Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Coming Attractions...

Well, this post is long overdue (as I hope I will not be!!!!!). Baby Doyal #2 (also referred to as Ramon- he likes it when you roll the R) is coming to a hospital near you on September 4, 2011!!!

Many of your have been asking for an update to this crazy fiasco so I apologize for the wordiness of this post. If you already know what's going on, you can just look at the pictures!!!

Wednesday, December 22- I had already taken a pregnancy test on Sunday, but just had a feeling so I took another one. Note to self- DO NOT buy generic pregnancy tests! There's places to skimp and this is not it. I called David at work to tell him I took a pregnancy test and saw a VERY faint line. He said I was hallucinating, but agreed to buy me some more tests on the way home. POSITIVE!!! We were shocked, yet excited as was our family when we told them at Christmas!


Monday, January 17- Our first appointment- FINALLY!!! David accompanied me to the doctor's office and we got to see our little angel for the first time. We also got to meet my new archnemesis- Seymore the Ovarian Cyst (which unfortunately I do not have a picture of!). It seems that I have a corpus luteum ovarian cyst which formed during ovulation. It is not harmful to the baby, but since it was about the size of a racketball had me a little worried. I was instructed to come back in 2 weeks and left with lots of fear! Of course I did the unthinkable, I googled it!!! Actually this time around, googling was good because it gave me more info and I read stories of women who had survived their entire pregnancy with these things.
Here's the lowdown (in my very rudimentary medical terms): When the egg leaves the ovary on its way to the uterus, a small folicle in the ovary where the egg came from can turn into this type of cyst. During the first trimester of pregnancy, a woman has crazy levels of hormones in her body which feed the cyst and make it bigger. Normally, later in the first trimester, these levels taper off and the cyst either stops growing or actually starts shrinking. There is not must risk to the baby other than if the cyst gets bigger, the baby can push against it and it is very painful for the mother. The two things we have to be on the lookout for is rupture of the cyst (which apparantly is very painful) or ovarian torsion (where the cyst gets so big that it actually starts twisting your ovary around a membrane and cuts off blood supply to the ovary). As luck would have it, there is no medication that you can take to get rid of the cyst that is safe during pregnancy. It can only be surgically removed if necessary. OUCH!!!
Okay- enough of that- here's the bambino!!!



Thursday, January 20- On Wednesday night I started some bleeding which got me a little worried. Yes, I bled a small bit at the very beginning with Bailey, but wasn't sure what this was about. I called the doctor's office on Thursday morning and apparantly they were a little more worried than I was because they wanted me to come in for another ultrasound. The baby was still fine and had grown since Monday (see picture below), but Seymore had grown as well! He was now approaching the size of a tennis ball (I tried to relate Seymore's size to fruits like any good pregnant woman, but David says ball are more relatable). My progesterone level was very high (which is reassuring because progesterone helps the cyst shrink), however I was not very reassured because my cyst seemed to be doing the opposite of shrinking! My doctor put me on bedrest until my appointment on Monday.
A note about bedrest: Bedrest is fun for the first day. WOW- laying around and watching movies all day is the life! Then when you house chores start piling up around you and your 2 year old wants you to get off the couch and play- it's not so convenient.





Monday, January 24- Another day, another appointment. At this point I had been to the doctor's office 3 times in one week and already (honestly) had more ultrasound pictures of this baby than I had the entire 9 months with Bailey! Finally some good news!!! The baby was still good and growing (see pic below- and no, my child does not have 2 heads. That upper circle is the yolk sac that nourishes the baby before the placenta steps in). And finally Seymore seemd to be shrinking- he was back down to racketball size again. I was starting to feel a bit of pressure from the cyst (apparantly the cyst is growing inside of my ovary and stretching it out a good bit), but I can deal with that right now. We talked about the risks again (I'm not out of the woods yet) and I got "upgraded" from bedrest to restricted activity.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the dear friends and family who have/are still praying for us throughout this, have brought meals, offered to take care of Bailey, and called to check on me. It really means a lot! We definitely feel your prayers and hope you keep them coming!!! We can't wait to meet Baby Ramon (okay that won't really be his/her name) and have already learned that he is a trooper! All of this drama, coupled with constant nausea, had really had me down, but I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to keep me going!
I promise I'll post an update much sooner after my next appointment (Feb 3).

Monday, January 10, 2011

Two Years in a Row- Let's Cheer for SNOW!!!!!

How lucky are we? Snow, 2 years in a row, in LOUISIANA!!!

We're especially lucky here at our house- other family and friends in town didn't get any snow. We're lucky that ours piles up nicely on our back deck. Here's what we've been doing the past 2 days.
On Sunday, Bailey woke up from her nap to a blanket of white! We got on all our snow gear and went outside for some fun. Bailey had a blast and helped me and David build a little snowman and a snow dog. Izzie was less than thrilled to be wearing her sweater!




Today (Monday) we were back at it again! I was determined to build a BIG snowman. My poor friend Holly gave me the idea to make a felt hat and other things to build Frosty (unfortunately they didn't get enough snow in Dallas for her to use her cute stuff). Bailey only lasted about 10 minutes on the snowman building and was off to other things- primarily eating snow! Later on, she went inside to warm up and I stayed outside and built her a BIG snowman. Well, I say BIG- it was about 3 feet tall. Bailey loved dressing up Frosty!



Friday, January 7, 2011

My New Endeavor

Did I really need to create ANOTHER blog? No, but I did anyway. Inspired by a photographer friend of mine last year, I decided to do a 365 day photo project for the year 2011. Below is a link to this blog- please become a follower and see if I can keep up!


Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The 12 Days of Christmas- Part 2

Day 7 (Dec 20)- Practicing our Christmas craft for Sunday School, my sick child made this handprint angel. She is just like her Mama- she loves crafts! YAY!!!



Day 8 (Dec 21)- As Bailey is getting older, I'm able to do some of the things with her that I did with my students at school. She absolutely LOVED the gingerbread man hunt. She followed the clues and went all over the house, finding a real gingerbread cookie at the end. A great new tradition!!!




Day 9 (Dec 22)- Cookies for Santa (or at least that's what they were supposed to be). I was super excited about these new pans, but the result was less than desirable! Oh well, Santa didn't mind!


Day 10 (Dec 23)- I LOVE the Eve before Christmas Eve. We all decided to open one present early- Bailey was very excited about her new Bible!



Day 11 (Dec. 24)- Christmas Eve was lots of fun. We spent the afternoon and evening with G-Pa, YaYa and Mamaw. They all came to church with us where Bailey sang Christmas carols at the top of her lungs (even though she didn't know all the words)!!!
BooBoo and YaYa

Tea Party with Mamaw


Back at home- Sneaking a little taste of Santa's goodies!

Sprinkling reindeer food outside


Day 12 (Dec. 25)- Christmas Day was busy as always, but filled with lots of good family time!
G-Pa and YaYa came over that morning to watch Bailey open her presents.

Then we went to the Doyal's house for Christmas breakfast. Here is Popaw opening his new gun. As Grandy so elegantly put it, "Nothing says Happy Birthday Jesus like an assault rifle!"
Then to my mom's house for more Christmas fun!
Finally, our last stop- David's grandmother's house where Bailey had fun dancing with Gigi!