Well, I know we've all heard it before but time really does fly when you're having fun. I can't believe Jackson is almost 2 months old! And wow, has he changed. He now can recognize mom and dad and just can't stop smiling about it. He'll try to laugh but he just shakes his whole body and it kind of sounds like a fake cough. it is truly hilarious to watch his shoulders bounce up and down and his mouth be wide open! Talk about heart melting! He has also earned his nickname of wiggle worm because the kid can't sit still. I can't say I'm surprised for how much he moved in mom's belly. If he could get his legs working, he'd be all over the place! He loves to just stand on mom's lap and look around at all the fun things. It lasts only about 20 seconds before he melts as we call it... his whole body goes limp! Then we do it all over again! We've also spent the last week sleeping in the nursery! I truly think he likes it better in there because of the hum that his halo mattress puts off. He sat in there wide awake for 45 min the other night before putting himself to bed! He really is growing up so fast. We have also learned that Jackson is going to take after his dad because he LOVES to be outside. Thankfully the weather has been nice! Jackson is still trying to figure out what the big furry thing is that keeps licking his feet everytime he comes home and sits by him every time he gets upset. I think he has found his buddy :)

At Jackson's 1 month check up, he weighed in at 9lbs even and 21.75" long! That means he gained almost 2 lbs and grew 2.25"!! He is heading back on the 11th for those terrible shots at his 2 month check up! :(

So, mom has returned to work and Mimi is watching Jackson during the day. He goes on walks, loves to look outside and dream about running through that grass, and sit in his bouncer. Mom is still trying to get used to being away from him for the day but gets updates from Mimi which make it a bit easier. It's just hard to get home and then it be bedtime already for him. I guess I do get to get up with him a couple times a night though! :) lol.

So life is changing quickly at the Abernathy household and we're adjusting the best we can. This truly has been the best few months and I can't wait to watch how he changes and grows.

We'll keep you posted! :)

Jackson Gundar arrived at 4:49pm on 07/08/09 after 13 hours of labor and 9 minutes of pushing! :) He weighed 7lbs 1 oz and was 19.5 inches long!

I woke up wednesday morning at about 4am and was having contractions so I decided to walk and see what happened. I woke James up around 6:30 and we called the doctor and was on our way! We got to the hospital around 7:45 and at this point I was dilated to 2cm and fully effaced. We walked and waited for my doctor to be done with a c-section and about 45 minutes later she came in and checked me again. I was dilated to 3cm so she went ahead and broke my water. From this point on, we dilated pretty much a cm an hour! At about 11:30 I got my epidural and was much more comfy! Mom and Dad even took a nap! Later that afternoon, we were told the news that it was time! My nurse said usually they have you start pushing before the doctor gets there so it was a good thing we didn't do that! We started pushing at 4:40 and Jackson was born at 4:49! He had to go to the nursery for the next 4 hours to get his blood sugars monitored though. While he was in there though, dad and everyone were able to visit and see him. I, unfortunately, started having blood pressure issues and after bloodwork, they realized I had developed preeclampsia from delivery. So, I was then pumped full of magnesium and was quite miserable! I was not allowed to breastfeed or anything, so I was kind of confined to the bed. :( Jackson finally came back to our room around 10pm and I was able to hold and feed him which was just awesome! He stayed with us from then on! The next evening I was able to get up and shower and change rooms and that made a huge difference. I felt great after that! We were able to go home friday night and he is doing great!

He is such a good baby! He doesn't cry more than 5 seconds unless he is getting his diaper changed. He was given a pacifier in the nursery at the hospital and they have become BFF, so that gets him through his changings. He loves it. He will also sit awake for a couple of hours at a time but just be content watching everything, so we are just in awe with everything. He is currently working his way back to breastfeeding and is doing pretty well today! We are just so pleased with how everything turned out and how spectacular he is.

I will post pics shortly!

We have technically made it to term! woohoo!

