Pregnant and Sick- by Betsy

I woke up in the night last Friday with a sore throat, small fever (99.5) and sinus pain. I slept basically around the clock through Sunday night, when the fever went away. I thought I had a sinus infection and things progressed like they have in the past with sinus infections (feeling bad, sinus pain, spitting out lots of mucus, etc). The only difference was that it lasted longer than usual. I did what I normally do- drink tons of water, eat lots of fruit, sleep as much as possible, breathe steam, gargle, use a humidifier.
I slept on through Wednesday. On Wednesday night I woke up several times due to slight coughing, like clearing my throat, and that still seemed normal. On Thursday I tried to work for four hours. As long as I wasn’t talking I was okay, but during the day my cough got worse. My throat felt very dry regardless of how often I sipped hot or cold water.
My cough got harder to control on Thursday night. Also, the cough itself was harder and more painful. I couldn’t sleep, so I sat up sipping water with a hot water bottle on my chest. I fell asleep once but woke up coughing really hard, and it frightened me a little. I read in the VU baby handbook that I can take guaifenesin cough syrup, but that keeps me awake, so I just decided to keep sipping water and sitting up. I sat up mostly all night in my blue chair waiting to go to the doctor. My throat was completely dry regardless of how much I drank, breathed steam, or gargled warm water. It felt like hot paper. If I talked or went very long without water I coughed, and the severity of my cough concerned me. Everything about the sickness up to this point had seemed like a “normal” sinus infection, except for the coughing and my dry throat.
So today I went to the doctor because I was afraid I had pneumonia or something respiratory that needed checking. She listened to my lungs and said they sounded clear. I feel MUCH better knowing that she doesn’t think I have pneumonia. She said you have to do a chest xray to be sure (and we don’t want that) but that I sounded really clear when she listened to my chest. Mostly my cough is dry.
The doctor was really nice to me. We listened to the baby’s heart beat, which, of course, was fine. She said I should call her if my fever goes over 100, and I should continue to feel better, not worse, although it will just take time to get over it completely. The not talking part really helps my throat feel better. The only thing is that if I go to sleep I wake up coughing really really hard and it takes time to calm down from that. My chest and stomach are sore from the coughing.
It is just SO ANNOYING not to be able to talk (or sleep). Right now I’m sitting in my blue chair again with my hot water bottle on my chest. I can’t even remember the last time I was sick for a whole week. It just blows my mind.
After coming home, I slept again from about noon to two. I have to sleep propped up in the recliner with the hot water bottle on me. It feels weird but it works. The coughing after waking up almost makes the sleeping not worth it, but I think it is already better than last night. Just knowing that I don’t have something worrisome makes me able to deal with the coughing better.
Joseph is so cute. I carry around a tablet and write down what I need and the answers to his questions. He said it would be fun, like charades, if I wasn’t coughing so much. “You know, like sick charades” he said. He is just great, I can’t get over it.
Anyway, so I’m hanging out, still not panicking about the work I’m missing. I’m really praying on that one, and I’m doing well so far. I know I will do this; I just have to be patient.

I’m pretty sure the baby doesn’t even know I’m sick; he is still just kicking away. Maybe he will love swimming! :)

If anybody knows of any “tips” or home remedies of what I should do to get better, let me know. I’m open to all advice! The moral of this story is- DO NOT get sick while you are pregnant. It is a total waste of time!

It's a boy!

Excitement all around, please. These are the first pictures confirming that we have a new baby boy. He might be embarrassed in a few years by these pictures, but that's okay :) We'll post more soon. Enjoy!

arm
Boy
Profile
Foot
Face and tummy

another profile

Felt the baby move (by Betsy)

Felt the baby move- by Betsy January 7, 2008

We felt the baby move for the first time last night around 10 pm. I was propped up on pillows in the bed reading one of the pregnancy books Angie gave me for Christmas. I felt something in my stomach, and I reached down and felt of my belly. When it happened again, I could feel it all the way through to my hand. I yelled for Joseph to come in (he was playing XBOX). He could feel it, too! He felt it about four times. Maybe our baby had the hiccups. I can’t remember if it’s possible for it to have the hiccups yet or not. Either way, it was so exciting. I will keep thinking about the best way to describe the feeling. It didn’t feel like a goldfish to me. I really can’t describe it yet. It didn’t really feel like a flutter either. Like a little gentle poke. Like a thump. I don’t know.
I am so glad that it happened when I was at home and Joseph was around. That made it extra special. We sat there for about 10 minutes until we thought it was stopped for awhile. Then we read it the first chapter of Harry Potter. It’s funny, I don’t have very many children’s books at the house right now; they are all at my parents’ house. We can remedy that quickly. They are coming on Tuesday to have dinner with us. If I ask them to bring one or two books, they will probably bring 30. I already read it Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Do You Have a Hat? last week. Herman Cheyenne is on his/her way! ☺ Woo-hoo!

