4D ultrasound at Hillside/ updates

So sweet with his arms folded in front of his face

He managed to get his arms and both legs in this one!

Today was a very good day for Jeremy and I. We had a complete Ultrasound at Hillside (where I work) and they were able to get some really good 4D pictures of Conner. He defintely made Sheela work for these pictures though! He had his arms on or around his face the entire time! We were about to give up when he moved just a little and we captured some wonderful pics of Conner Dean. It is amazing the detail that you can see on these images- and amazing how much he looks like Tatum! He has chubby cheeks and a little pug nose!

Tatum is such a sweet little girl! She is so excited to have another baby brother- she says Conner is going to be Fat- and that it's ok for her to call Conner fat. She tells him every night before bed that she loves him and to stay in there a long long time. She has such a precious heart- and she makes me smile with the things she says. She is a mommy's girl- I hope she always loves me this much.

JD is still our little puppy dog! You will rarely find him without something in his mouth! He is so silly though! He has 3 teeth and will gladly let you see how they feel- he likes to bite! He still isn't walking; he is lacking some confidence still. He is starting to stand on his own a little- but, then he realizes what he's doing and plops on his booty. Last weight check- he was 17 lbs 10 oz; a petite little boy!

Landon had a good checkup at the Cardiologists. They aren't concerned about his PDA and don't need to see him until next year. Last weight check for him was 17 lbs 13 oz (he is 6 months younger than JD). He is very vocal and has the sweetest little chipmunk giggle! He loves his Aunt Lu Lu!

Continue to pray for us! Bedrest is mentally exhausting on me and Jeremy too, I'm sure. I'm not always in the best of moods- Imagine that!?

OH yeah! How could I forget?? Conner's Estimated weight- (and by the way, he is measuring LARGER than his dates)- 3 pounds!!!!! That's huge to me and Jeremy!

28 weeks 5 days

The Ultrasound girl was so great at her job- that she had a few minutes to "play" She was able to get a few 4D pics of Conner- he was def not making it an easy task for her though! This picture looks just like Tatum and JD when they were this small- wierd huh?

Today was such a great day! As always, it began with LOTS of nerves and anxiety, as do all my weekly trips to Nashville. I had such a wonderful Ultrasound Technologist- she was wonderful at her job and you could tell she was expierenced. So much so, that she had x-tra time to "try" something- and that something was the 4D ultrasound sweet Conner. He made her work for those pictures though! But, for all the squirming that Conner did, I think they turned out pretty good- He looks just like Tatum and JD- don't you think?

Well, I met with Dr. Lombardi today while I was there. He had been prepared that I had several questions. There is no way for me to explain Dr. Lombardi other than he is military (marines actually), the founder of The Maternal Fetal Group in Nashville, and is amazing! He cracks me up and makes me feel so much better. Before he came to see me, Jeremy and I were waiting in the Ultrasound room for a few minutes. On my observation, my pressures were considerably higher today than last week. I was truly about to vomit/cry before Dr. L got in there. At one point, Jeremy told me I needed to calm down and I told him he just needed to quit talking to me. I was freaking out at that point. (for no reason other than I remembered the readings from last week and the were HUGE different this week). Anyways, Dr. L comes in there and obviously they artery pressures were the first thing I asked about- telling him I knew they were abnormal. He said that abnormal was just a word on the paper and while they were abnormal that it only meant that I was at risk for pre-eclampsia, which we have known I was at risk for since I even got pregnant. That was obviously my biggest concern- most of the other things I discussed were my meds and such. Which, he told me NOT to take anymore steroids- that I only needed ONE dose- not weekly. Suits me- those shots HURT! He proceeds to tell me that I do not look like a pre-ecclamptic women (and he's seen quite a few) and that Conner looked amazing! He is not growth restricted in anyway and if I were to become sick again with HELLP, that it would take 6-8 weeks at this point for Conner to begin showing signs of being affected. I don't want to get mine, or anyone elses hope up, but, hearing that meant so much to me and Jeremy. It was such a relief to hear that the Maternal Fetal Group thinks I'm doing well. I am just one of those worriers that needs reassuring from time to time. I told Dr. L that I was asking him for assurance since God couldn't directly speak to me and tell me things were going to be fine- he said he would be the voice of God for me! He did say that I had just cause to be paranoid and worry- and that I was justified in my concerns.

I feel sooo much better after today!!!! I'll be 29 weeks Thursday!!!!!

