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.

Show Us your life-Entry Ways

This week on Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life it's entry ways. In our new home we don't have a great big entry way. We do have more than what we were going to have before. If you remember in an earlier post that we enclosed 2 walls that were meant to be formal dining to make it an office instead. In doing this, it created an entry way. Take a look....

A view of the outside entry from the driveway.

This is looking at the entry to our house from the street.

We're getting closer to getting inside.

Looking at the front door. I'd like to find a nice area rug to go in this area. That carpet strip you see is just scrap carpet from when we first moved in. I forgot to move it when taking the pictures. These were all taken 4 months ago when we first moved in. Ha!!

Yes, those cords still need some cord covers on them. HA!

This is the view you see if standing at the front door.

I would still like to do something to fancy this space up a little more but I just haven't found what I want yet. I can't wait to see what others looks like. Maybe, I'll even get some ideas.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. We loved spending Thanksgiving in our new home back in Oklahoma close to our families and friends. It did seem a little weird to not drive the 3 hours to see our families. This year I hosted Thanksgiving with Hubs side of the family. This was the first time that I have EVER cooked a HUGE meal for people. I must say, I was a little bit nervous. Many of the things I made I had NEVER made before and I was about to serve them to my in laws. What if I messed it up, what if they get sick, what if it's just PLAIN disgusting?

I prepared some of the items the night before and got up early Thanksgiving morning to finish all the cooking. It's A LOT of hard work. Now I know how much work goes into it. I have to say that everything turned out delicious and everyone thought so too. YAY, for me!! However, I'm not sure I'm ready to make this a tradition. HA!!

I have SO many things to be thankful for this year. God has truly provided for our family on HIS timing. The beginning of the year was rough with things going on with HUBS. God's hand was right in the middle and we learned more than ever to TRUST him. He provided just as he promises he will. We got to move back to Oklahoma to be closer to our friends and family. I'm loving being back but still miss SO much about Texas. We were blessed with a new beautiful home and even able to rent our home in Texas. God is good!! November started out with a scare with Mom suffering 3 heart attacks that ended up in surgery and a stay in the hospital. I'm SO thankful that God chose to keep her here longer. I can't imagine my life without her in it. I can't imagine my kids growing up and not knowing her and making memories with her. She lost her mom at around the same age I am now and so she knows what it's like to not have your mom around. As you all know, even as grown adults, there are times when you JUST NEED YOUR MOM! Love you momma and so blessed to have you here. Please do EVERYTHING you can to get healthy and remain that way. We need you!!

We still have a little over a month left of this year and there are still MANY things that we have to be thankful for.

I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband that works HARD everyday so that I can stay home with my girls, that we have the nice things we have, and that he loves me the way he does. I'm thankful for my 2 beautiful girls that are healthy, happy, and SO MUCH FUN!

May God bless you and your family during this holiday season.

Show us your life-Bathrooms

This week at Kelly's Korner she is doing Show Us Your Life-Bathrooms. This is something that we DO have in our house. HA! The past few weeks I haven't been able to participate because we didn't have the rooms or talent that she was portraying. So come on and take a look.

First I'll start with my girls bathroom:

View from the hallway looking at the sink area.

More of a straight on view. I had the shower curtain made so it would be extra long.

Another wall.

The bathroom is right between their bedrooms. My oldest wishes she had her own bathroom. She doesn't like having to share with little sister. Get used to it sweetheart.

Next is our half bath/Powder bath:

This bathroom was already complete when we decided to purchase the house. The brick wall part is not something that I would probably chosen but it's growing on me. We may eventually decide to change it but for now it will have to work.

Now for our Master Bath:

Looking in from our bedroom.

Straight forward view. The back "room" you see is where the Potty area is. To the right the first door is our closet that wraps ALL the way around the shower which is on the right as well.

Inside our shower which I LOVE!! It has double shower heads and is like being at the spa it's so big. Big selling point for me to buy this house. HA!

Shower with door closed.

I don't have a picture of tub area. We have a large garden jacuzzi tub which I use quite often.

There you have it, our bathrooms. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. I can't wait to see the others.

My life is crazy....

Time to play catch up again. I haven't been participating in Kelly's Korner -Show us your life lately because the areas of the house she's been doing we don't have. We chose not to have a formal dining room and right now we use our extra bedroom as a playroom for the girls.

I began keeping my nephew back in the middle of October when my sister in law went back to work. I keep him on Mondays, Wednesdays, and every other Friday. My mother in law keeps him on the other days so I can still have my "kid free" days to run errands, go to the doctor, etc. Those are the days that Macy goes to MDO. I have really enjoyed having him. He's a lot of fun but you quickly forget (since it's been 4.5 years since I had a little baby in the house) how much attention/time they require. I enjoy it though and I'm happy that I can help my brother in law and sister in law out. I'm not going to be doing it forever. We did it to help while he was still so small.

