Thailand

I need to write about Thailand. I will get pics up on all of these posts as soon as I decide to connect my phone to the computer. I will do it within the next month because the kids and I are going home (YAY!!)) for a month and I'll need the space on my phone. I found roundtrip tickets for all three of us (Matt can't come) for $1350.

ANYWAY, so Thailand. I really enjoyed the trip. It was my first girls trip/weekend/anything ever and it was amazing....minus the morning sickness. We stayed in Phuket in a 2 story house with a private pool. Because I was sick, the amazing ladies gave me my own room, while they all shared. We went from February 11-15. Fawn found the house on airbnb. Don, the manager of the place, is from the states and was a huge help.

Day 1: Feb 12-
I believe this was the day we went on the elephant rides. In the morning we swam in the pool and then went to lunch with Don. We went to a place called something Safari and first learned how rice was grown and sown. They let us try some desserts/teas. I didn't try any. We had eaten at a thai food place for lunch before and I was feeling sick. We then went on a little circle ride pulled by a water buffalo. I threw up that whole time. So, when we went and got food on the next part, I didn't eat. They did teach us how to make curry then. After that, we learned about rubber trees and how they make rubber. It is quite the process. We then went and visited a baby elephant before riding on the large elephants. Crystal and I rode together and it was awesome with such amazingly beautiful scenery. By the time we got home, I was nauseous and tired so I went to bed.

Day 2: Feb 13-
This was such an amazing day. We didn't think day 1 could be beat, but it was. We went on another excursion called the James Bond Island excursion. It was so much more than that though. First we stopped at this buddhist temple that was built into a cliffside/cave. After walking through, you come out and there are a ton of cave monkeys. I had gardettos with me because I had to always eat something, and these monkeys are not afraid to get close. They wanted my food. The first monkey I saw came up and tried to grab the bag. So, I quietly closed it and tried not to make it make sound. After exploring a bit and thinking we had great pics, I came up some stairs and was eating and a swarm of them came after. There were at least 20. I was freaked out of my mind an day friends were on the other side so they couldn't hear me. I had 4 of them trying to climb my clothes to get my food. I was freaked and yelling help, but everyone got their camera's out instead. Dang punks! I finally started walking away and they got off of me. Tiffany put the food in her little bag and a monkey saw it so he jumped on her and was trying to climb down her to open the zipper (they are really smart) and get the food. It wouldn't get off of her when she tried either. Luckily we have it all on video. So, since he was hanging out on her shoulder, Brenna and I decided we wanted to try and we both got it to come hang out with us on our shoulder's for a bit before it finally went away. Those were the best pics.

So, after that, we got back in the van and went to the James bond Island part. First we got in long boats and went out to a cave to go canoeing. Emma, the guide, was awesome and treated us pregnant women (Tiffany was showing, I didn't tell her I was prego until I realized she was still going to let me do everything) the best. We had the front of the boat. Brenna, Crystal and I were on one canoe with Tiffany and Fawn on another. We had some Thai guys rowing for us. After getting through the cave part, our guide let us get out and swim. He wanted a smoke break so it was a win win for all. It was a hot day and the water felt amazing.

After the canoeing, we got back on the long boat and went to James Bond Island. It is called this because it is where part of one of the original James Bond movies was filmed. We had about a half hour to swim/hangout there before getting back on the long boat to go to a 100% muslim floating village for dinner (I think). We didn't have a lot of time there because some inconsiderate people in our boat who Emma made sure to tell she was very unhappy with, took their sweet time getting back to the boats previously and took time away from us all. BUT, the food looked amazing. I didn't eat much as I was not feeling well. We finally got back on the long boat to head back and get home. I think the ladies went out that night, but I went to bed early.

Day 3: Feb 14-
We spent Valentine's day on Paradise Beach... a private beach. We didn't have to pay much for it and it was beautiful and amazing. We got to paddle board, snorkel, rest, eat, swim, take lots of pics and just hang out. The coral is dying there but we got glimpses of what it used to look like. It was still awesome to see all the fish. Two of us had our go pro cameras so we got lots of underwater pictures. My first fall off the paddle board I ended up kicking some coral and now I have a scar on my foot. It was a great day. I went to bed early that day as the other ladies went out that night. Most of my pictures are on my go pro or CD so they probably won't end up on the blog.

