Our Appointment Today!

Above are some of the 4D ultrasound pictures she gave us of Mari. We are still measuring a few weeks larger, which would put Mari somewhere between 3 and 4 lbs! However that is within normal limits (just larger than average) and so they assure me it is nothing to worry about. Also I passed each of the four parts of my three hour glucose tolerance test with flying colors. YEAH! I was so nervous since I failed the one hour one so badly. Apparently only 15% of the people who fail the one hour go on to fail the three hour and have gestational diabetes. The stuff I had to drink today was the equivalent of two 20 oz Coke's only it was supper concentrated and I had to drink it really fast. They did one blood draw before I drank it and one every hour after for three hours. It is the only true way to tell who has gestational diabetes. The one hour test is just a screening, not really a test for gestational diabetes. So anyway, glad it is all over and done with and that Mari and I seem to be doing fine. My blood pressure is great, my weight gain is fine. No more problems with pre-term labor so I just have to follow the same rules they gave me last Thursday night--no carrying Jake around in the grocery store, if the contractions get strong enough that I can feel them then lay down, etc.

Trip to Water Valley for Ann's Birthday.

Above and below, four generations of Carr men (James' Uncle Phillip is not pictured).
Front Row: James, Jake, Dick (James' paternal grandfather)
Back Row: Larry (James' dad), John (James' older brother)
James, Jake, Larry and Dick all have the same first name (James).

Above are James' siblings (from left) Cheri, John with his girlfriend Angela in front, James, Jake and James' parents Larry and Ann. Ann's birthday was September 5th and so we all went over there that Saturday to surprise her.

Above is me and below is Jake and James' grandfather Dick.

Below, Jake is trying to put on James' flip flops.

Be careful what you wish for...

Well most of you know that me being a word person, words have a profound affect on me. So I find it ironic that after swearing I would never have a baby in November again, I am due two days after Jake's birthday. This week I have been mourning the fact that I would have had my third baby by now and instead I have to wait 11 more weeks.
Yesterday Mari was being really still (very unusual for her). When I couldn't remember feeling her kick at all by 3 p.m. I started to get concerned and started keeping up with movements, or lack thereof, on paper. I took a shower and noticed my belly was rock hard and thought maybe I just had overdone things as my back was hurting really bad by this point as well. Around 5:30 I did the juice and laying on your left side and all of that and she still wouldn't respond. I called the hospital and they said to lie on my left side for 30 more minutes and call back if I still didn't feel anything. By this point I had eaten some soup, drank four or six big sips of James' coffee and drank some cold milk. I tried to stay calm and called the hospital back. The told me to come in (they are around 50 minutes away) so I grabbed some stuff for Jake and James and I rushed to the hospital. We still couldn't feel her move, but we could hear her heartbeat on the monitor. It turns out that (a) she was asleep-they can tell this by her movement and variations in her heart rate (b) she is running out of room since she is measuring three weeks bigger than she is supposed to (c) I am HAVING CONTRACTIONS that is why I couldn't feel her move. You think I would have noticed CONTRACTIONS! They are still short and irregular and some of them I was not even able to feel. I am not dilated at all and my cervix hasn't moved down yet or anything, but I am only 28 weeks (almost 29 weeks by the doctors' estimate, but I disagree with their due date). When you have a contraction your uterus tightens up and you can't feel anything move inside it. When they made me lay on my back she woke up and started thrashing about as usual. I told James that next time I will lay on my back instead of my left side (they told me to on the phone to lie on my left side) because apparently she REALLY does not like me lying on my back. They monitored me for awhile and did some lab work just to make sure I didn't have any other preterm labor signs and everything else came back great--No dehydration, no Urinary Track Infection, no high blood pressure, sugar or protein or even blood in my urine. We discussed the fact that I had contractions and started dilating with Jake at 34 weeks and that it is possible that I had these same problems with him but was not hooked up to a fetal monitor until 34 weeks (because I had been having Braxton Hicks forever with him--since month 4) and it wasn't until they became pretty regular and 10-13 minutes apart that I even mentioned anything to the DR. At the time they prepared me to have an October baby (his due date was Nov 30) and I had to go in for additional monitoring every week and he didn't show up until Nov 25th, so I am not as concerned as I would be otherwise I guess. They gave me a whole list of things to watch for and since I am booked for this Wednesday they will do a followup then. Apart from that no real restrictions -just to take it easier than I have been, etc. Also they told me to take Tylenol PM as it can stop false contractions (I was having tons of Braxton Hicks--that is why my uterus was rock hard--but only a few real contractions). I guess this weekend I will pack my bag for the hospital after all... Pray Mari bakes long enough to be healthy but not too long so I don't have to have my c-section on the 29th! I do want another baby in November, I really do!

Oh and Jake was charming his way around the labor and delivery ward. They gave him a sticker that said "I'm a big brother" and a carton of milk (we were there for quite awhile). While we were trying to keep him entertained we were asking him questions and I asked him how many fingers he had. He said ten! I thought maybe it was a coincidence so I asked him how many toes he had and he said ten! I am so amazed as this isn't something we have directly taught him but something he has picked up on his own. Sure, we count his fingers and toes but I didn't realize he understood number as a quantitative measure of anything yet. He is a smart little monkey. I am currently teaching him what all the different buttons on the radio do (as well as what ones not to touch on a computer). It is amazing how much he understands. He got very excited when they hooked Mari up to the monitor and he even pointed and said Baboo a few times. He tried to answer questions that the nurse was asking me as well. As it was a late night, none of us got a lot of sleep last night and so it will hopefully be an early an uneventful night for us!

