Old Before His Time

So Jackson is about to officially turn 2 months old, but with everything we have been through medically, it feels like 6 months has passed. Because of this, I honestly tend to forget that Jackson is really only 8 weeks old and still just a little guy. (Well, not by the looks of him! Ha!) He seemed to have had a few growth spurts in a row and before we knew it, we were feeding him 5 oz. at every feeding. To our credit, he took it just fine and never refused it, but he started getting really gassy and spitting up a lot. So we changed his formula to the Organic version of the same brand, but still no change. So we changed it again to the Hypoallergenic type. I made the executive decision that no matter what, we would keep him on this for no less than a week straight, just to get his tummy settled on one thing. So far, he has been a lot less gassy and the spitting up has gotten a little better.

The other thing Phil and I noticed is that right at 5pm every night, Jackson would want to eat every 2 hours! Seriously, it is crazy! We change him, give him gas drops, swaddle him, give him his paci, but nothing seems to settle him down unless we feed him again! At about 10ish, he seems to settle down for the night and sleeps usually until 4am. (Not bad in my opinion!)

Yesterday, I noticed he started tugging on his ears a little, so I took him in this morning to the Pediatrician just to take a look. (With everything else that has been going on, I didn't want to take any chances!) Luckily, his ears were clear and throat looked fine too! Whew! But the Dr. said that his fussiness in the evenings is probably due to being colic. She said he really shouldn't be eating every 2 hours, so tonight Phil and I try to remedy this situation. Well, that went over like a ton of bricks let me tell ya. He screamed from 6-8pm almost non-stop and guess what? The ONLY thing that seemed to soothe him.... EATING!!! The boy is hungry I'm telling ya! Well he finally settled down around 9:45 and has been sleeping soundly every since. (It is now 11:30)

I guess we just got so caught up with everything that honestly, it is hard to believe that he is still so little! But he is making big strides, he is smiling all the time now! He has even started talking! And by talking, I mean he coos and verbally responds to us! It is SO awesome! He has the most precious little smile too and it just melts my heart every time I see that big gummy grin. Just see for yourself! Seriously... how can I resist that face?!? So stinking adorable!!! He just cracks us up all the time! Love my little (big) guy!!

Dance of the Fluctuating Platelets

Hello all,

Here is the latest info: Jackson's levels were at 50,000. (Normal is between 150,000-450,000) Dr. was not too concerned and said that this was typical for levels to rise and fall. He said it typically takes about 6 months for babies to grow out of this condition. I was really disappointed because I had gotten my hopes up since last time his levels were higher than they've ever been. Oh well. So we will continue to go every other week until his levels get to the normal range. Sigh.

By the way, does the word fluctuating look weird to anyone else or is it just me??

Out of the woods...almost!

So last week we had our checkup with the Dr. and guess what? Jackson's levels were higher than they've ever been! Whohoo! So basically when we go back next week and they are even better, it means he is growing out of this condition! We are cautiously optimistic, so keep praying!

Ok wow. I just figured out that I can now update my blog through my phone by text message. I may have mentioned this before, but I am officially in love with my phone. I may need an intervention... or just start working for Sprint!! Haha!

Reality Show Bound??

I seriously think we should call TLC and have them start a reality show on our family. I am not trying to sound conceited, far from it, but we have so much drama that I seriously just want to start getting paid for it at least!!
So I had prepared myself that we had about 2 weeks before we head back to Tx. Children's and get what may be more bad news and was enjoying my time with my family, that was, until today.
For the last 2 days, Jackson has had these periods of fussiness which has just made me exhausted and then Monday, Makayla started getting sick. She started running a low grade fever which we were maintaining with meds, but then on Tues. afternoon, she started developing this rash on her face. By Wednesday morning, her face was swollen and the rash covered about 90% of her face! I immediately scheduled an appointment with the Dr. and she informed us that it was poison ivy!!!! UGH!! So we have her on some heavy duty steroids for the next 3 days and trying to keep her from itching! My poor girl!!
Apparently the poison ivy is growing from my neighbor's yard through our fence. Makayla plays back there all the time, so I don't know why she would break out now with it. Just another thing for us to deal with this week...

And the drama continues....