Day 4: Feb 15-
We flew home that night. Our flight was a red eye so we had time. We relaxed in the morning. I forgot to mention we had rented scooters to get around the area. Tiffany, Brenna and Crystal went out after we had all gone to the market to shop for souvenirs. Fawn and I went home to relax. Despite putting on tons of sunscreen the day before, she and I got fried and needed to rest. The others took a lot longer at lunch than expected so Don took us to another private beach to explore for a little while. We found them on our way home and then went swimming in Don's pool. Our filter had quit working in ours and he felt terrible about that. After that, we went home, packed and headed home. It was such an amazing trip and cost hardly anything. For the tickets and house, we each paid $536 (I think). Then whatever we spent while we were there was just added. I think I spent another $300 on excursions, food and souvenirs.

MIA...For good reason

So, clearly it has been over 3 months since my last post. I never intended on letting this happen, but I got really sick. The short version as to why....I got pregnant. So, here is a little, quick synopsis as to what's been going on the past few months as I am currently just over 17 weeks.

New Years: We spent New Years Eve with a bunch of friends down in the River Valley complex. Just so I can remember, we ate and played games with (I think we only made it through one round of spoons) Brenna and Jaren Brooks, Tiffany and Steve Elgin, Kari Smith (held at her house an her husband had to work), Fawn and Dan Sternberg (they left early due to having a baby plus 4 other kids) and a few other stragglers. We put our kids to bed at the Brook's house and just used the iPads for monitoring. Thank goodness for modern technology because Max struggled that night for awhile. Anyway, while there, us women planned a trip to Thailand. With Fawn's amazing ness, she actually had the whole thing planned within the next week or so, with round trip tickets and prices and everything.

Thailand: So, Thailand did in fact happen. There were 5 of us who went. Brenna Brooks, Tiffany Elgin, Crystal Brown, Fawn Sternberg and I. I will write more on Thailand in my next post.

Pregnancy: This post is mostly about this subject since it has taken over my year of 2016 so far. I started to get sick between 6-7 weeks as usual, which happened to be the middle of January. So, Thailand was kind of rough for that reason. I started to get REALLY sick between 8-9 weeks. I had my first OB appointment towards the end of my 9th week and actually got called back in to get IV's due to my labs showing dehydration. I didn't think I was that sick yet. I continued to be seen every week after that, receiving at least 2 liters/week of IV until my dr. (Captain Justin Shirley) got really worried about my weight loss. At this point I was 12 weeks and had gotten down to 100 lbs. I couldn't keep any food or liquids down and was throwing up at least 7-9 times a day. The dr.'s at 121 (military hospital in Seoul) wanted me to try one more medicine before admitting me....reglan. I tried it and it didn't work. At this point I had tried 10 different meds/versions of the same meds and nothing seemed to help. My heart rate always seemed to be elevated. At one appointment I went in and had been sitting and it was at 135. I couldn't do anything at home or at all basically. Walking from the couch to the kitchen kicked me up to acting like I was doing cardio. I also naturally have low blood pressure and the pregnancy made it worse. So, I was told if I go to the ER in Seoul, the dr.'s there no my case and they would admit me to stop the nausea and vomiting.

That weekend, a friend (Cristen and Hank Taylor and their sons) watched the kids so Matt and I could go to Seoul and buy some couches. The military loaner's weren't cutting it anymore. They were hard and had no neck support and since I spent my days on the couch, I was going to bed every night in pain. Anyway, while up in Seoul, I wasn't keeping food down so I had Matt take me to the ER. It was a weekend, but they were still supposed to call the OB. The on call dr. didn't listen to a word I said and even gave me the wrong kind of IV. I had said the Zoran IV works for like a day and she ordered phenegran. Phenegran gives me nervous legs and anxiety this time around. It worked great for Max though. Anyway, she sent me home, told me to drink water and take my meds. I was pissed. I didn't know which meds to take and if I could drink water, or anything for that matter, I wouldn't have been there.

