Life in Idaho: A Spud in the Oven

Dec 22-28 we drove to WA to see Anthony's family. We stayed the night in Spokane and woke up to see that the fog had frozen and frosted onto everything. The trees looked so cool!


It was a nice, relaxing vacation.  We got to visit with family, go to church together on Christmas morning and have some REALLY fun surprises with Christmas gifts!

Anthony's parents got me an awesome body pillow for Christmas! This was truly an inspired gift considering how much my back has been hurting lately. This soft and snuggly pillow has made sleeping at night a little easier. Ahhhh, the gift that keeps on giving. :)

They also gave Anthony and me a really nice new camera! So excited!! Now we can take lots of pics and videos of little Peanut!

Dec 8-11 We went to AZ to see my Arizona family and meet our little niece, Ramona, for the first time. We went to the LDS Temple in Mesa to see the lights and the spirit of the season.

 It took a few days for Ramona to warm up to us. The last day we were there she finally let me hold her and actually smiled at me! :) Most of the time she looked at me like this:

Lil' Mo-Mo in her Christmas outfit for pictures. So cute!

Amanda's 24th birthday was on the 12th, so while we were there we got to celebrate with the fam and have a birthday "brinner" (breakfast for dinner) and gorge on a yummy breakfast buffet in our PJ's. 

Betsy, Liam, Laurel

Dad & Nancy wanted their Christmas card picture with the grandbabies. This one is so hilarious! Everyone is so happy and Ramona is screaming in Dad's face. Ha ha! :)

Happy Birthday Amanda!!!!

loves!

Who wants to see pictures of little Peanut Armstrong?! :) Here's our little cutie-pie. He wasn't shy at all to show us he is a boy (in fact that was the first part of him they found when they started the ultrasound, ha ha), but for some silly reason he wouldn't show us his face. He kept swimming around, and every time the tech caught up with him he would cover his face with his hands or duck his head. I guess we'll just have to wait 4 more months to see that little face. We feel so blessed as we anticipate our little man's arrival!

Recovery is coming along slowly. I'm going to have a "beautiful" 3-inch scar on the right side of my belly when this is all over. I've definitely made it through the worst part. Thursday night was particularly painful with all the bloating from the gas from the surgery pushing against my stomach, lungs and shoulders every time I moved. And I'm still fighting the last little bit of a cough from my cold, which wasn't exactly fun considering every time I coughed or sneezed I had a burning/stabbing pain at my incision.

I can also say that I've lived through being kicked in my stitches....from the inside! I think all the laying around has made my little martial artist baby restless.

But today is looking to be on the up-and-up. I can now get in and out of bed on my own and walk around somewhat comfortably. I'm hoping to go for a walk today, but it was a warm 1 degree outside last time I checked the temperature! So I'll have to go to campus, a store or someplace where I can walk around a bit and not freeze. :)

Anthony has been a real trooper. It's such a blessing to have him home with me 24/7 while all this is going on. He has catered to my every need and been a real sweetheart. Just don't wake up him up too many times at 2:00 in the morning...he's a little fogged in and not really aware of what's happening. :)

I have a post-op follow-up appointment with the Dr. tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully all is well. We're crossing our fingers that he clears me to travel since we already had plane tickets booked to go to Arizona and see my family this coming weekend. We are anxious to meet our new little niece, Ramona, and also to celebrate Amanda's birthday. Here's hoping. :)

To keep everyone up-to-date I thought I'd add some info about our adventure this week. When we went in for the gender ultrasound appointment the tech discovered I had a large cyst on my right ovary, 11cm to be exact. We met with the doctor who explained that when a cyst is that large and especially during pregnancy it needs to be removed. Alternatives mostly included large amounts of pain, possible risks to baby and needing to do emergency surgery anyway. The 2nd trimester is the safest time to do surgery. We thought about it and prayed about it and decided that we should do it.

I went in for a mini-laparotmy and cystectomy yesterday at noon. They gave me a spinal injection to numb me (like they would for a C-section) because it's safer for Peanut, so I was awake during the procedure. They also gave me some sedatives to keep me calm, since I was still awake. It was the strangest sensation to be able to feel the doctors and nurses touching me, but I couldn't feel any pain. Crazy! I could hear them talking throughout the procedure and there was Christmas music playing. My doctor even belted out a few verses every once in a while. :)

We are happy we got it taken care of now because come to find out the cyst had actually slid down under the uterus, which thanks to a little "invention" tool one of my doctors had created they were able to get to it and get it out. Also, it ended up being a dermoid cyst which means that instead of just being filled with fluid it was actually had hair and sebaceous fluid in it....barf!!! I know, it's really disgusting. So I'm super glad it's out of me! On the upside, there was a possiblity I would lose the ovary due to the size of the cyst, but my doctors were able to save part of it. Nice work Docs! So now I'm taking it easy and recovering.