Well friends, I had hoped that my next post would be great news of Jackson's road to recovery. Unfortunately that is not the case. Here is what has happened in the last couple of weeks.
After we got discharged from the NICU, we had a follow-up appointment scheduled at the Critical Care Center for a week later. So we go, and they drew blood and tested his platelet level, which was 54,000. I was a little worried since it had gone done since our hospital stay, but the Dr. said that was to be expected and he wasn't too worried about it. He also said that we would need to come in every couple of weeks for the next several months to keep checking his levels until they get back up to a normal range. Other than his numbers being low, Jackson looks great. He has been eating and growing and showing no other symptoms, which the Dr. was very encouraged by.
The Dr. was however, still worried about my levels as well. He wants me to get tested every few weeks as well until my numbers get normal as well. He thinks I probably have chronic ITP, so that's just lovely.

So this past Wednesday was our next visit and I had high hopes that Jackson's levels were going back up, only to have those hopes dashed. His levels were 15,000! I burst into tears and the poor nurse just stared at me. She quickly put us in a room and went to go get the Dr. When he got there, he quickly reassured me that even though the numbers were low, Jackson was in no immediate danger. When your platelet level gets that low, you are in danger of internal bleeding, but because Jackson is so little and not a toddler, where they can fall down a lot or bump into things, he does not pose that much of a risk. The Dr. did want him to get another IVIG treatment though, to boost his levels back up. So we had to go over to the Infusion room, where all the other kids get their chemo treatments and they started his IV.

During this visit also, Phil and I got blood drawn so we could be tested for another genetic marker called NAIT, which is a more severe version of ITP. If Jackson has this, it would be a life long thing, which he would have to take medicine for.

So while Jackson is getting his treatment, they inform us that because it is on a timed release machine, it was going to take a very long time. Since the Infusion center closes at 6:30, and he would still be getting the treatment, they would transfer us to the ER's Short Stay area and get us a room. Basically this area is for patients who stay in the ER for less than 24 hours. That was a little unsettling. Once we got over there, the nurse told us that Jackson was the youngest patient there and the youngest she's ever seen getting an IVIG treatment. We finally got done at about 8:30pm. Our appointment that morning was at 10:30, so we were at Tx. Children's for 10 hours!! We were exhausted!
Our next appointment is in 2 weeks, so at least I have a little break for now. We are still requesting your continued prayers and support as we are still not out of the woods yet. The Dr. is really hoping that he will grow out of this in the next several months, which most of the time happens. But until his numbers get normal, we are looking at many more trips to Tx. Childrens.

First Week of Life Drama!

Ok people, I have just now gotten to a point where I can actually sit down and write this. We had some drama just a mere 3 days after Jackson was born.
Jackson was obviously born on Monday, he then had his circumcision done the following Wednesday. One of the Dr.'s in my Pediatricians office came by to look at Jackson on Thursday and mentioned to me that his circumcision looked a little bloodier than normal. He seemed very concerned, but told me to just keep an eye on it and let them know if it looked any different. Being that I had Makayla first and never seen that kind of thing with a boy, I didn't exactly know what it was supposed to look like anyway. Oh well. So we get discharged on Thursday afternoon, but before they would let me go, they said they needed a platelet count on me. So the nurse came back and said it had to be 90,000 for me to go home and that I was at 88,000. She called my OB, and she said that was an acceptable level and they let me go. (*this is important later...)

So we go home and everything was fine, but Jackson's privates were still bleeding a lot. They had told me to put a piece of gauze with Vaseline on it around the area after every diaper change. But the blood would soak through the back of the gauze. So Phil and I were concerned and called my Pediatrician on Friday afternoon. He said to come in Saturday morning and they would take a look. So we go the next morning and my Dr. was out, but one of the other Dr.'s took a look and said it looked really bad. She then sent us STRAIGHT to the Tx. Children's ER.

Of course at this point, I am a complete wreck, crying hysterically. We get to Tx. Children's and the ER docs said it did look bad, and they took some blood for some initial work up. When they came back, they said Jackson's platelet level was at 16,000 which is EXTREMELY low. (Normal is 150,000) They said we needed to be admitted immediately to the Level 3 NICU and he would definitely need a platelet transfusion to get his levels up. *This is when I remembered my issue with my low platelet count at the hospital at the time of discharge. I told the ER doc and he said that was very important and it sent up some red flags about some possible connections and what could be going on.

So we go up to the NICU, and they started the transfusion. They then took blood every few hours to check his platelet count. At the first draw, his platelet count had gone up to 83,000. So they were encouraged by that. But at the second draw, it went way back down to the 30,000 range. In a way, this was good, because it pointed toward a more definite diagnosis. So because his platelet count went back down, they then gave him an IV drug of Immunoglobulin which tells your body to stop eating up it's own platelets. At the next blood draw, his levels had gone up to 40,000 range, which indicated that it was working and his body was starting to make more platelets.

