6 More Weeks to Go

Moving while pregnant can be such a pain.  For obvious reasons, moving at any stage of pregnancy with lifting, packing, cleaning can be very tedious and tiresome.  But in another regard, finding a new doctor when you are X amount of weeks along can also be very frustrating.  When we first arrived to our new location, we went straight to the base hospital to take care of insurance and getting me a referral to be seen off base.  We live 40-45 minutes away from the base hospital and we heard a rumor that if you live outside the 30-minute range, you could find a doctor off base no problem.  This was not that case with me because I am special.  I am special because I am pregnant and high risk and all specialty clinics on base (OB/GYN being one of them) have the first right of refusal for treatment.  However, due to budget cutbacks, the Air Force has decided to save money by absorbing and treating all patients at the base hospital for all specialty clinics if they believe they can handle the case.  Disappointed, I decided to give the OB/GYN clinic a try.  After three appointments I was not impressed.  One day, I showed up for my appointment and it was not scheduled, so I had to wait around to be seen and shuffled here and there for lab work, ultrasound and a NST.  When all was said and done, I was at the base hospital for 3 hours with three kids.  Let me tell you, that was F-U-N!

So, both George and I decided that we would rather pay money out-of-pocket, deliver at the hospital 10 minutes from our home and see a civilian doctor also within 10-15 minutes from our home.  We had to switch from Tricare Prime, which pays for everything, to Tricare Standard which has a $150 deductible, 15% cost-share, and costs $17/day in the hospital.  This is all worth it to me.  It costs a lot of gas money to go up to the base and they wanted me to go twice a week!  The deductible will probably balance out any gas money and for the comfort and peace of mind that I will have when delivery time comes, I am willing to fork out some dough.  The hospital I will deliver at is highly rated and recommended, similar to the last hospital I delivered at.  There is a steak and lobster dinner, awesome menu, large rooms, personal showers, technology in the rooms (flat screen TV that functions as a computer as well).  I would have had none of those luxuries at the base hospital.  Anyway, I probably sound like a spoiled prego woman, but after delivering at an awesome hospital and receiving top-notch care from my previous doctors, it's hard to go back to the stone age.

Almost 34 weeks... I feel huge! Look at that watermelon under my shirt!

So, I discovered it's really difficult to find a doctor after you are 20 weeks along.  I never had that problem before, but every place has their quirks. After being rejected at least five different times because I am so far along, or the doctor already has so many deliveries scheduled in September, they don't take patients past the first trimester, yada, yada, yada, I finally found a doctor. Who knew that it was so hard to find a doctor?  I had a list of doctors within a 25 mile radius of my home that were Tricare providers and I researched them all online, found out who delivered at the hospital I wanted, and then started calling.  After two days of research and phone calls, I was ready to give up and just stick with delivering on base.  But things worked out and I have my first appointment August 2nd.  Wish me luck!

Enjoying our new home

A view from the front, kids, bikes and all.

From the front door to the back of the house.

The living room.

The kitchen, dining area and great room.

Enjoying the loft area.

Riding on the bike path behind our home.

Loving the Sunday walks on the bike path.

Settling in

Last Sunday, we said goodbye to the last of our family as they headed home back to Washington.  It was so great to see everyone and visit during the family reunion.  We don't get to visit with them often enough due to the locations of where we have lived.  I have to admit though, after every one was gone, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.  I have really enjoyed slowing down this week.  We have been so busy over the last several months, it was nice to just relax, not leave the house, go a day or two without showering, go swimming, and not have anything pressing hanging over our heads.

We did have a few eventful things this week however.  After a nice long break from work, George officially began his job.  He really hasn't worked since the 18th of May, which I believe is the longest I've had him around since probably our college days.  It was great!  Having him go back to work has been a transition for both of us. Now that we are mostly settled in, no upcoming events are happening in the near future, and George is back to work, I am trying to do fun things with the kids.  After swimming with the ward playgroup, exploring the local library, I kind of slowed down and stayed home for the next few days, which is also nice.  We had a huge downpour on Friday and I was hoping we'd see a flash flood or lots of lightning, but all we saw was a rainbow. Sigh. Actually, the rainbow was really cool and the kids were so excited about it!

After visiting the library.  I love this picture!  

It took a while, but he finally lost his 3rd tooth!

One of the better pictures while playing with my new camera (no Photoshop)!

So, this week Jaren lost a tooth, Dallin is about to lose a tooth, we had smores for the first time with our boys (pathetic I know, since we lived in prime camping areas for 8 1/2 years), and Haydn began potty training, rather successfully with only minimal accidents.  Oh, and I finally learned how to use my Canon Rebel DSLR camera.  I don't know why it took me that long to figure it out.  It's the perfectionist in me, I guess. I pulled it out of the box after Christmas, played with it a bit, decided to read the owners manual and a bunch of photography blogs before I played with it again, and then we got busy.  So, I skipped all of that, pushed a bunch of buttons and turned knobs until I could take a basic picture.   That's where I'm at, but the camera takes pictures like a dream!  I need to figure out how to really use it still, but I'm having fun taking lots of pictures of the boys.  I'd really like to have it figured out when baby girl joins our family.  We are less than 8 weeks away and I really can't wait!

Have you ever been so behind...

Haydn's 3rd birthday with most of our family in town.

So, the blog since Haydn was born has been sporadic, I know,  and now that my baby is 3, I have no excuse other than three boys and callings in church have kept me busy.  I have so many pictures, events and stories that have gone undocumented. My goal is to catch up before baby #4 is born in 8 weeks.  We have settled into our home for the most part.  We have lived in it for just over 3 weeks, and in that short span of time, we have unpacked our home like crazy, registered children for school, in-processed our medical records, been to two doctor appointments, celebrated Father's day and two birthdays, hosted family passing through, hosted a 5-day long family reunion, shopped like mad to furnish our home (now that we have an extra 1000 square feet, we had some space to fill), and lastly stock our fridge and pantry with food multiple times. There has been so much going on, I am sooo ready to relax.  I think I hear a Disney movie marathon for the kids calling my name.