13 weeks

Baby Size: The size of a peach!

Countdown: 27 Weeks

Weight Gain: No Comment! Lets just say my scales lie and I prefer the scales at my doctor's office.

Maternity Clothes: A little of both. I can still wear some of my own shirts and my pants with a Bella Band. I will mix a few maternity clothes in and dresses are awesome!

Stretch Marks: none so far. Fingers crossed

Sleep: I'm on the downhill side of the extreme tiredness. I don't have all of my energy back, but I can totally tell a difference. During the extreme fatigue times, I would fall asleep anywhere. I have never known TIRED like that before. I am sleeping like a log most nights. Not many potty trips, maybe one, if any. It may be the afternoon walking or all this rain that we have had, but I have gotten lots of sleep. Is it possible to store sleep???

Best Moment this week: The sun came out and we got back to walking. Moved up to two miles. GO GROUP!!

Food Cravings: None so far. I'm still having food aversions and can't even think about eating "gooey" things. I will say I have had two shrimp po-boys since Saturday and they were delicious!

Symptoms: A few headaches this week and last. Not too bad. Still having night time (after 7pm) nausea. Haven't been SICK yet. Praise The Lord! Still having nose bleeds (started in week 3 and I didn't realize why.)

What I Miss: nothing really. I thought I would miss sleeping on my stomach but it hasn't crossed my mind.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Doctor's appointment tomorrow.

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9 week appointment

Our second doctor's appointment was on April 11th. At this appointment we had our first ultrasound and got to hear our little peanut's heartbeat. WOW!!! First off the baby was super active and "danced" the entire time. The heart rate was 179bpm and all looked greaat. Here is our 3D ultrasound picture.





I'm going to get on my soapbox right now, so please excuse me...but HOW IN THE WORLD can someone say this is not a baby, not a life???? This is amazing to me. There is an obvious profile visible in this picture.




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Telling our Parents

On March 26th, Daniel's Mom and Melissa came to Chestnut for the day to hangout and see the sites around Monroe County. I got a new camera for my birthday and Melissa and I wanted to go out and experiment with our cameras. We spent the day exploring train tunnels and old churches. That afternoon we went home to start preparing dinner for everyone, my parents were coming to eat also.

We found out at our first appointment that our due date was expected to be November 10th, which is the day after Mrs. Ginger's birthday. HOW EXCITING!!!! Daniel and I worked all day on Monday preparing dinner for the next night and planning how we would tell our parents this exciting news. We made this picture and wrapped it up as a birthday gift for Mrs. Ginger and made Easter baskets for Mom and Dad and Daniel's Dad and Stepmom.

Daniel told his Mom that we had a gift for her that she needed so we were giving her an early birthday gift.

Mom and Dad came over later and we gave them an Easter Basket with the picture gift wrapped inside. I wish I had recorded Mom trying to figure out the picture then her screaming.

That Saturday, the 30th, we told Mr. Danny and Sandy the same way.

BIG NEWS!!!!

On March 4th Daniel and I found out we were expecting a baby. Well, I found out then had to wait two hours for Daniel to get home before I could tell him. We (Daniel) decided back in October that it was time for us to start our family. I say Daniel because I wasn't real sure, but that's an entirely different blog post.

Daniel was out at a meeting in town and like I said I had to wait a long long two hours for him to get home.  I think I sat in silence for two hours and watched my hands shake.

Back in November I started planning how I would tell Daniel the big news and I bought a tiny pair of baby boots, since he and I both LOVE our boots. When Daniel got home I had supper cooking and asked him to watch it for just a second. I came back and told him I found a surprise for him. I gave him the boots with the positive pregnancy test in them. He was speechless!! I think he said "FOR REAL?" and nothing else.

We were both so shocked that we were silent for a good while. Then we decided we needed to go to the doctor first and be sure and keep it between us until we knew for sure.

The hardest part was knowing that I was going to Troy the following Friday (March 8th) with my Mom to walk in a 5K with Daniel's Mom and Sister. How would I ever keep this quite???

For the first few weeks the nausea wasn't too bad. As long as I didn't let my stomach get empty I felt fine. I did purchase a pair of PSIbands to wear for the nausea and they DO help.

