It's a...

BOY!!!

We were able to find out what we were having today at our 17 week ultrasound.  This little boy is more bashful than his older brother and had his legs crossed most of the time but we were finally able to get a picture of those little boy parts!  We were also very happy to hear that everything is healthy and measured out correctly.  There were no soft markers for Down's which showed up, so we chose to not do an amniocentesis at this time (our risk went up to 1 in 168, so we felt better about this - and also, had I not had that blood test completed, we wouldn't even know about any of this at all).  We will go back in 6 weeks for a follow-up ultrasound to make sure this little one is growing and doing great.  I'll get some pictures posted as soon as Dustin gets them scanned in!!    

Go Jack!!

Oh my goodness...Jack took his first few steps today!!  We have been working with him on trying to take steps between the furniture and his push toy or us and the furniture and he just wouldn't do it.  During PT today, he took 3-4 steps multiple times!  This is very exciting! 

He's completely caught up and surpassed his adjusted age from a PT standpoint!  He's close to or right on with his adjusted age - especially since kiddos walk at such different rates.  I'm so proud of him!

Welcome Kate!

Welcome Kate Lillian Samuel!!!

December 19, 2010

6lb 14oz; 20 3/4 inches

I am very excited to announce the birth of the newest member to our family - Kate is my niece and Jack's first cousin!  It is definitely very exciting to have her as a part of our family.  Jack did a great job meeting her today and gave her the biggest smile!  He's definitely going to be a great cousin!

Big Boy Haircut!!...

I went to get my haircut on Friday afternoon and while we were there, Jack got his FIRST haircut!  He was such a good boy!  He did so good and was very well behaved.  I think it helped to have many cute girls fawning all over him the whole time!  I didn't realize how long his hair was getting until last Tuesday.  That's when I took some updated pictures of him and noticed how long it looked.  He now looks like such a big boy!  Here are a couple pics Natalie(our stylist) took since my cell phone camera is broken (thank you Mr. Jack).

It's amazing how different he looks from just having his haircut!  I just can't believe how much he's grown and changed over the last year.  I am so thrilled to have him home and be able to enjoy Christmas with my whole family this year!

Normal, what's normal?...

Well, I need to do a little venting, maybe a little feeling sorry for myself, and who knows what else today.  As you all know we are having a second little one, currently 15 weeks along.  We decided to do the alpha-fetaprotein test at the doctor on Tuesday.  I expected to have similar numbers to when we had the test with Jack last year, unfortunately, there seemed to be something different in mind.  The test screens for spina bifida, down's syndrome, and trisomy 18,  we had a very low rish for spina fibida and trisomy 18 but the risk for down's syndrome came back at 1 in 50.  I can look at that 2 ways, one is that it seems rather high (especially since with Jack it was 1 in 330) or the other way is that there is a 98% chance that everything will be perfectly fine.  Also, another thing is that there is a high rate of false positives with this test.  Even knowing those things, it still worries me.  It just doesn't make much sense as to why I can't seem to have a "typical, normal" pregnancy.  I seem to have to end up with something strange that goes on.  It is so discouraging and worrisome.  The ultrasound we are having in less than 2 weeks will tell us if there are any other abnormalities with the baby - like size of arms, calcification on the heart, and other markers which note an increased risk of Down's syndrome and if those come back abnormal then likely we will elect to have an amniocentesis to perform further testing.  We are hoping everything measures out to be normal and this is just one of those false positives. 
Other information going on, I am going to be having some further blood testing done to check for any blood clotting disorders to rule out that being an issue regarding my pre-ecclampsia.  I go in Tuesday to get the blood drawn and hopefully it will help provide some answers which can help me have a long, healthy pregnancy this time.  Seems like alot going on and I'm hoping for some positive answers.  I ran into one of the high-risk doctors who followed my case while I was in the hospital last year and he suggested to my OB for me to have this testing completed.  I'm also hoping I will be followed by them to help prevent problems this time around!

Sorry to be such a downer, but I'm hoping that by getting all this off my chest it will help with my worrying, but as you all know, I worry, LOTS, so likely I'll continue to worry until Dec. 28 and at that time all will be normal!

15 weeks...

We had our 15 week appointment today.  So far everything is going good, blood pressure is staying normal or below, gaining a little weight, and heartbeat is easily found.  We are very thankful for all this good news!  In 2 weeks, we are going over to maternal fetal medicine to have an extensive ultrasound done to make sure everything is developing right on track. 

Jack is doing great, still working on getting over his ear infection.  He's eating great and trying different foods.  We have found things he definitely likes and just trying to have a variety of foods to choose from daily.  He's standing on his own more often and for longer periods of time but really no walking yet...it's going to be soon though!

Worrying was for something...

Well, my worrying the other night was for a good reason.  I took Jack to the pediatrician on Tuesday and sure enough, he has an ear infection.  His left ear was inflammed - poor guy!  I had a feeling something was going on, but I think we caught it early, he only decreased his bottle intake by about 2oz/day and kept up with his solids really well.  So, I'm hoping he doesn't have much, if any, decrease in weight for this.  He's at 18lbs now - which is awesome - and he's starting to wear 12 month size clothes!  We are decreasing OT to every other week and she's figuring that he'll be down to 1x/month or even discharged by this spring!!  Such great news!

Constantly worrying...

I hope that my worrying is normal - otherwise I'm in trouble.  I am constantly worrying about Jack.  It seems that when we get through something bit, something else pops up.  Like right now, we have been improving on solids and eating a consistent 20oz of formula/day for the past month or so, which means that when we were at the pediatrician on Friday for his synagis shot, we had a fantastic weight check - up to almost 18lbs!  I was very happy and so was the pediatrician's office.  This weekend, Jack started drinking less from his bottles - only a couple ounces/day but continued to eat his solids very well - 3 good meals/day.  Now today, he took only about 17oz of formula and didn't eat hardly any dinner.  I know we have overcome so much and he's starting to do well with weight and eating more variety of foods, I thought we were on a good track.  Hopefully this is just a small setback to where he is just starting to wean himself down on his formula amounts but the not eating dinner concerns me a little bit.  I'm planning on calling the pediatrician tomorrow to make sure he isn't getting sick (from me again - I can't seem to stay away from colds this fall) and that is why he isn't eating.  So much fun!