Growing Baby! 21 weeks!

How far along? 21 weeks

Total weight gain: 14 lbs.
 

Maternity clothes? Live in Maternity pants. Old Navy Skinnies mainly. Dresses are normal-some maternity tops-some regular ones :)

Stretch marks? Not any new ones. I believe Madyson gave them all to me first go around.

Best moment this week:  Watching Amelia yawn on the sonogram. She is just so sweet.

Miss Anything? Nope :)

Food cravings:Pickles, Apple Juice, Soup, Onion Rings

Anything making you queasy or sick: Smells. 

Gender: Girl. Amelia Margaret

Labor Signs: nope

Pregnancy Issues: Diagnosed with Parvovirus B19, sent to specialist to monitor babies Cerebral Blood Flow, Thyroid levels have gone wack, Anterior Placenta, Breech Baby, Tachycardia returned :) All are under control and being monitored.

Wedding rings on or off? wedding band on-engagement ring off

Happy or Moody most of the time:Happy...well unless the house is a mess :) 

Amelia's Nursery! We are busy getting ready for the holidays as well as creating all three girls new rooms! Amelia's room is very eclectic. It has a vintage modern feel-but cozy in that!

 Her bedding is made from fun ivory/coral/aqua fabric. Its going to be a surprise until reveal day :)

Her crib is from Ikea

Her changing table I purchased from Craigslist this is the "Before" picture

Her wall art is a mix of "The Best of Pinterst" plus some vintage prints (and a Disney pic!")

...and there is more but you'll have to wait to see :)

On Tuesday of this week we had our 2 meeting with Dr. P. He is very "happy, happy, happy" with Amelia although she is very stubborn and doesn't like sonogram days. I spoke before about how she yawns and doesn't participate well with profile pictures. Well this time, after a few shakes of the belly to get her to rotate, she threw up her pointer finger and turned directly to the Doppler like she was saying, "LOOK, I am not doing this today. LEAVE ME ALONE" 

Oh boy! Another strong-willed girl. Good thing their momma can go toe-to-toe with them :)
    

tonights blog...

Normal blogging will resume tomorrow. Tonights blog has been interrupted with Chick-fil-a and Disney's Brave :)

*Family Time*

Dr. Appointment-Date Night-and more :)

This past weekend Todd and I had a fun little date night to celebrate his birthday. With all the changes in our lives recently-we haven't had a time to sit down-the two of us-and talk, relax, and laugh. We are truly best friends and when this time isn't present...we both get a bit crazy.

So Friday, Madyson was going to a slumber party and Aubrie was going to have some cousin time with my nieces and my mom. So Todd and I went to Bass Pro Shop to purchase him some new camoflauge for hunting season :) (Romantic...I know)
Then we stopped in at O'Charleys and had some PepperJack Cheese Wedges...salads, etc. Our server was a cool chick whose birthday was the next day (we get to know our servers)
So we left her a fun birthday tip :)

Then we went over to Target to start our Christmas Shopping...then to Steinmart....then home :)

We enjoyed no phones, no distractions, no talking about what has happened in the past few days...just us and the things we love (traveling, desserts...:)

Saturday-we had to come back to reality to help Todd's aunts clean out his mother's closets. Then we had a birthday party to attend for our sweet 2 year old God-daughter :)

Sunday-we went to church and then came home and cleaned house.

This is the last week of school before Thanksgiving Break-and I am so excited to get 9 days (5 weekdays and 4 weekend days) with my kiddos!

Today, I had an appointment with Dr. M. My regular OB-we ofcourse got to see Miss Amelia :)She is so adorable. Yawning throughout her sonogram-she isn't near as excited to see us as we are to see her!

She is chilling in a breech position-legs thrown up over her head-and the placenta is anterior. Not a big deal since she will be a c-section baby anyway-but still...more to watch.

The sono tech also did a cervical measurement and that looks good! (yah!) so all my contractions aren't bothering her little home inside me.

I have 3 more doctor appointments over the next 4 weeks. Each a sonogram-each a few hours long. As inconvenient as they are-I can not begin to express how thankful I am to be sitting here. If we remember back to November 2011-I was in agony waiting to see if our other baby would get its heartbeat and would develop properly-only to spend Thanksgiving break mourning the loss of our wee one. 

God has brought our family so far over the past year-and as hard as the miscarriage was-I am grateful, thankful, and fully in awe of our Lord for allowing us to struggle with that to see how minor all these "precautions" with Amelia are. 

My biggest concern for this visit was being put on bed rest (like I was with Madyson) mainly because I love my 25 kiddos I get to spend my days with and really wanted to continue through the holidays. Dr. M, gave me the "Limit your extracurricular activities" but said to just take it easy when I can...at least for 4 more weeks.
 

Here is Amelia's latest sonogram picture :) Tomorrow Ill be back with the 20 week belly shot and nursery update :)

Visit 1 with prenatal specialist

Today we had our 1st visit with the prenatal specialist Dr. P.

First let me say, I am thankful that I have great doctors and Todd has amazing insurance. Amelia def. would be our most expensive baby to date....and she isnt even here yet!

