Getting Excited All Over Again!

Chad and I were so excited about this pregnancy in the beginning and while we didn't go all crazy but we did talk about what we wanted if it was a boy or a girl and what we wanted to do to the nursery and how we thought he or she would get along with Nisee.  Then the bottom fell out. We found out our baby was a she at 17 weeks but it was when I was about 21 weeks along that the news got really bad.  That was when the doctors were really worried because all signs pointed to something being wrong with the placenta and they didn't think that I would be able to get Lacee to viability age (24 weeks).  It was at this time that all those plans just go away because the only thing you can hope and pray for is your baby to live and to be as healthy as can be.  You don't have time to worry about bedding sets or baby showers or cute little outfits and if you do think about those things you feel like it is such a trivial thing to be thinking of that you scold yourself for giving time to anything other than urging your baby to be healthy.  Because the doctors were not 100% certain it was the placenta (they were like 99% sure) we were still in this limbo phase.  There was still hope that they were wrong and it could be something else like she is just a small baby. 

So while we waited and prayed to get to 24 weeks to get here so she would reach viability and so they could verify if it was the placenta or not via uterine artery doppler we see-sawed back and forth between if we should try to prepare and plan for our baby or if we should just wait and see.  We were afraid to not plan because we felt that would give more credence to the fact that she wasn't going to make it but we were just as afraid to plan as well.  Then my 24 week visit came and we got the best news ever!  The doppler was great and they no longer thought it was her placenta!  Then at 25 weeks more good news that she had grown well.  The good news has continued each week and now I am in my 29th week of pregnancy and we are starting to get excited about this pregnancy all over again.  Each time we got news we got a little more excited that all those dreams that had been tossed away were actually still going to happen!  It is the most amazing feeling!  After the 25 week good news we decided to plan just a little and we got her crib bedding.  It is cupcakes!  And I bought 1 outfit at about 27 weeks in a premie size and I wouldn't have got it but it was very similar to an outfit Nisee had when she was a newborn! 

Another reason I am getting excited is that now we can plan a baby shower for Lacee.  The shower is mostly a diaper and wipes shower but she is also going to be premature in size when she is born even at full term so she will need some premie size clothing.  However anything anyone wants to get us will be greatly appreciated.  Taking from her bedding the shower theme is going to be cupcakes and we are really playing up the purple in the bedding so purple is a part of the theme as well.  Also giraffes, yes giraffes!  I don't know why but I have been obsessed with giraffes since I got pregnant!   Her shower is August 27th at Hardison FLC and I will be 32 and a half weeks along.  We are doing the shower a little earlier because the doctors have said that once Lacee reaches 37 weeks they will deliver.  I am very thankful to my friends and family who are helping with this shower! Below are some pictures of her Bedding and the outfit I got her as well as a couple pictures of things I just thought were cute!

Cupcake Bedding 10 Piece Set

The cupcakes squares are actually wall hangings

Green Polka Dotted Sheets! I LOVE IT!

I loved cupcakes so we went with it1

I did not buy this because it was $20 but I just thought it was really cool very realistic cupcake pillow!

This is the little outfit that I got for Lacee that looks like one that Nisee had.  

Nisee in her newborn Monkey outfit!  I thought it would be cute for them to have similar outfits!

No I didn't get this but I thought it was just so Sassy! LOL

August 4th Visit

Today I had my Growth Scan and I am happy to report that Lacee now weighs 1 lbs 14 ounces!  That means she gained 8 ounces in the past 2 weeks.  She is still measuring behind of course but she is still growing on her own growth curve.  I saw Dr. Grandis again today and he did say that she is just a little below again this week but just barely so they will continue to monitor her and me.  The fluid, breathing, motion, tone and doppler were all great! Again the sonographer, Amanda said that Lacee was very good at breathing and that meant she was a smart girl!  She even remembered scanning her just 2 weeks ago.  We had a medical student in the room who watched her do the scan first and then he had to do it and she said Lacee would be an easy baby for him to see the breathing on.  My Daddy went with me today and he though it was funny that I knew all the sonographers by name!  But I mean I guess I should, I do go every week! LOL!  They scheduled me for visits through September 1st!  All I have to say is GO LACEE!!! 

