update on Jen's health

More insomnia tonight, so I thought I would post.

I went to the dr. on Tuesday. He told me they actually did get enough information from the ct scan to determine there were no large blood clots, and that there was a miniscule chance I had any small ones. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He told me just what I thought he was going to tell me--to just take it easy. Now that Christmas is here (Merry Christmas to everyone), that is going to be much easier to do. :)

Thanks for your prayers, everyone. I believe in the power of prayer! I have been taking it easier, and it is helping. My "no stress" campaign is underway. . .

Trip to the ER

For the past few weeks I have been struggling with not being able to catch my breath, insomnia, exhaustion, a few headaches, occasional dizzy spells and general crabbiness (ok--VERY crabby)--all of which I thought was just a normal part of trying to have a baby at 39 and being busy during the holidays. Saturday night I went to bed about 9 pm and slept until about 7 am. Besides frequent trips every couple of hours to the bathroom, I slept through the night (which is more than I can say for tonight obviously). I woke up totally exhausted. My body felt like I had just run a marathon and the inside of my arms ached between my wrists and my elbows (weird).

I sat through sacrament meeting fighting sleep and trying to breathe. I was sitting in Sunday School when the thought came to me, "Check your pulse." I took my pulse a couple of times, and the average was about 102. All of a sudden everything started to make sense. I was so tired because my heart was working too hard! I got home from church and started doing a little research online and noticed that quite a few women had experienced the same thing I had, so I wasn't too worried.

I decided to call my ob on Monday and just tell them what was going on, thinking they would tell me to just rest a bit more. Next thing I knew, I hear the nurse tell me, "He wants you to go to the ER."
"THE ER?" I said.
"Yes. They will probably send you to labor and delivery. They have machines there that we don't have here that can run tests that you will need. Go to the ER."
"Great. That's all I need," I thought.
So after my mom came and got Raegan, I headed to the hospital. I knew I would be there awhile, so I took some work with me.
I thought for sure they were going to look at me like I was some kind of idiot--after all, my pulse wasn't THAT high--my youngest sister had a resting pulse of 160 when she was pregnant with her second baby, and mine was 102--no big deal.

I get there, and they call labor and delivery--no beds--so off to a room in the ER I go. They did a heart screening (I guess that's what you call it) first, and discovered I was having heart palpitations, so I got to stay for the day (in the ER mind you) and have a bunch of tests.

(I think I have been to the ER--for myself--one time in my life when I was 14 and needed stitches, but I sure don't remember much about that. I learned why you are in there so long-- You get a test, have to wait for the results of the test, then wait for the dr. to come by again, then have another test and the perpetual cycle begins--enough to drive you CRAZY.)

They started with an EKG which came back normal. After that they did a blood draw which also came back normal. They did another type of screening where they took my pulse lying down, sitting and then standing--not sure what they had to say about that. They took a urine sample and found out I had a urinary tract infection. I had absolutely no clue that I had an infection. The only signs I had were that I had to go to the bathroom every few minutes, but that's part of being pregnant. Maybe they just caught it early. . .What a blessing (that they caught it early--not that I have one :).

After ruling out everything else, the ER dr. came back into the room and said he had talked to Dr. Tutt (my ob) and they wanted to make sure I didn't have a blood clot. Blood clot? That sounded serious. They said they were going to do a ct scan. That was an experience--they put me on my back and then I really couldn't breathe. I thought I was going to pass out. Then after waiting for over two hours for the results of that test, the dr. comes back into the room and tells me they botched the test and couldn't repeat it (thank heaven) because of the risk to the baby (the test involves some radiation). So, they couldn't rule out a blood clot. Yippee skippee. He told me Dr. Tutt wanted to see me the next day. They would have to monitor my symptoms and if they got worse, then we would have a problem. He gave me a script for my infection and sent me home.

We'll see what Dr. Tutt says when I have my appointment. While in the ER, I asked the dr. what would happen if my ct scan came back negative--and then of course answered my own question by saying, "They are just going to tell me to take it easy, right?" And he answered, "Right." I am pretty sure that's what Dr. Tutt is going to tell me tomorrow. In fact, at one point the ER dr. made the comment jokingly to the guy moving my gurney to the ct scan (I had to sit up in the bed so I wouldn't get motion sickness) that he needed to give me a sedative so that I would not be so "high energy". Yeah, right. I think he thought I was some kind of weirdo because I didn't want to sit in the ER bed--the chair was more comfortable and made it easier to breathe. :) Sitting still all day did help a little, but there were about three or four times during the day that I could feel my heart racing and I had to catch my breath, so I know that I will still have the problem even if I keep still (which is VERY hard for me to do).

