An Overdue Update!

I've been staring at this blank screen for several minutes now and have no idea where to start... I think I'll issue a small warning here, this will probably be slightly depressing. God is good, life is good, but that doesn't mean life has been all sunshine and rainbows.

So I'm going to start in the middle of 2012. Looking back, I should have realized that I couldn't stay on the top of the world forever. At the time, our boy was just about to turn 1 and doing wonderful (still is!). We had just gotten back from a family vacation to Charleston with my parents and sister (and my aunt & uncle joined us for a bit!). We had finally found a new church home. Things were great. And then 3 weeks before Jack turned one, someone very close to us was diagnosed with cancer. Time seemed to drag during treatments, but things are looking up now. We now have a Survivor in the family. :)

In the middle of chemo treatments (early November), Josh and I found out we were pregnant.  And hilariously, we were due July 15 (Jack's birthday). It seemed perfect. Some brightness in an otherwise crappy time. And then I miscarried during the week of Thanksgiving. For those who don't know, or don't remember, this was my second miscarriage, as I had one before Jackson. Statistically, you have a 20% chance of having a miscarriage with no known problems. So the fact I had two is not really rare, just unlucky. So I tried to stay positive and wait out the recommended amount of cycles before we started trying again.

Chemo ended a few weeks before Christmas, and radiation started New Years Eve. During that time, Josh's job at Beaumont had taken a bad turn. He was miserable, which in turn made me miserable. For the last several years though, my parents, sister and I had been dreaming and talking of moving to Charleston, SC. We all love the area, and since we all hate the cold and snow, it was a perfect dream. Our biggest hold up was Josh, because the man doesn't hate the cold and snow the way we do.. And he absolutely hates humidity and heat. That was part of our plan when we vacationed there earlier in the year... To see how well Josh would handle it and if he would be interested in the move. And he loved it! We were thrilled! So back to him being miserable ... We all knew that it would be hardest for Josh to find a job in that area. Katie being a teacher means she really could go anywhere once she's ready.. And Mom and Dad were planning it when they retired. So we discussed moving now, just because there were plenty of jobs available down in North Carolina and we figured, we may as well start sooner than later trying to get there. Plus, who knew how long the jobs would be available, and we didn't want to be stuck in Michigan with everyone else down south. If he never found anything in SC, then at least we'd be closer in NC then MI.

Josh started applying for jobs on New Years Day and started interviewing that very next week. Everything went much quicker than I had anticipated, but we soon realized we were doing the right thing ... Because this company he's working for right now, when the CEO called Josh to interview him, said that he needed someone in Salisbury for a couple years until he got the business going in Charleston... !! We were so excited! So now, (it may be a few years longer than we anticipated) we know we'll eventually end up in the same place as everyone else. :) Things were finally looking up again, for the entire family (although, admittedly, they're still upset that we're so far away, but knowing this will bring us closer in the end is worth it!). 2013 was definitely going to be our year!

Radiation was scheduled to end on Valentine's Day. So we all had a special day planned, though not together. Since the last 8 or 9 months had been so hard, Josh and I decided to have Katie babysit (and who would she rather spend Valentine's Day with??? She'll tell you Jack!) and enjoy an evening out. I had been sick for the previous month before this, and was excited to finally be able to relax and have a nice glass of wine (I was on all kinds of medication, and one that I was told if I drink at all on it, I'd be violently sick). So looking at the calendar, I realized I should probably just take a pregnancy test to make sure I could have a glass of wine. And the test came back positive. I was absolutely in shock. Statistically, it should not have happened. The chanced has been so tiny.. So naturally I felt good about this pregnancy. We were going to have a little Halloween baby!

