Things I love today

1. After telling the doctor Luke isn't moving as viciously as he used too yesterday, he has tried to make up for a week's worth of laziness in my belly. It's been quite entertaining to watch from the outside.


2. When Noah and I got home from picking him up from school he ordered me straight to bed :) See, everyone's taking care of me.


3. Reese's Eggs


4. And while we are on a food topic, I have 5 days til something amazing get's here. Grandma Scoggins is sending me a POUND CAKE! I was thinking about it (drooling) and about my sweet Grandma today. And the fact that I don't think I've ever heard her say the word "coke". She always offered me a "co-cola." It made me smile.


5. Matt tried to explain/act out all of the Naked Gun for me (80s movie with Leslie Nielson). I didn't pay attention to much of what he was saying, but the hand motions were very entertaining, and the fact that he was cracking himself up the whole time. And no, I'm still not convinced I want to watch it. (Matt does not have a great track record when it comes to suggesting movies).


6. Ella woke up and came and got into bed with me, and fell back asleep until 9. I love watching her cheeks when she sleeps.


7. This quote I read: "I think the most significant work we will ever do, in the whole world, in our whole life, is done within the four walls of our own home." - Steven Covey


8. 9 Days from now I will know if Luke looks more like me or Matt. So far Ella is Matt's carbon copy, and Noah is mine.


9. My brother Daniel wrote on my facebook wall. It made my day. We don't talk enough.


10. I got to leave the house and drive! I never thought I would look so forward to waiting in the car rider line. It was the first time I was grinning the whole time I was there.

Buddies

Ella and Carter with underwear on their head during their "dance party"

Kim has shown me over the past few months (years actually) what a true friend is. This pregnancy she has spent many hours at my house organizing, painting, cleaning, sharing mexican food with me, and has embraced Matt as the 4th "girlfriend" in our group.

This morning Kim drove me to Asheville to the lab, then the doctor, then took me back to my car, then watched Ella for the day, and brought her back to me. She showered me with more things I needed for the baby, and gave me the rest I needed today by taking Ella off my hands. I am so blessed to have such an incredible woman in my life. God has given me some amazing women to lean on and it's one more way thing I have to be thankful for.

PS: It's pretty awesome that all of our kids love each other too.

My drug free blood pressure medicine - Matt

Matt has made it a point to be at all my recent doctors visits. I told someone last week that he is my natural blood pressure-reducing medicine. I get a lot of anxiety going to my OB and just having him in the room puts me at ease. During our visit to L&D on Tuesday night, we were laughing so hard I was afraid Luke's monitors were going to slip off my belly. We've been together for ten years and I'd rather be with Matt than any where else. He calms me. He's reassuring. He will "pat" me out of the blue just to let me know he's there. He talks to my belly by quoting Darth Vader from star wars. This weekend he has been on "single-parent" duty and has not complained once. I've watched from my room as he's swept up after the kids have eaten, fixed them snacks, heard his undeniable laughter as he watched cartoons with the kids, started the washing machine (which I didn't even know he knew how to do - he's in trouble now!). This isn't the first time our marriage vows have been tested and I am so thankful that when we said I do to each other, we meant it for life. No take-backs. In sickness and in health. On bedrest or on vacation. Whether I haven't brushed my hair in days or if I look like a beauty queen. We will always faithfully be there for each other. I think the best gift Luke is getting from me is who God chose to be his daddy. Luke's going to love having Matt. And Matt's going to love him completely. I am so thankful for him, his unconditional love for us all, and his calming affect on me.

Granny's visit/rescue

Imagination time with Granny on the back porch.

She needs a good hairbrush, but is beautiful anyway :)

I love Noah's face when he's thinking or being serious.

Granny spent 5 days with us last week filling in my shoes as the "house runner" while I have been on bedrest. The kids had so much fun with her. She left on Friday, and on Saturday they were wanting to tell Granny all that they had done that day. I was able to completely relax and let go of control while she was here and I'm so thankful to have her!

A day in the life.

