Christmas is coming, and Julie's getting fat...

...except Christmas is already here, and I am most definitely fat.

Here's the belly at 24 weeks. Crazy how time flies...only a few more weeks and I'll be entering my thrid trimester. No complaints about that though, my ankles have turned into tree trunks b/c of the swelling and I've definitely started waddling haha. It's only going to get more uncomfortable from here, I'm sure. It'll all be worth it, though...Merry Christmas everyone!

This is scary

Facebook debates...are stupid. Especially with this guy. I should know better. But tell me this isn't horrifying...

Troy: I think its funny that the Liberals/Communists are touting the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as this great political victory; when they’re the ones who made it up! I don’t get it!? Are they admitting their stupidity? Or proving it?

Julie: As a liberal, I had absolutely nothing to do with its inception, so I can feel victorious. :-) Although truth be told it's not so much a victory as it is something that should have been repealed LONG ago (and in my opinion, it should have never even been an issue), as one's sexuality has nothing to do with one's ability to serve his/her country. It was an archaic policy that had no business being there in the first place (see Troy?? We kind of agree...KIND OF).

Troy: I’m not sure what to think of it. Seriously though, this shows the Libs/Commies two sidedness. As far as the policy is concerned… I think “don’t ask don’t tell” was kind of a good idea; from a common sense stand point. I personally feel ...that don’t ask don’t tell should be practiced in all facets of public life and business. I don’t want to know about ANYBODY’S sex life. Not yours, not my parents, nobody’s. And I know nobody wants to know about my sex life. Now I defiantly don’t think we should make it “law” like the Democrats did in the 90’s, but any moral person should have enough common sense to keep that stuff private regardless of them being a Liberal Commie or Conservative Patriot, straight or gay.

My biggest concern here is how this will affect things in the military. They’re already spending far too much on sexual counseling, sensitivity training, legal matters and much more just by having Women serve alongside men in the military. Millions are wasted each year policing these issues. Now we’re throwing more into the mix. I for one would much rather see those millions spent to buy guns, ships, aircraft and other technology used to fulfill the military’s purpose. I mean let’s face it, G Gordon Liddy said it best years ago on his radio program when he said; “the military is there to kill people and break things”.

Look, I have gay friends, and they have a right to be gay. We'll have to see how this plays out. I’m afraid that this may cause problems among units (no pun intended--see it' already happening) made up of men and women that are not as tolerant as, myself and others may be. This can cause serious issues among troop morale. So yes, this is a potentially large victory for the anti-military left wing. And that is not a good thing for this country and ANYBODY’S sexuality or orientation.

So to Julie, yes, we do kind of agree. Kind of. ☺

I would be interested in have my friends that have served or are currently serving in the military weigh in on this if they happen to read it. I know they would be professional about it, and ad insight we civilian “armchair” Generals don’t have.

Julie: ‎*shrugs* I think it's easy for you to say that the "don't ask don't tell" mentality should be implemented into all facets of life because you're straight. When you walk through the store holding your wife's hand, that's not keeping your s...exual orientation private...but nobody cares when YOU do that. People see you and your wife and know you're straight and it's fine. But if my friend and his boyfriend were to do the same...well, that's just horrible. Even when they're not being affectionate in any way (which in public they almost never are) it's still not ok with most people (around here, at least). I think it should be. I'm not going to try to force anyone to change their religious beliefs and what not, but at the very least people need to understand that seeing 2 gay people in public is not the end of the world, and it's not going to hurt them. Bottom line is, we can try to adopt a "don't ask don't tell" mentality and ban all public displays of affection so there's no chance of anyone knowing what sexual orientation anyone else is...or people can learn not to give a shit about it and mind their own damn business. I'm in favor of option #2...I like holding my husband's hand when we go places. I want the same for my gay friends.

While I may be against this supposed war on terror we're fighting (and no, I'm not pleased with Obama's handling of it either), I am NOT anti-military. I want the finest equipment for our soldiers and I don't necessarily agree w/all the spending in the military on sensitivity training and all that either...the people I know who are currently in the military couldn't care less if their fellow soldiers are gay or straight. But at the same time, a lot of people do not share that mentality and I most definitely don't agree with the military kicking over 13,000 people out because they're gay, so maybe some of this is necessary. I don't know Troy, what's the price of equality? It's a hard issue.

