Some people have a lot of "gall"

Mommy probably won't be that person for very much longer though.  :(


Last night, Daddy and Mattie had to take me to the hospital.  I was really hurting and could hardly sit up straight.  We got to the hospital and they sent us to Labor and Delivery.  I was scared to death that I was going into early labor with you.  The pain was that bad.


Once we got there and had you on a monitor and Mommy on a monitor, it showed that I was NOT having contractions.  They kept telling me that it was probably my gallbladder and if it turns out to be that, I will have to have my gallbladder removed.  Maybe even before you get here.  Which is really scary.  I do NOT want an organ removed from my body that I could potentially need at a later date!


Your Gigi was out with a friend so poor Mattie had to stay at the hospital with me and Daddy.  It was all good though as he never goes anywhere with his cash stach and his box full of Star Wars action figures.


Finally, the hospital got in touch with our doctor and she said to go ahead and get blood and give me some pain medicine.  The nurse put an IV in and got my fluids going and then told me they were going to give me some medicine called Stadol.  WHEW!  I went to ask how long it would take to start working and got to exactly, "How long does iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...." and apparently my eyes started rolling back in my head.


Gigi took this awesome moment in time to get home and call us back.  Daddy swears I talked to her, but I have no recollection of it.  Daddy then left me to snore happily pain free while he ran Mattie over to Gigi's house to spend the night.


When Daddy come back, I was VERY, VERY woozy and he was really happy about that as I didn't care that he switched the TV from my DIY channel to a sports channel and watched some type of football game.  :)  (I DO remember that!  LOL)


A few hours later, the nurse came back, said that after my blood work came back, they do think it's probably my gallbladder and we could go on home so we could both rest comfortably. 

You were pretty quiet in there after they gave me those pain meds but around 4am, you woke up with a vengence!  It was like you were in there stomping your feet saying, "Mommy!  Don't you ever drug me again!  That was horrible!"  I'm sorry, but I had to laugh.  You are a spunky little thing!  I LOVE it!
I did okay through the night but started throwing everything up this morning.  I don't know if it was a side effect of that pain medicine, my gallbladder, or I may even have stomach flu.  Either way, I'm feeling puny and I cried to Daddy about how tired I was of feeling sick.  :(  He just held me for a little while and then started saying silly things that made me laugh.  He's a good guy.


I go back to my doctor on Thursday for an ultrasound of my gallbladder.  Hopefully, they will let me have a little peek at you, too.  I love watching you play in my belly.  It is the most wonderful and amazing feeling.  It never gets old!


On the same day as that doctor's appoointment, Daddy and I are going to pre-register at the hospital for your arrival.  YAY!  We are SOOOOO excited.


As per your usual, you are just kicking up a storm in my belly!  I complain about all that activity sometimes, but yesterday when I was so sick and I couldn't feel you moving or even get you to move, I was petrified.  Later in the night when I finally started feeling your little kicks again was like feeling God hand me a gift directly from Heaven.


I love you so much, my little girl.  We all do.

Gracie, Gracie, Gracie...

Well, it's just you and me right now, kiddo.  Daddy is in the shower.  Mattie is in his room watching...I have no idea...but it sounds like a silly cartoon to me.

And you and I are sitting here.  Correction...I am sitting here.  You are apparently practicing water ballet with some acrobatic maneuvers thrown in for good measure.

We went to the doctor today.  You, me, Daddy and Mattie.  Only to find out that the appointment wasn't until NEXT Thursday.  Brain cells...dwindling.  I miss my razor sharp intelligence.  I'll be glad when I can remember something more than just breathe in-breathe out.

I'm kind of afraid that my doctor is about to put me on medical bed rest with you.  Apparently, the outside world seems very interesting to you because you are trying to get here a little too soon.  Just about 100 more days to go.  Hang in there, precious girl of mine.

You really are such a dream come true for all of us.  Matthew so desparately wanted a sibling and Daddy and I had no idea how much we wanted another baby.  But not one of us can even imagine our lives without you in it now.  You really are completing our family.  I can't wait to meet you.  Let's just make it a LOT closer to February, deal?

Letter from Daddy

Dear Gracie Girl,

When mommy first called me to tell me that she was pregnant, I was on my way to a job in Deer Park.  She called and said “We need to talk”, I immediately thought something was wrong.  I asked what was going on and she kept saying we need to talk.  At this point, she was crying and she said that she was pregnant.  Wow, as Matthew would say, “didn’t see that one coming”.  I remember the first thought that ran thru my mind was how incredibly happy that made me; I immediately started to cry (happy tears).  What an incredible thing to have happen to us at this point in our lives.  I remember mommy being scared and me reassuring her that everything was going to be alright.  We talked for a while we both went to our jobs. After gathering myself and my thoughts together I continued driving towards my job.  I was just about there when mommy called again and she that she just talked to her obionekanobe dr and said that she had high levels of something (I don’t remember the hormone) and that she was on her way to the dr at that moment to do additional tests and that the dr said to come right away, there was a chance she would miscarry.  I tried my best to reassure her and tell her to be calm and everything would work out, I just had a feeling that it would.  Well, she went to the dr, I went to my job, I could hardly concentrate, I was scared for her and for you.  I said some prayers, did my job and waited for what seemed like an eternity for her to call.  When she did finally call, she said that the dr told her that there were originally 5 babies and that only one(You) survived, the dr was very discouraging and said that most likely this would not end well.  Mommy and I were very upset with this news, I just kept reassuring her and telling her that you are the “little bean that could”.  I just refused to believe what the dr was saying.  When I got home from work, she showed me the ultrasound picture of you, WOW, that’s our little baby in there! I was so excited, I cried then too.  I also saw the other sacs that were no longer alive, that was very difficult, but at the same time, you were there all along and you made it! I was so proud then and so happy.  I did my best to reassure your mom that this is what God wanted for us. 

