26 Weeks & 4 Days

I have been neglecting to update this blog and the past few days have been a little hard, just trying to process all of the information from our doctors’ appointments. I continue to try to wrap my mind around the possibilities for Joshua. One possibility that we hope and pray for is healing. Another is that he may have the chromosomal abnormality of Trisomy 18.  Yet another possibility is that he just happens to have some things wrong, but otherwise is perfectly healthy. I have a hard time believing that to be true, but I know I should not disregard it.

Lately, I have been reading some blogs by people who delivered babies with Trisomy 18 and even though it is sad, it is also in some way comforting. I find myself relating to their emotions. In one that I was reading this morning, the mom was writing down prayer requests/praises and posted the following:

Praise for Copeland. She's kicking, squirming around, and I know that NOW, this is part of the life I will get to share with her. We are so programmed to circle a due date and mark that as the milestone at which our child begins, our time with them kicks off. But I have her today, now, and I long somehow to know her heart as much as I can. We have no idea how long she'll live. We know God is able to give her a long, healthy full life - that these diagnoses can be made null and void with one Whisper from Him. But even if He doesn't, we know her life is already full - she's made a quite a little stand for Christ in the last week. Pray we will embrace the victories we have now with her.

 I was encouraged to celebrate the now that I have with Joshua. I was telling Eddie last night that I feel like I already know so much about him. I pay attention to his movements all day long. I know that as soon as I sit up in the morning he begins to stir as if saying, “Oh it’s time to wake up with Mommy”. He loves to kick through breakfast and when I am done eating he usually stays still for awhile, as though content with the food. I know that he likes to kick before lunchtime, almost like an alarm clock to remind me that it is time to eat again. Lately, he likes to push his body out to make my stomach look disfigured. I think it’s funny and try to make him do it so I can show other people, but that is yet another thing about him, he likes to do things in his own timing and will not be pressured into it. The whole drink a cold glass of juice or water to make them kick is not a foolproof method with him. I know that he is squirmy at every ultrasound. They always comment on how active he is and are surprised that he will not sit still for their pictures, even though I warn them he does not like to be poked and pushed.  He also seems to know when it is bedtime. He is somewhat active after dinner and before I lay down, but once my head hits the pillow he is calm and quiet. I cherish my time with him and hope that I never take any of it for granted.

I will try to take a picture to post on here soon. My belly has definitely grown! I also want to ask for prayer that I would not succumb to feelings of hopelessness. Whenever we have an appointment, I leave trying to process everything and often feel overwhelmed. Especially in this last appointment, I was left feeling that my sense of hope was slipping away. Also, please pray as I go to see a counselor on Monday morning. Eddie and I were walking around Santee Lakes yesterday and we saw a mother duck with her baby duckling. It looked so fuzzy and sweet. I told Eddie later that I was so jealous of that duck because it had such a seemingly healthy baby. And then I realized that if I am feeling jealous of ducks that maybe I should go talk to someone. :)  I think that talking to someone outside of the situation will be a good idea and I am a little nervous so prayers are much appreciated. 

Ecclesiastes 11:5

“Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.”

4th of July Parade

After coming back from Bishop, we took little Joshua to one of our favorite events. The always classic, 4th of July Crest Parade! It is fantastic fun! 

Little Joshua and my smokin' hot babe at 22 weeks 5 days.

 Mom is in the background wearing her 4th of July red.

 A jolly old man on a tractor. Pretty sweet ride.

A true picture of what the Crest parade is all about. 

Cousin Bretters and his friend Jack. 

Auntie Nichole and Cousin Haven, enjoying some shade. 

 Uncle Ryan and Bretters. Look at that smirk!

22 Weeks

New pictures to post! This week we went on vacation to Bishop with the whole family. Prior to leaving, I had a check-up appointment with the perinatologist and my mom was able to come with me since Eddie had to work. We both got to see Joshua on the ultrasound and he looked great. He measured within the average range for his size and weight. His weight was almost one pound! I didn't get a picture to take with me from that appointment, but I was told that I will have plenty of pictures to come since I will be seen every two weeks and they will perform an ultrasound each time.

Eddie and I drove to Bishop a day ahead of my parents, Alan and Cassie and the girls, and Travis and Natalie and the boys, so that we could meet Ben, Sonya, and McKinley who were also arriving a day early. The drive was quite the experience as we had to stop six times for potty breaks for me, a wonderful side effect of staying hydrated and being pregnant. I now know of all the main bathrooms and rest stops at one hour intervals on the way to Bishop.

The next day with Ben and Sonya we visited one of my favorite places in town, Schat's Bakery and Sonya and I took our 22 week pregnancy picture.

The next few days were filled with a lot of fishing and relaxing for me. I loved spending time with the whole family together and the scenery was beautiful:

On the way up to the cabin.

However, on the third night, I woke up with what I later found out in the emergency room, were symptoms of acute mountain sickness. That then led to an adventure of finding no hotel room for the night (every hotel was booked), my throwing up on myself trying to go back up the mountain, napping in a Vons parking lot, buying new clothes at a K-Mart, napping some more in another parking lot, being woken by a Jehovah's Witness woman passing out fliers (she dropped a flier through the cracked window onto Eddie), finally finding a hotel room, and finally sleeping in a bed at an altitude my body could handle. 

In other news, Eddie finally felt Joshua kick for the first time! It was just one kick, but it was a good one. We were just about to fall asleep after the long day of trying to nap in parking lots and Joshua started kicking around so I told Eddie to hold his hand on my belly and be patient. So he waited and just when I thought maybe he wouldn't get to feel him, Joshua kicked hard. Eddie was really happy and I felt so glad that he could share in what I get to experience all the time. Joshua is one active little baby boy. So thankful for that reassurance of feeling him move around inside my belly.