Troy: Julie, I like you. I really do. I’m not sure where you’re coming from though. I don’t see the homophobia you liberal activists portray conservative people like myself to have. Your argument also throws tolerance out the window. It’s ok though. I’ve read the good book. And in the end… I know who wins.

p.s. I respect your right to right to your beliefs, even when they’re wrong, but please keep it respectful. I nearly deleted your post (not because of your argument, but because of your lack of respect in the way you express your views), but it’s a good demonstration and example in Liberal/Marxist /Communist values; which is a strange and historically destructive, failed religion.

Julie: Well Troy, honestly...I apologize that you are offended by what I said. I only say it b/c I have witnessed it first hand, I have seen with my own eyes the blatant discrimination of homosexuals around here and it hurts me to see my friends treated that way. I seem to remember you parading around the office telling people you were taking martial arts to "fight off the gays." This is something even your fellow Mormons were appalled to hear you say.

But once again I am reminded that you and I are always going to think the other is wrong and that will never, ever change.

Hope you have a good Christmas. :-)

Kidney Stones are the DEVIL

Hello friends. Before I write anything, you all should know by now that I'm not super awesome at censoring my blog posts so here's your TMI warning. :-)

So ever since I got pregnant the only discomforts I've had are a couple bladder infections, which are extremely annoying but overall not too horrid (although when I have one I might say otherwise). I never had any morning sickness or vomiting and in general have felt pretty darn good thus far. So when I woke up feeling like I had a bladder infection the Friday before Thanksgiving, I didn't think much of it...I still had a prescription for antibiotics so I filled it and went about my day.

That night I woke up around midnight with a bit of pain in my back and side, which I found odd. I got up went to the bathroom...and WOW did that hurt. The pain didn't subside so I took some Tylenol and started pacing around the apartment. I don't know why I paced, I guess I just didn't know what else to do. A couple hours later when it hadn't gotten better I texted my sister, who's a registered nurse, hoping she was awake and at work (she works the graveyard shift at the hospital). She never responded (I looked at my phone the next day and realized that in my painful agony I had texted her home phone #, not her cell...*special*) so I figured she wasn't working that night and continued pacing. Around 4:00am the pain had become so intense I could barely walk. I remembered that my health insurance inculdes a 24-hr nurse hotline so I called it and the RN who answered, after asking a bunch of questions about my condition, advised me to seek medical assistance as soon as possible. So I woke Jacob up and he drove us to the ER (and can I just complain for a sec...there is a hospital literally 3 minutes from my house but it's not in network so we had to drive 10 minutes to the one that is...which doesn't seem like a huge deal, except the fact that I was in so much pain every little bump in the road made me want to die). They took a urine sample, placed an IV and the doctor said it sounded like a kidney stone.

Um, what? A kidney stone? That was not what I wanted to hear. You always hear about how horribly painful they are and while I actually have a pretty high tolerance for pain, I would rather not deal with it if I can avoid it. Just saying.

Anyway, after pumping my veins full of painkillers and anti-nausea medication (which made me delightfully groggy), they sent me home with a prescription for percocet and instructions to drink lots of water and wait for the stone to pass. I wasn't convinced I had a kidney stone, but did as I was instructed. I drank a ton of water and took it easy for the next couple days, and I figured I must have passed it on Sunday night because on Monday I woke up feeling just fine...which was a relief because we were leaving the next morning for Washington to spend Thanksgiving with Jacob's family.

So yeah, we drove to Washington and although the trip there was awful (see my previous post...stupid snow...), I still felt fine. Yeah, that was short-lived. I woke up at 6:00 the next morning and the pain was back. Goooooodie. I popped a percocet and started chugging as much water as I could...and I paced. By 8:00 it hadn't gotten any better and I was actually starting to get really nauseated. I began freaking out because I didn't want Jacob's family to see me pacing around in my pajamas and trying not to cry. Yeah, well, they did. Around 9:00 I decided maybe taking a hot shower would help (how??? No idea...) and once I got in I realized my leg was swollen...the leg that was on the same side as the pain. That freaked me out even more. So after my shower (which totally didn't help) I called my sister, who told me it was possible that the kidney stone was completely blocking the tube from the kidney to the bladder and I needed to go back to the hospital.

DAMNIT.

I told Jacob and off we went. The drive to the hospital closest to my in-laws' house is WAY longer than the drive to the hospital here (we're talking 20 minutes at least)...it felt like a freaking eternity.

