Getting used to a girly world!

I'm up early so I thought a blog update might be a good choice!

Many of you have asked if everything looked OK with our girl since my pregnancy has been so rough. Thank you so much for your concern! The tech couldn't tell us much other than gender and that we're still looking at a June due date. However, we did see a her heart with a strong healthy heartbeat. Measurements were taken of her head, arms and legs, and we have good pictures of her stomach, kidneys and other organs. While she hid her face, what we saw of her face looked healthy with to me, no signs of a cleft palette which at the point in my pregnancy when I took the steroids wasn't really anything more than a very mild concern. We were also told that we would be called before our two week follow up if anything of major concern was found. So far so good! We see the doctor for a comprehensive explanation on the fourth of February.

I still deal with mild nausea and have remained on the medication needed to help me keep food down. In the past two weeks my baby bump has expanded to show a healthy looking bump! It looks pretty big in this picture, but she was also sitting rather high. I look a little more deflated depending on where she decides to be. I prefer when she's a little lower because I get out of breath a lot quicker when she's high...phew, and I'm only halfway! They keep telling me at the doctors office it's just the nature of my body to be uncomfortable so early because there's just nowhere for her to go. Oh well, I'm shaped just like my grandma and she gave birth to three children so I'm sure I can do it if she did! Mom passed on that my aunts even said grandma had been a few weeks late. Yikes! At least they have technology to induce now!


Stephen and I are still trying to process the news of our little girl. I've told several people this, but it's so contrary to how envisioned my family. With Friedrich male-dominated genetics on our side, I always pictured being a mom of a group of boys, which I didn't really mind with the exception of wanting to sew for a little girl.

With my own family structure in mind, it's also hard to picture a girl being the oldest, as I was the youngest. Being the younger sibling of a brother shaped me in ways I never really noticed until I started thinking about it. My "can-do" attitude, anything John can do I can do, tomboyish nature all came from my overwhelming love of my brother who I looked up to. I also always felt like I was taken care of because if anyone ever messed with me, well, I'd just sic my older brother on them and they'd be sorry! Of course, I would have never admitted any of this!

All of this pondering has come forth as I imagine what our girl will be like. Will she be athletic and like to kick soccer balls like her dad? Or play softball like her mom? Or will she take in my footsteps and love music and realize to do it well sports have to take a back seat? What about sewing? Will I get to share that with her or will she think it's lame? Will she soar through academics like dad, or work really hard for those B's and sometimes A's like her mom? Patient and laid back like her dad, or impatient and high strung like mom? (PLEASE BE LIKE DAD!!) She sure has two parents who were VERY shy as children! Or will she be completely different than both of us and leave us flabbergasted?

One thing is for sure, while she's little, she's going to have a lot of girly looking stuff! When I went to register, I was thinking I would get gender neutral things for the big ticket items like the stroller and pack and play and anything else that might be reused. But everything was so clearly gender dominated. It looked either very girly or very boyish.  Several of my friends are pregnant or hoping to be that way or have been helping other pregnant friends, and one in particular made an interesting point. It used to be that people bought these items out of necessity before the baby was born and before they knew what they were having. Now people find out so early the retail market has accommodated and I've helped them by registering for everything girly from strollers to burp cloths! I guess I didn't realize how excited I was until I was told it was a girl!

Oh well, protocols and products change so quickly as to what's "good" or "bad" for the baby by the time we get ready for another everything may be outdated anyway.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. We're so thankful everything is looking so good so far! Keep 'em coming!

A letter to our baby girl...

Dear Baby Girl,

You dad and I are OVER the moon today! Although we "met" you once before around the time you were eight weeks in my womb, you looked like a little peanut and I thought to myself "Really? That little thing is what's making me so sick?"

Today, not only did we find out you were going to be a girl, we saw you in the most life-like way! I cannot stop smiling or looking at pictures of your ultrasound. Your dad and I, several hours later are still downright giddy! You were shy with your face, but we saw the cutest profile of your little nose and you had your mouth open. I can't wait to kiss that face!

One of my favorite parts, was when we saw the tiniest little hand up on the screen clinch into a fist and open again - out little girl waving hello! I didn't know I could be so in love with a little hand!

I'm hoping you get your dad's patience, because your mom has none. I want you here, healthy and well-- now, and we're only half-way! It's a miracle how much love God has given me for you in my heart. No doubt you'll learn at a very young age how much God loves you, but God has also put a mom and dad in your life that already think you are the greatest thing EVER - and will spend lots of time reminding you how much you are loved, by us and your creator. Your dad even blesses you ever night.

