How we survived this crazy year

I've been thinking about this past year and all that has happened. It has been a very busy year, a lot of good things have happened and at the same time I think it has been one of the hardest years if not the hardest year for us.

Brad had PA rotations all year, which involved changing locations, settings, and hours every 5 weeks. Brad got pneumonia in January and I caught pneumonia in February while I was coaching volleyball for the young women at church. Then I changed from my boring office nurse job with a nice predictable schedule to a challenging job as a floor nurse working nights at the hospital. I also was pregnant and taking my online classes to complete my bachelor's in nursing ( I would never recommend anyone do ask that I did because it was insane). Tacy started preschool and played soccer, I finished my BSN a week before Nate arrived via c section because he was a tank. Then Brad gradauted from Campbell with his Masters off Physician Assistant Practice while Nate spent 6 days in the hospital with RSV.

Yea, a crazy year. I am proud for Brad finishing school, I'm happy we survived our insanse crazy schedules and feel so blessed for our friends who have helped watch Tacy. I'm so glad to be done with my BSN and we are so happy to have Nate as a part of our family. I'm grateful we had family in town while Nate was in the hospital so I never had to worry about Tacy, even though I wish wet could have all spent the time all together I know that is what we needed.

During an interview to renew my temple recommend the stake counselor asked me how the Savior and his atonement have helped me during my rough pregnancy (I was 30 something weeks pregnant). I became rather emotional but it was very easy for me to say that I received help every single day. I told him how I know that there was no way I could have possibly done all that I did alone and how the knowledge that my Savior is there to help me through all my trials and that I wasn't alone helped me get through each day, struggle and trial. Now thinking about this whole year I can say the same thing. I know that we made it through each rotation, class, test, illness etc. because Jesus was helping us. I have a strong testimony of the Atonement and how our Savior perfectly knows and understands each and everyone of our trials, tribulations, illnesses, and burdens. He doesn't just perfectly know how feel or what we are going through, but he is also there waiting for us to just ask him to help us get through what we have before us. I know that with Christ we can do all things.

I am very grateful for the Christmas season which helps us to remember and ponder on the importance of Jesus's birth and life and how this affects our lives today. I'm grateful for the opportunities I have to teach my children about Jesus. Tacy always asks me when Easter is because on her head it should come right after Christmas. She's funny but we have talked a lot about how Christ's birth is so important because he lived, taught, healed and then suffered for every sin, trial, and pain and died on the cross only to then be resurrected so that we can all live again.

This has all just been heavy on my mind this month and now as I think over this past year. It probably helps that I have been reading historical fiction series set during Jesus's 3 years of ministry. I also have wondered some about what kind of baby/toddler Jesus was while holding and bouncing my fussy reflux baby (not that that is important).

Anyways, it has been a good year, a very busy, stressful and trying year for which I am happy to have it behind me. I'm excited for what the new year brings with Brad taking his licensing exam, new jobs and moving, as well as Tacy starting kindergarten (holy cow how did that happen!).  It all sounds exciting but also lots of changes for which I am glad I can continue to pray for help.

Breastfeeding

After reading a couple different stories, I thought I should share my trials with breastfeeding.  You see, before having kids I always assumed/planned on breastfeeding.  It is what my mother did, the "natural way" to feed a baby and what experts all agree is the best way to feed a baby, not to mention the cheapest way to feed a baby.  

Well I had Tacy 5 days before I started nursing school.  Being diabetic, the nurses had to check Tacy's blood sugar regularly to make sure she was high enough.  As a new mom, my milk supply was slow to come, so Tacy had to receive formula supplement starting in the hospital to help her get food to help keep her blood sugar at good levels.  Then at home, I continued to try to breastfeed.  I had bought a breast pump in prep for nursing school and would nurse her every morning and then pump before going to school.  At school the only real time I had to pump was lunch (which also meant I had to eat really quick).  Then I would try to breastfeed and pump at home.  No matter what, I never produced enough milk to keep Tacy full, she always was hungry after breastfeeding and needed formula.  One Saturday I remember Brad suggested I try to just breastfeed Tacy, so I did and was breastfeeding her every hour, so literally I spent the whole day breastfeeding.  It was exhausting and I obviously was not satisfying her.