Images from several weeks

Pregnancy update (by Joseph)

Now that the Christmas holidays have come and gone, I can update you on project pregnancy. Betsy wants to eat much more than she use to. Two or three days ago, she convinced me to go with her to Cheeseburger Charlies to get a hamburger and fries! She still usually makes good food choices, though. She’s noticeably pregnant now. The maternity pants are out, and people ask if they can feel her belly. It’s quite funny, actually. One response she’s threatened to use is “Only if I can feel your belly, too.” I don’t think she’s actually said that yet, but everyone, BEWARE!

I have one older story and two newer ones to tell. Back in November, we told both of our families that we were having a baby. The best response came from my cousin Bridgette. She’s about 10 years younger than I am (I just turned 31, for those needing to know). When we told her that we were having a baby, her response was, “Finally! What are you guys, like, 40?” That’s a Jordan showing her love J. Almost everyone we told was shocked by our announcement. The funny thing is, if anyone had asked us if we planned on having children, we would’ve told them yes, and we would have mentioned that we’d like to have them right after we graduated.

Yesterday morning, Betsy still hadn’t felt the baby move. We’d heard that the first movement might feel like a butterfly flitting in your stomach, or possibly like gas pains. Last night between 9 and 10, Betsy hollered at me, “Joseph, come in here, NOW.” It was the now that struck me. I rushed to the bedroom. Betsy was lying on the bed feeling her stomach. She said, “I think this is it.” I reached over and felt a small, non-rhythmic tapping on her belly. It only lasted for a few seconds. We THINK that’s the baby moving, but I’m not sure if we’re suppose to feel it on the outside of her stomach at 20 weeks. Anyway, we’ll ask the doctor this week.

We’re having an ultrasound done this week. This may be the moment of truth: will it be a boy or girl? I think I’m okay with either version of baby. But, after watching our friends’ twins yesterday, I’d like to request a non-cholic-y model. Our missionary friends from Indonesia have a month old girl and boy. The girl sleeps almost all the time, but the boy is often awake due to constant stomach pains. You need to stretch him out a certain way to help relieve the issue (it looks like baby acrobatics, let me tell you). We should update again after the doctor’s appointment. Can’t wait to let you all know what it is!

Joseph

Betsy, pregnancy correspondent (by Betsy)

This is Betsy Watson, pregnancy correspondent, reporting to you live on Dec 18 at 4:05 am with up-to-the-minute pregnancy insomnia news.

I woke up at 3:30.

I want to play Yahtzee, but I can’t. Jennifer gave me this fabulous hand-held electronic Yahtzee game that I just LOVE. I play it every night before I go to sleep (and several other times during the day- but not while I am driving). Last night after I finished playing, Joseph borrowed it and I fell asleep while he was playing, and I can’t get it without waking him up.

So I am doing a blog entry.

I was really tired last night because it was the first night we’d been home for dinner since last Tuesday night. I’d been staying up until 10:30 or 11:00- which is REALLY late for me. So, I went to bed at 9 last night, and I think my body decided that I’ve had enough sleep, although I disagree.

I am looking at my beautiful Christmas tree and drinking grape juice. Juice is one of the joys of pregnancy for me. Normally, I can’t drink very much juice because it kind of upsets my stomach. But, now I can tolerate some juice every day. And you know what? Juice is delicious!

Well, I am really boring at 4 am. I guess I will wrap some presents or do Christmas cards. I’m a little bit behind in my Christmas duties, but every time I get a free minute I just want to go play with the twins. They are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO precious. I went to see them yesterday. I held the little girl and fed her a bottle and she went to sleep and I just sat there and loved her up. It was wonderful. I may get to see them again today.

Betsy Watson, signing off

Glasses Repair- by Betsy (Dec 18, 2007)

Everyone has been so kind and responsive when we’ve told them we are pregnant. I didn’t know what kind of responses to expect. I thought people who had several children or grandchildren (or none) would just say “that’s nice” or something. But, everybody has been great. They seem so happy and excited for us. I told some friends that people’s responses have been just as good as if I had said “Okay, we’re getting ready to tell you something really important, and you better get really excited about it.”

As a side note, I realized the other day that my glasses are bent out of shape so much that I need to take them to Dr. Ballard for a tune-up. Normally, this happens if I accidentally drop them or do some clumsy thing that results in bending them. I noticed that they weren’t straight about two weeks ago, but I didn’t know why. I had not dropped them or done anything (too) clumsy. And, they seemed to be getting a bit worse as time passed. Then, when we told one of our close friends at church about our baby, I figured it out. He got so excited that he just hugged me very quickly and very tightly. I hug everybody, so this wasn’t strange at all. But, I realized that when people were hugging me that my glasses were getting squeezed and bent. Over time, my glasses had been bent out of shape by people hugging me to congratulate me on my pregnancy. I think we’ve told just about everyone by now, so I should visit Dr. Ballard soon. I’m still waiting to see one friend from North Carolina during Christmas. I want to tell her in person. I think, as a safety precaution, I will take off my glasses first.