Pickled Peaches update - 20 weeks

First of all, if you asked to be included in the email updates and did not get an email from me, please let me know. Some people told me in person or in a different email so I'm afraid I forgot some folks.

I had my 20 week appointment today. Here's the short of it: so far, so good.  The baby looks good. This was the big anatomy scan, when they spend lots of time looking everything in great detail and heart, face, arms, legs, 10 fingers and toes, etc. all look good. Baby was moving around and uncooperative at times, and also adorably had his/her hands up by their face some of the time, just like Emmy used to.

We did not find out the gender, sorry to disappoint, we all have to wait! :)

The long of it: I really won't feel good until they hand me a healthy baby. I was hoping for some sort of huge relief when I walked out, but I don't feel that way.  The baby is measuring 89th percentile, that's quite big!  But Sara Hawley measured 80th at 20 weeks, then her growth dropped, so I don't put a lot of stock in it right now. There is still notching in one of my uterine arteries but probably not in the other, so we can't rule that complication out. It can be an indication of high blood pressure (which I have, but is well controlled with meds right now), Intrauterine Growth Restriction, and a host of other things. You can read more about that here or here.

The lab screwed up royally and failed to draw the 2nd set of blood tests (the sequential screen, it's called), which would include the AFP levels (alphafetaprotein, high with both Emmy and SH) and another level which could be useful in evaluating placental function. So I go get that drawn tomorrow, it's actually almost too late to have it done. Frustrating for me and the doctor. 

The lab has proved to be frustrating for me on more than one occasion, so I'm doubly not looking forward to going tomorrow for a 3 hr Glucose tolerance test. I was right on the borderline with my 1 hr test in May (to test for gestational diabetes) so I have to go do this one. I actually am mad at myself, I drank a protein shake the morning i went in and I should have chewed my breakfast because those shakes are great but always make me need a snack mid morning so no wonder my body didn't process everything.  If the lab had not screwed up, I'd have completed it 2 days before in the afternoon when I went in to get it done but long story short, they screwed up, so I'm blaming them, too. ;)  So prayers, please, that this is not too miserable (I've heard that it is) and that I pass with flying colors so this is not one more thing for me to worry about.

All that is to say, yes, everything look good today, (uterine arteries aside) but the risks are still there and I'm still scared and I am just going to be.

Alien baby 3D shot, baby kept moving around at this point so it was hard to get a clear picture.

Ok, so maybe it's not adorable, per say, but the little hands are pretty cute! Again, moving baby made it hard to get a good face shot.

Sara Hawley's birthday was last Thursday so that weighs heavily on my mind now, too, I'm sure.  It was hard not to burst into tears during the ultrasound, it's hard to explain.  I'll write more about that and our trip home in a blog post later this week, I'm working on one.  We had a great time visiting with those we could see, so thanks to those who hosted or drove to visit. It was a fun, but tiring trip!

Thanks for your continued prayers and good wishes.  Keep them coming!

Love to all,
Beth

Emmy turns Five

Emmy turned five on Thursday! More pictures are in the Picasa album. 

She was up at 6:30 ready to open presents.  She got a new bike with pedals (she has had a balance bike for a couple of years) with a basket and a bell for it, and a new game.

 After school we met Keaton, Adelaide, Lorelei and Miss Beth for lunch at Chick-Fil-A (her choice) and shared mini cupcakes from a local cupcake bakery with them. She requested their lemonade flavor and Mommy and Pickled Peaches requested the chocolate with peanut butter frosting.  She had a busy day of phone calls, Skype/FaceTime calls and trying out her new bike. She requested her favorite shepherd's pie potatoes for supper, topped off with of course another cupcake and the annual birthday sign photos.

And today (which is also Grandma's birthday, Happy Birthday Grandma!) we had her Cooking Birthday Party. This Mama is tired but it was a success, so far as I can tell. There were in the end, I think, 22 children here today and it was chaos, but not terribly so. Everyone seemed to have fun, the kids enjoyed making pizzas and decorating cupcakes and their fruit and veggies with ranch and strawberry lemonade, especially requested by the birthday girl. The adults seemed enjoyed their food (antipasto platter, Ms. Barbara Lee's sun dried tomato dip with veggies and crackers, caramelized onion and goat cheese bread, pizzas, mimosas, beer and tea) and a some even enjoyed making their own pizzas, too.

I did a terrible job of remembering to take photos, it was too crazy. Fortunately my friend Lindsay snapped a few after I set my camera down.   Here are some photos and more details about the party.

 I feel like I got a lot of questions this year about how we came up with the idea, so for anyone interested, here is a more details on the plan, if you really want to know. 

Emmy loves Curious George and one of her favorite stories is Curious George and the Pizza Party. So that is where the basic idea came from.  I knew with so many kids invited/coming that actually measuring, mixing, and cooking would be hard, so I saved time and sanity and we made biscuit pizzas, a'la 7th grade Home Economics.   We prepped all the toppings earlier in the week: marinara, mozzarella, parm, hamburger, onions, peppers, mushrooms (fresh, but sauteed before hand), Canadian bacon, and of course pepperoni, the mini kind were fun for the small pizzas. I put some of the toppings in muffin tins and cheese and sauce in big bowls and gave each child a parchment (intended to line cake pans) and wrote their name on it so they could go right on the baking sheets and we would know which pizza belonged to whom. It worked perfectly! I had them come in to make them in shifts since my kitchen is not that big! More counter space would have made the whole day a lot less hectic, but it worked fine and my awesome husband some of the other mom friends of mine helped out a ton (thank you!!).

