Just 6 more!

I can hardly believe I just typed those words. Just six more weeks until my due date. Both of the boys were born 2 weeks early so if i follow that same pattern, its only 4 more weeks to go. I am SOOOOOOOOOO ready!!

First let me say that I am thanking God for his healing! I had an ultrasound on Tuesday morning to do another check on the cyst on my ovary. The cyst was completely GONE! The tech even said to me, "are you sure its on the right side and not the left? let me check the left." Nope, it was gone! I did not experience any pain at all. That means it probably did not rupture, because the doctors had said that if it did rupture, I would probably be hospitalized to manage the severe pain, and there was no free floating fluid in there as a sign of the rupture. Praise the Lord it was simply healed. Best of all, there will be no surgery post partum. I have been really stressed about pumping milk and practicing a bottle. Now, that is totally off the table! Yeah! Now I can pretty much just concentrate on getting the last of the things ready here at home and preparing for a nice normal delivery!

I have had some swelling this week. I have pregnancy induced carpal tunnel syndrome from water retention in my hands and feet. Sometimes it feels like I'm walking around on twisted ankles. Dr. D is not concerned unless I have high blood pressure. I have a good bp moniter here at home so I've been checking it regularly. whew! this has been a whirlwind pregnancy for sure! there will be NO more babies born at the end of the summer for this mama!

The boys are excited for Anna Kate to get here. Today they went in her room and were playing with all her toys. Nathan thinks everything is "awww, so cute." he says that about everything! Nathan likes looking at how tiny her little socks are. he just holds them and says "aww, so cute." I can't wait for them to meet her.

At the ultrasound they estimated her size to be 5lbs 2oz in the 49th percentile. She's right down the middle. The boys were always in the 90 and 95th. Maybe she'll be a little more on the petite side. I am secretly hoping for a small little girl with her daddy's dark brown eyes and dark hair. We shall see.

Any bets or guesses on the birthday and time? what about the birth weight and legnth?

here's a little help:
My due date is October 7th
Boys were both 2 weeks early exactly
The times were 12:13 pm and 9:13 am
Their weights were 7lbs 1oz and 7lbs 2oz
Their lengths were both 19 inches

Trucking along

We are trucking along. Anna Kate is growing and kicking and grooving! We have 9 weeks left, although I am crossing my fingers for it to be a little more like 7 weeks. I know I've said it 500 times a day sometimes, but its just really HOT. It was a very BAD idea to have a september/ocotber baby. Course it wasn't really a plan, it was more of a "it happens when it happens" kind of thing. If there are more Head babies in the future, I will definitley be planning this a little better.

I had a major pregnancy brain fart moment this weekend. Cherri was gone this weekend to be with tiffany after she had her baby on saturday. Parker Elizabeth is very sweet and I can't wait for Anna Kate to meet her. I was Pastor Cherri and in charge of the nurseries for the weekend services. I knew that Sunday morning after church that i would be really tired and not feel like cooking lunch. Instead of planning to eat out, on saturday evening I cut up carrots and potatoes, got deer roast out of the freezer and put it all in the crock pot bowl and put it in the fridge. Sunday morning just before I walked out the door, I put the bowl in the heater and turned it to high. So easy!!! I invitied my brother adam to come eat with us. When we got home, I was expecting to have the smell of roast hit me when I opened the door. I didn't smell anything. While I had turned the crock pot on, I had failed to plug it into the wall. I was very frustrated to say the least. I sent Thomas to get Pizza, not quite as good, but it worked. we had roast for dinner.

This last week my mom, sister Jamee, and friend Tiffany came and cleaned out Anna Kate's room. They cleaned the floors, vacuumed behind the furniture, hung pictures, did a cool wall rubbing, helped me sort all the clothes my size, and washed all the laundry. I am so thankful for them! I'm not sure i would have been able to get it done on my own. I feel almost completely ready to bring her home. Actually, we couldn't bring her home right now, because we don't have a carseat. I had been planning on using the same one I had with Noah. We got it out of the closet, and Tiffany was washing and wiping it off for me. The rubber grip on the handle was really sticky. The more we rubbed on it, the stickier it got. I tried some oops off on it, and the rubber just started peeling off. I was so disappointed! My sister said her seat did the same thing. Apparently, the rubber just starts breaking down from the oil and dirt on our hands. Once we have a new seat, I plan to try and remember to clean it off regularly with a clorox wipe.

We also went to Super Siblings class at the hospital on Saturday. The boys were so sweet. They were very excited to see where their new baby sister was going to be born. They asked lots of questions and acted so grown up. Some of the other siblings were not quite so well behaved, although most of them were around 2 years old, there was more than one hissy fit on the floor of Labor and Delivery. The tour made it all very real for me. I was fighting tears in my eyes most of the time.

