Appointment Day

It's the day after Thanksgiving and Andrew woke up sick with a fever. He usually doesn't get a fever with his colds, so I was a bit worried this morning. We went to the pediatrician first thing this morning. Andrew has an ear infection. I was a bit skeptical when he was able to get over his cold a few weeks ago without the help of medicine. He was fine yesterday except he was wining a little bit in the afternoon. We thought he had to much Thanksgiving brunch. We can't ever tell exactly what is wrong with him when he's not himself. Poor guy. We've just been lounging around all day.

Thanksgiving was enjoyable. My side of the family (mom, brothers, girlfriends & cousin Collin) came over to our house in the morning for our annual brunch. We took an afternoon break and went down to see Grandma and Grandpa and Dave's brother's family for a traditional meal cooked by Grandma.

Wednesday I visited the doctor. The kids were off school, so my mom met me there with the three kids - everybody behaved. :) Here goes with my boring stats... weight 163lbs, BP 110/60, urine fine. The sonographer measured the baby - which all checked out normal, checked the anatomy - all checked out normal, except that one kidney on the baby has a tiny bit more fluid in it, but that is not of serious concern. The baby is measuring 2 days ahead of my 19 weeks, 2day age, so that's is great. The baby is growing - as she should! Her heart is beating 137 beats per minute. The placenta hasn't moved. It is still covering my cervix. The doctor told me that this just meant a c-section later, which is the plan - god willing. The doctor did say that they decided not to treat me with any steroids or transfusion because I have not been diagnosed with anything in particular. Dr. Manley did mention a test further down the road where they could check the baby's platelets. This test would involve inserting a needle through me to get to the unbilical cord and pull out a sample. If the baby's platelets were abnormal then they could do a transfusion in utero. Hmmm, we'll wait and see about that one.... I am due back to the doctor in two weeks for a regular check up.

Hopefully Andrew's antibiotic will kick in quick and we can get out this weekend.

A Chilly Weekend

It was cold this weekend, so we decided to take the kids back to Boyd's Bear Country in Gettysburg again. We just wanted to go somewhere where we didn't have to be outside. We walked through the four stories of everything teddy bears (exciting, yes...). Ava enjoyed it the most being she was about a year old when we were last there. She is still talking about going back to "THE bear place".

Friends have been asking if the girls realize I am pregnant. Well..... yesterday afternoon Dave, Andrew & I were watching the Redskins game on TV. The girls were playing in the toy room and came in to show us something. The picture I had to take explains it all......

Small Update

I am 18 weeks pregnant now -according to books the baby should be about 5 1/2 inches long. I can feel the baby move more, but I'll notice it and then the movements will be gone. My queasy morning stomach is pretty much gone. I'm still tired a lot and trying to just take it easy when I can. My cold is gone. Very small snow showers were coming down throughout the day today. Nothing major, but winter is coming.

Called Friday and twice Monday for my urine test results from last week. I finally got a call back Monday afternoon. The nurse said the results are normally transmitted electronically to the doctor and that he had them on his desk. She didn't know the results, but that the doctor would have surely brought them out to her to take action if they were abnormal. I asked her to call me when he released them, because as everyone knows, I don't feel comfortable with anything! I would just like to hear the results! - still no call today.

Waiting on Andrew and Amelia to get off the bus. Tonight is Amelia's last gymnastics class.

Appointment Day

I'm a few days late here with this entry... but went to the doctor on Wednesday. Here's the latest...

Gloria called me right in...had my littlest helper (Ava) with me today. She charmed her way into getting a lollipop from an office worker within minutes of entering the office. Gave my standard urine sample which I noticed right away didn't look right (dark in color). My blood pressure was 131/62 (a bit higher) and weight 162lbs. I've had a cold since Monday. Actually the whole family here has had a varation of the the cold except Amelia (Amelia has a super immune system). It's just a head cold for me and I would have to say that Wednesday morning I felt my worst -very heavy headed, tired, runny nose. You know... standard cold symptoms.