So much drama! This baby comes eight weeks from Saturday, and it isn't soon enough. I am ready to have my body back and get this (as the ER nurse called it) parasite out. I know that sounds heartless, but that's how it feels. I am too old to be having babies! I am go glad when they get here, but it sure takes its toll on my body.

I am so thankful I had the prompting to take my pulse--thankful and surprised I could actually get a prompting because I was NOT feeling the spirit whatsoever because I was so crabby--just ask Blake how crabby I was. :) You can pray for me, but he is the one that needs the help putting up with me. Poor guy!

I will update tomorrow with the news from the ob. My tylenol pm is finally kicking in, and I should try to go back to sleep. Wish me luck!

DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we are OFFICIALLY DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it! Blake just sent me a text this morning with his grade in his design of experiments class--a B which means we graduate! Congratulations to Blake who will graduate with a master's degree in engineering. This B was his only B--the rest A's. Such a smartie! Congratulations to me who gets her husband back. It's a red letter day! :)

Raegan and Her Numbers

I thought this was pretty cool, so I'm going to brag a little bit about daddy's little girl.

Yesterday, December 17, Raegan had pulled up a chair to our little chalk-board and was scribbling on it with chalk. She then yelled out, "Mommy, I drew a four!" I heard Jennifer cheer her on and then say, "Show daddy." Naturally, I came running in the room to see what Raegan had accomplished and she said, "Daddy, I drew a four." I said, "Wow, you did!!" She then replied, "I drew two fours."

I had to run and grab the camera to take a picture. Below are a few pictures. One of the fours looks a little smudged because she was pointing to it by putting her finger right on it :) I don't know if she was planning on writing fours or if she did it twice by accident and recognized that they looked like number four - either way I think it is cool.

Also, if you look below the two fours... you will see a number eight... she added the two numbers and wrote 8 at the bottom. The second 4 also looks like it is preceded with a partial derivative symbol... Okay, I'm stretching it with the last two, but the bottom number does sort of look like an eight.

Family Foto Fiasco

OK so we tried to do it on our own--big mistake. Next year we'll need to get a professional, but this year our time was limited (10 days to finals). Of course Raegan woke up at 5:45 that morning and would not take a nap. Her hair looked PERFECT (thank you Jackie for the do and the headband) but her attitude was much less than perfect. After taking about ten vertical pictures I realized that last year my options were also limited because the card choices I liked were not vertical ones. But Raegan was all "pictured" out, and it was like pulling teeth to get the one we got. Actually I wanted to pull my teeth out (ok, her teeth) when it was all over. I got to thinking, "Is all of this effort and stress really worth it? When did we adopt this tradition? We never sent Christmas photos when I was little. My dad always wrote a hilarious poem that summed up our year." Maybe I ought to do that. . .

This is the one we are going to use. I thought it turned out ok in spite of everything.

Big Girl Bed for Raegan

It's that time--time to make the shift from baby to "big girl". We are slowly but surely getting ready for baby brother's arrival. We moved the crib into the baby's room and made the switch to a real bed for Raegan. Sonja sewed a BEAUTIFUL quilt for her new bed as well as the dust ruffle. We took apart all of her baby bedding, and Sonja transformed it into a twin size quilt--custom made just for Raegan. :) You can't tell where the baby quilt stops and the twin size one begins. Sonja is a MASTER seamstress.

Her shirt says, "Big Sister."

Isnt's the quilt beautiful? It saved me from having to redo Raegan's room. Yes!

She LOVES her big girl bed.

Too bad you can't see the dust ruffle, but you can see what one of the pillows is going to look like. She has four dresses just like the one on this pillow hanging on the wall opposite her bed. Like I said, Sonja is a master seamstress. Can't wait for everything to be finished!

Happy Birthday to Me! Am I really 39?

Yes, you are really 39. One more year until you are forty! FORTY. That is two times twenty. Ten times four. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

Here I am opening one of my presents. My sister, April, is really into emergency preparedness and made me a notebook with everything I could possibly need to do (and take with us) if we needed to evacuate the house and use our 72 hour kits. It is an AWESOME notebook.

Another use for gift bags. . .

I had plenty of help opening the gifts. . .

And everyone LOVED singing happy birthday,

and spitting on the cinnamon rolls.

I decided to have cinnamon rolls instead of birthday cake. And now I have a big behind as another birthday gift. (My mom sent me home with another tray this size and it was gone in a few days--and Blake didn't eat many. . . Happy Birthday to me!) Birthdays are not my favorite days, so I'm glad it's over, and I don't have to have one for another year. Next year I'm going to drown my sorrows in a big birthday bash. So, mark your calendars--Saturday, November 7th, I turn 40. Big party--hopefully at my parents'. . . :) Please?