They waited until this morning to draw more blood because apparently it takes a while for your body to make more and his levels this morning were at 76,000!!! The Hematologist (blood Dr.) was VERY excited and encouraged and said he was on his way to recovery!! The condition he is now diagnosed with is called ITP- Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. When he was in utero, my body didn't like his platelets and since we share a little blood, my antibodies started attacking his platelets. So when he came out, some of my antibodies were still in his blood and continued to attack. The immunoglobulin they gave him told his body to stop attacking. This also accounted for my low platelet count and they believe I may have chronic ITP.

So he was doing very well and they drew another blood sample Tuesday morning at 6am and the results were great! The platelets were still in the 70,000's and the Hematologist cleared us for discharge! Yeah!! We got to go home and it felt great!

But what is very scary is that I asked what would have happened if we never did see the Pediatrician and left this alone, the Hematologist said he would have started to bleed internally and by the time his blood started to come out of his nose, ears etc. it would have been too late and he would have bled out and died!!!!!! SCARY!!!

We have a follow-up appointment next week with the Hematologist to do another platelet count on Jackson and figure out what's going on with me. I was able to go get a anti-body anti-platelet test at my OB's this past Monday, so we should know the results when we go to this next appointment.

So the immediate danger is over and Jackson should not have any problems in the future, thank goodness! We thank everyone who prayed for us, we definitely felt that his fast healing was due to that!

Here are some pics from his stay in the NICU... not exactly how I pictured his first week of life.

Jackson Philip has arrived!!!

Well hello everyone! Thanks for being patient as we got through these 2 days of craziness!! I know you want all the details and pics, so without further ado....

Jackson Philip was born on Mar. 1, 2010
at 1:26pm
8 lbs. 12 oz. & 20.25 in.

Jackson and Mommy!

Daddy and Jackson!

Makayla was so excited to see Jackson!!

Giving baby brother a kiss!!

Holding Jackson like a Big Sister pro!!

She was just in awe of him!

Mimi and Jackson!

Grand Bubba and Jackson

Here's Aunt Jen!

And Aunt Angie!!

Jackson and Mommy are doing great! He's been eating like a pro and Mommy is slowly but surely recovering! We should be discharged on Thursday! Whohoo! Thanks for all your prayers!

End of Days....

Ok, We have 2 more days until we finally get to meet Mr. Jackson Philip! And the wait is just killing us!! The days seem to be dragging by now and the anxiety is almost too much to bear. I don't know if I mentioned this, but my neighbor 2 doors down is also pregnant and she was due on Feb. 21st. Needless to say, we are both SO OVER being pregnant. She has her own blog and her most recent post could not have been more appropriate for us both! So, here is a link to that post, enjoy!!

http://www.stillhatepickles.com/2010/02/you-know-its-time-to-have-baby-when.html

Well, this will probably be my last post until the baby arrives, unless you want to just hear more complaining about how uncomfortable I am. Yeah, I didn't think so! Haha! I will post the details and pics of Jackson when he makes his debut on Monday! Hope you all have a good weekend!

My big 4 yr. old!

Well here they are! Pics from Makayla's birthday extravaganza! We went to Glazed Over to paint pottery with the girls from her class, and they all had a blast! We can't wait to pick up her ice cream bowl this weekend! Enjoy!

Makayla!

Her Princess cake, it also had cupcakes surrounding it

Painting her ice cream bowl

Just one of the many gifts she got!

Princess dishes! Are you sensing a theme here??

The beginning of the end....

