Saturday, September 18, 2010

I am a prisoner to my nose...

So the last few weeks have been pretty redundant. Wake up. Brush teeth. Back to bed. Take a few quick trips to the fridge/ bathroom. Back to bed. Take a shower. Back to bed. As you can tell... very exciting. 

I am happy to report that I have not bled since Thursday, and am crossing my fingers that this is some sort of good sign, though I know that SCH's are totally unpredictable, and no two cases seem to be the same. I have spent the last 4 days really focused on moving as little as possible and I think that is working. I have heard a few stories of SCH loss recently, and I can't lie, that's really hard. I am so incredibly in love with these two little babies, so incredibly in love, and am just holding onto the hope and belief that regardless of this damn uterine blood clot, come late February or early March, they will be here healthy, happy, safe and sound.

We went to the Doc this past Tuesday. I wasn't supposed to go until next Tuesday, but my morning sickness out of nowhere kicked into a super high gear, and I worried it might be some sort of complication due to the SCH. I am thrilled to report that once again both babes looked good on ultrasound and at one really adorable moment, they each leaned back to a laying position and put their hands in their mouths simultaneously and my heart just stopped because that was something their sister always did, in utero and in life, we even had Peyton buried with her hand to her mouth because she loved sucking on it so much, and seeing that sibling similarity between what she liked to do, and what they liked to do, was really touching.

Any guesses out there as to what sex these little snowflakes are? We have a pretty good idea, but have been told that it's still a little early to announce, because the ultrasounds at this point are not entirely reliable in that department.

To the first person who guesses correctly (or at least what we feel is correct at this point) and says Baby A is... and Baby B is... I will send you a prize :) Well in all reality, hubs will send you a prize because I don't leave the confines of my home except for doctor's appointments. Today was an exception to that rule however. Hubs told me he was worried because it looked like I "needed some fresh air" so he took me for a nice morning drive and I am so grateful that he insisted on it because the change of scenery did do me a lot of good.

You may be wondering at this point, what any of this has to do with the title of this post - "I am a prisoner to my nose." 

Let me elaborate. 

I have pregnancy nose - big time. Everything stinks. I spend little to no time on our leather couch because it is new (a few months) and stinks! stinks! stinks! Poor hubs has tried everything from baking soda to a product called Odorzout (at 45 dollars a bottle, what a waste of money that was!) to get the smell to stop offending me but it has been to no avail. Anyone have any leather smell removal tips for me? Because of this, I am spending more and more time just in my bedroom, my boring old (but not smelly) bedroom.

Beyond the issues with our couch, we have run into issues with our dishwasher where dishes literally come out smelling like vomit. I can't tell you how pleasant THAT is to deal with when you have morning sickness as it is! Poor hubs has taken every part of the dishwasher that he can reach apart, and still not found the culprit of the smell. Now, on top of all his other responsibilities with me being on bed rest, he is also stuck washing all our dishes by hand. 

Just goes to show, nothing is ever easy.

So there you have it - the reasons why I am a prisoner to my nose. I find every glass of water difficult to get down because even the clean dishes still smell dirty to me, and bottled water smells too much like plastic. I would love to spend my days watching TV (we don't have cable in our bedroom) or surfing the internet (don't have that up their either) but I can't because the couch stinks to the point that it has left me worried about whether there might be some danger to me being around it whilst pregnant even though calls to the state and federal consumer complaint departments, two pregnancy risk lines, Costco, their importer, the lab that tests Costco's products for safety, our state toxicologist, the consumer products safety commission, AND some random lab in California (yes, I know, I don't even live there but the stickers on it said that it meets California's guidelines for flammability and formaldehyde) have all assured me that while the couch may be "stinky" there is no reason to believe it is unsafe. Wow, typing that really illustrates how neurotic I have become - just another side effect of losing a child inexplicably to cancer.

So that's pretty much all the news that's fit to print here. I go back to the doctor on Tuesday to see if the SCH has shrunk at all (as of last Tuesday it was holding strong at 9cm at its largest point) and to watch my little ones dance around some more. Wish us luck!

**Also, sending prayers out to a few of my bloggy momma friends who are enduring their own trials right now, one who is facing her own SCH, and another who, though I don't know the details, is having a really tough time finding her way these last few days. Please keep them in your prayers too.