The cake idea came from another blog.  Sarah designed the fabulous invitations again this year, as well as the recipe card for the favors. I found red aprons at Hobby Lobby for each child (thanks Mom, Mrs. Raney, and Mary Ann for sending them from SC and GA when HL ran out online and I couldn't get enough at our local stores!). I ordered paper chef hats, as well as a set of small rolling pins so several kids could roll their dough at the same time.   For the favor bags, Emmy and I stamped the bags with cooking stamps and a thank you stamp. I wrote the note on the bags and she stamped, it was a fun project. This way each child had a bag to take their apron, hat and favor home in. The favors were cookie cutters with a recipe for play dough attached. I managed to get the bags on sale, as well as the thank you stamp and I already had ink pads, so it was really all a fairly inexpensive project.

For the apron cake, I made the Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake and baked it in a 13X9 (delish) and used my usual butter cream.  My friend Sara recommended a yellow cake recipe to me, and I'm so glad she did! I have been looking for a good yellow cake and it was delish, and so was her chocolate butter cream. I didn't take any pictures of the cupcake decorating, sadly, but here are the last few rejects that I slapped the leftover frosting on. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is one of my favorites. Thanks Sara!

One of my favorite budget friendly finds were the drink cups, small red solo cups with lids. Score! They came with straws, but I used the red and white and blue and white striped straws I'd already purchased.  It worked perfectly and I was able to write names on the cups in advance.  Juice boxes, in my opinion, always make a mess because the kids squeeze them and they spill, plus they suck one down so you need to count on two per child, which gets expensive.  This was a great, cheaper, spill friendly alternative.  And they are recyclable, so after the party I just rinsed them and tossed them in the recycling bin.

So there you go, far more than you wanted to know about Emmy's 5th birthday party!

Changes, changes

It seems time to share with all of you that have been holding us in your hearts and prayers the last few months that we are expecting another baby this fall, around Halloween.

As you can imagine, we have a lot of mixed emotions, joy, excitement, worry, sadness, and more. But also we have a lot of hope. I cannot explain it, but things feel different this time.

I will update the blog after my appointments, I promise.

I went in for 12 week scan today (Tuesday) and everything looks good. I have consulted with both the doctor (I am with the Maternal Fetal Medicine group at Memorial Hospital already and will be exclusively under their care for the duration of my pregnancy) and the genetic counselor, and while the risks are high, both are also optimistic. What has happened before (high Alpha-Feta Protein levels and growth restriction) are "unexplained" and there is always the chance that everything will be perfect this time.

My next ultrasound is not until June 17th so likely there will be not much to report until then.  I will have some more lab work done between now and then, but June will be the next big update.

In other news, I was "let go" a few weeks ago, my position was eliminated to make room for a full time HR person.  It was a disappointing and sudden end to a long relationship with the company, but I am trying to see the silver lining. Being a pregnant military wife who could possibly be on bed rest in a few months doesn't exactly make me very marketable, so for now I'm just going to take advantage of the extra time and less stress. Charles will be changing jobs this summer (around July) and we will be in CO at least until summer 2015.  He is also having LASIK surgery done this week so it's a busy time around here!

Thank you again for your support. We love and appreciate you so much!

Hugs,
Beth and Charles


P.S. Emmy is calling this baby Pickled Peaches.

10 years

Today is our 10th anniversary. What a wonderful day it was, and what a 10 year it's been! As Charles said, here's to 60 more!

Skiing!

We took a trip with Charles' Brigade for a ski trip the end of February/first of March to Crested Butte.  What a beautiful trip!! More photos of the area and our drive home are in the Picasa Album.

Ready for Ski School.

Charles is, too!

They'd had something like 212 inches of snow, with 8 fresh on top, plus it snowed another foot while we were there.

Riding the "magic carpet" to get back to the "top" of the slope.

Ski school with her instructor the first day

She had a blast. She still needs a LOT of practice, but she had fun.

Ready for day two!

Looking back up Mt. Crested Butte as we headed back towards town on our way home.

Downtown Crested Butte.

So.Much.Snow. You couldn't see the front of a lot of houses. They have to shovel snow off their roofs to keep them from collapsing.

February Photos

Here are a few highlights from February. More photos in the January-March album in Picasa.

Charles' Birthday cake...for his Super Bowl Birthday party, I attempted to use Bronco colors. And failed. But it tasted good!

Aunt Mer came to visit!

At the Garden of the Gods

Evening dance party

Ice Festival in Cripple Creek with Caroline and Wyatt, Tanner and Karen.  The kids were sampling snow cones here.

First funnel cake

Dancing to the music

Dance party continues

The view as we headed out of Cripple Creek.

A quick stop in the park.

Again lots more photos in the Picasa album linked at the top of the post!