Well I have officially 3 1/2 weeks left until we meet our special little guy! We are all getting so excited and it just can't get here fast enough! I had a Dr.'s appointment this past Monday and the Dr. checked him and said everything is looking good! My blood pressure is cooperating nicely, so that's a relief!! Jackson is head down and my fluid levels still look great as well! Oh, and I finally figured out just what freaks me out about labor. I feel like in my last post, I wasn't articulating exactly what I was feeling. It's not the actual labor that freaks me out, it's the start of labor. The fact that one day you are just going about your business feeling just fine, then BAM! Your body is in pain and your just taken aback by this sudden change with what your body is doing. I think the drastic change would be so freaky! To me, it's almost like a car wreck. You are driving along, minding your own business when all of a sudden someone side swipes you! You never see it coming and suddenly your world has been turned upside down. That is what truly scares me. I know that even if I do go into labor, that the hospital is less than 10 min. away and I would be fine. Oh well, it looks like I won't have to deal with that hopefully since I am SOOO close to the end anyway!
Another exciting event is that my best friend who is also pregnant and due Feb. 21, was just told today by her Dr. that she would in fact, be meeting her baby girl this Friday instead!!! Everything is fine, the baby is big at 8.75 lbs. but her fluid was getting a little borderline low, so they felt they just needed to get her out a little early. We are all SO excited for them as they are first time parents and I just can't wait to meet their sweet baby girl!! It just all seems so real now since everyone is slowly but surely having their babies and everything is coming to a close in a sense!
I have another Dr.'s appointment on Monday, seeing as I am going every week now, so I will definitely let you know how everything goes! Oh, and I almost forgot! My own sweet baby girl will be turning 4 yrs. old on Monday!!! Can you believe it?!?! We will be celebrating her birthday this weekend with her school friends and our family, so I will post some pics later in the weekend!

What really scares me..

Well hello there! So we got some interesting news at the Dr. today.... Jackson apparently weighs 5 lbs. 9 oz.!! Yikes! He's OVER the 97th % for weight! Wow! My Dr. said she predicts that he will be between 8-9 lbs. at birth, so that's not horrible. Considering Makayla was 8 lbs. 4 oz. at least I will know what I'm in for! Haha! Well, now we know where all that weight I wasn't gaining was going! He looked great on the ultrasound and we got to see him for a long time, which was nice! We got some great pics of his cute little face which I will post later. After my appointment, Phil and I went over to Labor & Delivery and took a quick look around. Since they have a new building, I wanted to make sure I knew where to go and where to direct friends and family. So I am pretty exhausted after a very long day! On top of that, Makayla is apparently sick again. She woke up a few nights ago coughing, then crying and complained that her throat was hurting a little, but the next day she would act as if nothing was wrong. But today while my mom was watching her... she didn't want to eat and then had several bouts of diarrhea throughout the day, but she does not have fever! Nevertheless, she will stay home tomorrow and we will keep an eye on her and see how she does.

Now that I have that out of the way, I feel I need to express some of the things that scare me a little with this pregnancy. As most of you know, I never had the experience of labor with Makayla. I developed pre-eclampsia near the end of my pregnancy and they had to deliver Makayla via emergency C-section 2 1/2 weeks early. As of now, I have many friends that are having their second children as well, and almost every one of them has gone into labor early. One of my friends had her baby a full MONTH early!! Baby was fine and perfectly healthy at 7 lbs. but this really started to weigh on my mind. I am not particularly scared of labor itself, it's the unknown. I am really like a new mother in the sense that I still have no idea of what labor will feel like. Now you might be wondering why this is bothering me since I am scheduled to have another C-section, but again I refer back to my friends who went into labor early. I guess I am just worried that I may not know what's going on. I know that labor can sometimes take hours, but I am also aware that some labor doesn't last long and people can have their babies in just an hour! What I worry about is if for some reason my body decides to go into labor, I won't know how to handle it I guess. I know this sounds silly, but for someone who has never experienced it, it can be a pretty scary thought. I did ask my Dr. about it today and basically she said this. If I go into labor before 35 weeks, they can and will stop the labor with meds. If I go into labor after 35 weeks, they will not stop the labor and will immediately take me in for a C-section. However, if I go into labor and it progress very quickly and say I am 8cm, they will let me go ahead and have the baby naturally. (With drugs of course... I'm a wimp people!) But if labor starts and it is slow, then C-section time. So at least I know my options and I do feel better about that. I know that there is a very small chance that I would go into labor and it progressed that quickly, but I'm glad to know what to expect from my Dr.
Ok, well I have layed out my fears and feel better getting it all out, no matter how silly it sounds. I mean, can you really reason with a pregnant lady anyway?! Lol!! I will keep you updated on my progress! Oh, and I may have forgotten to tell you, but I do NOT have gestational diabetes! Another answered prayer!! Whohoo!!

