October Meal Plan

I plan my meals by the month, some people think I'm crazy, but that's just what works best for me. It takes me about an hour to plan the meals out on my calendar. Now I don't cook every night (because that would be really crazy!), but instead plan for leftovers on Wednesday nights. Sundays are crazy busy between church & Bible Study we are usually gone for dinner, so on those days we eat with my parents or at a friends' house. Then I will make one bigger shopping trip to get all the non perishables and then smaller weekly shopping trips to pick up the super deals and produce needed for that week. So here's what's on the agenda for October with links to recipes where appropriate (I can't link to the Wildtree freezer meals, but if you want a recipe just let me know and I'll email it to you):

Chicken Enchilada Stuff Zukes!

Oct.1- Wildtree Freezer Meal- Easy Skillet Jambalaya with Rice and Garlic Bread
Oct. 2- Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Zucchini with refried beans
 Oct. 3- Left overs
Oct. 4- Wild Tree Herb Grilled Chicken, baked potatoes, and mixed veggies
Oct. 5- Enchilada Soup (that my mother in law made, thanks Leslee) w/ tortilla chips
Oct. 6- Spinach & Cheese Lasagne Rolls and salad

Spinach & Cheese Lasagne Rolls

Oct. 7- Leftovers or gone
Oct. 8- WildTree Perfect Roast Chicken, couscous, and carrots
Oct. 9- Gone to Stockton, Kris to eat leftover Chicken
Oct. 10- Church BBQ, bring a side dish to share
Oct. 11- Tacos
Oct. 12- Wildtree Crock Pot Shredded Beef Burritos, Spanish Rice or salad
Oct. 13- Sweet & Sour Chicken (boxed meal), rice, broccoli
Oct. 14- Leftovers or Gone
Oct. 15- Eggs, Hashbrowns and Turkey Bacon
Oct. 16- Hot Dogs, Mac & Cheese

Chicken Chili

Oct. 17- Leftovers
Oct. 18- Wildtree Lemon Rosemary Tilapia, brown rice, veggie (whatever is on sale that week)
Oct 19- Meatball Sub Sandwiches, oven roasted potatoes, peas & carrots
Oct. 20- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili w/tortilla chips
Oct. 21- Leftovers or gone

Baked Potato Casserole

Oct. 22- Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole, carrots

Oct. 23- Homemade Pizza: pepperoni, olives, bacon, artichoke hearts w/salad
Oct. 24- Leftovers
Oct. 25- Cheesy Chicken & Rice Bake w/tortilla chips
Oct. 26- Chicken Spaghetti, salad and french bread

Tomato Basil Parm Soup

Oct.27- Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup w/french bread

Oct. 28- Leftovers
Oct. 29- Wildtree Lemon Rosemary Pork Tenderloin, loaded mashed potatoes, broccoli
Oct. 30- Wildtree Herb Grilled Shrimp, angel hair pasta, veggie (whatever is on sale that week)
Oct. 31- Leftovers

Whew!! I love that I will have the makings for most of these dinners in my cupboards so that I can mix and rearrange as things happen, because we all know that life happens!

32 weeks- 8 months!!

All is well here and we've hit the 8 month mark!!! We continue to have our NST's twice a week and the last 4 have all shown a normal heartbeat. Chewy is moving often but it's now more rolls and turns than kicks and jabs although he still throws those in from time to time too. At today's NST he got the hiccups for the first time and that was fun to listen to as well as watch my stomach seem to hop to its own rhythm for a few minutes! I am still so much in awe that there is a little person inside of me!

According to my pregnancy emails, Chewy is gaining about a half pound a week, and is getting close to weighing 4 pounds  and is around 15 inches long. As of my appt this week I'm up to 155lbs, so 20 lbs gained so far. I also saw the perninatologist this week in Modesto and Chewy had another ultrasound. He was looking great and they took some extra time to look at his heart due to the fact that he had an arrhythmia, but everything looked great.  Even my blood pressure was only 134/70 which is great for me!! I was supposed to see the fetal cardiologist, but turns out his first opening isn't until November... and since Chewy is due in Nov, that really wouldn't do us much good. Dr. Green said he could refer me to Stanford and I could have the fetal echo done there... after talking it over with Kris and with Dr. Brunel we decided not to pursue the test at this time. Since Corban's heart is beating normally we don't have any concerns about it.

Chewy definitely has regular sleep and wake cycles and periods of crazy busy activity!! I've also been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for the last month or so. Oh and I didn't have to do the glucose screening since I haven't had gestational diabetes before and aren't overweight and haven't had big babies. Dr. Brunel said he doesn't test everyone and I was elated not to have to drink that icky yicky nasty sweet orange stuff! Chewy is also head down getting ready to make his entrance I guess.