I told Mr. Cat he was getting a sister. He didn't seem too impressed, but you'll learn soon enough not to be too disappointed. He doesn't get too excited over anything but food, water and a good head rub.

We also talked to your grandparents today and told them about you. They can't believe you're a girl, as your dad has a history of boys in his family - but everyone is STILL so excited. My dad, your Papa - even giggled a little, and as you will learn really quickly, your Mimi squealed over her baby grandgirl. Your Nana got teary eyed, but don't worry she's not sad - she's just REALLY happy. Your Grampa Jimbo told your dad to be prepared to be outnumbered. I had a laugh over that. As you can tell everyone is so excited to meet you and love is something you will never be without!

Despite my impatience, you be sure to take your time and grow strong and healthy. We will be anxiously awaiting your arrival in June!

With more love than I ever knew possible,
Your Momma
xoxoxo

New FLUFF!!

No it's not a euphemism for the foul smells that often come from a lady with less and less space around her bowels...

But it's not that far off! I'm talking DIAPERS!!!

Stephen and I are already considered flaming liberals for the fact that not only do we recycle, we pay to have it picked up every two weeks. SO, why not add to our green tendencies by using cloth diapers?

It's something we've considered for a long time and these aren't my momma's cloth diapers...well I was a 'sposie (diaper lingo for disposable) kid anyway. Not only does it make a ton of sense financially, as there is little need for a diaper service and all the diapers we are purchasing are considered "one size" these diapers should last through potty training. The only time these may not work is the new born phase, which our baby may be born bigger than anyway. Because of the uncertainty of size at birth (both Stephen and I were born pre-term - me especially so, but there are no indications of that being the case with our baby, so far) we decided to use disposables to get us through that short period when financially it makes the least sense to invest.

The lingo is hard to wrap your mind around as there are SO many choices. I have chosen to get our current stash from a site called Cottonbabies.com. They offer a wide selection, free shipping, and my latest batch that just came in are from a "seconds" sale. Diapers that didn't make the cut for top quality, but the most I've noticed wrong are a spot here or there where the serging may have clipped in or out a little bit but only on finished edges...nothing structural or anything an untrained eye would see. At $7 for the cover, and $3.95 for the insert, I couldn't have hardly made these any cheaper!

So, what do we have so far you ask? Well let me educate you on our current stash! (Because I know diapers are just as exciting to you as they are to me right now!)

First up, upon the recommendation of our friends the Bocangels, we have Bum Genius Brand, All-in-One 4.0 diapers with aplix (velcro) closures. (I know, the LINGO is rediculous...)

These may prove to be the longest lasting in terms of style. Almost all brands have an option of either aplix or snap closures (like you see in the sizing). I have heard the velcro can wear out, but it looks easy enough to replace - and since sewing velcro is a snap (ha!) for this girl, I went ahead and bought this type of closure. This diaper is likely to be the most comfy for baby, as the outside cover made out of PUL (poly-urithane laminate sp?) and is lined with fleece and the diaper is considered a "pocket" diaper. Inside the pocket is a micro-fiber liner which you can double at night for extra protection. To wash, you do a pre-cycle on the liner, run a warm wash cycle on both the cover and the liner, and line dry. As the baby gets bigger, the was strap can be adjusted and you simply snap or unsnap the front to either shorten or lengthen the diaper. As a fully lined pocket cover, these are the most expensive, but also seem to accommodate to the largest size.

The next style diaper I ordered on a super "cyber monday" sale (yes I bought diapers for my Thanksgiving shopping...) are Bum Genius One Size Freetimes.

This is essentially the best of a Bum Genius All-in-One without the need to stuff the pocket. They are still PUL outsides, with a fleece inside but instead of the pocket, two liners are attached, one at the front and one at the back, providing maximum coverage for the "wettest" parts of the diaper. They are washed the same way, and one of the reviews mentioned a downside as taking too long to line-dry. Currently living in a world without much humidity, I didn't think much about it. These are completely snaps, both to lengthen and shorten and to attach. Some parents preferred these are they are harder for babies to eventually learn to pull off...however, they're also harder to snap and I can imagine getting them closed on a wiggly baby would be fairly difficult.

The next kind I got, I believe are made by BG, but sold exclusively by Cottonbaby.com. They are a cover with an insert that lays on top.

