ER

I definitely should not have "bragged" about having a perfect pregnancy thus far. For the last few weeks or so, I've had a slight cough. It finally subsided (sometimes, though, I still sound like I have smoker's cough!), but my right side had been hurting some. Nothing too awful, but nothing comfortable, either. After dinner last night I was hanging in the bedroom when suddenly I couldn't breathe, I couldn't sit, I couldn't stand. Nothing was comfortable. I texted my mom to see if this might be normal during pregnancy, and she advised me to call the dr. I hollered for David in the other room, and I heard the Xbox controller and remote and who knows whatever else hit the floor as he came running. I was shaking and in tears asking him to call the dr. Unfortunately, my dr wasn't on call, so we waited for a call back from Dr. Horn. After hearing David describe what was going on, he told us to get to the ER because it might be my gall bladder. I was panicking. I CAN'T miss school right now. I can't.

So we get there, do all the paperwork, they get me hooked up upstairs in Labor and Delivery, questions going, etc. Hayden was completely fine; we spent a good 4 hours listening to his heartbeat (which is such a precious sound; I never get tired of hearing that steady whoosh-whoosh-whoosh). That made me feel better, but we still had no news on my gall bladder. About 10:30 the nurses told us the ultrasound guy would be by in about an hour (there were 2 true emergencies downstairs). Thankfully, he came about 11:15. No gall bladder issues, and he even let us peek at Hayden! But my goofy son kept his back to us--nice shot of a strong looking spine, though! Dr. Horn had said he thought it was just muscle inflammation around my ribs, and he was right. Let me tell you, if you don't experience this pain, count yourself blessed. It's intense. Never felt anything like it.

David made me stay home today; I'm glad he did. I could barely sit or stand for most of the day and have slept nearly all of it. I'm going to work tomorrow, but it's slow going. I mean, SLOW. All I could think about was losing a day of my maternity in May and a day of tutoring pay today. Priorities, right? But I've got to stay healthy and keep Hayden safe. If anything, maybe my kids got a message. I've been telling them that my having to constantly get on to them and their noise level is not good for me or the baby. We'll see how they react tomorrow. I'm so blessed to have teachers that I can call at 10:00 from the ER who will cover my duty and give my classes something to do!

Coming quickly...

May and baby Hayden are coming faster than I realize. So much is undone. In my heart I know it'll all come together, but it's hard to fathom when we realize how much we're still lacking. I know what we need is out there at a price we can afford. People have been so gracious already. Being an adult is just hard somedays and today is one of those days. My prayer is that God will just blow our socks off with His provision. He's going to have to!

Creepy

Tell me this is not just creepy. Buh.
http://www.kiddlive.com/Article.asp?id=1089854

As a parent-to-be

As a parent, more specifically, as a mom-to-be, new thoughts crowd my mind every day about raising and caring for our son. Last Tuesday night I was in such horrible pain in my left lower abdomen. Too far along to be considered a miscarriage (and with no bleeding), I couldn't discern what was going on. David and I combed the internet for an answer. At one time the pain brought me to my knees and tears to my eyes. David asked about 11 PM if I wanted to go the emergency room. I told him not yet because the hurt was subsiding some, but if I was still hurting in the morning we'd call the dr. Thankfully, I was fine by Wednesday morning. However, I slept very little that night because I kept waking, trying to feel Hayden. I was terrified something had happened to my son. (All I could think about was the story my grandmother shared about her son Mitchell who was stillborn. She can remember being able to move him in her abdomen with him never responding. Yeah, I was having some crazy thoughts Tuesday night.)

So anyway. My world right now is consumed with everything baby related. And that brings me to the real reason for this post. While I'm ooohing and ahhhing over onesies and pimp outfits my grandma got for me yesterday, David forwarded me the link to a Caring Bridge website for a little girl from our church, Lexi Moore. I worked with Lexi and her twin Dalton when I served as the children's intern at First Biloxi. Intelligent, intelligent child. She is 6 years old and has a type of t-cell lymphoma. Please check out her site at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/leximoore. This young girl, still such a baby even at age 6, has her entire life ahead of her. She's vibrant and active; a real spitfire. I can't help but want to be able to do something besides pray for her and her family. Her parents, Tara and Patrick, are wonderful. Thanks for remembering Lexi. Being the Debbie Downer that I am, I ponder what it would be like to be in such a position. Praise God for such a wonderful pregnancy thus far. And even with the small incident Tuesday night, nothing has gone wrong. May Hayden's life be as smooth.

Registering

Okay, so babies are fun and expensive. I mean, duh. We took my mom with us to Mobile to follow up on some registries today (since my dad left yesterday for the Persian Gulf and she's home alone). The look on her face when she realized how much baby items have changed since she had me and my sister was priceless. She was also a big help with some questions I had on should I register for this or that or not?

David and I had decided on a green and brown elephant set from JCPenney for the nursery, but today we found one at BabiesRUs that we like better. It just suits Hayden (somehow you just know these things). The colors are so warm. You can check it out at http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2841327. It's called My Little MVP. And we want Hayden to be a well-rounded athlete, so why not expose him early? I also plan to encourage him to pick up an instrument or two! I don't want to be a pushy parent, but I really want him to be able to do a majority of skills (and succeed). Not to sound superficial, but I can't wait to have showers! We've been able to get some great clothing on clearance; we're going to have one pimp son!