A couple weeks ago I was able to go to my first JBF (Just Between Friends) consignment sale in Sacramento with my gal-pal Stacey. It was amazing... so much great stuff for kids of all ages! I was able to pick up the last few bigger items we needed for Corban- a bouncey seat, play gym, crib bumper (one of the newfangled breatheable ones- it's sooo neat!), and some other small items. Our awesome hubbys handled all 5 of our kiddos so Stacey and I could go out to lunch and then enjoy shopping!

My blood pressure is holding steady which is exactly what we what to be happening. I will be getting steroid shots this Sunday and Monday that will speed up Corban's lung development. Usually the shots are only given between 28-34 weeks and when you are in labor, but all of our Drs. agreed that it couldn't hurt to get the shots even though I've carried past 34 weeks with Jonathan and Aaron. The prayer is that I get to carry Corban until at least 38 weeks which would be around October 20th... and honestly (I may be the only person to say this and actually mean it) I would LOVE to still be carrying him on or within days of my actual due date which is November 5th!

Until next time!

Party Time!!

We held a small family party for Jonathan and Aaron to celebrate their 6th and 4th birthdays! I can't believe how time is flying!! The boys had a great time visiting with their Papa & Grandma (my parents), Grandpa Dave & Grandma Leslee (Kris' parents), Auntie Ceage (my sister), Uncle Danny & Auntie Crystal (Kris' brother and sister in law) and cousin Cameron. We also got to meet the newest addition to the Jack family- Natalie Mariah born on Aug 20th just one day before Aaron's birthday! She is so adorable don't you think?

I made a simple yet tasty dinner of lasagna, green salad, and garlic bread. The boys picked out their birthday cake from some ideas I'd pinned on Pinterest. The cake was called Rex the Dinosaur. Jonathan liked the cake even though he was quick to point out that "Rex" was not a good name for the dinosaur because he wasn't a Tyrannosaurus, but was a long necked dinosaur instead. They were thrilled with how it turned out!

Blowing out the candles!

The boys were blessed beyond belief with lots of presents!

New back packs and lunch boxes from Papa & Grandma!

Superhero backpack and lunch box for JJ

Now we can be scientists and explorers in our new vests!!

More fun toys from Papa & Grandma

Ball Hoppers from Grandpa Dave & Grandma Leslee!!

(pretend) Frog and Turtle habitat kits from Uncle Danny & Auntie Crystal

Cousin Cameron having fun!

Jonathan has been interested in taking pictures for a while now. So we took our older digital camera and showed him the basics. He will now proudly tell you that he is "camera trained", lol. We let him loose at the party and he took many pictures- some of his room and toys, but he got some great ones of the family too. Here are the best ones:

Auntie Ceage & Mommy

Auntie Ceage & Grandma

Grandma Leslee

Uncle Danny

Papa & Auntie Ceage

We are so blessed to have such wonderful boys and praise the Lord for placing them in our family. Here's a little look back at how they started:

JJ just days old- August 2006

JJ  6 years old- August 2012

AJ August 2008, just days old

AJ August 2012, 4 years old

More NST's and finally some GOOD NEWS!!!

I saw my Ob on Thursday and he took some extra time to listen to Corban's heart. He definitely heard the arrhythmia. He also did an ultrasound which showed I still have plenty of amniotic fluid and that Corban is definitely a boy. "He's really strutting his stuff today," Dr. said! That's our boy!! After my appt I had an NST at the hospital. It all pretty much went downhill from there.

Corban's arrhythmia was still easily evident and then on top of that his heart rate which would normally be around 145 beats per minute would jump up to 200 beats per minute for 10 seconds or so before dropping back down. My nurse called in another nurse who has more experience with arrhythmias. This nurse, Stacie said that it sounded like a heart block, which is an electrical issue and that baby might need a steroid or something after delivery to reset his heart into a proper rhythm. She also said that a worse case scenario would be that he might need a pacemaker. They were upset that I hadn't gotten my fetal echo test done yet. And when I told them that the Dr. who does it wouldn't be back up in the area until next week they started talking about finding me another Dr. in the valley who could see me today. I was not the least bit excited about making a trip to the valley, especially since it was already 2pm! They called Dr. Brunel who said that he would not be sending me to another dr. and it would be ok to wait until the Modesto office could get me in. Then they noticed that I'd been contracting pretty regularly. I wasn't feeling most of them, but considering my history of pre-term labor they were concerned. So I had a fetal fibromectin (I think that was what it was called) test to determine if these contractions would develop into real labor. I had to wait until the lab ran the test... 15 min or so later it came back negative! So 2 hrs later, I was able to leave the hospital and run my errands before going home. I was never so excited to get to Wal-Mart!