Other then nursing school, another thing against me was that as I quit working when I had Tacy so I could go to school, my health insurance changed to Brad's and that company did not cover the same nursing specialists I had seen in the hospital.  Plus, I never had time to go talk with lactation specialists with my school schedule.  Needless to say, after 2 months my doctor and I agreed that I had given it my best try and that just giving Tacy formula at that time was perfectly fine.  I was fortunate to have a great doctor who really helped me not feel like a failure when I could not feed my daughter.  I had so many people at school tell me about how successful they were at breastfeeding, so it easily could have made me feel depressed to not be able to feed my daughter.  With the support of my doctor and husband, Tacy was just given formula for the rest of her first year of life.  And guess what, she is a healthy 4-year-old.

Having Nate, I really hoped that by actually having maternity leave I would be able to not be so stressed and have a good chance at breastfeeding.  However, having a c-section and Nate going straight to the NICU for 5 days really slowed everything down.  I didn't get to hold Nate for 2 days, which meant no skin-to-skin contact which can really help to stimulate milk production.  Also, I had had no breast changes the whole time I was pregnant.  The lactation consultant and nurses were all really nice and helped get me set up with pumps so I could try to get my supply going, but I never could get much milk.  Nate had a doctor appointment 2 days after discharging from the hospital (he was week old) and the lactation consultant told me to focus on trying to get my milk supply to come in by pumping every 2 hours.  Meanwhile, Nate being the big boy that he was needed to eat every 3 hours and was eating 2 oz at each feeding.  

Let me tell you what, pumping every 2 hours was exhausting, frustrating and depressing.  I was supposed to be calm and relaxed but I was stressed and upset and had to keep leaving my son to go pump.  I felt like I was not spending any time with him and with all the pumping I never got more than 1 oz (30 mls) of breastmilk in 24 hours.  When doing the math, this was at most 1/16th (closer to 1/24th by that time) of what Nate ate in a day.  So when we returned to the pediatrician 2 days later, she looked at me and said "Some people just are not able to breast feed." She was very kind to me, which is nice because I feel so many doctors and specialists can really push breast feeding.  My mom was with me and I felt really pressured by her to not give up.  So I met with the lactation specialist again.  When she heard what I had been doing and the little results I was having, she was also very nice.  She told me that formula has come a long way, that she was a formula fed baby, Tacy was formula fed and healthy, and that this was not a bad option.  When my mom discussed other things that could be tried, the specialist told me that it was my decision.  That I could continue to pump every 2 hours and try drinking tea to stimulate milk production, or I could choose to spend more time with my baby.  Needless to say, I chose to spend more time with my son.  So yes, I gave up breastfeeding by the time Nate was 2 weeks old.  I was told that having a c-section and needing to get blood really inhibited my ability to produce milk, but I also think that my body just is not cut out to produce milk.  

Brad told me, "Maybe you are a meat cow, not a milk cow".  Needless to say, I feel that we need to be supportive of whatever way a woman can feed her child.  Not every woman can breastfeed or breastfeeding does not always work best for a family situation.  I think the fact that a mother/parent is trying to feed their child and help them grow is what is important, not the manner in which they do it.   We need to support each other in our efforts as parents to care for our children and not shame parents for the choices they make.

Nate

I have officially been a mother of two children for 3 weeks.  It is a little crazy, but thankfully our family is doing well.  I just wanted to write down my thoughts and experiences from Nate's birth because it was a completely different experience than Tacy's.