Skeeter and the Mystery of the Lost Mosquito Treasure

I had the choice of choosing a DVD to review this time with my Thomas Nelson Publishers book review. I obviously chose a children's movies, seeing as I have kids (and secretly enjoy some of these movies!)

If you are interested in getting wonderful free books check out brb.thomasnelson.com and find out how to review/blog free books!

I am reviewing Skeeterr and the Mystery of the Lost Mosquito Treasure

This DVD was one of Max Lucado's creations- part of his Hermie and friends series. It has been my personal experience that anything by Max Lucado, is a good thing. In this story, Skeeter, is a mosquito with a crooked nose and a horrible memory and sense of direction. But, a wonderful sense of smell. His brother, Sinclair M. Skeeto, is coming to town. Sinclair is an avid adventurer with wonderful stories to tell and his travels tales preceed him to every town he goes to. Skeeter is less than excited for his brother to be coming; he always felt like Sinclair was better than him; especially since Sinclair had a straight nose and Skeeters was so crooked. Sinclair is on a mission to find a lost treasure that his dad had left. Skeeter decides to help Sinclair on his mission. After a few lost ways and crazy conversations- both Sinclair and Skeeter come to realize that they both evnied the other one- they both had their diffferences, but that is what made them both Unique and special. They were able to work together using their differences and found the lost treasure that their father had left for them. And if it hadn't been for them working together, neither one would have ever found it.

I truly enjoyed watching this DVD. My little girl who is 3, also seemed to enjoy it. It was a Bible based lesson that not only teaches on a childs level, but, encourages conversations between the parents and child about what was disccussed on the DVD. I would recommend this DVD to other parents for children to watch. I would also watch more of the Hermie and friends series by Max Lucado.

Never been this pregnant before....

As I am typing this, I am officially 28 weeks and 1 day pregnant..... I have never been pregnant this far- both Tatum and JD were born at 28 weeks to the day! I am officially in my 7 month-- whoa now! Uncharted waters!!! It is a wonderful feeling and surreal at the same tiem. I am so hopefuly to get to 34 weeks at least, but, at the same time, waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak....

Went to see my OB in town today- have to say, really unpleased with the care that I get there. AFTER waiting for over an hour and a half, there is nothing eventful to report. (Let me make a side note- he is the ONLY OB in town, so you can imagine how many pts he has). I feel like he forgets WHY I'm high risk. He didn't seem to think it was anything at all that I had made it to 28 weeks. (My other OB with Tatum and JD would have probably been as excited if not MORE so than me). I'm not saying I deserve extra attention and should be treated special but, come on! At least pretend you know what's going on with me. I went in all prepared to show my booty too- Not sure if I mentioned in any prev posts that I had to have the 3 hr glucose tolerance test. Well, I have bad memeories of this test- mostly of it making me very sick with Tatum and then 3 days later being in Nashville preparing for my first preemie. I begged the Dr office to please let me wait til after I got to 28 weeks, that was only a week from the point I was asking this. No NO- it's very important and you have to have it this week. Mentally, 27- 28 weeks was a very difficult week, with lots of thoughts and emotions... Well, fast forward 1 week and 1 day and that OH so important test that I HAD to have done- I hadn't even got the results! The Dr said he never got the results (refer back to my thought on importance of patients... if its really important, keep up with it and make sure you get the results...) Anyway... I know this seems very soapbox like. I'm just annoyed at only getting smally bits of info and being kept in the dark..... This pregnancy is very important to me (and lots of other ppl, just obviously, not my Dr. doesn't make much sense)

I'm doing great! Just hope this continues- I usually didn't have any warning of sickness with Tay and JD, that's what makes me nervous. My blood pressure is wonderful!! Had my NST at the hospital and Conner looks great. Took another Steroid shot too- better safe than sorry, I think...Maternal Fetal wants me to have 2 NSTs a week now, they are wanting to be overly cautious. I'll have one in Nash and one here at Hillside. When I go to Nash this Tuesday, I'm going to meet with Dr. Fortunado and hopefully, he can fill me in on all the gray areas of my pregnancy.

27 weeks 5 days

I had my weekly appt in Nashville at the Maternal Fetal Group today. I have never been this far along and NOT been in the hospital waiting to have a baby.... So, needless to say, I have been on pins and needles with anxiety. I am nervous every week that I go to Nash- afraid of what my ultrasound might reveal....

