A BIG update is in order.....

Let see where I left off.....

Oh yeah, back when I was only NINETEEN weeks pregnant. It's been A LONG time since I've blogged. I was hoping to do so much better at this and document so much of my pregnancy with Hallie but that didn't happen. Life did instead.

I'll see if I can get you all caught up. (WARNING: This could be a VERY long post).

The second half of my pregnancy was for the most part pretty uneventful. I continued to go to my monthly appointments and each time got the, "Everything looks and sounds great." I was gaining weight just as I should, Hallie was growing right on track, and I was feeling great with lots of energy.

At about 32 weeks the dr. wanted to do an ultrasound just to check in on Miss Hallie. She was measuring about 2 weeks bigger. He said we'd do another ultrasound in 4 weeks to see if she was still bigger and then we would decide our plan of action at that point. At 35 weeks, I was at my parents house with the girls swimming and I slipped on the wet tile inside the house. I was ok and it wasn't that hard of a fall. However, about 4 hours later I began having contractions and they weren't stopping. I was told to go to labor and delivery and just get checked out. Mainly for the fact that since I am O neg they wanted to make sure that none of my blood cells had "gotten loose" where they could potentially affect Hallie. I was given a shot and LOTS of IV fluids to slow the contractions. They also did the blood test to make sure the above hadn't happen and thankfully it hadn't. After about 5 hours at the hospital, my contractions slowed and I was able to go home. We did another ultrasound at 36 weeks and little miss was still measuring big (however my belly was measuring right on track). I knew she was bigger because when she kicked and moved it would literally take my breathe away. She had NO room in there. Everything went routine until 37 weeks when the contractions started again and I ended up back in the hospital. They were still not close enough together to make me go into full active labor so after being watched again I was sent back home. I saw my OB the next week and we decided that I would not go past 39 weeks due to the fear of her being too big.

My doctor was out of town the next week and they were having a difficult time finding a date that the hospital could fit me in for an induction. Of course, I was still hoping I'd go on my own. I was told originally that I couldn't come in until July 29 which was just 2 days away from my original due date. I began to cry and tell the nurse I had a fear of the baby getting too big and me ending up having a C-section. I think she felt bad because she called me back the next day and said be at the hospital July 24th at 11:00. (39 weeks exactly).

We showed up that Sunday morning ready and anxious to meet our third baby girl. Her big sisters were so excited to FINALLY get to meet their new baby sister. We checked in and got straight to our room. They got the IV in and began the pitocin at a little after noon. I was at 3cm when I got to the hospital. My dr. was still out of town but on his way back and hoped to be here by the time she arrived. One of his colleagues came in and broke my water at 12:45. I was contracting pretty good by this point. I had finally had all I could take and asked to get my epidural. The anesthesiologist came in at 2:30 and made my life so much more tolerable, or so I thought. I was still feeling all the HEAVY contractions on the right side of my body. I was in so much pain that the nurse called him to come back and give me more. Apparently the epidural had gone more to one side and therefore the other wasn't getting enough. He pulled it out just a bit and gave me some in my IV. Within 30 minutes, I was feeling NOTHING. My legs were so heavy I could finally relax. I was now in HEAVEN on earth. The nurse decided to check me once again at 5:00 and when she did I was complete and ready. They had me do one push to see how good I would do. She told me to push NO more that they needed to call my dr. who had just gotten back into town, THANK GOD!! My dr. walked in at 5:15 got "suited up" and was ready to start the show. I pushed 3 times and she was here. She arrived at 5:25 pm. All 8 pounds 15 ounces of her. She was a BIG baby. Thank God I didn't have to go any longer or I would have had a 9.5 pound baby. She was so beautiful and looked just like her oldest sister (just a pound and a half bigger).

Tipping the scales:

Mommy and Hallie meeting for the very first time. I'm so in love.

Big sister Macy and Hallie meet for the first time. All she wanted to do was hold her ALL THE TIME!!

Biggest sister Madeline and Hallie. She is the best big sister. She's like her second mommy.

Our first family picture of the FIVE of us. We are so blessed.

We spent two days in the hospital loving and adjusting to life with THREE kids. The girls couldn't wait to come up and see their baby sister, eat all my snacks, and get ice from the ice machine across the hall from my room. We had several visitors but it was mostly quiet and relaxing, which was good because we really got to bond with Hallie.

Here's a look at our days in the hospital.

This is what it looked like most of the time. If one of the girls wasn't in my bed with me, it was two if not all three. HA!!

I love this picture. You can see just how much Macy adores her new baby sister.

Look at those cheeks. They got LOTS of kisses.

All dressed up ready to take her hospital pictures.

The first picture with all three girls together. Aren't they beautiful?

Hallie Grace....so beautiful.

All dressed up and ready to go home. We were SO excited to bring her home. I really missed the other two and couldn't wait to get home too.

