My Husband is a Real Life Superhero

Yikes, it’s been 4 months since I last touched this blog. 

I’ll be honest, this pregnancy is absolutely kicking my butt.  I am exhausted and have a headache a good majority of the time as well as bouts of nausea.  Soooo much better than full blown HG, but difficult nonetheless.  I haven’t been able to completely wean off of medications which has been discouraging to me as someone who doesn’t even like to take OTC medication at all.  I still need to take Phenergen pills on occasion but the big thing is that I have to wear scolpolamine patches behind my ears at all times.  They are commonly placed after full anesthesia post-surgery to help people with nausea but, in my case, they keep the HG at bay.  It’s frusterating because I am 24 weeks along and by week 17 of my last pregnancy, I was completely off all meds and had a pretty normal pregnancy.

I’m extremely grateful for my boss and co-workers who have all been so supportive.  I have a really solid team in place and am able to work from home on the bad days.  Short term disability paid my salary at 100% for the months I was out of work and our insurance covered the cost of everything.  I know many women with HG who have lost their jobs due to their inability to work.  It’s heartbreaking and I do not take the blessings that I have for granted.

So, most everyone knows that my husband is Spiderman (and occasionally Iron Man) with Marvel and with a local children’s entertainment company.  What everyone may not know is that he is a real life superhero.  I cannot tell you how much more difficult this 2^nd HG pregnancy would be for me without his love and support.  During those first dark months when I was in the hospital and then bedridden at home with a PICC line, he took care of both Shay and me.  He never once complained about it.  Even now, I am so exhausted after work that I often just crash when I get home.  He feeds & bathes Shay and gets her ready for bedtime.  I have a good deal of mommy guilt for missing so much time and care for our daughter, but he is so encouraging and does a great job with her (and me).

After 2 awful pregnancies with HG, I don’t want to go through it again and Jeff doesn’t want to put me in that situation either.  Thankfully, two kiddos was always our limit anyway.  I feel for the women in my HG support group who want to have more children but cannot because of the physical, emotional & financial toll that HG takes.  

He has given me permission to write about this, so I can post that Jeff got a vasectomy on Feb. 7^th.  This seems to terrify so many men but Jeff really stood up like the superhero he is and “took one (well, really two) for the team.”  He said it was the least he could do after watching me endure HG and childbirth.  He also knows how much harder it is for a woman to have a hysterectomy.  He even opted on his own accord to just do a local anesthetic so that he could drive himeself there and back.  The plan that day was for me to get Shay to school in the morning (he had to leave the house before that time) and for me to pick her back up in the afternoon and bring her to work with me for the rest of the day to give him that time to rest.  However, HG had different plans and, while I was able to get Shay to school in the morning, I ended up vomiting non-stop at work and had to come back home early.  The icing on the proverbial cake was that it was a cold day and I had worn one of Jeff’s winter jackets which I ended up vomiting all over on the drive home.  I walked in the house crying and blubbering like a fool something to the tune of, “I’m so sorry.  The one day I wanted to be able to support you and I can’t even do that.  AND I THREW UP ALL OVER YOUR JACKET!!!”  Jeff just laughed at me and proceeded to take care of me and he went and got Shay from school that afternoon.  Despite it being a crappy day in health land, both of us managed to still see the humor in the situation and I refered to him as “Numb Nuts” all day. 

I will admit that, even with us only wanting two kids, I did have a very slight pang of disappointment that I likely will never have a son.  I’m kind of flying blind at the thought of raising sisters since I never had one growing up.  However, I am extremely happy to know that Kyla will soon be joining our family.  Shay is excited to be a big sister and we can’t wait to see what Kyla looks like and get to know her unique personality.  I can already tell just by her activity in the womb that she is different than her big sister.  She’s super active and strong!  Around this time, I was just starting to feel little flutters/kicks with Shay.  I’ve been able to feel strong, distinctive kicks from Kyla since week 16.  Jeff and Shay have both felt her kick and she already moves my whole belly with her gymnastics/kick-boxing (often at night when I’m trying to sleep).  She can definitely hear now because she went ape one day when Jeff was banging a bunch of metal pans around and Shay starting yelling.  So looking forward to holding her in my arms instead of getting pummeled by her from the inside. 

Jeff is eager to take care of all of his girls.  I am so glad he is not one of those men who only wants boys.  I am also extremely grateful that we are in the position to have one of us stay at home.  Jeff did great with Shay and I have no doubt that he’ll do great with Kyla too.  HG is difficult for everyone.  Jeff has had to step up a lot more with taking care of both Shay and me as well as running the household.  Shay has lost time with Mommy although she is very much a Daddy’s Girl.  The book “Mama Has Hyperemesis Gravidarum (But only for a Little While)" helped and, at 3 years old, Shay is good at empathizing with someone having an illness.  I hear complaints from many women whose husbands are not supportive in the least and it makes be sad for them and even more grateful for Jeff who has promised to be my rock through this experience.  That is a real man and a real life superhero if you ask me.  

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Growing Our Family

Life, with all of its twists and turns, caught us by surprise again.  Ever hear the "best laid plans" saying?  Well, we definitely know that there are just things you cannot plan for.  Never has it been more apparent than in the last year.

