Putting our life back together

Mark and I are trying to figure out how this could happen to us. I don't think there has been a time in our lives when we have been more sad, or heart broken.

I want to share a quote that has helped my heart begin to heal.  The talk, What Thinks Christ of Me, was given by Elder Neil L Anderson at the April 2012 General Conference.

" Miracles are not always so immediate.  At times we thoughtfully wonder why the miracle we have so earnestly prayed for does not happen her and now.  But as we trust in the Savior, promised miracles will occur.  Whether in this life or the next, all will be made right.  The Savior declares: "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

May 2012

We are starting our 15th week of pregnancy, so far, so good.  On May 17 we had a screening for Down Syndrome; due to my age my Dr. sent me to a specialist before doing any screenings in her office.  We saw a lot on that ultrasound.  The monitor at the hospital where I had the screening was huge and we could really see in detail our baby.  I really just wanted to see the heartbeat, once we saw the heartbeat we were able to see the spine, and the brain,  IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!!  After seeing the spine, the brain, and the entire baby I thought to myself: it is no wonder I am so tired all the time.  During the ultrasound the baby would not move, the Dr. kept having me move my stomach around to try to get the baby to move, but the baby had no part of it, and did not move one bit.  The Dr. said that just looking at the ultrasound everything looked fine, but that he also wanted to do a blood test that would test the DNA of the baby through my blood.  The Dr. said that this was a new test that was just approved last October, he told us that the test is almost 100% accurate.  We are still waiting on the results, we should get them this week. 

In other baby news, I am not as tired as I have been, I have more energy, and don't feel the need to take a nap everyday, I start to get tired around 4pm, but that is almost the end of my day.  As far a morning sickness, I really have not had any.  I did get sick one day last week, it came and went in less than 5 minutes.  I was expecting the worst, but it was over almost before it started.  The "girls" are still giving me a lot of pain, hopefully that will pass soon.  I have to say that as awful as it is to throw up, I was strangely excited and a little bit happy about it, throwing up for no reason other than being pregnant is such a great feeling, one I thought I would never experience. 

I do seem to be having some strange cravings, Mark and I crack up about that, and joke that the baby has Mark's taste buds.  I was shopping a few weeks ago and needed to pick up a dessert for Mothers Day.  I assumed I would pick up a brownie mix, or some chocolate ice cream,  as I was looking at the ice cream, and thinking about brownies, I have to tell you it was kind of making me feel sick; but what sounded so good to me was an apple pie! Wait, What?, I don't like apple pie, I like brownies with chocolate ice cream, the thought of eating all that chocolate just made me sick to my stomach.  When I got home from the store Mark asked what we were having for dessert, I said apple pie, Mark replied "What"?  I know, I don't even like apple pie.  I have to say that it tasted so delicious.  I also seem to like applesauce, and yogurt, two foods I really have not liked in the past, but Mark loves.  The other food that I find delicious, that I did not like at all before pregnancy are Doritos, I DON'T LIKE THEM, that is a food that Mark likes, not me, and now that I am pregnant I seem to love them.  Mark loves to tease me that the baby likes all the same stuff he likes. 

I do want to mention a dream that I had.  I don't really think I should go into much detail, but I am sure I saw our baby.  I only hope that the baby in the dream looks like the baby we will be having in Nov.  I can't imagine having another baby when I am 41-42.  If you look at Mark's blog though, that looks less likely of happening.

The next big event we are waiting for is to find out the gender of our baby.  I think we will have to wait until my July appt.  For now we continue to call the baby Isaac/Abigail.  I can't wait to find out what we are having and start buying some clothes.  Just as a note, Mark and I both think we are having a boy. 