Nate had been measuring big since he was 28 weeks and after having Tacy at 37 weeks 2 days and weighing 8 lbs, I kept pushing my doctors to let me have Nate at 37 weeks as well.  The doctors I have been seeing here in NC have been more hesitant and kept stressing how size is not important because they can always do a c-section.  However, I was also struggling to keep my blood sugar well controlled as well, so finally Maternal Fetal Medicine gave the ok to have me induced at 37 weeks.  Then it became a matter of if it was safe to have a vaginal delivery or if I should have a c-section.  Between 36 and 37 weeks I had three ultrasounds which all measured Nate at being 9 lbs 10-14oz.  Due to my small size, my increased risk for having a baby with shoulder dystocia (because babies of diabetics tend to store more fat on their shoulders), and his big size I decided to play it safe and have a c-section.  This was a hard decision for me because surgery is terrifying, not because I don't trust modern medicine, but I know the healing process is longer and harder and being diabetic I tend to heal slower.  

After many prayers and a blessing, Brad and I went to the hospital Wednesday, October 26th for a c-section.  Luckily my mom flew in the night before so she could take care of Tacy and Brad had his board review that week which his school was nice enough to stream online so he could watch it while being with me.  I was having bad/painful contractions while waiting to go in for surgery and lying on the gurney was so uncomfortable.  I was so happy when I finally got rolled in at 11:30 and received my spinal block.  Goodness that was heavenly, it kicked in immediately and the numbness/lack of pain was miraculous.  The nurses were so nice and helpful, talking calmly and explaining everything to me.  I have watched c-sections in nursing school so needless to say it was not fun to know what was happening, but from the spinal and my blessing I was calm and ready.  

Now for c-sections they drape the abdominal cavity to keep a sterile field and then they pull up part of the drape so the mom cannot see what is happening.  Thank goodness the nurse anesthetist paid close attention to me because a lot of times the drape kept getting into my face.  I was given a nasal cannula for oxygen and they had my arms strapped down (I guess some people get wild).  I really couldn't move and I was so numb I did not feel like I could.  My doctor would tell me what she was doing or what to expect such as pressure from them pulling.  I remember hearing her say she had a gusher, I'm guessing from my amniotic fluid which had been measuring high for a few weeks, and then being told I would feel pressure as they pulled out Nate.  Then everyone kept talking about his big head and how big he was.  The pressure was not much at all and after a few minutes, a nurse showed Nate to me before taking him to clean him up and give him his vaccines.  Brad left with Nate while I got sewn/cleaned up.  Then as I was wheeled out of the OR to go the PACU, a NICU doctor came and showed me Nate real close so I could kiss him and explained that he needed oxygen to keep his oxygen saturation above 90% so he was going up to the NICU.  

In the PACU (post anesthesia care unit) my numbness was monitored.  My nurse would ask me to try to wiggle my toes and it was the weirdest feeling to know that my brain was telling my toes to move, my legs to move, etc. to to feel that the message was not being relayed as nothing was happening.  I just had to laugh.  I also felt like my legs were spread wide, when in fact they were straight and flat on the table.  My nurse explained that it is probably because the spinal kicked in when I had been getting my foley placed.  Anyways, I was there for a while, an endocrinologist came and talked to me about changes to make to my pump settings, and then I was taken to the Mother baby unit.  My PACU nurse did take me by the NICU first to see Nate in his space helmet before taking me to my room.  I stayed numb for a good 4 hours before I started to feel again.  Working in the hospital, I learned quickly that Mother baby is very different, on my floor we do hourly rounding, at mother baby I felt I would only see my nurse if I asked for something.  But Brad went home and brought my mom and Tacy to come see me.  Because of flu season, Tacy could not go see Nate in the NICU.  

I was in the hospital for 4 days total, Nate was in the NICU for 5 days.  The pain from the c-section was not fun since you use your abdominal muscles for so many movements.  I had great nurses and aids take care of me. I had my foley removed at 4 am that first night, then I had to deal with pain from pressure of a full bladder, gas, etc.  Even now I still can be very sensitive to increased pressure in my abdomen.  I had to move slowly and the first day of surgery I just sat up to the side of bed, the next day I got up to stand and use the bathroom with some help.  My second day I showered.  The second day after surgery was when I was feeling light headed and found out my blood levels were really low (Hgb 6.8 and Hct 19.3), so after my OB rounded on me I was given 3 units of blood.  The frustrating part was that this was the first day Nate was no longer under the helmet and was only on a nasal cannula, so we could actually hold him.  I had to wait until that evening, when I had finished receiving all my blood, before I could go up to see him.  The NICU was on the third floor and my room was on the second, so I had always gone to the NICU with someone as I was taken in a wheelchair.  I think the 3rd day was the first time I walked back from the NICU in the morning pushing my wheelchair.  It was crazy because I felt like I was walking a lot, but after being discharged Sunday and walking from my room, to the pharmacy to the car, I was exhausted!  

