I Love Fall!

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year! I love the change of the weather and the color of the leaves, I love the smell of cinnamon and pumpkin spice, and I love the decorations for the house! This year, I talked Anthony into letting me decorate Labor Day weekend...a little crazy?..nah!

Another thing that comes with fall is football season, please notice I did not add that to my list of things I love about fall =) Don't get me wrong, I don't mind watching a game here and there. And, Anthony isn't too bad about having to watch EVERY single game. But, he does referee little league football so that means a good bit of his Saturday mornings/early afternoons are spent on the football field.

I've been dying to take a vacation even if it's just for a long weekend somewhere to get away. The last time we have been on one (just the 2 of us) was our 1 year anniversary! Anthony and I are not big planners, but we had finally decided we would make a short trip to Greenville, SC. This vacation was planned about a month ago and Anthony had even taken a Thursday off. This is where procrastinating pays off...I had planned on making reservations on a Monday (2 weeks before), but ended up not booking our hotel room that day or the next. I had a doctors appointment that Wednesday, and that is the appointment where we were referred to the perinatologist. I remember saying to Anthony, "it's a good thing I didn't book a room, what if our appointment ends up being next Friday?" Well, who would have thought...that's exactly when our appointment was scheduled for. No vacation for us! By this time little league football had started and there would be no time to take a vacation until after it ends.
FINALLY...this past weekend the regular season for GFL football ended and we actually had a free weekend! I told Anthony I wanted to head towards the mountains to spend the day. We didn't quite make it to the mountains but we hopped on 985 and stopped at one of our (ok, probably more mine) favorite places...Jaemor Farms!! The last time we were there, it was the HOTTEST day of the summer but it was peach season =) This time of year apples are in so we stocked up on some. They also had a pumpkin patch going on, a corn maze, and some other things for kids to enjoy. Anthony and I both said we can't wait for Josiah to be at the age to enjoy that kind of thing!!

Waiting patiently while I was in line to get some BBQ!!

Before leaving the house I also looked online to see if there were any other things going on in northern GA and the Bid Red Apple Festival popped up. It's held in Cornelia, GA right down the road from Piedmont College. After Jaemor, Anthony and I headed up to Cornelia to check it out. They had tons of vendors with all sorts of crafts and baked goods as well as a car show going on. We spent about an hour walking around and decided we were both ready to head back towards home.

Before heading home we swung by QT and I grabbed a pumpkin spice cappuccino (I must admit I like them better than Starbucks' pumpkin spice lattes) and Anthony picked up a Muscle Milk. Once we made it home I think we finally realized how wornout we were! I must say it was nice to enjoy a Saturday, just the two of us, doing whatever we wanted!!

***24 Week Picture***

It's Been a While..

I guess it's been a while since I've posted. Life has been a little crazy with work and doctors appointments, and when you throw in the other duties of everyday life...it doesn't leave much time left over.

I've been keeping busy with substituting, which is wonderful! And, for the past 3 weeks I've had at least 1 doctors appointment if not 2. Last week Anthony and I traveled to Egleston to meet with Dr. Kanter and one of his nurse practitioners. I say travel like it's hours away, but it really only took us about 40-45 min. to get there (granted it was in the middle of the day with barely any traffic). Parking was pretty crazy but once we made it into the hospital it was pretty easy to find our way to the outpatient cardiac services office.

