Its been a whirlwind of a month here at the Shaub house!

Breydon went trick-or treating as a cheeseburger. He didnt really get the point of what he was doing (obviously), but he enjoyed riding around the neighborhood in his beloved wagon. He liked the candy that crinkled, but I dont think he as a clue what it was.

I was extremely amused with myself for having him be a cheeseburger. Maybe next year he can choose his own costume! Luckily Ali still wont have a choice. Maybe she'll be a hotdog...

Breydon is getting big so fast. It makes me sad!! But the other day he actually fell asleep on my chest like he did when he was tiny. I miss that so much. I know that in a few months Ill have another snuggly baby around, it just makes me sad that we are past that (for the most part) with him. Hes so active and independant. I love that about him.

And today Michael and I got a little bit closer to being ready for Alison to come home. We moved the big dresser into our room where she will be staying for a while. And we (Michael) put up her crib! I folded and re-folded all her clothes... took inventory of what she's already got... what she needs, ect. I am planning to have quite the fun time on black Friday. ;)

In one week Ali will be "viable". That helps calm my nerves a little bit. I want her in there as long as possible though. And so far we are on track for that to happen!! Unless she's huge... in that case she may need to be a little early. At my last appointment she was measuring over 2 weeks big. So Dr. Wheeler is having me do the glucose tolerance test to see if I have gestational diabetes. I can guarantee you that I dont- I borrowed my gramma's One Touch glucose reader for a few days. I returned it sooner than I intended because I was starting to obsess about it. But anyways, I tested after meals, and before meals, and and and and........... it was always fine. Never close to being concerning. I think maybe I just have big babies...? I mean, look at their daddy! He was over TEN pounds at birth, and not overdue at all! So, that test is on the 16th.

We are getting there!! Slowly but surely!

Heres some recent pictures that I love.

I just thought this was sweet.... my little boy. <3

He was just sooo pitiful this day! He was cutting a top toof and wasnt very happy about it.

Ive been wanting to get Breydon one of these for a while now. Its a iPod/iPhone case. It covers the phone completely, and covers the home button he he can play with my phone and chew on it, and whatever, without hurting it. (Like he did my FIRST iPhone!) Since I got my iPhone, I havent needed my iPod touch. I cleared all of my things off of it, and put a bunch of Breydon's apps on it. I loaded it up with all his kids music, and his episodes of Mickey Mouse, and its now usable! He loves it!! Its so handy when we are in the car and hes mad, or when hes bored and we are out to eat with friends. I think we may love it more than he does!

This is a sucky picture and I know it. Its a screen shot on my iPhone, of a home-made video that my sister took of an ultrasound. Pshew!!! Its Ali's little face looking out at us. You can see one little eye, but the other one is covered up by some shadow. This was at 21 weeks.

This is sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiightly outdated... because this was taken at 21 weeks and some odd days. And we are 23 now. But its pretty close to how things are now. Maybe a tiny bit different in shape. Ill update the belly pics during the next post. Probably after I find out the results of that glucose test.

8 Ounce Girl

Alison is perfect. My OBGYN says so. :) Perfect little brain, heart, face and limbs. :) All 8 ounces of her.
Here are some pictures of her from Wednesday's ultrasound:

Profile

Arrow pointing to the "girl parts".

3-D of her with her arm up by her face.

This is my favorite of the bunch- except she looks sad :(

Pretty girl. And excuse my finger. ;)

And then Breydon gave us a good scare on Sunday. In a nutshell- he was in SVT for what we think was just a few minutes. We called his doctor, and took him in to the office on Tuesday. They did an Echo of his heart- and the hole that was there is half the size it was last December. So thats good. All he needs to fix his high heartrate is to increase his medicine. He was taking 3mL x2 a day, then they increased it to 3.3mL x2 a day. But, since Tuesday we have noticed this his heartrate hasnt been in the target range. Its still been too high. Not SVT, but not what it should be. Im going to give the medicine until Monday, and then Ill call and tell the doctor that its not working. But hes fine! We carved pumpkins today and he was more interested in rocks than anything else. Typical. :)

It's a GIRL, and 1 year photos of Breydon!

