David's mom arrives tonight and my mom arrives on Friday night to help out with baby stuff, kid stuff, moving stuff, and hopefully have time for some pleasant visiting on top of all that :).
I had to drive up to Columbia today with the boys to pick up the lease so we can sign it and make things official with our new home, and it hit me kind of hard all day today that this was going to be the "end of the Campbell status quo as we know it". Not that the past 2 years have been exactly "status quo" for us, because they've actually been pretty crazy with all the relocating and everything. But we started out 2 years ago in David's rotation program as a family of 5. We've traveled together and bonded together amidst our adventures and misadventures in Buffalo, Colorado Springs, and 2 Virginia locations as 2 adults and 3 kids. One major constant for the past 2 years has been our little nuclear family, and now we're about to totally change the dynamics of that constant. And now Help is on its way for the imminent baby delivery, which just makes it all the more real that everything is going to change.
We will be a family of 6, and we'll have a newborn in tow with all the feeding, changing, and sleeping demands that newborns come with. I'm not really worried about things being worse than they are now (although I know the first few months will be more difficult as we all adjust and are sleep-deprived). It's more like I'm already starting to miss the routines and normalcy that we've grown comfortable with. I can take the 3 boys out on big or little errands by myself (which I remember seemed SO daunting when Peter was tiny!), and I feel confident that they will behave well, and if they don't, I can handle it. I think right now I feel the most confident and calm in my mothering and teaching career than I ever have, and I'll miss that feeling! I know I'll get it back eventually, and of course our family will adapt just fine and it will be hardly any time at all before we feel like our family was never complete without baby David. But, still, it was an odd and slightly bittersweet feeling today that there is no turning back from this point.
That being said, I wonder when baby David will make his arrival! No feelings yet that things are getting close. It's a huge relief that we have family arriving in town that can wrangle the bigger boys while David and I go to the hospital. We had some friends from church offer to help out, but I know the boys will be much more comfortable if they can just be at home instead of being juggled between various people's houses. Plus, I worry a bit about making sure everyone is up to speed on Jack's nut allergy and someone doesn't accidentally forget about it. I felt terrible a couple of weeks ago when we got sandwiches from a sandwich shop, and the boys had little bags of potato chips, and I noticed *after* Jack had eaten a good handful of them that they were cooked in peanut oil! He was fine, no reactions (I've actually heard that peanut oil is usually refined to the point that peanut proteins are filtered out), but it bothered me that it escaped my radar when I'm supposed to be most on top of it!
We will keep you updated when anything interesting happens. In the meantime, we appreciate your prayers for healthy and safe delivery and a good adjustment for all of us.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Summer Rambo
For me, the words "summer rambo" immediately brings to mind something like the image below:
As it turns out, the house that we'll be renting in MD is on a street called Summer Rambo. We found out a couple of days ago that they accepted our rental application and now we just need to sign the lease and we're al set! We're really excited because we think it will be a great house for us.
The street name, though, really puzzled us, because it just seems like "summer" and "rambo" don't have any business being thrown together like that. Granted, we have come across much worse street names in our travels (Purgatory Dr. and Deliverance Rd. in Colorado Springs, and even Maleady Drive in VA reminded me too much of "malady"). Still, it seemed like there must be an interesting story behind Summer Rambo.
We learned, actually, that it's a type of apple. Many of the streets in that area are named after apple varieties, and someone picked Summer Rambo for our street. Now, why in the world someone decided to call an apple Summer Rambo is beyond me, but there it is.
So, David has a great job, we have a house, and slowly but surely our to-do list is growing smaller and smaller. It's been quite a while since the stress in our lives has been on the decrease rather than the increase, and the change is very welcome. Next on the list is having this baby! I'm due exactly 2 weeks from today, and I'm starting to get a little restless. My body is kind of limping its way through these last weeks of pregnancy. I'm healthy, thank goodness, and the important stuff like blood pressure are normal, and I'm even keeping up OK with taking care of David, the boys, homeschooling, the house, etc. But everything seems harder with a big, cumbersome tummy in the way, and I'm just plain tired. :). Again, that's par for the course at 38 weeks, but it's humbling!
