Go Spartans Go!

What a handsome little man in his Spartan windsuit! We're hoping for a big win this weekend:) Go Spartans Go!

Things have been just a bit stressful this past week. On Friday Allen heard that the majority of the people left at his company would be layed off that day! Thankfully (I guess) they did not do layoffs on Friday, instead they told everyone they would have to take a 5-20% pay cut until they did get layed off. However, this pay cut vs. being layed off immediately or within the next week has not been approved by their parent company so their is still the fear that Allen will be layed off within the next week or so instead of in June. I must say I'm a more than a little scared seeing as I am not currently working and I doubt that any one is going to hire a big pregnant lady knowing I need to take time off right away. I'm really concerned about the possibility of not having insurance on Austin and Connor and having to pay out of pocket for a c-section and hospital stay. Such is the times I guess. I'm sure everything will work out one way or another.

Austin and I are going to another Readers from Birth play group tonight so that should be fun. Hopefully the don't pump the kids full of sugary snacks again:) Tomorrow we have our 28 week appointment with the OB. I've been feeling really good lately, especially since I've gotten over that head cold I had. Connor has been kicking and punching up a storm! It's so funny to see my belly jump out several inches:)

We decided now that Austin is 2 it is time to let go of the "Daden" (his pacifier). I didn't want to make him do it cold turkey so last week I explained to him that since he turned 2 and is a big boy that now his Daden is for naptime and bedtime only and we'll be keeping it in his crib. If he wants to suck on it during the day he has to sit in his crib with it. He was a little upset with me the first day but since then he has hardly bothered with it at all except for when he goes to bed. I'm hoping by the time Connor is born we'll be finished with the Daden for good.

Austin's Birthday!

Spring is in the Air!

First things first, Austins stool study came back normal!!!! Yea!!! We are sooo glad that he is a healthy little boy:) The pediatric gastro suggested that we now go and have allergy testing done but I don't know if Allen and I want to submit him to that, especially at such a young age when he already has anxiety about visiting doctors and there is no obvious allergy concern.

We had a great weekend and the weather was gorgeous! Saturday the boys got to spend most of the day together because Mommy went to a Mom to Mom sale in the morning. It was awesome! I got 4 bags of clothes, most unused with the tags still on, and I only spent $25.00 total! Most of the clothes were for Connor since he will be wearing different seasonal clothes than when Austin was born. The majority of the stuff for older boys was really worn but I did get a couple books for Austin. I even got a Halloween costume for Connor, it's a little blue monster with claw mittens:) I came home and played with the boys for a bit and we took out Austin's tricycle for him and the second we put him on it and showed him where to put his feet on the pedals, he started pushing and riding around! He did such an awesome job pedaling down the sidewalk, we were very impressed! When Austin went down for a nap I headed to the outlet malls in Howell to shop and have dinner with my friend Lisa. It was a great day and especially nice to have a little me time, thanks to my boys:)

Sunday afternoon we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Uncle Matt and Mommy's birthday's. Grandma and Grandpa had rescued a little tikes play house from someones garbage and Austin thought it was the best thing ever! He was in the house almost the entire visit and was asking everyone to come inside the house with him:)

Well we have contacted a new realtor and will be putting our house up for sale again in mid-April. First we need to do a lot of touch up on the walls from someones toys banging around, not to mention regular spring cleaning and washing the siding on the house. It should be a busy few weeks. Hopefully we will have more interest this time around as I am very anxious to get out of our house. We are rapidly outgrowing the space and we don't particularly like the neighborhood or the schools and we never intended to raise our family here, it was always supposed to be our starter home. But here we are 2 kids and almost 7 years later......though I will miss our neighbors. They are very nice people who are always looking out for us especially when Allen is out of town. They will mow our lawn and snowblow our sidewalks when Allen is gone and bring over dinner for us, and always come outside to talk when they see us in the backyard playing, they even come over to say Happy Birthday. But it's time for us to move on.

Fetal Echo for My Little Boy & Booster Seat for My Big Boy

Austin in his big boy booster seat

We went and had the fetal echo done on Connor yesterday with the Perinatologist. Connor was so active during the echo that even the ultrasound tech was laughing:) He even flipped completely around and into a breech position! It was a long ultrasound and Austin was getting tired of being in the room even though we brought plenty for him to do so he ended up laying next to Mommy on the table, kissing my cheek and playing with my hair while we watched Connor on the big screen!