Here is a rough timeline of events:

2003 - Got married (always talked about having a biological child and adopting the opposite gender from South Korea)
2005-2008 - Struggled with infertility
2009 - Got pregnant and had a horrible go around with Hyperemesis Gravidarum
2010 - Shay was born!
2012 - Began to look into South Korean adoption only to discover we are ineligible due to the South Korean government mandate that there cannot be more than a 10 year age gap between spouses (Jeff & I are 11.5 years apart)
2012 - Went to see what our chances of conceiving naturally again would be and were told that we had less than a 1% chance.  I wasn't positive I wanted to go that route due to the rough time with H.G. but I wanted to know all of our options.
2012 - Though it was a big change from what we had planned, we started the process to adopt domestically figuring that the infertility diagnosis was confirmation enough to proceed with adoption.
2013 - Our home study was approved and we were chosen by a birthmother a few months ago.  This adoption ultimately fell through as she decided to parent once the baby was born.

This all leads me to today.  Timing has been so crazy and yet so orchestrated.  Our agency was calling us to begin the process for a home study renewal.  Both of us were a little hesitant for several reasons I won't go into on this post.  Suffice it to say, we weren't 100% and wanted to take some time to both get clarity on how to proceed.  

For months we've had our Smoky Mountains trip planned so we wanted to go and celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary with a private vow renewal and photography at one of the most beautiful places ever, Honeysuckle Hills and just take some time to step back from everything.  We also rented a beautiful chalet way up in the mountains with amazing views, hot tub, jacuzzi, fireplace, etc.

Here's the crazy part:  Just a few days prior to leaving for the Smoky Mountains, I found out I am pregnant!  Excitement, fear, everything hit all at once.  This was definitely an answer regarding whether or not to renew our home study.  Jeff called our case worker and she was very supportive and has suspended our case but we can always renew it if we choose adoption later.  Ironically, just after finding out I am pregnant, I also was contacted to enter the final process for grad. school admission to ASU's online master's program and found out that I had been selected to attend the NAMIC business leadership seminar in L.A., both of which I had to turn down.  After confirming the pregnancy with the doctor, off we went on our anniversary trip.  I'm so glad we had those precious, amazing days because, on the last day of the trip, Hyperemesis Gravidarum reared its ugly head with full force. 

It was an extremely long trip back with me throwing up constantly.  Luckily we got back into town in the early afternoon and were able to see Dr. V. that evening.  He immediately admitted me to the hospital where I stayed all the way until yesterday evening.  We had hoped that it would be much easier to treat the H.G. this time around but we thought wrong.  The hospitals and infusion companies will no longer give as high a dosage of meds as they did when I was pregnant with Shay so it took some miserable days in the hospital trying to come up with a combination of meds that would work to help me.  Yesterday, after 4 tries, they were finally able to get a PICC line and now I'm home attached to 2 medicine pumps and will have home care nursing twice a week.

I cannot tell you how awful H.G. is.  But with it came so much outpouring of support from family and friends.  We are so grateful.  I'm 7 weeks along and we're most definitely still not out of the woods as far as risk of miscarriage so I continue to ask for prayers.   I also wanted to send out a huge thank you to those who have supported the adoption.  We still paid about $6,000 into it and, even though things haven't worked out the way we thought, we are still so grateful for everyone who has supported all of our means to grow our family.  

What a Difference a Year Makes (Hyperemesis Gravidarum)

One year ago today, just a couple of weeks after discovering I was pregnant, I ended up at Summit Hospital's ER due to complications from hyperemesis gravidarum or HG. I eventually ended up at Centennial Women's Hospital a couple of times until I was able to go home with a medicine pump attached to a subcutaneous needle, then an IV and finally a PICC line. I had a wonderful home care nurse who came several times a week to take care of me. You can read back on this post for a rundown of what happened. It was, hands-down, the sickest I've ever been in my life!

What I didn't elaborate on was exactly what hyperemesis gravidarum really is. There are actually a host of websites dedicated to this condition in pregnant women, with the H.E.R. Foundation (Hyperemesis Education & Research) being one that I learned a lot from which states, "HG is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting with potential adverse consequences for the newborn(s)...There are no known causes of hyperemesis gravidarum, only theories, but it is likely that HG is caused by a number of interrelated factors that vary by woman and by pregnancy. Treatment thus differs because women will respond differently to medications and other interventions."

Give me a moment to climb aboard my soapbox (oh wait, a blog is just one big soapbox)...

Please do not mistake HG with morning sickness! To do so downplays the severity of the condition. It certainly did not help at all when women would tell me that they understood what I was going through because they had such bad morning sickness. Yet they were still able to go about their days fairly normally. HG is not a condition that causes some discomfort and allows you to continue to be functional. It is a debilitating illness that stops normal life right in its tracks. For a few months, I could barely make it out of bed. Taking a shower was a monumental effort. Friends would ask me if I was bored. I was so sick, boredom was never a factor. I didn't have enough energy to do much of anything even watch T.V. or read.

Dr. Vasquez said that I had the worst case of HG he had ever encountered. I was in the hospital a few extra days because he was trying to research what would be the best means of treatment and then find an infusion company that would provide that much medication to a pregnant woman. At one point, during the course of trying different meds, I passed out in my hospital room when I was trying to get to the bathroom. I remember the room spinning and feeling really dizzy and the next thing I knew I was coming to on the floor. The whole time I was sick with HG, I was so scared I'd lose the baby. After struggling to get pregnant in the first place, I was discouraged that I couldn't just have a healthy pregnancy. But against so many odds, I ended up with a healthy, beautiful, amazing baby girl and I am so very grateful!

