This weekend went by way to fast.
Friday night we went to my parents house and rode on the golf cart they bought. Regan loved it and well we "grownups" had a blast too. My mom and I went on several trips around their wooded area and laughed the entire time.

I spent the morning Saturday sleeping!! It was great! My in-laws came and got Regan Saturday morning and so I decided the best thing to do was sleep. It was wonderful. I can't seem to sleep during the night but love to nap during the day when Regan is away. Ricky and I watched Twilight and Pearl Harbor and just enjoyed spending some time alone. We sat on the porch for a long time and watched the storms coming across the highway and pasture it was so nice just having us time.

Sunday we split the day up and spent time with Ricky's parents for breakfast and then headed to my parents for supper! We didn't have to cook all day!!! How great is that for someone who can't stand the smell of food cooking. I just wish the weekend would last forever when they are as great as this one was.

I've posted before about Stellan. His mommy is writer of this great blog and mom to 4 under 4!! Stellan is a miracle baby that I have followed since he was in the womb. He is now in Children's and needing some Divine intervention. Keep him and his entire sweet family in your prayers.

Struggling

I'm needing to vent about my kiddo. He is not getting same and different concept and it's driving my crazy. I just don't know how else to get him to understand. I've used toys, flash cards, clothes, shoes, books, movies, fruits, veggies and still nothing. It's one of those concepts that he just doesn't grasp. Ugh!

Colors are the same thing. He gets it half the time but then he starts really messing them up. White is green, red is black just crazy stuff!! It is wearing me out.

Potty training has had a huge set back!! He was staying dry at night, and being able to go to the potty at home 1 or 2 times a day. Now? Wet at night, Accidents all day. He refuses to sit on the potty for any length of time and just looks at us like we are crazy. What am I going to do??? I want him potty trained before the baby gets here. (And no I haven't made a big deal about that to him) Someone please tell me it gets better.

His Plan

I don't know if I've even told anyone about the due date for this little one. It is Oct.23. Wow you probably think, but there is more behind that date than just a date. That day, October 23, is the day that I had a D&C to remove the baby we had lost. I know that very few babies are actually born on their due date, but it has given me such peace knowing that on the worst day of my life one year later it is "scheduled" for me to have a precious gift. I lost faith when we lost the baby in October. I wasn't sure that I would ever get it back. But sometimes His plan for us isn't what we think it should be. I'm so blessed to get to experience pregnancy again. We pray everyday that it is for 40 weeks this time and we have a precious baby at the end of it. I'm thankful for each day and learning to relax knowing that there is a plan for us.

Umm thanks insurance...

It's looking like I need a job!! In the past week I'm talking Friday to Friday we have received medical bills totaling 779.45. Can you believe that!?! That my friends is uncalled for! That isn't even the medicine that we paid for that was 87.00. Oh, our baby funds account is just disappearing. Again we need a bag of money to land on our door step at any time.

Instability x2

We got a mix of answers yesterday at our appointment. You can see the one point of instability but, Regan has another between the skull and C1. I only got a picture of the one xray but there was another film that showed the second instability. Both are at 7mm which at this point they don't do anything about. At 10mm they will be talking surgery!!! That is only 3mm away!! We go back in three months to redo these xrays and see where we are at that point. That appointment will be with a neurosurgeon because this involves his skull so, they take it over when the skull is involved. I'm nervous still that if it can go from 0-7 in a year can it go 3 more millimeters in 3 months.

We finished the appointment with a trip to the zoo. It was a pretty day and we got there pretty early so it wasn't that busy just yet. Ricky and I love going but Regan could really care less. He did like the fish,lions,tigers and the carousel but then he was ready to go. After we saw what we wanted to we finally gave in and left. We had to have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and boy was it Yummy!! Their loaded baked potato soup was so good. We sat outside and just enjoyed some sunshine. Even with the scary news we still just got to enjoy the day together as a family.

Nursery items wish list...

OK so I'm 30 weeks away from our little peanut getting here but I've been window shopping!! I spend way too much time on the Internet,just look at my house and you will agree. We are hoping to use Regan's crib again so that will save us some money but now I'm looking at bedding. I'm not one for soft colors, no pale pink or blue. I want something bolder and more colorful. Something that will stimulate the baby some.Here are some of my recent favorites.

These first ones are from Pottery Barn Kids We love Dr. Seuss here at the Heath house so this would be a huge hit with the hubby and Regan.

The next ones are from Wal-mart the have very limited things in store but a pretty good selection online.


Some I have found at target are my favorites!! Especially the LOVE one!! If its a girl it will more than likely be THE ONE!!



I'm sure I will be doing lots of looking between now and when we are ready to buy but I'd like to have things set up and ready by about 25 weeks. That will be here before we know it!