On March the 14th I had a class in Birmingham and Mom rode with me to keep me company. I knew this trip wouldn't be easy and I was so afraid she would notice something. I blamed the nausea on carsickness and put on the PSIbands and we were good to go. ;-) She's never going to forgive me for hiding this from her for so long.

By this time I was almost 6 weeks along.

On March 21, 2013 We had our first Doctors appointment. He said everything appeared to be going well and wanted me back in two weeks for an ultrasound and blood work.

The next day, March 22, I left for my "girls weekend" in Destin. TALK ABOUT TORTURE!!!! I spent the weekend with 9 of my closest girl friends and couldn't tell them a thing. On Saturday I was having trouble hiding the fact that I was exhausted and one of them asked me "are you pregnant?" "No" was all that I could get out and I prayed that she couldn't hear my heart beating.

We didn't keep this a secret for any reason other than we wanted to be sure everything was "ok" and we wanted to tell our families first. We had a plan all along for when and how to tell our families and it just so happened to fall after all of this. Those stories are to come.

The major symptoms I have had are nosebleeds (which I have never had before in my life), nausea, and soreness. Amazingly I haven't had a migraine since February 27th. I know my mother is saying "See, I told you if you would get pregnant it would help your migraines." Lets just pray she is right.

I;m not really craving anything.

I do not want cakes, or doughy type foods. I actually gagged looking at Little Debbie Easter Cakes. I think Daniel's quote after that was "You are very sick." I normally LOVE The seasonal Little Debbie Cakes. Sweets aren't that appealing these days.

I prefer to eat fruits and veggies right now. Oh, and ketchup. I can't seem to get enough ketchup these days. Not that I'm putting it on everything, it's just that when I'm eating ketchup...it's delicious!!! I even sent Daniel this picture because we've laughed about the ketchup thing a lot lately.

Happy Halloween

Have you ever seen this much cuteness in one picture????

Here are our nieces, Charley Kate as "Miss Piggy" and Lincy as "Dorothy."

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Lazy Weekend At Home and October Recap

It's been so nice to stay home this weekend and not have anything planned.  On Friday night we had a spur of the moment "Date Night" to Greenville, AL and a Haunted Firehouse. Then on Saturday there was a sudden cold snap and we had a lazy lazy day inside.

Everyone caught a warm and cozy nap.

The month of October has been a busy wedding month. On October 6th, Daniel's step brother Manly married his fiance' Becky in Josephine, AL. The setting was gorgeous and Becky was stunning. We had a great family weekend with their close friends.








Wendy Ward from Troy, AL made their gorgeous wedding pictures. She made so many cute pictures of Becky and Manly. They had a sign that ready "Happily Ever After" in several pictures. These were precious. Wendy is so talented!!

Sweet Lincy

Uncle Daniel doing what he does...picking

Jennifer, Rachael, Daniel, Chris and Manly

Daniel and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary on October 9th. I can't believe we've been married 2 years already. I guess it is true, "Time flies when you're having fun."

Our friends Hunter and Tara got married on the 13th of October in Mapesville, AL and Daniel was in their wedding as well. Here is a link to their photographers page with a sample of their wedding pictures. AMAZING!! I might be just a little partial by saying "Wes is so talented and makes great pictures," but he is, and he did make our wedding pictures also.

August (part 3)

Again, my precious husband and Mom stopped what they were doing to go back to Auburn with me and Molley. This time we met Dr. Kuo in the ER and he checked Molley out. He asked us to leave her for a little while for him to re-examine her and speak with Dr. Durrance, who wasn't in the Critical Care Unit at the time. An ultra-sound showed no change in the suspicious area of her stomach as well as her pancreas or lymph nodes. When we returned to the clinic we still had no answers. The only option we has to find out what was going on was exploratory surgery or a scope of her throat and stomach. There are a long list of details but the surgery seemed the best bet. Again, we had to say our good byes and leave Molls in Auburn.
The OR was booked for Tuesday and the doctors wanted to get fluids and possibly some food in Molley's system before surgery. Surgery was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Molley saw a neurologist on Tuesday to be sure she hadn't had a stroke that may be causing her problems swallowing. He cleared Molley for surgery.
On Wednesday Dr. Durrance called and they had decided to do the scope as well as the surgery to look at Molley's stomach from the inside first, then biopsy all four layers of her stomach and her liver as well as the inflamed lymph node. Because she wouldn't eat and hadn't eaten anything substantial in almost a week we opted for them to insert a feeding tube in her neck after surgery to insure that she got nutrition while we waited on biopsy results. The surgery started at 1:30 and lasted 3 hours. At 4, Daniel and I left to drive back to Auburn to see Molley when she woke up. I was NOT prepared for seeing her sedated and so pitiful.








