Baby Update - Week 24...6 months!

The last baby update we posted was at 11 weeks! I figured it was time to do another, since sooooo much happened in 13 weeks!

How B-Rob is growing (we aren't going to find out what we are having, so all references to gender are strickly for your reading pleasure!)

Your baby's growing steadily, gaining about a quarter of a pound since last week, when she was just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), that makes a pretty lean figure, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon put on more baby fat. Your baby's skin is thin, translucent, and wrinkled, her brain is growing rapidly, and her taste buds are developing. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.

Here's a picture of our little one:

I've been feeling little kicks for about 2 months, but just last weekend we were able to feel them from the outside. Bill is THRILLED to be feeling his little bear kick or punch him. The other night we even saw the kicks from the outside. B-Rob was really active and stretching like a little athlete! We are having so much fun and can't wait to see our baby...but not yet!

Be looking early next week for pictures from this weekend...I'm off to Nashville tonight to spend the weekend with my best friend since high school, Laura Gowan (DeVries)! She's due with her first baby the middle of April...so I'm sure we'll be having some good laughs!

LOOK OUT NASHVILLE...HERE WE COME!!

I don't know why...

For some reason, the word B L O O D won't show up in the "speaking of shots..." post (it took me a few tries to get this one to work!). Instead of going through the whole thing again, just know that if something doesn't make sense, fill in the word B L O O D and see if that helps!

And Speaking of Shots...

As I was looking through our blog recently, I realized that I haven't given a 'medical' update on all the crazy things going on! So here goes.

A year and a half ago, I was on a birth control pill to regulate my hormones. About 6 months into it, I ended up in the hospital for a week with bilateral pulmonary emboli (blood clots in both lungs) and pneumonia. While in the hospital, I was on heparin (IV thiner) and coumadin (pill thiner). Once the coumadin was doing it's job, I was taken off the heparin and sent home. For the next 9 months, I was on coumadin to make sure the clots didn't form again. I had to get tests (just a finger poke) every one to four weeks to monitor the thinning of my . After 9 months of this, my doctor did some follow-up work and determined that I have an abnormal clotting factor (protien s deficiency). Basically, my is fine under normal circumstances, but will clot when it's not supposed to when I'm on birth control or pregnant.

I didn't realize this until my OB went through my file about 9 weeks into my pregnancy. She referred me to a perinatal center at the hospital I will be delivering at. Since coumadin can be to the baby, my only option is to be on heparin. The only way to take it is through a shot in my legs or abdoment. The first couple months I shot up and down my thighs, but after successfully bruising every square centimeter of them, I decided to try my abdoment. That has proven to be much better. The brusing is minimal, but my growing belly looks like a war zone with all of the shot marks!

Bill has been a rock for me through this. I do my morning shot before he leaves for work because he wants to be there to help and make sure everything is OK. No matter where we are in the evening, he comes with me to do the shot (except when I had to give it in a movie theater bathroom, that was interesting!). It is so encouraging to know that he is right here with me and tells me often that he would gladly trade places with me if he could. I LOVE MY HUSBAND!

It took a little while to get the dosage right. I went through a week where I had pretty severe nose bleeds every few days. Now that the dose is right, the nose bleeds have stopped and I only have to have my tested every four weeks.

The wonderful part about all of this is since we are concidered a high-risk pregnancy, I will have an ultrasound every 4 weeks starting in the middle of March. We've already had a couple and even had one recorded on a DVD! So we have our first video of little B-Rob!

So, that's the update! Thank you so much for your prayers, encouraging calls and emails, and all around love! This has been a fun road, with a few bumps, but nothing unmanageable!

More Shots of the Ever Growing Belly!

Here they are! We are taking the pictures while I'm wearing the same shirt and pants as the last picture so we can really see the difference (thank you Wendy for the advice!).

New Year's Weekend at the Cabin

For years, Bill has been going to a mountain cabin near Rabbit Ears Pass, on the way to Steamboat Springs, with his second family, the Hartogs (Chuck was his best man in the wedding). Bill and Chuck have spent many weekends through the years snowmobiling, fixing up the cabin, and just hanging out watching movies. Besides random weekends, they have a tradition of heading up for New Year's Eve every year. 2 years ago I got to join them (and Chuck's wife Nicole and Bill's sister Alice) for the first time after hearing so many stories! Bill was still living in Arizona at the time (we flew up to be with his family for Christmas and New Year's), but it was this trip that I realized he belongs in Colorado. It was a bittersweet trip: I saw a side of Bill that I could not have known without being there with him: His love for the mountains and all things Colorado. With this, I realized he would someday move back to this place. At the time, I had no idea I would be with him through this adventure! This cabin became a very special place for us and last year, on February 19, Bill asked me to be his wife while we were watching the sunset on the deck! Here is a picture of us inside getting warm right after he proposed!

Last year we got snowed out for New Year's Eve, so we were thrilled to be able to go back this year. Even though it snowed most of the time, we had a great time relaxing. The weather finally cleared on the day we left, so there wasn't much snowmobiling to enjoy. No fear, we went again 2 weeks later and the weekend after that! Here are some pictures of our trip this year!

Bill in the blizzard in front of the cabin. It's hard to believe that the deck is about 4 feet off the ground!


We had to park at the entrance to the subdivision because the roads weren't plowed. The guys took one snowmobile up to the cabin, about 2 miles. At the cabin is another snowmobile that has an attachment for a sled. They brought that snowmobile down so we could start taking all of our food and supplies for the weekend. It's a long process, but Bill doesn't mind. He LOVES being out in the snow! Here he is getting our belongings packed to take back to the car after our weekend!



Bill and I getting ready to snowmobile down to the car.



Chuck grilling some YUMMY steaks (the guys' tradition from years back!) for our New Year's Eve dinner. You can't tell, but it's snowing!


Chuck eating his side of beef!


My cute husband enjoying his dinner!


The whole gang! From the left: Nicole (Chuck's wife), Chuck, Pat (Chuck's mom), Diana and Bill (Bill's parents), me, and Bill!

We're Back!

Bill found someone at his work to fix our computer so we will be blogging again by this weekend. Until then, here's my first belly pic and a few family pictures from our time in Arizona with the Bethel side of the family for Christmas. The belly picture was taken about the first of the year, so trust me, there much more now! We'll post more soon! Thanks for your patience!

A little bit of a belly!!
























Bill and I in front of my parent's house

Jacob (13!) and Austin (4!)



The whole family! The cutie with Rich is his girlfriend Shelby. They came out the day after Christmas for a few days. We all had a wonderful time and mom and dad were THRILLED to have all their kids and grandkids together!