• I cannot tell you how thankful I am. All these people around me have stepped into care giver roles for Luke and I. Mary has been a lifesaver. Matt's mom came up earlier this week and has spent the whole week keeping up the house, grocery shopped, chauffered me to the doctor, taken care of the kids, meeting their needs and mine. She even made me chicken salad and strawberry shortcake :) Matt's going to be on his own this weekend and I think it's going to make him appreciate all his mom has done for us even more!
• My lifegroup is bringing us food, and it has been so nice not to have to worry about what the kids are eating, or that they have eaten too many happy meals this week.
• My buddies are going to help next week to watch Ella until Mary comes back to save the day again.
• Noah got musician of the day for his class and I was not surprised :)
• My BP is staying around the same as it is at the doctor, 160/90, and the doctor is ok that it stays that high, as long as it doesn't go any higher. This is my non-resting pressure, I'm sure it goes down when I am laying in bed.
• I took an actual nap today for the first time in forever.
• Angry Birds on Matt's Ipod takes up several hours of my day. That game is amazing and makes the time fly by.
• I am thankful for so much. I am blessed.

Baby Update

This morning I went to the doctor for another appointment. Last night we had to make a trip to Labor and Delivery due to my blood pressure getting super high. It was able to come down somewhat and the non stress test showed that Luke was handling everything well.

They performed an ultrasound this morning and he is measuring only a few days behind. His weight is guestimated at 5 pounds 11 ounces. My amniotic fluid is only a few points below where it should be. I didn't get to see his sweet face because he was sleeping with his hands covering his eyes. I had lost another two pounds, but they don't believe that it is affecting him in any way.

My blood pressure was high when we got there (168/93). It went down to 148/82 after resting on my left side. Because it went down, Dr H thinks that continuing complete bedrest until his birth is the best route. The csection has been rescheduled for April 7th at 11:15. I will have more labs run/non stress test/bp checks on next Monday and Thursday. The following Monday I will have pre-op labs, and that Thursday we will have Luke!

Thank you for praying alongside us. I know that God has his hand on our little boy and is keeping us both safe. And in two weeks, I can't wait to share with you the pictures of our completed 5-person family.

Not yet!

Last night I got a call from the doctor I had seen earlier that morning. My labs showed that I have mild preecclampsia, not severe! I will be in her office every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from now until Luke is born. With each visit there will be a chance that he could be born that day. The longer that he stays inside the better! I will repeat my labs for Friday's appointment.

Pray that we have an April baby. We have been told he should be able to avoid the NICU if he is born after April 1st.

Today might be his birthday

The doctors appointment didn't go well. My BP was 160/90 and my protein had moved to +3. The labs I did before my appointment were moved to a "rush" status and I am currently waiting on the results. If it is confirmed that I am a true +3, we will be heading to the hospital tonight to have Luke.

You can pray for Luke. If today is his birthday that his lungs will be developed, that he will be able to maintain his body temperature on his own, that he won't lose weight too quickly, and that he will put weight on quickly. That his stay in the NICU will be minimal.

For me that my blood pressure will return to normal quickly after his birth. That the csection will go smoothly. That tomorrow I will be able to get up to the NICU sooner than later so I can be with him.

For Matt as he will be running between floors again. I am so blessed to have such a "rock" of a husband.

That I will be able to praise Him in the good times as well as in the valleys. And that God would be glorified through the birth of our 3rd child.

Jack Bauer vs Jack Shephard

It's officially been a movie marathon around here since I was placed on bedrest last week. I stopped by Ingles on my way home from the doctor on Thursday and rented five new releases.
The winner for best chick flick for the weekend: Morning Glory.
The winner for best drama: Conviction
After I had watched everything I rented, I decided to start watching 24. Back when this series was on, my sister would go to 24 parties every week to watch the latest episodes. We never got into it. My parents watched it too. I wanted to see what all the hype was about, and I figured if I'm going to have about 2 more weeks potentially of laying in bed, might as well start something that will take me a long time to finish. So far I'm intrigued. It's pretty intense. But nothing ever could top the other Jack in my life - Jack Shephard from Lost. We own all the seasons on DVD of Lost and once our 24 journey is over, I might just start Lost over from the beginning...

