After trying some of my friend’s Cinnamon Bread that was so yummy, I asked for the recipe.  She told me there was a starter and she’d bring it over with the instructions.  Anyway, the basic recipe involves eggs, oil, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla pudding, etc.  It’s called friendship bread because you’re supposed to give away the starter to 3 friends and continue baking a starter that you keep every 10 days.

Thinking that the bread might get a little time consuming, expensive, or boring, I went looking for variations.  Here are some good ones . . .

Ways to Save Money

• Instead of 3 eggs, you can use 2.
• You can substitute applesauce for the vegetable oil.
• You can substitute water for the milk.
• And you don’t have to include the pudding.

The cinnamon bread is awesome!  Love it, but I found these other ways to make the bread . . .

Other Flavors, instead of cinnamon and/or vanilla pudding

• add 1-2 cups of blueberries
• add box of instant chocolate pudding, 3 tsp. cocoa and 3/4 cup chocolate chips.
• 1 box of butterscotch pudding and 1 cup of butterscotch chips.
• lemon pudding and add 1/4 cup of poppy seeds.
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips, 3/4 cup macadamia nuts and used cheesecake pudding
• 1 small box of strawberry jello, 1 c. thawed strawberries
• see more here
• you could also bake in a 9×13 pan for 35 minutes.

When You’re Tired of Baking

• You can freeze the starter for up to a year.  Thaw it for 3 hours at room temperature when you’re ready to start baking again.
• It can be 1-2 days off schedule, early or late.
• If you wanna say goodbye to the starter but don’t want to throw it out, you could bake all the starter by dividing it equally into 4 bowls.  Then, add the ingredients.  Each bowl would make 1-2 loaves each.  Then, you could give away some of the baked bread.

Soooo, who wants some of my starter?

This animal came to visit us one afternoon.  The pictures aren’t that great because he was so stinkin’ fast.  He jumped over our fence, onto the neighbor’s shed, and then “flew” onto their roof.  Craziness.  Abigail loved seeing it, prays for the animal, and frequently asks when it will visit again.

So, we’re taking a poll . . . what animal is this?

We’ve seen big improvements from you in the last couple of weeks.  You’re adjusting better to life outside of the womb.

• You weigh 11 lb, 11 oz (almost a 4 lb gain since birth).
• Not sure on your current height, but at your last check up (at 2 months, you were 23.5 inches), you were in the 90% on height.  You’re about to outgrow your bassinet.  Everyone always comments on how long you are.
• You rolled over from your stomach to your back.
• You’re still so fidgety.  You are only still when you’re asleep.
• You try to sit up and stand alllll the time.

• You track us really well with your eyes.
• You went swimming for the first time.

• You “talk” a lot.
• You seem to be the happiest baby these days.  What a change from your first 3 months!  You smile allll day long. You do still have a fussy time from about 9:30-11pm, but other than that, you’re happy.

• You laugh now!  Love it!  I can’t believe you’re laughing so soon.  Thank you for this!
• You’re doing soooo much better in the sleeping department.  You go 8-9.5 hours in between eating at night.  Most nights, you go right to sleep without fussing, but some nights, you pout for up to 5 minutes, and then, you settle down.  Also, your naps are great!  You have 4 one and a half hour naps.  No crying.  Love it!
• You always get comments on your big, beautiful eyes.

Here’s a short video of you at 9 weeks old.

We love you, and we’re so happy you’re a part of our family.

Abigail is always saying funny and cute stuff.  Just an hour ago, she told me, “Mommy, you’re my BEST friend.”  Awww.  And not two seconds ago, she asked, “Oh what happened Mommy?  Let me kiss you.  [Kiss].  That feels you better.”

(too cool)

And then, there are times when she’s clever.  The other day, we were out swimming and taught her about the dinosaurs on her pool.  We asked her to say Stegosaurus.  She said, “Um, I can’t because I’m too busy.”  Wow, in the amount of time it took you to say you’re too busy, you could’ve said said word.

(silly girl)

Or there are times when she’s random and says things like, “Hey Daddy, I wanna tell you something.  I make milk with my boobies.”

We knew the day would come sometime for her to start saying “inappropriate” phrases.  Two Sundays ago, I was in the nursing room with Lydia, and when I came back into the church auditorium, Jonathan informed me that Abigail had asked, “What’s wrong with that man’s head?”  That man . . . was bald.

(look how innocent)

The next Sunday, she asked again, “What’s wrong with that man’s head?” when one of the ministers got up to speak.

Rachel posted about her daughter acting inappropriate.  And I’d like to know, what has your toddler or child said or done in public to embarrass you?

**Also, Happy FIRST Birthday to our sweet niece Harper!**

So, it’s been another busy week for me, full of multiple appointments every single day.

Anyway, I got the results back from my 2nd Bile Acid Test (the first one I had is what diagnosed me with Cholestasis), and it showed that my levels were within normal range!  Of course, they’ll have to test me again later this week.  I’ve been stuck so many times, it’s ridiculous.