At doctor's appointment last week, my doctor seemed very confident that I'd be able to have a successful VBAC. He was much more reassuring than the previous lady doctor I saw, so it was a great visit. It was just what I needed to hear. Now I just hope that my body and the baby cooperate, if possible, so that I go into labor on my own before I go overdue. I really don't feel like I will last 2 more whole weeks (but that might just be wishful thinking!), but I also haven't had any indications that labor will be coming anytime soon. We'll just have to see. It's exciting that whatever kind of birth I end up with, we only have at most about 2 more weeks of waiting!!
This week is a busy one. David has his graduation from his rotation program on Wednesday night, and if I haven't had the baby by then, I get to go to the graduation dinner and celebrate with him. I'm excited -- it's been a long road! David's mom and my mom are also coming out to help this week, and I have another dr's appointment and a drive up to MD to finish up our lease paperwork. I hope the next update will be a "we're going to the hospital" or "we've had the baby" post!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Less than three weeks to go
We've all been doing well this past week. David has been working very hard at his job -- lots of stress and long hours -- but he is hanging in there. The boys have done well with school this week and are getting more and more excited about Grandmom and Grammy coming out to visit within the next couple of weeks, and of course baby David arriving. There is a fair amount of surplus craziness around here that I'm sure comes from our upcoming move and the baby's arrival. It's a double-whammy of change for them, and we're all feeling the stress a little. I'm trying to be extra patient and understanding, since *I* have trouble not being anxious and grouchy and I'm an adult with lots more reasoning power and life experience. We're all excited, though, and looking forward to when the dust settles after October.
We took a trip up to Columbia on Friday and found a great home. We put in an application and we'll see in the next few days if they'll accept it. We have high hopes -- but we're not actually starting our lease until the end of October, so it's possible that they'll turn down our application in favor of renters that can actually move in this month. We'll see. It seems like there are homes that get put up for rent each week, so I'm confident we'll find something good even if this house falls through.
The boys are getting excited about Halloween and have picked out their costumes. Jack wants to be Black Spiderman, Thomas wants to be Darth Vader, and Peter wants to be a Phoebe Giraffe :). I'm excited because I'm actually going to try and make their costumes this year. Last year I ordered them last-minute from Wal-Mart because we had just moved and it was the easiest solution, and I think the year before that I had pieced some makeshift costumes together a few days before Halloween, but I didn't give myself enough time and my sewing machine was also broken -- so they didn't turn out too well. Not to mention that we were in Buffalo, and it was freezing cold and drizzly and no one was answering their doors when we went Trick-or-Treating! That was a pretty sad Halloween!
So, I decided it would be fun, economical, and a good waiting-for-baby distraction to work on the boys' costumes over the next few weeks. They're excited because they get to add in their input and help customize them. I found a bunch of clearance clothing items online last week and once they arrive we can add the fabric paint and embellishments and see how they turn out!
Other than that, I have a dr's appointment this Wednesday and hopefully we'll hear more about our rental house by then. I'll do my best to post an update!
We took a trip up to Columbia on Friday and found a great home. We put in an application and we'll see in the next few days if they'll accept it. We have high hopes -- but we're not actually starting our lease until the end of October, so it's possible that they'll turn down our application in favor of renters that can actually move in this month. We'll see. It seems like there are homes that get put up for rent each week, so I'm confident we'll find something good even if this house falls through.
The boys are getting excited about Halloween and have picked out their costumes. Jack wants to be Black Spiderman, Thomas wants to be Darth Vader, and Peter wants to be a Phoebe Giraffe :). I'm excited because I'm actually going to try and make their costumes this year. Last year I ordered them last-minute from Wal-Mart because we had just moved and it was the easiest solution, and I think the year before that I had pieced some makeshift costumes together a few days before Halloween, but I didn't give myself enough time and my sewing machine was also broken -- so they didn't turn out too well. Not to mention that we were in Buffalo, and it was freezing cold and drizzly and no one was answering their doors when we went Trick-or-Treating! That was a pretty sad Halloween!
So, I decided it would be fun, economical, and a good waiting-for-baby distraction to work on the boys' costumes over the next few weeks. They're excited because they get to add in their input and help customize them. I found a bunch of clearance clothing items online last week and once they arrive we can add the fabric paint and embellishments and see how they turn out!
