The best miracle of all

This blog is a miracle baby story that has to do with 2 friends- Maura and Amanda. I just think the story is amazing and reminds me of what a miracle it is to have a baby. This post may be a little lengthy but you WON'T regret reading! 

This story starts with Amanda. I have only met her once (the last time I saw Maura). Amanda was diagnosed with stage 2 ovarian cancer at the age of 24. Five months later, she was told she had days left to live. She said "my memorial service was planned, and we had hospice coming to our house on, but God had other plans for me. Instead of hospice, God took away the cancer" That is right, her next scan showed NO CANCER! What a miracle! The doctors were speechless. From 2006-2009, she ended up relapsing 5 times. At the time I met her in May 2009, she was going through chemo. She came to MD Anderson to visit Maura the same time we were there, so that is how we met. 

Maura was a close college friend. We were in bible study, church, choir, had girl's nights...and she was even Sean's room mate during her initial diagnosis of Sarcoma (rare form of cancer) at the age of 21. In May 2009 (when we were living in Pampa), we were told Maura was in her last few days so we traveled about 10 hours in an almost broken down car in the middle of the night just to see her one last time. There was a small group of our SHSU friends there to see her. We all cried and laughed and supported one another. Our SHSU friends still get together at least once per year and have stayed strong in our friendships due to Maura bringing us all together. We had an amazing last visit with her. She even gave me her class graduation gown to wear since graduation was that same weekend and we weren't planning on making the trip down. It was such an honor to wear her cap and gown. Sigh...anyways, back to the baby miracle. 

When it was Amanda's turn to see Maura, here is what happened (copied from Amanda's blog)

Maura passed away in May 2009. Amanda was told she was CANCER FREE again in 2009! Since she had such a rough go with cancer over the last few years, her doctor told her it was going to be almost impossible for her to become pregnant, which was devistating news for Amanda and her husband. Just 3 months after Maura passed away, Amanda did get pregnant! It was a GIRL! Her middle name is Maura. What a miracle! 

To this day, Amanda has 2 children and remains cancer free!

Boy or Girl

Come and find out with our friends and family if baby Hale is a boy or girl! Friday, May 10th at my parent's house in Arlington!!

We will be popping party poppers to see what color is inside- pink or blue!

If you would like to come, email or message me and I will let you know the details :) 

If you can't come, we'll put the results on FB later that night!

For those of you already coming- let me know if you would like to bring a food item to share with the group :)

3 months

At 3 months pregnant, baby Hale is about the size of a peach. 

This week, the vocal folds start forming! Let's hope our kid is musically inclined!

Blanky

A sweet lady in our church made these baby blankies just for fun and decided to give them to us when she heard we were expecting :) 

COFFEE!!!!!

Did you know it is safe for pregnant women to have up to 200mg of caffeine per day? This is equal to one cup (8oz) of super strong coffee! I haven't indulged just yet, because I am waiting to get through my first trimester (the riskiest part of pregnancy)...but the doc said it was ok for me to have caffeine-even coffee! I have had a cup of 1/2 caf. 2 times and I think I might treat myself this morning :) I am almost at 3 months pregnant and will be through my first trimester at 13 weeks!

I am just writing this so you know if you're with me it is safe! Don't worry if you see me indulging in some coffee :) 

If anyone is interested, here are some levels of caffeine levels:

Coffee, 8oz drip 104-192 mg

     8 oz starbucks brewed coffee 180 mg

     8 oz starbucks decaf 15 mg

Starbucks Latte Short and Tall - 75 mg
Tea, 8oz brewed 20-90
Iced Tea, 8 oz 9-50
     Coca-Cola 45.6 (all of these are a 12 oz can)

     Shasta Cola 44.4 

     Mr. Pibb 40.8
     Dr. Pepper 39.6
     Pepsi Cola 37.2
     RC Cola 36.0
Milk Chocolate, 1 oz 1-15
Dark Chocolate, 1 oz 5-35

Weird Dreams

One symptom of pregnancy that people don't often talk about is crazy pregnancy dreams! I think they are funny so I will share a few:

Last night I had a dream that the baby was born, but it was a known fact that you don't find out the gender for the first 3 months of the baby's life...so we just called it baby. AND it was Mexican with dark black hair! 