So much to consider

This afternoon David and I went and checked out the first childcare place we had been told about. It's a lady I know pretty well from back in the day who comes highly recommended. She keeps babies in her home, and while I trust her, it just isn't right. NOT AT ALL. There are so many things that aren't right about the situation, but I'll keep those private. David and I left and immediately shared all the same thoughts. If push comes to shove and this is our only option, it's not horrible. But it's not what we want for our baby. Does that make sense? I know in my heart what I want to happen, but I can't write that here just yet. We have to do some talking to this person. Pray that her heart might be softened toward keeping Hayden. The situation would be ideal, and I can understand her reasons for possibly not wanting to babysit, but the whole thing is making me frantic. If we'd never come back here, David could be a stay-at-home dad while I taught. The thing is, I wasn't finding a job in Desoto County. So now we're having to make this tough decision for our baby, and I feel the whole situation is my fault. We're throwing around a couple options in our head, but I feel like we're not getting anywhere. I'm trying hard to stay calm for my son, but we still need so much and have so much to decide about. I'm sure every new parent(s)-to-be go through this. Thanks for the prayers and encouragement. I've got to learn to relax.

Kickin' and Punchin'

Okay, so perhaps the best birthday present EVER for me was David just now getting to feel Hayden punch/kick his hand. It's the first time he's been able to feel our son. The look on my husband's face was priceless. I think we're going to have one very active child, if the last 10 minutes are any indication!

1/4 of a century

I've made it to 25. Insane. This birthday seemed so far away and now it's here (and almost done). It's my last birthday before Hayden. We've been through our last 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas before our baby boy gets here. All that's left is Valentine's, our anniversary, and Easter. I will be a mommy by Mother's Day. WOW. That still blows my mind. Mommy. I feel my child roll/wiggle/kick/punch every day, but it still seems so amazing that I'll be a mom. What an awesome responsibility and what a scary one! Hayden is so blessed to have David as his daddy. I can't explain how ready my husband is for our son to get here! Don't take this personally, but you probably think you understand, but really, you don't. David wants me playing the Alabama fight song daily for Hayden, I'm supposed to teach him "Rammer Jammer" and "Yea Alabama" (and sing them as lullabies), etc. I can't wait for PeeWee and then school sports. The other day I was talking to Hayden (yep, I was) and telling him how excited yet scared I was. I want him to be so accomplished at so much: sports, school, music. What kind of job raising Hayden in a Godly home will David and I do? I fall so short; can I teach my son? These thoughts just roll around constantly in my head. Am I doing enough now while he's still in the womb? Breathe, Jamie. I really just meant to jot about my 25th birthday. Wow, talk about going off on a tangent!

Slight Spinal Scare

Whew! Okay, so before you worry, let me explain. We had to go Friday so the ultrasound tech could check out Hayden's head and spine. The way he was positioned last month made it impossible for her to check out these two. I don't know why this past week Dr. Sams's office was so backed up, but we waited (and waited and waited) both times we went. I guess we were making up for all those appointments where we went right on back! Finally, we got to go to the ultrasound room. The tech had to shake Hayden and wake him up. It was AMAZING to watch him move on the screen and feel him at the same time. It confirmed that those flutters I "thought" were him really were. But I digress. She got about 3 good shots of Hayden's spine but could never capture his head. Then she said, "Let me go check with Dr. Sams and make sure this all he needs." No big deal. David and I are chatting about Hayden, and I was relieved to see him again. When she returned, she remarked, "I'm going to put y'all in a room. Dr. Sams wants to see you before you leave." I'm starting to internally panic because she printed out an extra sheet with all sorts of shorthand code about what she saw on the monitor. We sat and sat and sat in our room. Dr. Sams finally made it to see us; he came in and made small talk, and I couldn't stand it any longer. So I asked, "Is there something wrong with the baby?" He shook his head and said, "Absolutely not. The spine looks perfect. I just didn't realize you had seen the NP so many times lately and I wanted to talk to you." WHEW!!! I know David and I both visibly relaxed. I was sitting on the table just praying for the strength to handle whatever news about our baby's spine or position the dr. was going to share. I'm so thankful for such a healthy and easy pregnancy thus far. I still can't believe another human life is growing inside of me!

Hayden

Well, no new pictures. Sorry. I was completely bummed. I love seeing our child on the monitor each month and how he's grown. I do have to go back Friday for an ultrasound because last month when we determined the sex and checked him out, the tech couldn't get a clear look at Hayden's head and spine. Maybe she'll print me some Friday! Then we won't do another ultrasound until about 34 weeks. That's so long to wait, it seems!

Hayden is growing, and apparently so am I! Too much. I gained too much weight this last month. I can blame it on the holidays and having time to laze around, but I knew I was eating too much of the wrong stuff. David and I are both definitely trying to be better. Hayden is about a pound and a half with a heartrate of 148. I can feel him move around pretty consistently. No big kicks or punches yet, but those are coming! I can't wait for the moment David can feel our baby too!

23 weeks

Tomorrow David and I go back to Dr. Sams. We'll get to see Hayden again and hear his heartbeat. I just love these visits! I can't wait to see how big he's gotten. I'm afraid I probably put on too much weight over the break, though. Uh-oh! We're 23 weeks along; about 119 days to go! It's getting very hard to cross my legs anymore and to stay cool enough. I don't know what we'd do if I were pregnant during the summer in the humid, smothering south MS heat!

Today was the first day back at school after the holidays. The kiddos were certainly wired and ready to talk. Oh, and they were appalled we were actually doing work today. Imagine! A teacher making her students do work and take notes? How dare she?!

I hope we'll have some great pictures after our visit tomorrow. Last month's were a little difficult to see, but he's definitely a boy! I'll post them as soon as I get an opportunity. Thanks for following along this journey with us!