Days after we got back from our visit to the United States Tyler had a engineering exam that he had to take in order to get his professional engineering licence. Passing this test allows him to work on his own as an engineer if he wishes (instead of under another engineer, he was what is called an engineer in training up until this point) and also will help him with advancement in rank in his Navy career. It was crazy timing because it was literally a few days after we got back from the States and he was jet lagged and hardly slept at all the few days before the test. This is a nasty test; think four hours followed by a one hour break and then four more hours for a total of eight hours of testing. And it's hard. When Tyler took his fundamentals of engineering exam he saw people literally bringing in a suitcase full of reference materials (you're allowed to bring in reference material). Needless to say, we were a little intimidated. But he took the test and felt he did well on it so we were hopeful. Turns out all his hard work, studying and reference materials purchased paid off! He checked his email this morning and found out that he did in fact pass his professional engineering exam!!!!!! I feel like I should bake him a cake or something (except he doesn't really like cake...) ;) we definitely have some celebrating to do!
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Pregnancy Update
Things have been a little crazy this week with being pregnant. (For reference I am 34 weeks pregnant this week).
On Thursday I started having a bunch of contractions, they eventually went away after resting in the evening so I just thought that I overdid it and needed to rest. I decided to stay home from church on Friday (Friday is the Sabbath in Bahrain) to make sure that nothing was amiss and the contractions were definitely less frequent with getting a bit of rest. Saturday I was worried that because of the contractions that the baby might come early and I wanted to pick up a few supplies to be more prepared. After doing this I tried to rest and take it easy the rest of the day. Come Sunday morning I was still having a bunch of contractions, many as close as 7 min apart. I called my doctor, worried that I was actually going to go into labor early. He had me come in and checked some things, sent me up the maternity floor for a non stress test and my contractions looked like labor so he admitted me to the hospital right then and there. Turns out my cervix was starting to thin out and dilate slightly as well which meant the contractions were strong. They did an ultrasound to check the baby's size and are estimating him at about 4.6 lbs. I met with a neonatologist to discuss possible problems that the baby might have being born so early and to talk about possible transferring to a hospital with a better NICU. We ended up deciding to stay at the current hospital in hopes that we'd be able to stop the contractions and not need to deliver the baby so early with the backup plan that if delivery seemed imminent that they could take me to the other hospital in an ambulance. At the hospital, they had me on bed rest and IV fluids and as much water as I could stomach. Good friends from church and our housemaid stepped in to help take care of the girls until Tyler could get home from work. They kept me in the hospital overnight since my contractions were coming in stronger than they should've and about every 5 min. They gave me a couple shots to help with baby's lung development in case he was born soon. They also did a couple tests to check for infection in case that is the cause of all the contractions. The next morning (Monday), my contractions were almost non existent so I was released home on the strict order of lots of rest and hydration. We are still awaiting the results of the tests for infection, so hopefully we will have an answer or two as that comes back. Meanwhile, I'm on bedrest (with two toddlers, ha!) and just trying to take it easy and drinking tons of water. The doctor wants to make sure we at least keep the baby in for a few more days to give the medicine for lung development a chance to do it's job. I'm hoping for more like 2 weeks but we'll take whatever we can get at this point. I would love it if he would stay put until we scheduled his delivery at the end of June but that might not be very realistic at this point. Baby was monitored continuously throughout the entire process and seemed just fine, moving like expected and heart rate normal.
We've had lots of people offering help: taking the kids, bringing in meals, fasting and prayers, and we have the lady that we hired to watch the girls staying on to help care for them so that I can rest and baby can stay put as long as necessary. We've definitely felt loved and greatly appreciate the kindness of all our friends. We are just praying that baby can have a good, healthy start whenever he makes it! We appreciate all the acts of kindness, prayers and ask for continued prayers/ happy thoughts :)
On Thursday I started having a bunch of contractions, they eventually went away after resting in the evening so I just thought that I overdid it and needed to rest. I decided to stay home from church on Friday (Friday is the Sabbath in Bahrain) to make sure that nothing was amiss and the contractions were definitely less frequent with getting a bit of rest. Saturday I was worried that because of the contractions that the baby might come early and I wanted to pick up a few supplies to be more prepared. After doing this I tried to rest and take it easy the rest of the day. Come Sunday morning I was still having a bunch of contractions, many as close as 7 min apart. I called my doctor, worried that I was actually going to go into labor early. He had me come in and checked some things, sent me up the maternity floor for a non stress test and my contractions looked like labor so he admitted me to the hospital right then and there. Turns out my cervix was starting to thin out and dilate slightly as well which meant the contractions were strong. They did an ultrasound to check the baby's size and are estimating him at about 4.6 lbs. I met with a neonatologist to discuss possible problems that the baby might have being born so early and to talk about possible transferring to a hospital with a better NICU. We ended up deciding to stay at the current hospital in hopes that we'd be able to stop the contractions and not need to deliver the baby so early with the backup plan that if delivery seemed imminent that they could take me to the other hospital in an ambulance. At the hospital, they had me on bed rest and IV fluids and as much water as I could stomach. Good friends from church and our housemaid stepped in to help take care of the girls until Tyler could get home from work. They kept me in the hospital overnight since my contractions were coming in stronger than they should've and about every 5 min. They gave me a couple shots to help with baby's lung development in case he was born soon. They also did a couple tests to check for infection in case that is the cause of all the contractions. The next morning (Monday), my contractions were almost non existent so I was released home on the strict order of lots of rest and hydration. We are still awaiting the results of the tests for infection, so hopefully we will have an answer or two as that comes back. Meanwhile, I'm on bedrest (with two toddlers, ha!) and just trying to take it easy and drinking tons of water. The doctor wants to make sure we at least keep the baby in for a few more days to give the medicine for lung development a chance to do it's job. I'm hoping for more like 2 weeks but we'll take whatever we can get at this point. I would love it if he would stay put until we scheduled his delivery at the end of June but that might not be very realistic at this point. Baby was monitored continuously throughout the entire process and seemed just fine, moving like expected and heart rate normal.
