The Walkers

When I flew home on the 5th of July I was originally only planning on flying back to see my nephew be born and have my 18/20 week ultrasound appt but ended up not being able to fly back to VA. I tried to stay super busy when I got home I had big plans to go to bear lake and go boating and rent jet skis and go hiking and floating the river and on and on.... well i only got to do a small handful of what I had in mind. When I went into my 18/20 week appt they discovered my cervix had begun to thin. Usually at that point in pregnancy the like it to be at least a 4 or a 5. Well mine was a 2.5 which meant I just became a high risk pregnancy (as if i wasn't before) and am at a huge risk for pre-term labor. They put me on strict bed rest and asked if I would come back in a week. I honestly broke down a little when I heard this news because I just felt like man if its not one thing its got to be another I so badly want to give kaleb a sibling and add another little member to our family does it really have to be so hard!? Kaleb came so unexpectedly and easily with absolutely NO complications ,even labor was awesome, so I just didn't get it!

After going to my moms and taking up a permanent residence on her couch for the next week I went back into the doc and my cervix had thickened back up to a 3 YAY! So they said I wasn't out of the woods but I could have a little less restricted bed rest and to come back in 2 weeks! So I went back in and it was went right back down to a 2.5 blah! So they decided to start giving me progesterone shots and keep me on moderate bed rest. well its been a few weeks since then and the shots seem to be keeping my cervix stable so that's good! We will see how it does now that the baby will be gaining weight the doctors said they are hoping to get me to 35/36 weeks! Here's some highlights of my time back in Idaho until now! I know these posts might be boring to some haha but I have family that reads them and i also do this as a way of keeping a journal of my family for myself!

Kaleb and Brennan sleeping on the plane and me being super happy that kaleb slept 1 out of the 5 hours we were on that dang plane!

My Baby at 18 weeks and my newest nephew Jon Patrick

Pittsburgh was SO beautiful in the spring!

So Its always amazing to me how fast the summers go when I'm back home and looking back over them. This summer was nothing short of crazy, eventful and entertaining! When we first got to Pittsburgh the apartments the company put us in were pretty scary so we had a few laughs for the week we had to stay there! We then moved to a Marriott Extended stay right in the heart of the city. I LOVED IT!! We were right across from PNC park and within walking distance of children's museums, walking path along the bridges and rivers and a bakery I learned to love! We stayed in that hotel for 3 weeks and then moved to another Marriott just outside of the city where we stayed for 2 months! Then we moved AGAIN to another Marriott in Winchester VA. I loved the entertainment at our disposal in the first Marriott not to mention they provided delicious complimentary breakfasts every morning and even dinners 3 times a week! And housekeeping was AMAZING at the first Marriott! The second Marriott still provided breakfasts and dinner but the housekeeping services weren't as nice. I did really like one of our housekeepers though named Lynda! I think every girl from this summer would agree she was like a friend to us. Watching the help this last week made me think a little bit of Lynda. She was always so funny and nice and went out of her way for us. The girls would send her home with goodies and things to show our appreciation! She was a nanny for 17 years for a family before going to work at the Marriott! Kaleb loved her as well she was always so patient with him when he got in her way and she would joke and play with him! I only stayed at the Winchester hotel for 2 weeks because I ended up flying home to visit on July 5th. I loved Winchester though it was so beautiful and had a historic charming feel to it. They also were the only hotel this summer with an outdoor pool which if your going to be outside your going to want to be in the water! Here's some highlights of this summer!

Hay Rides and getting to meet the Easter bunny

Face Painting and Mikes Easter "nest"

Kalebs "nest" and One of many walks

Submarine tour /Mini Train town/train whistle

Many trips to the zoo/ Volunteering at habitat for humanity

Many days at the Water-park / JET SKIING

Eating at the Famous Delucas / Lots of Parties

Pittsburgh Children's Festival/ Mike almost adopted this Goat

Baseball games / Kaleb turned 3!!!

Yummy Melting pot!

Some other favorite memories would be a 10 mile bike ride around the lake with Kaleb, Dana and Brennan and the playing volleyball afterwards! Lots of great people and cherished memories!

I probably wont publicly post this for a while yet to come but I still wanted to write it all down and document it. So when Mike and I first got over to Pittsburgh in April we found out we were expecting again. This will be my 4th pregnancy. I have had 2 miscarriages in between Kaleb and this pregnancy so that is a big part of the reason I decided to try and keep this quiet for awhile. I am only on my 10th week as of yesterday. With my last miscarriage I was 15 1/2 weeks almost 16 weeks when we lost the baby so I am still SO stressed out and worried. It was such a painful experience to have to go through losing that last baby, having already seen ultrasounds and heard the heartbeat. I don't think I will feel at ease until I am in the Hospital holding our healthy baby and counting ten fingers and ten toes! After my miscarriage my doctor tested me for just about everything trying to figure out what went wrong because none of us understood. She discovered I had whats called MTHFR which is a mutation in a chromosome. It is genetic and you can either get it from one carrier or two (one parent or both). Luckily I only had type one from one carrier so It wasn't as bad as it could have been. All that MTHFR really means is that your body doesn't metabolise folic acid correctly which is vital to having a healthy pregnancy and also you get blood clots. I now have to take a blood thinner and 4mg of folic acid a day in addition to my prenatal. All I can do at this point is hope and pray. I look at Kaleb constantly and realize how much of a blessing it truly is to be able to be a mother and to have a healthy baby. I love my family so much and I feel very blessed and fortunate to have the amazing husband I do and for our crazy adorable Kaleb.

The picture above is of the baby at about 7 ish weeks when I had my first doctors appointment. Everything looked really good and the heartbeat was really strong. After my doctors appointment I sent this same picture to Mike in a text message and he replied "It looks just like you honey! ;)" what a stink ha!

So my pregnancy so far has been good I have only been sick once. I have been extremely nauseous though and I have kind of had a craving for coconut or foods with coconut flavoring..... weird I know! I have also sorta had an aversion to tomato based foods.... that's all for now I hope everything continues to go good and I can be sharing the good news in a couple of weeks! Oh ya and my due date is the beginning of december!