After we FINALLY got there, I gave yet another urine sample, they got me checked in and in a bed, a nurse came and took all my info...then we waited. And waited. And I had to get up to pee a lot because I'd chugged so much water. It was horrible. The pain I felt while I was peeing was 10 times worse than the pain when I wasn't. I literally had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming, it hurt so badly.

By now it was about 11:00am and although my nurse had said they were going to start an IV and give me some pain meds, he was nowhere to be found and I was getting more panicked by the minute. The pain became so intense I couldn't stop myself from shaking (you know how they ask you to rate your pain on a scale from 1-10? I was definitely at a 10)...finally Jacob decided enough was enough and went to find someone to yell at. Apparently my nurse had taken his lunch break and the nurse who was supposed to be covering for him forgot about me. After Jacob chewed her out a bit she took a blood sample, placed my IV and I finally got some relief.

Eventually the ER doc came in and told me there was no infection found in my urine but that blood showed that my potassium was too low and white blood cell count was too high so they were going to hook me up to a heart monitor and give me an ultrasound of my kidneys to see what they could find. She said it sounded like a kidney stone but they wanted to check everything out. The ultrasound revealed 2 kidney stones...1 in each kidney...but kidney stones in your kidneys don't hurt you...it's when they move out of the kidneys that it becomes painful. My uterus was blocking where the tube connects to my bladder so they couldn't see if there was stone there as well. Because of my white blood cell count they were nervous about my appendix, which they also couldn't see because of my uterus...so they decided that since I couldn't have a CAT scan I needed an MRI.

I can see how claustrophobic people would flip out while getting an MRI but I was so exhausted at that point that I thought it was kind of nice to be strapped to the table thing, shoved into a giant camera and told not to move for half an hour. Having to hold my breath for 30 seconds at a time while they were taking pictures was kind of annoying but overall I was just so happy to not be in pain I didn't even care.

Anyway, the MRI revealed that my appendix was fine but they still couldn't see if there was another stone b/c once again, my uterus was in the way. Everyone who saw the results told me the babies were really cute though. :-) The urologist explained that she thought there really was a kidney stone blocking everything and so they were going to keep me overnight, pump a shitload of fluid into me and hope that it passed. She said if that didn't work we'd have to look at putting a tube in my back to drain the urine that was backed up. Awesome. I was a bit surprised that they were keeping me overnight, but I was also grateful b/c I knew being there meant being able to manage my pain and also that my babies would be carefully monitored.

After the MRI I saw a perinatologist and got to have an ultrasound of the babies (where we actually found out for sure that they're both boys) to make sure they were ok, which they were. The doctor assured me that the pain meds they were giving me weren't hurting the babies at all, and the most important thing was for me to be comfortable b/c me being in that much pain can put stress on the babies.

So yeah, then they took me to my room (which was honestly bigger and nicer than some hotels I've stayed in), set me up with some antibiotics and more pain meds in my IV (I had my own button that I could push to administer medication when I needed it...soooo nice!) and then Jacob's family dropped by for a visit. The doctor FINALLY gave me the ok to eat, so my father-in-law ran and got me some chicken mcnuggets (I crave them all the time) and a slurpee, which was the best meal I've ever eaten haha. The nurses came in to monitor the babies' heartbeats so Jacob's family got to hear them, which was pretty cool.

After everyone left Jacob and I were both pretty wiped out...they had a nice couch/bed for Jacob to sleep on so he could stay with me...so we went to sleep. Then around midnight I got up to use the bathroom and low and behold, I passed the stone (they gave me this lovely strainer thing to pee in...so fun). I called the nurse to have her check and make sure, and she was so impressed by the size of it that she called in all the other nurses to have a look. I can't remember the last time I've felt that relieved.

And fortunately my white blood cell count was back to normal the next day so they let me go and we were able to spend Thanksgiving w/Jacob's family instead of in the hospital, which would have been a bummer.

So now (and for the remainder of my pregnancy)...I drink buckets of water, I avoid consuming too much calcium, and I've pretty much given up colas (doc says I can still drink stuff like ginger ale and Sprite so I can somewhat feed my carbonated beverage addiction haha). Here's to hoping the next time I'm in a hospital is when I'm having my babies...and hopefully I won't have to ever go back after that!!

Let it snow, let it snow...MAKE IT STOP!!!

Hello friends. As promised, I'm back to tell more stories.