Saturday was a very busy day. We also signed the boys up to play soccer. This will be the start of Nathan 6th season. He has loved playing soccer so much. Noah finally gets to play this year. He has given his due to his brother over the years enduring many soccer practices and games. He was a real trooper through it all. Now, he's finally going to get his turn to play too. We got all signed up, and were headed back to the car when Noah started crying. He thought he was going to get to have a soccer practice and that we were leaving without letting him play. Poor thing, he's just so excitied. He asked me 3 times today how many more days until he gets to go to practice. It will make for a busy couple of months with 3 practices during the week and 2 games on Saturday. Not to mention, baby is coming sometime mid-season. Im just praying there will not be any overlap on practices or games.

10 years ago tonight

10 years ago today, i was sitting inside the County Line party room having dinner with my family and closest friends. It makes me somewhat sad to think that 2 people who were there that night are no longer with us. My grandpa Moe and our friend Mark have gone on to be with Jesus. We were eating Brisket, potato salad, beans, cornbread, and sipping on some ice tea. my little siblings were checking out the peacocks. i don't remember a lot of the conversation that night, but i do remember all the people who were there for me and Thomas. i remember that my 7 year old sister Mackinzie and I had on matching black and white polka dot dresses. i remember that it was pouring rain all day forcing us to eat inside rather than outside on the patio with all the peacocks. we smiled a bunch and I'm sure we laughed a lot too. My youngest sister, Elizabeth, was sitting in a high chair, she was only 9 months old. family members came from Lubbock, sundown, Dallas, Montana, north Dakota and Minnesota. many of them had never eaten barbecue before. i remember not eating much either because although i like brisket, i am not a fan of potato salad or baked beans or even cornbread. i remember getting a really sweet goodnight kiss from Thomas. i didn't sleep most of that night. i was much too excited about becoming Mrs. Thomas Van Dyke Head, Jr. the next day. 10 years ago on July 16th, i married my best friend. 10 years later we have 2 awesome boys and a precious daughter soon to join us. Life hasn't always been easy. theres been ups and downs, but its always been blessed. God has never once let us down. Thank You honey, for 10 wonderful years of wedded bliss. I can't wait to see what God has in store for the next 10 years ahead. I love You!

I was so excitied to get to see another ultrasound of my sweet little girl on Monday. she is growing good and trucking along in about the 54 percentile. my boys were always in the 90's so i'm thinking that maybe she will be a little smaller and more petite than the boys were. Thomas got to go along this time so i was glad for that. the tech gave us some ultrasound pics on a cd. i still don't know how to upload them though. thomas says he will try to put some up on our facebook page. we shall see...

as far as the cyst goes, we had a postitive report. the size is still the same, but the shape of it was different. it used to be an even round shape and now it is more of a pear shape with an uneven border. the tech said she thought that it was losing pressure inside and starting to shrink, similar to that of a helium balloon that was starting to shrivel up. i still have 12 more weeks until my due date and another 6 weeks until my post partum check up for that silly thing to shrivel up all the way and be gone. Not having surgery later would be the best!! i am praying beleiving for it to be gone BEFORE anna kate is born. i would really like to not have to worry about pumping milk ahead of time and praticing a bottle for her to have while i would be in surgery and during recovery.

thanks to all of you who've been praying for me!!

I am so thankful for my ob doctor! she really calmed my fears and concerns today. she told me today that she still feels that the best plan of action for now is to have a regular normal non-csection delivery. then, to come back 5 to 6 weeks after delivery and have a scope surgery done to remove the cyst.

and I agree completely!!!! this sounds like the best idea to me. it will give me some time to get nursing started, pump some extra milk for surgery day, and practice a little bit of the bottle before the surgery. then the surgery will only have me down for a day or two instead of the several weeks of a c-section. of course, im still praying for the cyst to just go away. dr. D thinks the only reason this would not work is if the cyst would begin to grow, it ruptures, or i would start having lots of pain. i haven't felt any true pain. i have felt some twinges and some pulling now and then, but nothing that i would have to stop and say, "i'm in pain." I still have an ultrasound on Monday with dr. A to see whats going on. i will probably see him every 2 to 3 weeks for awhile.