I learned quickly while in the hospital that I really did need to stay on top of my pain medication so that I could move without pain.  I had to continue taking my pain medicine for 2 weeks before I felt like I would be fine with only occasional ibuprofen.  Mostly now, I just have incisional pain/irritation.  The skin hates having anything rub it, which is tricky since it is right where my pants and every normally ride.

When people ask me about my delivery or my experiences of having a c-section I say that I'm glad my first was vaginal.  Tacy was a relatively easy, uncomplicated delivery.  As the mother you are more involved in a vaginal delivery because you see everything and I had more feeling even with an epidural so I still knew when to push.  Since Tacy had been healthy, she was given to me right away for bonding and skin-to-skin.  This time around, goodness I could not imagine doing a c-section as a brand new mom.  You are so disconnected from the birthing process, I mean seriously, they could have been doing anything and I would have been unaware.  Then because Nate needed oxygen and had to go to the NICU, that was so rough for me because I was in the hospital because I had a baby, but my baby could not be with me.  Once he was on a nasal cannula it was better because I could go and hold him, but it was so hard watching him and only being able to touch him while he was under the hood.  Because of his breathing issues (low oxygen saturation without supplementation and fast respiration rate), Nate had to receive IV fluids to keep his blood sugar at good levels.  Then he was given an NG tube to help him eat because sucking was hard with his fast breathing rate.  When his breathing slowed and he was weaned off oxygen, then he had to be weaned off the IV fluid and increase his oral feedings.  He did this all pretty quickly, oh and he had to have 24 hours of being on a bilirubin blanket as his levels were high one morning.  I am grateful he was doing so well and only in the NICU for 5 days.

I am glad that I had a c-section because there is no way I would have been able to birth a 10.5 lb baby without horrible complications for us both.  I am grateful for the many doctors, nurses and aids who took care of Nate and I.  I will be forever grateful that I had Tacy vaginally so I could have that experience with my first baby. 

Birthdays and Anniversarys

So today is my 13 year anniversary of being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.  Diabetes is not easy to live with, especially while pregnant.  However, time and my faith have helped me to see the many blessings in my life and good that has come from this disease.  I live in a time full of technology which means that companies are always coming out with better tech to manage/treat diabetes.  Within 10 months of my diagnosis I was able to get an insulin pump which is so much better to manage diabetes then insulin shots.  When I was pregnant with Tacy I was able to get a continuous glucose monitor to help watch the trends of my blood sugar that can go up and down so much with pregnancy hormones.  Now insurance will cover a CGM even when you aren't pregnant!  Other than the devices, I have had many people who have helped me a long the way.

When I was first diagnosed, it was a Friday, I was 92 pounds on a good day (I was ridiculously skinny at 16), and constantly eating and drinking.  My mom and I knew something was wrong so we went to the doctors and after every imaginable test, they tested my blood sugar which was 592 (normal is more 80-120).  So we were sent to the hospital and I was put on an insulin drip and told I couldn't eat until my blood sugar came down.  That made for a long night, missing a sleep over and the PSATs in the morning.  Saturday morning my blood sugar was 190 so I was allowed to eat breakfast and I remember I shocked my father when he came to visit me and saw me eating eggs.  Hey, I was on a restricted carb diet so I ordered every protein I could that morning because I was starving.  It was at this time that the endocrinologist came to talk with me.  This sweet little Indian man who I remember calling him Dr. Keposh (he had a long name that was hard to pronounce), was very open with me and told me that I would have this disease for life, no surgery or procedure would take it away.  When telling me all the hard facts and what to expect about treatment he asked if I had questions.  My one question: Can I still eat food?  I love chocolate, fruit, bread...  I'm so glad he was my endocrinologist because he laughed and told me that I could eat whatever I wanted it would just cost more money for me because I would have to take insulin.  Even today not all doctors share this same belief, some want all diabetics on a strict diet.  But because of what Dr. Keposh told me, I have always eaten what I want, granted I have been a lot more picky about what carbs are insulin worthy.

