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I haven't posted any updates on my Dad in quite awhile, and there have been some pretty recent developments, so I thought I should. He was diagnosed with lung cancer about 2 years ago (I think it may have even been longer, because I don't think I was pregnant with Emma yet.) He had it surgically removed and all of his scans showed no signs of cancer. Several months ago, after having regular PET scans to detect it, we learned that his cancer was back, and in his "healthy" lung. The doctors felt pretty positive about his prognosis and prescribed chemotherapy.
He has undergone several months of chemo treatments and hasn't felt great through them, as was to be expected. He hasn't lost any hair, or vomited. However, he's got no energy, has had a terrible upset stomach, and has lost a ton of weight because of his lack of appetite and nausea. Throughout the chemo he would undergo scans to determine how well the chemo was working. The doctors felt fairly good about his treatment. After his last "big" chemo treatment, the doctors said that, while his tumors had not gotten any smaller, they were not growing either. This was good news and the doctors hoped that maintenance chemo treatments would keep the cancer stable.
Unfortunately, we found out on February 18th that this wasn't the case. His tumors had grown and had somewhat spread. The doctors don't feel that the chemo worked as well as they had hoped for because, if it did, this wouldn't have happened. Therefore, chemo was not another viable option. At this point there is only one possible treatment that may give him some more time. It's a very expensive pill regimen which has some nasty side effects. Many insurance companies will not cover it, so we were told to expect it to take weeks to be approved, if it would be at all. Luckily, my mom got a call the next day that the prescription was approved and he could start taking it the following day.
That little bottle of 30 pills would have cost over $4000 without insurance. Incredible. Dad started taking the pills a few days ago and has since had a lot of nausea, dizziness, and stomach cramps. He's a bit of a baby when it comes to stomach issues, so he's certain it's the end of the world. Men..... Because of the nausea, he's not been eating.
This morning, after speaking to his doctor, the doctor wanted to see him. They are taking him off of the pills for the next few days to see what happens. He's also got a new prescription (he's got more than I can count) for nausea. He also got to go sit through an hour and a half round of IV fluids, and gets to do the same tomorrow for dehydration. If he would quit being stubborn and drink something, we wouldn't be in this position. But, being the stubborn, hardheaded (Brad says he knows now where I get it from!) man that he is, he's still refusing to eat or drink anything.
Please keep him in your prayers right now. If you talk to him, please try to stay positive. He's well aware of how serious this is, and needs to have something to live for. We need him to get some energy back, start eating and drinking, and back on those pills so that he has a fighting chance of seeing his grand babies grow up some more. We have no clue as to where things will go from here, or of an exact prognosis or timeline. I'm devastated to think that there's a possibility that he may never get to meet Abby on this earth. Pregnancy is difficult. But trying to stay positive and enjoy this pregnancy as I know I should, is nearly impossible. I'm overjoyed that God has decided to entrust Brad and I with another blessing, but I wish he wasn't taking one away at the same time. Please pray.
So I guess I lied a little when I said that I hadn't been taking any pictures. In actuality, I've taken a ton of pictures - just not with the camera. I'm a bit addicted to my iphone, as is Brad. It's always with me and easy to pull out to snap a picture of something cute Emma does, or to take sweet pictures to send to Brad throughout the day. In fact, while he watched Emma when I had an OB appointment yesterday, I think he sent me 5 or 6 pictures!
So, here they are, in no particular order. (Though they were all taken over the last 3 weeks or so!)
While I think that most of these are self-explanatory, there are 2 I'd like to tell you about. "Prison Break" was hysterical. She had just finished her breakfast and I was cleaning up the kitchen while chatting with my mom online. The next thing I knew, Emma got too quiet. I turned around to see that she had pulled a pillow off of the sofa and was using it to attempt to climb over the baby gate - silently! I just about died. Hysterical.
The one of Emma and Brad that doesn't have a caption was one of the sweetest moments. After I gave her a bath, Brad lotioned her up and put on her jammies. She sleeps in a sleep sack (wearable blanket) because she would get cold otherwise and won't keep on a blanket. So in this picture she's wearing her jammies and her sleep sack and she and Brad are watching a little bit of Yo Gabba Gabba just before time for her bedtime stories and prayers. She's just absentmindedly playing with his beard. How sweet is that??? They are so in love with one another - makes me one happy Mama.