Dr. Kanter does not perform surgeries on Wednesdays and instead schedules a few sessions to meet with parents of children who will be having surgery. Our appointment was towards the end of the "scheduled time period" for these meetings and there were a few "chatty" parents ahead of us according to one of the nurses, haha! We ended up waiting about 45 minutes before Margareth, a nurse practitioner, came to give us a tour of the CICU (cardiac intensive care unit). This is where Josiah will be before and after his surgery. The entire unit is open so there are no individual rooms, and the beds that the babies are in are called Ohio beds...my dad enjoyed the name ;). They are pretty neat, not the enclosed little beds that you would think of. They are actually square, open, and can be raised to an angle. Margareth took us to see a little baby girl who had just had similar heart surgery that day. I was kind of surprised they allowed us to see her but I am thankful they did. I don't think I can even remotely fully prepare myself for when that will be Josiah laying in that little bed, but it definitely allowed me to prepare for what all he will be hooked up to. It only took about 30 seconds before I started tearing up while margareth was explaining what everything was and why it was needed. Looking at a tiny little baby connected to a breathing tube, IVs, drainage tube, a tube down their nose, monitors on their forehead, etc. is so far one of the hardest things I think I have personally witnessed. I just had to keep telling myself that they keep these babies well medicated so that they don't feel any pain and also a little sedated so that they will sleep most of the time. Everything is taken in "baby" steps and Josiah will slowly be taken off of different things as he improves.

We found out that Josiah will probably be transported by helicopter to Egleston, and will then spend about 1-2 days in the CICU before actually having his surgery. They like to do all of their own tests, just to make sure everything looks ok and that he is healthy enough to have the surgery. The surgery itself will last between 6-8 hours...umm can we say LONG and STRESSFUL day?? He will then be taken back to the CICU and will spend about 7-10 days there, give or take, depending on how he is doing. Once Josiah is able to regulate his own body temperature and has passed all of his "tests" he will then be moved to the step-down unit. Here, he will more than likely still be on a feeding tube and possibly the drainage tube? I can't exaclty remember what the nurse said. Anyhow, we will actually have our own room in the step down unit and Anthony and I will both be able to spend the night. In the CICU we can stay 24 hours if we want, but there is no place to sleep. They do have sleeping rooms so I'm sure we will be getting some use out of those.

After our tour, we got to meet with Dr. Kanter. he seemed like a very nice man, and answered all of my "20" questions! I appologized when I drug out my little notebook, but he said he liked to see an organized mama, haha! Between Dr. Kanter and the other surgeon, they perform about 800-900 surgeries a year! I can't even imagine!! Since HLHS is pretty uncommon I asked how many Norwoods he performed each year. He estimated between 25-30 surgeries per year with babies from all over the southeast. He again mentioned the length of stay for Josiah and that it averages about a month, but he's had babies leave in 8 days or after 3 months. One of the questions I had been wondering was why there was such big gap in age for the last surgery (the Fontan) which happens between 18 months and 3 years. Dr. Kanter explained that it depends on several different things. How healthy the child is, how big they are, and also how the Fontan is performed. Dr. Kanter mentioned he has been doing the Fontan a little differently now and instead of using something from Josiah's body he has been using a tube (that will in the future hopefully keep his heart from working too hard) to improve circulation. In order to use the tube the child needs to be a little bigger to make sure their body does not grow out of the tube.

After some more chit chat it was finally time to head home. Anthony and I talked about what life will be like in just a few short months and how we can't wait for Josiah to get here. It will be a bumpy road for a while, but I know we will get through it. I've sad this again and again, but the amount of support and prayers is just overwhelming. I just received a card in the mail yesterday from a church care team in North Carolina that said we are in their prayers.

Speaking of North Carolina, last week Anthony caught a little documentary on ESPN about Greg Olsen, who plays football for the NC Panthers. Greg and his wife just gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl last Tuesday. Are you ready for this...their little boy was diagnosed with HLHS before he was born. Greg and his wife flew to Boston to see if they were candidates for the same surgery were iquired about and they were denied as well. There little boy TJ had his first surgery about 5 days ago and is doing well. Here is a link to a video of their story HERE I would encourage you to watch it, as there are a few parts I left out. Greg has also started a charity for children who have a congenital heart defect, you can visit that site HERE.