Other than that, I have a dr's appointment this Wednesday and hopefully we'll hear more about our rental house by then. I'll do my best to post an update!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
One wait down, another to go
We decided that relocating to Columbia, MD for David's work is the best decision for our family now, so the waiting and agonizing over which job would be best is finally over. It is a huge relief to have made a decision, but it was so difficult! When we left CA two years ago for this program, I had the expectation that we would be returning at the end to pick up our lives there where we left off, with maybe a raise and promotion for David. It wasn't really a possibility in my mjnd that we would not be returning.
It was heartbreaking for us to learn that the job climate and job future for David's line of work in CA and in many other areas is very shaky right now, and to return at this point would not be the wisest decision for job security.
However, David received many excellent job offers from the MD and VA area, and business is much better out here. He accepted a great position that is very stable and interesting, and will be good for his career. We drove up to the Columbia area and it is very nice and family-friendly. Our next step is to find a rental home there and plan our move.
With that behind us, we have one more big wait ahead -- I'm nearly 37 weeks pregnant so baby David could come at any time. His checkups have being going very well, and my ultrasound yesterday estimated that he is currently 7lb 8oz, which is a little big for his gestational age, but not terribly ginormous. We'll just have to see if my doctors will want to schedule me for a c-section of if they'll let me deliver on my own. I'm getting excited about meeting this little guy finally and recovering from whatever delivery I have so I can start feeling like myself again. Between my large tummy and my achy hips, I have developed quite the waddle! But I'm doing well, all things considered, and have been pretty busy putting together my hospital bag, cleaning house, and arranging emergency childcare if I go before my mom and David's mom arrive. It is hard for me to believe that whatever happens, I have just about 4 weeks left at most before baby David is here!!
It was heartbreaking for us to learn that the job climate and job future for David's line of work in CA and in many other areas is very shaky right now, and to return at this point would not be the wisest decision for job security.
However, David received many excellent job offers from the MD and VA area, and business is much better out here. He accepted a great position that is very stable and interesting, and will be good for his career. We drove up to the Columbia area and it is very nice and family-friendly. Our next step is to find a rental home there and plan our move.
With that behind us, we have one more big wait ahead -- I'm nearly 37 weeks pregnant so baby David could come at any time. His checkups have being going very well, and my ultrasound yesterday estimated that he is currently 7lb 8oz, which is a little big for his gestational age, but not terribly ginormous. We'll just have to see if my doctors will want to schedule me for a c-section of if they'll let me deliver on my own. I'm getting excited about meeting this little guy finally and recovering from whatever delivery I have so I can start feeling like myself again. Between my large tummy and my achy hips, I have developed quite the waddle! But I'm doing well, all things considered, and have been pretty busy putting together my hospital bag, cleaning house, and arranging emergency childcare if I go before my mom and David's mom arrive. It is hard for me to believe that whatever happens, I have just about 4 weeks left at most before baby David is here!!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
And we wait
All is well with the Campbell household. School started in full force on Tuesday, and it seems to be going pretty well. I'm tired, though! Wrangling lessons for 2 kids and managing a 3-year-old is a lot of work! Thomas is so excited to be in Kindergarten, and he is taking to his lessons very well. I'm realizing that he really did absorb a lot while sitting at the school table last year, because a lot of the early Kindergarten work is actually a review of things he already knows. Jack is also doing well, although he has more academic work than Thomas (as he's supposed to!) and sometimes the amount of it frustrates him when he'd rather be playing. I completely understand -- it's hard for me to be a cheerful and patient teacher when I'm tired and feel like my work load is too high, too :). But he is settling in well and I think it will just take a little time for everyone to get used to the new routine.
I'm so glad we'll have a good couple of months of routine schooling under our belt before the baby arrives. I know we'll have a chaotic few weeks while we're all adjusting to having a newborn around, but I think (I hope!) we'll hop back into regular life more quickly since it will be habit by then.
We continue to wait to hear about David's job offers. Our hope is that we hear something next week and can begin the process of making a decision, but it could push out further than that. It does appear that all of David's hard work in networking and cultivating excellent offers is just about done. Now, HR and the various sites have to do paperwork and things on their end, and then we'll hear something. So, that's a relief. I'm also glad for the distractions of home schooling and preparing for a new baby because it doesn't give me a whole lot of time to obsess over all the endless possibilities! I know once we make a decision about where we're going, we'll have a lot of preparations and trickle-down decisions to make, so I'm trying to enjoy this forced lull because the storm is coming :).