So now you can see why I like the iPhone better than the camera these days. The camera may take better pictures, but I don't have it strapped to me 24/7 and would have missed nearly ALL of these moments otherwise. By the way, the picture quality was pretty good to start out with, but I used the "Polarize" app on my phone to make them a little "different." Hence the old-fashioned looking quality. I'll try to upload them more regularly now because it was SO much easier than using pictures off of the camera!
Unfortunately, I've been slacking on my job as the family photographer lately, and haven't had any new ultrasounds from which to post pictures. That means that this will be a boring post. Sorry! I'm mostly posting this update for my own benefit later on, as I've found my blog VERY useful during this pregnancy because I can look back on when I was pregnant with Emma and see what happened and when.
I have been following my GD (gestational diabeetus) diet pretty stringently. I have 2 carb servings for breakfast and each of 3 snacks, and 3 carb servings for lunch and dinner. It's no fun. Trust me. As a pregnant woman, the LAST thing you want to do is read every single package before you make a meal choice, or restrict yourself from something you're craving. But I'm doing it. Daily.
My glucose levels have been pretty well regulated. During the day, I have control of my levels to some extent. What I eat pretty much denotes how high my blood sugar will be. I can exercise to lower it a little if I've had a little too much. I've done really well with this. The only hard part is getting in enough protein - I've NEVER had this much daily protein in my life! I've discovered the joys of low-fat Greek yogurt - they have the most protein of any other snack that I can come up with. And they're good!
As good as my daily levels have been (unless I eat pizza or something else naughty), my fasting levels first thing in the morning were higher than I'd like them. The doctor wants to see them below 95, which they sometimes were. Then they crept up, 96, 98, 101. Unfortunately, there's not much I can do about my fasting levels. No matter WHAT I had the night before, it's completely out of my system when I test in the morning. According to my perinatologist, these morning levels tell you the most about how your body is handling the GD.
So I emailed my nurse practitioner and started on a low level of Glyburide, to lower my levels some. So far, so good. I still have to be very mindful of what I eat, but, for the most part, my morning levels are lower. So that's where I stand. I have an appointment with my regular OB in 2 weeks or so, and then my monthly appointment with the perinatologist for an ultrasound and check-up. I'm hoping all goes well with both!
Can't believe I'm 20 weeks already. It has flown. This week I've been feeling lots of kicks and movement, which I hadn't felt much of up until now.
Emma's doing great. She's an absolute angel lately. She's the sweetest, most affectionate, funniest baby I've ever seen. I'd love to freeze her like this forever!! Her new thing is to say "come on." She'll be ready for her nap and meet me at the door saying "come on baby." SO sweet! She also says everything in a really precious high-pitched voice. Melts my heart.
She's had 2 little accidents this week. :( She stayed with Brad's parents while Brad and I had a little date night. When we got back, we were just in time to see her trip and fall on her face on the hardwood floor. She got her first busted lip. Broke my heart. It only bled for a minute, and a popcicle did the trick of calming her down. Then, a couple of days ago, Brad was cleaning up her high chair after breakfast while she played in the living room. Unfortunately, the cats were locked in the room with her (I think Brad learned a new lesson on this one!). She loves to hold them down and "kiss" on them, pet them, follow them, chase them, etc. She has no fear. The next thing we know, Emma's got 2 little nicks on her nose and is hysterical. Brad went a little postal on the cats, which apparently amused Emma. It's really not very bad, but scared her nonetheless. I think they may have both learned a little healthy respect.
I'll try to remember to take more pictures this week! I promise!
Because of my GD (gestational diabetes) and what my OB considers "borderline hypertension" I now get to see a perinatologist once a month. The good side to this is that we'll have LOTS of ultrasounds. The bad side? From my experience, the wait in a peri's office is never less than an hour in the waiting room. It sucks.
Brad took the day off to go with me to this first appointment because it was my BIG "20 week (even though I was 18.5) ultrasound." It's the one where they take a really close look at everything - particularly all of the parts of her heart and the different lobes of the brain. It's also usually the time that you find out the sex, though we already knew.
