Class of 2013!

Well we did it! Yesterday April 26, 2013 Ryan graduated from BYU with his Bachelors in Psychology. 

I am so proud of all the hard work Ryan has done and continues to do with moving forward in his education. He is brillant and humble. Thus it is my job to brag it up.

Ryan applied to several graduate programs and was accepted into 4 programs (Bowling Green, Kansas University, Notre Dame and Tufts University) 3 of these programs are the top in the nation. This is unusual most students get into maybe 1 graduate program. It was a tough choice for him to make but he narrowed it down and finally decided on Notre Dame.

Ryan is amazing and I can't wait to get out to South Bend this fall and see what else he does.

We are so grateful for the family who came to support us.

Here are the Woodbury Clan. Melanie (Mom) Melissa(sister) Mark(brother), Baby Aaron, and Sophie.

Sophie and Aaron did great during the graduation.

Here is the Davidson Clan. Ron & Darla

Marie would have been here if she wasn't in the Philippines. 

This is Professor Gantt. Ryan has been his top TA for the last 4 semesters. We've been over to his house several times for dinners and get-together. 

VICTORY!!!!

And how does my husband celebrate his accomplishment?

He took his brother to the range for a bucket of balls.

Did you really even have to ask? 

Baby Update

Here is my 27 week pregnant bump taken in our storage room. 

I'm starting to feel pregnant and look pregnant now. I walked into the faculty room the other day for lunch and one teacher blurted "WOW you're big!" all the other teachers got on her about saying that to a pregnant person but honestly it didn't bother me as long as it was just my belly that is big. ;) People assure me that it is just my belly and I'm going to believe them no matter what.

Today we had our follow up echocardiogram to keep an eye on Jr. and his heart. Everything looks just like it did last time. We also got a tour of the hospital and the ICU's. It was overwhelming but good to see everything and know we'll be in good hands.

I need a little vent. I am sick of the "debbie downer." Debbie Downer was a character on SNL who continually would bring up the worse possible news that would create a bad/sad/awkward mood during a usually happy time. (see for yourself: http://www.hulu.com/watch/68225 )
Anyways its exhausting and it brings me down.

I have so many people who are always so ready for me to break down and tell them my "real feelings" yet when I tell them how I'm honestly feeling they don't buy it. If I need to talk about my fears I will but  I'm not going to make up any to chat about. Its a scary thing but its not going to happen for a few more months thus why worry now.

Come June I'm sure my feelings of calmness and happiness will take a shift as the due date comes closer just like all new moms feel and when that happens I'll deal but until then why worry now. I'm working hard to stay positive and can honestly say that I have a positive outlook. People always say "choose happiness" that is what I'm doing.

I learned this lesson by watching my mother deal with her cancer. She knew there was nothing she could do to change the outcome and decided to do all she could to be happy for those around her and for herself. By having this attitude in our home we enjoyed every moment we had with my mother. We knew it would come to an end but we didn't focus on the bad. We focused on the good. That is the same attitude I have towards this little baby of mine.

I know these people are just trying to be supportive and that they care about me but honestly they are making my life harder. I have to constantly assure them that I'm ok multiple times its wearisome. Not to mention I hate how I feel the focus isn't on his miraculous birth that will take place but instead on all the things wrong with him. Focus on the good.

In short I'm not hiding anything. I am honestly feeling confident and excited about what is to come. I still have that calmness that I attribute to the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Please, PLEASE believe me and don't try to "debbie downer" my happiness about my little man.

The long awaited...

We're going to Notre Dame!!!

Easters!

This year we had a pretty laid back Easter. I feel that is due to the fact that we spent Friday and Saturday moving the last minute things out of our apartment and then cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

Here is how we entertain ourselves when packing gets to be too much. We put on mustaches and then pack some more. ;)

We woke up early Sunday morning to go to Music and Spoken Word at the Tabernacle on Temple Square. We went with the Woodburys and Mark. It was amazing. I'm shocked that I'd never been before. I love music and spring so mixing both in with an added bonus of the Savior was truly beautiful.

