Socknitster Update--Life, cpap, pregancy etc.

socknitster · Post by **socknitster** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:17 am

I haven't been around in a long time because my life has been incredibly busy, so I thought I would put an update out there in case anyone was wondering about me.

I'm at 21 weeks in the pregnancy (past the halfway point--yeah!). Baby is very healthy, right on target, and all the tests have come back fine. He is a boy, by the way. So, with a 2 boy household we will be a busy, noisy bunch. Now that we know the gender (we found out last week) we are talking names now and thinking about nursery themes. I bought a cute onesy yesterday that says, "Hi, I'm new here." So darn cute.

We are looking at houses now which has practically become a full time job. I've seen about 25 homes so far. They say it is a buyers market in our town but the sellers don't seem to know or care and they don't ever seem to watch hgtv because some of these houses have not been maintained or cared for or any attempt to make them presentable made! We walked into a two story, 2000 sq ft home in which one person lives and there was trash, debris and Goodwill furniture in every single room! Not to mention the cat hair, dirt and atrocious paint colors.

My cpap therapy has continued to go well as long as I continue to take Zantac after supper each night. The heartburn I have during the day is minor compared to what I suffer at night, so the Zantac has been a lifesaver. I don't want to take any medication if I can avoid it, but just a night of forgetting a dose of Zantac can mean misery for days. The acid does a number on my Lower Esophogeal Sphincter--it gets inflamed or something and ceases to function properly so that aerophagia becomes unbearable. If I take the Zantac, aerophagia is very minor and doesn't disturb me in the slightest, thank goodness. I'm also still sleeping on a wedge that elevates my upper body and using a full body pregnancy pillow to keep me from rolling on my back.

I haven't seen any need for increase in cpap pressure thus far in the pregnancy. So far, cpap has been the least of my worries. But it has brought unbelievable rewards compared to the pregnancy I had before I was diagnosed with apnea.

My blood pressure continues to IMPROVE which is amazing. I had it taken last week and it was 110/60 which is the lowest I can remember ever in my adult life. Compared to the last pregnancy when I was always borderline high and then got dangerously high at the end of the pregnancy--I was induced because I was overdue and had beginning pre-eclampsia. So I can only attribute the improvement I'm seeing to cpap. Even in my early 20's my blood pressure was always high.

Once I got past about 14-16 weeks and added the Omega 3's back to my diet my energy and good feeling came back. I'm more fatigued at the end of the day than I was before, but that is to be expected. I'm easily way more active than I was during the last pregnancy. I've only gained 3 pounds so far, so my food cravings are well under control--which I attribute to cpap. I started the pregnancy overweight so the doctor is happy with that amount.

So, I've just been busy, busy, busy, with keeping house, looking for a new one, being a mom and growing a new little guy.

Anyway, I haven't dropped off the earth, just busy being happy and healthy.

Jen

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:30 am

Tis good to know that you are so busy being happy and healthy.

Best wishes for you and your baby!

sharon1965 · Post by **sharon1965** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:15 am

hey jen
thanks for the update! so glad to hear all is well with you and yours...and extra glad that this pregnancy is so much more pleasant than the last one...having had two babies pre-cpap, i can totally relate to how much better that must feel

good luck with the house hunting and baby growing (any hints about name choices? )

take care!

sharon

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:32 am

Thank for updating, Jen.
Good luck - I guess it should be "continued good luck" to you and yours!
O.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:42 am

Congrats, for your ability to keep it all together with all that's going on, future good wishes.

As far as Real Estate, Probably many people have paid high prices for their homes, and expected it to give a return. I sold my home that should have went for $50,000 here, for $25,000, after putting a $10,000 roof on it. I was a fool to sell it, but due to life had to. (And It was paid for) Jim

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:46 am

Hi Jen,

Thanks for the update. It's good to see you posting.

Good luck and best wishes.

Den

SleepGuy · Post by **SleepGuy** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:01 am

Hi Jen,

Thanks for the update. I have an amazing 1 year old little girl so I can certainly relate! Take care of yourself.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:13 am

THANKS BUDDY! I was just thinking about you this AM!!!!

Moving? Are you INSANE? Oh wait, I know you are...

Hey, can I get that onesie full size? That's my favorite line! I use that all the time... "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'm New Here."

Huggers,
Babs

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:15 am

PS - You CANNOT name the second baby "William". You just CAN'T. It will be too tacky.

BTW, Jen's firstborn is named "Harry". For those that don't know, William and Harry are the sons of Prince Charles.

I'm still lobbying for "David," however. I've always liked the sound of Harry and David.

LOL,
Babs

TWolf · Post by **TWolf** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:30 am

Hi Jen!!!

I haven't been around regularly for a while myself. I didn't know you were pregnant. Congratulations! I'm glad to hear you're doing well.

