Home Stretch!!!

Yay! 31 weeks today! Everything has been trucking along. I am now going to the doctor every 2 weeks. My LAST perinatologist appointment is this Friday! So thankful that God has protected my little girl from the 5th Disease! Bestie gets here Thursday for my Baby Shower on Saturday! SO excited!!

Here are a couple pics from my weekend. Wifey and I took her little sister and friend to Disneyland. I didn't get to do much but it was nice to just BE there! I love taking in the ambiance and the atmosphere! It was the first weekend of "Halloweentime", so it was wonderfully decorated for Fall/Halloween!

Who is Jesus?

This might be a long one ;)

So as a background for some of you, Hubby is the Youth Pastor at our church. Every Thursday night we have a youth service called TNL (Thursday night live). Its basically for Jr. High-Whoever wants to come!

I haven't been going the last few weeks. Partly because I've felt horrible. Partly because I haven't had the energy or really the desire to. I wasn't really planning on going last night either. I'd been out all day with Nanelle, an old friend from where we used to live. It was was a really nice day. The girlies had a great time playing with her daughter. We went to Lunch and Target and then hung out. So even though it was a good day.. I was tired in the evening and knew that I didn't really "have" to go to TNL if I didn't want to. So next thing you know, Sweet Pea comes out and starts telling me how much she wants to go to TNL and how she misses going to TNL, "Can we PLEEEAASSEE go to TNL?". Sigh... Of course my child makes me feel guilty. So i pack them up and head over, fully intending not to stay for the whole time. Just stay for music and come home. Well I get over there and learn from Hubby that they aren't doing music this week. So the girlies were bummed and I 1/2 wanted to just come home. But somewhat against my will I decided to stay.

So we make our circle and the lesson was on "Who is Jesus?". A video was shown of a guy walking around the streets asking complete strangers "Who is Jesus?". Some of the answers were so sad. We are truly living in a world that does not accept Jesus for who he is. We were challenged by the same question. "Who is Jesus?". Not our typical "Sunday School", "Bible" answer... but who is Jesus TO US!
Matthew 16:13-17 (New Living Translation)
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.

Everyone started sharing their "Jesus Stories". Some said He was their saving grace, some said that He was their best friend. They all shared examples of their experiences. Hubby talked about how sometimes we really treat Him like the "Best Friend"... the one that sometimes we get too busy for.. but when something goes wrong we always know that He will be there for us.. no matter what.

Hubby shared his Jesus story, How Jesus was there for him to cry out to when his dad, Papa, was dying. Court shared her Jesus story. How He was her saving grace when her gpa was passing and was stuck in that moment where he would be better in God's care and she didn't understand. She quoted a song by Aaron Shust , "My Savior, My God". It Says: "I am not skilled to understand What God has willed, what God has planned". We sing this song allot at TNL. I have sang this song. I don't think I ever truly experienced the lyrics until she quoted them in tears last night.

It really made me start thinking.... What is my Jesus Story? WHO is Jesus to ME? I've grown up in church. I KNOW all the right answers. But the past year has been completely different for me because last year at church camp was when I truly accepted Christ as my Savior. Its been a year of learning more than I have in my entire life. Experiencing things from a completely different point of view. I don't know that I've ever TRULY experienced MY Jesus story. I know that He was there for me through many different things... but I don't know that I ever really grasped onto Him before. I think I probably said that I did.

There have been SO many things that have happened in the past few years that I've questioned God. That I DON'T understand WHY things have happened. Some are too personal to even mention on here. Its made me angry at God. Its made me question why things happen. I know my God is a God of Love, So why do these awful things happen? Why am I facing something horribly wrong with the Child I am carrying inside of me?! Why don't I understand all of this!?

Then last night as Court said those words.. it hit me... "I am not skilled to understand What God has willed, what God has planned". I may not understand why things happen, but that's okay.. It's what I do with it! Its how I trust in God. THIS will be my Jesus story. We don't always understand things when we are in the Midst of them. Its how I hold onto my BEST FRIEND... Even If I'm still learning how.... and I am.

What I'm finding...

Since allot of people have been asking me I thought I'd just jot down what I'm finding will most likely be the course of action for the new specialist.

During the first 20 weeks is when exposure is the most dangerous. Thankfully I was almost 18 weeks when I was exposed. So the risk of miscarriage is not as bad! What the normal course of action for women in their 2ND trimester is a weekly ultrasound to monitor the baby. They will be looking for "Hydrops" which is excess fluid in the fetal tissue. If those develop it can mean inflammation of the heart.. which can lead to bone marrow damage and red blood cell production. Generally they monitor with ultrasound for 8-12 weeks after exposure.. If nothing comes up during that time period the baby is usually fine! If they do discover these "hydrops" there are different courses of action that they can take. But I'm confident that we're going to have these ultrasounds and she is going to be fine :) I will just get to look at her lots in the coming weeks! Its definitely scary but I know that we have allot of people praying!

Test Results are Back..

So my doctor called me this afternoon with my test results. (I still can't believe it took them almost a week!)

She said that there are two parts to the test. One to see if I have it, and the other to see how BAD I was exposed. It came back that I DO have it, and my immunity to it was 1. Which means I had a very high exposure to it and tested very high. She asked about how I was exposed to it and since both of the girls had it I was basically exposed double during the time I was susceptible to it. That NOW I'm probably building up immunity to it. Its kinda like mono where once you have it.. you will always test positive for it.

