Ultrasound results are in!

Baby Buckeye's profile.
Measuring 19wks 3days instead of 18wks 2 days!
Better than measuring behind about 10 days like Leona!!

LOVE BABY FEET!

Can you tell?
It's not that hard to miss!
Good BOY for spreading those legs for us!

Wearing my blue shirt to the ultrasound!
Yea BLUE!

 Doctor's ultrasound will be Nov. 10.  We got in tonight because a nurse friend got us in with her friend that is a tech :)

The "C" Word Hits Too Close to Home

As several of you know, my best friend has been diagnosed with cancer.  In August, at a doctor's check-up they noticed she had a uterine tumor.  She was sent in for an ultrasound and then an MRI.  In September, they removed the 4" in diameter mass and initally dignosed it as non-cancer.  The tumor was sent to a lab and they said that 6mm was atypical.  They could not confirm if it was leimyosarcoma (an agressive cancer) or a stump tumor (kind of a miscellanous tumor category). So...it made a trip to a 2nd lab and it was unconfirmed as either as well.  So...another 6 weeks later...the 3rd lab said it was leimyosarcoma.

My friend is a teacher and has missed all of the 1st quarter and is now making a decision about a hysterectomy.  She will see a oncology specialist next week for a second opinion.  It seems like the Lord is moving in the direction of surgery...and it breaks our heart...but we are trusting God's plan.  It is faith that seems to keep her together and it is so amazing to see all of the little things God has done along the way...from bringing another friend in to be her sub to getting her into an MRI the day she called because of a cancellation....I could go on...

So about 4 weeks into my friend's trials, my Dad calls me.  Little did I know the "C" word would come up again!  To give some background, my Dad had been diagnosed with melanoma last December or January.  They did an outpatient surgery around the area and checked his lymph nodes.  Now...we are in October and my Dad had found another spot above his original spot.  He went immediately into the doctor to be diagnosed with melanoma again...I figured no problem...he'll just get his outpatient surgery again and get it taken care of.  Well...some lung CT scans came back with 3 spots in his right lung and 2 melanoma spots by the spot he had found that couldn't be seen yet.

My Dad went in the following week to the hospital for a pretty invasive exploratory surgery.  They put in a tracer. Then, they put in some tubes and deflated his right lung.  After that, they removed part of the atypical spots. The inital diagnosis was non-cancer.  A couple days later the final results came back that the melanoma had in fact traveled to his lung.  I got the call within a couple hours of my friend's call---both had cancer---both were in waiting! That terrible waiting game!!! Dad gets more information Monday and my friend gets more information on Wednesday.

I have to admit that all of this news has been really difficult.  Both of them live in VA so I feel so far away from helping them and supporting them.  For awhile I didn't get much quality sleep.  My friend, LORD? MY unmarried friend who is so gifted with children??? My Dad, LORD? My young 50 year old Dad???  The questions kept coming.  The answers began coming.  I began to remember some truth.  God has a plan.  He loves both of them and is holding them in His hands.  He is in control.  He wants to show them (and me) Himself.  He wants to plant seeds of faith and sprout them in ways they could  never imagine.  And the being far away...I am never too far away to do the best thing I can do...PRAY...praying for all their needs...financially, sleeping at night, having peace...meeting all of their needs like I have seen Him answer when I couldn't walk or hold my newborn!  He is faithful to complete the work He started. Most importantly...HE IS A GREAT BIG and POWERFUL GOD...and remember my Chapel lesson...Why We Are Here?...it's to bring Him glory!!

I came across some great videos I had seen in 2006 from Louie Giglio, How Great is Our God and Indescribable. God has also used our church's study over the summer by James MacDonald When Life is Hard. I had saw so much truth...but now God was calling me to live out my faith through the trials of my loved ones...in which I have no control, no ways to physically help and sometimes no words of comfort to give...just stunned silence.

Please pray for them...that God would be brought glory through all that they are and will be facing.

