Incredibly Blessed

It's been about a week and a half since my surgery to remove my right fallopian tube due to an ectopic pregnancy. I've actually felt pretty goof the last couple of days, but last week was TOUGH! Talk about humbling. I was so thankful though as my mom was able to fly out from California and help take care of the kids for us. The simplest tasks I wasn't able to do - picking something off of the floor, climb stairs, pick up the baby, lift a gallon of milk. But I was here to at least enjoy the smiles of my kids' faces....

The emotional strain of dealing with a loss of pregnancy wasn't too bad, as I didn't know I was pregnant, however we do often wonder "what if". To calm those feelings though we have to remember that God is in control and that He needed that little one with Him to sing and be an angel. We know that God has promised us one more child - a little boy, and we hold on to that promise in the hard times....

My Dr., Doctor Reed, is amazing.... she was able to save my life and also do an amazing surgery. I will probably have a minimal scar. I am so thankful for her and the work she does. She is like family to us - not to mention that Joshie LOVES her! She said that I am recovering well and that we will be fine to have more kids - in a while of course.... Not even wanting to think about that right now. She also took some pretty awesome pictures of the surgery. I'll have to post them later.

"Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in them"

Still Half Full

A lot of times it is so easy to look at the glass "half empty" when things don't go as planned. As long as there's a drop in that glass - there's still hope! This weekend was an easy weekend to be discouraged, down and depressed - but the glass is still half full!

Friday, Jason left for the annual Men's Retreat with our church group. I was actually looking forward to a weekend of "bonding" between the kids and I. Friday night wen't well, and I was excited about Saturday.

Saturday morning I awoke with severe abdominal pain. I seriously thought it was appendicitis. It hurt to sit, move and especially get kids dressed. I really prayed about seeking medical attention, or just "waiting" until Monday to see my regular physician. Around 8:00am, we drove to the nearest Urgent Care Clinic. I got right in and the doctor was of course NOT a people person and made me find someone to take the big kids. He said that it was likely I had kidney stones and set me up with an ultrasound.

My friend, Amanda, from school came and picked up the munchkins and I had several ultrasounds done. The sonographer concluded that it was fluid in my intestines and that was causing the pain on the right side. He said to just take a laxative but wait for the doctor to be sure. The doctor had a totally different opinion. He came in and told me I was pregnant and was having a miscarriage. He sent me home, after 5 hours of being there, with instructions to come back Monday for a check on my HcG levels.

Something just didn't sit right with that diagnosis, so as the day went on, I continued to pray for wisdom in the situation. I knew that God had promised me a pregnancy this month, so I was thankful as I was a little more watchful than normal, and really wasn't surprised at the pregnancy result. I was surprised though as to the miscarriage synompsis. We too often thing pregnancy will always equal baby. As the day went on, I still felt real faint and weak with a lot of pain. Around 5:00pm my shoulder blade began to hurt on the right side. Being the "researcher" that I am, I logged on to Webmd.com and searched my symptoms. The main result was Ectopic Pregnancy. It said that if there's pain the tip of the scapula (shoulder blade) that immediate medical attention should be sought as it can be fatal if not caught in time.

I called my OB, just hoping to get a message to her about what was going on. She called me from dinner and told me to go to the ER and a room would be ready so she could personally monitor and check me out. I called me dear, sweet friend, Kim Juarez, to come out and watch my sleeping kids while I went to the hospital. I ended up being admitted and Jason left early from the retreat to meet me in my room. I had tests and ultrasounds done until 1:00am. Finally, I could sleep - until 5:00am

5 am rolls around and my nurse and OB, Dr. Jane Reed, come in to tell me that it is an Ectopic Pregnancy and that I will be needing surgery. The easiest scenario is laproscopically removing the fertilized egg and leaving my tubes in tact. The other scenario is if it is too far along, or the tube has ruptured to then make a "bikini cut" and take out my falopian tube.