 The good news is that the inserts for these and the the first diaper are the same. These have high ratings in Europe and day care centers as they work most like 'sposies. These are the ones I bought on seconds. You can layer as many inserts as needed, but the nice thing is, theoretically if it's just wet, or not that big of a mess, the covers are not lined but are still made of the water-proof PUL material and you can then remove the soiled liner, wipe the cover out, put a clean liner in and off you go! Drying time should be cut in half as compared to the first diaper posted and they are by far the cheaper option (even when not sold as seconds). The downside is, they may not be as comfortable as the previous two.

Regardless, diaper rash is always drastically reduced when using cloth, as are many other diaper related discomforts. Not to mention, even though 'sposies are made out of a lot more biodegradable material, we are still saving LOADS from the landfills.

To make washing easier, there is also a sprayer you can get for the back of your toilet to wash the "chunkier bits" in the toilet, put the diaper in a wet bag contained in a pail, and wash diapers ever two or so days depending on how big your stash might be. We're currently sitting at about 15, a good working stash for the beginning.

Unfortunately, none of these diapers are available at our mainstream registry stores (...told you we're crazy green liberals!), and in fact, here in Amarillo there is only one small boutique that even carries cloth and then it's only BG 4.0's. They often can't keep stocked...imagine that! So if you're interested in getting us fluff to help out, it's probably best to get a generic gift card, or go on cottonbabies.com and order any of the three varieties we named above.

Next week on the 22nd, we get our gender scan (if the baby is behaving and not being too modest!). Cloth comes in so many colors and patterns and you can bet as soon as we know, there will either be more pink or blue, dinasours or butterflies!

Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Merry White Christmas again! That's right, Amarillo was greeted with snow on Christmas day along with what we consider to be bitter temperatures. When we woke up to walk over to church for the Christmas day service, it was 9 degrees with a windchill of -1. BURRR!!!



But as you can see, it provided quite the picturesque scene!

It did provide a little aggrivation as we did not get out to Knoxville on Christmas day, but after the chaos of trying to refund and rebook flights to get to Knoxville in the near future, we took a nap, then headed over to the Coggins for some dinner and games! Not a bad Christmas day afterall!

The next day was pretty rough. We ended up having to fly into Nashville and Jim and Craig picked us up for the three hour drive to Knoxville. The weather caused some nasty turbulance and some not so great landings and so needless to say, I was thankful for the polite passengers and those airline vomit bags.

We finally got to Knoxville in time to see some of Stephen's family. We had dinner with his Grandma Joan (pronounced JoAnn) opened some presents from his family and had a good time catching up. Top gifts were the jello mold kit from Mary Sue and Maggie (someone's been reading the blog!!) and the lack of cutco knives from the Parker family in replacement of Texas ornaments. What can we say, Nancy has some smart sisters!!

The next day we got to spend time with Stephen's Uncle Mark, Sue and cousin Michael, and his other grandparents, Roland and Mitzie. I got to hear some fun stories involving Stephen, rockets, a skateboard and lots of padding. Sadly, we don't think there are pictures. I still can't figure out why the oldest cousin let the younger cousin shoot rockets at him while slaloming down a hill on a skateboard, but hey, to each their own fun!

We took a side trip to walgreens because my insurance only fills my favorite Zofran medicine 12 at a time, but it was a nice trip because we immediately felt at home.



I'm sure you can only imagine why! Smokey and the rest of the Volunteer nation will have it's newest biggest fan come football 2013 this year! I think baby Friedrich will bring some good luck to the new coach!

Other present highlights included this from my brother John and soon to be S-I-L Cat.



Baby's first stuffed animal! If this baby is anything like me, it's going to love something soft and cuddly to curl up with. I had about a ba-ZILLION stuffed animals. My favorite was when mom made them come to life and talk to me in the mornings to wake me up. I will be carrying on the tradition!

Speaking of mom, I found this addresed to me from her.



It became somewhat of a family joke that I was going to do anything everyone else could do all by myself, thank you VERY much! I loved this book, as you can imagine why!


I have had good days and bad days, but the bad days are relative because food has still stayed down. The fun development this week has been the ever changing baby bump! When baby is low, I still just look a little chunky in the middle, but on New Years Eve, baby migrated up and I had the cutest little bump that seemed to come from nowhere. Now I know to take a picture next time that happens as the baby has migrated further down since then, but still my little baby bump seems to have a slightly different shape every day. That is defininately fun to see!

Yesterday I felt very queasy and worn out and tired. I have learned the more I do, the sicker I feel and am learning to heed the advice of other HG moms not to push myself to over do to much at a time. Consequently I missed the chance to see some other Knoxville friends which left me rather bummed, but I can only continue to be thankful that food is staying down. I've even gained two pounds back! (The only time I'm happy to gain weight!!)

