Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Quick Update

Things have been going amazing in the S household. I can't even begin to tell you.

The baby is growing and developing right on track. I got my dream job yesterday. I can not even tell you how excited I am about that.
Jack is almost done with school and his degree is so close.
We are moving.
Yep we are busy but good. Things are great.

I have an appointment with the perineonatalogist tomorrow. I will write more about that later. Hopefully we will get some reassurance. Who knows.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

JMS ilu!

XoXo
Amanda and Little Baby S

Monday, April 11, 2011

Titles

So the rest of Jack's unit came home yesterday. It was awesome for the them and their families. I watched the coverage on the news. I thought it was sweet that the news covered the story, but what I was not a fan of was how the newscaster described the guys returning home. She called them soliders. I get it, people don't know the difference. But these men are Marines. They worked hard to obtain that title and they deserve all the respect in the world for it.

There are different branches of the service. Their members are all called different things. Each one works hard to obtain that title and it is important that people render respect to those men and women.

Army = solider
Navy = seaman
Air Force = airmen
Marines = Marine.

I know that not everyone is as familiar with a military lifestyle. But please give some respect to those men and women that fight for us and call them by the right title. My husband is not a solider, he is a Marine. He is not a seaman or an airman, he is Marine. When he is in uniform it clearly states Marines. Please pay attention and don't ask him if he is in the Army. I carry a purse made of my husband's uniform (thank you to www.heroonmyarm.com) and it clearly has Marines on it. I can't not tell you how many people time people ask if my husband is in the Army. Please read. I understand kids asking, they don't know. But adults please please read. It isn't that hard.

There are some general rules in the military that most people don't know. Marines can not leave the base in their cammies unless they are on official business. Army soliders will do not have as much of a restriction. There are little things that maybe people don't understand. That's okay. Just ask. We will answer and if I don't know the answer, I'll tell you and I will ask Jack.

Okay done with my rant for the day. I just want people to render the respect that each member of the service deserves.

JMS - I am so proud of you. ilu

XoXo
Amanda

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Word is out...

So I guess that now word is out. Its time to write about it.

Jack is deploying this summer. Not so excited. Oh and yeah and with him deploying means he is going to miss Baby S's birth. Hopefully he will be home before the baby is 2 months old but who knows.

For the first week after we found out I didn't want to say it aloud. I guess I figured if I didn't say it then it didn't exsist. I know that was silly. But I was doing what I could. Not sure that has really hit me that Jack won't be here when our child enters the world. I know that we will do everything that we can to have him involved and knowing every detail.

Just a heads up... no one will see pictures or know stats of the baby until Jack does. So if its a few days after his/her birth, sorry. I just want Jack to know first.

That all being said I am ready for deployment. I have beat the deployment game once, and I will do it again.

We have a lot going on this week including an appointment to check on the progress of Little Baby S. Jack and I have plans to get a few other things done to. Our main goal is try and figure out our living situation as we have to move out of our 1 bedroom apartment. We think we found an apartment we like, but we still need to go look at it. Oh and cross your fingers because I am one of 2 being considered for my dream job. So hopefully we will find out about that this week too. Busy busy week.

Bring it deployment #2. I am ready for you!! ( I am going to keep telling myself that and hopefully it will be true.)

JMS- so very proud of you. ilu

Hope everyone has a great week.

XoXo
Amanda and Little Baby S.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Grounded....

Yep... Baby S is going to be grounded when he/she makes his/her appearance in the world. This morning sickness is no joke.

On that topic I want to talk about morning sickness. Who decided to call it morning sickness. It was probably a male doctor or something. Morning sickness for me is not just in the morning. It is an all day sickness, wake up in the middle of the night sickness, gag when you smell anything sickness, terrified to go to the grocery store sickness. Yeah its lots and lots of fun.

The one nice thing is that people have given me all kinds of advice. I have heard everything from tea, to sprite, to sour candy, to crackers, to ask the doctor for medication. Everyone feels the need to remind me that it will be all worth it in the end. I get that. I do. But right now the puking, definitely over it.

The insane naseua started for me at around 6 weeks, 4 almost 5 weeks later.. it's still going strong. I have lost weight and have finally started to gain some of it back. I started this pregnancy at 114 pounds, went down to 108 and now am finally back up at 113. I'll take it I guess.

I will say I have never had a cleaner toliet. My husband is awesome and helps out there. And I have learned where the restrooms are in pretty much every public place we visit. So there are some positives. But Baby S is still grounded. haha.