So, I told Cpt Hamilton about my ER trip. I was seeing him for the following two weeks because Cpt Shirley was in the field for Key Resolve (post wide training for combat). My weight seemed to stay steady so he wasn't too worried. I had a good week the first week so it looked like things were taking a turn. The day after that appointment, it got bad again. So, at 14 weeks I was at church and couldn't get my heart rate to settle down. I spoke with one of the dr.'s (Major Campbell, the pediatrician), and she messaged her OB friend at 121 and he told me to come up the next day to be admitted. FINALLY, some relief.

We went up the next morning and I got admitted. I was there for 2 1/2 days. The first 24 hrs I had to do an IV flush, including a banana bag. So I couldn't eat or drink anything. It was miserable. After that, I was able to start trying clear liquids. When that worked, I moved to regular liquids. Finally, the last day, I got real food. It was so nice to eat...very slowly...without feeling like vomiting. The whole time I was being treated with IV's, zantac and reglan by IV. I also got benedryl by IV the second night so I could actually sleep. Having constant IV's made it hard cuz I felt like I had to get up and pee every 30 mins. The benedryl helped that a bit, and the fact that they turned my drip down a lot.

Anyway, so I took a bus home wednesday night and felt great. I had a few really good days and then ended up getting either food poisoning, or the 24 hr bug over the weekend. So the whole next week I was rehydrating again. Then I had a great two weeks and then this last weekend was rough again. But, I'll take a rough day here and there over every day being terrible.

I have struggled mentally, physically (clearly), emotionally and spiritually through this whole ordeal. I have felt I couldn't make it through the pregnancy and that I won't be able to ever do it again. Physically, I couldn't do anything, which made for all of the other struggles. I couldn't cook, clean, take care of my kids, my husband, myself. I had no control over anything. It's such a miserable feeling. Knowing I will be doing this again (pregnancy) in the near future made me struggle spiritually. I couldn't understand how a loving Heavenly Father could make me AND my family go through this hell, just for me to have to do it at least one more time again. I felt alone, abandoned and like He didn't care. I received many blessings, but it seemed the health I was supposedly blessed with would never come. It's the first time I started to lose faith in the priesthood blessings. That is something I have always had a very strong faith in. I started to lose faith in my own abilities as well. I still struggle getting back into that now that I have my health back for the most part. I don't think I had ever felt that low spiritually.

I had amazing help by branch members here. We really are blessed with such a good branch. Matt of course has been the most supportive and never complains. I can tell he's tired. He has had to do everything; work, cook, clean, bathe kids, put kids to bed, help me and not really have time for himself. I couldn't be more blessed to have him.

So, that brings us to now. It is 4:37 in the morning because it seems my struggle now is sleep. I can fall asleep fine as long as Matt rubs my legs. I get nervous legs if he doesn't. BUT, I haven't been able to stay asleep it seems for the past week. So, my morning's are rough because I'm exhausted and irritated. I try to nap during Max's naps but sometimes it doesn't work. It's spring now so lately my mind is preoccupied with cleaning and purging and getting things ready for the baby and I can't seem to shut it off. I've tried benedryl, Tylenol PM and unisom but it seems my body doesn't like diphenhydramine right now and it causes me to have anxiety. I'm getting so desperate that I may ask the dr. for ambien, knowing that it causes me to hallucinate.

So, Harper hasn't suffered as much as she has been in school all day, but poor Max has suffered with my sickness. He has been raised on movies the past few months. The weather was cold and I couldn't handle the smells so I couldn't take him outside. He is a very active little almost 3 year old and has had a hard time getting his energy out. He did start to act out with his behavior but I think we have fixed that for the most part. I do love my babies, and my husband, and I couldn't ask for a better, more understanding family. I just hope to make it up to them by having a happy, healthy baby BOY!