Bo says Hi!

I had another appointment on the 26th and Bo looks good. He/she is still measuring right on size and has a strong heart beat. You can see in this picture that it looks like Bo’s waving to us!!! The face is looking right at the camera with the left hand waving! The next picture is the bottom of the right foot; maybe Bo is showing Daddy that he/she could be a kicker for the football team!

Unfortunately, though, in the toop right picture it looks more like Bo is kicking a soccer ball rather than a football – we’ll just have to pretend. The bottom photo is a rare moment when Bo was actually laying still on his/her back and looking upward. A very active little bugger!

I am going in tomorrow to have a procedure done that will give Bo a better chance of staying inside the cooker. I’m experiencing some pre-term labor signs and the doctor wants to stitch my cervix – dead bolt the door, so to speak. Please pray for a successful procedure and that the pregnancy will continue to term. So far I still feel well (other than a cold that has turned into bronchitis right now). Thank you all for the many encouraging cards and phone calls that we’ve gotten over the last few weeks.

The Jack Daddy

Jack wanted to be sure that we added a picture of the Daddy to the blogspot!! This is one of his favorite pictures - the image of him coaching and guiding young people. I know that he's looking forward to 'coaching' Bo through life, whether it be on the football field or in the kitchen! I think that Bo, whether a boy or a girl, will end up being a multi-talented kid, just like his/her Daddy!







And this is my favorite picture – Jack deep in thought. I took this photo on the river trip in April. We were listening to another staff member give some instruction to the students and I was secretly stealing Kodak moments of unsuspecting river rats!

16 week ultrasound photo

Here’s our little Bo at 16 weeks. He/she is developing well and right on schedule, measuring about 6 inches in length at this point. Hopefully I’ll soon be able to feel movement.

I go in again on Wednesday the 26th. Hopefully we’ll get another great picture!

My Sweet Baby

This is a poem that my niece Jess wrote for us.

My Sweet Baby
You are the child I never had a chance to hold in my arms
I never saw your sweet baby face
Or heard your one of a kind voice
Even so
You will be a part of me forever
As long as I live
A place in my heart will always be yours
Forever and always
My sweet baby

No More Womb-Mate for Bo

We sadly discovered the loss of Go on Wednesday at our 16 week appointment. It was a complete shock, as there had been absolutely no indication that anything was wrong. Although smaller than Bo, Go looked normal. Unfortunately, there was no heart beat and he/she measured a full four weeks smaller than Bo, indicating that the heart had stopped beating within days of our last ultrasound. We’ll never know why, of course, and I don’t know that the knowledge of it would lessen the pain anyway. There is a part of me, though, that wishes that this baby had been developed enough to know the gender.

Both Dr. Hayborn (the doc at the perinatal center – the high risk place) and Dr. Peck (my regular OB doc) believe that this should not affect Bo in any way. Measuring right on schedule with a strong heartbeat of 154 beats per minute, Bo should continue to develop normally. They will, however, monitor me more closely now with visits every two weeks for a while. Both docs said that my body will continue a bit longer to respond as if it’s carrying twins, still placing me in a higher risk category and at a greater risk for pre-term labor.

In a few days I’ll post the ultrasound picture of Bo and will also try to post the dvd of the ultrasound – it’s pretty neat as you can watch the movement and even hear the heartbeat.

Please pray for a safe remaining pregnancy and normal development of Bo. Also pray please that my body will quickly transition to a singleton pregnancy, lowering the risk of pre-term labor. And, of course, please keep us in your prayers as we deal with the loss of Go. There are times when I'm so overcome with the grief that I momentarily forget that I'm still pregnant. I know that we are very blessed to be carrying a strong and healthy baby, but that does not lessen the pain of losing a baby.

Second Ultrasound at about 12 weeks - August 14th

I know that I'm posting these pictures about 4 weeks after the fact! Hopefully that's not an indication of future blogging activity!

The first picture is of the bigger of the two (this one was measuring 12 weeks exactly, while the smaller measured in at 11 weeks and 5 days; because we know the exact conception date, we also know that they were measuring larger than their real age of 11 weeks and 4 days). The head is at the center with the body coming down to the left. You can actually see eye sockets, the nose, and the mouth!

Because they are the BOGO babies (buy one, get one), the bigger one is Bo and is the one that we generally see first (it must be positioned in the front).

Go, the smaller of the two, has it's head placed on the far right of the screen with it's body coming in toward the center. This picture is even harder to depict any details.

The next picture is even harder to see. This is the only one the doctor could get of both of them together. Bo is on the right, facing Go. Bo’s body is somewhat visible, although Go looks like mostly just a head in this shot!!!

Hopefully the ultrasound tomorrow will be better! And hopefully it won't take me as long to post them!!

A second fetal heartbeat?!?! So does that mean we have twins?"

We discovered on July 11th that we are having a double blessing!! Holy cow!! Thankfully Jack was with me - I think I was more suprised than he was!!! He said he wasn't suprised because he had prayed for twins!! So we now have the BOGO babies - Buy One, Get One!! Even now, 6 weeks after finding out, it still shocks me that we're having twins. I had hardly even gotten used to the idea that I was finally pregnant, muchless with two!!!

Doctor, are you sure that I'm just 5 weeks pregnant?!?!

We discovered on June 22nd that we're finally going to be parents!!! I n this picture I truly was just 5 weeks pregnant, but was also retaining a huge amount of water. The fluid did go away, but that lasted only about a week before I was no longer able to wear my jeans. The funniest part was that I left for PA to visit my family, not knowing whether I was pregnant and came back 10 days later looking like this!!