Trading Spaces

I knew it was coming. I knew that Caroline would get a new room so the baby could have the nursery.

Whether I like it or not, my little girl is going to grow up.

Whether I like it or not she is getting bigger and will demand to be treated as such.

A few weeks ago her first big demand came.

While staying at my parents house for a week (mom had knee surgery and needed my help) she absolutely refused to be put down in her pack n'play.

I didn't even see it coming. I didn't even realize it would happen so fast or easy.

My little girl decided she needed to be in a big girl bed :(

My parents had a toddler bed in the basement and we set it up right across from our bed in the guest room and she loved it.

She survived and so did I....well really, I am dealing with this new change every day.

When we returned home we knew she couldn't go back in the crib. We had a full size twin bed ready for her and she took to it really well. We bought her a twin trundle bed at Salvation Army months ago. I don't even think we were trying to make her a big sister yet but we knew we would need a bed for her someday and this was a GREAT deal.

Because we were so unprepared, we had to run out and search for bedding that I liked. That proved harder than we thought but we found something that we liked and it is all coming together now. We aren't doing a 'theme' but rather a few main colors and accenting with little bits and pieces of her current favorite characters.

Brad is busy painting all of the second hand furniture to match the bed and we hope to have that ready soon. I have a TON of little projects in the works to complete the look and hopefully we will have a big reveal soon. But for now, this is what it looks like. Remember, we weren't ready for this big change; she sprang it on us unexpected which is why her room doesn't look 'kid friendly' quite yet :)





Yes, the printer will be moved soon and the patio cushions are until she fully gets the hang of the bed and we are sure she won't fall out. And, when we are sure she understands she can't just climb out whenever she feels like it :)

If you'll excuse me she wants to sit on my lap and read a book and I am embracing these 'little kid' moments as long as she lets me have them now :)

El Nino

I happen to be 100% Polish (and proud of it). Brad is 50% Polish with the rest mostly German.

The child I am carrying is somehow part Hispanic. I think.

With Caroline all I can remember having is food aversions. The wonderful pregnancy cravings never came. This time around I crave so much stuff! The first and biggest one is Mexican food...anything spicy really. I can't get enough Taco Bell or homemade Tacos or nachos. I usually HATE salsa but if we get chips and salsa somewhere, guess what I am dipping?? My dad even made a Taco Bell run for me one night while we were down there since Brad wouldn't go :)

This kid LOVES spicy foods. It isn't everything though. I really have no desire to go to say Buffalo Wild Wings but I do want to make my homemade buffalo chicken pizza. One day my brother and sister in law were visiting my parents and we were all together. They had brought a small bag of those flaming hot Cheetos and offered me some. I am not one to eat them all that much but I couldn't seem to keep my hand out of the bag. They are a good go to snack for a spicy craving. Now, if only all the food I want to eat wouldn't give me such bad heartburn....this kid better come out with a full head of hair with the heartburn I get!

Thus, because of this I have dubbed this child: 'el nino' :). My mom has joined along with me but everyone else still mostly calls him/her 'santa baby'. My name fits in other ways too.

Not only is this kid addicted to spicy food he is also a jumping bean. I SWEAR I started to feel movement around 13 weeks this time; it may be because this is my second pregnancy but I don't know. For any and all ultrasounds we've had the baby is NOT cooperative AT ALL. I went to the pediatric cardiologist to check on the hole they think they found (there isn't one!!!!) and every time the tech would go to enlarge the picture the baby would move. And, she was enlarging "just ok' shots...the baby wasn't giving us anything good to work with! I could feel AND see what was going on in there while it was happening. EVERY SINGLE time we go for an ultrasound all it does is hop around and push everything out of the way :) We have quite the rambunctious little one on our hands here!

As I said, the heart doctor couldn't see anything majorly wrong with the heart and we are hoping that they don't find anything minor at birth either. I have to see my Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist every four weeks now to monitor my growth until I deliver but I get to see the baby every time so I don't mind all the extra doctors. I am 23 weeks along and I have one more doctor appointment before I start seeing my regular OB/GYN every two weeks!! We are slowly getting there.

In big sister news, she is also getting ready too. Much to mommy's dismay. Last week while staying with my parents she absolutely REFUSED to sleep in her crib. She spent the week in a big girl bed :( TEARS! (from mommy at least) We have a big girl bed for her at home too and we went out and bought all of her bedding and pillows for it and she sleeps there everynight...her crib sits empty. But, we also now have to get a move on with her 'big girl room'...the ONLY thing in there right now is the bed. If you looked at her 'room' right now you would wonder what kind of parents we were! And, as of Sunday she is also refusing to sit in ANY highchair. Whether we are at home or eating out. She has a booster seat attahed to a chair at our table and just looks TOO big. She is ready to be the big sister I guess!

Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go check if I have all the supplies to make Taco's for dinner tomorrow...

A baby update

So many people have emailed me to ask me how I've been doing...how I'm feeling...if we have news. I haven't gotten back to any of you and I'm sorry! If you've been thinking of us and praying for us-thank you so very much. Knowing how loved we are right now means the world to us. And, the power of prayer seems to be helping and I am doing so much better than I was just a few weeks ago.

I keep this blog not only to share with our friends and family but as a way to document things for myself and for our children. If I keep it around long enough, they may be able to read it someday! It is for that reason that I am going to give a brief summary of what we have done/found out so far and where we stand now.

10 weeks pregnant: I found out that I have one variant of the MTHFR genetic mutation. This means my blood clots more than it should. It's hereditary but have had NO problems because of it in the past. My OB/GYN wants me to see a maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialist to deal with this.

12 weeks pregnant: I see the MFM specialist and never once think anything could be wrong with the baby. We get our first ultrasound and find out that the baby's Nuchal Translucency or Nuchal Fold at the back of the neck is measuring large. Normal is 1.5-2.5 and ours is at 6. It could be nothing or it could be a problem. MFM wants me to have sequential screening done with my OB/GYN the following week. I am scheduled for another ultrasound with MFM at 17 weeks. In the meantime he puts me on extra vitamins and other medications to make sure my blood won't clot on me.

13 weeks: go in for my 12 week visit and to have the screening done. Blood is drawn and another ultrasound. Baby looks good and the neck is now measuring at 3.6...still above normal but not what it was. Doctor seems positive and we discuss how I am a great candidate for a VBAC! Yay!!!
I leave feeling so much better.

14 weeks: I get a phone call from my doctor...like from him personally, not one of the nurses. This can't be good. Bloowork came back and it was also too high. I am told we have a 1 in 23 chance the baby will have down syndrome. It's tough to deal with all of this at this point and we decide to share with everyone what is going on. As long as I don't think about it, I'm great and everything feels 'normal'.

17 weeks: we go for second ultarsound and it is very upsetting. Baby is not cooperating and it is hard to see everything they need to see. They find a hole in the baby's heart. This can be normal and if it doesn't correct itself we can fix it after birth with surgery. But, children with Downs have a higher rate of having this so for us we have to take it as another marker. The baby also 'may have' (couldn't get a good shot) a club foot. Again, fixable with surgery but for us...another bad sign. Baby wouldn't open it's hands so they couldn't see how they were developing...Downs hands are different evidently. Baby's neck measurement is still higher than it should be but we are not surprised. Can't get many of the other looks we need to check on things. Heartrate, however is great. MFM doc wants to do an amnio to find out for sure. I don't want to yet. He asks me to have the second round of sequential bloodtests done and I agree. We leave feeling so upset and hurting so much. All I do is cry and pray for my baby's safety. We go back in two weeks to have another look.

19 weeks: Back to MFM for another ultrasound. FINALLY an appointment that is good! Baby is still not cooperating (I swear we are there for an hour doing the ultrasounds!) but we get some better views. Still can't tell what the feet look like but we are fine with that. The neck measurement is EXACTLY where is shoud be for this point in time!!! Can't get a look at the fourth chamber of the heart but they think the hole 'may have' closed but I have to see a pediatric cardiologist for it anyway. Just as a precaution. Hands are OPEN and looking great! Baby definitely has a nasal bone! Find out from my second set of blood work that I am now up to 1 in 27 chance of Downs Syndrome and the chances of other chromosomal problems or neural tube defects are 1 in the 1o's of thousands! MFM doc offers another amnio for our sake and again we decline. We are so happy with all of the good news and feel so much better and positive. We are coping and dealing with this much better now :) Even the doctor admitted that from our first visit to now, he never would have expected things to look like this!

The power of prayer works!

I have to go in and see the MFM doctor every four weeks from now (on top of my regular OB/GYN appointments) on for another ultrasound to watch the baby's growth. I am going to see the pedi. cardiologist next week and praying that all goes well. That's all we have for now!

Again, thank you for thinking of us and for praying for us. Please know that it is working and it is helping us :) Keep up the good work! We are more than halfway there now!