Today I am none the worse for the wear and can't believe it's been a year since my experience with HG all started. As I reflect back on it, I am so thankful for my friends, family & co-workers who supported me through it, most especially Jeff who took better care of me than I could've ever hoped for.

I'm taking time to learn more about HG and hearing other women's stories is amazing. Some suffered more so than I did, even to the point of losing babies and sustaining damage to organs due to such severe dehydration and other complications of HG. I had never heard of this before getting pregnant. To read more about it, check out the National Organization for Rare Disorders website and the book "Beyond Morning Sickness."

For the Birds

Jeff says I'm "nesting."  Guess it's not just for the birds.  I have a bunch of house projects/cleaning that I want to get done.  Don't know if that's really a result of a "nesting" instinct or just because I have all this time on my hands now that I'm off work and don't know what else to do.  The nursery is now completely ready and I have to say I'm quite pleased with myself...love the way it's turned out.  Shay (and her Mommy & Daddy) will have quite a nice place to hang out equipped with everything we need.  I'll just be on the hunt to find a nice table lamp for soft lighting and then we're all set!

Thursday we had what is hopefully our last ultrasound.  I say "hopefully" not because I don't like seeing baby in the womb but because the only way I'd have another one is if she's late and I certainly don't want that!  I am ready to meet this little one (and lose the late 3rd trimester pregnancy pains/discomforts).  The ultrasound showed that baby Shay has over inch long hair and it's sticking straight out of her head!  Haha, she will have a fro!  Even Dr. Mackey and her nurse Melody were cracking up at the photo.  Next mission will be to teach Jeff how to use barrettes, bows, hairbands & such.  The ultrasound tech did measurements and estimates her weight to be right around 7 lbs. but it's not totally accurate.  I hope she doesn't get too much bigger or it'll just get harder to deliver her!

She has dropped a little lower and I'm dialated 1 cm. which isn't much but at least we have the beginnings of some signs that she's getting ready to be born.  Speaking of which, we've had a lot of people ask...yes, provided everything goes well, visitors are totally welcome to the hospital the day AFTER she arrives.  Just call Jeff's cell beforehand.  Message me if you don't have his number.

Baby Showers

Today is my first day of maternity leave!  So excited!  It's nice to actually have a little thing called leisure time (and rest!) before baby comes.  Which means I can finally update this blog a little more. 

Well, our family, friends & co-workers have spoiled us rotten.  We've had 3 baby showers...one long distance thrown by my mom's friends, one in town at Jeff's sister Julie's house, and one at my work.  Between all of them, we have been so blessed and baby Shay is well stocked with baby care supplies, clothes, toys, furniture, gear, etc.  We are truly blown away at the outpouring of love, generosity & friendship.  Here are some promised pictures:

Opening gifts

Jeff, me (& baby!) with Jeff's parents and the crib mattress they bought for Shay

Pile of gifts for Shay

The ridiculously fabulous diaper cake and the ridiculously huge Gigi's cupcakes at the 330 Post shower

Hands down the funniest baby gift we've gotten (courtesy of "Creepy Uncle Mark" from my work)...yes the onesie says "Pull My Finger!"

I have a lot more pics posted on my Facebook page (click on link to see public photo album).  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who attended the showers and have reached out to celebrate our baby girl...we love you!

Tick Tock

It seems like time is both flying and slooooooooooooowly crawling by at the same time.  Things seem to be flying in the respect that I can't believe it's just a matter of weeks until Jeff & I become parents and get to meet our baby girl!  Trying to keep up with the amount of work at my job while preparing for maternity leave has also kept me pretty occupied.  It's the discomforts of pregnancy that makes time seem to be at a standstill.

Don't get me wrong...it is a wonderful, miraculous experience no doubt.  In the beginning, the extreme hyperemesis was the sickest I'd ever been in my life.  But that seems like such a long time ago.  I'd say the 2nd half of the 2nd trimester has been my favorite time of pregnancy.  I was finally over being sick and hadn't yet hit the discomforts that come later on.  Feeling the little first movements was absolutely amazing.  Finding out we are having a girl, seeing her growth with each ultrasound...those are priceless moments we will never forget.

Can't say I'll miss the huge belly (that is always getting in my way and making it really hard to tie my shoes), the near constant hip pain, lack of sleep, etc.  She's totally worth it though.  I've read that as babies get bigger, you often feel less movement because they get cramped for space.  I think it's been the opposite with baby Shay.  The less space she has, the more she pushes, shoves, kicks & punches me as if she's trying to MAKE more room for herself.  And she does it for long periods at a time...I don't think this little person sleeps much!  And for being under 6 lbs., she sure is strong!  My whole stomach literally moves all over the place when she's active.  Sometimes it looks like a marble or roll of quarters is rolling across my tummy.  Weirdest.  Feeling.  Ever.

I'm 36 1/2 weeks along at this point (or almost 8 1/2 months pregnant).  I really hope Shay doesn't decide to come late.  Maternity leave from work begins 2 weeks from today and I am really looking forward to it.  In the meantime, we've been preparing for the big day, getting our paperwork lined up, chores done around the house, cars serviced, packing the hospital bag, etc.  We're almost done with all of our classes.  This Saturday is the last lamaze class (which we've found really informative and would highly recommend in case anyone is ever interested).  Jeff's sister & mom threw us a baby shower last Saturday.  More on that in a future blog.  So we're feeling more and more ready.  Still have to get a few more items but the outpouring of love & support from friends and family has been such a blessing!

