Thankful...

Monday, I flew to Dallas, rented a car, and drove 2.5 hours to Wichita Falls, TX. We are planning for Ivy to deliver the baby there because it is the closest major hospital across the TX line from her (she's in OK). We need to deliver in TX from a legal standpoint. It was her first appointment with her new OB and they did an ultrasound. Here is our sweet one...

I don't care how long I live and how many prenatal ultrasounds I see...they will always amaze me. Ivy is now 12 weeks along and baby is measuring 12 weeks 2 days. Heart was pounding away at 169bpm and looked perfect. The nuchal fold looked great. We saw the chambers of the brain and even fingers :) It was so amazing to watch that screen. I was just overwhelmed with thankfulness. 

Then today, Blaine came home from school and told me that he was given an assignment to write an essay about a person who changed his life. He chose to write about his little brother, Abram. I cannot really describe what hearing that felt like. Sure, they fight like cats and dogs and have all the normal sibling angst, but at the root of it all even Blaine knows how fortunate we are to have Abram in our lives. 

Too often I go through my day to day and don't reflect on what our journey has been like since I lost my ability to carry children. When, Blaine was born, Aubrey was 14 months old. My sole focus was survival and any spare minute of sleep I could find. I was not thankful. I loved my children, but seriously, I was not thankful. Brandon and I both made a conscious decision to cherish every moment with Abram and enjoy him...something we didn't do with our first two. With all that infertility and April 24, 2004 took from me, it gave me something far greater...thankfulness. I now know what it's like to long for a child and dream every night for years of their face. The longing and aching for a little head to smell. I don't know if I would have ever gotten to that place had I not been forced there. I know it could have happened; I just don't think it would have. I don't know if my older children would have gotten to that place either. They have something their friends don't: a greater appreciation for their younger brother, an understanding of the trials we sometimes have to walk through to get something far greater than we could have imagined. They have learned much younger than most that sometimes in life you have to make sacrifices, pray really hard, and be willing to do whatever it takes to see your dream come to life. And, for that, aaallllll that, I am thankful. 

New Year, New Beginnings

Happy New Year (from the worst blogger on the face of the Earth)! So much has happened since my last post. I was so tied up with Christmas and family that blogging became last on the list. So, here's my attempt at a catch up.

Ivy, my Brandon, and I met in Dallas on December 11 for the ultrasound. Here's what we saw...

One absolutely beautiful, exactly on target at 7 weeks 1 day, baby with a heart rate of 144bpm. There really is nothing like that sight. Overjoyed is the only word to even come close to the emotions we were all feeling. Dr. E. said the bleed looked to be just about gone and he felt the pregnancy was very stable. Music to our ears! He released Ivy to her OB's care and told her to quit her medications at 11 weeks. We exchanged lots of hugs with the staff at ARCC and said our see-you-in-a-couple-years (remember, we have two frozen maybe babies there). It was a wonderful day.

So, here we are. Ivy is 10 weeks 1 day today and still feeling pretty green (Zofran has helped a ton). She has 6 more days of the crazy med regimen she's been on for months and her first OB appointment is January 14, 12 weeks, for an ultrasound and meeting with a Nurse Practitioner. I am going to fly up to Dallas and then drive the rest of the way to Wichita Falls to be there for that. I cannot wait to see how our baby has grown! Our official due date is July 29. I cannot wait!

Ivy came to visit us in Houston for the first time last weekend. We had a great time! Friday night we had a get together with some of our surrogacy friends. It was so much fun. Then Saturday, Ivy and I went shopping at a large outlet mall here. It was so fun to watch her try on maternity clothes and we just enjoyed the time together. 

Saturday night, Ivy, my Brandon, Kelly, and I went to the Rockets/Thunder game. I am a huge Rockets fan and Ivy loves the Thunder. Talk about a blast (even if the Rockets lost)! Kelly and I took this picture while in Las Vegas in August...

We recently decided that we will try to recreate this picture everywhere we go. Here we are at the Rockets/76ers game on December 19. We decided this on the fly and obviously forgot what the original picture looked like...

And, then the Rockets/Thunder game on December 29. This time we added Ivy to the middle in her James Harden beard (if you don't get that, you are not an NBA fan). I cannot even describe how hard we laughed. Even if no one else thinks we are hysterically funny, we do so it's okay.

I love, love, love my Kelly and Ivy!!!