Family Home Evening Pumpkin Carving

OK so I realize we are almost to Thanksgiving, and I am just now getting to posting about Halloween. Oh, well. Better late than never, right? Here we are at Blake's parents' house carving pumpkins with Dane and Drew, Raegan's cousins.

Here is evidence that we did not use a pattern for our pumpkins' faces. Blake is such a great artist!

The finished product. We had a great time and love to spend time at the Bergesons'.

Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come

What a FANTASTIC trip I had to Kansas City to see my dear, dear friend Barbara Hopper Stone whom I have know since I was five and whom I haven't seen in TEN years. We lived across the street from each other until I went to BYU. I was treated like royalty while I was there! I stayed at her parents' house. I had my own room and my own bathroom. It was great. Barbara's dad, Nelson, is the only person in the world I allow to call me Jenny. Her parents are probably the most social people I have ever known--they are great examples of how we need to be involved with our families, our community and our church. They fill their lives with service. It was so wonderful to spend time with them. I also LOVED reconnecting with so many old friends, driving to my old schools and around my old neighborhood. Things have really changed and the trees are HUGE. However, I do not miss getting so carsick driving around on those windy, hilly roads. . . :) Here are a few pictures.

This is Brett, Barbara's 13 (?) year-old son who is very talented in many ways and almost has his blackbelt in tae kwan do (sp?). Miss you, Brett!

Here are Kathy Glauner (can't remember her married name), Barb and me. Kathy has her doctorate in microbiology (pretty sure) and is currently attending medical school. Her husband is from Guatemala. She has three kids and is raising them to be bilingual. YES! You go, girl!

This is Cathy Harris, Barb and me. Cathy, Barb and I had yearbook together with our teacher whom we called "Cream Cheese" (long story). Cathy always kept me laughing in yearbook. She was hysterical and still is. She's aged really well. Jealous! She works with autistic children at a private school (I think it's private).

This is Ed Hyatt and his beautiful daughter Tricia. Ed lived in our same neighborhood growing up. We have many memories of playing kick ball, head hunters, chase, building forts and riding the big "Huffy" bike. We even wrote a song about Ed riding his "Huffy" bike called the "Wheelie King" and don't you know, I can still remember the words. It's amazing I can't remember important things, but dumb things, no problem. So sad!

This is Francine Hodges Mosley, one of the nicest people on the face of the planet. They just don't come any better than her! She and I were good friends in seventh grade and were in orchestra together. She is currently working as an associate pastor at her church. It sounds like she does amazing things with music there. They are lucky to have her!

This is the small town of Weston, Missouri. LOVED being there--made me homesick.

This is where we had lunch in Westin. The food was DELICIOUS--to die for. Of course, I can't remember the name of the place, but if you plan a vacation to Westin, Missouri, I'll for sure remember. . .

OK--no offense to you Arizona people--but this is a FARM. A real FARM--with animals and grass and trees (we don't have those here) and barns. It was COLD--LOVED IT.

Here we are at the real farm.

Look at that sky! Clouds! Yes! Fall weather! Fall leaves! Pumpkins! Apples! Mud! Cold weather!. . . Need I go on?

So happy together!

This is Jeff, Barbara's husband. This picture was taken at the warehouse they own. Barbara looks about 20 here. Hate her for that! :) Jeff is soooooooooooo blessed to have such a wonderful wife. And he knows it!

Here are a few items you could buy at the warehouse if you are even in KC and want to go warehouse shopping. . . I think that's a picture of Roger with us. I would weigh two tons if I worked there. . .

Here we are with Barbara's mom, Kathy, (she is to my left) and her friends. If I remember correctly, their husbands play golf together. They decided that if their husbands were going to get together to play golf so often, they would get together and do breakfast just as often. Love the way they think! (I just hope Blake doesn't decide to go play golf for the many times I go to lunch.) We ate at the Corner Cafe, my dad's FAVORITE restaurant. Make you jealous, dad? :)



Thanks, Barbara, for flying me out there and showing me such a wonderful time. I love you and hope it won't be another ten years until we are together again. Keep buggin' Jeff about an Arizona vacation. It's the place to be in Jan/Feb. . .