After the echo the Perinatologist came in and also took some more pictures of his heart and talked with us. She said that though the papillary muscle is highly visible, Connor's heart is structurally good and his heart beat is strong. She could see no other indicators that would point to Down's Syndrome, however, since we are so late in the pregnancy she could not tell if there was any fluid or thickening on the back of the neck which might indicate a problem. We would have had to see her prior to 20 weeks and we are now 25 weeks. But when the OB did the ultrasound at 20 weeks nothing was spotted on the neck. She said our quad blood test done at 15 weeks came back good showing we were in the lowest possible risk level for Down's Syndrome. She said she felt confident in telling us that we had nothing to worry about but of course there is always a possibility that there is something they can't see. She said the only way to be sure is to have an amnioscentesis and she said the risk of miscarriage (1 in 220) as a result of the procedure is just to high for us when the concern for Connor's health is not great. So Allen and I feel comfortable in the result. I know there is always going to be a little bit of worry in the back of my mind until he is born and I know for sure he is healthy body and mind.

As for my big boy, he is anxiously awaiting his birthday in the next couple weeks:) It's all he can do to contain himself about the truck decorations and Bob the Builder cake Mommy is making! And of course he can't wait to go pick out the fish Mommy and Daddy are getting him for his birthday since we picked up the tank over the weekend.

Austin now has a big boy booster seat at the dining room table! He thinks he is hot stuff now that he can be right up at the table with Mommy and Daddy using his cool dishes. He actually races to get into his chair when we tell him it's time to eat.

Pediatric Gastro Visit

We spent all of this beautiful 60 degree morning at the pediatric gastro's office with Austin. Austin had a great time in the waiting room because they had a huge fish tank filled with tons of big fish and coral and he was playing peek-a-boo with another boy on the other side of the fish tank:)

Once we got back into the actual exam room Austin knew it wasn't a place he wanted to be and started getting anxious almost immediately. The second the doctor walked in he started crying and trying to run out the door. The doctor was really nice and was even singing Thomas the Tank Engine songs to Austin when she saw he had brought his Thomas train with him but Austin was having none of it, he just wanted to get out of there.

The doctor didn't think that Austin's BM issues had anything to do with his liver since he will have periods of normal BM's. She did want to take a stool sample to test for issues with his pancreas to make sure he isn't having an absorption problem and if the stool sample comes back normal we will do a food allergy test to make sure it's not his body reacting badly to an allergy he may have. We did cut way down on the amount of milk Austin has been getting and that has helped his BM's a lot. The doctor said to make sure he doesn't get more than 18 oz of milk a day and he usually has 16oz so we're ok on that score.

As we were leaving I went to the lab next door to pick up the stool collecting kit and Austin came up to us and said "poop!" What a thoughtful little man:) He had a BM right there so we didn't need to collect a sample at home and drive back to the lab to drop it off! He is always so helpful. We should know the results of the stool sample in about a week.

I can't wait to head outside and play when Austin wakes up from his nap, especially since it is supposed to rain the entire weekend.

Waiting and Worrying ... And the Car Crash

Well we had our ultrasound yesterday to check on Connor's heart again. Austin was a champ in the ultrasound room and had a great time looking at Connor on the big screen. The issue they were looking at in Connor's heart was that in one of his chambers a papillary muscle was highly visible. In most cases this means nothing, the papillary muscle just happens to look more prominent in their heart. However in some cases it can indicate Downs Syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities. After the ultrasound it was time to see the doctor so he could explain the ultrasound but he was called to an emergency c-section so we had to go back to the doctor this morning.

Austin and I went back to the doctor this morning and while looking for a parking space at the doctor's office a little old lady who was not paying attention and claims she didn't hear my horn blaring, pulled out of her parking space and right into our car! Thank goodness she hit the front passenger side and not near Austin who was screaming in the back seat as this huge truck came at us and Mommy was pounding on the horn! Thank God no one got hurt.

Finally we get into the doctor's office and back into the room about to see the doctor when he was called out to do a delivery! AHHHHHH! At this point I'm feeling really bad for Austin who was just scared to death and now has been waiting in the doctor's office for 1 1/2 hours. Poor guy, but he did so well reading books and singing songs with Mommy. When the doctor got back he explained to me that they saw the papillary muscle again but no other indicators of Downs Syndrome such as a thickening of the neck and all of Connor's other measurements came back fine. The doctor told us that he is almost positive that it is nothing and that ultrasounds are usually 85-90% effective in making a diagnosis. It is likely that Connor just has a more prominent papillary muscle. But if we feel more comfortable we can have a fetal echocardiogram done. I think because I am a worry-wart by nature I will probably schedule the fetal echo just to make sure nothing is abnormal and if there is something at least we can prepare for whatever it may be.

Friday is Austin's appointment with the pediatric gastro and I am praying for a non-eventful trip with a clean bill of health for Austin:)

We did get some great 4D pictures of Connor that I will try to post this week. The ultrasound tech kept trying to get Connor to move his hands away from his face by pushing on my belly but he refused! He even brought his feet up to his face so we couldn't get a good look at him:)