Merry Christmas!

Baby Update

    Things are still going well with our pregnancy.  Kendall is growing, growing, growing.  It’s looking like she may be a big girl.  

     My regular Ob did an ultra sound at my last appointment.  She weighs 3 lb 15oz., which is in the 90^th percentile.  She is measuring 3 weeks big.  At my 20 week appointment she was measuring a few days big.  At 24 weeks, she was measuring a week big.  Then at 28 weeks, she jumped to 3 weeks big.  Needless to say, my doctor is keeping an eye out on her.  I’ll have another ultra sound at 32 weeks.

     At the beginning of my pregnancy I lost 8 lbs.  I’ve gained 3 of it back and have maintained that weight.   I was convinced I had gestational diabetes.  But my glucose test came back normal.   She’s just good and healthy!   I keep laughing saying it’s too bad I can’t even blame this one on Michael.  This is all on my genetics.  We’ll just have more to cuddle once she gets here.

    I also spotted her calcified spot on the 28 week ultra sound.  That’s something I would have never noticed before.  I got the tech to measure it again.  It is 0.2 x 0.2.  I’m not concerned at all, just curious if they will still be there later in my pregnancy. 

   It’s crazy to think she’ll be here in 11 weeks (or less).  We haven’t done much in the nursery.  Hopefully it will get painted over Christmas Break, since Michael has several days off.  I’ll be sure to post pictures then. 

Crib Bedding

     Since I know so many of my faithful readers are waiting on the edge of their chairs, I thought I'd give an update on our crib bedding situation.
   A few weeks ago I posted several options I was looking at.  I loved them all.  And I really liked the fact they were gender-neutral.  They could be used again with future children.  The problem...they were so expensive! 

    So while browsing Babies R Us with Mom I decided to go another cheaper route. 

      Not gender neutral but I still really like it.  It also doesn't have any turquoise but I'll incorporate it into the room in other ways.  It's ordered and on it's way.  I guess now I just need to get a crib to put it on.  :)



 

Kendall's Heart

     I’ve hesitated writing this post. I’m not always super open on my blog for fear of what others with think and I’m just generally a private person. But this is something I want to document for our little family. And maybe someone going through a similar experience will stumble upon this post and find comfort in it. 

     At my 20 week appointment, we were on cloud nine. My first ultra sound at five weeks hadn’t shown much more than a heartbeat. It was so special now to be able to see our baby and finding out “it” was really a she. It seemed like a dream watching her twist and turn. She is so her father’s daughter! As the tech pointed out her organs and such we did the appropriate “ooohhing and awing”. I remember even saying, “Aw, our baby has a brain.” 

     After the ultra sound we went back to see the doctor. This is the first we heard of the calcified spot on Kendall’s heart. Our doctor mentioned that it is a pretty common thing, only Kendall’s spot was much larger than normal. I didn’t hear much else after I heard what I interrupted as a “heart defect”. The doctor never even said those words but that’s so what I heard. It only added to my fear when she informed us that she wanted me to see a high risk doctor. It had to be bad to require a doctor with the prefix “high risk”. It kind of put a huge damper on our fun day. We had planned to take some special pictures after finding out the gender. So we continued with that, even though my heart wasn’t fully into it. It was much later that afternoon before we were able to do a little internet research. 

     Everyone says not to look up things like that on the internet, that it will only scare you worse. It actually helped us. There is so little information available on a baby with a calcified spot on their heart. Mostly what we found were discussion boards where parents were posting about being told the same thing we had. Come to find out the spot is actually thought by some to be a marker for a condition our doctor never even mentioned. Down Syndrome. 

     As strange as it may sound, it was a huge relief reading those words. There were no other problems (that we could find) associated with a calcified spot on the heart. At least I could stop worrying about the functioning of her heart. But was God really giving a child with special needs? Honestly, it didn’t make a difference. If God chose to bless us with a special baby we were willing. The biggest part that worried me is how little I know about DS. And I don’t have any close friends who are familiar. It was more isolating, just feeling alone. 

     We got to ponder and think on all of this for a week and a half before they were able to get me into the high risk doctor. The ultra sound tech at the high risk doctor was terrific—so good at her job. 