Today was our 37 week appt. Jackson has mom a bit worried with how much he likes to teeter on the edge "of danger" with everything. He may be a bit of a daredevil, I think. Jackson passed his non stress test with flying colors today! He was the most active after juice than he has ever been in the last 10 weeks and 20 NSTs. He, of course, was asleep at the start, so we had to drink some juice to wake him up. James thinks he does this just for the sugar. :)He would take after mom on that one. We were very thrilled to see this. He then had his ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid levels since they were the concern this past week. He actually has only dropped a small amount and this was not what the doctor anticipated was going to happen, so we were pretty shocked at this one. My placenta is still scoring a 3 (0 bein the best and 3 being the worst) but Jackson is gaining weight like a champ, so they are not concerned until that stops. He weighed in at an estimated 6lbs 12oz on the ultrasound today. According to this, he would be pushing 9lbs if he went full term.... WOW! With all of these things, my doctor anticipated that one of them would go into an "unsafe zone" so had told us to plan on getting induced today. Oh, the last thing was my blood pressure... it's high but not high enough to induce based on that. So, needless to say we got everything prepared and that included our friends and family (sorry guys!). After evaluating everything, my doctor decided we were gonna hold out a while longer. She promised James that next Monday would be the latest (James made her schedule it in front of him!) We are going to re-evaluate things on Thursday as well, but Monday would be the longest we would go. In the meantime, she stripped my membranes to try to make me go into labor on my own. OUCH! So, no news today..... we are sorry to get everyone ready for nothing! We'll keep you posted if we decide to go the natural route, otherwise, you can at least plan on next monday for sure!! :) And I say, get induced... we're not gonna promise he'll come that day even though James says he will because it's the home run derby! :)

Talk to you all soon!!

Well, it has been a doozy of a week. I chalk it up to the fact that Jackson knows my parents are on vacation. We headed to the hospital on monday night for contractions, AGAIN! We took some meds and calmed everything down and were able to leave again. At that point I was still only dilated to 1cm so everything was staying the same. Well, let's see... Tues... more contractions so I stopped by the dr's office and got checked again. same. Wed.... I went in to the dr's office in the morning and got checked. same as before. Went back to work and by the time the afternoon rolled around the pain was so bad I couldn't sit still, let alone concentrate. James came and picked me up and took me home. Well, when I got home I noticed I was spotting a bit, so called the dr's office and had to go back! I got hooked up to the monitors this time and it was registering irritability, but not contractions. Met with Mazdai who checked me again and this time told me I made a bit of progress in the 4 hours since she had checked me! I was more effaced but not more dilated. Wasn't expecting that answer! So, we went home and decided we'd go see the new Transformers since it just came out. So good! I asked James that night if he thought I should keep my thurs NST appt since I had just had one that day and he said yes, so this time I went in with my thank you notes and was going to get stuff done during this NST since they usually last for over an hour. Well, 20 min into this NST and the nurse comes in and says, "you're done, but the dr wants to see you." so this is a first. So, I am sitting on the table and in walks Mazdai who tells me I am contracting across the whole chart! I go, what? which of course causes her to start cracking up because here I am writing thank you notes and I'm not any more than just uncomfortable and registering contractions like crazy, but the day before I am in tears and only registering irritability. I tell you... Jackson.... you keep things interesting. So she said she wanted to check me since I was contracting regularly. we are still the same. So, she said, well I am on call this weekend so call me if you go into labor! Actually her exact words were... "you may go into labor later today or this weekend... I'm on call." so here I'm thinking... well, great. I am not going to know when I am since irritability hurts like hell and the contractions were just uncomfortable. Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure I'll know when I am in labor since it's going to be probably the worst pain ever, but it just doesn't make sense I tell ya. So, I got things tied up at work just in case and have been contracting all night and day, but nothing really painful and they haven't changed. So I got a pedicure just in case! you know the toes have to look good for labor! :) I'm sure since my parents are coming home on sunday that things will calm down in time for them to make it home. :) In the meantime, we have prepared the car seats and gotten everything we can to prepare. I think James is nesting now instead of me because he can't sit still. ha. Thank goodness it's Friday because it's been a week! I'll keep you posted if anything changes, but I think we've gotten it out of our system for now. and yes, Jackson... I know you control everything at this point. No need to keep reminding me!

We didn't get many pictures from this morning but we did get one of him smiling again. His face is apparently smashed against the side so we only get part of his face, but still very cool to see his little lips and everything. Once again, hand is by the face at all times, so that's the other blob you see!