Ali's sweet profile

Beautiful little face

The arrow is pointing to those three lines/dots... which means a GIRL!

He is BEAUTIFUL.

Little tongue

Just chillin' by a rock wall...

He REALLY wanted out of the box. LOL!

=)

Its been a VERY VERY good day. Now to grill steaks in celebration!

BOY OR GIRL

That is the question! AND I KNOW THE ANSWER! :) So does Michael! :)

I went for my 15/16 week appointment with Dr. Wheeler and he did an ultrasound like always. He walks in and says, "Alright Meag, lets get a look at your baby. Are you a gender guesser, do you want to know??" I said yes, of course. :) He gets the machine going... looks at the baby's head... and the baby's belly and limbs. Then he starts looking around the bottom. He wasnt saying anything, and the baby was moving like crazy. I was watching, trying to make my own guess. Then he turned off the machine and said, "Well Meag, I would say there's a 3 out of 4 chance that youll be having a __________". And thats what I thought I saw too! BUT... its unfortunately a secret still since we werent more sure. We werent on the greatest machine. The picture was grainy, and the more Dr. Wheeler zoomed in the harder things were to see. But. I have to remember that I definately saw what I saw. Next weekend, Saturday the 24th is our gender scan at the private company in St. John. They'll give me a CD with pictures, and a movie of the ultrasound. :) Ill post pics when I have them. Ill also let everyone else know the gender at that point too. :) And on October 5th we have the big ultrasound with the doctor for the anatomy scan. Any guesses??? :)

Also- let the weight gain begin... Im currently +3 at 16 weeks. :/

1 year pictures!

Its taken a little longer than usual, but we finally have a "preview" of Breydon's 1 year photo session. I am excited to see more, but have no idea when that will be. Ill share with you once I get them!!

1 week till our 16 week OB appt (and next ultrasound) and 13 days until we find out the gender at our private scan on the 24th! ((unless Dr. Wheeler can tell me at our 16 week appt! lol)) But who's counting!? ;)

Breydon's 1 Year Check-Up

Its was an odd day from the beginning.

Every morning, around 6:30, Breydon is up for the day. Michael has to be up at 7 anyway, so he usually gets up with him and gives hims breakfast and gets him entertained with whatever is on Playhouse Disney. I get a little more time to sleep. So usually around 7:30 when Mike leaves, I get up and take over with Brey. Well this morning as SOON as I got up, Breydon was ready for a nap. Only an hour after waking up for the day. So I layed him down, and he slept for 2 and a half hours. On a normal day, he will take a nap at nine, and get up around ten. So it was weird from the start. My sister came to watch him today while I was in class, and he took another short nap for her! Must have not slept well alst night or something.

We went to his appointment, and all was well. He was 23.12 pounds, and 30 inches long. They didnt give me exact numbers, but his height was in the 50th percentile, and his weight was in the 60th. I dont remember his head measurment, but it was in the 80th percentile. ;) The doctor came in, and asked me a bunch of questions, like... can he walk, does he point, is he on whole milk, is he eating table food ect. I laughed when he asked me if Breydon could stack blocks. Im sure he could stack blocks if he wanted to, but to Breydon, blocks of all types are hammers. I couldnt picture him sitting nicely with blocks and stacking them. Just made me chuckle. :D

So he got his 3 shots... (did you know that they have a vaccine for chicken pox now?? I didnt- until today!) and then they gave me an order to have bloodwork done in the next 2-3 weeks. I figured that it would be better to give him ONE bad day, instead of a few of them (He's got a flu shot next month sometime too). So we went and did that today. Poor kid didnt have a very good time at the doctors offices today. :(

You can see the 3 band-aides on his legs, and the one on his arm where they drew the vile of blood. He was a trooper today!