We had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago when the OB ordered an ultrasound and said that the amniotic fluid was low and that they would need to monitor it.  Thankfully, it's gone back up and everything appears to be healthy.  We had an appointment a couple of days ago and another ultrasound showed the fluid at optimal levels and they estimated baby Shay's weight at 5lbs., 12 oz.  No cute pictures to post though...she had her face all smooshed up against the placenta and her feet up near her head.  She seems to really like hanging around in a pike position...I think she may have some gymnast in her!  Either that or maybe UFC fighter based on how much and how hard she pushes.  Can't wait to tickle her little feet instead of feeling them in my ribs!

Okay time to end this disjointed blog entry and try to get some sleep.  Hopefully I'll be able to update this more in the coming weeks leading up to baby's arrival! 

32 Week Check-Up

I got an unexpected surprise today...got to see baby Shay on ultrasound again!  It was supposed to be regular check-up, but the doctor ordered a spur-of-the-moment ultrasound because she wanted to make sure the baby was alright since the fundal height measurement (measurement of the "baby bump") hadn't grown since the last appointment.  This could be due in part to the way the baby is positioned but the doctor wanted to get more accurate measurements to make sure everything's okay.

This was the one appointment Jeff missed because it was scheduled for afternoon and I just headed over after work.  Meanwhile, Jeff had his own doctor appointment so we figured this would just be a routine check-up and he wouldn't miss much.  I know how much he loves seeing our baby girl on the ultrasound screen so it's a bummer he missed this.  But I think they'll do another ultrasound closer to the due date.

Anyway, everything looks great!  Baby's VERY active, appears healthy and is upside down (the correct position to be born).  She's just on the small side.  At 32 weeks, she is approximately 3 lbs., 10 oz. which is in the 30th percentile.  Jeff was under 7 lbs. at birth and I'm guessing I probably wasn't a large baby either so I think our little girl is just petite.  Under 4 lbs. but she sure can kick, punch & roll...I know, it keeps me up at night!  Dynamite comes in small packages right?  As long as she's healthy, then her being on the small side will hopefully make for an easier birth!

The ultrasound also revealed that baby Shay already has a lot of hair on her head.  She might be born with a fro!  The doctor said that babies who have parents with dark hair tend to have more hair at birth.  (Note to self: Bring cute bow to the hospital to put in her hair to tame aforementioned fro.)  Finally got to see both of her little feet and both look free of Daddy's double jointed "monkey toes" so that's good news!  She had her hands up by her face and looked like she was playing Peek-A-Boo...she's cute already!

32 Weeks: 3D ultrasound pic. Peek-a-Boo!

In the meantime, we're busy getting things in order for her arrival.  The nursery is really coming together now.  We have all of the furniture and decorations up.  Just need a crib mattress and sheets to complete the crib.  Jeff's on the hunt for the perfect pediatrician.  I'm getting paperwork in order for my maternity leave, hospital pre-registration, living wills, etc.  Last week marked our first class which was Infant Safety & CPR (incidently, Jeff let the practice baby dummy's head fall off, LOL!).  This Thursday we have a Newborn Care class and Saturday marks the beginning of a series of Lamaze classes.  Baby showers are being planned.  Life is keeping us on our feet for sure!  And it is all worth it for the moment we can't wait for...holding our baby girl for the first time. 

Here are the promised pics of the nursery:

Crib sans Mattress & Bedding

Changing Table & some Twinkle Bugs

Girlified Queen Sized Bed for Mommy & Daddy

Dresser & Mirror

Twinkle Bugs!

S-H-A-Y Letter Mirrors we made

Portrait of Mommy & Daddy...frame matches crib design

Closetmaid Cubicle Unit with Fabric Bins

She's already collecting a wardrobe!

Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  I'm exhausted with work, all of the family get-togethers and hustle & bustle (not to mention being in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy!) but I really enjoyed the holiday.  My mom came in town from Minnesota to spend Christmas with us and it was really nice to have her here.  Jeff had some cousins in town so it was good to see them as well...I think fun times were had by all!  Baby Shay made out like a little bandit with the Christmas gifts and she's not even born yet!

Here's a pic of some of the stuff for Baby Shay and this was just from my side of the family!

As a special surprise we took both of our moms out to lunch at P.F. Chang's and then over to get a 4D ultrasound on the 23rd.  They were really excited to be able to see the baby live and we walked away with a DVD and some photo prints.  Baby Shay pretty much slept the entire time but she woke up long enough to give us a good yawn.  Here are a couple of the color pics with close ups of her sweet face:

29 Weeks: 4D Ultrasound

29 Weeks: 4D Ultrasound

This year, I have a special appreciation for all that Mary went through to bring baby Jesus into the world.  Might sound cliche but there are some things I never really thought about or understood until this point in my life.  While I'm reading up on all of the health care pregnancy issues, Mary had no modern prenatal care.  While I'm trying to figure out what to pack for the hospital, she and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem (and certainly not by car).  While I'm worrying about what labor will be like even in a hospital that has all of the modern luxuries (electricity, plumbing, soft beds, pillows, temperature control, state of the art medicine and machines, doctors, etc.), she  gave birth in what was basically a dirty cave stable at night.  While Jeff & I put together a pristine, beautiful new crib, Jesus was laid in an unsanitary manger. 