Reading the Bible

Yesterday Chad and I started our journey in reading the entire Bible in 1 year!  We are both following different plans.  Mine is a chronological which is reading the Bible in the order that events happened historically.  Chad is reading canonical which is straight through as the Bible is compiled.  We will both complete reading the Bible on 8/1/2011.  We have been talking about doing this for a while now and just finally decided we better just do it!

Happy to Say

I am HAPPY to report that I do NOT have gestational diabetes!  I passed my 3 hour test with flying colors!  YIPPEE! I hope I never have to take that test again.  Getting your blood drawn 4 times in 3 hours is no fun.  It might be better if I had better veins but mine are hard to find so they had to use the same 1 each time.  Can you say ouch?!  Either way I am super happy that I am diabetes free!!! I have a growth scan tomorrow afternoon and hopefully we will continue the good news! 

3 Day Diet

This diet is kicking my butt!  Now I am no stranger to sugars and carbs but this is killing me. I did a good job following it Friday but I felt like crap most of the evening.  Then Saturday I did a good job until mid afternoon and then I got sick.  Now I can't say for certain it was the diet and the excess amount of food that I was eating but I think it was.  Today I have had a terrible time trying to follow the diet because I don't want to get sick again.  I am trying but all this food is killing me and not to mention the milk!  UGH!  I hate milk! I do like chocolate milk but even I can't drink a lot of that.  I guess all I can do is try to eat as much of it as I can and pray that the test comes out good tomorrow!

This is the diet I have to follow! If you click on the photo you can enlarge it to read it!

July 28th Visit

Today was my 28 week ultrasound.  They checked fluid, BPP, and Doppler and all was really good!  She did great with breathing again which they were impressed with again!  Again she kept moving the cord so they had a hard time getting the Doppler but they did get it.  When she was getting me my weekly profile shot Lacee leaned her head back and stuck out her tongue!  It was the coolest and cutest thing!  I think she has my attitude already! HAHA!!!  She tried to catch a picture of it but it was so unexpected that she didn't get it!  What I wouldn't give for a video at this point?!

I did talk to Dr. Grandis about the 37 weeks and he said that is typically when they deliver but that he is not planning that far ahead and that we should take it one week at a time.  He said that there are 2 kinds of IUGR.  The 1st is the IUGR that is present throughout the pregnancy and the 2nd is IUGR that shows up in the 3rd trimester and this kind can put much more stress on the baby and tends to require the earliest deliveries.  He did say I would not go to 39-40 weeks.  So just to make sure we are as prepared as possible we are going to plan on 37 weeks but if she decides to show up at 35 weeks that is still possible too! 

We also talked about the gestational diabetes and he said if it does come back that I have that then we might wait a little further to deliver if possible because sometimes gestational diabetic babies are behind other babies.  He said it will just be another symptom they add and monitor.  He said that he doesn't think that her IUGR is related to my metabolic issues and he thinks that Lacee's DNA just has her being small for some reason. 

I really like Dr. Grandis.  He is very funny but serious and can put you at ease.  He reminds me to Dr. Dorton a lot and maybe that is why I like him so much.  I am still not sure where I am going to deliver if I get her to 37 weeks.  I really love Thomasville but I still feel like I might be better off at Forsyth just because of the NICU which they do not think she will need at that point.  Oh who the heck knows!  I might just wait until 36 weeks and decide then!

July 28th Profile!  Lacee at 28 weeks!

Goal 2 Reached!!! YIPPEE!!!

So My 1st goal was to get Lacee to 24 weeks which is viability for a baby.  My 2nd Goal was to get her to 28 weeks which I reached today!  That's right I am 28 weeks today or 7 months however you want to put it!  So now I am working towards my next goal! Next goal marker is 32 weeks!!!

Here we go again!