Surgery was at 6:00 am, and I awoke in my room at about 10:00am. Still drowsy and a little confused, Jason told me the news. The surgery was a sucess, although it had ruptued my tube, hence all of the bleeding earlier. The ovaries are both still perfect and we should still be able to concieve any future kids from the other side. Dr. Reed had to remove my right falopian tube, but thankfully we came in when we did as Monday would have been too late.

Praise God for the warning signs and wisdom. I know that this little angel will be singing in heaven and we will meet him/her one day in the future. I am so thankful though for His provision and for His protection!

Pumpkins

This past weekend it felt like fall. Growing up in Southern California, fall is like summer, just cooler at night. Its usually in the 80's to 90's until Christmas time. Each year I am so thankful that we moved out here to Texas. We've been here now a little over 4 years and God has blessed us so much here.

So Jason and I decided to take the kids to the pumpkin patch down the street from us. It was the perfect day - 60's degree weather and cloudy outside. It was definately pumpkin pickin' weather... Here's some pictures from our outing:

The pumkin patch was a success - I think we might have to make this a tradition from now one... Our three little pumpkins :)

It's about time....

When you have three kids 3 and under, you do tend to get a little busy. I appologize for not blogging! I've had so much to write about too and will try my best to blog through pictures of the past 3 weeks....

Julianna:

6 months old

sits up, stands with assist, "froggy" crawls

no teeth (but working on one!)

LOVES eating baby food

favorite toy: the walker and "freddy the firefly"

I can't believe that Julianna is 1/2 of a year old. It seems like just yesterday that she was born! She has grown so much, and loves interacting with her brother and sister. I can see it in her eyes that she cannot wait to start chasing after them and playing with them. On September 20, she was dedicated at our church, The Crossing. A baby dedication is when you as parents are aggreeing to the responsibility of raising that child in the best way you can for the Lord and showing them how to grow spiritually as well. We have dedicated Joshie and Jenna too and its really cool to start and see that come about when Joshie sings "This little light of mine" and wants to pray at dinner time. My dad and his wife were able to join us for this special day, as well as Joshie and Jenna. We went up as a family to recieve the blessing of being Julianna's parents.

Jenna:

22 months old

still our "drama queen" and "life of the party" girl

loves to be silly and make silly faces

loves to love on her little sister

big brother is her hero (along with daddy)

favorite toy: Ariel mermaid doll

Jenna-girl is growing liek a weed these days. She has changed so much this past year. She is definately is not a little baby girl any more, but is becoming quite the "little lady". She is constantly "borrowing" my purse and sticking her goldfish crackers in them and putting on my work shoes and of course she wouldn't be Jenna if that also didn't involve finding my gum and trying to chew the whole pack.

Joshua:

3 years old

fully potty trained (shortly after 2 1/2)

can spell his name and count to 10

loves to write - he can write his name by himself

can't wait to be in school!

Favorite toy: Buzz Lightyear and any "cars and trains"

Joshua has truely filled the role of "big brother" to a tee. He is so proud to be Jenna and Julianna's big brother and is always wantin to help out and take care of them. In fact, whenever we see another baby, he wants to take it home with us! His best friend is his sister Jenna (and the feeling is mutual with her) and wants to play baseball 24/7.

Our friends, Kim and Orlando, are moving to Tulsa, OK to start a church and a school and gave us their trampoline...yes, I said trampoline...

The kids LOVE it! Of course they are not allowed to jump without me or Jason out there with them, but it has been a blessing as it wears them out enough to where they actually have a decent nap time on home-days! Yay!! Thank you Mrs. Kim and Mr. Orlando!

Above is the most recent picture of all the grandkids - minus my sister's new baby: Lindi Mae. This was taken right before Josh and Elisha's birthday smash and about 2 weeks before the new cousin arrived. Lindi was born on the 18th of September, making the 7th grandchild (and Josh is the eldest!) Here they are in order of their birth:

Joshua (9/15/06); Elisha (9/17/07); Jenna (12/1/07); Caitlyn (6/12/08); Julianna (4/1/09) and Ezekiel (7/2009)