Updates...

Update on the crib bedding. The small yellow flower and two pink butterflies are part of the mobile I am making. I still have two more butterflies to go. I found the yellow flower center and yellow flower pillow (larger flower) at Toys R Us. The crib sheets are washed and I put them in the crib for now. You can also see the ugly barn red walls in the bedroom. We are painting it Olive Green. We will probably wait until October for that (by we I mean James and I will not be painting-or even home at the time).

This is the diaper organizer that my mom made as well as the crib bumper above and the baby quilt below. I don't know what I would do without her!

We have also decided to start a baby registry online for the few items that we will need:
http://www.toysrus.com/registry/index.jsp
Our registry number is 57002819 or you can search under James' name, my name or Mari.

I have dreading this week for quite some time now. This week my third baby (babies two and three were miscarriages) was due and because I was planning on attempting a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After a Cesarean) my DR had already asked me to schedule a back up c-section date. We picked September 4th and her words "One way or another you will have this baby by September 4th" have haunted me since I lost the baby at the end of January. Anyway, so I expected this week to be hard. Jake was a rough pregnancy as he was so big and active (8lbs 9.5 oz right at birth, but he was very dehydrated and once they gave him IV fluids he was 9lbs 15 oz. He also had control of his neck when he was born at almost 39 weeks via emergency section after 18 hours of hard labor). His birth was very difficult and I have been trying my best to do everything I can to have a successful VBAC. James and I originally wanted 3-5 kids and if this birth ends up also a c-section then I just don't know what I will do. I can't see myself signing up for a third or fourth c-section. Third maybe, but anyway that is a different post. Because of how things went last time my doctor has nicely waited until today to bring up the scheduling of my c-section. We agreed on the 29th of Nov. if she doesn't come by then, but it still was very hard to do. Also I failed my one hour glucose test today by 40 points. I failed the one hour with Jake by like 5 points and they decided it was probably because of what I ate for breakfast (toast with jelly and a banana) and then I only failed one of the three hour tests (the one hour portion as well) so they made me do the blood sugar monitor 4 times a day for a month which I passed with flying colors (highest reading was 112 after Mexican food and about a gallon of sweet tea) before deciding that I was fine and didn't have gestational diabetes. BUT I only failed the one hour by 5 points with him AND I had eaten a lot of sweet things that time, this time I fasted and failed it by 40 POINTS. UGH. Also I gained around 10 lbs this month bringing my total so far to 31 lbs with Mari (all in the last four months as I didn't start gaining any weight until my second trimester). I have started measuring bigger (three weeks) and if this baby is as big as Jake was then I probably won't get my VBAC. The only good news was my blood pressure was great and I am having a 4D ultrasound next Wednesday in the middle of my three hour test so that I have something to look forward too! James is coming as well and we are both excited about seeing little Miss Mari since our last u/s was at 16 weeks!

Jake is amazing! He is learning things so fast. He is saying his first real (complete) sentence: "I love Daddy!" He is such a Daddy's boy. He has been referring to Mari as the Baboo for a few months now and we have been trying to teach her how to say Mari. He sometimes calls her Maboo so he is getting closer. He gives my belly a big kiss every now and then just to let her know he loves her as well. He is working on all of his colors and animal noises, counting to 20, animal parts (he is confused as to why dogs only have feet and not hand or fingers or toes). He loves to climb me (literally). If I sit or lay down he quickly scales me and sits on my chest on top of Mari (which traps me because he weighs almost 30 lbs) and then kisses me and laughs because he knows I am trapped. Two weeks ago (tomorrow makes two weeks) we agreed to try a stomach acid reducer (Prevacid) with Jake (on a temporary basis) to try and heal his esophagus enough that he can eat more and hopefully this will help the Reflux resolve itself. It has worked very well so far. I was very nervous about putting a child his age on ANY sort of medicine even just for a few weeks and so far we have managed the reflux by diet and conditioning (feeding him even at night, etc). It has been a hard fight and it is nice to see him doing so well with it. He seems to like vegetables after all, it was just a texture thing from the reflux. He goes back in two weeks to see if he has healed enough to wean him off the Prevacid AND because he has been eating better, HE HAS ALMOST BEEN SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! YEAH!

Fountain of Fun!

A Dancing Jake!

Above you can see Jake dancing while James plays music off our computer for him. He still loves music and will dance to commercials and peoples cell phones. He has a "Little People" Sing-A-Long CD which he wants to hear ALL THE TIME (sometimes I feel they are a cult or something-if they start making children's clothes then I will worry)! It is funny (in a sweet, never thought that would happen sort of way) to hear James singing "The Teddy Bear Picnic". He (Jake) goes around the house singing songs with words he makes up. He is so full of energy! If you look carefully you can see where Jake gets his big feet from!

August 25th Trip to Water Valley

Jake got to feed the peacock and ride on the tractor (well sit on it anyway, as it was safely parked)

Jake had a lot of fun playing with Emily. Jake does not have any first cousins of his own. Emily is actually James' first cousin, but as she will be six this October, she didn't seem to mind playing with Jake. They hadn't seen each other since Christmas and Jake was able to play with her a lot better now that he is older. He turned 21 months old this day (August 25th). I can't believe how big he is getting! We would have taken more pictures but our camera card was full. Apparently when I delete them at work it just pretends to delete them. It actuality it makes a hidden file on my camera card so I am not sure what I am doing wrong.