8 Months and counting.....

I figured I had better write some more posts since my pregnancy is slowly but surely coming to an end and then you might not hear from me for a while! I am 8 months pregnant and it just seems so surreal. I don't know how to explain it and I know you will think I have lost my mind when I say this, but these last 8 months have gone by both fast and slow. In one sense I can't believe it's been 8 months, but then in another I can't believe I have 2 more months to go. Just write that off as crazy pregnant lady syndrome!
Several weeks ago, I had my gestational diabetes test, but ended up failing it! Booo! They said my levels were pretty high, so I had to go on a special diet for 3 days and then go back for a 3 hour test, which I did today. This really didn't surprise me too much, as this happened with Makayla as well. But I did pass the 3 hour test with her, so I am crossing my fingers I will have the same luck this time around! I will get the results back in just a couple of days, so here's hoping. I also go back in a week for another ultrasound and we will get to weigh Jackson and see just how big he's gotten! I am very interested in this because my last few weigh ins at the Dr. have been very puzzling. In October I had gained 2 lbs and in November I had gained 2 more. But in December, I had lost 5 lbs.! Dr. was not worried and said this was normal since I do have a little extra weight, it's nothing to be concerned about! Hey, I'm not complaining as long as it's not harming the baby!!
Other than that, school starts back tomorrow and I am somewhat excited. Don't get me wrong, I have very much enjoyed the time off, but I do tend to get cabin fever and I'll be happy to get back into a schedule again. I think Makayla will enjoy being back with her friends too since Mommy is not too much fun nowadays. I am getting bigger and bigger and it gets harder to move around and I definitely can't run around with her, so the poor thing has had to rely on Daddy when he comes home from work. But she is excited about going back to school, so that's good.
Jackson is moving around a lot too. It excites me just as much as it did when I was pregnant with Makayla. It is so fun to just watch my belly move around and just tonight he got hiccups! I know his movements will start to slow down the bigger I get, so I am trying to cherish these moments as much as I can.
Well, I think that's all for now. I will post more after my appointment next week and share all the exciting details! Hopefully we will get a good ultrasound pic and I can post that too! Have a great week!

A first for us all....

Well this week certainly has been interesting! A week ago, Makayla developed a slight cough, but was still in good spirits and had no fever. We made it through Christmas and she did great other than being tired from 2 days of no nap! We started to recuperate on Saturday, but then Makayla started taking a turn for the worse. She developed a high fever (102.8!) and was very lethargic. We made it through Saturday night, but on Sunday morning, she started throwing up. So we stopped giving her food and just let her drink water, but soon she couldn't even keep down the water. I called the Dr. and followed several suggestions he gave me, but Makayla soon started throwing up bile. I called the Dr. back and he at first wanted us to go straight to the Tx. Children's ER. Then he said he wanted us to try one more thing and he prescribed her some Zophran. Sure enough, the meds worked and she has not thrown up since! Thank goodness!! It's Monday and she is now tolerating liquids and crackers. I even gave her a banana and she is doing well! But it was definitely dicey there for about 12 hours!
Makayla is hardly ever sick and it's usually the runny nose, congestion stuff. She has never been this sick before and it was really really scary. I just felt SO helpless and all I could do was hold her and try to comfort her but I just wanted to make it all go away. It was especially emotional since I am pregnant so my hormones are on overload. When the Dr. first told us to go the ER I just burst into tears and luckily he understood because he knows too that Makayla is hardly ever sick. I got it together and he was so sweet and told me not to worry that she would be ok. But I think we've made it through the worst part and now we are just on recovery mode. I am especially glad that this at least happened on our break! We don't have to be back at school until next Tuesday so we've got a little more than a week for her to completely get better! Here's hoping 2010 is a good year of little illnesses!!

The Downside of Pregnancy

Well, I was lucky the first time I was pregnant that I didn't have people make comments about how I looked. However, I have a few friends (names protected for the innocent!) that have unfortunately been the brunt of some peoples lack of common sense gene. One friend recalled a woman asking her how far along she was and when she replied 7 1/2 months, the lady's jaw dropped and she actually told my friend to her face that she looked like she was about to pop any second!! As if that wasn't bad enough, the lady then asked what the gender was and when told a "little girl" she said, Oh honey, she isn't going to be little!! My friend had to walk away before inflicting bodily harm...
Why do people feel it's ok to just say things like this to pregnant women?? Seriously?! Another friend of a friend was told by her co-worker that pregnant women tend to get ugly towards the end and that she would tell this girl when that happened..... Yeah, I'll pause for you to think about that for a second. This pregnancy however is apparently non-exist because just today I had 3 people act shocked when I started talking about Jackson kicking me. They all said, "Oh, we had no idea you were pregnant!" Are you kidding me? What do you think this huge bump is exactly, a tumor?!?! So I am getting the opposite end of the spectrum here.. oh well.
I just don't understand what exactly these people are trying to accomplish by telling a pregnant person that they look "huge". Would you want someone telling you that? It's not like we are super comfortable with our bodies anyway, so let's just add insult to injury there. Oh, and another favorite is when asked if having twins and when the answer is no, they ask "Are you sure?" No, I was just taking a stab in the dark there.... my medically trained DR. has no idea what he/she is doing. I mean come on!!
So word to all those out there who know a pregnant person, please be kind. It's always a good thought to use the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So another words, THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK and think if you wanted to hear that said to you!! If not, then shut it!! Thanks, I really am only trying to spare your life people...