My next blessing was my certified diabetic educator, Rosanne.  I was a moody 16 year-old who just had their life flipped upside down with a disease and she would listen to me, give me advice, and share her own insights from living with diabetes.  She was amazing because unlike the dietician and social worker she listened to me and helped me problem solve my complaints instead of just telling me that I was fine or normal.  

Now before I was diabetic I really had wanted to become a teacher, specifically an algebra teacher.  After my diagnosis I met so many nurses, some good some bad, that I decided I wanted to be like Rosanne and help other diabetics.  Because of my disease, I am now a registered nurse and work each week at helping people through their illnesses and diseases.  

Last but not least by any means, being diagnosed with diabetes helped me to grow nearer to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.  I had always believed in Jesus and known that he had atoned for our sins, but until my diagnosis I had never understood that Jesus had suffered for every pain, trial, suffering, temptation, and sin.  He did all this so that He could "succor" us, be that one person to perfectly understand everything we have gone through and will go through in our lives.  While there are many people in the world with Type 1 diabetes, everyone experiences things differently.  As a 16-year-old it was so important to gain such a deeper understanding of the Atonement, to know that my Savior understood how hard diabetes is, how depressing, frustrating, scary, etc that it can be.  I found great solace through reading scriptures about the Atonement, hymns that discuss the great blessing of the Atonement, and of course prayer.  Without my faith I know I would have not been able to make it through this incredibly hard and emotional time.  Goodness, even now that I'm older and have years of experience I still have days I want to through up my hands and give up.  I am so grateful for my Savior, for His Infinite Atonement, and for my ever growing faith in Him.  I know that I have and we all have a loving Heavenly Father who wants to help us, which is why he offered His Son, Jesus Christ.  

When my first year anniversary was coming up, my Diabetic Educator and mother had the idea of making the anniversary a party, a fun celebration, like a diabetic birthday.  That first year I did have a Halloween party with my friends where we threw needles at pumpkins, laughed and ate yummy food.  The next year in college my friends all went to IHOP and we ate yummy breakfast food, so I guess that would be more a celebration of insulin which allows me to eat what I want and feel more like a regular person.  I can't say that I have kept up the party each year, life gets busy, but I always remember this day.  With something this life-altering you can never forget, just like I will never forget where I was when I heard that a plane had flown into the first tower on 9/11.  

I have no big plans for today either, but I do enjoy reflecting on what has happened since my diagnosis and focusing on the good that has come from it.  Now illness or disease is easy or something people would ever wish to have, but I do believe we can all look for the positive in every situation.  And most importantly, understand that there is someone who understands PERFECTLY what you are going through; Jesus Christ.  

Preschool!

So my big girl had her first day of preschool today.  Tacy tends to be shy around big groups of kids, so I was a little nervous about how she would handle a class of 16 kids.  Luckily, her school did a teacher meet and greet last Friday and they staggered the times so not all the kids were there at the same time.  This gave Tacy time to be able to meet her teachers and play with a few of the kids.  Today, she woke up early because she was so excited.  She picked out a new dress and new leggings and Daddy managed to convince her to wear her tennis shoes (they play outside everyday and the school encourages shoes so bark does not get into sandals and hurt their feet).  Tacy even let me do her hair today!  Total miracle of mornings. 

Well, Tacy was ready to run right into school.  The first week they have the parents walk their kids to their classroom to help them adjust to leaving mom/dad.  Tacy would have been fine without me.  She knew how to get to her classroom, I showed her wear to put her stuff and she went straight to the toy kitchen, but since no one was playing there, she joined a big group of kids playing with cars and started to play with them.  I got a very distracted goodbye hug and left.  