So...this year for Thanksgiving, it was our turn to go spend it with Jacob's family in Washington. Seeing as how Thanksgiving is in November, we usually fly there. However, this year funds were pretty slim so against our better judgement we decided to drive. You see, we have driven in the past with disastrous results (these results consisting of near-apocolyptic blizzards), and I made very solemn vows to myself not to EVER drive there in the winter again. But...it's amazing how things change when it comes to finances.

A few days prior to our departure I started obsessively hanging out on weather.com, looking up cities along our route to see what the weather would be for our drive. It actually appeared to be pretty decent at first, but the day before we left I saw that we were most likely going to hit a little snow. A LITTLE snow. Ha.

Anyhoo, on Tuesday morning we got up at 4:15am and were on the road by 5:00. During fair weather, the drive to Seattle is 13-15 hrs...but since I figured the weather wasn't going to be all peaches n' cream I wanted to make sure we gave ourselves plenty of time so we'd arrive at a decent hour. Again, ha.

Things were fine at first...we drove for a few hours and made it across the Idaho border without incident. There was snow on the ground but none falling. Once we were about 30 miles from Twin Falls (where we were going to stop to refuel and I was going to take a potty break), the wind really picked up and there were these random patches of road where the snow had been blowing across and had turned to ice. Annoying, but not anything I couldn't handle (I was behind the wheel at the time). However, things became increasingly worse and by the time we were about 20 miles from Twin Falls, the weather had gone from mild to extremely blustery and snowy. A couple miles later we came to a complete stop--cars were backed up as far as the eye could see. Not good. Especially not good for the pregnant lady who needed to pee.

We waited. And waited. Jacob got out of the car and walked up the road a way to try to see what was going on...he dug someone's car out of the snow but they weren't the reason we were at a standstill. He came back and we waited some more. An hour passed. Jacob got out of the car and walked up the road again, this time determined to find the actual cause of everyone being stopped.

In the meantime, I tried to focus on anything other than the fact that I really had to pee. My 2 babies teasing me by hanging out on my bladder, moving off it, and then coming back again was really not making it easy. Eventually, it became apparent to me that even if everyone started moving again at that exact moment, there was no way I was going to make it all the way to Twin Falls to use a restroom. Awesome. In a panic I started looking around the car. Jacob had assured me that he would adequately cover me should I need to go on the side of the road, but I was not sold on that idea (besides the fact that I doubted that he could shield me from everyone's eyes, who the hell wants to pee outside in the middle of a blizzard?? Uh, definitely not me). There had to be something, right?

And then I spotted a can of Pringles...we'd eaten about two-thirds of them. Determined, I grabbed it and started shoving pringles in my mouth. I soon realized that I wasn't going to be able to down all of them without making myself sick, so I looked around for something to put them in. We'd brought a box of fruit snacks and had already eaten most of them, so I ended up putting the rest of the pringles in the box w/the few packets of fruit snacks that were left, then I climbed into the back seat and did what any desperate pregnant woman would have done (maybe). Fortunately, I'd turned off the engine so the windows were all fogged up and I was confident no one could see. After using the makeshift toilet paper I'd created (notebook paper I'd been crinkling and uncrinkling), I shoved the lid back on and climbed back into the front seat.

A few minutes later Jacob came back and apologetically informed me that there was a huge accident about 3 miles up the road...a semi had jack-knifed and a UPS truck had run into it so the road was completely blocked...and it was still going to be a while before we'd be going anywhere. I told him that was fine, I was good. He gave me an odd look since prior to now I'd been rather loudly complaining of the lack of a bathroom...so I had to explain to him what I'd done. He was simultaneously shocked and pleased with my...ingenuity...?

Anyway...FINALLY after 2 hours of sitting, we got moving again. Then we hit snow again in Oregon and Washington...and ended up arriving at my in-laws' house at midnight. 20 hours in the car...sweeeeeet.

Surely the way home would be better, right? NOPE. We once again hit snow in Washington and Oregon, and then in Idaho we hit some more...IN THE SAME AREA. Damn you, Twin Falls. Actually, damn you Idaho. They closed the freeway so we had to drive clear the hell out of our way to Pocatello where we finally were able to meet up with I-15. That was an extra 2 and a half hrs which ended up making the drive back a grand total of...you guessed it...20 hours in the car.

So this is me, stating for the record with the entire blogging world as my witness...we will NEVER drive to Washington for Thanksgiving again. EVER.

And I really, really, hate Idaho.