Headaches and Hunger...

Well for the last several weeks, I have started to get frequent headaches. Sometimes they are dull, not that bothersome ones, but others are sharp and just really annoying. They would come at random times and I never knew what was causing them exactly, so I would just take some Tylenol and hope they would go away fast. But then I started getting them as frequent as 3-4 times a week. I had a Dr.'s appointment and told her about this, but she said it was probably the weather. But earlier this week, I was asleep in my nice warm bed when a really bad headache struck in the middle of the night! I couldn't believe it! I mean, I was asleep, relaxed and it's the middle of the night! I took medicine, but it lasted well into the next morning. Then tonight, I had eaten a small meal early (around 5:30) and 3 hours later, I started to feel hungry again. Then a headache started coming on again. Now I am wondering, could low blood sugar be the problem?? I have another Dr.'s appointment in a couple of weeks and that's when I will have my gestational diabetes test. It will be interesting to see if I have it, but I will definitely be asking my Dr. about this new development. Again, this pregnancy has proven to be a complete 180 from my pregnancy with Makayla. It's like Jackson is trying to say, "HEY, I'm gonna be different in every way possible!!!" Little stinker!
Well, that's it for now.. guess I'm off to eat a small snack and see if that helps with the headache!

Top 10 Things I Am Thankful For....

Ok, there has been a trend on Facebook where for the week before Thanksgiving, people write what they are thankful for everyday. So I decided to just make a Top 10 list right here since the next week is gonna be crazy! Not in order of importance, here goes:

1. My family
2. My friends
3. My job and work friends
4. God and his son Jesus
5. My health- I've had ups and downs, but it's nothing compared to others
6. My car
7. My cats- crazy as they are, they are so sweet and love to cuddle
8. Electronics- yeah I think everyone knows how much I love my computer and cell phone...
9. Great cooks- I am not one, so I am very thankful for those who know how to cook out there!
10. Comedy- cause laughter is truly the best medicine

There are many more things I am thankful for, but didn't want to write a novel! I hope you all have a truly wonderful Thanksgiving!

And you would be??

I don't know if I still have any followers and if I do, I would be shocked! I am so sorry for my absence, but as many of you know, life with a preschooler is anything but dull! The last month has been crazy! So many things at school to get ready for and then there was Halloween, which I swear Makayla thinks is the greatest day EVER. She is STILL talking about it and saying,"Well I'm gonna be Snow White tomorrow for Halloween." Even though we have told her otherwise, there is no convincing her. She did go as Belle this year and was the prettiest princess we've ever seen! We went over to my parents neighborhood, (also known as the "good candy" area), and went down just a couple of streets. Being pregnant, I really wasn't up for walking for hours on end and we didn't want that much candy in our house as well! Makayla has also decided that lollipops are her favorite candy, which is funny since we never give her candy! She really has only had M&M's and Reese's, so I'm glad she picked something other than chocolate as her favorite! Hahaha!
Other than that, we have been good. Jackson has been kicking like CRAZY! Just last week, Phil got to feel him for the first time. It was so exciting and just amazing at the same time. It's one thing to test positive and know in your heart that there is a baby in you, but it is another to actually feel them move! It's hard to explain, but it just makes everything more real. That baby IS a person inside you. It is just mind-blowing to know that in a few short months, we will have another person in our home. We will have children, not just a child. No more family of three, no more having just "girly" toys. It really hit home when Phil and I were driving and saw a father throwing a football with his son, well as you can imagine, the pregnancy hormones went into overdrive and I just starting crying! I said to Phil, "Oh, that will be you and Jackson one day!" Yeah, I did get the crazy look from Phil, but he has been through this with me before so he wasn't surprised at least.
Besides the occasional emotional meltdown, the pregnancy has been good for the last month or two! I haven't been sick or had any cravings thank goodness. I have had some "growing pains" as the Dr's call them where my sides or tummy will feel sore and achy, but it hasn't been too bad. Jackson is however, pressing on a nerve in my back that is causing me a lot of numbness and pain in my right upper thigh. Some days it feels like a million needles being jabbed in that area and will even wake me from a deep sleep. I may go see a Chiropractor soon to hopefully readjust things and make it a little more bearable. I don't know how much it will help though since Jackson is apparently practicing to be a gymnast in my belly. I feel him move ALL THE TIME! Every hour I feel some sort of movement, some may be more subtle, but other times for a good 30 minutes straight, he will kick and punch and Lord knows what else in there! It feels like he's doing forward rolls sometimes!! Haha! Then suddenly it will stop and I guess he wears himself out and sleeps, but I know that he will start up again soon, so it's kinda funny. He already has this little personality and shows me what he doesn't like and that is when I lay on my right side. Every night, I usually lay down on that side and almost immediately he starts kicking me and letting me know that he does NOT like that position. When I roll over, he stops the kicking usually and just chills. Little stinker! Not even born and already causing trouble! Lol!!
I have my next Dr.'s appointment the day before Thanksgiving and I am anxious to see how much he's grown. At my last appointment, I had only gained 2lbs and that was after not gaining anything for 2 months! I certainly feel huge and really I am not even showing too much. I mean, you can definitely see a bump, but right now I can't imagine getting bigger and I know I am not any where near what I am gonna be!! Yikes! Oh well, all for the sake of the baby right?!
Well, I feel like I have written a novel! I hope this makes up for my desertion! I promise to be better and you know I will be writing and posting tons of pics once Jackson makes his debut! Thanks for hanging in there with me!