Baby Boy Bergeson

Well, we had another ultrasound today and luckily, the baby was cooperative. It's a boy! We are soooo excited and can't wait for him to get here. We know for sure his middle name will be James like Blake and Blake's dad. We are still thinking about first names. So far we have Jonathan James (after my dad, John) and Peter James (Blake wants a Scandinavian name--he wants Magnus--I told him over my dead body). This child does not cease to move. He even did a flip when the dr. was doing the ultrsound. I am hoping (ok, praying) that this child is more like his daddy. So far, everything indicates the baby is healthy. We are so grateful! (I am not a spring chicken, you know). :)

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Okay, Blake here...just to give everyone some background on the reasoning behind my desire to name a son Magnus :)
Magnus is a power name which means "big" or "great". Bergeson is the Swedish name for "Son of Berg" or "Son of Mountain". So I thought it would be a good idea to name a son, Magnus - Big... Son... of Mountain... (yoda-style). The name Magnus also runs in the family. I still like it :)


OK--Jennifer again. I don't know who Blake is calling a mountain, but I just have one thing to say about that--Bergeson is my married name, so the mountain thing does not apply to me (ok, well maybe right now in my "state" but not normally). And I sure do not want to have a BIG baby, so no Magnus--and maybe we should change Bergeson to Gustafson. At least that would mean son of "royal staff or staff of the gods". I am not a mountain. Love you Blakey po Blakey.

successful surgery

Well, Blake is home and recovering nicely from his out-patient surgery. He had an umbilical hernia repaired that he has had since he was a baby. It was so fun to see him a bit "loopy". For the first time in our marriage he told both my mom and dad he loved them and couldn't say enough good about everyone he saw. He flirted with the nurses, kept telling joke after joke, was constantly asking me who else was going to come see him and apologized every few minutes for making me have to do things for him. :) And, he is also wearing some beautiful white nylons that the hospital gave him. Remember he is a metrosexual after all. . . . :)

Finally!

Kansas City is getting a temple!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Escape to Chicago

A few weeks ago my friend Dana Lee called and said she had tickets to the Oprah Winfrey show and wanted to know if I was interested in going. I thought, "Why not?" So, I left on Wednesday, Sept 10th. After landing at Midway, I had to take a few trains to get to where Dana's mom and aunt were waiting for me. When we finally met up, we headed to Navy Pier where we did some shopping while we waited for the other girls (there were 8 of us all together) to arrive.

The next day was the Oprah show! There was a LOT of waiting, but finally we were ushered into the studio. The show was on breast cancer and will air Sept 30th. Christina Appplegate, Maima Karmo (breast cancer survivor and founder of the Tiger Lilly foundation) and Nancy Brinker (President of the Susan G. Komen foundation) were Oprah's guests. We didn't know what the show was about beforehand, but luckily I wore pink! There were many breast cancer survivors there. It was very humbling to be among them. It was a great experience. I don't think I'll end up on tv--I ended up behind one of the cameras--and for that I was grateful. Who wants to end up on national television when you are pregnant? Not me! Everyone has asked me what Oprah was like--I thought she acted just like she does on tv.

Here we are eating at Avec restaurant. It was delicious. The food was Mediterranean.

OK, so this was my first experience with the American Girl store. I could not believe all of the hoop-lah over these dolls. This is a restaurant where you can lunch with your doll. . .

leave her to get her hair done while you shop. . .

or if she gets injured, she goes to the hospital! Could not relate at all to this. Hopefully Raegan won't be able to relate in a few years either.

Friday night we went to Wicked. It was FABULOUS. It is coming to Phoenix this next summer, and I can't wait--we already have tickets. :) The rest of the time we shopped, ate out and took a architectural cruise on the river around the city. It rained Friday and Saturday, and I LOVED it. I'm sure I was the only one, but when you live in a desert, you learn to love the rain! I had a WONDERFUL time while I was gone. Mucho thanks to Heather, my mom, Julie Spilsbaby and my most wonderful husband. We celebrate four years of wedded bliss this week. I love you!

metrosexual

This morning I made a startling discovery--I am married to a metrosexual. Now, mind you, he does not get manicures or pedicures (although if you ever saw his feet you would recommend an overhaul), but when I went to wake him up for church this morning (yes, a "motherly" duty and I HATE it but let's face it, when you want your family to get to church on time sometimes you have to be a little assertive :) his face was totally covered in white stuff. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Blake went to bed with a mask on! And what's even better--while he was shaving he told me how much of a better shave he gets if he does his "mask". I wonder what will be next in his transformation--getting his hair colored, day trips to the spa or maybe he'll want one of Julie Spilsbury's pedicures. I hear she does a great job with the ped egg she bought at Walgreen's. I should have taken a picture of the "mask" for evidence, but I was feeling pity on the poor guy. Next time, I'll capture the moment. :)

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Okay, this is Blake;  I have to defend myself.  Last night I was practicing for Halloween - I'm planning on becoming Dracula for the holiday.  So, instead of applying make-up, I figured I would take the manly approach of applying a non-toxic shaving aid which at the same time exfoliates the skin.  By using this mask I get a cleaner and more masculine shave which the ladies love.  I will post more "better shaving" tips later in my "Mountain Man Online Shaving Guide".

:)

runaway bun buns

This is what I saw in my backyard this evening and had to capture it. Some of us just love the skin we're in. :) Who lets their child run around in the backyard naked? I do! Isn't it great?!