And Joseph...I don't forgot about him either.  He stuck by Mary despite all of the judgement and criticism thrown his way for being engaged to a pregnant woman.  After all, how many people really believed that she was a virgin and carrying the Son of God?!  Jeff has taken on an active role taking care of me and committing to being at every OB appointment but I know he feels a little helpless in not being able to do anything when I don't feel well.  How must Joseph have felt?  When Mary was giving birth in that stable, was he running around just trying to do whatever he could not to feel helpless as she laid there in pain?  While most new dads just have to worry about raising a baby in a typical upbringing, Joseph was charged with being the dad to God Himself!

These are just a few of the thoughts that crossed my mind over the last couple of weeks.  And how much more of a miracle it seems that God would choose to show His love to us in this way?  By coming to Earth as a baby...wow!

Well, the tree is still up, but Christmas is officially over.  Usually this time comes with a little bit of a let down but so much is ahead of us in the coming year that the end of the holiday season is bringing a new sense of excitement and purpose.  January kicks off a busy month at work and for the Burton's as classes start in full swing.  Beginning on the 16th, we have a series of Lamaze classes every Saturday.  Scattered throughout the coming weeks will also be a Newborn Care class, Infant CPR & Safety and some others. 

Just had our 30 week check up yesterday and everything looks good with baby and with me.  At this point, we'll be seeing the doctor every other week until I hit the 36 week point at which time we will go in every week until I deliver.  I have no idea why but both Jeff & I think Baby Shay will arrive a little early.  He's thinking Feb. 28th.  I'm thinking Mar. 5th.  No rhyme or reason why really...we're probably both way off but we look forward to whenever her arrival is.  Can't wait to see and hold our baby girl!

Happy New Year everyone...may it bring lots of happiness and many, many blessings!

I'll leave you with some photos from the last week:

Jeff & me...I wish him luck giving birth to that one!

Forget "Goodnight Moon."  We have "Goodnight Minnesota!"

Mom, me & Jeff at New River Fellowship after the candlelight Christmas Eve service

Big huge tree at the Opryland Hotel

Jeff's dad Larry & his "Grandpa Larry" t-shirt

My mom and her "I'm Too Sexy To Be Called Grandma" mug

The baby carrier Nana got us (and the goofball wearing it!)

Alive & Kickin'

Chalk it up to one of those "Duh" moments, but a few weeks ago, I think I finally understood the phrase "Alive & kickin'."  Because the only way I know that baby Shay is alive is when she's kicking me.  So, although sometimes I want her to stop if I'm trying to go to sleep, I am glad when she gives me a few kicks or rolls to let me know she's okay.  And she's giving me bigger and stronger kicks by the day.  I think this baby thinks she's a Rockette or a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader in a kickline or something.

Really not a lot of news to report but I was feeling guilty that I haven't updated this blog lately.  Life has been really busy with work & preparing for the holidays.  Plus I get tired out a lot easier than I used to.  We had our 28 week check up yesterday and Dr. Mackey said that everything looks "perfectly healthy" and that she "has no concerns at all."  Baby is growing well and her heartbeat is strong, so we can't ask for better than that!  I did have to drink a bottle full of orange flavored nastiness for a glucose tolerance test which is a routine early screen for gestational diabetes.  Jeff found it amusing to watch me chug the stuff and make faces.  Won't get the results back until the end of the week but I'm not too concerned about it.  Although, after all of the Christmas sweets, perhaps I should rethink that!

A little crib drama update:  After all of the running around to get the crib & changing table, we tried to put them together the next day only to find that the big backboard piece of the crib was severly cracked all the way up one side.  So we contacted the company and they sent a replacement piece a couple of weeks later.  Well, Jeff opened the box and it was the WRONG PIECE!  Another phone call to the company and they said that they would send the correct piece and arrange for the other to be picked up.  Another couple of weeks later and the big box containing the wrong piece is still hanging out in our dining room.  Glad we didn't start this process a month before the due date or baby Shay might not have a bed!

Speaking of bed, Jeff has begun reading "Goodnight Moon" to baby every night.  Apparently, her ears are developed enough to hear sounds outside the womb and babies can recognize their parents' voices at birth and it can calm them.  My OB's office has a website with a link to week-by-week pregnancy timeline if you want to check it out.  The development on a week-to-week basis is amazing and I love reading up on it...truly a miracle!

Here's a couple of pregnancy portraits we had done for our Christmas card.  Please excuse the quality...we only had prints and our scanner isn't quite the best thing around:

Crib Craziness

This is my loooong tale of adventures in baby shopping today (begin reading at your own risk...you've been forwarned that it's long):

Buying a crib & matching changing table.  Doesn't seem like it'd be too big a task right?  WRONG!  At least the particular crib & changing table set I happened to get my heart set on came with all the features I wanted and an added dose of drama. 

It all started a couple of months ago when I found the set on Target.com.  It wasn't on sale when I first discovered it, nor did it qualify for free shipping.  So I decided to bookmark it on my web favorites and keep checking back.  No luck.  Upon adding it to a shopping cart the shipping costs alone came out to $173.98!  Of course I picked out the one model by Graco that is pretty much only carried at Target.  Not any other comparable store, Babies R Us or dept. store.  I did find it online at a couple of different crib sites with free shipping but the price they had on it would have been equal or greater to buying it at Target (and that's WITH the extravagant shipping).

However, it happened to be one of the few sets actually carried in Target stores (a lot are  available online only) so I thought, "No big deal...I'll just go to a Target store and pick it up.  Better call around and see who has it first."  So I called one store and they had the changing table but not the crib.  The nice sales person offered to check around at other local Targets and none of them had the crib in stock.  So I was told to call back every Mon., Wed. & Fri. morning as that's when the stores get new shipments in (although they apparently don't know what will arrive in those shipments).  This started my barrage of phone calls over the next week.  Once I realized how difficult it was to find either the crib or the changing table, I began phoning like a stalker.  I'm sure the Mt. Juliet Target is sick of me!