The test run during surgery were all either inconclusive or normal. This meant Molley had to stay in ICU through the weekend then come home to wait For results from the biopsies.
On Friday I went through Auburn to see Molley again. What a sweet sight to see her tail wag. She was able to go outside for a short walk.




Below is Molley with her sweet sweet doctor, Dr. Durrance.




Molley did great though the weekend, she progressed from IV nutrition to liquid food through her feeding tube with no problems WOO HOO. She did spike a fever twice but that quickly went down when they removed her IV and catheter.




On Monday I was able to pick Molley up and bring her home. She did have a feeding tube and I had to learn how to feed her and give her the medication through her tube. Monday afternoon Nurse Nanny(My mom) helped me with everything and offered to keep Molley during the day while I worked. Daniel and I fed Molley that night and once more the next morning. On Tuesday I got this text:




And by Wednesday night the feeding tube was unnecessary. Molley was eating boiled chicken breast and her canned food on her own. On Friday she managed to pull her feeding tube loose by scratching it so Dr. Grider went ahead and took it out completely.
For the next week Molley ate boiled chicken and her new low fat canned dog food.
In the weeks following this, we learned that Molley does indeed suffer from chronic pancreatitis and possibly has an allergy to grains. The biopsies from her surgery showed that the had a severe stomach ulcer and the pancreatitis had destroyed her entire stomach lining and NO CANCER!! We are treating all of this and she is in the transition process to a grain free, low fat diet. I have researched dog food until my head is spinning. We started Molley on Taste of the Wild canned dog food this week and she LOVES it. Two varieties are 3.5% fat and they are all grain free.
I thank The Lord everyday for Dr.Grider, Dr.Durrance, Daniel, and my parents. Dr. Grider was so kind and compassionate(I owe him a box of kleenex for his office). I appreciate his honesty and caring spirit most of all. He was very clear with me that his first instinct was cancer, and he told me up front that she needed test run that he couldn't run in his office. Dr.Durrance called me twice a day with a full update on Molley. She emailed me in between. She loved on Molley while she was in her care also. Her love for her patients was very evident. She also refused to give up on finding the problem. She had Molley's case reviewed by every specialist possible, even a behaviorist, to discuss the possibility of an anxiety issue. Daniel and Daddy were my shoulders to cry on through all of this. At work I cried to Dad, and at home I cried to Daniel. Even if they thought my emotions were out of control they still gave me a hug and encouraged me to trust God and continue giving Molley to Him every time I got upset. Daniel made all those trips to Auburn with me, driving me home at all hours of the night while I cried. He has been there thought the sleepless nights, not complaining about the lights being turn on or losing sleep while I take Molley out for potty trips.
An my Mom... I can't say THANK YOU enough to her. She kept Molley every day while I worked. She's still keeping her everyday. She has cleaned up vomit, and other doggy accidents. She has administered medicines and feedings. She has been my source of medical explanations and Molley's nurse. She changed bandages when I thought I would get sick and she removed Molley's stitches and staples after surgery. We've lost count of the number of chicken breast she's boiled for Molley to eat.
God brought Molley and us to this, and HE has brought us through it. He knew how this would turn out, and He knows what the future holds. I have given this to HIM. While Molley was in the hospital God showed me that there was nothing at all that I could do to make her better. The only thing I could do was let it go and trust God with Molley's life.
Molley is doing great! Recovering so well. She is jumping in the car again, ready to go for a ride.




The hair on her legs is growing back quickly and she is enjoying football season.




Our biggest obstacle is being sure she doesn't get any food that isn't on her diet. No fatty foods and no grains. We have to keep our eyes on these two. Feeding the puppy is Charley Kate's new trick.



She still gets a little chilly. She did lose almost a quarter of her body weight in a months time. Morgan is a sweet sweet friend and let's Molley snuggle with her on these chilly mornings.




And we are back in action!!! Keeping a close eye on the yard, all the birds and especially this bunny




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