I dreamt 2 or 3 times now that 3 beers later I suddenly remember I am pregnant! Don't worry I haven't actually had any alcohol since I've been pregnant :)

I'll share more funny dreams as they come :)

Pregnancy Advice

I added a new page to the blog for people looking for pregnancy advice. If you're interested, just click on the "Pregnancy Advice" tab at the top of the screen (to the right of the home page).

So many women have given me great advice so far, so this page will be an ongoing collection of helpful hints for anyone that is interested!

Plum

At about 11 weeks, baby Hale is the size of a large plum!

To the Left is about 10 weeks and to the right is about 11 weeks...Sean and I can tell I am showing a little, but if you haven't seen me in a while you may not be able to tell :)

zzzzz and mmmm (part 2)

*I realize every pregnancy is totally different, but here are some tidbits of my experience so far*

ZZZZZZZZZZ

I am typically not a good napper. I lay down for a few minutes and rest but don't fall asleep. My mind just races. I mostly sleep great at night. PREGNANT naps, however, are different. 

Basically, when I am ready for a good nap I lay down and die for a few hours. That's right. I completely flatline for a while, revive myself, go about my day, and have no trouble falling asleep early and staying asleep through the night. 

MMMMMMMMM

I haven't really had weird cravings yet, just STRONG cravings. It will be like all the sudden I have to have Ben and Jerry's Phish Food ice cream or Cheese Doritos...something really specific...and I have to have it NOW! Can't sleep, can't work, just have to have that craving. Luckily we live a 30 second walk from the store (literally). The cravings change from day to day. I have noticed that I have more of a sweet tooth for sure. I didn't really have that before and now sweet things always sound good! 

A good reminder

He's got the whole world in His hands

He's got the whole world in His hands

He's got the whole world in His hands

He's got the whole world in His hands

He's got the little tiny babies in His hands

He's got the little tiny babies in His hands

He's got the little tiny babies in His hands

He's got the whole world in His hands

He's got the mommies and the daddies in His hands

He's got the mommies and the daddies in His hands

He's got the mommies and the daddies in His hands

He's got the whole world in His hands 

LIME

At 10 weeks, baby Hale is as big as a lime! Wow! Huge growth spurt since the olive at 8 weeks! My belly is showing a tiny bit, but I think only Sean and I are really able to tell. I am sure I will post belly pics in a few weeks :)

Thoughtful

I had to share some thoughtful gifts I have received due to excitement for the new baby! Thank you, Nikki for the books! I can't seem to get my mind on work, so reading is the perfect way to not work but still be productive!

Thank you Pam for the hand made bib and hat for baby Hale! Sorry the picture is upside down! What a thoughtful gift all the way from GERMANY!! 

Sale!

Sean is SUCH a good sport! I found this baby consignment sale in Belton yesterday and he was totally up for checking it out with me. I was so scared to tell him this, but they advertised bringing a large laundry basket with a belt tied to it so you could easily drag it around the sale...sounds like a total nightmare right?

We didn't bring a laundry basket...and didn't need one...but saw people there with them!

Actually, the parking was easy, it was not crowded, and I was able to stock up on some cute maternity clothes at a super low price!

As a fun addition to the outing, we went to Crow's Burger's in Belton...so good! It is just a little shack with picnic tables. We are definitely going there again! Good stuff :)

Spoiled

Yesterday, we were given this glider from a wonderful family in our church. I love it and am sitting in it now! We are so blessed!

Due to recommendations from my friends and my OB, I bought myself two things to help ease pregnancy along. I just went ahead and spoiled myself. Why not? 

Sean has been calling me preggy preggy princess :)

First, I bought this crazy pillow called a snoogle. hahaha! It is great since it supports you to sleep on your side and I can only sleep on my side starting at week 14!

 Next, I got me some peppermint essential oil. ahhhh it smells so good! I am already an advocate of essential oils for healthcare, cleaning, etc...this one is supposed to help with nausea. Luckily I haven't really had nausea in the last few days, but I am sure I will use this stuff!

Pregnancy is such a fun miracle to be a part of!

Feeling much better!

After my recent ER visit from intense sickness, I am back to smooth sailing. Pretty sure it was just a reaction to the infection I was fighting. Doctor P. thinks so too. 

I was ok-ed by the doc to run as I was before pregnancy and also to drink moderate amounts of caffeine! 