The weekend past in a blur of activity- birthday party for the boys, church, dinner with my family, Bible Study followed by BBQ, and an out door movie. So we got home really late Sunday evening and Kris was kneeling by the bed talking to Corban and feeling my tummy as Corban was just beginning one of his most active periods of the day. Overcome by the emotion of the moment I said, "What if they can't fix his heart?"... I didn't have the courage to give voice to the bigger question rattling around in my head ("what if he dies?!"). Kris reminded me that we serve a good God and that God created Corban for a purpose and that God has the power to heal our baby. I then said, "I know all that but I also know that sometimes God doesn't heal people... what do we do then?!" - not my biggest faith moment, so sorry Lord. Kris said that even if God chose not to heal Corban's heart He would give us everything we need to take care of our baby.. that God would still be God and that God would still be good... and that His love for us would be unchanged, that God would still be worthy of our worship and praise. He then spent a long time praying for peace for us, whatever the outcome, for healing for Corban, and for God's will to be done even if it meant our baby wouldn't be healed. The valley of despair looming overhead, all my heart could cry was that it didn't want God's will unless it meant that my baby would live and that my baby would be healed!.. again please forgive me Lord.

After praying Kris suggested we use the Doppler monitor we were lent to listen to Corban's heart. Honestly I really didn't want to hear it's erratic beating again. But I agreed. Kris found the heartbeat pretty easily as it's always been strong and we listened. And we listened. And we listened, for at least 5 minutes and we did not hear the arrhythmia at all! NOT. ONE. EXTRA. BEAT!! We also didn't hear any of the spiking he was doing on Friday. His heartbeat was PERFECT! God had healed our son!! Tears came in buckets down my cheeks now as I whispered my thanks to God. I could have laid there and listened to his normal heart beating all night long! It was a miracle!!

We listened to his heart again on Monday before I left for another NST and it still sounded normal. Corban's heartbeat was strong and steady during the NST as well. One of the nurses from last week who'd heard the arrhythmia and the spiking was on duty and she came in and said, "Oh goodness, it sounds so much better!!"

We have deeply appreciated all your thoughts and prayers. We have felt their encouragement! I am so grateful that God doesn't abandon me when I doubt, but that instead He chose to remind me of His faithfulness!

Corban Update

I wanted to give you an update on Baby Corban. Since my visit with the peri-natologist on Aug 14th, that Dr. recommended I have Non Stress Tests (NST) twice a week to keep an eye on my blood pressure, monitor baby's heartbeat, and also monitor any contractions I may be having. I did have an NST while at the Peri office in Modesto and everything was just fine. However my last two NSTs which happened on the 21st and 27th showed that Corban's heart might have an arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat. My OB Dr. Brunel has consulted with one of the peri-natologists in Modesto, Dr. Slocum and both agree that arrhythmias are common and can develop at any time. In most cases they are also benign (not harmful) and tend to correct themselves either during pregnancy or after birth. Both Dr.s also agree that it would be beneficial to have a fetal echo cardiogram done on Corban, which is a higher level ultrasound looking specifically at the heart and its components. I will be going to Modesto sometime next week to have the fetal echo test done. Corban's heartbeats are strong and he's moving around normally, so that is good news. They just want to know what (if anything) we are dealing with.

I have another dr. appt in Sonora on Thursday of this week followed by another NST in Sonora. Our prayer is that Corban's heart would be beating regularly, that the arrhythmia would have resolved itself. Please keep us in your prayers. We'll let you know how it all pans out. We know for certain that God created Corban and that He has a great plan for His life. For now I am trying to rest in the peace that I feel him moving constantly and we have a fetal heart dopplar monitor that we can use to listen to his heart anytime we want.

30 weeks! 7 1/2 months!!!

We took some fun belly pictures today! Here are some of my favorites!!

An ode to our computer company!

Basketball belly!

Nice & Round!

Little Tiny Shoes!

Small sneakers!

So much LOVE!!!

10 Weeks to go!! We're so excited to meet Corban Michael!

28 Weeks- 7 months!!!

Welcome to the 3rd Trimester people!!! It's been a busy couple of weeks since my last prego post. Chewy is still as active as ever- moving, rolling, kicking nearly all day long! J & A love watching my belly move and they enjoy having their littlest brother kick them (something that will certainly change as Chewy grows up).