Hope everyone is doing well!

JMS - ilu!!!

XoXo
Amanda and Baby S

Monday, April 4, 2011

Decisions.. Decisions...

Woah... apparently having a baby involves lots of decisions.

I mean just in the few days Jack and I have been looking into things we tried to make a list of the decisions we would need to make. I wonder why babies don't come with instruction manuals or lists or something. haha

So far in just a few weeks Jack and I have had a lot of things to think about.
First we need to see a perineonatalogist ( I don't even have the slightest idea if I spelled that right). We need to know complete family history and basically the genetcist (which is the short way of describing the specialist). Its partly because of my condition and partly because of some concerns that my doctor has. I think it will be okay. We have done a ton of research and have a lot of questions ready for the doctor.

We then have to figure out things like :

to circumcise or not (we decided to circumcise)
to delay vaccinations or not ( we have decided not to)
to formula feed or breast feed (drs made the decision for me to formula feed... I need to go back on my medications as soon as possible)
to cloth diaper or disposable diaper ( we decided on disposable for the convience of me being on my own a bit... more to come on that later)
what peditrician to use
what to name the baby ( we have a girls name and a first name for a boy..but no middle name)
Who will be the godparents ( almost sure on that one... just have to ask them)
How to decorate a nursery ( think I have an idea.... but really not sure)
Strollers to buy
What crib to get

And all other kinds of things. Its insane the amount of things you need to figure out. Jack and I just wish there was a list somewhere. A cheat sheet of some sorts.

All kinds of stuff to figure out. We have researched like no one's business and continue to do so. This having a baby thing is hard work.

Oh and my child is apparently not in the "mommy shouldn't have morning sickness" camp. Thanks Baby S.

So now comes growing a healthy baby and researching all kinds of kid stuff. Always a fun time.

Hope all is well with everyone!!

JMS - proud of you...ilu

XoXo
Amanda and little Baby S.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Big News

So the secret is out!!!

We are pregnant!!!!!!!

We couldn't be more excited! And now I can blog again because I don't have to worry about blowing the secret. haha.






Apparently our little one was saluting us. He/she is already a mini Marine. haha.


Anyway just to give everyone a little background as to our story. Jack and I have been married for almost 4 years (in May it will be 4 years). We always knew we wanted kids and started trying pretty much right away.

Unfortunately it did not come as easy for us as we would have liked. Almost 4 years, countless doctor's visits and every trick in the book later we got pregnant in September of 2010. Around that time personal tragedy hit us with the death of a family member and the death of a friend. We were heartbroken. We found out about the pregnancy about 1 week after receiving all that news. God at that time apparently needed another angel because we lost that pregnancy. We were devastated and doctors told us it was normal and okay.


Further appointments with doctors had us questioning if we would ever conceive on our own. Doctors were not hopeful and therefore we were not as well. As painful as it was, we began to accept the fact that we would have to go through alternative routes to have a family.


During this struggle Jack and I learned how blessed we truly are. We had many friends who would listen and just be there with us as we processed the information. We had a dear friend offer to be our surrogate, which of course was beyond touching. We were blessed to be asked to be godparents again. All of these things helped us to get through what we believed was our personal tragedy. We were able to relax and stop worrying about trying.


Apparently that is what we needed. Against all odds and to the amazement of our doctors and us, we are pregnant!! The weekend before Valentine's Day I was feeling especially tired and thought on a whim to take a test. We always have tests in the house so I took it thinking nothing of it. I saw the first test (the + one) and took a picture and sent it to Jack. I told him "looks like another negative" Dumb me was looking at the control line. He replied with "Look again". We were excited but not yet. I took a digital the next morning and the yes popped up right away.


So Valentine's Day I go to the doctor. They do blood work and sure enough we are pregnant. There started the modified bed rest. And the secret keeping. We didn't want to tell anyone right away because we didn't want to have to go through untelling. That is the most painful thing of all. As each day progressed and each day our baby grew more and more, we got more and more excited.


Today we went for a sonogram and saw our baby and heard our baby's heartbeat. His/her heart rate is currently 173! Very active little bug we have there.


The best news of all, our doctor told us the risk of miscarriage is now less than 3%. We are ecstatic!


So now on to growing our little baby and anxiously awaiting October!! Look for more and more blogging!! While... if I can get the morning sickness to go away!


Hope everyone has a great week!!!


JMS- So very excited for our next stage together!!! ilu!!!

XoXo
Amanda and little baby S