Our Little Pumpkin

Baby girl dressed up as a jack-o-lantern this year! We so look forward to spending Halloween with our little pumpkin next year!

North Carolina Baby Shower

Last weekend Justin and I traveled to North Carolina to visit friends. While we were there, Anna and Melissa threw us an awesome baby shower! So many of my friends were able to make it and it was wonderful to catch up! Frogger is loved already by so many! Thanks to Melissa and Anna and to all of you who came!! Anna made us a "frogger" diaper cake!

There was lots of yummy food

We received so many nice gifts

Benton Heights friends--Jo and Kay

Molly, Anna and I

Mrs. Austin, Melissa and Rayna

Laura, baby Alayna and I

Robin, little Anna and I

A former student (Rayna) and her mama, Anna

My sweet friend, Erin

WBEC friends--mama Sharon, Janet and Carrie

We didn't take enough pictures--but these give you the idea. We had a wonderful time with some wonderful women! Probably the highlight of the shower was our gender reveal. Melissa's mom, Nana, made a beautiful cake and made the inside of it pink. When I cut into it everyone knew that we are expecting a baby girl--it was so much fun! Thanks, Nana!!

22 Weeks

I continue to feel great and look forward to meeting our baby girl in about 18 weeks!!

Another Step Closer

Justin and I celebrate today--we finished our educational requirements for our placing agency, JOH. We have spent countless hours watching videos, reading articles and discussing adoption issues. All of this will no doubt be worth every effort and we have learned so much through the process. Although our home study is complete, it is not ready to be submitted to JOH until our local agency receives our Ohio background check. The last thing we were responsible for at this point was the education portion from JOH. Now that this is completed, we celebrate being one step closer to the child God has for us in India!

We can SEE movement (and baby's gender)!!!!

After the last post I felt I needed to think some super happy thoughts. So, here is the first bit of news: we found out that we are having a little GIRL!! That's right, Frogger is a sweet princess. Her Papaw (Justin's dad) thinks she should be called Froggetta now until she has a name :) It was our plan to wait until March to find out if we had a boy or girl but we couldn't wait that long! On Monday night we were still going back and forth about whether or not to find out. Since our appointment was on Tuesday morning, I told Justin that either way I was okay with it--he just had to tell me in the morning. At 7:00 Tuesday morning he woke me up by saying that we were going to find out in just a little bit if we were having a boy or a girl! It was so much fun and we both cried a little when we found out. She just seems so real to us now and we can refer to baby as "she" or "her" which is pretty great!

Last night as I rested on the couch I felt Frogger moving (as I have regularly for 3 1/2 weeks now) but when I looked at my tummy I could see it moving with her kicks!! I told Justin and he was able to see them from about 4 feet away!! Needless to say, that was super exciting and entertaining--we couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces! It is SO REASSURING when I feel and see her move! I know that we have a super strong baby :)

Echo Cardiogram Update

We just got home from seeing the pediatric cardiologist. He said everything looked "structurally normal" and that what was done today was a great screen for major heart defects--and he found none. That's the good news. The news that has me worried and caused me to cry uncontrollably for 20 or so minutes was this: there is fluid around Frogger's heart. He called it "trivial" but it doesn't feel trivial at all to me. He said there is about 1mm of fluid around the heart at this time.

Here is a summary of what happens next:
* He wants me tested for some specific antibodies in me that can affect the baby. The same antibodies, passed to me from my mother, were likely (so he says) to have caused my congenital heart block.
* I am going to have another ultra sound in two weeks to be sure that there isn't any other fluid gathering in baby's tummy, lungs or any other place.
* In four weeks we go back to the pediatric cardiologist to be sure that there isn't a gain in fluid around Frogger's heart or that the fluid has gone away.

I need to focus on these facts: major heart defects have all basically been ruled out, the fluid right now is very slight and most importantly God is in complete control of this and every situation.

Please pray that no other fluid is found and that the fluid around the heart dissipates (or at the very least does not grow).

20 Weeks 5 Days

Wanted to upload a picture we got during our ultrasound today. Everything looked great! Frogger is measuring right on target with our due date holding steady as March 3rd. The technician told us Frogger weighs 13 ounces--just short of a pound!

Here's what I remember:

*Baby's head and brain look great

*Upper lip looks great--no cleft lip, but can't rule out cleft palate b/c it is inside the mouth

*Heart looks great--visible 4 chambers

*Stomach, bladder and 2 kidneys look good

*All arms, legs, and fingers were visible--we saw all major bones

Because of both of our families have a "cardiac history", our doctor recommended we get a fetal echo cardiogram done. That was scheduled and we have our appointment next week to take a closer look at Frogger's heart. I am grateful for doctors who are taking every precaution to make sure our little one is safe and healthy.

1/2 Way There!!

YAY!! We are 20 weeks pregnant today. It's hard to believe that we have made it half way through our pregnancy. Things are going well. I am feeling great and feeling Frogger move daily. Justin can now feel the little kicks and loves it!

After some blood work results, it was suggested that we make an appointment to see a hematologist. The visit was today and went well for the most part. Because my dad has blood clotting issues--I am at a higher risk for getting them. The doctor gave me several things to do now to lower my risk and wants me to undergo further testing in 6 weeks. He discussed various scenarios including blood thinners and possible blood disorders but was pretty optimistic. Of course I asked about if any of this affected Frogger and the answer (thankfully) was no. So, bottom line, we got the good news we wanted :)

**Baby fact: Frogger is now about 10.5 inches long and 10.5 ounces. Grow, baby, grow!!

Now that I am obviously pregnant, people do not hold back with their gender predictions. Most people are guessing girl. If you'd like to throw us your guess--we'd love it! It'll be fun to see who guessed accurately!