The first few months were really scary and very stressful, we had multiple tests to make sure that you were alright, thankfully all came back well.  I have made it to all the dr appointments except one (I let your GIGI go to see you  and you played peekaboo with them)! Now here we are at 23 weeks and all appears well. I cannot  wait to see you and hold you my precious daughter.   

Love always, Daddy

Daddy's Girl :)

If you have ever met Gracie's Daddy, you would know that she is already a "Daddy's Girl."  He talks and she just dances in my belly.  In fact, there have been times when I was worried because I hadn't felt her move in a while and he talked to her and she just started to wiggle away.

And trust me when I tell you that the adoration is mutual.  He cannot even bring up Gracie without tears flowing down his face.  He is simply in awe of this little girl growing in my belly.  I will catch him staring at my belly as if he is waiting for her to do something extraordinary!  Or I will hear him talking to someone about her and there is such love and pride in his voice.  It's truly such a sweet thing how much he already loves his little girl.

It is such a double love I have for this child because I love her Daddy so much and then I love her so much already.  But then you add how completely in love he is with her, who is growing inside of me, and it just makes it even more special.

And to top it all off, she is apparently his little Mini-Me.  At first I was a little disappointed.  I wanted her to look like me.  This is my first little girl, after all.  But I do already have one little Mini-Me in Matthew.  Now that I have gotten used to the fact that she is simply going to be all Daddy and all ABOUT Daddy, I'm kind of liking it.

Here are the latest ultrasound pictures of our little Gracie Ruth aka Daddy's Girl.  Isn't she beautiful?

I'm okay, You're okay

Been awhile since I updated.  Things are crazy over here.  I'm in school full time.  Matthew is in school full time.  (Hey, don't underestimate - first grade is no punk!)  Darrell is remodeling the house in preparation for our little Gracie Ruth.  And life doesn't slow down for you - even when you need it most.

So, the updates are as follows:

1. September 12th - Got the amnio results - Gracie is good to go.  No chormosonal abnormalities - YAY!
2. September 22nd - Got a new doctor that is not related to a rattlesnake
3. October 6th - Took Mom with me for the 20 week ultrasound.  Gracie yawned at us and peeked at us through her legs!  She's a real character.  Such a personality already.
4. October 19th - Went to the maternal fetal specialist for a routine anatomy exam.  It didn't turn out to be so routine.  We found out that our little girl has a hole in her heart.  It's a 2mm gap called VDS.  The doctor told us that there was a possibility that it could close up on its own and not to worry just yet.  However, I have another appointment to see her for a follow up in 5 weeks.
5. Same day - As I was leaving the doctor's office, I went to make a pit stop in the little girls room and there was blood.  There was a lot of blood.  I ran to Darrell and told him that something was wrong.  We went back to the doctor's office and she did an exam and said that she didn't see any active bleeding but if I started to cramp or bleed more heavily, to go straight to L&D (Labor and Delivery).  Sigh.
6. October 20th - There was still some bleeding.  My Ob. Gyn. put me on bedrest for the weekend.  Awesome.  (Not)
7. October 21st - Went to see my cardiologist.  All looks acceptable.  He wants me to come back on November 11th for an ultrasound of my heart to make sure I am not having heart failure again.  I am a lot more nervous than I am letting Darrell know.

Okay, so that's pretty much all the updates so far.  Gracie is kicking the you-know-what out of me now.  She's VERY active.  Which is uncomfortable but makes me happy to know that she's there.

This child has been through so much and she isn't even born yet.  She has survived where 4 of her siblings did not.  She has hung in there through all of the scares and the insistence of Dr. Rattlesnake that I should go ahead and get "used to the idea that this baby will not thrive."  She has shown same Dr. Rattlesnake that she can spout "1 in 5 chance of having Down's" and "these are the worst numbers we have ever seen in this office" that she is better than a percentage.  And now she is thriving even though she has a congenital heart defect.  She just never gives up.  It's like she wants to prove to all the nay sayers that not only are they wrong, but they are BIG TIME wrong.

I LOVE that about her!  I hope she is always like that.  I hope she always finds her own path and takes it no matter what anyone says.  I hope she always remembers that just because someone says something or tells her she can't, they don't know HER and she should try anyway. 

I see how other girls act and I hope that Gracie doesn't get caught up in "her"self.  I hope she can always see the big picture and see outside of herself.  I hope she will always be cognizant of the fact that her problems are so small compared to the rest of the world.  I hope if her problems turn out to be larger than most of the rest of the world, that she understands that this is just a passing phase and she doesn't dwell on them but instead goes about making plans for when things get better again - because she is teaching me that a little at a time - no matter how bad things appear to be, no matter how bleak the future looks; everything can change in one moment and don't ever give up.  I hope that she DOES see how big the world is though and she sets about on a journey to take it over.  I hope, just as she is doing before she is even born, that she keeps going long after anyone thinks she can.

I cannot even describe in human words the respect and admiration I have for my daughter already.