Gloria performed the standard sonogram. She said the baby looked good. Everything was good. She mentioned she wouldn't check fetal measurements today because they don't like to check this every time. I kind of thought this was why I was going to the doctor every two weeks - to check that the baby is growing as she should. Gloria briefed the doctor with the day's scan, the doctor then came in to talk to me. She also said the baby looked fine, but that she had been discussing my case with the other doctors in the practice and they are thinking of how to treat me in the future. Since I have not been diagnosed with any known platelet or other blood abnormality, I guess it's appearing that the doctors would still like to treat me further as if I do have a platelet or blood abnormality. I was a bit taken back by this, as I thought that issue was laid to rest. I do understand the need though that the doctors need to be proactive. The treatment, if I am understanding correctly would be steroid injections or blood transfusions. Dr. Manley said she would still discuss a course of action with her partners and get back to me on this. I asked if I should have blood/urine labs done again, just to keep that checked. It's been since the start of the pregnancy when all of this was last checked. Dr. Manley said, no that it was too early in my pregnancy for pre-ecclampsia to come on. Nothing would be gained from these tests. I did ask her to check on my urine sample given that morning. She did, and came back with opposite information.....telling me to yes, go ahead and give a 24 hour urine sample. My urine was very concentrated and showed +2 for protein, +2 for blood. I am not as concerned about the blood finding, that is normal for me, but the protein is not. The nurse came in to ask me if I was drinking a lot. I said I thought I was, but that morning, no I was running and getting everybody off to school and getting to the appointment in rush hour traffic. I had of course eaten my fair share, but now that you mention it - drinking - no. She told me to keep water with me all the time and especially being sick I should be doubling my fluid intake.

When I returned home, I started the urine test immediately and went for the blood draw the next day (yesterday). I am now waiting on those results - hoping that my kidneys aren't beginning to show trouble. I will return to the doctor in 2 weeks - Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

I did look up the term "lake in Placenta" on line yesterday. I was told at a previous visit, a "lake" appeared on my sonogram scans. Apparently, from what I found online this is a fairly normal finding and doesn't pose trouble (and this is what the doctor told me previously).

Most all of my friends and family know about my pregnancy now. Everyone has been so great and supportive and wishing me well. I am thankful to have everyone praying for me and giving me such great support.

Amelia Hope

Today is all about Amelia - as she loves to say. :)

As I was wrote in an earlier post - in 2003 we were trying and trying to have another child. We couldn't make it happen biologically, so we started researching adoption. We spoke to agencies all over the country that specialize in domestic adoption, we went to our local county social services to learn about foster care and adoption. We were being told that domestic adoptions had very long wait times and that our chances of being selected by a birth mother might be less because we were already raising a handicapped child. With the county, it seemed like foster care was just temporary - that we would be helping a family get their life back together while we took care of their child. Neither of these ideas sounded like a road we wanted to take at that stage of our lives, so we looked to international adoption. We spoke to many agencies who worked with children needing homes in China, Mexico, Russia and Guatemala.

July of 2003 after our second miscarriage we spoke with very good friends of ours who had just completed adopting a beautiful girl from Guatemala. They spoke highly of their agency, so we quickly called the agency for more information. We learned that we could adopt a boy or girl as early as 5 months of age, that only one parent had to travel to complete the adoption, and that we fit the criteria 100% to be considered to adopt by the Guatemalan government. It was August or so of 2003 when the agency told us that Guatemalan adoptions were on hold, but to keep preparing our paperwork so that we could be put on a wait list as soon as it became available again. The paperwork gathering that is needed for adopting is how to I say this.....HORRIBLE! It's a lot of time, organization and money.

Finally we had heard by September that adoptions were open and we could be put on the wait list for a girl. Our paperwork was complete and had been sent to Guatemala. December 8th - I got the call that twin girls had just been born that day. They appeared healthy and were a good weight. We received pictures of the girls. They were beautiful. Dave was at training for his work down in Georgia - he was gone for several months, so I called him and told him the news. He was hesitant about the twin part of it, but we decided to go for it. Well, as part of the referral we received pictures, very general information about the health of the babies and of the mother. The mother was 17 and couldn't keep the babies. We waited for the next set of medical tests to come in. December 23rd we got the call that the twins which we were to be named Amelia and Ava were carrying the HIV virus and that they could not be adopted. This news came right before Christmas and Dave was coming home from his training - we were shocked. Turns out that the birth mother probably had no idea she was even infected with HIV and that the agency would have to tell her that she was very sick, along with her babies.