Second, the appointment went well. All of her measurements, blood flow, etc. are normal. Praise the Lord. Meaning that as of now, he believes she falls in the 85% of babies that do not contract the disease. However, for him to be 100% sure we will be visiting him 3 more times over the next 6 weeks. That means a sonogram every 2 weeks. Amelia will also be our most photographed baby :)

She is 100% girl :), very stubborn in the fact they had to poke the mess out of my abdomen to get her to do what the needed. She is active-a thumb sucker-and has long legs :)

Prayers for her to continue to be well and for momma to grow! Shes a little squished :)

Next week is my Regular OB appointment with Dr. M. And I will also have a nursery update :)

..........the old man is snoring.

God will not give us  more than we can handle. That is a promise. But sometimes-it sure hurts to go through His plan for life.

When Todd and I first got married we got this little mutt dog. We drove 3 hours to this crazy puppy mill in the middle of the woods to pay $100 for this little tiny ball of fur-we were told was a girl. Bella Broadus :) We drove to Petsmart to purchase Bella a bed, and food and toys...only to find out Bella was a boy. We named him Reece and he became our first baby.

Reece was a great puppy. The night before Madyson was born he was snuggled to me all night. He was whiny and clingy. Turns out I was having issues inside that I was unaware and after a trip to the doctor and 4 days in the hospital-we came home with his little sister Madyson. If he had not of been so persistent, I probably would have gone on without heading to the doctor. And who knows what would have happened.

As Reece aged he still loved and adored Todd and I, but he became aggressive to the girls and he had to become an outside dog. Over the last year he began to turn grey, loose his hair and become more temperamental.

Tonight, we found Reece lying in a lawn chair coughing up blood and having a hard time breathing. Todd and I wrapped him in a towel and held him until he passed away. Then at 10:45 we buried him near our garden.

Rest in Peace-little man. You are always the king of the house.

Its Raining...Its Pouring...

In the midst of sharing with you all the journey of my Mother-in-law, I have forgotten to include you on the latest update on Miss Amelia.

About a month and a half ago I was with our sweet friends having dinner. A few days later, Momma B, called and told me that baby B was diagnosed with Fifths Disease and that I needed to be tested. I called my OB and went in for blood work. The first round of results came back negative with an alert to retest in 3 weeks. I did the 3 week test at my last visit and this time the results came back as positive.

My OB has referred me to a prenatal specialist. I will be meeting with him on Tuesday. From what I gather about parvovirus B19 (the medical term) is that the specialist will do an intense ultrasound and examine all of Amelia's organs, growth, etc. He will determine if she has it (It causes swelling/severe anemia in babies) and what the plan of action is. I can not take any medicine for it. It is one of those things. In worse case senerio-it can also lead to miscarriage and stillbirths...but we aren't going there.

My OB says in clinical practice she has never seen it turn into everything. So I am doing my best to stay focused and positive and not to WebMD it to death.

The Last Days.

The last days have been a blur. A worldwind of emotions. A time I will treasure but never want to repeat.

Monday afternoon Todd called me and said, "The nurse doesn't expect her to be here much longer". Her-meaning his mom. His mother who has fought breast cancer for almost the last decade.

He went to be by her side. Asking me to stay with the girls. Monday night was awful-he was there. I was here. I didn't want to call and text him a lot. But I wanted to call and text him a lot. Finally-after a night of not sleeping I had the girls ready for my mom to take to school and let to be by his side at 5am Tuesday morning. We sat by his mom's side for the next 28 hours. Taking turns through the night praying over her. Letting her know we love her and its okay for her to leave.

It was a long night.

Wednesday morning, I left her house to go back to work. I needed to be around happy children. and I  needed to see my girls. Todd called around 1 and let me know he was coming home and we were going to take the girls trick-or-treating. Something that is almost foreign to them since we have done the church festival most of their little lives. We got all dressed up and loaded up in the truck and drove around the neighborhood and let them trick-or-treat. They had a blast.

Around 7:15 we got a call from Todd's grandmother. The time was close. At 7:28 a message saying "she's gone baby".

She was surrounded by her mother, sisters, husband, and best friends. I am a 100% sure she waited until Todd was not there because she never wanted him to see her vulnerable.

We dropped the girls off with my parents-telling them we had an errand to run and they could go in and eat candy. We headed to her house. Her body was still there-peaceful and calm. Todd went back and spent a few last minutes before the funeral home came. The hospice nurse joined us to handle all the final details and the house filled with love from family and friends.

Kathy was an amazing Mother-in-law. From our first lunch date to O'Charley's, where she made it clear that Todd was a handful and was I prepared for him...and did I know she was sick...and all that " I am the main woman in his life" front. To our final night last night-where I stood over her and talked to her almost lifeless self about how Todd and I will take care of each other. The past 7 years my life has been so filled with extra love and joy because of the amazing mother-in-law I was blessed with. I have so many memories that I thank God for.

Tonight-we celebrate because Kathy is now cancer free. She fought her fight and she can now be at peace. Tomorrow-we tell the girls. The hardest part, I believe, in this journey.

Kathy's verse she claimed during her battle was Philippians 4:13. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." She did all things-and he gave her strength.  May her strength live on through all those she touched.