We had our ultrasound this morning Jackson is weighing in at an estimated 5lbs 11oz! He's getting there! So, we had the NST again where he freaked out on the monitors again, the stinker. They last for quite a while until they can actually get him to stop kicking them and register his heartbeat accurately. Then we met with Dr. Mazdai and went over how things have been going! Apparently on the ultrasound, my placenta was on its "last leg." As I told her, obviously nothing lasts as long as it should in my body! :) They rate it on a scale of 0 to 3 with 3 being the worst and mine was a 3. boo. They said it's still working and as long as he doesn't show signs of distress or lack of growth then it won't be a factor on whether they induce or not. We discussed that the contractions are still bothersome, but the ambien has been helping me sleep through them at night, so that is a definite plus. James was working late last week and said he watched me clutch my stomach and whine every 5 minutes in my sleep, so I have to say I was relieved I slept through that. We are also making a bit of progress as I am dilated to 1cm and 50% effaced. We are now taking bets on when he'll decide to arrive! :) So we're hanging in there and getting prepared for him to get here! Keep you posted if I have any more news!

Ok, I have been slacking!! I am sorry!! Jackson keeps me on my toes for sure. We have started the bi-weekly NST (Non Stress Tests) and I go in every monday and thursday morning at 8am and get hooked up to the monitors and we watch to see how Jackson's heart rate is and if I'm having contractions, etc. Well, we started out really well, but then Jackson decided he didn't want to cooperate the last couple of times. He tends to fall asleep on the monitor and then we have to have an ultrasound to make sure everything is ok. He scares the crap out of his parents! As soon as we start the ultrasound, he wakes back up and passes with flying colors and scores 8 out of 8 on their little test. whew. Well, I have still been having the episodes of contractions that has been diagnosed as irritable uterus, so my doctor stuck me on some anti-contraction meds. That was last monday. Well, last thursday morning, I had my NST and everything was fine, but by that afternoon, the contractions just felt different. I called the office and went back in and decided to have James take me. Good thing I did! We ended up revisiting the labor and delivery floor at the hospital again! Turns out I was contracting and am 50% effaced, so we went to the hospital and had to get a couple of shots to get the contractions to stop. After a few hours, things subsided and we were able to go home! Thank Goodness! So after a fantastic weekend of my baby shower and seeing friends, we went back to the doctor on Monday. My dr decided to go ahead and give me the steroid shots that will allow Jackson's lungs to develop just in case he decides to be impatient again! The little stinker. We were supposed to have an ultrasound today to see how big he is, but turns out the ultrasound tech is on vacation! So that will now be June 22nd. So, even with all of that, things have been going really well and we are just getting so excited for him to get here. We have his room all set up and we will be 34 weeks on Saturday! Even though we're so excited, he needs to wait until July since my parents will be on vacation from the 20th-28th and James's mom will be on vacation in Florida then too! James keeps lecturing him, so let's hope it works!! :) At some point, he has to listen to his parents right??? :)

Today we had possibly our last ultrasound! Dr. Mazdai wanted to check growth and size today, so I had mom tag along with us to see Jackson for the first time. The cool thing was that most of it was done in 3D, so we got to see some pretty cool pictures of Jackson. Some of them are so hard to make out though. I added a couple of pictures of his face. If you look in the top left of the one, you'll see all 5 of his little toes! The tech said that his hands and feet were constantly up by his head, so sounds like I have quite a flexible little guy! He was measuring at 31w 3 days (I am technically 30w 2d) so he's a week ahead of schedule and doing great! They estimate his weight at a whopping 3 lbs 11oz! So, from now until delivery, I'll be going in for bi-weekly monitoring and then a weekly appt with my doctor. So we are in the home stretch of things!

We had our 28wk appt today! We are moving right along. I wanted to recap some of the things we talked about since we've had an eventful last few weeks with Jackson. The doctor was very understanding and comforted us and let us know that everything is going just fine!

Here’s what happened at my appt…..

1-The passing out is most likely due to the way my uterus sits and the way the baby was positioned. She believes that the baby was pressing on the vagal nerve in my spine and caused the passing out. Every test and blood work was run that morning and all came out fine. She says this can happen with some women and I am one of the lucky few!

2-She believes that my uterus is kind of “spasming” or becoming irritable, and unlike the average person, my uterus doesn’t contract throughout the day, but instead has these “episodes” of intense contractions. Even though they are at timed intervals and are painful, they have no action to them. As long as I lie down and they go away within an hour she doesn’t think there’s any need to be checked each time. She said they are not causing me to dilate or become effaced and says this sometimes happens with women. Even though they are intense, they aren’t doing anything and that's the most important thing.

3-My urine showed a small amount of protein again but she said not enough to be concerned. My BP is still running normal so she said she won’t repeat the 24 hr urine unless one of those things changes. So far, so good!

4-I am measuring on schedule and heartbeat sounds great. I will be having an ultrasound on May 18th to measure growth and everything. Mom will be coming to see her grandson on camera for the first time! They are much different than when she had kids!