I also had my glucose test last Thursday and I did NOT test positive for gestational diabetes. And speaking of doctors appointments, I have another one today with the perinatologist, not really sure why I have to continue to see this doctor since we know what the problem is, I think I'll ask them today =)

Bring The Rain and Update

Tonight I decided to tag along with Anthony to the gym. I used to go all the time, but between working, and getting stuff done around the house, I've been slacking! I grabbed my iPod, towel, and water and we were off. Anthony and I share the same iTunes account, and there are good and bad things about that. He is what you could call a connoisseur of all types of music....I...am not. Needless to say, about half of the time I was on the elliptical, I had my finger on my iPod skipping to the next song. I finally came across a song I thought I recognized. It was actually one of my favorite songs, but I hadn't listened to it in a while. I thought I'd post the youtube video to share. It is such a great song that just has such meaning to it right now...enjoy =)

**Update on Josiah:
I had my second appointment with Dr. V (the pediatric cardiologist) today. This time I was only there an hour, I'll take that over 2 1/2! Everything looked the same which is alright, it's better than looking worse! Dr. V mentioned the right side of Josiah's heart looks very strong, PRAISE THE LORD! This is a wonderful thing, seeing as how it will be doing the work of both sides...that is unless the Lord decides to heal him before he joins us in this world. Which I have no doubt He can do, we will just wait and see what path He chooses to lead us down.

I don't believe I mentioned this in any of my other posts, but last week Dr. V asked if he could send our ultrasound up to Boston Children's Medical. Boston Children's is considered the #1 hospital for the type of surgery Josiah will be having and right now they have been doing some experimental surgery for part of Josiah's condition. The twist to this surgery is that it is performed while he is still in my womb! It is SO crazy to me that they can do that! The surgery would basically attempt to expand the narrowing of his aortic valve by inflating a small balloon. Anthony and I had already decided we would not persue this route, but we allowed Dr. V to send the ultrasound video anyway. We heard last week that I was not a candidate for this experimental surgery, but they did confirm Dr. V's diagnosis. It was kind of nice to have a second opinion from the top children's hospital in the nation as far as cardiac issues are concerned.

**I also wanted to thank all of you who have told us that we are in your prayers/church's prayer lists. You have no idea how overwhelmed and grateful we are for each and everyone of you! Thank you all so much for keeping the 3 of us in your prayers, what a blessing it is!!**

Josiah's Prayer Quilt

Over the Labor day weekend we had family come into town, my Uncle Mike and Aunt Debbie. Growing up we spent a lot of time with them along with my cousin Jason, who is a year older than I am. They are the closest family we have since it's only about a 3-3 1/2 hour drive to where they live in North Carolina. I enjoy the time we get to spend together, and I wish we could do it more often!!

Now that I'm married it's a little different when we have family in town. They usually stay with my parents and I plan a lunch at my house at some point during their stay. We planned for the family to have Saturday lunch at my house and enjoy spending a little time over this way. Towards the end of our get together, Aunt Deb went to the car and brought in 2 gift bags for Anthony and I to open. I quickly reminded her that that was completely unnecessary!

**One thing I've learned, is people love to buy baby stuff! Especially my mother, who has decided that Josiah needs a little something every 29th day (his due date is Jan. 29th) of each month until he is born...I guess we need to hurry up and get baby furniture so we will have somewhere to put everything!!

Before I opened the first bag, Aunt Deb had me read something on a piece of paper. As soon as I read the first sentence I realized that the gift was a quilt. Each sentence explained certain parts of the quilt and what they each meant. It almost brought me to tears. Aunt Deb mentioned that she had begun working on it sometime around March/April I believe. She had decided she wanted to make us one after she found out about our miscarriage in January. It is by far one of the best gifts we have ever gotten! Mostly because of the thought put into it and the meaning behind it. She also told me that the edging around it was hand stitched by not only her, but also my biological grandmother and great grandmother. How special!!! And what an awesome thing we will be able to pass down. The other bag contained a matching little pillow she had made along with a book filled with little prayers that you can begin to pray for your child.

Here is a copy of the explaination of the prayer quilt (you should be able to click on it to see it better):

 

 

 

One of the corners. The back of the quilt is made
out of the striped material as well

Cute little pillow to match!

They're a little difficult to see in the picture, but there are little pieces of green thread all over the quilt. They are for making prayer knots. Anytime you pray about something you make a little knot...we have made plenty since receiving this beautiful quilt!

Thank you Aunt Debbie!!