After that adventure we went to church then headed up to the annual Davidson Easter Egg hunt at Grandmas. It is always a highlight to watch the kids run around like crazy looking for goodie bags and reliving my childhood. I remember like it was yesterday lining up by the front door in age order and being sent out in spurts. I still know all the good hiding places ;) things haven't changed much.

I am now 24 weeks pregnant. That's 6 months folks! I can't even believe that I have been pregnant that long. It has gone by so fast. Anyways I'm getting a lot more attention now that my belly has taken shape. I still don't know how to handle the unexpected random belly rubs I get from people. It makes me laugh. 

 Anyways Junior is still being rather nice to me. He kicks lots but nothing that keeps me up at night. I still fit into my regular jeans thanks to the Belly Band. Bad news: I have now thrown up during my pregnancy.

The Woodburys took me and Grandparents Woodbury to a great restaurant called "The Red Iguana" It was good food yet everything tasted like Sweet Potatoes (my one food enemy that still makes me sick just thinking about them). Late that night I woke up and I couldn't breathe. It felt like my lungs were underwater. I sat up trying desperately to get some air and then suddenly I was throwing up. Turns out I had acid reflex during my deep (HA) slumber. Since I was laying down it got sucked into my lungs and resulted in said panic and bathroom trip. It was scary but I now know that I have to sleep with 3 pillows under my head so I don't do anything crazy again. Sadly I can no longer say this is a throw up free pregnancy.

This next week is Spring Break for me! YES!!!! and thus I have some wild plans. I'm going to get my hair done today. I'm going to go into my classroom and work a few hours each day on packing things away and de-cluttering it. And finally I'm going to be sewing some cute little cloth diapers.

Yes folks I've decided to do the cloth diaper thing. Not because I'm into the whole "be green" thing (which isn't bad) mostly my choice comes from knowing that if I want to stay home with baby next year I will have to make some financial sacrifices. I need to save money anywhere I can thus I am now a cloth diaper advocate.

echocardiogram

Today Ryan and I had our first fetal echocardiogram to get a closer look at Junior's heart and what he'll be needing. We found out there are 3 things wrong 2 of which will need surgery the 3rd will just be watched closely and hopefully heal itself.

Problem 1:

The first thing wrong is the hole in his heart. The hole is called a VSD and it connects the two lower chambers of the heart. Right now blood is flowing directly through the hole and not going out to the lungs and then back into the heart. Thats ok while he is in my cute little tummy since I am filling his body with plenty of oxygen rich blood. This problem will be fixed with a patch after birth. 

Problem 2: 

The second problem that will also be fixed with a patch after birth is his aortic arch is too narrow to allow enough blood to flow through. This will be fixed at the same time as the VSD during the same surgery. They will fix this with a patch as well. The aortic arch might shrink up again during Jr.'s life but if that happens they will just go in through the Cath lab and put a balloon in there. Nothing drastic like open heart surgery. 

Problem 3:

Sorry no picture but if you look at the above picture you can see what I'm talking about. Jr.s Aorta is too small right now. That is due to the fact that it doesn't have to do much work since the hole in the heart is letting blood pass through directly to the other chambers. The aorta is the tub in the middle that is at an angle. (not going straight up) Anywho the doctors will just keep watching that to see if it is just a slow grower. No surgery is planned on.

We learned that I will be delivering at the U of U hospital and that Junior will be whisked away through a window in the delivery room straight over to Primary Children's Hospital. This will be quite the emotional moment for me. Giving birth and then saying goodbye all in one. He will be immediately placed on medication to keep his "mommy tube" (the tube in his heart that is receiving my oxygen rich blood) open and working. Normally as soon as baby takes a breath that tube closes and disappears. They will keep that open so he will be stronger for surgery. They will perform the surgery as soon as 2 days after birth but no longer then a week after birth. Junior will stay at the ICU until he is fully recovered (about 4 weeks old) then we'll be all ok to take him home and even move with him to graduate school in September.