29 comments:

  1. I think baby a is a girl and baby b is a boy !
    Sorry to hear about your morning sickness, hope it will pass soon !
    Love
    Molly

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  2. Preganancy nose is THE WORST!! I've become an expert at mouth breathing, which helps a bit. I had to change poopy diapers with pregnancy nose, and after puking in my nouth, HAD to find a way to help myself!
    Glad to hear you're doing well :)

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  3. Keeping you in my prayers every night that all will go well for you and your snowflakes. Hope your "nose" issue goes away as your pregnancy progresses.
    As for guesses, I'll say Baby A is a girl and Baby B is a boy. :)
    ~Michelle

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  4. Hi! you do not know me but I have followed your blog for some time and I love reading your updates. Your stories have made me laugh out loud with just me and my computer, cried with the deep compassion for another person and made me understand life and myself so much better. THANK YOU. I also would like to share that I am six months away from becoming a RN. My dream Since I was very little and my reason for attending nursing school is to become a Labor and Delivery Nurse. I will never work with a Mother suffering the lost of a child and not think about your story and the beautiful and heartbreaking reality that you have wrote about. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me become a better future nurse.
    I think baby A and baby B are both girls!

    Nikki McGlone

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  5. Hi! you do not know me but I have followed your blog for some time and I love reading your updates. Your stories have made me laugh out loud with just me and my computer, cried with the deep compassion for another person and made me understand life and myself so much better. THANK YOU. I also would like to share that I am six months away from becoming a RN. My dream Since I was very little and my reason for attending nursing school is to become a Labor and Delivery Nurse. I will never work with a Mother suffering the lost of a child and not think about your story and the beautiful and heartbreaking reality that you have wrote about. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me become a better future nurse.
    I think baby A and baby B are both girls!

    Nikki McGlone

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  6. You are on my mind so much, Kristin! Keep taking care of you and those beautiful babes. We're wishing for you with everything we've got!
    Thanks for the update!!!!

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  7. I'm so glad that your little snowflakes are doing so well! I'm also glad you get a chance to see them again on Tuesday - I never, ever get tired of seeing my baby during ultrasounds.

    As far as my guess......

    Baby A - Boy
    Baby B - Girl

    I'm continuing to send out prayers for you and for your new babies. Looking forward to your next update!

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  8. Good news about your little ones doing well. I hope that at your next visit you continue to get good news and that the SCH has shrunk. I am sending you and your sweet babies lots of good thoughts and well wishes.

    Oh yeah...and what is it with pregnancy nose? It is like the lamest super power bequeathed to pregnant women everywhere. I wish it were something cooler like x-ray vision, or better yet, teleportation.

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  9. Hi there:

    I've been following your blog for a while now. I got to it through a friends, sisters blog. I am touched by your story and love hearing all about these 2 little peanuts!.

    I think both babies are Boys.

    Hope you're well, take care :)

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  10. I'm voting both boys...because all the other guesses have been taken!

    Hope the morning sickness passes - I've heard it's more prominent with multiples...and with the treatment you've been through I'm sure it's much worse than that. Hang in there Mama...and keep us posted!

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  11. It's two girls, and you're going to call one of them Angela ;-)

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  12. Kristin,
    I think Baby A is a boy, and baby B is a girl

    happy resting..

    jane

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  13. Two Girls!!! I believe both of them are girls and if they are I will gain so much ground with hubs. HUgs, Catherine

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  14. I think Baby A s a boy and Baby B is a girl.

    As for the nose issues, try running vinegar through the dishwasher or maybe substituting oxy-clean for the dish washing detergent.

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  15. Are you taking your prenatal pills in the morning? I started taking mine in the evening right before I went to bed. I have felt so much better and didn't realize how much of a difference it was until the other day. I took the vitamins before going to bed. I guess I wasn't that sleepy and was up longer than I thought I would be and the nausea kicked in. I forced myself to sleep after that started.

    As for the little ones, I think Baby A is a boy. And, baby B is a girl.

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  16. t1h due to babe. I had a massive sch at 15 weeks, was in bed for 5 months bc would start bleeding if did too much, but had healthy twins at 8 months. you may have heard bad endings, but there good endings too. hang in there.

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  17. I know I'm not the first, but I'm thinking two girls....2011 seems to be the year of the girl and I have TWO friends who are expecting twins (both of whom I thought would be boy/girl) and all four sweet little babies are Team PINK!