as a side note, Nathan has a double ear infection. on tuesday afternoon, he told us that his ear felt funny. he's had a cold for a few days so we thought maybe it was just some pressure built up. then, about 10 minutes later he comes to me and says "mom, i think you need to give me some medicine for my ear. it really hurts." i was digging in the medicine cabinet for some eardrops and tylenol when he starts crying and saying that it hurts really bad. i called or pediatrician's office hoping to get him in. it was only about 2:30. the receptionist told me dr.G was out of the office and that they were short on nurses and the other doctors in the office couldn't see him until the next morning. by this point, nathan is hysterical. we decided to take him to grace clinic. the copay there is $20 when the ER is $100. we had to wait about 20 minutes before they had us all checked in. the whole time nathan is crying and hollering rather loudly. the recptionist keeps looking at me and saying,"is he sick? does he not feel good?" duh!
He keeps crying and hollering that he hurts so bad, and keeps saying "i want to see the doctor" over and over. i am crying too because i don't know what to do for him. poor thing was in sooo much pain. finally we see the doctor. it really wasn't that long of a wait. they got us in pretty quickly, it just seems like a long time when your child is in pain. as i said, he has a double ear infection. she said that his ear canals where so swollen she couldn't even see his ear drums to tell if the infection was in the canal or behind the drum. however, at this time it was a mute point, either way he had to have antibiotics. also i found out that i wasn't giving him the right dose of tylenol. i wasn't giving him enough of a dose. that made me feel really bad that i could have helped him feel better sooner is i'd just upped the dose a little bit. live and learn, i guess.

we are getting ready for VBS next week at church. such an exciting time. it always brings me to tears to see the little ones giving their hearts to Jesus and asking Him to be the boss of their life and their forever friend. we can always use more help, so if you're not doing anything next week, come down and help us out!!

hey everyone! Just bared here. sitting in my bed, taking it easy, a little bored while the boys are taking a nap. they have been fighting off colds, so they were both pretty tired. I pumped them full of vitamin C and zinc. I would sure be mad if i had to miss out on a rockin' 4th of july party on saturday evening just because my kids had colds. Nor, do i want a cold either.

I have been enjoying listening to Gus-Gus singing the last couple of day. I am pet sitting for my parents. they brought me their Labradoodle Yogi and their parakeet. I am really digging the bird! never thought i would like to have one, but its really relaxing to hear him singing and chirping. the only problem would be T's bird dog. our cats are leaving the bird alone, but Sandy is very interested in Gus. My mom says i can't keep him when she gets home. I told T he will need to get me one though. and, poor Yogi, she doesn't seem to understand what's happened to her mommy. she darts out the front door everytime someone comes or goes. we've had to be real careful.

I got called to go to see my OB next week on thursday. she probably wants to visit some more about my options concerning the cyst situation. i will try to remember to update here. my next ultrasound with Dr. A will be on July 13th.

New status

so, i kinda have a new status from my newest ultrasound today. The cyst on my right ovary is still there. It hasn't shrunk (bad) or grown any bigger(good i guess). According to how far along I am in my pregnancy, my ovary should be about midway up my side. Mine, however is not. Dr. A said it is still down really, really low and is tucked behind my uterus. He thinks that it is a endometrial cyst, and possibly the cyst and ovary have become attached with endometrial tissue to the back of my uterus and who knows what else in there.

He then told me about a woman they treat recently, that had a similar cyst rupture at 31 weeks causing her to go into labor and then into emergency surgery to remove the ovary and tube. And, of course, landing her preemie baby in the NICU for several weeks. I am 25 weeks this week so, I have a long way to go yet.

That really scared me! I am on strict orders to have no strenuous activity and no lifting. "You just need to be really, really careful," he said. If i feel any pain, no matter how minor, I am to head to the ER right away. He said they really don't like to have to do surgery during pregnancy, but it would be better to do a scope surgery while pregnant than to have to deliver a really early baby and have emergency surgery if the cyst ruptures. As it stands, it looks like the most likely option will be delivery by c-section and doing surgery at the same time. Most likely I will lose the ovary and the tube on the right side. I will go back again in 2 weeks to check it out again. Dr. A also said he doesn't understand how I am feeling okay and not in pain all the time.

So, basically, I'm kinda freaked out. I really don't like the idea of surgery during pregnancy, having the cyst rupture and having a NICU baby, really don't want to have a c-section, nor do i like the idea of losing some of my parts. Don't really like ANY of these options at all. the option I like the best is complete and total healing of the ovary and cyst and that I can have a normal delivery and have a healthy baby and a healthy momma! I know that Dr. A and my OB are christians, so I'm sure they would choose the same option as me. so, all my blogger/facebook friends out there, please pray this for me! Thanks!!!

On a positive note, Anna Kate is growing good and doing wonderful. She currently weighs about 1 pound 4 ounces which puts her at the 51 percentile. Right where she should be! I got to see some really good 4-D snapshots of her face. The tech even said that she looked really cute! Thomas didn't get to go with me today. Thomas and Noah spent 4am to 8am in the ER. Noah has croup and had trouble breathing but is doing fine after some meds and a shot. So, I went to this ultrasound solo.

Tomorrow is a garage sale. i am soooo ready to get this junk OUT of my house!