And the gender is....

Well.... IT'S A BOY!!!! Yeah!!! We are so excited!! His name will be Jackson Philip Graf! Makayla is VERY excited, even though she has been saying she wants a baby sister... she started running around in circles yelling, "It's a boy, it's a boy, it's a boy!!!" So adorable!! She keeps talking about him too and using his name, it is just so sweet! We are just very blessed to feel like our family is complete! Thank you for all your well wished and prayers!

Dr.'s Appt. Update!

So this past Thurs. I had a prenatal appointment and I brought Makayla with me. We were both excited to get to hear the baby's heartbeat! So we left school early (the Dr.'s office is literally 3 min. from my school) and got the the office and checked in. We were 15 min. early, but they called me back pretty much right away! So Makayla and I are sitting in the room and time starts to pass, and I am desperately trying to entertain a 3 yr. old with no toys at hand! We drew some pictures and practiced her letter "B" words, but after about 35 min. she started to get VERY restless! She finally sat in my lap with her head on my shoulder and I knew she was getting tired of waiting, but after a full 45 min. of waiting, the Dr. finally came in! She had on her scrubs so I figured she had an emergency delivery earlier in the day that probably caused her whole schedule to get off, but no explanation was given for the delay. Oh well. But she started talking to Makayla and asked her to be her "Assistant" and put some gloves on her and told her to tell me what to do. So Makayla had me lay on the table and put my head on the pillow! Haha! It was so cute! Then she had her stand next to the table and they got the Doppler out to hear the heartbeat. After a minute or two they couldn't find anything and I started to panic, but the Dr. told me their machine had been acting up and it was broken. She said they would have to do an ultrasound, so I would get a free pic that day! Whohoo! So they started to ultrasound and when Makayla saw that baby on the screen, her little eyes just lit up and she said, "Wow Mommy, look at it moving!!!" It just melted my heart to see her so excited about it! The Dr. seemed rushed and the picture we got was not very clear at all, so that was a bummer! But our next appointment will be Oct. 9th and we will then learn the baby's gender!! SO EXCITED!!! So everything is looking good and the baby is growing stronger and bigger every day! We have been looking up baby names and think we may have it narrowed down... that was a BIG accomplishment! Just a week ago we had absolutely no names in mind what so ever!
So that's what has been going on in our little world this week! Hope you all had a great weekend!