That very same night we were given information on two more girls born earlier that week. We were given two more girls to adopt because we were in the process to adopt these twins. We chose just one girl - Amelia Hope, who was just born December 16th. Her mother had given birth to her in a very rural Guatemalan town - Huehuetenango - some six hours from Guatemala City. Amelia was now safe in foster care in Guatemala City. Her mother could not keep her and traveled through very mountainous, third world roads to give her up. It is amazing to me Amelia was born so very, very far away and found her way to us!

We received monthly updates - (which we camped out by the computer for). While we waited for Amelia my Grandma passed away. She knew about Amelia before she died, but would never meet her and experience the happiness she brings. We were told by the end of April that we could make travel arrangements to come pick her up and bring her home. Dave and his mom made the trip to Guatemala - staying with the lawyer who prepared the paperwork. They arrived at the airport thinking that they would meet Amelia the next day, but as a suprise the facilitator took Dave and his mom immediately to meet her. Dave tells me he will never forget seeing her big ol' face with a huge smile across the room. He knew it was her right away. Amelia being only five months old, didn't miss a beat. She took right to Dave and Grandma. Her foster family was sad for her to go. They had cared for her for five months as she was their own. Dave, Grandma and Amelia spent a day or two handling the paperwork and touring Guatemala. They arrived home May 18th, 2004. Me, my mom, brother Andrew, and uncle Jon were all there to meet Amelia at the airport. My huge wait was over - finally my baby was here - sleeping soundly in her car seat and oblivious to everything - but here.

Amelia is now almost five. She has a lot of energy - always has. Caring for Amelia was effortless, no therapy, no weekly doctor visits, no worry, just pure joy- still is. Amelia loves to be read too, loves the library, loves school, loves her stuffed animals, puzzles, drawing, playing outside and exploring and learning about everything.

Dave and I couldn't imagine life without her - always happy and easy going. Adoption opened up a whole new world for us. Strangers are always stopping to tell us how lucky it is that Amelia found such a good home, but we are really the lucky ones to have found her.

The Weekend

Today I am 16 weeks pregnant. I called the doctor's office this morning to see if the AFP blood test results came back yet - they did and they came back normal. So another hurdle down - (a hurdle that was big in my mind at least). I'm pretty sure I've been feeling the baby move now for a good week or so. It's small little flutters, but I am almost certain that's what it is. I'm still pretty tired and prefer staying home these days. I'm just tired and happy to lounge around here. This really isn't how I normally am, but I figure it's good and that someone's telling me to take it easy! We've started sharing our baby news with our family and friends.

Saturday was Andrew's Fall Horse Show. The day was really beautiful - a nice, sunny warm day. The students all "compete" with their class - showing off what they have learned with this season's riding lessons. Andrew showed me how he is now using a new saddle where he can sit unassisted with two sidewalkers. He had to stop half way through his "show" as the saddle broke! Good thing he stopped because I was beyond freaked out at how his head was bobbing and bouncing around on that horse. It looked bad. Not sure I'm too comfortable I want him riding with that saddle again. He was awarded his 18,000th green ribbon for participation. Dave and I always joke - Can't they just give him a different color ribbon - just this once! During the show - families bring all sorts of food, hot dogs and hamburgers - so we all had something to eat and enjoyed the morning. The girls enjoyed playing in the dirt on the driveway with the two boys they had met. The photos above are of Andrew on Lightening and Andrew with his prized green ribbon.

On Sunday morning we went to our favorite weekend spot - Baker Park in downtown Frederick. We get our breakfast out and eat it there and take a walk and play on the different playgrounds. The leaves were beautiful and of course I had my camera......Note - Dave's facial hair - slowly we are loosing the beard and back to just his face. :)

Today and tomorrow the kids are off school, so Dave stayed home with us. We took the kids to the Germantown Indoor Pool. The pool was empty - the kids enjoyed the pool and the cool slides.