Macy and Jackson.

She likes him and loves to play with him but DOES NOT like it when he cries or when he takes too much of my time. She's the baby after all. HA!

The end of the month was busy with preparing for Halloween, we took a trip back to Texas to visit friends, and to surprise one of Madeline's dear friend at her birthday party. She really wanted Madeline to be there but didn't think it would happen since we now live in Oklahoma. It worked out that Madeline had Fall break from school for 2 days so we showed up and she was so surprised and so happy.

Here's Tyler answering the door and seeing Madeline for the first time.

We had a great weekend and got to see LOTS of our friends. However, I think one of the highlights of the weekend was going to church on Sunday at our church, Harvest. We LOVE that place and all it's people. We are missing it lots. It was so good to see many of our church family that day.

Halloween came and went and left us about 4 buckets FULL of candy. This candy has got to find it's way out of this house because I'm gaining by the day because I can't seem to keep my hand out. The girls had a great time this year. We went to a place called Storybook Forest which is a GREAT alternative to the SCARY Halloween doings. It is out by one of the lakes in our area and they have it out in the forest and it depicts all the different Storybook characters. The girls loved it and had a blast. These are just some of the stories they had in the forest.

Madeline and Macy getting ready to go in.

Rapunzel. Throw down your candy!

Peter, Peter Pumpkin eater.

The Little Old Lady Who Live in a Shoe.

The Three Little Pigs.

Hansel and Gretal's house.

At the end of the forest they had a hay ride, kid games, a tent with a girl reading stories, and they had about 7 different camp fires going where you could roast marsh mellows and hot dogs as a family or with friends. We will definitely be going back next year.

On the weekend we got together with my brothers kids and carved pumpkins. The kids had a great time digging all the pumpkin "guts" out. The girls were a little taken back at first then dug right in. They turned out so cute. Take a look...

Papa is getting the kids all ready.

Dig in. I love the looks on their faces.

Macy's didn't mind getting her hands all dirty.

All the cousins with their pumpkins.

Madeline (7), Macy (4), Lyric (21 months), & Garrett (10)

Silly Cousins!!

That night the girls got dressed up in their costumes and were ready to go do some trick or treating. We were so lucky that the weather was perfect. In Oklahoma, you NEVER know what the weather is going to be.

Veterinarian Madeline

Sweet Southern Belle Macy

Enough Pictures...We want to go get CANDY!!

We made it through...Until next year....!

On a more serious note. My mom had been having these "episodes" of severe nausea, intense pain, dizziness, anxiety, and fatigue. She'd had them off and on for the past 2 weeks. She said it felt like intense acid reflux or possibly her gallbladder. She had 2 of them last week so I made her go into the doctor to get checked and figure out what was causing the pain. She went in last Thursday (November 4) to her primary care doctor. He wanted to start by doing an EKG. What he saw sent him in emergency mode. He gave her a nitro glycerin pill and told her to head straight to the Heart hospital and that she needed to call someone to drive her there and he would be calling to let them know that she was on her way. She called me in hysterics scared because she didn't know what was going on. She had my aunt take her because she was the closest and my dad, brothers, and I all headed straight there. I was terrified because I didn't know what was going on other than the doctor saw something and sent her straight there. I got there and she was already back in an emergency room with my dad. We waited and waited what seemed like forever. My dad finally came out and told us that these "episodes" that she had been having were actually heart attacks and they were taking her right back to do an arteriogram and would fix whatever they find. The test showed that she had 100% blockage in one artery and 95% in another. They were able to go in and do a stent in the 95% blocked one and chose to watch the other for now. She said in the hospital for 3 days and was doing well. She is home now and resting and regaining all her strength. Mom was also diagnosed with diabetes about a year and a half ago and I guess the two go hand in hand (heart disease and Diabetics). She is going to have to make some lifestyle changes and I know she can do it. It's very scary to think that if she would have had one more attack that could have been it. I would no longer have my mother, my best friend. I thank God daily for allowing her to stay with us. I can't imagine my life without her and my girls not getting the chance to know her. I will do all I can to help her and my dad do what they need to do to become healthier and live as long as possible. I would appreciate any and all prayers that she recovers quickly and does what she is told to keep this from happening again.

I leave you with our crazy dog, Cooper....

Cuddling with his daddy.

This is how he lays out in the middle of the yard in the hot sun. He's so funny and that's why we love him so.