March & April 2012

A few days before March 19 it occurred to me that my period was late. This has happened in the past, I have peed on a stick only for my period to begin the next day. I did not want to spend the money for a test thinking there is no way that I could be pregnant. However, it was closing in on two weeks late. On Monday March 19 I was doing some shopping and I figured I had better buy a test just to make sure. I got home, took the test, and to my surprise it was positive.  Then I called Mark at school and he asked me what kind of test it was.  I told him it was a Safeway brand.  He told me to go back and get a brand name test.  I went back & bought 2, and took a total of five tests, as I could not believe it.  We saw the nurse practitioner & mid-wife at the doctor's office on April 02nd, and saw the little baby on the ultrasound and were given a due date of November 19, 2012.  The next appointment is on May 1st, and I will meet the actual doctor.  A miracle! Especially since Mark's doctor(s) told Mark in November that there was no way he could ever have children with his current readings.  The doc put Mark on a new medicine in January and told him that although the odds were very low, it was the best treatment for his endocrine issues if we wanted to have a baby.  We are so excited!

Okay, this is Mark with an update.  I was about to go back up to Rohnert Park from Rebecca's parents house in Petaluma on Saturday night (April 21st), when Rebecca told me not to go, and her Mom said that she needed to go to the emergency room.  To make a long story short, we think that she really exerted herself on Saturday and the doctor put her on 24 hour bed rest, and gave instructions for further bed rest if necessary.  We got to see a newer ultrasound of the bigger baby (embryo) too, so everything turned out okay.  Apparently 50% of women spot, so we appeared to be in the clear after the examination. We have a revised due date of November 24, 2012 now. We did end up missing our trip to Galt on Sunday though.  We had made plans to go out there for a Sunday visit as David was involved in state testing all week. That ruined our birthday card delivery plans as well...oh well. 

I am hoping that we can fit in a trip to the beach.  Rebecca did really well just resting on Monday, but Tuesday was her birthday and she had a big day (I was at Steven's condo) going to breakfast and shops and going to the hospital to fetch the dictated doctor records, then faxing them in from a Kinkos, running errands, getting in and out of a borrowed truck with a high, difficult entrance. I put her on bed rest last night and had to lay down the law that she needs to take it easy.  I don't think she knows what that is sometimes.

We are very excited, and after waiting over 8 1/2 years, we had decided to enjoy the pregnancy and not worry too much (thanks hospital visit, for your attempt to change that). Owing to a blessing from my dad back in 2010, we have already picked out names.  If it is a boy, he will be named Isaac Nicholas, and if a girl, she will named Abigail Sue.

Addendums

Mark emailed me some events that I left out of my post.

In January right before Mark started school again, we finally tried Flatz and that Mark ate some duck, elk & bison steak. We also had a day where the cold dropped to -17, the coldest it has ever been here. That's weird because we have had maybe, and maybe is a stretch, two good snowstorms this winter.

August - Howard & Rachel came over & helped put Mark's big cubicle desk together. Then football season started. In October, I bought Mark the official authentic 49er players jersey. That generosity helped my team to a 8-8 record, whereas his team, well, wasn't as good.

In November Mark also bought a 4G Sprint Epic phone for me. It is the greatest thing, but Mark has the nerve to say that I am always on my little computer. It is not a computer...okay it is.

In February Mark's parents came over for Emma's baptism and Mark & Steven and his Dad spent a day on projects at the house. We also threw out our old "franken-couch" in the family room and got new blinds in the downstairs just prior to their visit. Mark was embarrassed by how bad they looked and didn't want his parents to see how the "real" condition that we'd been living in , hahaha.

I guess it has been a few months since I updated my blog. I am going to try to do a recap of each month.

Aug. 2010 was just horrible. My family that was visiting from Northern CA went home, and about a week after that our dog King Louie has to be put to sleep. It still makes me sad to think about it. He was such a GREAT dog. I think about him often, and whenever I see a picture of him I always smile.

Sept. 2010 Mark and I celebrated 8 years of wedded bliss. We decided to go away for the weekend. We went to a cabin in Estes Park, CO. We were so lazy, we brought books, and just lazed around for two days. We had such a fantastic time. I can't wait to go back.

Oct. 2010 Mark turned 38. We were just saying the other day that we are close to 40, ugh!!