Due to my previous losses, we were monitoring this pregnancy closer. I got the first couple blood draws, and they were fantastic numbers! Then we got an ultrasound. We found a sac, but no baby. But it was still a little early, and quite possibly were just a little off on our dates. Went a week and a half later for another ultrasound and found a heartbeat! This put us almost into the middle of March, only days before Josh and I flew down to Salisbury to look for housing. We spent the weekend down here, then on Sunday I flew back to Detroit and Josh flew to Oaklahoma City for his training. I had another ultrasound that Monday. Everything came shattering back down when we found out we there was no heartbeat. I'm not sure I would have been able to handle it if my mom hadn't been there with me. It was an absolutely horrible week, and I got to throw in a funeral for a boy I grew up with in the middle of it, all with my husband being half way across the country. Since we were moving in two weeks, I was given one week for my body to naturally take care of the miscarriage, and thankfully, it did only a couple days later. Again, I was lucky my mom and sister happened to be over at the time, because I'm not sure how I would have handled it one my own.

I ended up having my check up on the day we moved. Talk about stress... Since it was miscarriage #3, I ended up getting blood work done, looking for any blood diseases. That wait is one of those conflicting waits.. Where you don't want anything to come back positive, but at the same time you do so you can understand why this has been happening to you. Well, one of the tests came back positive. I won't bore you with all details, but it turns out I have a blood clotting disorder where my blood clots too well... Which could mean that when the umblical cord is forming, because the vessels are so small, that my blood could be clotting and cutting off circulation to the cord. So now I'm taking 5 different daily meds/vitamins. It's exhausting, honestly.. But I know it'll be worth it in the end.

On top of that, Josh has been working in Savannah, Georgia every week since we moved here. So Sunday through Thursday I get to experience what it would be like to be a single mom.. And I have the utmost respect for the women who do it.. It's an incredibly hard job. Thankfully, it looks like he'll be working in NC by the end of the month. We'll be looking forward to that. :)

Now we've got so much to look forward to... The cancer is gone! In just 5 weeks our little boy turns 2... I know I'm not supposed to say this yet, but I feel old! I'm looking forward to enjoying a summer with my boys. We've got so much to explore down here.. We have a wedding to celebrate in October (that had I kept the baby we wouldn't have been able to go to).. We will be planning a vacation to Kentucky in March to celebrate some 30th birthdays.. And hopefully, somewhere down the line, a successful pregnancy.

I think that's where I'm going to leave things today. I need to get moving. I've got some Mary Kay product to mail out and grocery shopping to do before nap time. I will try to keep this a little more updated in the future. :)

Furniture for Sale

Hi everyone!

Since we're moving in a few weeks, we're selling the majority of our furniture instead of moving it down south. Let me know if you're interested in any of these pieces. All prices are as marked OR BEST OFFER! (So don't be afraid to negotiate!)

Loveseat: $150 

Cushions are slightly worn and probably need to be scrubbed a little bit (we do have a toddler!).

Rocker: $100

In good condition

Glass Bookshelf: $50

(Sorry for the mess with it - We haven't gone through this room yet!)

Glass kitchen table + 4 black chairs: $150

In great condition

Couch + Storage Ottomans: $250

Corner desk: Free

(You would need to come and take this apart yourself - and it was slightly broken when we bought it so we can't guarantee how well it would hold up)

Black wood bookshelf: $30

50" 1080p Panasonic Plasma TV: $400

5 Speaker Surround Sound + Stands: $100

TV stand: $100

Curio Cabinet: $50

CD Spinning Rack (solid oak, holds 200 CDs): $50

Side Glass Table: $25 (This matches the bookshelf)

Message me on facebook or call/text me if you're interested in any of this! 

The ECV...

Unfortunately did not work. The doctor actually tried much longer than I was told they would, but I guess I was a really "good sport" about the whole thing. It really didn't hurt at all, so he tried for almost 10 minutes. We did get the baby to spin about 90 degrees, so now it's laying in me side to side. Hopefully the baby will just get the hint and flip the rest of the way on its own!

In most cases, I'll be scheduling the c-section on Friday at my doctors appointment. I will try to update Friday or Saturday with the latest news!

9 Months!

Well, we made it! I hit the 36 week mark on Friday which means I'm officially 9 months pregnant! I can't believe we made it this far. I thought for sure I wasn't going to make it this far!