The good news is that after this first open heart surgery Junior should live a completely normal healthy life with no side effects. The bad news is he will be staying at the hospital for an extended amount of time. 

The good definitely outweighs the bad and I'm grateful that I have several months to prepare myself for leaving my baby at the hospital. I am so grateful for modern technology that will be saving my baby's life.  Junior is a healthy growing baby and is perfectly safe for the time being. We are so lucky to have him and we are so excited to meet him.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and words of encouragement. 

Baby Update

Just a quick update on Junior. He is 22 weeks and kicking.

We went to the Echo on Tuesday March 12th at a very early 8am only to be told that we were scheduled for next Tuesday. Needless to say I was very mad about this. Its not easy to take a day off as a teacher and the frustrating thing was it was their mistake yet I had to deal with it. They told me on the phone March 12th. I know this because I wrote it down while on the phone knowing full well my brain is not as trustworthy as it used to be. ANYWHO we will visit with the echo cardiologist this coming Tuesday to learn more about what Junior is dealing with.

Good news: Ryan felt baby kick several times now. I was told it would be awhile until Ryan would be able to feel the kicks but we've got a strong baby. Ryan is sure its his cycling legs. Junior is getting stronger and stronger each night as I read in bed I feel him kicking. It amazes me how fast he grows within a week it was noticeable stronger kicking.

More good news: Ryan got in to Tufts University in Boston. He's now got a tough decision on his plate. Notre Dame vs. Tufts. As he has been explaining them to me I've come to understand how different yet equally good they both are. It'll be fun to see where we end up. Indiana or Boston.

Also Ryan landed a summer job at a golf course which he is over thrilled with. He is so excited to get free golf and get to work at his favorite hobby and get paid to do it. What a stud.

We will definitely be updating the blog again next week after the echocardiogram. So be on alert.

It's a....

BOY!!!

Today we had our official gender ultrasound and baby check up. We had an ultrasound earlier (around 14 weeks) and they suspected he was a he but today we got solid confirmation. It was so fun to see our little guy and all his fingers and toes.

The ultrasound started off great except Junior would not cooperate in letting us get a solid pictures of his heart. He was in the wrong position and they couldn't get a solid picture. They had me stand up, move around, lay on one side, empty my bladder (woohoo!) etc.

The doctor came in and was all chatty with us up until he got a good look at the heart then it got serious. There was a lot of medical words that went right over our heads but it turns out that Junior has a heart defect. ;( There is a hole in his heart. It might be just in that organ and would need a quick fix after birth or it could be due to the chromosomes and could be more life-long (down syndrome). We will be meeting with a specialist in the next coming weeks to have a better look at his heart.

We also had my blood drawn to check baby's chromosomes. It's amazing the gift we have of technology. Within the last 6 months they have discovered a way to get baby's chromosomes from Mom's blood rather then doing an invasive procedure that could lead to a miscarriage. We'll know about the chromosomes within 2 weeks and around that time we'll have a better idea of what we are dealing with.

I have a calm feeling about this and feel perfectly able to handle anything that comes my way. That's not saying I'm not scared or shedding my fair share of tears. I guess it comes from dealing with my Mom's cancer but I learned that although you might never think you could handle something usually you learn you have to and just do it. It's true that God never gives you more then you can handle, if you can't handle it on your own He is there to help you and in the end you'll grow stronger. You'll also easily see how many people are there to help you along the way.

It's too early to be freaking out about the future and what changes we may have to make, as soon as we know more we'll let you know.

Thank you in advance for your support and prayers. It's so good to be around such amazing family and friends who are so willing to help us in any way imaginable. Now baby is telling me it is time for bed.

Adios