This all brings me to yesterday when my brother Ty emailed me and asked if I'd gotten anything from him in the mail recently.  Thinking that was odd, I told him no but that I don't check the mail every day.  I arrived home from work to find that Jeff had gotten all the mail and there was a baby card in it.  Upon opening it, three Target gift cards fell out.  One from my mom, one from my dad and one from Ty & his wife Jen.  The card said that they were for our crib.  We were floored!

I had requested today off from work some time ago, setting it aside as a baby registry day.  Only those familiar with the Nashville area will appreciate the amount of driving involved today, but here's what happened...

We started out the morning driving to the Rivergate area for breakfast at IHOP (the pumpkin pancakes are delicious, by the way).  Then it was off to the Rivergate Target to set up our registry.  After being scan happy for about an hour, we asked a sales associate about the crib and changing table.  She searched the system and found that the Nashville West store had our changing table but not the crib and the Hendersonville store had the crib but not the changing table.  Since most stores don't seem to have either in stock, we thought we'd better jump on it today and had both stores hold which one they had.  So we skipped starting our baby registry at Babies R Us in favor of heading to the Hendersonville store where we discovered the crib box was much bigger than we naively thought and wouldn't have a prayer of fitting into our Ford Taurus.  So down we went to Jeff's folks' house in Antioch and got their truck that they graciously let us borrow.  From there we went all the way to the Nashville West store (on Charlotte) and picked up the changing table.  Then we headed all the way back to Hendersonville to get our crib.  Finally just got home and we are exhausted but so happy we have them.  After the gift cards from my family, we only paid $17! 

Planning on putting them together tomorrow and put some of our decor up in the nursery.  I'll post pictures once that's done.  Jeff was initially dreading putting the furniture together.  Now I think he's sort of viewing it as a test of his manhood after I read a few online reviews about the crib stating that some 8 months pregnant women had managed to put it together by themselves in less than 30 minutes.  Hehe, I'll let you know how it goes later!  All that said, here's what everything is supposed to look like when they're assembled:

The Name Game

After much (and I mean MUCH) brainstorming and discussion, we finally have a name for our baby girl! Drumroll please...


Shay Seraphina Burton


So let me share how we arrived at this decision. I first heard the name "Shay" my freshman year at Belmont University. One of the girls who was in Hail Hall with me has the name. Cool name, cool girl. So I immediately fell in love with it. Turns out, Jeff loves it too!

"Seraphina" is the feminine Hebrew form of the root word "seraphim" which are the highest order of angels (higher than archangels and cherubim). Jeff has always loved angels so we knew we wanted to try to incorporate some sort of angelic name for our daughter.

However, we know that she won't always act angelic so we needed a multi-syllabic middle name for her as just yelling "Shay!" doesn't quite cut it. So yelling "Shay Seraphina!" has a little more kick...we know, we both tried it out, LOL!

Big News

This announcement comes a few days late as we got the news last Thurs. Oct. 22nd, but WE'RE HAVING A GIRL! It has been the strangest thing...EVERYONE has been telling us that they thought it would be a girl practically since I got pregnant. Guess it was meant to be!

Our 20 week ultrasound showed our baby girl totally bent in a pike position (she's already a gymnast!). She was awake, moving around a little and sucking her thumb. We actually asked to look at her feet so we could see if there were any tell tale signs of her Daddy's double jointed "monkey toes" and, so far, her feet look normal...woot! Everything else looks great too. She appears to be very healthy and growing well. We couldn't ask for more!

Here are some pics from the ultrasound:

Profile Pic of baby

Sucking her thumb
Looks like normal little feet...no sign of Daddy's "monkey toes!"

4D ultrasound pic

Two Steps Forward

Just an update today on two items of baby business:


1. Yesterday I had my PICC line taken out so I'm finally free of constant medication and from the medicine pack that Jeff refers to as my "buddy." The nurse pulled well over a foot of tubing from the hole in my arm. Yes kinda gross, but also kinda fascinating. I didn't watch when it was put in so it was really weird to see it come out. It sounds crazy, but I feel free! I've been attached to various needles, tubes, valves and the pack for over 2 1/2 months and am so grateful for little things that I can now do without that stuff. For instance, just moving anywhere without dragging it along and constantly watching that the tubing didn't get caught on anything. Taking a shower easily. With the PICC line in, you CANNOT get it wet and the line, snaps, valves, etc took up a good amount of real estate in my upper arm so I always had to wrap the whole deal with the Press & Seal plastic wrap and tape it up really well. I pretty much washed my hair and cleaned up using one arm (and if you know how much long hair I have, that is quite a task!). The medicine pack itself made a whirring noise when the medicine was dispensed every once in awhile and would loudly beep if the tubing was blocked in any way, the battery was running low or the medicine was almost out. It woke me up all the time. Just rolling out of bed this morning without having to unwind tubing from my blankets and grab the pack was so nice! Yeah, sometimes it's the little things in life!


2. When we went to the OB-gyn last week, they did a routine blood draw to test for any warning signs of things that could be potentially wrong with the baby or that would warrent further testing. Got a call this morning from the doctor's office with the results. Great news! Everything tested negative! It's always a little bit of a relief and celebration when things look healthy with baby. So until our big ultrasound appointment on the 22nd, I can just sit back and wait for my belly to get big and feel the baby move!