The ultrasound was great. Abby looks perfect. She's measuring exactly where she's supposed to, and her heart rate was great. She looks SO much like Emma did in her ultrasound pictures. She has a completely different nose though. I'm pretty sure it's mine. She was doing all sorts of flips and tumbles and liked to keep her feet up by her face. It was pretty funny. When the tech looked at her brain I said "OH! Thank GOD! It's not empty, so she definitely took after her Mama!" The tech cracked up, as did I. Not sure Brad found it that funny. ;)
We got to wait for a referral so that we could see the perinatologist himself. Not sure why, but hey. About 30 minutes later, after having to call Brad's sister in a panic because our appointment ran so long that my mom had to be back at work, we saw Dr. Eller. He was great. He said that my glucose levels look good so far and that he'll want to see me monthly for ultrasounds to check on Abby's growth. GD babies have a tendency to be big. If she's any bigger than Emma, I want no part of it! He said my blood pressure looked great to him, and that if I had any issues with it later in my pregnancy, he may want to see me bi-weekly. I'm hoping that that doesn't happen, but you never know what will creep up. With Emma it was my heart rate and I saw the cardiologist. With Abby it's my blood pressure and a perinatologist. Yay!
Here are some pictures of my little bug. Isn't she precious?? She's 10 oz. according to their calculations. I have felt several small kicks, but nothing as strongly as I did with Emma. At the ultrasound I found out why - I have an anterior placenta. That means that, rather than the placenta stretching along the top of my uterus, it's across the front. It makes feeling fetal movement early on a little harder because it's padded, but otherwise has no danger. Hopefully I'll start feeling some bigger kicks soon, though I do remember what it was like when Emma would wake me up at all hours of the night kicking me!
Little feet
19 week belly pictures. Emma had just woken up from a super long nap and was a little crabby. Can you tell? ;)
GIRL! Well, most of you probably already know that by now, but I'm still excited! I couldn't wait until 20 weeks to find out at my "big" ultrasound, so I scheduled a gender reveal at the 3D ultrasound office. She's ALL girl! I knew already. Honestly, everything in my head, heart, and body told me that our baby was a "she." With Emma, I started out thinking girl, then changed to boy, and was honestly surprised when we found out she was a girl. With this one, the ultrasound was mainly to prove it to Brad!
She, just like her big sister, had NO issue showing us the goods. No pride, I tell ya. She was just precious, even without fat under her skin. She was constantly moving and flipping around and the ultrasound tech could barely let us listen to her heartbeat for a few seconds because she kept moving. Just like her big sister already!
Her name will be Abigail Marie Gilchrist, and we'll call her Abby. Abigail was just a name that Brad and I both loved. Marie was my grandmother's (Dad's mom) middle name, as well as mine. I love that my 2 girls are named after such strong, special women.
Shortly after finding out the good news, I found out that I failed my 1 hour glucose test. After an agonizing 3 hour test (4 blood draws from my arm, and a good 3 hours waiting around the waiting room), I found out that I failed that one too. Not by a large margin, but enough to earn the diagnosis of "gestational diabetes." In all honesty, part of me has always wondered if I may not have had a slight case when I was pregnant with Emma. I passed both of my tests then, but she was 9lbs, and had low blood sugar at birth, which are both signs of GD in the mom.
So today I had my "diabeetus education" class. It was fascinating. Actually, it was as boring as hell. I learned a lot, but much of it was common sense and it was a LONG day. So now I get to continue testing my blood 4 times a day. Thanks to my sister-in-law who has type 1 diabetes, I had been checking my blood for about 2 weeks now with her borrowed monitor. I am on a special diet that includes counting carbs and eating every 2 hours. It's quite a life changer for me. But, as I told Brad tonight, I'd do anything for my girls.
