Not So Great Behavior, Fatigue, Nausea, and a Scare...

Meron... Meron has been a handful lately. I have actually typed up several posts about her behavior, but ended up deleting each one before posting it because it felt as if I was attacking her. The highlights of this behavior have included:
* cutting up her bed sheets and blanket
* wiping toothpaste all over the bathroom sink, cabinet, & walls, and schmearing (yes, like cream cheese on a bagle) toothpaste in long thick streaks down the hallway walls.
* hitting and kicking other kids (this includes hitting one in the face with a stick)
* throwing large rocks and hitting most of the plants in Leigh's garden
* playing with toys in bed 45 minutes after being told to close her eyes for the third time (this is a nightly battle, and when she doesn't get enough sleep her behavior is worse the next day)

The latest to add to the list is telling lies. This is not the from-time-to-time "I'm going to make my parents dig the truth out of me"... nope, these are bold-faced will-not-back-down lies.

It's tough. I had a theory that these behaviors were manifesting because she had noticed I was going to the doctor often (and not feeling well) and she was worried. I had thought (hoped) that things were going to smooth over once we told the girls about Nugget, but to no avail. Her behavior has gotten worse.

My latest tactic for trying to work through and curb this behavior is first and foremost giving her attention only when her behavior is palatable (I tried many other ways, and this seems to be giving the best results).

The second thing we are doing had to due with her room. We have a four bedroom house. The girls have occupied the two smallest bedrooms, and the second largest room was made into a playroom (Doug and I occupy the largest room, of course). Doug and I decided when we found out about Nugget, that we would move everyone up. Leigh would get the former playroom, Meron would get Leigh's old room, and Nugget would get Meron's old room. Also, we gave Leigh our queen-sized bed and purchased a king-sized bed for our room (Doug was tired of getting sent to the couch when I was hot or nauseated.)

The girls have been very excited about this and we have looked at ways to fix up their rooms without spending much money. For Leigh's room, I found a really great pink striped duvet cover set on eBay for $10 (brand new, completely happy with this find), a large pink heart pillow from ROSS for $7 dollars, and a pink desk chair from IKEA for $16 (thanks for letting me tag along, Sherry). Everything else in her new room are things that either she or we already possessed (to include my grandfather's desk that Doug refinished when Leigh was a baby).

I thought that we would have to find another bed for Meron's new room, but as it turned out, she was very excited to get Leigh's old bunk bed. (I mean really, really excited. In fact, while we were moving Leigh, Meron practically set up a club house on the bunk. It was cute.) I purchased a Hannah Montana blanket for Meron's bed and have been looking for a few more accessories to add to her new room.

While we were moving Leigh (this took longer than I anticipated due to the fatigue and nausea defined below) is when Meron decided to cut her sheets and blanket. She has since explained that she did this because she was angry that she had to go to bed (at her normal bedtime, the same time as Leigh). This was what made me decide on my next tactic for dealing with her behavior. Meron must now earn the privilege of moving to the larger bedroom with all of the cool big girl furniture. I have disallowed her to play in the room and it will remained locked until Meron's behavior has improved. This tactic seems to be making the most impact. I let her know about my decision on Friday (Thursday was the sheet cutting incident) and since that time there have been improvements. We still have a long way to go, but I think we are on the right track. Amanda, thank you for your advice on this, it has really helped.

Moving on...

The fatigue and nausea have been intense with this pregnancy. Most days when I get home from work, I have about an hour left in me to do anything that needs doing. Then I'm either partially passing out on the couch or going directly to bed. Besides that, nausea is kicking my tail. If I don't rush downstairs and inhale toast and juice when I first wake up then I feel as if I have just come off of one those Gravitron rides for the rest of the day. Even with the morning toast and juice I have waves of what feels like intense motion sickness that hit me sporadically through out the day.

The Saturday before last was the worst for both fatigue and nausea for me. I woke up and tried to make it downstairs for my toast, but was vomiting before I made it. The rest of the day I felt as if I could barely raise my head from my pillow. I went to bed early that night and that is when we had the scare.

I woke up at 4 am on Sunday and thought that I had wet myself (eeeewww) but found that it was most definitely not urine when I turned on the light. I thought immediately that I had had a miscarriage. I was in a lot of pain; searing pain across my abdomen. Doug helped me clean myself up, and I debated over what to do next.

I was a little over eight weeks pregnant at the time, and I knew there was nothing they could do to save the baby. Hanging out at the hospital waiting for them to tell me that I had lost the baby did not sound at all appealing. Finally, after gathering my thoughts for an hour or so, I remembered that my doctors had a on-call #. I called and spoke to the doctor who agreed that it sounded like a miscarriage. She advised that there was nothing that the hospital could do for me and to watch the bleeding. If it became too heavy, or the pain was too intense, then I needed to go to the hospital. If not, then I would need to call the office Monday morning and make an appointment.

I chilled for the rest of that day. I didn't talk to anyone (besides Doug and the girls) and I tried not to think about it. I sent my bosses an email to let them know that things were not going well, and I would be out for a few days. Their emailed condolences did nothing to ward off the depression. I think I slept almost that whole day. The bleeding and pain stopped around mid-day and I thought "At least it was quick."

Monday morning I called the doctor's office and they gave me an appointment for 1 pm. Doug and I were both in a funk and barely even speaking to one another. I sat around watching Maury and Price is Right, and Doug did stock trading. I was super nauseated all morning and it actually made me angry. I thought "If I lost the baby why didn't the F'n nausea just go with it." Then I proceeded to delve into the suckiness of my situation.

The nurses at the doctors office were great, and you could tell that the on-call doctor had informed them of my situation. They were sweet and supportive. I sat in the waiting room with a big lump in my throat, trying my hardest not to cry. Doug sat there holding my hand looking like a little boy that just lost his puppy.

The ultrasound lady came to get us and she had not been informed. She was peppy and sweet just like normal. She got down to business right away. She was pretty quiet as she got started, but immediately Doug and I saw a much bigger Nugget on the screen. It was like a shot to the heart and I could feel my lunch coming back up. But then... then we saw the heartbeat. I jumped which sort of knocked the wand out of position and said "The heart's beating!"

I was so ecstatic that I really don't remember much of the rest of the ultrasound. I know she measured the heart rate and size of the baby (both perfectly right on target) which I witnessed through tears. And she gave us this pic of the back side of Nugget, now sans tail.


We saw one of the doctors after that and she said things are going great. She said sometimes that just happens and that some women have that at the time of what would normally be their monthly cycle... every month of their pregnancy (I so hope this doesn't happen again!)

Since then things have been going great, but the fatigue and nausea have not subsided (not complaining, I actually love it!) My next appointment is on the 21st and I don't think they will be doing an ultrasound. I'm a little disappointed about that, but I know later in this pregnancy they will start doing weekly unltrasounds.

Anyway, sorry for the long post... I'll try to update more often...

*EDIT* Oh, and by the way, I had an amazing Mother's Day on Sunday. Doug and the girls made me breakfast in bed (I have found that this squelches the nausea more than anything... wonder if I can convince him to do this every day...) After that we all went out to see Star Trek. I loved it! (I have to admit that I am a former Trekkie, though I have never once dressed as any of the charaters or attended a Trekkie-convention).