All ready to go. Madeline is the photographer so she's missing from the picture.

Waiting on daddy to get the car.

I think that is enough for one post. I will update what's been going on over the next 4 months. LOTS.

19 weeks 2 days

Well here we are almost half way through this pregnancy. I'm finally starting to feel good. The nausea comes only once a week instead of EVERY morning. Praise GOD!! I'm not as tired and I feel like my energy levels are lasting longer.

When I last blogged we had just had our first big US (ultrasound) at 12 weeks 2 days and had blood work done to determine what are percentages were to having a child with any form of birth defect. About a week later the genetic counselor called to tell us that all my blood work came back and looked great. Knowing that, it dropped our percentages even lower. We were to go back at 16 weeks and have a 2nd round of blood drawn. They then compare the two and if all looks good the percentages drop even more. We received the news about a week later than again everything looked great. We had are next big US on March 1st when I was 18 weeks and 2 days. We got to see our precious baby once again. It's such an amazing sight to see that tiny little thing move all around, waving arms, crossing legs, and doing flips. They checked every part of the body and everything looked fabulous. It just amazes me how you can see the 4 chambers of the heart and the valves pumping, the kidneys, the brain. WOW, God is amazing in his creations. It came time to determine what the gender of our sweet baby was. Remember we had been told early on that he believed it was a girl. Well..............................................................

He was.............................................................................................................................................................

CORRECT!!! We will be adding ANOTHER sweet princess to our family. THREE girls!! What are we ever going to do. HA! I've told hubs to just get ready that it's gonna be a LONG time before we have that "dream vacation" or anything for that matter...HA!! By the time we pay for clothes x 3 girls, makeup x 3 girls, prom dresses x 3 girls, WEDDINGS x 3 girls. I'm ready!! I can't wait to see these three sister grow up together and become best friends. However, I do worry a little about the age difference. By the time she arrives Madeline will be 8 and Macy will be 5. I know it will all work out.

We've decided that her name is going to be.............................................................................................

Hallie Grace

We are so excited to meet her. I have been looking at fabric for the past week trying to decide exactly what I want to use. I have it narrowed down and I'm meeting with the lady who will be making it today to see what she thinks. We have began cleaning out what was the play room but will now be Miss Hallie's room.

I've been able to feel her move and kick for several weeks now and its the best feeling in the world. She especially loves to start moving right when I'm getting ready to try to go to sleep. Madeline did this too when she was a baby. The girls, especially Macy has really been wanting to feel her move but every time I put their hand on my tummy, Hallie stops. Already playing games with her sisters. HA!!

I'll leave you with a few belly shots over the past few weeks.

This is at 14 weeks before we went to the United Way Gala.

(I think I look a lot bigger than I really was).

This is at 18 weeks before church. Of course, my bottom hand is hiding a lot. HA!

The Big Announcement!!

I haven't blogged in a while and I have several reasons why.

1. We've been busy with the holidays and trying to get back into the "swing" of things.

2. I haven't felt real good for the past 2 months.

3. I've had a big announcement to make but wanted to wait till the right time to announce it.

The time has come.

We are excited to announce that we are having BABY #3.

Yes, you read that right. We will be adding a new addition to our family in July 2011.

(Warning this could be long and boring to some. However, it's my blog and my way of remembering this time in our lives.)

Now Read on:

I couldn't not be more excited about this baby but it came with MANY emotions. We had decided in the late spring/early summer of 2009 that we wanted one more child. We decided to begin our journey in Oct. 2009. Hubs' sister was expecting her first child in Sept of that year and we didn't want to take away from her joy. Seeing as how we never had to "try" with our previous pregnancies we didn't think it would take long. God had a different plan. His timing is ALWAYS right. As some of you know, 6 years ago I suffered a miscarriage at 12 weeks. (January 13, 2005). You can read about it here. We found out November 17, 2004 that we were expecting our 2nd child. It was on this EXACT same day, 6 years later, that we learned we were expecting this baby. I had so many emotions that came stirring back but yet I was trusting in God. If he had chosen this was the time for this child everything was going to be ok.

After a year of trying to conceive, I visited with my OB to discuss a plan of action. We did several blood test in mid Oct. to make sure that all my levels were where they should be. We then followed up with an Ultrasound to make sure that everything was "normal". What we saw on the ultrasound showed that I had PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). We discussed options and decided that I would start on a round of clomid in November. I had everything I needed and was ready to start with our plan. I waited and waited for my cycle and it never came. I was scared to take a pregnancy test because I had done so so many times in the past months and had been let down by the Negative results over and over. I then noticed that I had a few "symptoms" of pregnancy and decided what the heck. I took the test fully expecting it to be another negative when much to my surprise it was POSITIVE. I began to cry, I was shaking, I was shocked, and had to tell someone. I called Hubs at work and told him, "I think I'm pregnant!" I took another test that night which came up NEGATIVE. Again, I was disappointed and my heart was breaking into a million pieces. How could one be positive and one negative. I decided I'd take one the next morning first thing. I woke up the next morning, my heart was pounding, I wondered What would I see this morning. I took the test and waited what seemed like forever (maybe 1 minute) and it was positive. I called my OB's office and told them about the test and they told me to come in on Friday to do bloodwork. I went in and gave blood and the nurse called me that afternoon saying that it showed I was pregnant but my numbers were really low and not to tell anyone just yet about the pregnancy. She told me to come back in on Monday morning and they want to see that the numbers had gone up. It was the longest weekend. There I was remembering this SAME EXACT scenario as with the pregnancy I lost.