Mommy's Health

Two weeks ago I had some issues. On Monday, October 17, I started getting really dizzy after dinner time.  I took an easy and was very careful.  By 8:00 I was still really dizzy so I thought my sugar might be low so I ate a couple sour gummy worms to see if that would help. About an hour later I called my Mom for some advice and asked her about when her sugar is low.  She made me list what I had ate and drank all day and suggested that maybe I hadn't ate enough...so I ate some peanut butter and a large apple too. She also said that I seemed out of breath a little, but I didn't really notice anything. By 10:30 or so I was spinning even worse as i laid down in bed.  I figured maybe a good sleep would help.

The next morning I got up and could not walk straight.  I figured my sugar has to be low so I poured a huge bowl of Raisin Bran.  I figured the carbs and sugar would def snap me out of it...no such luck.  I did feel well enough to go teach Chapel, but stopped by the school nurse's office on my way in the door.  She checked my sugar (now an hour after I had ate breakfast) and it was at 142...which is perfect after eating.  By then I was out of breath too, so she took my blood pressure and listened to my chest.  I was feeling a little better, so I went to chapel and taught most of the time from a chair and had others set up the stage.

During Chapel I became really out of breath. I felt like I couldn't even finished a sentence with one breath.  At the end of the first hour I started to get really dizzy too.  As soon as we were done teaching I called my OB nurse and awaited a call back on what to do.  Meanwhile I went back to the school nurse and she tested my blood pressure lying down, standing and sitting.  They were all in my normal range.

My OB nurse called back and said that she wasn't worried about the dizziness as I probably had an inner ear thing, but she was concerned about the out of breath issue...she told me to get to my family doctor or ER by the end of the day.  I went just a few hours later to my family doctor. He said that I had floaters in my inner ear causing my vertigo.  He checked my lungs out and said they sounded great.  He said the pregnancy was probably causing the out of breath (I did have this later in the pregnancy with Leona). He also gave me a script for a diabetic glucose tester so I could watch my levels since it was over 200 the week before.

I was so fearful that it was my sugar.  I am so thankful that everything was just fine.

It seems with controlling my sugar intake I am maintaining a better weight gain and that my sugar is staying right where it needs to be. YAY!  Keep praying that it stays that way!

Why Are We Here?

Baby Buckeye
The ultrasound is scheduled for November 10.  We can't wait to find out if we are having a BOY or GIRL! My sugar is still being an issue, I think.  They bumped my glucose testing up 8 weeks to the day of the ultrasound for my peace of mind.  I also had blood work done for downs syndrome, spina bifidia, etc.  My weight went up 6 lbs. in the last 4 weeks! YIKES!  I read a statistic in the doctor's office that said that women carrying boys eat about 10% more calories.  Maybe that is why I am moving so fast in my maternity clothes. Continue to pray that my back would hold up with the weight gain!The baby is also kicking a lot!  It is just so exciting to feel that again...what a blessing!

Leoni Bologni
This 2 year old continues to push the obedience issue. She is spending a lot of time in time-out which seems to work for her! We have started charting some with her. She has not gone back to milk and probably won't be a real milk fan.  We are getting her vitamins in in other ways...broccoli, V-8 fusion drink, and oatmeal saturated in her special formula...with a huge focus on her proteins.  Potty training has been on the back burner and it is frustrating to me that b/c of my health we haven't gotten there yet.  I know she would be long done by now if I was able to keep up on it everyday.  Guess it will come sometime...but hopefully soon so I don't have 2 in diapers!! YIKES!


Daddy
Ben continues to work on-call.  This has been a huge blessing to our family's budget.  He also found out that he will be getting a raise this week.  We are so excited!  It's been like 4 years I think...due to the economy.  We also had a huge blessing of someone who paid his surgery bill.  We praise God for His provision!  God had blessed someone with an unforeseen gift who then passed the blessing onto us!  It is so awesome to see God continue to provide for our family!

Mommy
Well...God has been throwing some challenges lately.  As most of you know, my Dad and my best friend are facing possible cancer.  Both are in the waiting game of what to do and what comes next.  It has been difficult to deal with that "C" word.  Please keep both of them in your prayers!  My Grandma continues to struggle with her Alzheimer's and my Grandpa struggles as he loses her a little day by day. Seeing so much physical struggle makes me all the more ready for Christ to come...but I trust He still has work for us to do while we are here!!!