Nov. 2010 November was a great month for us. We went to UT to see the Smith family for Thanksgiving. Mark's parents, and youngest brother were also visiting. We had so much fun, we love visiting the Smith Family. We were supposed to leave on Wed. before Thanksgiving but due to a storm that was supposed to cover WY we decided to leave Tues. night. We were doing fine until we were hit by a HUGE snowstorm. It was a complete white out. I was driving and ended up in the median. We had to turn around in the middle of I-80 and exit on an on ramp. It was crazy scary, but it turned out fine, and we made it safely to UT. We were supposed to return home on Sun. but due to a storm that hit during the night we were not able to leave until Mon.

Dec. 2010 Dec. is always a busy month for us, there are many things around Denver that we want to do, and many shows that are a tradition for us to watch. Work for me is always slow, I am usually down 2-3 kids during the last two weeks of the month. I love my daycare kids, but I seem to love them more when they are not at my house!! As far as presents go, it seemed that we got all that we wanted and more.

Jan. 2011 Happy 70th birthday to my mom. On Jan. 22 my mom turned 70. I went home for a quick trip to celebrate my mom's big day. I arrived late Thurs. night, my sis-in-law picked me up in San Francisco. My brother had to work so the plan was for my nieces to sleep at my parents, and then either my parents or myself would take them to school on Fri. My youngest niece, Emily was so happy to see me on Fri. morning that she tried to play the sick card so that she could stay home from school, and hang out at my parents. She played it well, she even was crying. My mom was so worried, she called Karen and was telling her how sick Emily was, and how she should stay home. You could see the happiness on Emily's face. Karen said she should probably go to school, and if she still did not feel good she could call home, and someone would pick her up. After Karen told her to go to school, the tears really started flowing, and now not only did her stomach hurt, but her nose started to hurt as well. I quietly said to my mom that I think she might be faking. My mom was sure that she was not faking, and that she was really sick, because after all, Emily does not pretend to be sick. My mom called Karen again and told her how sick Emily was, and now her nose was bothering her, Karen said she would come down, and take the girls to school. My mom was not happy that everyone thought Emily might be faking. When Karen arrived at my parents house, the tears really started flowing. Karen told Emily to get her blanket, and bear, that if she was sick she had to go home, she would not be allowed to stay at grandma and grandpa's house. You could see the look of defeat in her little face. Amazingly enough by about 10:00 am she was fine, running around the house, almost like she had not been sick at all. The funniest part to this whole sick story is that my mom could not believe that Emily would try to trick her. My brother and I had a great time teasing my mom that she would have never allowed that when we were kids.

Feb. 2011 Mark and I decided that it might be time to get another dog. We were so sad after Louie died, that another dog did not sound like a good idea, we did not want another dog, we only wanted Louie back. We decided that it might be time to get a dog. We found a dog that seemed like would be a good fit for our family. We now have Lord Byron. His name was originally Irin, but we did not like that, so we changed it to Byron. We felt like he needed a title, but in no way could he be compared to King Louie. So Lord Byron it is. He is a med. size dog. At the shelter they were not sure what his breed might be, and they wanted to know if he was part pit bull. The shelter did a DNA test and it turns out he is boxer, bulldog, corgi, schnauzer. It seems like a strange combination, but he seems to be a pretty good dog. Hopefully I will post some pictures soon.

March 2011 Well, I have put it off long enough, in my attempt to procrastinate, I have even updated my blog, I need to start working on my taxes. Wish us luck that we do not have to pay a huge amount!!

Camping at Pickle Gulch

Each year our ward had a camp out. Since Jordan was in town at the same time as the camp out I had someone who wanted to go. Since I don't have a tent I asked the Hughes family if they had one we could borrow, and if any of the older girls wanted to go. I was excited that Emma wanted to go. Jordan, Emma, and I had a great time.

Movies in the park

During the summer our town has movies in the park. I thought this would be a fun activity for Jordan and Emily. We were able to see two movies, Ice Age, and Ghostbusters, as it turned out, Ghostbusters was a little too much for Emily and we ended up leaving a little bit early. Both nights were filled with fun and games.

The screen is huge.

Movies in the park would not be complete without glow sticks.

Jordan sitting in the VIP section before the VIP's arrived.

Tumbling down the hill

I love this pic of my nieces.

My mom was able to join us for Ice Age.