So now what to do about it. (I wouldn't recommend googling fifth disease in pregnancy because this royally freaked me out!) They don't deal with such "high risk" things at the regular obgyn office so they are referring me to a "Perinatologist". I asked Wifey what that is and she said "Basically Addison from Greys" haha that put it into better perspective for me. For those of you that don't watch Greys Anatomy, basically it's a "High Risk baby/pregnancy doctor". She said that they will probably want to start doing weekly ultrasounds and blood tests on me to watch the baby. No one has officially told me for WHAT yet.. but like I said.. I googled it... SO i know what they will be looking for.

My obgyn office is supposed to be getting authorization from my insurance for the referral and I am supposed to wait for the Perinatologist office to call me to setup an appointment... And if i don't hear from anyone within TEN DAYS to call.. UM thanks but I have a PPO and I will be calling tomorrow to ask if I need to wait for authorization. You can't make me wait another ten days!

Hubby and I were talking and its just amazing to us how something that is so not a BIG deal in any other person, kids, adults can be so harmful to a fetus. I mean the girlies didn't show a single sign except for a slight fever and a rash. And its frustrating that there is absolutely nothing I could have done to prevent it. Short of never touching my children... I don't think so! At its most contagious point... none of us knew that Sweet Pea even had it!

I'm trying to grasp the road that could be ahead of us. I know that MY God is bigger than 5Th disease. I need to keep looking forward and praying for the positive. Its so so hard to do in these situations. I just feel like I keep getting hit from every angle and it doesn't let up. I know there is a lesson to be learned in all this. If only I could just fast forward 4 months and be holding my sweet precious little baby girl in my arms and everything be A-OK!

It doesn't end!!

So this afternoon while I was out running errands... hubby text me and said that Moo's cheeks are all red now! He took her temp and no temp so that's good. After I got home and she woke up from her nap I checked her out.. Sure enough... The same lacey rash that Sweet Pea had on her cheeks last week! No other symptoms... The only thing I observed was a SLIGHTLY elevated temp w Moo last Thursday, other than that, nothing. Hopefully the other little kids they've been around at church don't come down with it too. Thankfully its not any worse than a common cold.. if anything it's better because there really aren't any symptoms. And I don't know anyone else that is pregnant that was exposed to it! Hopefully I hear from my doctors office tomorrow!

Doctor Called....

Sounds like I wont know any of the test results for the Fifth Disease until Wednesday probably! I understand it was a holiday weekend but do they seriously need almost a WEEK to process these results!? So we wait more.. i hate waiting.. I know God is trying to teach me something here...

She is supposed to call me as SOON as the results come in. So we'll see!

Recovering after a 3 day Weekend!

Whew! It seems like without fail whenever we have an extended weekend we are ALL more tired come Monday!?

We had a wonderful 4Th of July with Daddy and the "New Family"! Hubby and I cleaned in the AM. I went to Safeway to pick up odds/ends for the 4Th and wow.. I'm never going to procrastinate like that again! The family got here in the afternoon, after the girlie's napped and we BBQ'd chicken, had a great early dinner and hung out before Daddy had to leave for work at 5. Sucked that he had to leave and miss out on the wonderful fireworks he purchased for us! We started doing fireworks around 8:45 and the kiddos absolutely loved it this year! And it was perfect timing for Cal Expo to start their show when we were finishing so we got to sit out front and watch them for a while! All in all it was a great day and I felt so "at home" with everyone. God has truly blessed my family!

Moo, Sweet Pea, and Miss Em watching the fireworks!
Auntie M and I!

Saturday Hubby got caught up on some much needed yard work while the girls and I vegged. Hee Hee! We put up a pool that Sissy in Law gave to us! Its not anything spectacular... 10' and probably goes up to my thighs! Has a little filter and we should be able to keep it up for the summer to float in as long as the "bad dog" doesn't chew on any of the parts! The girls got in for a little while.. in total white trash fashion and loved it! I think this will be a much needed relief this summer!

Sunday we did the church thing as usual. We had a potluck after services which is always nice to stay and fellowship w/ people that you don't normally. After the girls naps some friends invited us to go swimming at their house. First time I've debuted the preggo belly for anyone other than Hubby and the Girlies! Whew! Not as bad as I expected! It was SO nice to just float around weightless for a change... something I've very much needed the past 19 weeks! We then ordered pizzas and hung out and watched "Phantom of the Opera". Surprisingly I've never seen this movie even given my love of musicals and all things music. It was really great! I definitely want to catch this when it comes to town next! That's always been on my "to do" list, to go to a Broadway show!

Now back to reality Monday morning!! I'm still waiting for my doctor to call with my results of the blood test from Thursday..... I'm frustrated that they made me wait the whole 3 day weekend. My Sweet Pea (baby girl #1) came down w/ a virus last week called "Fifth Disease" otherwise known as "Slap Cheek". Its not a very big deal for kids.. I guess its very common, but pregnant women should not be exposed to it! It can cause harm to the fetus, so we're waiting on blood results to see if I am immune to it or not. Hopefully they let me know soon!

I think the girls and I are going to go get in the pool for a little bit before naps and Hubby's softball game tonight!