As I have mentioned before in prev posts, the bloodflow in the arteries in my uterus were borderline high, which has potential to be a problem. But, they have been consisitent and pretty much staying the same. This week, she said they were about the same, one of them even measured better than the week before. I really needed to hear something like this as thinking about these bloodflows weighs heavy on my mind each week. Conner looked great- very active (as usual)- he likes to make the Ultrasound techs work for their images of him. He is still practicing his breathing- which is a great thing! Ha has flipped from breech position too. (Not that it really matters, since he'll be a c-section). His estimated weight was.... Drumroll...... 2 lbs 6 oz !!!!!!! That's a HUGE baby to us!

So, all in all, things are still going well. I am just scared to go to sleep at night, afraid of waking up the next morning and being "sick". With Tatum and JD both, I was fine when I went to bed and my world changed when I woke up. I know that's crazy- but, well.... you know me!

The Great Eight Book Review

I recently stumbled upon someone elses blog that directed me to Thomas Nelson Publishers. Through their site, you were able to request a book and they would mail it to you- all you needed to do was write a blog about it. I decided I would enjoy this- my first book I chose was The Great Eight- by Scott Hamilton.

I was very excited to get this book as I love Scott Hamilton- I always have. This book was suppossed to be about 8 key things that have helped him succeed in being happy and overcoming so many of the hardships he has been through. While I truly enjoyed reading this book and learing more about Scott Hamilton, I really didn't see it as a book teaching me "happy habits". The one point that I really remember is what the 8 stands for. Perfect and the same on either side- and to be perfect, takes much practice. Which, would also apply to his 8 steps of happiness. In this book, he would briefly describe certain things, his 8. But, what made this book was all the stories and the way he told his stories. I really felt that he was sitting there telling me this story. I truly enjoyed reading this book. I would defintely recommend The Great Eight to other people. It is a wonderful book and amazing at what one person can go through and still come out on top!

Today's events

This morning we got up BEFORE the crack of dawn and treked North to Nashville. My appt was at 8 and boy was it early (and cold). My faithful daughter, Tatum, went with us, as usual. She refuses to let me go by myself! We were there about 7:45 and we were getting back in our car by 8:30. The lady who did our Ultrasound, may have said 10 words to us- not very chatty. (Which, I am a chatty person and when I'm this nervous about things- I need a social person- no words tend to make me suspicious). Anyways, in the end, when it was done, I asked how everything was. She was like, no, your bloodflow is abnormal, but, it's the same it has been the whole time. So, there's no change. Conner scored well on his BPP, an 8 of 8- so unless I start feeling something different- keep on keeping on. Conner was very active (a little too active for the Ultrasound lady) and was practicing his breathing. They didn't do an estimated weight this week though.

Channel 2 came today and did a family interview- they were here for 2 hrs interviewing us and filming the kids playing. I can't wait to see how this video montage is gonna turn out. I am just so happy that we were able to do this for the Ronald McDonald House. The news people were even nice enough to come to our house to do this for us.

So, all in all- it has been a long and exhausting day. So, for now, I'll just keep on keeping on. I'll be 27 weeks Thursday- Keep praying for us. The next 2 weeks are critical. I need lots of prayers- and HOPE.

Pray for me (us)

This is just a real quick post/prayer request. Hopefully, this will put my mind at ease. Please pray for me and my family for Tuesday. I have an appt at the Maternal Fetal group in Nashville to do a BPP (measures Conner's growth, watches movement, breathing, etc.), they will also be doing dopplers on me again; this is where they check the bloodflow in the arteries in my uterus. I am terribly nervous about those! They were borderline high last time, but, they hadn't changed from the time before (per the Ultrasound tech). I am just so scared of every little thing right now- especially since I'm getting close to 27 weeks, which is when things usually start crashing down on me........I am just scared that something will be red flagged!

Also, tomorrow, channel 2 is coming to our house after my appt to film my kids playing and for us to give a family interview. This is something that we are doing for the Ronald Mc Donald House's telethon to raise money. We weren't going to be able to do it due to me being on bedrest, but, they offered to come to Pulaski to do it at our home! So, needless to say, I'm more nervous about my house being on TV and the way it will look, more so than I am the interview. I just wish I could get up and do things!

Please pray for me in many ways. I have so many things racing through my head and I wish I could stop my mind- but, I don't know how. I'm sure I'm not the most pleasant person to be around some days, due to my moodiness! I just really need to get through these next 2 weeks- if I can get past 28 weeks, I will likely be a different person.

Also, pray for my Nephew Landon- he goes back to Vandy Friday for an Echo of his heart- this will determine if it's better or if he will need surgery. That precious boy has been through so much already!