Good luck with the house thing. After talking over a year to sell our house in Florida we finally bought one here in Maryland last August. I know what you mean about the seller pricing and HGTV tips. As hard as it is to sell a house these days it's amazing to me that people would show their house in that condition AND expect top dollar.

Best of luck to you and your family.

TWolf

socknitster · Post by **socknitster** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:51 pm

Anonymous wrote:PS - You CANNOT name the second baby "William". You just CAN'T. It will be too tacky.

BTW, Jen's firstborn is named "Harry". For those that don't know, William and Harry are the sons of Prince Charles.

I'm still lobbying for "David," however. I've always liked the sound of Harry and David.

LOL,
Babs

Names. Since you brought it up, I had to laugh. Mitch has brought up William several times and I pointed that out about the royal family, but that doesn't seem to bother him. Harry is actually Harrison, but we call him Harry. We have seen that naming him a traditional but unusual name has benefits. He is a well-known child at his school. He has an exuberant personality so that helps, but you can't forget a talkative/smiley kid named Harry.

We will probably continue this trend because with a name like Jennifer I hated the constant confusion between me and other girls growing up. I never felt I had a special name because I shared it with so many others.

The names I like are (we have a long list and haven't narrowed it down at all yet): Gavin, Alden, Benjamin or Benedict (called Ben), Charleton (or Charles--to be called Charlie similar to how we do Harry's name), Finnigan, Frederick, Theodore (Ted, obviously--Harry and Ted sounds really good!), Parker, Creighton, Berkely (called Berk), Broderick (called Brody), Russell. Those are just a few of MY favorites from a long list we have been compiling. My thought process on names is that the full name needs to sound very serious and even Presidential (Harrison James W.....) but the first name needs to be able to be shortened to an easy-going friendly name. I guess if I had to pick a name today it would be Theodore, but that could change 20 minutes from now.

Moving. Well, yes it sounds crazy. But staying in this house--3 bedroom, 1250 sq ft with NO garage and NO basement sounds even crazier. By necessity the third bedroom is storage. We would have to get rid of stuff we use everyday (like my sewing table which is in that room) in order to make room for baby. We have been in this house for 6 years and when we bought it we thought we would be in it less than 5, so it seems like it is time.

We have been thinking of moving for a long time, but when we discovered the gender of the baby and all this suddenly seemed SO REAL, we decided to take the whole thing more seriously! I put off thinking about "decorating the nursery" until I knew what kind of theme/color I would want and then when I started thinking about it in reality the enormity of how that would come about hit me like a ton of bricks.

Like I said I have looked at about 25 houses in the last 2 weeks and done tons of research online. I think we have about 4 adult friends who will help us move, or we might hire someone. I had narrowed the houses to a short list which Mitch saw today and we will probably make an offer on our favorite this weekend. It is a lovely home, completely updated in every respect--new roof, new mechanicals, new electrical, new privacy fence. The only thing they didn't fix up is the kitchen, which we can do in the next few years. Anyway, we are very excited about it. Going from a Ranch to a two story will be a transition, and I will have to maintain 2.5 baths instead of just one, but it will be worth it! Just having a master bath--oh the luxury!

Thanks for all the well wishes. I've been missing you guys. But been too tired at the end of busy days to log on and see what you all are up to. It looks like the house search could be over, but the packing may begin soon! I wonder if I'm too ambitious to think we might be able to close by the end of the month. The house is vacant. Better ask the agent about that!

Jen

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:38 pm

I guess Thomas and Richard are out of the question

goose · Post by **goose** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:01 pm

Hey Jen,
Great to hear from you!!! It's also great to hear all is going well on all fronts!!!

With everyone talking about names etc., it brings to mind a very recent story of a friend of mine.....
She has 3 girls and wanted a boy so bad, so bad, so bad. So when she got pregnant again everyone had their fingers crossed for a boy and lo and behold all the tests, the ultrasound and all said it was finally a boy.....
She was ecstatic and started planning....buying baby clothes, beds -- all the "stuff" to be ready for her new arrival.
She had a final ultrasound about 3 weeks before scheduled delivery (I'll never understand why), and still all the tests were good!!!! Healthy baby boy on the way.....
She finally took her leave of absence and about a week later the labor began and lo and behold, God presented her with a 7lb6oz little girl............so now she has 4 girls......

Sorry if that rains on anyone's parade, but it's just an example that there are higher powers that control things and sometimes things aren't as they seem......(no... I'm not a religion freak -- far from it!!!)

Anyway -- please keep us up on your progress especially as delivery day gets closer......You know we're all pullin' for ya.......

Take care
cheers
goose

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 9:25 pm

Thanks for the update. It's great to hear that your blood pressure is so good! Also, lots of other interesting stuff that you are sharing.

I haven't been around cpaptalk much either, due to my completely insane work schedule. I'm trying to pare down and that will happen in a few months. I call it partial retirement = a regular 40 hour a week job.

Moby · Post by **Moby** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 3:21 am

thanks for the updates Jen.

Good to hear from you!

di

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