Baby Update - 17 Weeks

I had an appointment today to check on baby boy.  Before we get into that, I've still been feeling great.  My belly is growing but other than that I really can't tell I'm pregnant.  This is what people mean when they say that they felt great during pregnancy. I could never fathom that statement until now, but I really do feel great. Even my Lyme symptoms are completely under control. No fatigue, joint pain, insomnia, night sweats, and very few mild headaches. I just literally thank God that he has brought my health to a place that I can tolerate pregnancy and even thrive during it.  It really is mind blowing.  I'm continually mindful that I need to take care of myself by eating right, sleeping enough, and managing my stress in order to sustain my health.

I paid a visit to a high risk doctor last week for a few reasons.  I have a significant fibroid tumor and my regular doctor just wanted to get a second opinion about how it could affect my pregnancy and delivery. When I got there, the high risk doctor only seemed interested in my risk for chromosome abnormalities, due to my age, and my high blood pressure.  He looked at the fibroid but that seemed very secondary to him. He did rule out a VBAC, which I was mildly considering, unless the tumor degenerates during pregnancy which he more than sufficiently warned is extremely painful. Thank you for that.

Overall the visit was less than impressive to me. Chromosome abnormalities are a risk that we knew we were taking and my blood pressure has been very controlled with medicine since Miles was born. I understand they could both cause complications but he discussed stats and "options" that would never be options for us. I guess that's the world we live in now, but I didn't care for it.  We did get a thorough ultrasound by the tech and the doctor. Both showed that all markers looked great and that the baby looked completely healthy. He lowered the baby's risk for down syndrome from 1 in 100 to 1 in 200 just based on the ultrasound.

When I visited with my regular doctor today, whom I like and trust very much, we discussed that he is very comfortable managing my pregnancy and that I don't have to transfer my care to the high risk doctor. I was hoping he would say that, so it was a relief.  He did offer the suggestion of having one more ultrasound at the high risk doctor when I'm 24 weeks.  They are able to do a thorough scan of the baby's heart, whereas the regular doctor is not. At my age, heart defects can be more common, but my doctor assured there is no reason to worry until there is a reason to worry. The benefit to knowing during pregnancy is that I could deliver in Memphis or Nashville where they have a pediatric cardiologist on staff.  If I delivered in Jackson and the baby had heart complications, the baby would be transferred without me.  So, I will go back to the high risk doctor hopefully just one more time for that ultrasound and then be done with him.

The only other complication that we are dealing with is my low iron. This has been an issue for me for years. I have tried everything to get my iron levels up, but for some reason my body just doesn't absorb it. They drew blood today to see exactly where I am.  The doctor is considering iron injections to try to increase it before I get farther along. In his words, he didn't want to get behind the 8 ball.  I would have to see a hematologist.  I'm intrigued b/c I wonder if increased iron levels would make me feel even better. We should have the results in a few days and then make a decision.

Baby boy did give us a scare this morning. The nurse could not find his heartbeat with the Doppler monitor. She scanned and scanned. Last time she mentioned that the baby's heart was hard to hear over mine, so I didn't worry initially. Then, as the process went on and on, I started to really worry. She seemed pretty serious. She finally said that she was sending me to ultrasound. We walked down the hall and waited a few minutes for the tech. I am not an emotional person, but I started bawling. It was so scary. The tech came and got us. After seeing that I was very scared, she really went fast to get started. She found the heartbeat quickly and when we got a look at him, he was stretched out and chilling.

I have never thought ultrasounds were cute, but I have to say, he looked really cute :)  I've heard of this happening so I was trying to stay calm, but it was so upsetting. Miles kept going through my mind. I've been tired all day and I think the whole experience just drained me. I still felt near tears even hours later.  The thing about being older and having risks, is that you definitely get a lot of ultrasounds.  Today was our 7th already.  We will continue to have a lot in order to monitor growth. The only way to know if the fibroid is getting in the way of pregnancy is if the baby's growth stalls. Having a baby at 39 is very different. It all seems so much more serious and intense. The Lord is in control so I don't worry, but I do feel very aware of risks and complications this time. It sounds like the visit was full of concerns, but it was actually the opposite. I feel like we have a great plan to sustain my health and keep an eye on baby boy.

It's a Boy!!!

I went to the doctor this morning at 8:30am for our gender reveal ultrasound.  You can find out at 20 weeks, or you can pay $75 to find out at 16 weeks.  It was money well spent.  The girl that did the ultrasound was actually a sorority sister from college.  She sealed our results in an envelope and we went off to work.  Thankfully Mondays are very busy for me.  It was a long day, but still went by pretty fast. 

We decided against a gender reveal party for several reasons.  First, I've learned to 'just say no' to stress.  The coordinating dates with family, the planning, the organizing....I just decided to opt out. I had just planned a few different get togethers with family to announce that we were having a baby and didn't really want to do it all again so soon.  Second, I learned during the announcing of the baby, that the crowds and attention on Miles was not fun for him. We really wanted him to enjoy this moment.  I also worried about his disappointment if it was a girl and wanted to make sure he could express whatever he needed to.  And last but not least, we did not want to wait a second longer than we had to before finding out.  Having a party probably would have meant that we would have to wait until the weekend.

Our friends, Rachel & Travis, offered to repay the favor and fill the pinata for us, take pictures, and video.  Miles has always wanted to bust open a pinata, so it sounded like a perfect plan.  I was so anxious in this picture.  It was such a crazy feeling to know we were about to find out.

It took about 5-6 swings and blue came pouring out!

I died.  It was such a surprise and then knowing how much it meant to Miles was an unbelievable feeling.

I really tried to refrain from saying I wanted one or the other because it absolutely did not matter. I knew God would give us what was best for our family, but I really wanted a boy.  A house full of blue felt good in my heart.

  

My mom asked what Miles' reaction was like.  I know he was happy, but I honestly think that he's known it was a boy all along so I'm not sure he was that surprised. He couldn't get enough of the pinata though....even long after we knew.

What a great day! Let the shopping, nursery decorating, and name selecting commence!

First Baseball Practice

Tonight was Miles' first ever baseball practice. A couple weeks ago, Miles asked me if you threw the ball at someone to try to get them out in baseball.  I immediately relayed the message to Darrin that he needed to start working with him on baseball fundamentals.  AKA: put the football down for a few weeks and pick up the bat & glove.

I thought he did a very good job.  He was the only kid that practiced his sliding skills as they were working on base running.  Unfortunately, it was first base that he slid into :) I'm pretty sure we landed the best 6 year old baseball coach in Medina. He worked diligently with them on fundamentals while the fidgeted, talked, and squirmed around with their friends. 

It was F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G.  I may need to rethink my dislike of basketball if it means we get to sit in a warm gym.  My toes are still thawing out as we speak.

It was also PJ day at school. 

He was very excited to show off his Pokemon PJs from Aunt Crystal & Uncle Steve.

Off to drink some hot chocolate and warm up!  Happy Friday!

Laundry Room Before & After

I realized the other day that I haven't done many before & after posts about our house. Last weekend I decided to add a few finishing touches to our laundry room.  Kind of a weird place to focus my efforts when there are other rooms in the house that are in need of some decorating, but ideas just came to me and I knew it would be an inexpensive room to complete. 

When we bought the house, the laundry room was in a hallway that lead to a spare room that the former owners used for a hunting room.  The man was a big hunter, so he stored all his gear and large gun safe in there.  There is a second door that leads to the back of the garage, so it's perfect for a mud room.  Here you can see the hallway laundry room with the spare room at the end.  They had a really nice washer & dryer, so the space actually looked really nice.  I love the recessed lighting that they had already installed. 

A close up of the spare mud room...

We ended up moving the laundry into the mud room during all of our of renovations.  The upper cabinets were relocated and the walls were painted a light blue.  We also extended the new tile from the kitchen into this room. 

Last weekend, I added a rug, some pictures, and a few hooks for less than $100.  I was going to add a curtain of some kind, but I decided I like the clean look without one.  Our coat closet is at the front of the house, which is very inconvenient.  A couple hooks will allow us to each hang a few coats that we wear most often.

The rug and this picture frame came from Target.  I found this free printable on Pinterest.

I had one of my all time favorite pictures of Miles printed on a 12"x12" wood panel from Walmart. I could have gotten something I liked a little more, but for the money it was perfect for the laundry room.  I wanted something different than a canvas.  It's not bad, but in person it's a little glossy for my taste.

This is a shelving system that the previous owners already had in this room.  It works perfectly for our needs.  

It is the perfect laundry room for us.  Not too big, not too small.  The door on the right is the door that leads to the garage.  I don't use it much but it's great for Darrin to come in that door at the end of the day and drop off his dirty gym clothes.  I also love that it has a door to the hallway that be shut when the dryer is too loud or their are piles of laundry on the floor.

In other random news, Miles got his first phone call from a friend this week.  Gaige called to check on him while he was sick. 6 year olds are extremely awkward on the phone, but it was cute nonetheless.

He was able to go back to school yesterday. I expected him to be very tired last night, but he wasn't.  I guess it caught up with him today. He crawled up on the couch at 7:45pm tonight and fell sound asleep.  Darrin had to carry him to bed when he got home from work.

Miles has his first baseball practice tomorrow night and we find out the gender of the baby on Monday, so I should be back soon.  Good night, all!