We saw peanut

We got to see our little peanut today!! Everything looked good!! The doctor was struggling with getting the measurements at first but finally came up with one that we all agreed on. The heart rate was in the 150's and everything was good except my blood pressure. I am so stressed when I go in there that its high!! Like 145/90 and two weeks ago when we were having some issues it was 180/99. I know that its not this high anywhere else but I have to be able to get myself calm for our next visit or I'll have to be on some meds!! Not what I wanted to hear but I'll get it down. We go back in 4 weeks!! Then I will be out of the 1st trimester!!! Here is the little peanut!!!

Need good thoughts

Tomorrow we go back to the doctor to hopefully get another look at our peanut! Ricky and I are both scared that something might be wrong again. I'm not sure what we will do if we have lost another baby.My appt is in the morning so hopefully I can post some good news in the afternoon. We just want our little one to be there and have a healthy heart rate!!

Hardwood help?

We live in a house that was built in the 50's. It used to have hardwood floor throughout. The previous owners (my parents) weren't so excited about hardwood floors and had most of them took up and now there is carpet. We have two rooms with exposed hardwood and one is the room that is going to become our bedroom before the baby gets here in October. Here's my question...

What do you clean your hardwood floors with?

I usually just sweep and swiffer the floors but I want to (or actually have Ricky) have the floors really clean and pretty before we make the room swaps. I have no idea what to use to make the floors shiny. Don't forget that are 50+years old and have some imperfections.


That's what they look like. Ricky doesn't think they can handle being sanded and refinished so that isn't a good option for us.

HELP!

Mommy is flipping out...

Yesterday my mom and I took Regan for his annual X-rays to check his neck. This was the first time that he had ever had a procedure done where I couldn't be in the room.Remember, I'm pregnant!!! So my mom had to go into the room with him. When Regan realized that I wasn't in there he went running to the door screaming MEME!! I stood in the hall way and cried like a baby. I wanted so badly to be in there to help him but had to protect our little baby. It was horrible. When they finally opened the door he was still crying and I just held him and cried too. It was the toughest thing I've ever done to not be where he could make eye contact with me.

We go the call a few minutes ago that every parent dreads. The call that they found something and we need to see a surgeon. Regan has a fusion on C2-C3 and also has Atlantoaxial Instability. AAI occurs in appox 15% of children with Down Syndrome.

Here is some information about it from our favorite website


"AAI denotes increased mobility at the articulation of the first and second cervical vertebrae (atlantoaxial joint). The causes of AAI are not well understood but may include abnormalities of the ligaments that maintain the integrity of the articulation, bony abnormalities of the cervical vertebrae, or both.

In its mildest form, AAI is asymptomatic and is diagnosed using X-rays.....Symptomatic AAI results from subluxation (excessive slippage) that is severe enough to injure the spinal cord, or from dislocation at the atlantoaxial joint.

The neurologic manifestations of symptomatic AAI include easy fatiguability, difficulties in walking, abnormal gait, neck pain, limited neck mobility, torticollis (head tilt), uncoordination and clumsiness, sensory deficits, spasticity, hyperreflexia...and {other spinal cord} signs and symptoms. Such signs and symptoms often remain relatively stable for months or years; occasionally they progress, rarely even to paraplegia, hemiplegia, quadriplegia, or death. Trauma rarely causes the initial appearance or the progression of these symptoms. Nearly all of the individuals who have experienced catastrophic injury to the spinal cord had weeks to years of preceding, less severe neurologic abnormalities..


To say that I'm not flipping out is a lie. I'm worried sick. Not only could this limit Regan's acitivites as far as sports,jumping,and special olympics this could mean spinal cord injury for him. We go to the orthopedic surgeon at Childrens on the 18th. I'm ready to go now!! I need answers and so I'm off to look for information as to what we're facing.

Great topic for my 100th post!!

Okay so I don't have a giveaway of my own to tell you about. Truthfully, I've just been way to busy dealing with.............................................................pregnancy!!!! That's right I'm pregnant!! We were going to keep it a secret until after the first trimester was over but who am I kidding I'm too excited. Now I know that things could still go wrong, but I'm only thinking positive for the next 5 weeks. We got to see the baby on Monday. Right now it only looks like a little bean but we saw and heard a heart rate so that was great!! I am going to be going to the doctor every two weeks for a couple of months just to keep a close check. I would go every day if they would let me!!! I'm taking some progesterone to help thicken my uterine walls. It is an interesting medicine the side affects make me feel awkward but they are suppose to improve with time. I've know for three weeks today. It has been hard keeping our little secret but now it's out!

Even though I promised a giveaway and don't have one I do know someone who does!!!
Misadventures of a newlywed has a giveaway you should check out!