But we were so happy to hear that the Bile Acid in my blood is within normal range.  Praise God!  I know so many of you have been praying for me and Baby, and that’s been a huge blessing.  Also, about 6 Elders from our church and 4 of their wives came over last week to pray over our family.  Thank you God for hearing everyone’s prayers.

Yesterday, I had a Non Stress Test, and during it, Baby was a bit sluggish and not moving much.  The technician came in and “buzzed” my belly with a sound wave thingy “to wake up Baby”, and all the sudden Baby started moving like crazy.  Poor thing was scared!  Baby’s heartbeat went up in 188 beats per minute; the highest I’d ever seen.  Normally, it stays around 133 until Baby starts moving, and then, it’ll go up to 150s.  So, 188 was crazy to see.

Anyway, my Perinatologist is “very ill (was admitted to the hospital) and won’t be in for at least this whole week.”  But he still would want me to have an Amnio if I delivered this week.  No thank you!

Today, I had an OB appointment, and she wrote me my “orders” for the hospital.  Unless something goes badly during this week, we will meet our Baby next week.  And don’t think you can come rob our house, which is what happened to a blogger friend during her hospital stay, because we will have our family staying here.

For the rest of this week, I’ll see the Gallbladder surgeon, do another NST, have another blood draw, and probably something else.

Oh and last Friday, I got my Braces off!  Only had them for 14 months this time!  But now, at night, I have to wear this psycho retainer that is connected in the back and doesn’t let me open my mouth.  It hurts, too.

Anyway, thanks for prayers.  Keep them coming.  And here’s a picture of my beautiful toddler!  Gorgeous, right?!

So, I briefly mentioned in my last post that an ultrasound showed that I have gallstones and sludge (still not sure what that means; anyone know?).  And I’ve been told it’s “common” in pregnancies, so I thought I’d ask if any of you ladies have had gallstones, specifically during pregnancy.

But, regardless, I wanna hear from those who have had gallstones or had their gallbladders removed (with or without being pregnant, male or female).  I’d just like to know what to expect.

My OB said that since I’m not experiencing any “attacks” that the gallbladder won’t have to be taken out soon after delivery (and for sure not between now and then).  She did say that since I’m young, though, that it is very likely that I will, at some point, need to have my gallbladder removed.  So, she’s going to set me up with a specialist sometime postpartum, just to establish a doctor-patient relationship, in case I do start to have big problems with it.

So, have you had gallstones?  Did you have your gallbladder removed?  Are you having bad side effects from the removal?  Any way you can pass the stones?

I didn’t really want to make this a public issue, but I also don’t want to have to explain the situation a hundred times, so I’ll tell you what’s going on.

Last Week

So last week, I started itching all over.  I figured it was weather related, or if it was pregnancy related, there wasn’t a problem.  But at my OB check up last Thursday, when I told the OB about the itching, she asked me several questions.  At the end of the questions, she said, “Okay, we need to do a blood test to see if you might have Cholestasis. . . If you do, it could be very high risk for Baby.  You can take a look at itchymoms.com . . .”

So, I went home and looked at the website.  It scared me, and on that day and Friday, I thought, “I definitely have this.”  Saturday and Sunday, though, I felt better with the itching and thought, “I don’t have Cholestasis.”

What’s Cholestasis (ICP)

It’s a rare pregnancy disease; only occurs in 1 out of 1,000 pregnancies.  From what I understand, bile is made in your Liver and should empty into your Gallbladder.  With ICP, the bile either moves slowly or doesn’t move at all and causes build up, so it empties into your bloodstream.  Thus, the bile salts in your blood cause an internal itching and is basically toxic to Baby.  “ICP poses several risks that are of great concern. ICP is associated with an increased risk for infant stillbirth (intrauterine death of baby), premature labor, fetal distress, and hemorrhaging in both mother and child.”  So, the goal is to get Baby out not much later than 37 weeks.

Tuesday Morning

Well, yesterday, I got a call from my OB’s nurse who said,  “Your bible acid levels were elevated, so we’re going to send you to the Perinatologist (a high risk pregnancy OB) to do a Non Stress Test (aka, NST).”  I asked if I’d be able to speak to the Perinatologist, or if I’d only deal with his nurses.  She said just the nurses.  Then, I said, “Okay, since my OB is out of the office all week, could I speak to one of her associate doctors?”  The nurse said, “We reserve contacting them for emergencies.”  Ummmm, what the heck, lady.  My baby could die inside of me; that’s not an emergency?!  Needless to say, she made my cry (all the while, Abigail is saying, “Mommy’s sad.  Momma, are you crying?  Oh, Mommy, you need a Kleenex?”).  After a little more discussion with her, I got off the phone because she was not helpful; she didn’t even know how to pronounce the disease, and I’m sure I’m more educated about it than she is.