Normally gestational diabetes leads to large babies this is a medically proven fact.  So with Lacee's IUGR I just knew that my sugar levels were going to be fine.  Needless to say I was WRONG!  Yep, Dr. Dorton's office called yesterday afternoon to let me know my sugar levels were high and that I now need to do a 3 hour test.  I have to follow a special diet for 3 days and then I have to go into the doctors office and they will draw my blood 4 times over 3 hours.  The high end of the normal range is 139 and my sugar was at 154.  So I was 15 points above the high end of the normal.  They said it is not the highest they have seen but still high enough that I have to do the test.

So here we go again just another thing that I have be tested for.  I tell you these doctors visits and all this is starting to get to me.  I must say I have been doing a pretty good job of keeping it together during all this but I am tired of doctor's appointments and I am tired of the constant worry!  I am just tired!  I know they are just trying to make sure that our Lacee gets here and is as safe as she can be but sometimes I just want to scream!  I guess the best thing to do is to just pray that all turns out to be alright at the end of the 3 hour test and that the 1 hour was just a fluke! 

37 weeks and Gestational Diabetes

Tuesday I had a doctors appointment at Thomasville and I was seeing Dr. Bryson.  I was also doing my glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes.  So I drank that nasty drink they gave me exactly 1 hour before my appointment and they drew my blood when I got there.  Then I saw Dr. Bryson.  Lacee's heart rate was great and I was 27 weeks 5 days gestation but my belly is measuring at 26 weeks which is also behind but with her IUGR it makes sense.  From last last visit at Baptist I was supposed to check with my OB about what would happen if I got Lacee to term and if the hospital had a weight limit.  Dr. Bryson said that there is not a weight limit at Thomasville and as long as she is breathing fine they can care for her there.  I asked about getting her to 40 weeks and he said I would not get her to 40 weeks.  He said the latest they would let me go is 37 weeks which was a surprise for me.  I figured they would let me go as long as she was growing but he said that since there is some reason she is not growing in the womb that they will take her as soon as lungs are developed.  The doctors at Baptist have never given me a final number they just keep saying we will get you as far as we can.  So today I am asking them about this 37 weeks to see what they say.  Most of things I have read online agree with Dr. Bryson but I am going to ask again just to make sure but if this is true then I only have a little over 9 weeks until Lacee arrives!  

Good Bye Papaw!

Today is Papaw Lester's funeral.  Today we say our final good bye's.  My Papaw was sick with leukemia and this disease had really taken its toll on him.  My mind knows that he is in a much better place where he is not suffering anymore.  My heart is selfish and still wishes he had more time here with us. My sister Tara found a great poem and I wanted to share it. 

When I am gone release me
Let me go, I have so many things to see and do
You mustn't tie yourself to me with tears
Be happy that we had so many beautiful years
I gave to you my love
You can only guess how much you gave me in happiness
I thank you for the love you each have shown
But now it's time I travel alone
So grieve awhile for me, if grieve you must
Then let your grief be comforted by my trust
It's only for awhile that we must part
So bless the memories within your heart
I won't be far away, for life goes on
So if you need me, call and I will come
Though you can't see or touch me, I'll be near
And if you listen within your heart you'll hear
All my love around you soft and clear
And then when you must come this way alone
I'll greet you with a smile and say
"Welcome Home."

We love you Papaw and We will miss you so very much but no matter how much my heart breaks I know that you are enjoying heaven and one day I will see you again!

Lester Franklin Potts

February 11, 1929 - July 21, 2011

Nanny Peg and Papaw Lester

Nanny and Papaw

Me and Papaw Fathers Day 2011

Papaw, Nisee and me Christmas 2010

Mama, Daddy, Papaw, Dusty, Heather, Tara, and Me Fathers Day 2011

Nanny and Papaw Jan 2011

Papaw, Nisee and Nanny Fall 2009

Papaw at My Wedding

Papaw holding Nisee Summer 2009

Our Family Jan 2009 (Missing Tara and Heather)

An old family Picture from 2000