Tomorrow we head back to Texas feeling grateful for the time with family and Stephen for the time off as well! Prayers for smoother plane rides will be much appreciated!

Happy Birthdays and Holidays!

I got exactly what I wanted with my birthday.
1. A day home with Stephen that wasn't spent around ER's or throw up buckets.
2. Solid food that stayed down!

We laid relatively low, which was good for both of us. Stephen as you can imagine is getting caught up in the whirlwind that will be the next four days or so. I think it's especially hard when Christmas falls so close to Sunday without actually being Sunday because that's one more service to do sermons, plans, bulletins and prep for. So our day included a nice nap. :-)

For Stephen's birthday, I gave him a game called Creationary. It's like Pictionary with Legos, but you have to guess what is being built not what is being drawn. It's quite cool and of course, Stephen is VERY good at it. We love playing games either with each other or with a crowd, so it was fun to spend some time enjoying that together. 

Here's a link to it on Toy-r-us...apparently it only has a three star review, but we'd recommend it.

Creationary on Toys-R-US

My birthday present is an all-expense paid date-night to Outback, but in order to enjoy it more fully, I'm going to wait a while. :-)

Yes, my present did just revolve around food.

I did make a difficult decision to cut North Carolina out of our Christmas travel plans. I just don't have the energy and was afraid I'd end up spending much of the time resting away from family anyway. With much of our family looking different not only because Papa is gone, but because Nana moved to a retirement facility (which she seems to be having the time of her life at!), we were going to have to book a hotel, and rent a car so I could get to food and medication when and if I need it. My parents need to be spending their time helping with their parent and it just seemed like an overwhelming production with too quick of a turn around to try to get to Tennessee to see Stephen's family. It also shaved some time off of our travel time as we will get to Knoxville earlier than we were getting into Charlotte.

I hate that I won't be there, particularly because it will be a very different Christmas, but then again, so will next year with a six month old! :-D It's hard to even fathom what life will look like, but I'm sure it will be fun!

I know I always end with this, but seriously - keep the prayers coming. They are sustaining us and getting us through! We hope you have a blessed Christmas wherever that may lead you! 

Recovery is sweet!

But..slow.

I have fantastic news in that I have not thrown up since before I was in the hospital, which if you're counting with me, means six full days!

I was not however anticipating how long it would take for me to get my strength back. I hear people say it takes them months to recover, but since (believe it or not) my vomitting was somewhat controlled by medication from the get go, I figured I would be better off than those vomitting ten to twenty times a day.

Tonight, I get to fill in for our music director Marsha and play Holden Evening Prayer. I am super excited as I don't often get to do this sort of thing and being as that is where my education, heart and soul really sit I know it will be a good thing both spiritually and emotionally for me. I have practiced the service at home and am able to make it through, but to test my stamina with things like walking, standing and people, Stephen took me to Walgreens last night to pick up my own perscription.

When we first entered the door, it was rather crowded for Walgreens on a Tuesday night. Stephen leaned down and said "Betsy, these are people." To which I replied: "You mean they aren't just healthcare workers?" Stephen: "No, they aren't going to stick you." Betsy:"Oh. huh. wow."

I was excited to actually get to pick out Stephen a birthday card, although I probably could have found a better one had I been able to stand and look a little longer. I could tell I was tired. By the time we got the medicine and got home, it was about 6:30pm and we needed to call Nancy to wish her happy birthday. (It's a wild month in the Friedrich household...a June baby was planned for sure!) We left her a voicemail and unfortunately I didn't stay up to talk later because by 6:45 my eyelids were closing themselves. I went to bed and was out until about 8:00am or so this morning and then had a mid-morning nap until around 12:30pm. Really, I'm a good sleeper and have always needed my sleep, but that is crazy. We're talking hard hours of sleep...

So as you can probably tell, the mundane of the mundane are still very tiring. I'm getting scared about traveling home for Christmas but as long as I still get the go-ahead from the doctor, I'm hoping I can make it.

The frightening thing about HG is that it can rear its ugly head sometimes even when you're doing all you can. That probably speaks to why it was so hard to get it under control in the first place. It makes me nervous I may get sick and not be near any of my doctors or the hospital nurses that have already treated me and know me well. We had such a fantastic experience at BSA, I really admired the nurses there. But as I continue to try to eat more each day (no where near a normal diet, but it's staying down and that's all that counts), I try to live each day in the present and think there is no reason to think I'll return down that ugly path again.