I also had my regular OB appointment this afternoon which, conveniently, was just one floor down from the class. The doctor said that everything looks great with Abby and he wants me to stop taking Metformin (which I've been on since I was trying to get pregnant with Abby - it helps women with PCOS to ovulate). This may make my glucose levels a bit more unpredictable than they have been. We'll see. He also told me that he would be the one dealing with my GD, which made my day. I trust him SO much and have such a good relationship with him. I have my "big" ultrasound on Wednesday with the perinatologist. I'll apparently be seeing quite a bit of him as well, as they like to keep an eye on the baby's size as she grows. LOTS of medical intervention this time around, as it was with Emma. At least it's the perinatologist and not the cardiologist this time!
I know from experience, and from having a tough pregnancy and delivery with Emma - once you look into their eyes, it makes EVERYTHING worthwhile.
We had SUCH a great holiday break! It was very busy, but fun. We went to the Christmas Eve mass that was the children's service at 4:00, and then to dinner at Brad's parents' house after. I wish I could say mass was a success, but Emma is at the age where she has no interest in holding still. We had to leave before communion :( Maybe next year!
We celebrated Emma's Grandpop's birthday with him on Christmas eve as well, and he read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to her. I wish I had more pictures of that event. Emma was exhausted from a very busy day, no nap, and it was way past her bedtime. She listened like a good girl for all of 30 seconds (long enough for me to snap one picture) and then fell out like a demon overtook her little body. She arched her back, she screamed, she did her best imitation of the girl from The Exorcist. It was hysterical!
We looked at Christmas lights on the way home - one of Emma's favorite things to do. She sits in her carseat (that now faces front) and says "lights!!!!" She went to bed like a good little girl, but woke up earlier than usual. I think she was too excited to sleep.
We had the BEST time on Christmas morning. She really got excited this year. She still doesn't understand Santa (but is terrified of him, nonetheless) but she certainly understands presents! She had no interest in opening packages this year, but loved playing with her new toys that Santa left her.
Once we played for awhile and got dressed, fed, and ready to go, we headed to my parents' house to celebrate. We opened presents and had a great lunch - you can't go wrong with Honeybaked Ham! I think my parents just adored watching her open presents. She's really gotten into imaginative play lately, and got several "cooking" toys. She loved a Melissa and Doug cookie decorating kit, and brownie making kit (they're all wood). She had a blast.
We headed home for a nice nap, and when we got up it was time to head to Brad's parents house for Christmas #3. They got Emma a kitchen for Christmas! She adored playing with it with her Aunt Stacie. They had so much fun.
We had a few days to recover, and then left for Richard B. Russell State Park for a few days with them. If you are wondering where that is, head up 1-85 and once you start seeing nothing but cows and signs for South Carolina, you're nearly there. It was quite a ride!
We had a great time and it was such a nice getaway. We had one cabin and Brad's parents and Stacie had a cabin next door. It was great because Emma had her own room. She has a really hard time getting to sleep in new places. She's a creature of habit and her bedtime routine at home is IDENTICAL every night. I credit that with how good of a sleeper she is. Once she fell asleep, she slept through the night until around 8:30 both mornings. We celebrated Stacie's 25th birthday while we were there, and Emma certainly enjoyed her cake!
She has just been amazing us lately. Brad and I talk and talk about how much her speech has developed just over the last week or so. She says "bite" when she wants a bite of something. Here are a few others so that I can remember them down the line:
juice
Brobee (a character from Yo gabba gabba)
puppy
night night
car
no
more
down
grapes
cracker
cookie (as in "cookie monster")
Elmo
Abby (from Sesame Street)
Mommy
Daddy
Mimi
water
nose (she can identify all of the parts of the face, and some body parts)
flower (comes out "flow-ah" SO cute!)
hot
diaper
baby
She's just incredible. She's SO smart that it just blows my mind. The other day she pulled a step stool over to the stove at my parents' house when my Dad was cooking - we're in trouble!
I felt the baby kick for the first time yesterday! I think I had been feeling some little bitty kicks for a few days, but they were more pronounced yesterday. I felt even more today - this one likes to kick my bladder more than Emma did at this point! We find out the sex tomorrow, if baby will cooperate. Emma never had an issue with that - she practically sat on the ultrasound probe every time I had an ultrasound!
Can't wait to see whether Emma will have a brother or a sister!
Sometimes I think he must love her as much as I do.