Speaking of work for us to do....I keep plugging away with Chapel.  It is such a blessing to be teaching God's Word to the kid's at ECA!  It definitely keeps me busy planning and organizing, but I love having the ability to use my gifts for His glory! 

This past week I was blessed to create a lesson that I titled "Why We Are Here?" It was inspired by a sermon that Pastor Blodgett gave a few weeks ago.  I didn't take the same route, but it inspired me to focus on answering it for these young kids....challenging them to make living for God a part of their everyday life. We started off with the Creation days.  We talked about how the sun's job is to shine.  When the sun does it's job, it brings glory to God. The same with the stars that twinkle and the animals that roam the earth.  We talked about how our job is not to shine or twinkle or just roam the earth.  Looking at Genesis 1:27 tells us that we were created in HIS IMAGE!  Thanks to a friend I explained this concept like this: we look a lot like our parents. Sometimes we even act, walk, or talk like them.  We aren't exactly them, but we are made in their image.  Colossians 1:16 tells us that we were made FOR God and BY God...to be His image to others. Isaiah 43:7 also tells us that everyone was created to bring God glory. I Corinthians 10:31 tells us that we are to do EVERYTHING for His glory.  Romans 3:23 tells us that we sin we fall short of showing His glory to others...in other words, we aren't doing our job! So...Why Are We Here?

Showing WHO God is by WHAT you SAY and DO brings God glory!  That's our job!  We should look like Christ so we can reflect WHO He is!  My challenge to them...and now to you...is how are you doing?  Do you look like Him?  Do you reflect patience, peace, joy, love, kindness, gratitude, self-control, gentleness, etc? We don't have the easiest job of His creation, but we have the best one!

I fall short of my job everyday in some way, but this lesson and Pastor Blodgett's sermon have inspired me...to get busy living like Him and obeying His Word...not to mention trusting Him in all of these difficult things that are going on around me and the fears that come and go!  To God be the glory!!

15 Weeks

Well...I am currently 15 weeks and the tummy is definitely growing bigger ! I FEEL HUGE for only being 15 weeks!

You be the judge!  Here are some recent belly shots:

My next check-up is on Friday.  We get to schedule the ultrasound then and I am so excited.  I really think this little monkey is a BOY, but guess we'll see! No doubt I'll be wearing a blue shirt to the this ultrasound!! I am guessing it will be scheduled around the week of Nov 13.

Baby Movement

This past week I felt the baby kick for sure.  The week or so previous I had thought maybe I was feeling him/her kick, but couldn't be positive.  On Saturday while I was driving I determined for sure that that was what I had been feeling. I have felt it a few more times since then :)  It's so exciting.  It is definitely the best part of the whole pregnancy thing!!!

How is your back doing?

Many of you know that about 3 weeks ago I had an episode with my back.  I spent the whole week down and out.  I could barely walk for the first few days...but soon began to feel the healing taking place.  This is not normal for my back.  Normally if I am that bad, it lasts for a long time...several months sometimes.  This was a huge blessing.  It definitely made me aware that I need to be careful and exercise as much as I can.  Luckily I have a husband that will just step right in and help out where needed and tells me what I need to hear when I need to take better care of myself.

It also gave me an opportunity to talk to my orthopedic dr. about possible things we can do if I get really bad again.

Another prayer request!

At about 9-10 weeks I had a sugar issue for about 2 days.  I had weird vision and a headache so I checked my sugar. My sugar had spiked to high 100's.   It seemed I had been overeating sweets and it just built up.  It leveled out and has been fine since.  Today I had some of the same feelings.  I check it and it was at 228.  YIKES!!  I had slowly had more and more sugar since that other episode.  LESSON LEARNED!!  I am going to have to cut-it-out and just watch it if I am going to stop it from becoming gestational diabetes.  I think I may be checked in 2 check-ups, so around 24-25 weeks.  Please pray I keep my self-control in-check and prevent anything further. 

I'll keep posting to keep you updated on what's happening as it comes :)