In other random HG trivia...I found out it is believed that author Charlotte Bronte died from HG. Granted that was a LONG time ago, but it's one more reason to give thanks for modern healthcare!

Thanks again to all you who have continued to pray and walk alongside me - figuratively speaking!

Hosptial Survived! Home, sweet home!

It has certainly been a week for the record books at the Friedrich household. This baby is full of firsts...the most recent of which was a three day, two night stay at Baptist St. Anthony's Hospital here in Amarillo. I am certainly thankful our call is not out in the middle of nowhere because the nurses and staff and BSA were wonderful. For a break down of the week, here's what happened.

Last Saturday I landed myself in the ER only to return Tuesday for fluids and dehydration. I was to the point where I could not keep any fluids down no matter the combination of medications I tried. I'm not sure I have ever felt so physically, mentally and emotionally spent in my entire life. It seemed no matter what I did or did not do, I could not get myself well.

After our visit on Tuesday we headed to the OB office Wednesday morning. It was suggested I start steroids and upon gazing at my condition (which was me barely able to walk because of dizziness and fatigue) they were willing to go ahead and admit me to the hospital. Stubborn 'ol me wanted to give the steroids a try first with visions of uncomfortable days and nights at the hospital. I could not have been more wrong.

By afternoon and evening on Wednesday it was clear I was not going to be able to make it on my own at home. I threw up every ounce I tried to drink and only managed to keep down one dose (of the three daily I was supposed to have) of steroids. I was admitted to the hospital Thursday morning.

I did not anticipate the anxiety that would be taken away from not having to worry about taking sips every 15 minutes or managing my medications without falling asleep. I did not have to worry about bothering Stephen and he was able to do the funeral he had that afternoon. I think it was a welcome relief for the both of us.

I was immediately put on IV fluids and given two iv medications to help stop the vomitting, one which I had never taken before. It proved to be the miracle combination so far as this new medication keeps food moving out of your stomach into your intestines before it has the chance to become terribly acidic. (The things you learn when you're sick.)

After 24 hours of keeping down IV fluids, I was allowed clear liquids, which tasted like nectar from heaven. Sometimes I wonder if the Land of Milk and Honey was really just jello, chicken broth and water given to starving dehydrated Israelites. 

At some point I was taken off IV medication to make sure I could sustain the liquids while on pill forms of medication. For all the hype about "don't take medicine while you're pregnant", I'm on more medicine than I think I ever have been. However, it is clear that without these medicines, myself and my baby would probably die. It's a daunting thing to think about and it makes you thankful for modern medicine. Throughout all this, baby has sustained a healthy heartbeat and even likes to squirm underneath the doplar. He/she is a swimmer that packs a punch when poked! I was able to listen to the heartbeat once a shift which always made the time more bearable.

By Saturday, much to our surprise I was given the go ahead for solid food. I had half a roast beef sandwich that consisted of the beef, provolone cheese, lettuce and good old white bread. It filled me up like a thanksgiving feast, and I was able to keep it down. Not only that, my nausea was the most controlled I can remember since being pregnant. It's enough to make you sing praises to God for all the things possible through the gifts given to us on earth. Food, water, modern medicine, children...life!

What I had not anticipated is this side of recovery, in part because I was getting to the point where I couldn't imagine life without throwing up. The nurses bid me a nice farewell and said the hoped they did not see me again until June (which I agreed.) It is possible that I could get sick again, but we are hoping this regimen of medicine and steroids will get me through the hump I need to be able to function on my own again.

I did not anticipate how weak I would be. Thankfully, I have never really been incredibly sick during my life. I have lost all my pregnancy weight and about two pounds beyond that, about 7 lbs in all in the course of a week and a half. My body and muscles often feel like I ran or rode my bike on a hard work out after mundane tasks like showering, making a sandwich, or walking from one side of the house to the other.

I had high hopes of making it to church this morning as it's been 5 weeks since I have made it to a Sunday morning service for one reason or another, but the daunting task of walking across the yard and then to the Sanctuary and then talking to everyone made me realize I should stay home. It is easy to want to do something when you're lying or resting...

So far, I rest when I feel like it and make sure something stays in my system at all times. I trust that doing to ordinary things in life are enough exercise for now and know I will continue to get stronger as I can eat more.

Once again, thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I can honestly say I think they were the only things that sustained me at times. I am sure Stephen feels the same. Your phone calls, cards, meals for Stephen and visits were welcome encouragement. I ask that you continue to pray we have found a good solution and that things continue to be on the upswing. I feel as though carrying this child has truly been a group effort and I know we will all cheer loudly when he/she makes his/her grand arrival!