Guess Who is Not in Bed?

Today I am amazing grateful and thankful for God's loving graces.

Last week Thursday we had our most recent prenatal check up. We are nearing the third trimester and so far things have been going pretty darn smooth. Physically and emotionally I am filled and happy. However, although things are going well, I am obligated to have them check out my cervical length. With Ty I was already put on bed rest because I was dilating so much at this point. They say a problem like that typically repeat itself with each pregnancy. I have been putting it off but felt that it was now a good time to finally have my midwife check how my cervix was going. And while it was pretty closed, only around .25 centimeters dilated, she felt I was around 50% effaced which isn't good. So she scheduled me to have an ultrasound done right away.

Well this afternoon was our appointment. Chris drove like a mad man to make it in time to see our little lady bug on screen and make sure everything was okay. During this ultrasound she was able to check on a few things that were not visible the last time. We were missing a full few of all four heart chambers as well as some facial features. After getting that stuff and some other fun pictures for us she confirmed that my cervixs was well in the safe range and I am not in fear of preterm labor any time soon.

So no bed rest for me any time soon.

Here is my little lady bugs face and knees

Our Little Lady Bug

Here is a quick glimpse at our little lady bug at just 20 weeks old. So precious ...

Big Bad Kidney Stone

Good thing about last week: We got to see the baby for the very first time.
Bad thing about last week: We spent about 5 hours in the emergency room waiting to see what was wrong with me.

Wednesday morning while I was at work I started to feel a tremendous pressure and pain on my lower left back that radiated from there forward toward the left side of my stomach. It was so intense that I ended up on the floor underneath the conference table trying to find different positions to lay in to elevate some of the pain. I managed to crawl to the phone to call my sister in law to come save me. Of course she didn't answer her phone so I had to wobble down the hall to her office and fall on the floor in there instead.

She rushed me to the local clinic where they could not find anything wrong and by then the pain and reduced significanlty. I still felt some pressure after I would use the restroom but no where near the level I did earlier that morning. Although they did not find anything to report they did highly suggest that I have an ultrasound done immediately to check on the baby. Especially since we hadn't had one yet.

So Chris left work and came to pick us up to head to the emergency room. We were there for about 5 hours and had a urine test, blood work and the ultrasound. We were worried that somehow we would either see or the technician would see the gender and tell us. But thankfully the little one was so wiggly that they couldn't get to it. They were able to do their major checks and the baby and I were completely healthy.

Based on my description of the pain and experience they diagnosed me as having passed a kidney stone. Praise Jesus it happened as fast as it did and there are no lasting effects.

To Know or Not To Know...

To know or not to know, isn't that a question every expecting parent runs into? Well, here we are. Now I know a couple of parents who chose to wait till the delivery to find out what they were having. When I asked them, why and how could you wait, they just said that there aren't that many surprises in life anymore. To that I say, so true.

Then we have those who found out at the 20 weeks ultrasound, which included us, and the reasoning is a simple one, preparation. So here we are. We are looking to have our 20 weeks ultrasound next week where we'll, hopefully, if our little belly fruit cooperates, find out if Ty will be getting a baby sister or brother. Now when we were having Ty, we made the decision to find out what we were having for the reason of preparation and well, we couldn't wait.

Now, I was listening to a radio station and the topic of the different ways of finding out came on. One way stood out to me and made me say hmmmmm. It's called a Gender Cake Party or Sex Cake Party. The second name always gets people attention for some reason :) So here it goes. You go to ultrasound and you tell the technician you don't want to know the sex of the baby, but please write it down on a piece of paper. Then, you take that to the baker and tell them to bake a cake with the inside to match whats on the paper. If it's a boy, the blue type insides and if it's a girl, then pink type insides. Frost it with white icing and decorate it with a question mark. Then, invite family and friends over, have a little get together and then cut the cake and share the surprise. Pretty interesting huh?

I think it's the perfect middle ground between knowing right away and finding out later. What you think? We're pretty amped! Except for my sister who just insisted on knowing right then. She wasn't there for Ty's ultrasound, but now she has a chance to share in this experience. We both agreed, she could be the first to find out.

We'll keep you all posted. Stay tuned...

Ty's Ultrasound Video

Wow, after much technical difficulties, I was finally able to upload this, Ty's Ultrasound Movie. I hope you enjoy it.

Now I can get to work on the Gender Contest Winner :)

Peace Out Folks
Chris C

Ty's ultrasound at 19wks 3dys

Our First Scare

Well Friday night after the Ultrasound while Chris and I were relaxing I discovered some spotting. Of course we went into panic mode and starting researching everything we could to see how serious it was and if we should go to the emergency room since the doctors office was closed. After about 30 minutes of searching for information we finally decided it was best that we head to the hospital just to be on the safe side. We went a little further out of the way to a emergency room that usually isn't that busy but on a Friday night everywhere will be crazy so we had about an hour and a half wait before we were even officially checked in. But once that happened things started to move along fairly fast. Once in the room and the doctor arrived we immediately felt better. He was a pretty good doctor (or doctor's assistant, these days who knows). We told him the situation and about the previous miscarriage (happened to be the same emergency room that I went to the last time) and he was very sincere and sympathetic and did everything he could to help ease our minds and hearts. He said they usually don't do this but he knew it would help us out so he skipped all the preliminary stuff and wheeled in one of those portable ultrasound machines to check on the baby. I couldn't see the screen but within seconds Chris was able to see the baby and see the little flutter of a heart beat still going strong. Afterwards we still went ahead and did all the other tests just in case but we knew everything else was fine. After talking to the doctor it seems that more then likely what happened was some left over spotting from the pep smear we had done on Tuesday. I thought it was way to long for anything to be left but since the cervix was still completely closed and no fresh blood present he thought we would be just fine. So here we are now relaxing and leaving it all in God's hands. This is His baby.

Peace Out,

Philippa Channer

We Can Breathe Now

Today at 2:30 Chris and I, along with my daddy, went to our first ultrasound appointment. I would have to say the worse part of the appointment was that I had to drink 32 oz's of water and not use the restroom until the ultrasound was completed. Since it uses sound waves the more liquid present the better. And man I had to go so bad about 15 minutes before the appointment even started.

Well luckily the technician who was preforming the test understand and had me taken right in and started her procedure. Right away she found the baby and said the most wonderful words I could think of ..."see there is the heart beat." It was great. She had to do a bunch of technical shots first and then started with the good pictures of the baby and showing me the different stuff inside. Then halfway through the procedure she let us hear the heart beat. Below is a video Chris took. We got pictures and everything.

So the baby is real, it is fine, has a great strong heart beat and now I can relax a little better. Lord continue to let us be healthy, grow strong and bring me to 12 weeks please Lord Jesus.

Peace Out,
Philippa Channer