I'm going back to work on Thursday but for now off to enjoy this beautiful fall weather! I'm finally feeling better enough to get out a little so Jeff and I are headed to Lock Two Park (a few blocks from our house) to sit outside, let our dog Aslan run around and enjoy the beautiful site of the river. Picked the perfect time to come out of hyperemesis hibernation...fall is my absolute favorite time of year!

Heartbeats Out Loud

Today was our first appointment with our new OB-gyn, Dr. Susan Mackey. Part of me is sad to leave the friendly faces and familiarity of Dr. Jaime Vasquez and staff who have walked us through this journey, but since we trust Dr. Vasquez completely, we figured he'd put us in good hands. It's actually a good thing to "graduate" to a regular OB-gyn. Though there was a lot of waiting around during our first appointment with Dr. Mackey, we feel good about her having had the chance to meet with her, ask questions, etc. The nurse gave us a big bag loaded with all kinds of baby stuff...magazines, teething binky, water bottle, pregnancy calendar/organizer, samples, coupons, local hospital info and more. It's mind boggling the amount of information and STUFF is out there for babies! (Haha, speaking of stuff for babies, our home care nurse Brenda was so sweet and got us these Leapfrog maracas that light up different colors, count, play music, etc. I think Jeff is going to wear out the batteries before the baby ever gets to play with them!)


The exciting part about the appointment was that we got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time...it was loud and strong! Our next visit will be on October 22nd for our 20 week check-up and ultrasound where we will find out if we're having a boy or girl! They're going to record the ultrasound to DVD for us too so that'll be a cool keepsake. Can't wait!


Now we have to figure out which hospital to deliver at...decisions, decisions! Baptist or Centennial???


***On a side note, if any of you reading this in Nashville ever find yourselves looking for a great reproductive endocrinologist (fertility specialist) I really recommend Dr. Vasquez at the Center for Reproductive Health.


That's all I got for tonight. Off to eat...AGAIN!!!

Hyperemesis, Hospitals & Home Care

It's been a long time since my last post. So much has happened but I'll try to give an overview of the "highlights" of the last couple of months:


Jul. 19th thru 22nd - Jeff took me to the ER at Summit Hospital in Hermitage because I had been throwing up nonstop for days and was extremely dehydrated. Too many needle sticks and several hours later, we wound up at Dr. Vasquez's office where he immediately diagnosed me with hyperemesis gravidarum (think morning sickness on crack 24/7) and had me admitted to Centennial Women's Hospital (more IV's and needle sticks) in Nashville where I stayed for a few days to get some meds and fluids in...my first overnight hospital stay.


Jul. 27th thru Aug. 3rd - After an unsuccessful few days of trying to be at home with a low-dose subcutaneous medicine pump (meds pumped through a needle inserted into my abdomen) I would up in the same condition and had to be re-admitted to the hospital again, this time for a week. Dr. Vasquez upped the dosage of meds and tried different types of meds to see what would be most effective with me. I have never been so sick or felt worse in all my life.


Aug. 4th thru 13th - After getting released from the hospital, I went home with the same medicine pump but a much higher dosage of meds and the infusion through IV instead of subcutaneously. The IV felt much better as the needle in the abdomen thing stung and made my belly really sore. The downside is that my veins didn't hold up for more than 48 hours so every other day, my home care nurse Brenda (God bless her!) had to come and put in a new IV. I had hard lumps all over my arms and eventually ran out of places to insert a new IV.


Sometime around Aug. 10th - Jeff wasn't feeling well and had a bad headache and blurred vision. He called our regular doctor and was told to go to the ER to get checked out because he might have a TIA (not sure what that stands for). Turns out they discovered through a scan that he had a blood clot behind an eye leading to his brain and that he had had a mini-stroke. They think it may have been the result of a past injury. The ER doc wanted to admit him to the hospital but he begged not to be since I was so sick at home. So the doc agreed to let him to home and put him on blood thinning meds. Thankfully there hasn't been any signs of lasting damage and the clot broke up with the meds. Jeff is now done with the meds and none the worse for the wear. He'll have to go back on occasion for check ups. I'm so thankful he is okay. Blood clots have been a problem in my family and they are nothing to mess with!


Aug. 14th - Back we went to Centennial to have a PICC line inserted. This basically consisted of the doctor giving me an injection to numb a small area in my upper arm and then cutting a small hole in that spot and threading a tube through a deep vein running through my upper arm, across the chest and ending near my heart with the help of a small ultrasound machine. Isn't technology crazy?


Aug. 14th thru Present - I still have my PICC line in. Though it's rather annoying to have tubes and valves coming out of my arm, it is so much better than constantly changing out IV's. Brenda comes once a week to change the PICC line dressing. Jeff manages it the rest of the time. He has been so great with dealing with the doctor, insurance, Coram Infusion Services (the company that provides my medicine & all of the accessories for the pump and PICC line), Continuous Care Services (home care nursing), filing for work disability, communicating with my HR dept., etc. He's been taking great care of me...I'm totally spoiled now. He's even become a nurse of sorts as he flushes out my PICC line with saline and Heparin every night.