And on a happier note

Hello friends! Well, school started last week (Wed.), which was also my 30th birthday! What a crazy day! Our class is great, a little smaller this year, but hey, that's fine by me! Makayla also started school and she loves her class! That's all she could talk about for the last several days, so that is exciting! I realize my last post may have left you wondering about my mental state and I am happy to report that I am doing better. We had my first Dr.'s appointment a couple weeks ago and got our first ultrasound. We have a cute little bean so far! As of right now, I am starting my 12th week, so my first trimester is almost over! The nausea still comes and goes, but luckily seems to only come at night. It still sucks, but at least I am not overcome by it. We will found out the gender in mid-October, so we are just counting down the weeks! My official due date is Mar. 9th, but my Dr. wants to do another C-section since I had pre-eclampsia the last time and she really doesn't want me to go into labor. This did depress me when I heard this as I really wanted to try for a VBAC this time around. I have never gotten to experience any type of labor, no water breaking, no contractions, nothing and I really wanted to at least have one contraction in my life time, but I guess it's not in the cards. Of course I want to have a healthy baby and would not want to do anything to endanger him/her, but it is still hard to accept. Because of all that, she will do the C-section 7-10 days before my due date which puts us at early Mar. for having this baby! I would love March 1, but Phil wants Mar. 2nd since that is Texas Independence Day. (History majors, what can I tell ya?!) So I guess we'll just have to wait and see! Since I haven't posted many pics, I will leave you with some that are just too cute for words! Enjoy!!

Baby Graf #2! What a cutie!

Makayla in her uniform!

Makayla in her Chapel day uniform! So adorable!

It ain't easy being queasy...

Ok, I will warn you now. This post might be a little depressing and a little dark. So this pregnancy has proved to be the absolute opposite of when I was pregnant with Makayla. I mean, total 180 here people. That pregnancy was the ultimate perfect pregnancy that every mother dreams of. I had no nausea, no pain, no weird symptoms, nothing! Except for the birth, which I detailed out in a previous post, you could not have asked for a better pregnancy. I prayed that the next time I got pregnant, lightning would strike twice and I would have another great pregnancy. Alas, I was not so lucky. I have been nauseous, sick, and just utterly feeling horrible. If it's not one thing, it's another and every day something doesn't feel good in my body. I know I sound whiny, and I apologize, but this just sucks! Eating is a chore because every time I eat, I feel like throwing up afterwards, no matter what it is. I've tried eating bland stuff, and even salt free things, but nothing seems to be helping. Now I do have days where I feel better, but not discomfort free. It is slowly consuming me and making it very hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know in my heart that this will end when the baby comes, but what seems like a relatively short time feels like an eternity. I know when school starts, time will go by faster since I will be very busy, but it's still hard to feel the joy.
The hardest part is that I rarely even think of the baby growing inside me. Yes, I know how bad that sounds and trust me, it hurts me to no end. It's not because I don't want to think of the baby, it's just hard to when my body is constantly causing me stress and it consumes my thoughts. We are excited to have this baby, I just wish my body would cooperate a little bit. I know I can't expect to feel 100% better, but it would be nice to not think about the discomfort every waking minute. I think it's also hard because I haven't yet been to the OB. I have my first appointment in just 2 weeks and I am really excited about it. I think hearing that heart beat and seeing the baby on the ultrasound might give me some renewed hope and strength. Until then, I am left to just pray and do what I can to relieve my discomfort. My school meetings start this week and I can only hope it will provide a distraction and let me concentrate on this precious baby growing inside me.

Surprise!

Dear Family & Friends,

I do not have a face to see,
Or put inside a frame.
I do not have soft cheeks to kiss.
I don't yet have a name.

Not yet can you hold my tiny hands,
Nor whisper in my ear.
It's still too soon to sing a song,
Or cuddle me so near.

But all that will change come this March;
When they say I am due.
I am the newest Graf baby;
And I can't wait until I meet you!

All I ask between now and then
Is your love for me to grow.
I promise I'll be worth the wait;
Just think of all the joy we'll know!

So as you're waiting patiently,
Please pray lots of prayers for me.
I cannot wait to be a part
Of this wonderful family!

Well friends, we are obviously thrilled to announce that we are pregnant! I have not yet been to the Dr. since I am a little over 5 weeks now and they usually don't see you until you are at least 8 weeks. Makayla is VERY excited about being a big sister and keeps kissing my belly! She is always asking about the baby, it's so cute! The only bad thing is that I am extremely nauseous. I was never like this with Makayla, so this is a new experience. I have eaten toast and starches, but that doesn't seem to help. I may have to call the Dr. for some meds because I can't seem to get this under control. I don't even feel like eating most of the time, but I have to for the baby, so it's just a constant battle. Other than that, things are going pretty well! We are even more excited about this because 2 of our neighbors are pregnant as well as my best friend!! So I finally get to be pregnant with someone for a change! Haha! Alright, well I just wanted to share our good news! Hope you all have a great week!