Week 30

These past couple of weeks have been so much fun! I have had lots of time to relax and enjoy some hobbies that I am trying my hand out on. Mainly-sewing. Lindsey Carver taught me how last summer and my Mom and Dad even were so kind to get me a sewing machine as an "anniversary present," but I have been SO chicken!! I just want to be able to be so good at it that I get paralyzed by perfectionism tendencies and give up before I even begin...literally. I really really wanted to be able to make cute things for the baby though and decided to try my hand at making some appliqued onesies. My favorite that are becoming so popular are the little neck-tie onesies for boys. They are so easy and fun to make! You just buy a regular white short sleeved onesie in the size you want, pick out some cute tie-looking fabric, follow the directions to put the fusible webbing on the back to iron the tie in the place you want it on the onesie, and stitch around the edge to secure it and to give it a cute homemade look! I made one for Grayson a couple of months ago and loved it and thought it would be the perfect gift for a friend's baby shower I attended last weekend. I made three. They were a hit!! I even was asked to make a couple more for another lady who wanted to give them as a gift at another baby shower she is attending in a couple of weeks. Now I don't feel so shaky on my machine!

I also have been having fun going over to my friend Lara's house to sew up a couple of things. The first time I needed to add material to the bottom of a maternity dress because it was too short. It hit me about mid-calf when it is supposed to be a long maxi dress. I picked out some pink jersey knit fabric and pretty much Lara did it for me except for the last step of sewing it onto the dress because I was still chicken then (before the onesies)! But now I have a cute maternity maxi dress that I have received compliments on at church. Our next project together was to make our own maternity dresses. We took the top of a tank top and sewed a skirt onto it out of a huge men's T-shirt with an added elastic waist! Our dress creations turned out too cute!!

On Wednesday night we went over to our friends, John and Deborah's house to hang out with our small group friends after The Summit (Wednesday night church). We had fun oohing and ahhing over their little girl-to-be's nursery that they have recently decorated. 4 of us in our small group are pregnant...4!!!! It's been a lot of fun to go through all of these exciting times and life changes with them. It will be the first for 3 of us and the second for one of us. After checking out the nursery, we ate an amazing icecream cake that John and Deborah were so sweet to get for Drew's birthday (coming up on Monday). They even got a robot put on the cake to match Drew's robot tattoo!! Haha! :) Great friends know you, you know?! ;) But, whoa...nobody warned us about the blue icing on the top! Drew and I were the first to start eating the cake and our mouths were stained SOOOO blue! We were a sight to see and I couldn't stop laughing, which just made it worse because then our friends would laugh at us seeing our teeth all blue when we laughed...which just made me laugh even more! It was an endless cycle for a while there. We definitely said a prayer of thankfulness that night in our prayer for the way God has blessed us with such wonderful friends! (Thanks for the pictures Deborah!)

(Love the fake smile picture!)

Lastly, a surprise showed up on our doorstep this week! Our Pack N' Play!!! I was so excited and not expecting it in the least! Drew's HR and Legal departments from work sent it to us--so thoughtful! I couldn't wait to put that puppy together, but boy it wore me out! I had so much trouble figuring out how to pop the top rails up at first that I literally had to take a breather on the couch for a little while before attempting it again on Thursday afternoon. I finally got it all put together and was so proud of myself when I realized I had followed all of the steps to put it together where the mattress is down low for toddlers to play in when they get bigger...that is NOT what I wanted. I wanted to put it together with all the bells and whistles of what it looks like when you use it for a newborn. Too worn out to give it another go, I waited for Drew to get home from work. After dinner he helped me follow all the many steps to put it together as a bassinet complete with the canopy, cute-as-can-be turtle mobile, changing table, parent organizer, and music and vibrating box (you can even plug in your mp3 player to it!!)! I absolutely love it!!

Week 29 and Platelets

Drew left his camera at work on Friday, so I couldn't get him to take a good picture of me yesterday. This barely-decent iphone photo will have to do for now. I may get him to take a new picture today when he gets home but it will be cutting it close for "week 29" since week 30!! starts tomorrow!

This past Monday I had another two-week obgyn appointment with Dr. Snead. I went in just thinking I was going to have the standard pee-in-a-cup, step on the scale, get blood pressure checked, and listen to my sweet baby's heartbeats appointment. While I did do all those things (everything's great, but...I better slow down on the 'ole weight!!), my doctor came in and told me that my last blood test I did, when I did the glucose screening, showed that I had a very low platelet count. "Ummmm, could you tell me what platelets are exactly? Are they white blood cells?" I asked. Nope, turns out platelets are what helps your blood to clot. He explained that my low count could be one of two syndromes: Gestational Thrombo-cytopenia or Idiopathic thrombocytopenic Purpura. I definitely had to have him write those down. It seemed like he started talking in a different language for a minute! Gestational in the first one means just during pregnancy. He said that is the case with me. Idiopathic in the second one means they can't explain what causes it.

Basically, women who have this will often develop it in their third trimester, like me, and what happens is their platelet counts just start going lower and lower until delivery (but then bounce back up to normal range after the baby comes). Because of this, hnowever, Dr. Snead warned that it is very likely I will not get to have (cue the horrible gasp!) an epidural or spinal tap if I need to have a c-section. They worry about too much blood loss or leakage into the spine of blood if my platelets are too low. He even said that because of that, if I have to have a c-section I will have to be put under general anesthesia! He said that if I have any complications with regular labor, that they will be quicker to move me to c-section considering my platelet issue. He did give me a little glimmer of hope by saying that there is a possibility that they could put me on steroids toward the very end of the pregnancy that might raise my platelet count to a normal range enough for me to be able to still get an epidural. They had me give them so more blood to send off to the lab to check the count again. They called me on Wednesday with the results. The first time it was 119. The second time, it came back a couple of points higher at 121. However, this is still considerably low. Most hospitals, I have learned, won't allow epidurals or spinals if you are under 100. If I am only starting at 119-121ish with Dr. Snead telling me the pattern of this syndrome is for the platelet counts to keep getting lower and lower...it's not looking too good.

I have so many mixed feelings about all of this. First of all, the idea of being put under general anesthesia and missing out completely on my firstborn's, my son's, birth brings tears to my eyes. When I told Drew about all of this, he said, "Well....guess we better take one of those Lamaze classes or something!" Haha! I was thankful for his attitude and his ability to make me laugh in this circumstance when he said that. But, that made me really think about it...yeah I guess so! I guess I will have to be a little more prepared for going through natural childbirth if I am not able to have an epidural! Crazy. So not what I imagined. I am the kind of girl that is all about the DRUGS to make this an easy and enjoyable (as possible) experience, people! Why not since those kinds of things are available these days?!

Ultimately, I know God has a plan. I know God will take care of me. I am thankful that this in no way affects Grayson (he is as healthy as can be!). I know that God will give me the strength to make it through whatever I need to make it through. In the meantime, Dr. Snead is keeping a close eye on my platelet count by having me give blood at each appointment. I will keep you updated as I hear more about what to expect. I would really be blessed by your prayers as well. (Drew and I have been praying, but always kind of snicker when we say 'please God, be with Tara's platelets'...platelets is kind of a funny word, isn't it?!).

Lastly, I leave you with my two favorite baby pictures of Drew that I snagged from the Branches this weekend! I hope our little boy looks like this!!!