I had a doctors appointment and an ultrasound on Thursday. The ultrasound went great! The first thing the tech told us was that the baby has a full head of hair already! I was amazed that you could see it on the ultrasound, but sure enough (once she pointed out what to look for), it was there!! I can't say I'm really surprised about it though, Josh and I both had full heads of hair when we were born, so it would have been a shock to have a bald baby. The baby weighs approximately 7lbs, 3 oz already! If I make it to 40 weeks, we have the possibility of having a 9+ pound baby! Unfortunately, the baby is still breech. It's still possible of the baby spinning on it's own, but the likely hood of that happened are much smaller now.

So, since I don't really want to risk it, we're going into the hospital tomorrow to have an External Cephalic Version done. We have to be there at 7:00am and they'll get me all prepped for it. The procedure will be done around 9:00am, assuming the doctors don't have some sort of emergency. I'll be getting medication to relax the uterus and then I'll have two doctors come in and try to spin the baby! The first doctor who told me about the procedure when I was 34 weeks, Dr. Love, told me that there is a 50% chance of it working. On Thursday, when I saw Dr. Wallace, she told me the chance was as high as 60-70% of success. While those are pretty good odds, I'm still trying to prepare myself for it not working. I was told that the doctors will only try to spin the baby for about 3-5 minutes. I guess it's one of those it's going to work situations, or it isn't. So they don't try for very long because it is uncomfortable (from what I'm told). After they try, whether it is successful or not, I will have to be monitored for an hour or two before I'm allowed to go home. I guess there is a less than 1% chance of the procedure putting me into labor. So while we won't be expecting it, we will be taking the hospital bag with us tomorrow just in case. Speaking of... We should probably install the car seat...

So, what happens if the procedure doesn't work? In most cases, I'll have a c-section done the week of July 10th. But I'm trying not to think about that yet.

I will try to update this tomorrow once we get home and let everyone know how we're doing. Though with my super slacker skills, don't be surprised if I don't update until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Please pray that our baby flips for us! :)

34 Weeks & Counting!

I know it's been a while.. I'm so bad at updating this. I know this is long over due and I'm going to apologize because I know it's kind of going to be all over the place. I'm so scatter-brained right now!

We hit the 34 week mark on Friday! I had a doctors appointment and I got the okay to come off bed rest!!! At 34 weeks, they expect the baby to be developed enough to be delivered, so if I go into labor they won't try to stop it. I was told I still have to take it easy but I can resume all normal activity. I've been slowly trying to get the nursery ready. We've got some baby clothes and sheets washed already, they just need to be folded and put away! Our mounds of baby stuff is slowly disappearing from our living room. I'm hoping I'll be able to fly through the rest of my shower thank yous now, too.

I'm starting to get a little anxious just knowing how much needs to be done before the baby gets here. We've got less than six weeks until our due date, assuming that we make it that far. Of course, I'll be pissed if I end up going past the due date after spending five weeks in bed! But I still need to pack a bag for the hospital.. I really should have done that five weeks ago. At the same time I'm trying to clean some of the house, too. It's a little weird WANTING to clean the bathroom, but since I'm allowed to do stuff, I'm dying to do it.. I just don't physically have the energy to do it. It's amazing how much muscle you loose. My back definitely is not used to carrying all this extra weight in the front of me!

So medically, I'm only 1cm dilated, which is good news. Baby is still being stubborn (I'm sure it's the Italian blood) and is still breech. My doctor said if I make it to 37 weeks then I'll go in the hospital and try a procedure to spin the baby. I would be given a medication to relax my uterus and they would physically try to turn the baby from outside my belly. It only has a 50% success rate, but I figure that's a 50% chance of me being able to deliver vaginally. If I go into labor between now and then, I'd have to have a c-section. I've been praying hard the baby will flip on it's own, but I'm pretty sure I'm already starting to drop so I don't think it'll actually do it on it's own. Hopefully I'm wrong. :)

In non-baby news, Josh and I have decided to sell his car. (He's got a 2003 Focus, if anyone is interested.) We plan on using the money to pay off the rest of my car and get rid of/lower some monthly bills since I'll be home with the baby. So even though I'm allowed to leave the house, I've been trying to mentally prepare myself for being a one car family.