I'm now 15 weeks along. Still pretty weak and and tire very quickly but definitely better than how I was feeling during the hospital stays. I'm slowly weaning off of the PICC line meds so I'm hoping that I won't need the pump in another week or so. I've found so much to be thankful for during this time. I have had so much outpouring of love and prayer from family and friends. My short term disability has covered me at work so my income is still rolling in and everyone there has been so supportive. Our insurance coverage has been amazing, without which we would be tens of thousands of dollars in debt. We've had the best health care people to work with. There is so much to be thankful for.


Most of all, we have a healthy baby so far despite everything! Here's an ultrasound pic from last week.

Why in the world is it called "morning" sickness?

So good news or bad news first? I usually prefer bad news first so that the good news can overshadow it.


Bad news: I am so sick! I can't stop throwing up, have a constant headache and am tired all of the time. I wish it was limited to just the morning! I honestly don't know how I'm going to get through another possible 6+ weeks of feeling like this and working full-time but I know I have to somehow. I just hope I can manage to make it to the bathroom instead of throwing up at my desk at work...then I'd have a heckuva time trying to keep this under wraps until 12 weeks! The only thing to get me through is knowing that it'll be worth it in the end for a healthy baby. Oh and Jeff is being sooooo great...pampering me and running all the errands and everything. Thank God for him!


Good news: On Tuesday (the 14th) when I got home from work there was a UPS Express envelope at my front door. Upon opening it up, it was a letter telling me I had won a 5 day/4 night trip to the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort & Spa, 2 round trip tickets on JetBlue Airlines, and a copy of the Bride Wars DVD! It was part of a promotional trip giveaway through Fox Entertainment & Women's World Magazine that I had been entering about a month ago. I had actually forgotten about it until I got the letter. We just have to send back the affidavits and get all of our information. Jeff & I spent our honeymoon in Jamaica so we were thinking that maybe we could spend our 6 year anniversary this year on this trip...sort of our "babymoon." Our anniversary falls in November so it's the perfect time to go. I'll be looking fat, but not full-blown pregnant so I'm sure a swimsuit will not be flattering but, as long as I don't feel the way I do now with the nonstop nausea, I'll be one fat, happy camper!!!

6 Weeks and Heartbeats

Yesterday was the third time in less than a week that I went to Dr. Vasquez's for a blood draw. The purpose is to monitor my hormone levels to see if my body is taking to the pregnancy well. And great news...so far everything looks good! I could've told you the hormones are increasing without a needle involved though because I'm starting to feel some early pregnancy symptoms like fatigue and some nausea. But I'm not complaining...I'm just grateful. I hope I don't throw up at work...um, that would be a little difficult to explain to my co-workers! Can't wait another 6 weeks to tell everyone!


The baby's heart starts beating this week...so amazing! No one can tell me that this baby is not yet life...it has a heartbeat people! Next Wednesday (July 22nd) we go in for our first ultrasound and we'll be able to actually see the heart beating. We're both excited. Jeff is being so great, so supportive...he's determined that he wants to be at every ultrasound.


Fetal Development:
The first heartbeats have begun! The baby is now an embryo and is about 1/17 of an inch long. Growth is very rapid this week. The umbilical cord develops. The eyes and ears begin to form as well as an opening for the mouth. The heart has begun to pump blood and most of the other organs are well under construction. Buds form on the body that will become the arms and legs.

Ready, Set, Pregnant!

It's been a long journey to get to this day. Now that it's finally arrived, I almost can't believe it! After many years of knowing that Jeff & I were facing infertility issues, this is the year that we finally got serious about doing something about it. So, long story short, this past January, on the advice of a co-worker, we met with Dr. Jaime Vasquez at Nashville's Center for Reproductive Health. Many tests, a minor surgery and a good amount of prayer and frusteration (not necessarily in that order!) later, we find ourselves today with the news that we're pregnant for the first time!

Now, in case you're wondering, we choose to keep it quiet that we were going through the infertility journey as it is such an emotional thing that I didn't want to have to answer questions from anyone. We have been facing difficulties conceiving on both sides and at every level. The day we found out what we were up against, I cried for part of the day and was relieved at the same time to finally know exactly what was going on. We could not ask for a better place to have been referred to. Dr. Vasquez and his staff have all been so great, willing to answer every question we had and offering encouragement at every turn.

Knowing that in vitro fertilization was not the route for us based on personal reasons, July marked the month that we were going to try another treatment that would involve Jeff giving me shots of hormones that naturally occur in the body to support pregnancy. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to the daily shots. As it turns out, none of that is necessary as I finally took a home pregnancy test this morning after being over a week late. It registered that simple, wonderful word "pregnant" almost immediately. I called Dr. Vasquez right away and went in for a blood test today and got a call around 4:00pm confirming the results!

We are beyond excited!  I wanted to plan some great, surprising way to tell Jeff but instead shot out of the bathroom and shoved the pregnancy test in his face, haha!  He got a big smile and gave me the biggest, best hug of my life.  We celebrated the news by going to Barnes & Nobel and picking out the Great Expectations Pregnancy & Childbirth book.  We have a LOT to learn!!!

Below is some info. that I found on storknet.  I find the whole week by week fetal development fascinating.

Fetal Development:
The developing embryo has three layers. In the top layer (ectoderm), the neural tube will form which will further develop into the nervous system (brain, spinal cord, skin and hair). In the middle layer (mesoderm), the heart and circulatory system, bones, muscles, kidneys and reproductive organs will develop - eventually. At this stage, however, the heart and primitive circulatory system will rapidly form. In fact, the circulatory system is the first organ system to function. In the inner layer (endoderm), a simple tube will develop into the intestines, liver, pancreas and bladder.