*On the baby front - big doctors appointment tomorrow at 11:30. Prayers appreciated!

Bed rest for a spastic always moving person. (That's Luke and I)

Call it a crazy feeling, mothers intuition, or whatever - I told Matt that I thought I would hear the words "bed rest" come out of the doctors mouth this week. I've been overdoing it (surprise, surprise). In early February I had a few "higher" blood pressure readings, but my urine was clean. Today i had another "higher" reading - 140/90 that went down to 126/78 after resting on my side for 5 minutes. Early February I had a trace amount of protein in my urine, the next visit I had none. Today I had +1. When you get to +3 the baby has to be delivered. The doctor is wanting me to do a test run on bed rest. She said that standing/sitting/exerting myself is making my heart work a little too hard and it's obvious that if I were to be laying down I would it would be just fine. This weekend if you come over don't drink from the jug in the fridge, because I'm doing a 24 hour test to see if my protein increases over 24 hours.

The crazy person in me wants to rebel and get everything on my to-do list done, but I promise to be good and lay still. Thank the Lord for netflix, books I've been wanting to read, and a husband who is promising to maintain a clean house for me so I won't be tempted to get up.

Best case: I get released from bed rest on Monday and ordered to take it easy. Let's all pray for that to happen.

Side note: Some how, miraculously, amazingly, I lost 3 pounds in the past week (brought me down to 15 pounds total for the pregnancy). Which is one of the preeclampsia factors that are keeping them from diagnosising me. Symptoms for me personally of preecclampsia are: swelling (I mean major swelling), weight gain (usually about 20 lbs + in my 3rd trimester), higher and higher blood pressures, protein in my urine, headaches... So far I am only having the protein symptom and minimal increase in my blood pressure.

I was pretty much told Luke will be born before his April 19th scheduled csection. I am right at 35 weeks. I need to make it to 37+ to assure that his lungs will be fully developed. Pray for that to happen too.

Thanks for praying and listening. Whatever happens, I know in less than a month i will get to finally see his precious face and this pregnancy journey will be over!

Lunch with Daddy

Matt tries to make it home every day to have lunch with Ella. It's their sweet time together. I am so thankful to have a husband who tries to squeeze in as much time with our children as possible. And for his job which allows him to come home and see us during the day.

Look Mom, I've been sewing

Today was a crafting day. Jen, Kim, CarrieBeth, and all their kiddos came over and the ladies made dresses for our girls while the kids played. It was fun (although I did throw my fabric across the room a few times in frustration). 4 hours later we all had a new dress for our girls. Kim made Avery a purse so Ella wanted one too and luckily that didn't take nearly as long to finish. I'm wiped out! But glad to have one more outfit to add to Ella's summer dress collection. Cost: $2.97 for a yard of fabric. .33 for less than a yard of ribbon. Thread:

leftover from Luke's room. Not bad!

Hangin with Papa Siak

Last weekend we got to enjoy the company of Papa Siak. Matt has been itching to play golf for forever. I told him he needs to go ahead and go ASAP so because once Luke gets here there won't be any golfing until I'm fully recovered (it's not like he goes often, I think he only played 3 or 4 times last year). Papa Siak came down on Friday and he and Matt snuck out to the Old Fort Golf Course to play. That night Papa, Matt, Ella, and Noah had a camp out in the living room which they all loved! (And I didn't mind having a night in my bed by myself - it was quite comfortable!). The next day we went to Geppettos for a fantastic lunch and the kids + men went to see Rango which I heard was adorable. We had a great visit and look forward to seeing him again soon!

You can help.

As I mentioned before, there are some big changes trying to be put into place for intercountry adoptions in Ethiopia which will affect my sister and Will's adoption. There is a petition that needs to be signed by at least 250,0000 people that will be presented by the Joint Council Emergency Campaign for Ethiopian Children. Please click this link and simply sign in your info. Every signature helps so much!

www.gopetition.com/petition/43714.html

To learn more go to www.yestoadoption.blogspot.com to follow Bekah and Will's journey.