I called Jonathan, my mom, and my dad to update them.  My mom asked if she could call the nurse to give her a piece of her mind.  Jonathan said he coming home from work and later told me he was about to go up to the office and chew the nurse out.  Oh boy.  Thank goodness that right as he got home, my OB (whom we love!) called me.

She said she’s dealt with this before, and the outcome has always been good.  Only once was the baby put in NICU.  The babies tend to have feeding issues, but she gave the impression that she had never delivered a still birth from Cholestasis.  She told me she texted the Perinatologist that he needed to come in and meet with me when I had the NST.  She also answered a lot of my questions.  She’s an amazingly, intelligent, kind Christian, and we trust her very much.

Tuesday Afternoon

I went in and did the NST; Baby moved great.

Then the Perinatologist came in and answered all my questions and gave me tons of info:

• I was told I’ll be coming in twice a week to do NSTs.  If Baby keeps moving well, and everything else seems to look well, the longest I could go is 38 weeks.  If things end up not so good, 36 weeks is when they’d take Baby (this is next week!).
• I got a steroid injection to hopefully help Baby’s lungs mature, but I’m on the borderline of when steroids stop being effective.  The nurse said, “This is going to burn like the dickens.”  She wasn’t kidding.  Holy petes; it kept burning for around an hour or so, and it’s still tender.  Jonathan said the needle was incredibly long; ewww.  She also said the ‘roids would probably keep me wide awake– yea, considering I already have the worst sleeping ever.
• They did a Sonogram, and Baby looked great.  The estimated weight is already 6 lb, 11 oz.  All of Baby’s measurements were the size of a 37-38 weeks Baby in utero.  The placenta isn’t in Grade 3 yet (which is what happened with Abigail at 35 weeks and one of the reasons why they took her two weeks early), so that’s great.  It looked as if Baby won’t have much hair.  Thanks a lot Jonathan’s genes.
• I had to take another blood test to test for Liver Function.
• I got a prescription for Ursodiol.  It will hopefully help with the itching and move the bile salts into the GallBlader- rather than the bloodstream.

To those who’ve been praying

Thanks soooooo much.  I think my itching had lessened due to your petitions to our God.  Keep it up.  I really don’t care about the itching so much (even though it is very uncomfortable/painful); I just want to be able to see my Baby and watch Baby grow into a toddler/child/teen/adult.

To those who have/had Cholestasis

Please let me know who you are if you come across this.  I’d like to know more about it, and I’d like to try and help you if you’re going through it.

Well we had another sonogram a couple of days ago.  Here are some things we learned:

• Baby is no longer breech.
• My placenta is no longer low-lying.
• Baby is measuring 13 days ahead of schedule.  [At the last ultrasound, Baby was 4 days ahead.]
• They estimated Baby to weigh 3.5 lbs already.
• Baby’s heartbeat was 147.
• I have another sonogram scheduled in late March.

Here are some of the pictures we got:

Foot & Leg

Arm

Ear & Nose

Face

And here’s what I look like:

I love these soaps from Bath and Body Works.  Not only do they smell great, but they’re soft on your hands, and it’s so much easier for Abi to wash her hands with the “bubble soap.”

I had even put them on my wish list for Christmas this year because we just ran out of the bottles in our kitchen and guest bathroom.  Then, I discovered there might be a way to make the foaming soap with regular soap and save lots of money.  Easy and super quick.

Ingredients

• An empty bottle of Bath & Body Works Gentle Foaming Hand soap
• Any liquid antibacterial soap (I used Bath & Body Works)

Directions

1. Put about an inch of the liquid soap into the empty foaming bottle.
2. Pour water into the bottle pretty slowly.
3. Screw the lid on, and turn the bottle upside down slowly several times.  Try not to shake it up because it’ll get too soapy.  And you’re finished!

Also, you could just keep pouring a little water into your regular Bath & Body works Foamy Soap whenever it gets a low.

*In these pictures I used a creamy hand soap, which didn’t work as well as when I used a liquid hand soap.

So yesterday, Jonathan and I went to see our fetus again.  Here are some things we learned from the appointment:

1. Baby weighs about 15 oz.  The Perinatologist (sp?) predicted that Baby’s final weight could be 8 lb, 8 oz.                                                                                        
2. Baby has my toes (the second toes are longer than the firsts)
3. My placenta is low lying.  This isn’t a bad thing now, but it could be of a concern if it doesn’t move up later on.
4. Baby is breech now, which isn’t a bad thing now.
5. They didn’t see anything wrong with the kidneys, at this point.
6. I have another Sonogram scheduled for February, and I’ll probably get another one after that!

Here are some other pictures: Arm, Leg, Head & Chest

Last night, Jonathan felt Baby move several times for the first time!  Yea!

And, we’ve decided to refer to Baby as JoJo, as suggested by Jonathan’s sister.  I’m not sure of her reasoning, but here’s our reason: if Baby is a boy, his middle name will be Jonathan, and if Baby is a girl, her middle name will be Joy.  Hence Jo for Jonathan and Jo for Joy, so JoJo.

Here’s what I looked like last week: