Thursday, December 9, 2010

25 WEEKS TODAY

I am thrilled to reach 25 weeks today. It feels WONDERFUL. We still have quite a ways to go, but this is certainly progress for sure!

Yesterday was a little rough. During our monitoring sessions, the baby's heartbeat and blood pressure dropped a few times. The doctors think that he was either wrapped in his chord or was laying on it. It is common for babies to do that from time to time during this stage of pregnancy, but he was doing it more than they liked. Things eventually settled down and we are continuing to monitor him. Today's readings were great.

It seems that my amniotic fluid is a little low, also. This can cause contractions and the baby to wrap himself in the cord too, so we are having another ultrasound tomorrow in order to get a better look at things before the weekend. I swear, I feel like it is always something. I lay here all day long, but I feel worn out from all of this.

Good news for today:
1. The baby is doing MUCH better today.
2.  I have had work to do today for HT Staffing. I got a new job order and I interviewed a candidate on the phone. I also made some marketing calls this morning and it just feels great to feel productive in here!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. I had a nice lunch with my new friend, Lori, who is down the hall from me. She has been here for a while and it turns out that she actually lives in my neighborhood. I like her very much and it makes me excited to have a new friend here who understands how frustrating this all is. She is having a baby boy too!
4. Ben got A FABULOUS permanent offer with his company. He was on a contract to hire basis and things are working out so well. He is very pleased with his position there and the offer made. I am proud of him.

 It just seems like things are going to work out. I can never look at my life and all that we are going through during this difficult time and ever doubt that there is a God and he is looking after us.

That is pretty much the update for the last few days. Again... I just thank all of you who call and send me messages. I look forward to it everyday. It helps more than I can say!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Tough Day with a Migraine

Today was not the best day, although I know it could certainly have been worse. This morning I woke up with a headache that turned into a terrible Migraine... NOT FUN! I spent most of the entire day sleeping it off.

The good news for the day is that my brother, Marty, and his wife, Allana, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Peyton Kennedy today. She weighs 8 pounds and has the cutest little cheeks I have ever seen on a newborn! It makes me sad that I couldn't be there to meet her. I look forward to having our babies meet and thrilled that they will be so close in age. I am an Aunt for the first time and it feels so neat!

So far, because of this difficult pregnancy, we had to miss Thanksgiving with our family, I missed the birth of my neice and we won't be able to go home for Christmas either. I have also had to give up sharing all of the fun pregnancy things with family and friends. Looks like there will be no baby showers, no shopping (other than online) and I won't be home to get the nest all ready for our little man to join us.

Ben's family is coming to Austin for Christmas, which I am SO EXCITED about. We will be able to have a little Christmas in my hospital room.

When I am sad about these little things... I just remember how very blessed we are to be having a baby at all. Ben and I were told at the end of 2008, that we probably just couldn't get pregnant and if we did, I probably wouldn't be to carry the baby. Well, I believe that God provides for us and things really do happen in HIS TIME. I use to hate when people would say that to me, because it hurt so much when Ben and I would try and try and do all that we could with fertility doctors and NOTHING WORKED. I just know in my heart that God has a special plan, whatever that may be. All of the little things I mentioned, do bother me... I won't lie, but they don't matter as much as they use to.

Our baby will be at 24 weeks and 6 days tomorrow (on Wedensday, Dec. 8th). So on Thursday, we reach 25 weeks!!!! It feels like another birthday! I am grateful for every hour that we monitor Baby Grayson and get a good report. Despite the hard time I am  having keeping him in there, I think he is going to be such a strong baby boy! I haven't met him yet, but my heart is full of joy and I fall more and more in love with him everytime the doctor tells me he is a little fighter! He is growing, kicking, developing and making room in my uterus, despite the fact that there is a large septum there taking up his space!

I have wanted to be a mother for the longest time. Although this journey seems miles and miles long... I know it is just begun. We still have a long road ahead of us to get this baby here- and if God chooses to allow him to be born to us, I promise to be the best mother I can possibly be and I have no doubt in my heart at all, that Ben is going to be an amazing father. He is already a wonderful husband, who is just as excited about Grayson as I am.

Monday, December 6, 2010

My Tiny Rosemary Christmas Tree from Ben!

This is the sweet little Rosemary Christmas Tree Ben brought for me. I colored the little wooden ornaments from Todd and Shannon. I think it is cute. At night when the lights are off... it looks VERY FESTIVE and smells wonderful!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Today is Monday, December 6, 2010. I am 24 weeks and 4 days!!!!!!!!!!!

I had some contractions on Friday evening, but had a good weekend and this has been a good day so far.

This morning, we monitored the baby for one hour on the monitor and he is doing well! At noon, the ultrasound tech came in and did two ultrasounds. One was of my cervix and the other was of Baby Grayson! My cervix has thickened just a little from .33cm to .54cm. Although that sounds like good news, the scary thing is... it can change from day to day. Unless there are complications, we are going to check every Monday. The cerlage is still in place, so we are hopeful that I will be able to carry him for a few more weeks, at least.

My amniotic fluid is a little low, but she said it is not in a danger zone, so we will just keep an eye on it. Her words were, "It is a little lower than we would like to see it, but not enough to make us very concerned." Therefore, I am not going to worry too much about that at this time. We will be able to see it again next week on the next ultrasound.

During the ultrasound to look at the baby, he looked great! His kidneys, heart and other organs look as if they are developing quite well! He is just over 11 inches long and we think he weighs somewhere near 1 pound and 4 oz! We did get a VERY GOOD look at one organ... his little winkie! We couldn't get a good profile shot of him this time, but BOY DID WE SEE THAT?! There is NO DOUBT in this world that we are having a BOY! He was shining all of his business today! (That's our little man!!)

Grayson had the hiccups, so that was funny to see!

All in all, things are going well. Last Thursday, my coworkers, Lisa, Becca, Corey and Mike came to see me. They brought me Japanese food from Kobe (Oh my gosh... I could eat that again RIGHT NOW)! YUM! My friends, Shannon and Todd Liles visited on Saturdayand we had a great visit! Today, Cheryl from work came and brought me Tino's Greek food! SO GOOD!!! I love having visitors. It breaks up my day and makes the time go by. I look forward to Ben's visits in the afternoon. He takes me OUTSIDE, and although it is getting cold... I LOVE IT!

My room is looking a bit brighter and festive! Ben got me an adorable Rosemary Tree and put mini christmas lights on it. Todd and Shannon gave me small wooden ornaments I put on it and I got a HUGE poinettia from the ladies at Capitol Staffing. It looks very Christmas like in here now! Emily and Jim Sesser sent me the LARGEST box of cookies from Tiff's Treats I could ever imagine and they came in a Christmas box with JINGLE BELLS!!! (For those of you who don't know about Tiff's Treats in Austin... LOOK IT UP!) OH MY GOODNESS! They deliver fresh baked cookies to you and they are STILL WARM!

Hope all is well with everyone and I will continue to keep you all posted! Thanks again for the good wishes and prayers! We are still just taking things ONE DAY AT A TIME!