Josh's job is going well. He's really enjoying the work. I'm loving his hours (7-3:30). We finally get to have dinner together at a normal time! It's still taking some adjusting!

Well, I can't think of much else to write. I'll post pictures once we have the nursery complete.. Hopefully in the next week or two. Hope this finds everyone well!

31 Week Update ... A Little Late

I realize this is past due, but I had a pretty busy weekend and didn't get a chance to update this. Then I went to do it yesterday and I decided to wait since I had an ultrasound today. So, let me back up and start with my appointment last Friday.

My doctor was happy with how I've been handling the bed rest. My cervix has shifted a little forward since being in the hospital, but it's still long and closed. I was measuring ahead of the 31 week curve. Because of measuring ahead, she ordered an ultrasound so we could find out approximately how big the baby is and so we could get a better idea of how long my cervix is.

The ultrasound appointment was today. Our little one is measuring 4 lbs 8 oz and is currently breech. The cervix was measuring at 3.5cm long which is good. That's a pretty average length. The ultrasound tech did say that the cervix might be starting to dilate a little bit, but she couldn't tell me for sure that it was. So, I'm not worrying about it right now.

I have another doctors appointment this Friday and we'll get to discuss all of the results of the ultrasound. I think I'll have quite a few questions by the time I get in there. I'm hoping I'll only have two more weeks of this bed rest stuff.

Other than doctors appointments, our baby shower was this past Sunday. For everyone who was there or sent gifts, thank you SO much for everything! I hope everyone had fun. It was wonderful seeing everyone together!

I will try to remember to update on Friday after my appointment, but if I don't get around to it, I hope everyone has a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend!

God Bless

Happy 30 Weeks!

Hi everyone!

I had my first doctors appointment since being the hospital and I like to think that we got good news. I am going to be on my "modified" bed rest for the next four weeks.. That's kind of crappy news.. But, I know it's all for the best.

Basically, since we don't really know what caused the contractions last weekend, we need to err on the side of caution. At this point in my pregnancy my cervix should still be hard, closed and long. Right now I've got two of those three points. The one that I'm lacking is hard.. So my cervix has softened. It's not the end of the world, but since it is soft, I have to be careful not to do too much and put too much pressure on it. Meaning little standing and sitting if I can help it. I'm basically allowed to be up and moving for about three hours a day. So I can shower, fix myself food and go to the bathroom.

So, the goal is to keep the baby in for at least four more weeks. I was told that 34 weeks is a big milestone for the baby and if I can make it that long, our little one won't have to spend TOO much time in the NICU. When I hit 34 weeks, assuming I'm doing well and am not dilated at all, I'll probably have some restrictions removed for the next two weeks. If I don't go into labor in those next two weeks, I was told that at 36 weeks I can start doing cart wheels on my front lawn (don't worry, we'll sell tickets for you all to see that!).

Obviously this is mostly guess work right now. There's no telling how fast I may start to dilate or anything, but it sounds like there is a really good chance we'll end up with a June baby instead of a July baby.

I'm not really sure how Josh is feeling about it, but I'm starting to feel quite overwhelmed by everything. I was really hoping that I'd be doing wonderfully enough at my appointment today that they were going to tell me I was fine and didn't need bed rest. I was definitely disappointed... So there's a good chance that in 4-6 weeks we'll have a baby and I'm not allowed to get out of bed to help get ready for it! I'm just going to keep praying that we have more than 6 weeks. Six weeks.. It sounds so close!

So that was basically my appointment today. I'll be going back every single week from here on out and they'll be checking my cervix for any changes. I am allowed to drive myself to my appointments (it's also the only time I'm allowed to drive.. but hey- at least it'll save on gas!) but since my mom is off on Friday's I made the appointments then. It's helpful to have someone else at the appointments to help remember questions and answers. I'll try to update every Friday or Saturday to let everyone know how things are going.

