Tuesday, March 17, 2009
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's a BOY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am jumping out of my seat I'm soooo excited! 2 girls. 2 boys. It can't get any better than that! Some of you are probably scratching your heads right now. Yes, I'm pregnant. Again. No, it was not planned (who in their right mind would plan to have their babies 16 months apart?) . I am happy though. I had my first doc appt today- I'm not even 14 wks yet and they were able to tell the sex! YAY! The due date is Sept 18th.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
My Sleeping Disorder
Sleep paralysis. It's been on my mind lately and I guess I'm using my blog as a way to get my thoughts out. I think everyone experiences sleep paralysis at least once in their lifetime. I have been experiencing this since I turned 18. I hate it. After the first time it happened to me, I was afraid of sleeping for months (It was years later that I realized other people might experience the same thing and I could do research to find out more about it). If I had to sum it up in 2 words I would call it sheer terror. I will explain what I generally experience during an episode of sleep paralysis.
It's usually just before I fall asleep I feel what I would describe as a pulse through my brain, It's almost electrical and it's very rhythmic. At this point I know that I am going to have an "episode" and there is no way I can stop it. Even if I get out of bed, walk around, get a drink of water, as soon as I go back to bed, sleep paralysis will take over for the rest of the night. The whooshing through my head seems to come first and then everything else happens all at once. Every time without fail I feel like dark shadows are closing in around me. I am frozen stiff. I have the greatest sense of terror, fear and dread you could possibly imagine. I can not move a muscle and as hard as I try, I can not scream out for help. There is often pressure in my brain and my ears so intense that I fear my head is going to explode or my ear drums are going to burst. I always have auditory hallucinations. Some times it is chattering in my ear or shrill screaming or just the loudest white noise you can imagine. Sometimes I feel like someone is pulling me or lifting me off the bed. I definitely always feel like there is a presence in the room. I feel very heavy, like there is pressure all around me. I feel so vulnerable and exposed. I always feel like this dark presence is trying to take me. The worst part is suffering through this when I know Dan is within 2 inches of me and is completely oblivious to the hell I'm experiencing. No matter how hard I try to move my hand one inch to nudge him or yell out to him it is in vain. Now understand, I am wide awake while all this is happening to me. It's not a dream. Unlike a dream, you do not have the ability to "snap out of it" or tell yourself to "wake up". I just have to ride it out. It can last for a long time. When it's over and I can move around, get up, get a drink of water etc. I know that if I try to go back to bed and try to go back to sleep it will most likely happen again and again the rest of the night. It's not as bad as it used to be - it actually rarely happens these days. I've had it happen only twice in the last 3 months. It used to be several times a month. It was the worst within the first couple years I was married (from age19-21) It would happen so frequently that I could actually predict before going to bed that it would happen to me because of the way my mind and body felt. If I stayed up later than usual, it was almost guaranteed to happen. When I finally got on the Internet and researched it, I learned a few things. Such as, sleeping on your back increases your chances of experiencing sleep paralysis. I never sleep on my back now and I know that really helps. I'm thankful it's not as bad as it used to be and that I'm not afraid to sleep anymore. Although, I am weary of going to bed tonight since it happened to me just last night.
An explanation in my own words: When you dream, your brain keeps your body from moving to protect yourself from physically acting out your dreams. Sleep paralysis is basically a malfunction of this process because you are wide awake when your brain is paralyzing your body. With sleep paralysis, you are wide awake, aware of your surroundings but your body is completely paralyzed. I don't understand the feelings of terror and darkness and I don't think there really is a good explanation for it either. Most everyone that experiences sleep paralysis says that it is a terrifying experience- Some are much worse than mine as they actually see figures or demons around them- whereas I don't exactly see them, I just sense their presence. Now I don't think writing this was helpful at all - I'm just really freaked out right now. You probably are too. Sorry...Goodnight?
Do any of you experience this? And if you want to know more about it- just google it.
It's usually just before I fall asleep I feel what I would describe as a pulse through my brain, It's almost electrical and it's very rhythmic. At this point I know that I am going to have an "episode" and there is no way I can stop it. Even if I get out of bed, walk around, get a drink of water, as soon as I go back to bed, sleep paralysis will take over for the rest of the night. The whooshing through my head seems to come first and then everything else happens all at once. Every time without fail I feel like dark shadows are closing in around me. I am frozen stiff. I have the greatest sense of terror, fear and dread you could possibly imagine. I can not move a muscle and as hard as I try, I can not scream out for help. There is often pressure in my brain and my ears so intense that I fear my head is going to explode or my ear drums are going to burst. I always have auditory hallucinations. Some times it is chattering in my ear or shrill screaming or just the loudest white noise you can imagine. Sometimes I feel like someone is pulling me or lifting me off the bed. I definitely always feel like there is a presence in the room. I feel very heavy, like there is pressure all around me. I feel so vulnerable and exposed. I always feel like this dark presence is trying to take me. The worst part is suffering through this when I know Dan is within 2 inches of me and is completely oblivious to the hell I'm experiencing. No matter how hard I try to move my hand one inch to nudge him or yell out to him it is in vain. Now understand, I am wide awake while all this is happening to me. It's not a dream. Unlike a dream, you do not have the ability to "snap out of it" or tell yourself to "wake up". I just have to ride it out. It can last for a long time. When it's over and I can move around, get up, get a drink of water etc. I know that if I try to go back to bed and try to go back to sleep it will most likely happen again and again the rest of the night. It's not as bad as it used to be - it actually rarely happens these days. I've had it happen only twice in the last 3 months. It used to be several times a month. It was the worst within the first couple years I was married (from age19-21) It would happen so frequently that I could actually predict before going to bed that it would happen to me because of the way my mind and body felt. If I stayed up later than usual, it was almost guaranteed to happen. When I finally got on the Internet and researched it, I learned a few things. Such as, sleeping on your back increases your chances of experiencing sleep paralysis. I never sleep on my back now and I know that really helps. I'm thankful it's not as bad as it used to be and that I'm not afraid to sleep anymore. Although, I am weary of going to bed tonight since it happened to me just last night.
An explanation in my own words: When you dream, your brain keeps your body from moving to protect yourself from physically acting out your dreams. Sleep paralysis is basically a malfunction of this process because you are wide awake when your brain is paralyzing your body. With sleep paralysis, you are wide awake, aware of your surroundings but your body is completely paralyzed. I don't understand the feelings of terror and darkness and I don't think there really is a good explanation for it either. Most everyone that experiences sleep paralysis says that it is a terrifying experience- Some are much worse than mine as they actually see figures or demons around them- whereas I don't exactly see them, I just sense their presence. Now I don't think writing this was helpful at all - I'm just really freaked out right now. You probably are too. Sorry...Goodnight?
Do any of you experience this? And if you want to know more about it- just google it.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
No Returns
Apparently, when your baby is in the 0 percentile for weight and the 1 percentile for height, you can't take them back to the hospital. I guess that's ok, he's pretty cute. But why is it that my girls got the tall gene?
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Scorpion Hunt
Dan took us on a scorpion hunt in his parent's back yard for Family Home Evening last night. We had a black light and found a ton of scorpions but only caught 3. I was the lucky one to hold the jar while Dan used tweezers to put the scorpions inside. EEEEEK! I was so freaked out.
Alex's weekend
Alex learned how to ride her bike on two wheels and then she had a bug Birthday party. It was the funnest party. Check out that lady bug cake! Have you ever seen a more adorable cake? Thanks Mandy! Check out her website: sassycakes.blogspot.com
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