5-At 32 wks, we’ll start the NST tests and begin the every week appts, but she doesn’t see any reason to start them earlier since everything is going ok. I will get induced at 38 wks as long as everything continues the way its going. So only 10 more weeks left!

So, it was another great milestone and appt today! I did get my Rhogam shot (Being RH negative blood type) and it was nothing compared to the blood thinner shots, so I was gleaming after that! So glad to have that over and done with! James told the nurse to shut the door so no one could hear me scream! ha! Not a peep out of me! So, we had some taco bell for our celebratory cinco de mayo lunch! I hope someone is drinking a margarita for me! That's all for now!

Week 26 of pregnancy has proven to be quite an interesting week. I've been having some pain lately and decided to call the dr monday morning after it'd happen a couple times in the week before. I talked to her about the pains and promised that if any pain came on, whatever the type, that I'd get it checked out. Well, tues night rolled around and my back was hurting a lot. It wasn't the pain I was having before because I wasn't cramping in the front or anything. Well, we decide to go to the hospital just in case. So we get there and get hooked up to the monitors and there are some small contractions showing up on the screen. Nothing big. The nurse decided she wanted to check everything just to make sure I wasn't dilating or anything. well, she does the exam and tells me I am 75% effaced!!! she leaves and calls the dr and comes back to tell me that I'm on bedrest and may not even be able to get up to shower or anything. Says to me, "It's going to be a long 14 weeks, I'm sorry." So, they order an ultrasound to confirm, but they have to call the tech to come to the hospital because it's late. huh? So I sit there for an hour and I'm freaking out! The lady shows up for the ultrasound and does it and says, "you're not dilated or effaced at all." The nurse is like, oh! I thought she was. Apparently my tilted uterus was the culprit, but I don't know if the tech was just telling her that or what. So.... we get sent home and i have no issues! It's been chalked up to an irritable uterus (contractions with no change) and/or growing pains. Like I said to james, I can chalk up the aches and stuff to growing pains, but I can't chalk up the severe cramping every 2-3 minutes to just growing pains. I'll chalk that up to the irritable uterus. As I said to James, I'd be irritable, too, if I got kicked like that.

So, thinking that we had our fun for the week and got to mark off touring the maternity ward from our to do list, we proceed with life as normal.

Well, come thursday morning, I'm driving to work for an 8:30 meeting. I just start driving again after stopping at a stoplight and think wow, I think I'm kind of nauseous. After 10 years of CP, I know the warning signs of getting sick well before the nausea really hits. So I decide I'm goin to pull over just in case. well, I luckily managed to pull over and get my car in park before I pass out!! I remember sitting there and thinking, nope, not gonna get sick and then feeling some tingling but then couldn't see and then finally passing out! I came to all drenched in sweat and realized that probably wasn't a good thing. I called the office to tell them I wasn't gonna make it to my meeting (first priority) and then I proceeded to call James where I finally had the fear hit me and I lose it to him. poor guy. I called my doctor and waited for the call back. I felt fine afterwards and checked my blood sugar. All was normal. I went home and got the call that I had to go back to the hospital! Ugh! So, James met me there and I had an EKG, chest x-ray, and bloodwork done. All came back just fine. The dr thinks that I may have gotten a bit run down and my blood pressure got too low. He said it is a good sign that I felt it coming on because it's a bad indicator if I was just fine and then passed out. Well, he then ordered me home for 2 days. After much pleading with him and him threatening to call my office of employment (dang it, that's my dad!) I went to the office and took stuff home to work.

On a side note, I've realized this week that Jackson is in complete control.

One funny story, I've mentioned to some of you how much Jackson is entertained by anything on my stomach, especially seat belts. He proceeds to kick and kick until they finally move. There have been numerous occassions where I'll pull the seatbelt off really quick and he'll start kicking all around trying to find it again. Well, when we were in the hospital on tuesday night, I had to be hooked up to the monitors, so we could hear his heartbeat and they were counting the kicks. Well, this meant game on for Jackson. As soon as she put it on he started kicking like crazy. The nurse laughed and stuff because we'd try to talk and you'd hear him kick every few seconds. well, she kept coming back in over the next three hours and realizing he wasn't stopping! she's like jeez! He would kick the monitor about 6 times in a row within a matter of seconds. He would also kick it to the point that it'd stop registering his heart beat! So the nurse tried to move it on the other side of my stomach and shocking, he followed it right away! James was sitting across the room and could just see the monitor moving all about. I have to say, he was quite entertaining and made time go by much quicker than any other hospital stay I've had. He is gonna be a handful! :) Can't wait! well, let's wait until at least the end of June please!