After a while of playing with toys, and a good hour nap, we had dinner. Spaghetti and chocolate cake make everything MUCH better. :)

Birthday Stuff, and Second baby stuff



I don't think Im going to be all emotional when I write this time. Breydon's first birthday has come and gone sucessfully. He had a fun time at the zoo on his actual birthday... and then a good party the day after with lots of friends, family, presents, cake and good food! ;) I always pictured him suddenly seeming older when he turned one. But, he still feels and acts like my little baby boy. Here are some pictures of the big party. The rest are on my facebook in his birthday album.

We still have one little party left to go, but SO FAR, this has been the most liked birthday present. :) The night that Mike's parents gave it to him, he was SO excited and threw a fit when it was time to come out. We let him stay, and he eventually fell asleep in it. What a great end to a first birthday. :)



Just playin' at his party. Naked of course.

Breydon with his stack of gifts!

Brave parents, getting right in the middle of the action for a kiss

Our little smurf

And then today, I had an appointment with Dr. Wheeler, and got poked and all that good stuff. But we saw Breydon's NICU window from afar. That was sad. But also happy, because he was right there with me, happy and smiling. And perfectly healthy.  This baby is looking good too! Heart rate of 174 today.

Breydon's 1 year appointment was SUPPOSED to be tomorrow (Monday the 15th) but... they called Friday and asked us to reschedule it, because they couldnt give him his shots 4 days before his birthday. It had to be before or after. Sounds silly to me. So we moved it. I dont remember the date, but luckily its on the calendar. :)

I cannot wait for September 24th. It couldnt come fast enough! (Thats when we find out the gender of this baby!) Im the most impatient person in the world, so we are doing an ultrasound at a private place in St. John, Indiana. Then we will still get our regular anatomy ultrasound with Dr. Wheeler about a month later.

I think we may have figured out the names. Maaaaaaaybe. Obviously nothing is set in stone till the baby is here. But we have had Nolan picked for a little boy for a few weeks now. We both like and and agree on it. So hopefully it stays around for a while. Then we have Alison picked for a girl. Ali. I like it, Mike likes it, it fits with the other names in our family. So hopefully it sticks around too.

Mikes been telling me that this baby is a girl since day one. Not sure if thats wishful thinking on his part, or if he's got all the "mommy's intuition" in this family. He was right about Breydon, and I wasnt, so who knows! I kinda want a brother for Breydon, but don't REALLY care. I think its another boy. We shall see!

On Monday, Breydon had an appointment with Dr. Ghazali- his cardiologist. Originally they were going to take him off of his heart medicine this month, but since his medicine got increased last time we were there, he is still taking it. His next appointment is in November, and they are planning on discontinuing his medicine then. His heart rate has been anywhere between 96 and 130 BPM. The 130 seemed high to me, but he wasnt worried about it. Breydon also gets another Echo in November to check on the hole in his heart. Hopefully its closed, because I dont want to think about heart surgery. And Im hoping that if its NOT closed in November, that Dr. Ghazali will give it more time to close before they discuss alternatives.

But, it was pretty uneventful. The EKG was interesting, as always, since Breydon has to be laying perfectly still, and Breydon doesnt WANT to lay perfectly still. ;) He weighs 23.12 pounds, and is 29.5 inches long. Kinda short still.

He has his 1 year doctors appointment on the 15th, so Ill have his 'official' 1 year stats then. :)

The BEST invention

 

You might have to turn your volume way up. But that whooshing you hear is baby #2's heart beating.

Yeah... thats definately not MY heartbeat! ;)

Babies

This is my baby. It was behaving really well... growing like it should and stuff. It may not look like it, but it is quite bigger than it was a week and a half ago. Im proud. ;)



I went for a different reason (my regular appt isnt until Aug 22) but when I was there she tried to find the baby on the abdominal doppler and couldnt because the baby is still a little too small. So she decided to have me do a quick abdominal ultrasound, (thats why the quality isnt as good as the last ones) and so we got a few more little pictures of baby #2. Heart rate at 8.6 weeks was 189. Perfect.