We've had lots of people offering help: taking the kids, bringing in meals, fasting and prayers, and we have the lady that we hired to watch the girls staying on to help care for them so that I can rest and baby can stay put as long as necessary. We've definitely felt loved and greatly appreciate the kindness of all our friends. We are just praying that baby can have a good, healthy start whenever he makes it! We appreciate all the acts of kindness, prayers and ask for continued prayers/ happy thoughts :)
Playing Catch Up
I always say that I'll do better about updating the blog but here I am again, waaaaaaay behind. Blogging isn't usually my top priority; some women can do "everything" but I have a hard enough time keeping up with the kids, the house, all the activities, teaching lessons, and finding time to be a person myself that the blog just gets left as one of the last things that gets done. Which, at this point with our family, I am going to have to be okay with. It's not that I don't like keeping everyone updated, because I do feel that's important especially with living so far from family and friends. So this is how I'm going to have to approach blogging: no more promises other than that I will blog when I feel I can do so without feeling like I am neglecting my responsibilities in the home or neglecting myself. There.
Now that I've got that off my chest, I'll get to briefly summarizing the time I've spent updating the blog ;)
Firstly, I'm sure most of you know we are having a new baby, due July 1st. We found out at the end of October. In February we found out that baby is a boy and Ameilya and Madi are so excited for a baby brother. I've had my usual morning sickness this time although it wasn't quite as bad as with my girls; could be because it's a boy this time but I also did take a ginger supplement three times a day throughout the first about 25 weeks of pregnancy. I still feel nauseous even now but am not throwing up which is a huge blessing. Other than that I've had just the usual pregnancy aches and pains and some pretty extreme pelvic pressure. More pregnancy update in a later post.
Starting from where we left off:
December: Christmas Tree lighting on Base, Camel Farm, Beach on Christmas Eve, Gingerbread Houses
January: Al Areen Wildlife Park (aka the zoo)- Ameilya got to ride a pony and a camel and Madi rode the pony, also homeschool preschool
February: Craft we made for our grandmas for Valentines Day, Story time craft, Ameilya my big helper, more beach (Marassi al Bahrain is seriously our favorite thing about Bahrain, we go as often as we can when it's not too hot)
March: End of Soccer for Ameilya, SeaBee Military Ball, More Beach (told you it was our favorite thing!), trip to the United States to visit family: Easter Egg Hunt with the Jackson Clan, Tyler's nephew's Eagle Court of Honor, building a small snowman
April: More of our trip to the US: Easter at the Noble's, visiting Grandparents and Auntie Gracee and Uncle Tanner in Boise
May: (I've hardly taken any pictures this month) Scriptures with Daddy, birthday party with friends, dress up dresses
Now that I've got that off my chest, I'll get to briefly summarizing the time I've spent updating the blog ;)
Firstly, I'm sure most of you know we are having a new baby, due July 1st. We found out at the end of October. In February we found out that baby is a boy and Ameilya and Madi are so excited for a baby brother. I've had my usual morning sickness this time although it wasn't quite as bad as with my girls; could be because it's a boy this time but I also did take a ginger supplement three times a day throughout the first about 25 weeks of pregnancy. I still feel nauseous even now but am not throwing up which is a huge blessing. Other than that I've had just the usual pregnancy aches and pains and some pretty extreme pelvic pressure. More pregnancy update in a later post.
Starting from where we left off:
December: Christmas Tree lighting on Base, Camel Farm, Beach on Christmas Eve, Gingerbread Houses
January: Al Areen Wildlife Park (aka the zoo)- Ameilya got to ride a pony and a camel and Madi rode the pony, also homeschool preschool
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)