7 Months

I met with my doctor and we spent a lot of time talking about pre-term labor... is it likely to happen again? Would the hospital stop labor? etc. Basically it could happen... since it was spontaneous both times before, it could repeat itself. And the hospital normally wouldn't stop labor at 36 or 37 weeks, but in my case 37 weeks just isn't enough time for those lungs to develop. Aaron was born at 36 weeks and 6 days and still ended up in the NICU for nearly 2 weeks. Dr. Brunel said we would try to keep me pregnant as long as possible depending on what my blood pressure is doing. If my blood pressure stays too high for too long, the risk to my health outweighs the inconvenience of another NICU experience. We talked about getting steroid shots at 34 weeks which are usually only given once you go into labor to give the baby's lungs an extra boost of development. There really aren't any studies showing them to be effective for women who carry past 34 weeks, but it certainly couldn't hurt either.

Little foot!

I also had my first Rho-gam shot. I am RH negative which could cause problems if the baby is Rh positive. Basically my body could recognize the baby's Rh positive blood as foreign and start to attack it. So I have to get a shot of antibodies that will prevent my blood from attacking the baby's blood. It was quick and painless. If I experience any sort of trauma from here on out (say a fall or some other impact to the stomach area), I will have to get another shot and I will have my final shot after delivery.

 My doctor also suggested that I meet with a Peri-natologist in Modesto to discuss my birth history and current blood pressure issues and get his advice on how the rest of the this pregnancy and delivery should go. One thing we're trying to figure out is if I should deliver in Sonora and run the chance that the baby will need the NICU. Then the baby will be transferred to Modesto while I will have to stay in Sonora for at least 24 hours after delivery. This is what happened when Aaron was born and it was heartbreaking to be so far away for so long.

Beautiful face and hand!

 So off I went to Modesto this week and met with Dr. O. First I had a level 2 ultrasound during which the technician examined and measured all of Chewy's parts and confirmed that he is in fact a boy. Based on his bone measurements she said he weighed 2 lbs 15 ounces which is normal for his gestational age. Dr. O and I spent a lot of time talking about my delivery history. Of course my blood pressure was high in his office too, but I brought my trusty chart of my normal at home numbers. After hearing about the deliveries of Jonathan and Aaron he offered some insights. He said that because the hospitals never did their own ultrasounds to determine or confirm gestational age, it's possible that the boys were actually younger than we thought therefore accounting for their underdevelopment. He also said that the magnesium sulfate I was on for both labors and deliveries (which is a powerful muscle relaxer) would have greatly effected their abilities to breathe upon birth. He said that he would not recommend my being on mag sulfate at all during this delivery unless I developed pre-ecclampsia which is characterized by high blood pressure accompanied by protein in the urine among some other symptoms. He said that if my blood pressure is elevated for too long during labor and delivery I could be given different medications to treat just that, medication that would not cause the baby to be sluggish. He also had me stay and do a non-stress test where I was hooked up to monitors that kept track of Chewy's heartbeat and if contractions were occurring (which they weren't). That went well and also retook my blood pressure again and it had come down quite a bit (into the medium part of the normal range). He recommended that I continue to do the non-stress tests 1-2 times a week in Sonora and also that I have some additional blood work done to determine if I have high blood pressure in general.

Arms!!

 So I have my normal dr. appt in Sonora next week and now my appts with Dr. Brunel will be every 2 weeks now that we are in the 3rd trimester, and I have to go back to see Dr. O in Modesto in 4 weeks.

Here's the goal prayer warriors... We're praying that my blood pressure continues to stay in the normal range at home (so far so good there!) and praying that labor doesn't start on it's own until 38 WEEKS!! That's the goal... to get to 38 weeks. If I can make it to 38 weeks then I can deliver in Sonora and in all likelihood the baby's lungs will be fully developed. Please keep us in your prayers. We deeply appreciate all your love and support. We know that God created this baby and that He already knows the hour of Corban's birth and all the surrounding circumstances.

So if the goal is 38 weeks, that means I have less than 10 weeks left! EEK!!!

The boys have been so excited about their little brother, we decided to do some artwork to decorate his room (and their room too). I saw this idea on Pinterest and while I think it would have turned out better on canvas, it still looks pretty good on paper. I spelled our their names with painter's tape and then let the boys fingerpaint all over the paper. When the paint was dry we removed the tape! Voila! Here's what we got: 

Before

After- hung over Corban's crib

We hung these on the wall in their room

The boys were very pleased about how they turned out.