Monday morning came, I gave my blood, and waited for the call. The nurse called that afternoon and said my numbers looked great and it was ok to tell our families. She said the numbers were probably low because I was only a few weeks pregnant. I was set to have an US in mid Dec. to find out how many weeks I actually was. We still decided to wait until after the US to tell our parents because we wanted to be able to tell them when they could expect their newest grandbaby. Boy was that ever hard.

On December 4th, we ended up in the emergency room because I couldn't keep anything down and I was severely dehydrated. I ended up having gastroenteritis. While we were there they did an US and we found out we were 5 weeks and 5 days pregnant at that time. It was great to get to see the little "Dot" of a baby on the screen. It made it more real. We then had our US with my dr. on Dec. 14th and we were 7 weeks 2 days. It was amazing how much bigger the baby had gotten in that short amount of time. The best thing was just seeing the heart beating. We were told we were due July 31, 2011. This is just 4 days past when our Angel baby was due. I feel this is the baby God took from us and now he's blessing us with that July baby.

Here's a look at our precious baby at 7 weeks 2 days:

We told both our parents by having the girls both wear "I'm a Big Sister" shirts. Of course, neither set of parents got it right away. They both questioned why Macy, our youngest, was wearing a big sister shirt when she is the little sister. They were not expecting us to have any more children. They were all VERY shocked but VERY excited.

I have felt a lot like I did with both of the girls through the first trimester of this pregnancy. I have had lots of nausea, very tired, and headaches. As it got later in the 1st trimester the nausea started to not come as frequent. Praise the Lord!!

I went back to my OB for the first time since our initial visit on January 11. I was 11 weeks and 2 days. I was SO excited to get to hear the heart beat for the first time not using US. I got on the table and the nurse got the doppler placed in on my stomach. She began to search for that tiny heart beat. Nothing. She moved it aroud. Still nothing. I started to panic, I began to sweat, and then the tears came. I was remembering all to well not hearing that heart beat. I was just a few days shy of the day I lost my 2nd baby. Finally after what felt like an ETERNITY (was really about 3 minutes) we heard that swishing beat. 172 beat a minute. Thank you God. I began wiping the tears and thanking the nurse as if she had just performed a miracle. To me, it was a miracle. Everything looked great and my OB and I discussed that because of my "maternal age" he was referring me to see a Perinatal specialist. Who would have thought that 35 was SO OLD. HA!! He explained it was mainly a precautionary measures because with being 35 I'm at higher risk for birth defects and chromosomal issues.

We met with him on January 18th. We first met with a genetic counselor who got all our family history, discussed in detail all the risks we face, and all the different issues that could be. We then had an extensive Ultrasound with a high tech machine. It was AMAZING all that we could see. The baby was VERY active and flipped all over the place. We were able to see a lot of baby. After the sonogram tech was done, they came in took my blood to test for my percentages of having any of the chromosomal issues. The doctor then came in and did his ultrasound, measuring different things, looking for signs of any defects like Downs Syndrome or Edwards Syndrome. They do this by measuring the back of the neck and looking for the nose bone to be predominant. Both looked great according to the dr. He said the baby looked wonderful. I was told he's good at early gender prediction so I had him take a look and see what he thought. At this time, he's saying GIRL. Oh my, what are we going to do with THREE GIRLS. However, I'm not going to run out and buy pink just yet. We go back on March 1st to find out for sure.

Here's are sweet baby at 12 weeks 2 days: (Sorry these pictures were taken with my phone)

Profile of baby looking down.

4D picture of baby. Looks like a little alien.

This is a picture of the top of "her" head and "her" arms out.

We got some AMAZING video but I won't bore you with it. We are just so excited and can't wait to spoil this baby. We did get the furniture ordered last week because the brand we chose takes 20 weeks to get in. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we go through this pregnancy. I'll definetly be keeping you all updated. This is going to be my "journal for baby".

I leave you with the first belly shot. I did not take belly pictures with either girl and I wish I would have. I'm going to document as much with this one as I can. Even if I look HORRIBLE!

We go back to the dr. for a normal routine checkup on Feb 8th and then back for more blood work at the Perinatal office on Feb 15th.

Till next time.