I don't think there are necessarily any "easy" scenarios. If we go back to San Diego, we'll have a cross-country road trip to plan with a newborn, plus a couple of weeks of limbo before our house will be available to live in. If we don't go back to San Diego, we have to decide if we can afford to keep the house in CA as a rental or if we'll be forced to short sell it (enter possible real estate lawyers, discussions with our mortgage company, etc). And, at same time, we'll have to find our own housing in whatever city we will be in. I know we'll make it all work out and we'll be just fine, but I think we're all really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. We figure by then, we'll be settled in nicely somewhere, all the uncertainties and decisions that we're facing now will have been dealt with, and we'll be out of the crazy first 6 weeks of newborn babyhood. We can just sit back and enjoy a our family, a good feast, and be thankful for David's great job and for making it through.
We'll update everyone when we have more news. We can't tell you how much your prayers mean to us. I'm about 6 weeks from my due date (how did that happen?!?) and without your prayers I'm sure I wouldn't be nearly as calm and at peace with everything as I am. Not to say that I don't have my moments (I do! Sometimes I want to hide and just be pregnant and have nothing else to think about right now!), but I really do feel the grace of God holding us up through this.
I'm so glad we'll have a good couple of months of routine schooling under our belt before the baby arrives. I know we'll have a chaotic few weeks while we're all adjusting to having a newborn around, but I think (I hope!) we'll hop back into regular life more quickly since it will be habit by then.
We continue to wait to hear about David's job offers. Our hope is that we hear something next week and can begin the process of making a decision, but it could push out further than that. It does appear that all of David's hard work in networking and cultivating excellent offers is just about done. Now, HR and the various sites have to do paperwork and things on their end, and then we'll hear something. So, that's a relief. I'm also glad for the distractions of home schooling and preparing for a new baby because it doesn't give me a whole lot of time to obsess over all the endless possibilities! I know once we make a decision about where we're going, we'll have a lot of preparations and trickle-down decisions to make, so I'm trying to enjoy this forced lull because the storm is coming :).
I don't think there are necessarily any "easy" scenarios. If we go back to San Diego, we'll have a cross-country road trip to plan with a newborn, plus a couple of weeks of limbo before our house will be available to live in. If we don't go back to San Diego, we have to decide if we can afford to keep the house in CA as a rental or if we'll be forced to short sell it (enter possible real estate lawyers, discussions with our mortgage company, etc). And, at same time, we'll have to find our own housing in whatever city we will be in. I know we'll make it all work out and we'll be just fine, but I think we're all really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. We figure by then, we'll be settled in nicely somewhere, all the uncertainties and decisions that we're facing now will have been dealt with, and we'll be out of the crazy first 6 weeks of newborn babyhood. We can just sit back and enjoy a our family, a good feast, and be thankful for David's great job and for making it through.
We'll update everyone when we have more news. We can't tell you how much your prayers mean to us. I'm about 6 weeks from my due date (how did that happen?!?) and without your prayers I'm sure I wouldn't be nearly as calm and at peace with everything as I am. Not to say that I don't have my moments (I do! Sometimes I want to hide and just be pregnant and have nothing else to think about right now!), but I really do feel the grace of God holding us up through this.
Just for fun, here is a picture of my pregnant-tummy buddy:
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Adjusting expectations
David learned yesterday that we may not actually hear about his various job offers on Aug 15th. His company will have some information on that date, but HR and his program will have some adjustments to do before they can present the offers to David, so it will likely take a bit longer for us to actually hear anything. How much longer? We don't know! I would think a few days or a week should be enough time, but we really don't know. So, we will continue to be as patient as we can, and we will update everyone when we know something, but it may be a little while yet.
In other news, I had an appointment yesterday that went a little sideways. The baby is doing great and and so am I, thankfully, but the dr and I had an interesting discussion about the delivery.
