Just an Update

I am still in the hospital and I'll remain here until Monday at the earliest! I am truly, truly going stir crazy.

In addition to hyperemesis gravidarium, it certainly looks like I also have gestational diabetes.

Hyperemesis Gravidarium was featred on "The Doctors" last Monday. I had never heard of this condition, now it's taking away my life!

Hyperemesis Part II

Did you know that you could be so sick during pregnancy that you lose up to a pound a day? Did you know you could go WEEKS without food or drink? Did you know you could become dehydrated, malnourished, and have large amounts of ketones that could harm the baby? Now you do.

I've been admitted into our local hospital on IV fluids and a zofran drip. The doctor also wants to do steroids. Steroids are controversial, especially since I'm only 9.5 weeks, but he said my ketones will cause more harm the steroids.

He's also discussing tube feeding, which doesn't sound fun AT ALL.

Go and educate yourself on this terrible, debilitating form of morning sickness.

Morning Sickness	Hyperemesis Gravidarum
Weight loss is typically less than 5 pounds (2.3 kg).	Weight loss is often 5-20 pounds (2.3-9.0 kg) or more. (> 5% of prepregnancy weight)
Nausea and vomiting do not significantly limit eating and drinking most days.	Nausea and vomiting greatly reduce food intake and cause dehydration if not treated.
Vomiting is infrequent and the nausea is episodic and not severe, but may cause discomfort and misery.	Vomiting is frequent and may contain bile or blood if not treated. Nausea is usually moderate to severe and constant.
Dietary and/or lifestyle changes result in improvement most of the time.	Fluid rehydration through a vein and/or medications to stop the vomiting are typically required.
Improvement is typically gradual after the first trimester, although occasional queasiness may occur.	Improvement usually occurs by mid-pregnancy, but nausea and/or vomiting may last until late pregnancy.
Work and household tasks may be difficult at times, but usually can be completed when nausea is less severe.	Outside employment and home responsibilities may be impossible for weeks or months. Self-care may also be very difficult.

Hyperemesis

I should have known this was a different type of pregnancy. A week and a half before I ever got a positive pregnancy test, I threw up daily for five days. Somehow, I just knew I was pregnant then.

I've had nausea off and on and I've lost 15lbs so far. I'm 9 weeks along. This week, I had to go into the hospital and get TWO LITERS (imagine a 2-liter of soda) of fluids to get me rehydrated.

I feel so sick. My body is literally starving. Everyday I get on the scale and see I've lost more weight. Today, I hoped to see my weight go up a bit since receiving the fluids (water weighs something, right?). Instead, I've lost another quarter of a pound.

I'm on phenergan suppositories every 6 hours and oral zophran every 8 hours and I still haven't kept any type of food down since a granola bar last Friday.

I'm miserable!

The baby, on the other hand, is doing great. He/She has DOUBLE the normal amount of pregnancy hormone (hcg). We looked on a sonogram yesterday and he/she was kicking up a storm. Healthy baby, healthy heartbeat.

I go back to the doctor and we'll devise a "plan" tomorrow. I never knew that pregnancy could make you so absolutely sick!

RightStart Math Celebration

As of today, Timothy is officially halfway through his RightStart Math curriculum for the year! He's learned so much these last few months--even and odd numbers, shapes, addition and subtraction, place value, money. I'm thrilled with our choice in curriculum!

He's only Lesson 7 of 26 in My Father's World so we still have a good ways to go there.

We're making progress, though, and that's special!

And then there were 3...

We're expecting another little Doman baby in May!

We had the first sonogram last week and saw one perfect, tiny little baby nestled firmly in my uterus (we were worried it might be ectopic, but it's not). The heartrate was in the 130s!

I've been sick--extremely sick--but about seven months from now it'll all be worth it when we welcome another blessing into our household!

Money

In RightStart Math, we started learning about money last week. We taught him that pennies were ones, nickels were fives, and dimes were tens. Dad would enter a value on the abacus and then Timothy would have to show the amount with coins. After that, the book made it harder by saying, "Can you show this value (12) with only three coins?" Timothy learned that there were multiple ways to represent value.

Most math programs use drills and worksheets. Our uses hands-on learning with tally sticks, games, an abacus, and a geoboard. On average, we might do 2 worksheets a week and he's LEARNING MORE than he would otherwise!

Go math!

Wordless Wednesday: My House is a Circus

N is for Nest

Last week Timothy completed the N unit in My Father's World. He learned that God will provide for us, just like he provides for the animals of the field. Our truth was "God takes good care of me." He learned about animal habitats, built a nest and a bird feeder, and did lots of worksheets. The one in the bottom picture is a cut and paste worksheet where he had to match the letters he's learned with the objects that start with that letter.

I can't say enough good things about My Father's World! Timothy's learning so much and homeschool K is turning out to be a fun, hands-on, interactive, enlightening year for all of us. I love that Samuel can tag along, too!

Violin

Timothy will soon be learning to play Twinkle variations on the violin! Before he does, though, he has to learn the finger numbers song so he'll know which finger will play which part of the song. I'm thrilled with his teacher. She's doing great!

A is for Apple

We did an A is for Apple unit last week. The focus was on the Fruit of the Spirit and our truth was "If I stay in Jesus, I will have much fruit." We never had a chance to go the library before this week and we didn't have much time for supplemental activities, but we did make applesauce (that was very good) and play a Oh My, Apple Pie rhyming game. I've kept that game in a ziploc bag in my purse to play when we're at restaurants or a waiting room since then. It's fun!

I wish we could have visited an orchard or something, but sometimes it's okay to just learn the material without all the bells and whistles.

Why We Homeschool

This is why we homeschool. Samuel's always watching, watching, watching. The other day while Timothy was doing his homeschool Samuel got out the violin practice materials and graced us with his own "recital." I can't wait until he's able to start lessons at 3! He'll start much further along than Timothy is now!

Fall Festival

It was a dreary day last week. I had been busy at work, the kids were bored, and our exchange student had too many tests to study for. The overall mood in the house was dismal. What do we do? Throw a family fall festival!

We began by carving pumpkins. We made Timothy "scoop the guts out" this year. Although he wasn't too happy about it, he did it and did it well. It was David from China's first time to carve a pumpkin.

Then, we played a game of "pumpkin toss." Whenever I need a quick game, I get a container and a bouncy ball. Therefore, we tried to bounce a bouncy ball into our now-carved pumpkins. Daddy was the only one who scored any points, but we all had fun trying!

We made pumpkin cheesecake muffins. They were from a mix, but they were fairly advanced. I didn't eat any but the boys said they tasted delicious!

Timothy colored a picture by candlelight, then we finished the evening making salt dough ghosts. These are so easy, cute, and take about three minutes to make. Look for me to post the recipe in a couple days!

Our "Fall Festival" totally changed the mood of our household, and it cost less than $10.