15 Weeks, Kitties, and Other Updates

The first part of this post is about pregnancy. If you're not in a good place, please feel free to pass. Take care of you!

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I owe you ladies so many updates! Let's get the pregnancy info out of the way so we can move on...

Friday was my 15 week appointment. I saw a different midwife this time (let's call her M) and really liked her.

Based on the clinic's scale, I'm only down 3 pounds but that's good enough for me. M was much more relaxed about the whole weight gain thing. She reviewed my eating log and declared that, as long as I'm keeping a similar diet to what was in the log and walking at least 5x per week, she's not worried about how much I gain. She said gaining 3 to 6 pounds by my next visit will be just fine. Awesome!

We reviewed my blood work and everything looks good except for my Vitamin D level, which was low at 26.6 (should be between 30-100). I'm now taking 2000 units of vitamin D daily.

I was really glad to hear that I'm not anemic as I have felt pretty dizzy a few days last week. Since my levels from last month look good, I'm not having to take an additional supplement. However, I have chosen to go ahead and boost my iron intake through diet. I loaded up on dark, leafy greens when I did the grocery shopping, as well as beans. Here's hoping!

I spoke to M about my headaches and she provided me with a list of supplements that can help with prevention. I am now taking Magnesium and CQ10 daily. No headaches since yesterday. We'll see if that continues.

At the end of the appointment, we listened to the baby's heartbeat. It was easy to find this time, hanging out right at the top of my uterus near my bellybutton and hitting 130-140 bpm. Sweet, sweet sound!

M was going to send in the referral for our anatomy scan. I'm hoping to hear back from the office today/tomorrow for scheduling.

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I realized I haven't been updating you ladies on our sweet new kitty! Sora has settled in really well. He and Naminae still get in eachother's faces and aren't friends, but they are at least able to be on the same couch and not go crazy. He has started chasing her around the house, which is hilarious. Sora has been busy getting into trouble around here but hasn't broken anything yet.

We took him to the vet two weeks ago to get his ears checked out. The vet confirmed that he had ear mites and treated those. They also found that he had some weird intestinal parasite that they had to look up online to diagnose. They treated that, too, and his bowel movements have finally become solid. (EWW.) He sleep's in Little K's room each night and is a total fluffball. We just love him. He is getting neutered tomorrow.

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My first Sunday with the worship team at church went great! After the third service, our worship leader commented that he would have never guessed this was my first Sunday with them. Pretty awesome compliment! Also, thank you five years of singing at church in FL!

Tonight is my first night playing piano for BSF. I spent the past week scanning music from the hymnal, chording it, and then printing it out bigger so I don't have to squint. I received the list of three songs for this week on Saturday and have been practicing non-stop. Feeling pretty good about tonight!

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Speaking of BSF, first week of Matthew is done. I managed to get my questions completed before 9:30 AM each day, which is a huge accomplishment for me. There are usually five "Challenge Questions" per week, where you are free to look in other passages of scripture to support your answers (the rest of the time, you are limited to the passage you are studying that day). If felt SO good to read the challenge questions, know the verse I want to use, and know what book of the Bible to look for it in. That is HUGE for me, since last year I knew the verse I wanted to use but had to Google it in order to get the reference. Yay for progress!

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Travel plans for Christmas are slowly coming together. We've been able to narrow it down to three options, which feels great. They are:

• Little K and I drive to FL, I ride with my parents to/from TX to spend Christmas with my sister and then drive Little K and I back to NC. Pros: moderately expensive, I am with Little K for all travel, get to see my parents, sister, and niece for Christmas. Cons: my poor tailbone!
• Little K flies to FL by herself for Christmas, my parents drive her back to NC and spend NYE with us. Pros: Least expensive, I don't have to travel, I get to see my parents for NYE. Cons: I don't trust her FL family to pick her up from the airport on time, I'm not there to take care of Little K's needs on the plane, my parents might be to wiped out from the TX driving and have to cancel, so I would have to drive to FL on short notice to pick her up.
• Little K flies by herself the entire trip. Pros: less expensive than driving both ways, I don't have to travel, my folks don't have to travel to NC and back. Cons: trust issues to FL family on pick up, not being on the plane with Little K to take care of her needs.

I'm really struggling with trust and with Little K traveling by herself. I know she is excited about the idea but all of the what-if's pop in my mind. And then there's always the idea that this ONE time I don't fly with her is when something terrible will happen. I don't want her to be alone, without Mommy to protect her.

I'll have to make a travel decision soon since prices are already starting to climb. Augh!

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I think that's everything. Thanks for sticking with me through a long post!