     The verdict? There was nothing out of the ordinary. Calcified spots are very common. There is actually no actual defect on the heart. The appearance of these spots is caused by the way the sound waves are hitting the heart. Kendall has two small spots that are right together which made my regular Ob think it was one big spot. They will most likely be completely gone by the time she is born. They are becoming less and less thought of as a marker for DS. After a second visit to the high risk doctor I was deemed normal (if they only knew!) and released to continue seeing my regular doctor. 

     Down syndrome would not have been the end of the world. It was a semi-shock because we weren’t expecting anything out of the ordinary. God blesses families with babies with special needs every day. I don't look down on those families at all. 

     But for us…Kendall’s heart is perfect! And our hearts….well, they are overflowing with joy! 

The Jones Family

Saturday we spent the afternoon at Mineral Park Baptist Church.  It was my father-in-law's 25 anniversary there as pastor. I am so thankful for my in-laws. 

Baby on the Brain

I think since finding out the gender of the baby and giving her a name things have become really real.  The time is flying by.  I'm 22 weeks now. I'm convinced she's not happy inside her lil home right now cause it feels like she's trying to get out.  Either that or she's having one party in there!   We might have our hands full.  On two recent ultra-sounds she's been wild!  She never fails to stop kicking when Michael tries to feel her!


I decided to use a frame I bought at Hobby Lobby to make her a bow holder. 

 

 Girlfriend is gonna have a lot of bows in her future!


Our Halloween Parade and Party at school were yesterday.  I made this shirt to wear using an iron on I ordered from etsy.  It turned out cute.  I had Michael take a picture but it was after a loooonng day so I decided not to bless you with my crazy hair and eyes and just do a close up of the shirt itself.  You're welcome!  :) 

I'm wanting to use the colors gray and turquoise in the nursery.  I decided that before we found out the gender because it will work both.  I'm sure I'll throw in a few hot pink accents now.  Here's my three favorite beddings.   And who knew bedding could be so expensive?!

Any opinions on which you like best? 

A Few Days Away

This week I am enjoying fall break...Michael sacrificed and took off work also.  Ha!   We decided to slip away for a few days and get a cabin in Gatlinburg.  We had a great time!   We did a little shopping.  Our little Kendall girl got several new dresses.  

We went to the Hatfields and McCoys Dinner Show.  It was a lot of fun.

On the way home we drove through Cades Cove.  I had the brilliant idea that we should hike to Abram's Falls.  So we took off on the 5 mile hike.  My calves are still crying!  

 

 

We did see a bear super close.

I loved being able to slip away for a few days with just Michael and I.   It'll probably be our last trip alone for a long long time!  :) 

She has a name....

It's a....

We are Preggo!

 

Cell Phone pic that we texted to friends to let them know.  

How we told our families

 We are so excited to be expecting!   We couldn't wait to tell our families.  We went to my parent's house the same day as my first doctor's appointment, which was July 3.   I had to come up with a pretty elaborate story to explain why we were coming up on a random Tuesday, when we had just been up there that weekend.  My cover story went something to the extent that I needed to borrow mom's crock-pot for a cookout we were having on the 4th.   The story also involved me picking up a cookie cake for her that she could take to a 4th of July cook out the next day.  Here's the cookie I picked up. 

Mom looking at the cake trying to figure out how it was appropriate for the 4th of July.  

A few seconds later when she realized.  (Michael had been sitting at the table eating the hamburger.  He jumped up to get the camera when she came in to look at the cookie.  She had been doing laundry, thus the basket.)

 

When she called to tell my sister at work her side of the conversation went like this, "I'm having a baby!"

     Since the  4th was on a Wednesday this year, and Michael's dad pastors a church, we couldn't get down there until 2 days later on the fifth.  I made t-shirts for 4 of Michael's nieces and nephews.  I left Baby Titus out who was only a couple of weeks old. The girls' shirts said "I'm gonna be a cousin".  The boys' shirts said "I'm gonna dig my cousin."  I got that idea from a friend.  Michael did a great job sneaking the kids out to put on the shirts.  They ran in straight to Michael's mom.   It took a little explaining to her because she knew good and well that the kids didn't have  any cousins, Ha!  I'm kicking myself for not getting a closeup picture of the shirts.  Because these four rascals are hard to photograph!   

   My dad is working out of the country so he got an email asking him to call.  Kind of boring but the best I could do under the circumstances.   

   It was a lot of fun telling our families because they were all shocked.  Too cute!