Bekah and Will's adoption

Please go to Bek & Will's blog www.yestoadoption.blogspot.com to hear about some potentially bad news from the Ethiopian Ministry of Women's, Childrens, and Youth Affairs.

Pray with me that God will bust through any roadblocks for theirs and many other Ethiopian adoptions.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Noah made me this note in the sand "I love my mom." It was almost my cry for the day. So Sweet!!

Dirt- digging :)

Hanging out on the play car set

Noah is starting to look so grown up!

Noah was off from school today, so we headed over to Marion city park to play. The kids all had so much fun. Little did they know, I was trying to wear them out for rest time today. So we would climb to one end of the park, then head to the other side for the slides, then back up the hill... It is such a beautiful day today and I am so blessed to get to have these guys at home with me! It won't be long til we are at the park with Luke in the baby bjorn!

Lunch with Joey, Rebecca, and Benjamin

Joey, Rebecca, and Benjamin got to come to marion today to spend the afternoon with us. While they were here not only did we get to eat great food and enjoy Benjamin's sweet face, but Joey helped me learn how to use my complex camera we got for our anniversary/Luke's birth/etc. Joey has a similar model, and I was clueless on how to use it! It was a great afternoon all around and we are so thankful for them!

Ella & Benjamin

Ella and Benjamin spent some quality floor time together today. Ella loves her cousin!

The many faces of Benjamin

Benjamin is such a happy baby! He smiled and talked and chewed on anything while he was at our house. It had been two months since we had gotten to see him, and I was amazed at how big he had gotten!

Growing...

Thursday Update

1. We started the morning at my OB. I had my biggest weight gain so far - 3 lbs in two weeks (17 so far total). In talking to the doctor she wasn't mad because it's obvious I have started swelling a little bit (and the fact that I snuck a chick-fil-a biscuit right before I got there I'm sure added at least a pound, ha-ha). Things are still looking well. Dr H said that we've made it to 32 weeks, let's make it to 34, then 36, then everything else is gravy after that. So pray that I make it to the gravy part of this pregnancy. Big positive - no protein in my urine which means the preecclampsia has not reared it's ugly head yet.
2. Then we headed to Ella's dermatology visit. The doctor we saw was reassuring. She explained there are 3 treatments we can take - beetle juice and liquid nitrogen (to burn them off) and one she doesn't want to do - a cream they use on chemo patients that can be toxic. So since I refuse the burning treatments, and she doesn't suggest the chemo cream that brings us back to square one. On a great note though, the big outbreak she had two weeks ago is showing signs that her body is recognizing the infection. The doctor said that with each outbreak that heals Ella's body is building up an immunity that will one day allow her to not break out at all. For the record, if you take care of my children this summer - it's best not to expose the spots to sunlight so we will be even more sunscreen/hat/tshirt-ed up in the sun for both the kids. Continue to pray that scarring will be minimal on her chest and legs.
3. My heart is heavy for a little girl on the safety patrol. She's got to be about 12 and in 6th grade. I've watched as I've dropped off and picked up Noah from school all year as she has changed. She has gone from a child to a want to be woman. She is wearing full makeup and eyeliner, tight clothes, and today had on a low cut shirt that showed off too much. I wanted to kidnap her and take her home. To tell her that she is fine just the way she is. That she is walking down a path of attracting the wrong kind of attention. That there is someone who loves her unconditionally just the way she is, who she can turn to when she is scaired and feeling insecure. And it made pray even harder today for the a hedge of protection around my sweet Ella, knowing she will face the same peer pressure one day.
4. Africa. It's amazing how since we found out my sister and Will are adopting that my ears hear about that place more and more (their blog is www.yestoadoption.blogspot.com). Currently Marianna Dollyhigh is there picking up her daughter right now. My sis and Will are still waiting for a refferal, and today I found out that someone I consider a friend is heading there on Saturday for her courtdate. This friend received her referral for a baby girl who is currently six months old last November. I got to see her picture today and man is she beautiful - you should see this baby's big eyes! Because of some changes there is a strong chance she will not be able to bring home her daughter until much later than expected. Please pray alongside of me for these moms as they journey to bring home their babies and the road they are on. I know that Luke's going to be here in the next 48 days or less. My sis and friend don't have a "due date" and I can't imagine being in their shoes. I saw the longing in her heart today and I am praying for both her and Bekah that God will throw a door wide open to bring home their babies sooner.
5. We are eating hotdogs again for supper. Never again will I buy those bad boys in bulk. Yuck.