Of course, I can't forget this baby who ALREADY has my heart...

He likes to drink big drinks

Whining about something. Prlly cuz I was taking a picture with the iPhone, instead of letting him hold it.

He LOVES rice.

Here's both my boys, taking a nap together. :)

We now have a walking little boy in the house!
He's still in that stage where he's very uncoordinated, and falls over every few steps... but he's definately walking! Im so proud of my little preemie. :) I do have to admit though, that when he took his first steps, I cried and wanted to make him sit back down. :)

His birthday is next month! Coming up so quickly! He was ALMOST born today... I think I started this blog a year a go exactly. Maybe. This was the day a year ago that eh stopped moving, failed to NST's, and then was almost delivered. But like I said on facebook-- Thank goodness its not his birthday!!!!!

So far so good with this pregnancy. Everything is going just as it should. I was sick for 2 weeks, but so far this week, I havent been sick at all. Not sure what thats all about, but Im not complaining. Ive just been EXTRA tried.

Its been fun to go back to the, online shopping for my baby, obsession. :) Except its a little less overwhelming since we know what we need this time. We scheduled a gender scan for September 24th. We will be almost 17 weeks. I am excited because Michael's mommy and my mommy and Breydon of corse, are going to go with us. :)It should be an exciting day... IF they can tell us what we are having! lol. The we will have our regular 20 week gender scan at the doctors office.

Next appt on August 22nd. I think thats just for blood work. Bleck. But maybe we will get to see the baby again too. Who knows. Dr Wheeler did say he would scan us every appointment... but this time Im seeing the midwife since its bloodwork. Like I said-- who knows.

Starting Over

Due March 6th 2012

Heartbeat of 152

7.2 weeks gestation

:)

:)

((Im okay with people knowing, but let's not plaster the good news all over facebook quite yet...))

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, that Im not sure I want to go to. Im nervous about it. Please pray that my BP is normal still. :) And for my nerves.

The SCARIEST thing of my life.

We have been using the "Cry it Out" method (a modified version) during nap time with Breydon. It's worked for the most part- he can put himself to sleep now, and thats especially helpful in the middle of the night. So this afternoon, I was laying Breydon down for a nap. He obviously didn't want to do, so I kept going in every few minutes and laying him back down, and then leaving the room. I got back to the living room, and was sitting on the couch when I hear a thud. He tends to throw his sippy and paci out of the crib when he's mad. So I didnt think much of it. The next thing I know, the crying gets closer and closer... so in a panic I run in his direction. There he is, speed crawling down the hall way toward me, crying his face off. All his limbs were in tact, he wasnt gushing blood. I was terrified and scared to death, so I was crying, but as soon as I picked him up he was fine. He wanted to play. I guess Breydon wins, this round- No more naps for him today!

Breydon likes to take showers with mommy (because he can splash and crawl on the bottom of the tub without worrying about going under the water. Plus, its just faster than doing two separate baths. ANYWAY) It made me kinda sad, because I was remembering his first little bath in the NICU where they didnt even rinse his shampoo out of his hair, because the water on his head would make him too cold.  (And at this point he was working really hard to regulate his body temperature, so we didnt want to make it harder) So they rubbed the shampoo in and left it. I remember thinking it was weird. Brey loves when I wash his hair. He always gets the biggest smile. Actually, the whole time he's in the shower he looks at me, wide-eyed and open mouthed, because he discovered the water on the wall, or the little pool of water by the drain. It looks like he's thinking, "Do you see this, Momma?!" I love him.

Im not sure what it is. Maybe its beacause he turns one next month. Maybe its because this time last year we almost had to deliver my baby 10 weeks early. Or maybe a combination. But I keep finding myself thinking lots about Breydon at the beginning. How far he's come from all the tubes.