Today I am finally eating regularly, ran a mile, walked a mile, and am getting some things done! I feel alive again!!! Still haven't had caffeine in several weeks, but I am sure I will get into that again soon :)

1st OB Appointment

This morning we had our first OB appointment at Scott and White in Temple. It went REALLY well and answered a lot of prayers for us! I came prepared to wait a long time and be there for a few hours, but it all went super fast! As soon as we got there, they handed me one of those buzzers like you get at a restaurant. Vitals were checked and then the buzzer went off! We were taken to Dr. Pilkington's office and she came in almost immediately! It was like meeting one of those people that you feel like you've known for a while. Very sweet, young, pretty, healthy, listened well, answered questions...it was SO great! She assured me that I was perfectly healthy even after the scary ER visit. They think it was just an infection that got the best of me for a 30 hour period. No fun, but it is over! (don't worry I'll finish my antibiotics!)

After a good amount of talking, getting  to know each other, answering questions, the ultrasound began. Lights were turned off and Sean came right beside me to hold my hand as we got to see our baby for the first time!

The first pic is the measurement from crown to rump! 2.4 cm in length, and an approximate guess of 9 weeks and one day pregnant.

This one isn't one of my favorites, but Dr. P. Was really shocked to see the feet were already forming! This is a look at baby's bottom and feet. 

To the right is baby's head, the thing sticking up in the middle on the top is baby's arm. We got to see baby wave!!! Also, we got to see baby squirm around a bit. Dr. P. Was amazed that we got to see so much movement today! Very healthy, active baby!!!Just imagine that little arm waiving back and forth :)

This is not as great of a pic, but notice on the bottom of the screen you'll see a healthy heartbeat!!!!!!

After this was done, we scheduled some more appointments (May 6th we'll find out boy/girl!!!), I went to go run a few more tests, and we were outta there!

Prayers that were answered today:

1) We heard the heartbeat! Dr. P. re-enforced that what I had read about the risk of miscarriage going down to less than 1% from here on out was right!!! That is huge!!!

2) Confidence: It was just one of those moments when you feel like you're doing the right thing...that doesn't happen very much to me, so this was good. I feel like Dr. P. should be our healthcare provider!

We will still await test results, but I am not worried about those :) All in all, it was a GREAT, overwhelming, powerful morning!

ER Visit

I was feeling pretty lucky not to have any morning sickness up until 8 weeks of pregnancy. Then it all came at once! Friday night at 8pm I started tossing my cookies about once per hour. (This didn't stop until about 5am) By 1am, I was on the phone with the Scott and White 24 hour health hotline. She advised us to go ahead and seek medical attention within the next hour, so we chose the ER in Temple because that is the only thing that was open.

In the last 5 years, I have gotten to know 5 different ER trips at 4 different hospitals, but this was the first time in my life to be the patient!! Luckily, at 1:30 while ralfing, I knew what to pack in our bag and we were on our way to Scott and White in Temple!

We got there, parked right outside the door, came inside, and went straight to the triage nurse! FAST! She led us to our ER room. ROOM? yes a private room with a bed, chair, tv, sink, etc. This was the BEST ER I have ever been to! Usually you are in there with someone else separated by a curtain and your visitor may have to drag a chair into the room. Or the ER room has no door. This was great!

A resident doctor came in and immediately did an abdominal sonogram on this really old looking machine. Sean was wondering how many hours he had been up at that point. He said the baby was safely where it should be and that the heartbeat was 188 beats/min. Seems a little fast, but he said that was healthy. We didn't get to hear or see anything because he said the quality of the picture was so bad it wouldn't matter anyway...I wish we had just tried to look, but we will have a better scan on Monday at our first OB appointment.

After a little testing and observing I was sent home around 4:30am with some anti-nausea medication and some antibiotics in case of an infection. Each doctor or  nurse that came in gave us a lot of attention and patiently answered all of our questions. It was scary, but a good ER experience.

Yesterday, I didn't get up off the couch unless I was going to the toilet. Today has been about the same... but I successfully made myself a whole piece of toast and ate it all which is more than yesterday! After a 3 hour nap, I felt up to sitting here and typing this blog! This is the longest I have sat straight up, so that is a good sign :) Here's to feeling better!!

Sickness

1st wave of morning sickness came to greet me this morning! I have read to meet morning sickness with a high five because it is a sign of a healthy pregnancy!! Statistics show those with morning sickness have a lower risk of miscarriage and a lower risk for preterm birth. I am aware that "morning" means all day sickness, so we'll see how this goes...other than that I have been feeling pretty good!