Harms Family News

How far along? 23 weeks Maternity clothes? Yep. Sleep: Slept on the couch for the first time ever. The dog was sooooo loud and I couldn't make her be quiet without waking Tim, who had already gotten up to let her out once, so I just went to the couch. Best moment this week: My sweet big girl wrapping her arms around me when I was sobbing on the couch about a cut up check. Movement: She's an active little thing, but is nice to her momma at night so far. Miss M would kick me all night long! I don't remember about Miss N. Gender: She's a girl! Labor Signs: No way! What I miss: Walking without hip pain. Not having swollen feet. What I am looking forward to: Reaching viability. I think I will feel so much better! Weekly Wisdom: If your child cuts up a huge check, the bank can reissue one, and maybe even without fees. If you receive a huge check from a client, the piano is not the place to set it. Even though your child never touches the mail and knows she is not t...

The Internet can be a scary place, and of necessity due to my work I spend a lot of time on it. When I was first pregnant with this baby I came across post after post where a seemingly healthy pregnancy and baby died at 12-19 weeks. Even Michelle Dugger lost her baby late in her pregnancy. It freaked me out, even though I know I have very little in common with her. I am feeling pretty confident all will be well as we inch closer to viability. At this point, even if I got really, really sick, they could probably use drugs to keep her inside for a couple more weeks. That is worst case scenario of course, but it helps put my mind at ease. During this pregnancy I have struggled with anxiety more than ever before, with the exception of my battle with depression after I had Miss N. I blame hormones, drugs, and a host of other things, but it is a very real issue and something I am struggling with. Now, I am starting to feel anxious about how I will manage with a newborn. Of course, the Intern...

They say hindsight is always 20/20. Looking back, there are so many signs that Miss N had an eye problem. I remember her first puzzle. It was a little one with animals and underneath the piece was an identical image of the animal. She could figure out which hole they went in, but it took her a very long time to figure out she had to turn the animal to fit it in the hole. I remember telling her, "Put the eyes with the eyes" and she just didn't get it, but she was a toddler and I figured it was just her developmental stage. Then there was the difficulty writing neatly. But she was 3 and 4 and I figured it was just developmental, or that she had inherited my poor handwriting. Plus, she's left handed, and my lefties when I taught always struggled a little with handwriting. Then there were the eye spy books. She couldn't find the pictures. Again, I assumed it was just developmental. Then there were the headaches. That was the sign I finally realized meant there was a p...

Ok, so I failed last week in posting my update. There was a lot going on and it just didn't seem important. I almost failed this week because suddenly the work is flowing, but this week it seems more important to me, so here it is! We are at the 22 week mark as of yesterday. I feel baby kicking all of the time. We have learned she is a girl, and her nickname (not real name) is "Lucy," as Miss M named her. So maybe I will call her that on the blog until she is born. I'm not calling her that much at home because I don't want to confuse Miss M. How far along? 22 weeks Maternity clothes? Yep. Sleep: Doing OK with the exception of getting up with all of the sickies of late. Best moment this week: Tim got to feel Lucy kicking for the first time! I'm hoping the girls will be able to feel it soon. Movement: Daily. I find it reassuring which is nice. I found it creepy with my other babies. Gender: She's a girl! Labor Signs: No way! What I miss: Being emotio...

I have a friend with three girls. She is a hair dresser, nail technician , girly girl. I am also going to have three girls. I am not a girly girl, not one bit. The other day Miss N asked me to put at "twist" in her hair, and I had no idea what she was talking about. I barely know how to even do a French braid. I have never once curled their hair. We are lucky if they have matching hair bows most days. I have not invested in a stash of boutique bows for my girls. If I do get around to painting my nails, it's a day or two before they are a chipped mess, and they usually stay that way for at least a week. I am a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal, although I do try to stay looking feminine. I have a husband who wants me to look like a lady after all. My bedroom "colors" are green. I had green as the primary color in my wedding. I don't "do" lace and frills. The most "girly" thing I do is scrapbooking, and that's only if I am lucky becau...

Before I forget, here's Miss N's response. "now you don't have to switch out all of the clothes for boy clothes. I was very worried about that." Funny kid.

When I was expecting Miss N, I was a teacher. I had a great, small group of kids to teach. They always wanted to know what I wanted to have, and my answer was, "A boy. I love you girls but girls are too catty!" Of course, we all know that Miss N was a girl. I should have never said anything. Because come May, I will be the mom of three girls. Meet baby girl #3 She is healthy and weighs approximately 13 ounces, which apparently they measure by measuring the femur. Tim's response: "Well, this will be a lot cheaper!" Miss M's response: "I gonna have two sisters? I will call her Lucy. Why we not gets a brover?" I haven't gotten to confirm with Miss N yet. I am totally cool with this. I think the events of the last year and a half made gender less of an importance to me than having a healthy baby I can hold. God knows whether or not we are the right family for a boy, and at this point he said nope, we get another girl. I love watching my two sisters...

Last week I received an email from a client indicating they would be dropping rates across the board in the new year. This represented a sizeable drop in income from a client that was bringing in a huge chunk of my monthly pay. While this client was not high paying, thye did have ongoing, steady work, which made it worthwhile to stick with them. The new pay rate was well below my minimum. I started to panic. I am having a baby in four months, and I was planning to rely on this client to keep some money coming in when I took time off from my other clients after the baby was born. Yet, this is turning out to be a blessing. There is an amazing group of online freelancers I have connected with through a friend, and I went to them to "vent." They immediately offered support, not only through virtual hugs, but also through helping me spruce up my cover letter (which is vital in this line of work, no matter how experienced you are) and start finding new opportunities. Currently, I a...

Technically I will not be 20 weeks until tomorrow, but I opted to do this tonight while I have a little extra time. I went to the doctor (not the high risk doctor, just the regular one) today and got some answers to some questions. She was fine with where my readings are, for the most part, and wants to play with the timing of my medication to optimize its effectiveness. It seems the goal is not necessarily to lower my numbers significantly but rather to stop the continual increase they were seeing, as numbers naturally increase in the third trimester. All in all I am feeling much calmer about the whole thing. We also got a peek at the baby and are fairly certain on the gender, but his/her legs were closed pretty tightly so the ultrasound tech didn't want to make an "official" call yet. I will share when we get that "official" call. :) How far along? 20 weeks Maternity clothes? Yep. Sleep: Hubby hasn't been sleeping well and keeps nudging me. Not sure if I...

So, this blood pressure thing - it is making me crazy! The medicine seems to be working at a higher dose. When I take it, after a while I start getting readings of 118/72. Those are good readings. But, and here's the real kicker, it seems to wear off before it is time to take it again. I take it first thing in the morning and first thing before bed. In the morning, my readings are high right after I get up. How can sleeping make your blood pressure go up? I have gotten some readings over 140 and over 100. Those are high. Then, again, in the evening before I take it it is high again. I am sure it goes down after I take the medicine, but i am sleeping. If I sit and do nothing except work it goes lower, but the minute I get up to move it spikes. I know these spikes are not good for me or baby, but I can't live my life sitting on my tushy with two little ones relying one me. All of this does not bode well for staying off of bed rest. Tim and I talked about our options if that happ...