I am going to leave you with a belly shot tonight. In the last week the baby has definitely gone through a growth spurt. I certainly feel huge! (Seriously, compare this to the last pictures I posted... um.. HELLO BELLY!)

Hope this finds everyone well!

My Mother's Day at Troy Beaumont

For those who haven't heard, I spent the last two days in Labor & Delivery. Little Baby Tenney is still currently cooking, but is being a little stubborn.

Saturday evening I had noticed that I was getting quite a few contractions. At first I thought they were Braxton Hicks, but as they started becoming more regular and stronger, I called our on-call doctor. I was getting contractions anywhere from 2-6 minutes apart and over 15 an hour. So he told me to go straight to L&D to get checked out.

We started out in triage where we got good news and bad news. The good news was the fact that I wasn't dilated at all and my cervix was still hard and closed. Bad news was the fact that I was going to have to stay at the hospital for at least 24 hours for monitoring and to stop the contractions. So they ran a bunch of tests and then moved me over to a real room to get me started on treatment.

I had a rough first night there. Evidently I was dehydrated (which none of us can figure out how that happened because I drink 70+ ounces a day) so they were having trouble finding my veins to hook me up to the IV. After busting one of my veins and poking me two more times, they eventually put the IV into the inside of my elbow. I guess that's not an ideal spot for them because they use a thicker IV than most other areas of the hospital so if you bend your arm at all and cut off the medication, machines start going crazy with beeping. So for the first 6 hours at the hospital, I'd have to call in the nurse to reset everything at least twice an hour. Once they got the IV in me, they started me on magnesium to stop the contractions. It's a 24 hour drip and the first half an hour they triple the dosage to get things started. It's quite an uncomfortable medication to have in your system. It's basically a muscle relaxer so for 24 hours I wasn't allowed to get out of bed. They also gave me a steroid shot in the butt to help progress the baby's lung development in case I did go into labor. So the first night was rough, especially with sleeping. I finally kicked Josh out of the hospital at 1:00ish while I tried to get some rest. At 1:30 they brought in a CRNA to see if she could find a better vein for my IV since it kept going off so much. After half an hour and 4 more pokes, they still couldn't find one to use so they just tried to adjust my current one. Thankfully, that did the trick and I didn't have any more problems for the rest of the stay. I did sleep about 1-2 hours the first night.. It was my first ever over night hospital stay and between having to call the nurse for the bed pan every two hours to pee and all of the different noises, it was difficult trying to rest.

Josh came back up in the morning around 8:00. My doctor came in probably about half an hour later. My cervix was still hard and closed, about 2-2.5 cm long, which is really good. He went over all of my test results, and the biggest one was the Fetal Fibronectin test and that came back negative. This was a major relief for us because when the test comes back negative, it means you have a less than 1% chance of delivering in the next two weeks. So our biggest concern was just getting the contractions to stop. The doctor okay'd a clear liquid diet for me while I was on the magnesium, which was pretty good. It was nice to get something besides ice chips in my stomach.

After that, we had a pretty quiet day. Both of our parents (and my sister) came up to visit with us. Thanks to my sister, she brought up the Mother's Day gifts I had for our mom's, so we did get to celebrate a little bit, even if I was stuck in the hospital.

About 5:00pm the magnesium was really starting to bother me. It was causing chest tightness and I was getting hot flashes. The nurse turned the temperature down to 55 degrees in the room and they still had to put wash cloths dipped in ice water to try to cool me down. They ended up stopping the magnesium about an hour early since I was struggling with it so much. On top of the symptoms from the magnesium, I was also dealing with extreme heart burn from the lack of solid food. Once I got off the magnesium, I did start to cool off, but I also started shaking really badly. After an hour I was allowed to try to eat solid food and allowed to use the bathroom with assistance. Getting up the first time was rough - I was quite dizzy and not very steady, but quite excited about being able to use the toilet! Hahaha. It took me almost two hours just to eat a little bit of fruit, half a yogurt and half a ham sandwich. The shaking did subside after a few hours, and with the help of an antacid, while I was sitting the heartburn went away. Although when I did lay down for the evening I still had some of the effects of the magnesium so my chest was still tight. At 11:00 I got another steroid for the baby. Around 11:30ish they gave me a fairly strong pain killer that was safe for the baby but would also help with the remaining contractions that I was having and help me sleep. Unfortunately it made me incredibly dizzy, but I was able to sleep most of it off. Josh went home right after I got the pain killer since it was obviously knocking me out, plus he had to work today. So I finally got to sleep last night. I slept for about two hours a time, only waking up to go to the bathroom. Throughout the night my contractions got a lot better. I was only having one or two an hour and they didn't even wake me.