Let's hope week 27 is a bit less eventful! :)

We had our 20wk appt with the regular OB on the 12th. Everything is moving along! Measurements are right on cue and Jackson's heart rate was in the 150s, which is perfect. He is quite active, I tell ya. Dr. Mazdai was listening to the heartbeat and then in a split second he was gone and all the way on the opposite end and side of where he was before! She looked at me and said, " How in the world did he get all the way over there so quickly?" James was proud. :) We had a bit of a scare the other night when I had terrible, terrible pains every 3 minutes and they were gut-wrenching! We called Mazdai who had me take a hot shower, take tylenol, and lie down. After a few hours they got farther and farther apart and were gone by the next morning. Those hurt!! I talked to Mazdai yesterday and I like her game plan! we're going to pretend like that didn't happen! ha! We are keeping a close eye on things, but we're not going to get excited unless it happens again. sounds like a great plan to me. We discussed that I will most likely get induced a few weeks early (Sorry Rob! No birthday grandson!) from the diabetes and everything. We discussed that I'll start the non-stress tests at 32 weeks (twice a week) and we'll keep an eye on everything via ultrasounds. If anything should happen to show up at one of those appointments, then Mazdai will make the call if we need to deliver early. BUT.... everything is going fine so far, so we don't even need to think about that right now! So, as of right now, I'm halfway through and feeling great. Jackson kicks up a STORM morning, noon, and night. Obviously he did not get the memo that I'm not a morning person! It is definitely entertaining to feel it though. Other than that, nothing exciting is going on here! I'll post when I have more news!

We had our fetal echocardiogram today and the BIG ultrasound! Everything looks great and no abnormalities were noted anywhere!! It was absolutely amazing to see all they can do with ultrasounds today! We were able to see every part of the brain, all four chambers of the heart, and all the other organs. Amazing. We saw the high risk doctor and the cardiologist and everything was great. It turned out with all the doctors that the ultrasound was an hour and a half long! Well, after that long on my back, I began to get faint at the very end. The cardiologist was sweet and had me roll over on my side and put a cold rag on my neck while the tech got me a large glass of water. Well, that glass of water ended up on me somehow! I have to say it was greatly appreciated because I instantly felt better! So I can't say today wasn't eventful. It was such a great morning. James and I took the day off and had lunch and went shopping since we finally knew what we were having.....

IT IS A BOY!!!!! Jackson Gundar Abernathy will be joining us this summer and we can't say how thrilled we are.

So... we got lots of cute outfits today and they are currently being washed so I can put them away asap! I met up with mom after work and she got to share in the excitement and buy some cute outfits as well. I can't tell you how cute shoes are when they are that small!

I will post pictures of the ultrasound tomorrow!

So I've been feeling some movement the last few weeks, but very light and of course, I ask myself, "Is that really what I'm feeling?" Well, last saturday I was taking a bath and got kicked twice! There was no misinterpreting those! So, I was all excited, but of course, nothing happened when James put his hand on my stomach. Well, over the last week they have become a lot more frequent, but still off and on with the strong ones. So, tonight we were sitting and watching a movie (me eating Oreos) and I felt a pretty good one. So I told James about it and he stuck his hand on my stomach. Well, low and behold I get kicked three times in about 3 minutes and all three were quite strong! I think James's face after that first one is burned into my heart and memory forever. What a cool thing to experience for the first time and to share that together is truly amazing. What a fun milestone we reached tonight! Now, if only tomorrow will go fast, so Tuesday morning gets here and we can start calling baby a he or she! Night!

We had our quad screening done on Monday to test for birth defects and all came back negative! We were relieved to have those back. They did the first part of it earlier, but they do it again since it's supposedly more accurate between 16-18 wks. I also received my A1C levels back last night. The A1C is a measure of your blood sugar average over a 3 month period. The goal for pregnancy is under 7.0 but they aim for 6.0. Anything under 6.0 and you're considered to have an average blood sugar in normal range. The normal range for blood sugars is 80-120 for everyone. Anything higher than 120 and you're considered diabetic. My A1C was 5.7!!!!! It was 6.2 in November and 6.4 last May, so things are still improving from surgery and we will try to get off insulin completely once we are done with the pregnancy! Not that it's that big of a deal to give myself one shot every morning, but it would be awesome to go completely without and not be considered diabetic anymore! So, now we are just counting down the days until March 3rd!

