. We will all be glad when this quarter ends in about 2 weeks.
Austin and I have been trying to keep busy. Here is a little bit of what we have been up to:

Austin is really into legos lately and this time he wanted to be all covered in them.

 Austin loves to put on my necklaces when he sees me do it and really wanted a picture of both of us wearing them.

Austin starting sorting out his alphabet puzzle like this all by himself. I was quite impressed!

 And we are always finding new things to play with.

Now that it is a little cooler, Austin loves to have a snack while sitting on our stairs and watch cars and trucks drive by. I think his mouth was full while he was trying to smile.

To go along with the season I have really been into baking with pumpkin and this blog has lots of yummy pumpkin recipes. I have tried the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (twice!) and the pumpkin french toast and loved both of them!
 I have also made pumpkin bread using my roommate Laura's recipe and it is the best:
-3 c sugar
-1 c vegetable oil
-4 eggs
-1 1/2 t salt
-1t cinnamon
-2/3 c water
-2 c pumpkin
-3 1/2 c flour
-1 t baking soda
-1 t nutmeg
-1/4 t ground cloves
-1 c nuts
Combine and bake:
375 for 2 large loaves for 1 hr.
350 for 4 small loaves for 40-45 minutes

Partying....I mean Babysitting

Ok I totally stole that title from my sister Jenna but it was the perfect description! My parents had the awesome opportunity to go to Moscow, Russia for a week and my youngest sister is 13 and living at home. So Jenna and I were both able to go home and be with Alyssa while my parents were away.  It was so fabulous to spend time with Alyssa and Jenna while Austin got in some good cousin time with Cade and Rylee.  I did get to see my parent for a day after they got back and got to hear all the cool things they did.

How awesome is that!

Here is my picture overload of what we did during the week together:

 Alyssa is an 8th grade cheerleader at her school so we were able to go to one of her games and watch her cheer.

 Rylee watching the game in all her cuteness

 Ahh sorry its blurry! Alyssa is the cute little one in front :)

 Our neighbor has chickens and let us come over one night to see the baby chick and to pick some eggs. Cade and Austin loved it. 

(blogger would not let me turn this picture the right way)

 Proof that Jenna and I were together! Sometimes we get so focused on the kids we forget to document ourselves. Try not to notice how Jenna's hair curls up so much better than mine!

 Me getting in some girl time with Rylee!

 Meeting up at the park with a couple of friends from home. We have 8 1/2 kids between all of us now! So fun to catch up with these girls.

 Austin and Cade enjoying their gifts from Russia.

 Making cookies with Alyssa!  Austin is clothes-less because we had just come back from picking eggs at the neighbors and Austin fell in a mud hole.  It was really sad and really funny all at the same time.  He hates being dirty and he kept slipping and couldn't get out. Whereas Cade was just itching to jump in and was sad he couldn't play in it too.

This is what the boys did most of the time.  They would fill up their carts and chase each other around the house. 

 What is with blogger suddenly not letting me put in vertical pictures? Anyone else have issues with that?  I love this picture of Austin, Rylee and I jumping on the trampoline.

Austin and Cade loved sitting together when we went places and Jenna and I loved driving around Dad's car!

Jenna and I were also able to get some crafting nights in as well as go shopping together. We also stayed up way to late every night. It was a fun-filled week and I'm so glad my parents were safe and enjoyed Russia as well as letting me come home for a little trip too!

The Story

So I am a little behind in blogging but I have had an intense couple of weeks. One week I was in Texas which was awesome but I will get to that in another post.  This past week I spent some time in the hospital which was not so awesome.  (You know how I was joking a few posts ago that both Matthew and Austin have had surgery this fall and that I guess I would be next?) Here is the story.

On Monday and Tuesday I was feeling really sick and nauseous and so didn't really eat or drink much. Wednesday I was feeling worse plus had a really bad back/side pain on my right side. Thankfully Matthew didn't have class on Wednesday morning so he hung out with Austin while I tried to sleep but this nagging pain was getting worse and I just couldn't ignore it anymore.  I called my doctor and was told to come to the hospital so they could check it out and make sure baby girl was still doing ok.  By this point my pain and nausea was so intense. They did a ultrasound where my pain was and found that my kidney was pretty swollen and inflamed which was causing the pain. They said this is somewhat common in pregnancy but not this bad and this early on (I was 23 weeks).  They also found I was really dehydrated and that was causing contractions.  I was admitted into the hospital and was given and IV of fluids and pain medication.  But my pain was getting out of control.  Seriously the worst pain I have ever felt.  They were giving me narcotics but they would dull the pain for about an hour and then I was asking for more.  They couldn't really do much for me since I'm pregnant and told me that I might have this pain for the rest of my pregnancy.  REALLY? 4 months of this?? At this point Matthew had called his mom and she was on the next scheduled flight.  She was a life saver!  I stayed in the hospital for 2 two days and then was sent home with Tylenol and some Vicodin if I really needed it.

I lasted one day and one sleepless night at home in agony.  The pain was so bad that I was also so nauseous and would literally force myself to eat or drink anything since I didn't want to get dehydrated again.  The only sleep I got was for two hours right after I had taken a Vicodin and then was just up all night in severe pain. I waited until Matthew woke up and then we headed right back to the hospital again Saturday morning. I was just in tears my pain was so bad.  But I was also concerned about heavy medication while pregnant. I was basically a mess. They admitted me again and took another ultrasound and kidney went from "moderately bad" to "severe".  They thought there might be a kidney stone but they couldn't find one. Well at this point the only option was surgery but then again being pregnant they really didn't want to go that route.  The surgery would put a stint in my kidney and that would help it drain better but not necessarily take away the pain. This surgery also has lots of side effects and the stint has to be changed every month. By this point I am literally begging the nurses for medication by the hour and was left with no other options so we decided to go the surgery route scheduled Sunday morning at 8am.

Early Sunday morning around 4am I woke up comfortable for the first time in 4 days with a nurse in my room. I asked her if she had already given me my pain medication, she said no she didn't.  I was like "Are you sure? Because I feel no pain." She assured me I had no pain meds in me so I just decided to jump on the chance to sleep comfortably again. At around 7am I woke up again with zero pain. After talking to the doctor we decided to cancel the surgery one hour before it was scheduled.  I don't know what happened but my pain was literally gone.  It was purely just a miracle.

 My doctor thinks it was a kidney stone although there is no proof. They couldn't ever find one in an ultrasound and I didn't ever feel like I "passed" one. But who knows.  All I know is my pain is gone and I am just so thankful.  My doctor said my kidney is still swollen and inflamed so chances are it will probably give me some more trouble the further along I become but for now I am good.

I am just so thankful for all the love and support I had throughout that horrible week from family and friends. Especially to my mother-in-law who flew down at a moment's notice and basically took over with Austin while I was in the hospital and Matthew was in class and studying.  After I came home Sunday afternoon, Matthew pulled an all nighter up on campus studying for a test and didn't come home until after his test Monday morning. Poor guy.
Anyway, long story but I really am doing good now. However after almost a week of little sleep I feel a little zombie-ish (I guess this in in preparation for a  few months from now) and am trying to sleep and take naps as much as possible. Little baby girl seems to be happy and loves kicking all the time!