Ella's doctor visit tomorrow

Over two years ago Ella got a small cut that didn't heal right. Instead of scabbing over, it bubbled. Those bubbles burst, and more bumps sprouted near the initial cut. Over the past two years they have spread all over her body and have not gone away. She goes through stages where they seem to calm down but never completely leave, and then will flare back up again. A few weeks ago my horomones/emmotions got the best of me and I took her back to our doctor again (this is about the 5th time I have taken her just for this). He wanted me to continue to wait it out and not treat it, because the only treatment he knew of was to burn several of the areas to "wake up" Ella's skin to make it realize there is a problem. Because she has eczema, her body does not recognize the Molluscum as an infection. These burns (treatment like a wart) will leave scars on her body. Noah has the same condition just not nearly as bad as Ella's. Last year one of his got infected and the doctor we saw went ahead and burnt a few of the places on his stomach. Which left three scars on his stomach. And did not "wake up" his skin to make the rest of the bumps go away (he has worse eczema than she does). In the doctors office, when our good doctor told me to wait it out my eyes welled up. And he decided that a dermatologist referral would probably be a good idea.

All this to say... tomorrow we will see a new doctor. There are pale pink dots all over Ella's belly and legs from where the bumps have gone away, and I as her mommy don't want to think about her carrying these scars her whole life. I see her scratching in her sleep and I know they bother her. And I don't want her to be self-conscious as we get close to short wearing season.

Please pray that he will have the knowledge to know how to treat Ella in the best manner. And that I won't lose it like a basket case during our first meeting.

Can I say something and it not make you mad?

Matt doesn't read my blog. He asked me if I had taken any pictures from before and after
he installed the new floors, and I said "sure, just look at my blog." We looked through a lot of posts and then jumped back a few years, and reminisced for awhile. While I was scrolling down one of the pages. He says to me "Man you are breathing hard." I then explained that my uterus is just about as high as my throat and that's why. Then he says this to me. "Can I say something and it not make you mad?" (This is 99% of the time not a conversation you want to have.) I told him sure (with my horomones as crazy as they are right now, I knew I probably would be mad). "You have started snoring so loud you vibrate the floor." "And sometimes I will wake up thinking someone is breaking into the house but it's you snoring." "Last night it was so loud I thought I might have to call a priest."

I wasn't mad. I laughed until I cried. I offered him the couch. I told him to poke me so I would roll over. I've been having trouble sleeping for a while now, and am on some prescription sleep aids which evidently have me in a pretty deep sleep. And he reassured me that when I'm not pregnant I don't snore. So while I've added heavy breathing recently to my list of pregnancy symptoms. I now can add heavy snoring too.

I'm in love with...

Luke's custom wall decal!!!!

I am cheap/frugal/thrifty/coupon-conscious/etc... so when I was looking for something for Luke's wall, I sort of knew what I wanted. His name with a verse or quote underneath it. I found this one, fell in love with it, but did not want to bite the bullet to buy it. I was talking to my mother in law one night on the phone and telling her about my search for the perfect wall art and she out of the blue offered to buy me this one. Thank you so much Mary!!! I love it. And the verse is so true. We prayed so hard to get pregnant, and are praying even now for our little Luke and the man he will one day become. Perfect.

Tuesdays at Gymnastics

Gymnastics... trying to cure the Scoggins genetic-klutizness from her one class at a time.