And that brings us to this morning! My doctor came in around 9:00 and did a quick exam. While she said that my cervix felt a little soft, it was still closed and long. I was discharged and I am on modified bed rest. Basically I have to be laying down at least one hour every morning, afternoon and evening, and the rest of the time I can be sitting with my feet up. I'm not allowed to do any chores (poor Josh) but I am allowed to get up to make myself meals and go to the bathroom. I'm also allowed 5 minute showers. I have to make an appointment for later this week where I'll get an ultrasound to check the baby and cervix (although the baby did quite wonderful throughout this whole thing - s/he never got stressed at all). I'm sure there will be lots to discuss at my next appointment - I've already started a list of questions to ask. I'm sure I'm going to be watched carefully from here on out.

So there's the latest news. While I would have rather not have all this happen, we really did have a great experience with the hospital. Everyone there were all wonderful and we were never out of the loop. I've already even met the lactation specialist and we discussed what would be expected for nursing if I do in fact have this baby early.

I think I've covered all of the big stuff - And since I'm home for good now, I will try to update this more frequently, especially as we start getting more news about what will be happening with the baby.

Hope this finds everyone well.

29 Weeks

So, Erin pointed out that I hadn't posted any new belly pics recently... So here they are! We've only got 11 weeks to go!

In the black shirt, I'm 25 Weeks.

In the purple, I'm 28 weeks, 5 days.

Hope this finds everyone well.

God Bless.

Happy Tuesday!

I apologize for letting this go so long without an update. These past few weeks have just flown by and we've been quite busy.

Our birthdays were at the beginning of the month, which most of you know. They were pretty quiet compared to some previous years, but still wonderful. Thanks to many relatives, we were able to purchase a video camera. We're both excited about being able to capture the little one in the future.

Josh starts his new job next Monday. He's definitely ready for something new. And thankfully, just last week we found out that Beaumont found a way to keep us on their insurance so we won't be having to pay for COBRA for those first five weeks. We are both so relieved about that. His first five weeks of training will be unpaid but that isn't such a scary thought anymore since we'll have insurance.

About a month ago, my company moved my location again. I'm now in our Saint Clair Shores office. It is a little closer to home, and is all expressway so I'm not on the road so long, which is nice. Unfortunately, they cut my hours again. I'm back to three days a week with no benefits, which means if I have to go on bed rest early or when I have the baby, I won't be paid. Kind of sucky, but we're trying to make the best of the situation.

Speaking of baby, we're only three weeks away from the third trimester already. It is amazing how quickly the time goes. We've been busy figuring out our registry and deciding how to decorate the nursery. I've been rapidly growing over the last few weeks, as well as the baby. My belly button is nearly flat, which I find fascinating for some reason. It's quite an experience so far. Josh has been able to feel the baby kicking a number of times already, but the little one doesn't want to cooperate around the grandparents at all. I've also been able to see the baby moving around and kicking which is just awesome. I've been feeling great... I even think that whole nesting thing might be starting to kick in a little bit... And I say that because I have never had the desire to scrub our bathroom floor (sure, I've used the wet jet on it, but I've never gotten down on my hands and knees to scrub it).. I just haven't pulled the motivation to actually do it. I figure it's right around the corner. Haha. :)

I'll leave you with some pictures, I took some today just for you! :)

23 Weeks, 4 days