No, I didn't cry and neither did Tacy.  With my pregnancy hormones I was not sure how I would react, but I'm not too surprised it was not hard for me.  Tacy and I are used to being separated.  It was weird dropping her off and me going home by myself, but it was good so I could work on homework, decorate for fall, and stress about how to arrange furniture for when Little Man arrives.  

Tacy had a great first day.  Her teacher, Mrs. Angevine told me that Tacy already made one good friend and that she really has this school thing down and thinks this year will be great for Tacy.  Tacy is not always good at reporting her daily activities, so I was glad Mrs. Angevine told me some (and that I have a calendar telling me what the topic for the day was).  Tacy did say that she had fun, made sand cupcakes with her friend Hannah, and they read stories in class.  She was so tuckered out when I picked her up she asked if she could sleep in the car during our 5 minute drive home.  I just know it was a good day for us.  We ended it with making brownies and pizza, riding her bike, and taking a bath.  

Tacy can't wait to go back tomorrow.  I just know that I love this girl SO much!  I think preschool will be perfect for both of us so she can play, I can have me time, and then we can play when she gets home (that is until brother arrives).

Just Keep Swimming and C's get Degrees

So I just finished 2 more classes for my BSN.  Goodbye Spanish!!!  Monday my last 2 classes start, so the end is in sight of school.  I won't lie, after reading the syllabuses for the classes I feel overwhelmed.  I will be taking 8 credits, instead of 6, in a 7-10 week period (the 3 credit class is 7 weeks long and the 5 credit class is 10 weeks long).  My advisor said these two classes should be done separately, but I just want to finish, so I'm doing more than full time school.  YAY!!!  So as long as I can pass these two intense classes in the next 10 weeks, school will be done and I will have my BSN.  That is why I keep trying to remind myself that C's get degrees.

While I'm trying to make it through school for the next 10 weeks, I will still be working full time, and I'm in my last trimester of pregnancy with this little man.  When my classes end, I will be 37 weeks pregnant, so he cannot come before school is over.  It all seems like a ginormous mountain to climb.  After having just been to Disney I keep trying to remind myself to Just Keep Swimming and to take everything one day at a time.  I know it can be done, afterall I did do nursing school with a newborn.  I'm just hoping and praying that I can make it through October with somewhat of my sanity.  The good news is that my classes are now all in English and mostly it will be writing a lot of papers/projects, well and some book tests (seriously lame).  I have not read a normal book since April, so goodness I'm looking forward to school ending so I can have some me time.

As for pregnancy, Brad is guessing Little Man is going to be here by Halloween.  At my last visit he was measuring big, and being diabetic I'm at risk for having a big baby, so we will see.  In the mean time, I will keep eating chocolate (because this pregnancy I still love chocolate), ice cream, and honey bbq wings at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Turning 4 Like a Princess

Ever since we visited Disney World March 2015, we have wanted to go back, so since Brad got a break from school right during Tacy's birthday he decided we should do a family trip to Orlando for her birthday/family vacation.  Brad's mom flew in and met us in Orlando to celebrate Tacy's birthday.  We rented a condo in Kissimee which was perfect for our needs and spent Monday-Wednesday at Disney.  Being 6 months pregnant I was a little apprehensive how this Disney trip would go as I could not do the big rides, it was super hot and humid, and the whole Zika virus.  But we planned, researched, and went prepared.  

Armed with camelbacks, various bug repellants, and lathered in sunscreen, we went to Magic Kingdom early Monday morning.  Brad had the Disney app on his phone and let me tell you, that is the way to do Disney.  The app tells you the wait times for each ride, you can pick your fast passes on the app, and of course have a map of the park.  Between the app and our fast passes, we never waited longer than 15 minutes for a ride.  Obviously the best time to ride everything was the first few hours in the morning, by 10ish the park would be packed.  I'm not a big fan of crowds, but we managed.  Tacy got a birthday button on Monday since it was her birthday and by 10 we had met 6 princesses and ridden 3-4 rides already.  