In February, right after we found out that he was on the way, I wrote in my prayer/praide book from the Howett's. I wrote that I was scared, but that I knew God wouldnt have given this tiny baby to me, if he didnt think I could do it. And I wrote that I hoped I could meet Breydon some day, but even if I never got the chance, I was thankful for him. God showed me that I could deal with much more than just a baby. I could even handle a sick baby, and a baby with a heart condition. And all in all, I think I do a pretty good job. He's growing, he's happy, he's smart, and more than anything, hes LOVED. Its sad to watch him grow up, but I can't wait to see what God is going to do with him.



Im feeling EXTRA emotional today, so...

I loved you the minute I heard you were coming. I loved you the minute you were born. Then I saw your face and fell in love some more. You were only a minute old, but I knew I would die for you and to this day I still would. When you choose to have a child you make a conscious decision to allow your heart to walk around outside of your body.

I dont put these things as my statuses. I like to steer-clear of all things "cheeseball", but like I said. Im feeling kinda emotional. My baby does turn one next month, after all. :)

Vacation!

Tomorrow is our last day on the beach. Its been a GREAT week! Breydon has been WONDERFUL! I cannot complain one bit. He was PERFECT in the car, he's been PERFECT on the beach, perfect everything. And to think I was nervous????!! I feel like a loon! Ill add pictures later, Im waiting to put them on the computer till the week is over, but don't worry. I wont forget! Michael, Breydon and I held an alligator today at Fudpuckers. Mostly Michael held it. We got a picture of it, but unfortunately its just one that they printed for us. Im thinking that once we are home Ill scan it and see if I can get the quality good enough to reproduce. It should work.

Im looking forward to getting home though, to things familiar, and to my nice and cool king sized bed. Going from a king to a double is killer. Especially when your husband is 6'6". Ive been SOO incredibly worn out in the evenings so when I lay down, Im usually out. So thats a good thing.

More later. See you soon!

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! ;)

FIRST KISSES

Breydon was TEN months old on Sunday. Cliche, I know, but where has the time gone?  Seems like just yesterday that I was laying in the delivery room, waiting, holding my breath until I knew he could breathe.

Seems like just yesterday they handed him to me and then took him away. I hardly had time to kiss him.

 Seems like just yesterday that they told me that I could finally bring him home, and I was so proud of him.

I forget how hard it was to see him with all the wires. And the alarms. And every night when I was leaving, I would pray that God would keep him alive for me until I was able to come back. And before I left his room, EVERY time, I waited for his stats to go back up to where I felt comfortable leaving.

Now he's sitting next to me eating macaroni, making a mess, being big, like nothing ever happened.

I tell myself that if I had to do it a second time, have a NICU baby, that it would be easier because I would know what things were and I would know the answer to all of my "scared mommy" questions. But I dont know if thats true. Its scary just because the person you created, and love most in the world is helpess and sick. And theres nothing a mommy can do, even tho every instict in my body says differently. I wouldnt take ANY of it back, or have done anything differently, because otherwise I wouldnt have Breydon. But I pray to God that I don't have to do that again.

Sorry- I wasnt planning on writing about that. I wanted to write about Mr. Breydon's first kiss!!

Theres a little girl in the nursery with Breydon, and her name is Baylee. Shes a little over a year old, but the same size as Brey. When I took Breydon into the nursery on Sunday, I sat him down in the middle of a gazillion toys. Baylee walked up to him, and he looked up at her. She patted him on the head and smiled at him. He just looked at her. She sat down next to him, then she gave him a big kiss. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... Breydon attempted to pull her hair. It was the cutest thing ever! Michaels going to have to work with him on how to treat ladies... and how to get them to like you... when hes about 16 years older. ;) He's going to be a heartbreaker alright!

This is the only shot I could get, because I was trying to intercept hair pulling, which was about to happen again in this picture...

And then, another thing that is worth talking about is that Michael got me and Breydon a new car to drive around in!! I LOVEEEEE it! Its much more roomy than the cobalt. I loved the cobalt, but it wasnt very practical with the carseat, and thinking long term.

And this picture is just for fun, because he looks so grown up!

K thats all! I probably wont write again untill vacation... so wish us luck!! We might need it... ;)