I've been expecting that I'll be able to try for a VBAC for this delivery, since my OBs have really encouraged it from the beginning, and everything went so well with Peter's, but yesterday my dr laid out the set of conditions that I have to meet in order to even be allowed to attempt a VBAC. Honestly, I'm really not sure I'll meet their criteria. The baby has to be estimated at under 8 lbs, and I have to go into labor on my own by my due date (they might let me go a couple of days overdue, but really would prefer not to). Peter was well over 8 lb and I think 9 days late, and I just don't think my body is designed to make small babies that arrive early!
They're having me get an ultrasound in about 5 weeks to estimate the baby's weight(even though these estimates are notoriously error-prone, even up to a pound or more), and the dr already commented yesterday that I seem to be measuring big. Ay! Her best advice was for me to follow the gestational diabetes diet (no refined sugars, super limited white starches like rice, pasta, bread, potatoes) to help ensure that the baby doesn't get too large. I think this is probably not a bad pregnancy diet anyway, so I'll follow it and add in some extra exercise also, but I really wouldn't be surprised if despite my best efforts, I fail one or more of their required conditions and am scheduled for a c-section. It was a little disappointing to hear all this now, when I'm nearly 8 months pregnant.
The most important thing, of course, is that we do whatever is safest for baby David and for me. This particular OB practice has such strict standards so they can err on the side of safety all around, and I can understand and respect that. Still, our month of October is going to be busy enough as it is and I would love to not have to add recovery from abdominal surgery to it all.
My other choice is to switch to a different doctor now who would not be quite so strict with the conditions (and there is such a dr out here who has great reviews) but his office and hospital are an hour away, on major highways when there is no traffic, and maybe 3 hours away in bad traffic (and let's face it, bad traffic is pretty much a given here). Compare that to my current doctors and hospital, which are 10-15 min away on surface streets, and I'm not sure how comfortable David or I would be with that switch.
Anyway, yesterday was definitely a day of our expectations being "adjusted", and I'm doing my best to hang on for the ride and try and see God's hand in it all. As always, we appreciate your prayers and we will keep you updated!
In other news, I had an appointment yesterday that went a little sideways. The baby is doing great and and so am I, thankfully, but the dr and I had an interesting discussion about the delivery.
I've been expecting that I'll be able to try for a VBAC for this delivery, since my OBs have really encouraged it from the beginning, and everything went so well with Peter's, but yesterday my dr laid out the set of conditions that I have to meet in order to even be allowed to attempt a VBAC. Honestly, I'm really not sure I'll meet their criteria. The baby has to be estimated at under 8 lbs, and I have to go into labor on my own by my due date (they might let me go a couple of days overdue, but really would prefer not to). Peter was well over 8 lb and I think 9 days late, and I just don't think my body is designed to make small babies that arrive early!
They're having me get an ultrasound in about 5 weeks to estimate the baby's weight(even though these estimates are notoriously error-prone, even up to a pound or more), and the dr already commented yesterday that I seem to be measuring big. Ay! Her best advice was for me to follow the gestational diabetes diet (no refined sugars, super limited white starches like rice, pasta, bread, potatoes) to help ensure that the baby doesn't get too large. I think this is probably not a bad pregnancy diet anyway, so I'll follow it and add in some extra exercise also, but I really wouldn't be surprised if despite my best efforts, I fail one or more of their required conditions and am scheduled for a c-section. It was a little disappointing to hear all this now, when I'm nearly 8 months pregnant.
The most important thing, of course, is that we do whatever is safest for baby David and for me. This particular OB practice has such strict standards so they can err on the side of safety all around, and I can understand and respect that. Still, our month of October is going to be busy enough as it is and I would love to not have to add recovery from abdominal surgery to it all.
My other choice is to switch to a different doctor now who would not be quite so strict with the conditions (and there is such a dr out here who has great reviews) but his office and hospital are an hour away, on major highways when there is no traffic, and maybe 3 hours away in bad traffic (and let's face it, bad traffic is pretty much a given here). Compare that to my current doctors and hospital, which are 10-15 min away on surface streets, and I'm not sure how comfortable David or I would be with that switch.
Anyway, yesterday was definitely a day of our expectations being "adjusted", and I'm doing my best to hang on for the ride and try and see God's hand in it all. As always, we appreciate your prayers and we will keep you updated!
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