    And I STILL have pregnancy nose. At 23 weeks. It's so.not.fun. John has not yet figured out that all things smell (and mostly poorly) until further notice, and so he'll still try to 'entice' me with things that normally are...well, enticing.

    No dice. Honestly, the only thing that has helped me is a teeny, tiny bit of Vicks right up under my nostrils....because the menthol is about all that helps!!!

    Glad the bleeding is going away (?)...and the babies look fabulous. Them touching their hands to their mouths in tandem and then you sharing that Peyton did that too makes my heart swell.
    xoxo

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  18. My guess is already taken...I say two baby girls!!

    Stinky dishes and sofas? No solutions. My nose was the same with both of my girls. I only went to the grocery 3 times with my first baby. I could honestly smell the food THROUGH the packages. (Well...you may think that is actually not possible...believe me, it was possible lol!!).

    With both girls most smells and sometimes even sound and light would make me sick. With our first, I insisted that my husband move the microwave to the screened porch for cooking!

    One thing actually smelled good to me...the soap from the OB or peri office. I still love the way it smells (our pediatrician uses the same kind!!).

    Okay...so that was a crazy comment about nothing. I hope the visit this weeks shows a much smaller SCH. Still praying for you guys! Hugs.

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  19. So at this point, Im courius, what do you think the babies are?

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  20. Came over from Leah's blog. I love your blog and went back and read some from the beginning. I am praying so hard that everything goes well with your double blessing. Keep the Faith.
    I think you have 2 girls too. Love and Peace. Love Leah's Nana

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  21. So happy for you and still praying for your little snowflakes. As for the smell from the couch try cleaning it with a soft cloth with vinegar, it might smell strong in the begining, it will go away. or you can leave baking soda overnight, vacuum the next morning and should be ok.
    When i was pregnant i had morning sickness till 5 mnths. I used to eat grapefruit before breakfast. It worked.
    I think you'll have 2 beautiful girls
    Love and hugs
    Lots of prayers

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  22. We once had that same problem with our dishwasher- only the smell was actually fish. We found that a piece of fishbone had found it's way into the whirligig thing that spins around and was essentially spraying fish water all over the dishes. I hope that maybe this is the case for you. Sorry about the nose issues, and of course the SCH.
    Hoping baby A: girl and Baby B: boy are enjoying their time in there! always sending prayers your way..

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  23. I too have been following your blog. Your words really speak to me - give me courage to make it each day.

    For preggo nose - try putting a BIG blanket over the couch....

    Smell from the dishwasher - run one or two loads (empty of dishes) with vinegar and hot water.

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  24. If you are using liquid dish soap, switch to powder. I don't have any reason to think this other than when we developed a stink problem with our front loading washing machine, this was the advice I got which worked.

    As for the glasses, might I suggest a metal water bottle that has a straw lid. This way it won't impart a plastic taste or smell and the straw will help your nose not to get too close to the bottle so you don't have to smell it.

    I completely understand about the morning sickness. There is someone at work whose lotion was so offensive to me for about 8 weeks of my pregnancy that I consciously breath through my mouth for the first minute or so I arrive at work until I acclimate--which I still do at 32 weeks by the way just because it became a habit.

    As for the couch, have you tried a slipcover or some sort of barrier to kind of block the smell? Ugh. It sounds awful that you are stuck in your room all day, but I suppose it's a small price to pay for the safe delivery of your babies.

    I think baby A is a boy and baby B is a girl. How much fun it would be to have one of each!

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  25. Hey there my friend~Do you have a winner yet on the gender contest? Can't wait to hear

    Thinking of you always!

    Love, Kristina

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  26. Ok, here is my guess...Baby A is a boy and Baby B is a boy. So that's what I think after 4 babies...I think I see the pattern. Congratulations and hang in there! You'll be back on your feet before you know it, saying how much you miss being on bedrest! <3<3

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  27. Oh and I agree about the prenatal vitamins, I always took mine before bed and that helped sooo much. Did you try that frebreeze stuff on the couch? I don't know if that's ok to use or not. Well, you could always just put it downstairs or in the garage until after the babies are born and use the old couch? haha goodluck!

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  28. So sorry that you are still getting sick. I read that sickness increases more with multiples. Not sure if that is true or not but thought I would share. I really hope that it goes away soon so that you can feel better. It's like having the worst hangover without drinking, no fun. ((HUGS))

    I have no idea what your snowflakes are, I just know that boy or girl they are loved by many. Can't wait to know!!!

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