We ate lunch in the park that day since it was Tacy's birthday, we watched the Festival of Fantasy and so many people said Happy birthday to Tacy during the parade.  We were also able to walk right in to the Tiki Room and the Country Bear Jamboree.  Tacy loved them both, it's been years since I last saw the jamboree.  We did leave in the evening to go eat dinner at BJ's Brewery and Restaurant and enjoyed yummy pizza and pzookies.  Then we headed back for more rides.  After all day at the park, I was exhausted so we left before the fireworks.  It did rain 2-3 times during the day, which was a nice relief from the humidity.

Tuesday we woke up early again to go to Animal Kingdom.  Now let me just say, that not all Disney parks are created equal.  Animal Kingdom was very humid, after all they are trying to make it like Asia and Africa where all these animals live.  But I woke up that morning with a splitting headache and the humidity was only making it worse.  I actually drank a diet coke to try to help it.  Despite the pain, we did have fun.  We started with the Safari ride and had fun seeing all the animals and learning interesting facts about them.  Then we walked along the gorilla falls trail, where there were birds and gorillas.  After that we watched a bird show that was really fun.  Then Tacy and I went and watched Finding Nemo the Muscial while Brad and his mom went to ride Escape Everest.  It was lunch time so we all scarfed down our sandwiches before going to our various places.  For Tacy and I, this was fine.  We loved the musical, plus it was nice and air-conditioned which really helped me headache.  But Brad and his mom realized eating before Everest was a bad idea because half the ride goes backwards, not easy on the stomach.  Meeting up with them after the show was when I discovered that the bathrooms at Animal Kingdom are really dismal compared to Magic Kingdom (not enough stalls or room).  The next fast pass was for the water ride, which sounded really good considering how ridiculously hot and humid it was.  Every ride at Animal Kingdom is not recommended for pregnant women, while I had read the Safari Jeep ride was fine, I never saw anything about the water ride.  So I decided to play it safe and not go.  We searched for an air conditioned place for me to wait (there are very few places with AC in Animal Kingdom) and Anne found a restaurant that served sherbet.  So I got a table and ate some yummy mango, lemon and raspberry sherbet while everyone else got soaked.  Of course, once the ride was over it had started raining.  It was at this point that Tacy picked out a kitty cat animal for her birthday present and we decided to go back to the Condo for naps.  Brad got us fast passes for Lion King at 10:30 that night...we never ended up going back.  We were all pretty tired and decided staying up really late before another full day at Magic Kingdom was not best.  

Wednesday we woke up early again, I still had a splitting headache, so Brad got me tylenol on the way to Magic Kingdom.  After having spent one day at Magic Kingdom already, we were able to do our favorite things.  We walked onto Pirates of the Carribean and had a boat to ourselves then everyone else went and rode Splash Mountain twice because the line was short.  Tacy says her favorite ride is Splash Mountain and her second favorite is Buzz Lightyear's Space Rangers (something like that).  We also rode Peter Pan again, Ariel and It's a Small World (which I'm pretty sure that one cause my headache initially).  Now Wednesday was another hot, humid day. So we went back to the condo at lunch for naps, ate a quick dinner, then went back to the park for more rides and to watch the Electrical Parade and Fireworks.  We had been hoping all day it would rain and it started to drizzle at the end of the Electrical Parade.  As soon as the parade finished, it POURED.  We laughed and ran for cover.  I had the wettest belly but we were all pretty wet, except for Tacy because she was in her umbrella stroller.  The rain stopped in time for the fireworks and we enjoyed that show.  It was a great end to a fun time in Disney.

Thursday we swam in the pool at the condo, played mini golf, ate ice cream, walked around Disney Springs, and then had dinner at Chuy's Mexican Restaurant, which was really delicious.  It was nice relaxing day to end our trip.

Overall, we had a great time, Tacy was sad to leave and sad to say bye to Mema.  My headache finally went away when we got home.  Of course, after being gone all week, we had Tacy's birthday party with friends on Saturday morning at a park.  Nice and low key for me.  The kids all ran around and played, Brad made a great Rapunzel cake for Tacy which was a big hit, and then we returned to normal life with work and school.