So, this morning I had my 17wk appt with my ob. It went great. I got to tell her all about my visit to Minnesota and she was thrilled with my blood sugars even though all I did was code my meter! ha! she cracked up at that. Then we went over the passing out issues and she said that most people in their 2nd trimesters have lower blood pressure and since mine typically runs low anyways, that would be why I passed out at the dr's office a couple of weeks ago. Good thing it happened there! All is just fine!! So, blood sugars, blood pressure, and everything else is going just great. I got to hear the heartbeat again today and it's amazing how much that eases your mind! Two weeks from tomorrow and we get to find out what we're having!!! woohoo!!!

So, I found out on the way home that USA Baby closed its doors and disconnected their phones!!! We ordered our baby furniture through them 10 days ago! We paid part of the 1st half of it with a visa gift card and mom/dad paid the remaining part with a check and now the news is saying they won't get reimbursed for the money they paid. I filed a dispute with visa to see if I can get that part back, but I just cannot believe they would continue to keep taking orders when they obviously knew they were shutting their doors. To make matters worse, they just didn't pay the manufacturers or anything and pocketed the money, so we cannot even try to work with the manufacturers to get the furniture. So right now, we are out the money and no furniture on the way. I feel so bad for my parents and just at a loss on what to do next. We obviously need to re-order furniture but that money should go towards the new furniture! I'm furious!!!

In this one(above) his/her arm is behind its head and then the other one is waving! :)

This is the the one where the hands went up after getting banged on a bit!

It's been a very busy 1st trimester as I seem to scare most doctors with my background! I have a wonderful OB/Gyn that has just been great so far. We also will be having a high risk doctor monitor everything as well. Needless to say, I'll be seeing lots of doctors once again! So here's a summary of the latest doctor appts and tests.....

1/12- We went to the high risk dr and the genetic counselor and all tests have come back negative so far! Our down syndrome risk is 1:10,000. We were very pleased to hear this. We also had an ultrasound and our little one seemed to take after its mom. He/She did not want to be disturbed while sleeping and proceeded to stay tightly curled up in a little ball in the corner. ha! The ultrasound tech then started bouncing the wand on my stomach to try to get some more cooperation. This then resulted in our little one immediately putting both hands up above its head like leave me alone! :) we have a picture of this of course! James says the little one likes sleep as much as I do! :)

1/14- We went back to see our OB/Gyn and, since it was just a standard appt, mom ended up coming with me. It was very cool to have her there because I didn't realize we'd hear the heartbeat again! It was in the 150s and we got to hear a few movements as well!

1/20- told ya I had a lot of appts. Unfortunately, my endocrinologist passed away on NYE so I met with my new endocrinologist today. He was incredibly pleased with my blood sugars and how well I'm doing since surgery. I think disbelief would be the right word. I did learn that I should be coding my strips with my meter today (oops.) so we've got that covered now! I'll go back to see him in May, but he wants to keep everything the way it is right now. Good news!

So.... Upcoming events!!!

2/9-2/11- Mom and I are heading back up to Minnesota for some shopping, I mean Dr's appts. We'll be having our one year follow up with Dr. Sutherland. It'll be so good to see him since he saw me in May of last year and I wasn't looking too hot. It'll be great to talk to him about everything and even see what to expect in the upcoming months!

2/12- We'll be doing the 2nd blood draw for the genetic testing.

2/16- another follow up with the OB/Gyn

3/3- This is the BIG DAY!! We'll be having an echocardiogram and detailed ultrasound at the high risk doctor and we'll be finding out what we're having!! No more guessing!


So far, everything is going really well. I only got hit with morning sickness one day and the nausea has subsided! The headaches are finally starting to become less frequent, which I am so thankful for! So saturday marks the end of the 1st trimester! It's pretty surreal that we've made it this far already!

I'll try to remember and post the ultrasound pics this week!

We'll keep you posted!

So, since we had a blog for the transplant surgery, it was only fair to have one for the more important thing happening in our life! James and I will be expecting our first child in July of this year. In fact, our due date, July 25th, is my father in law's birthday! Since our family is so spread out across the nation, we thought this would be a great idea to keep everyone informed and in touch with each other! We're so excited to make this journey and so glad we can share it with all of you!

Love, Nicole