End of a chapter

This week has had me thinking a lot about how this point of my life is an end to one big chapter and a beginning to another.

On Thursday I closed up my classroom for the last time. Ryan came to school with me and really helped me pack up and clean up so I could leave at the end of the day with the students. It was a very emotional day for me. At the end of each school year the whole school meets out on the front lawn to say the Pledge one last time. By the end of the pledge I was teary and then my students all came up to give me hugs and say goodbye. I kept thinking this is the last group of students I might have for awhile and boy were they amazing.

I'm not planning on teaching in Indiana at least not this first year. We'll re-evaluate once we get there and settle down. Right now we have no idea what to expect with this new adventure. We don't know what our schedules will be like or our budget but we're excited to get there and figure it out.
Thus I'm closing the book of teaching for the time being.

Another big change coming up faster then I ever thought it would is the birth of our baby boy. It boggles my mind how fast these 8 months have gone. I am currently 34 weeks and since they plan on inducing me, we only have 5 more weeks before our baby comes. 5 weeks is all that is left to prepare. I feel like a huge procrastinator I feel so unprepared. We have our last echo on Tuesday. If this echo looks like all the others then we won't be having any more until baby boy is here. That blows my mind.

The last big change coming up is our grand exodus to South Bend. We have that all finalized and its crazy to me to finally have a plan. Ever since we found out that Jr. has a hole in his heart all my careful planning went out the window and we've been stuck in limbo. I thought that was tough, not being able to plan for the future but now that we have a plan it is really baffling me how close we are to so many big changes.

Most people space out the big changes in their lives, Ryan and I we just get them over with all in the same season.

Here is the tentative plan for those of you who want to know. (all of these are tentative because we're dealing with so many variables that can't be controlled)

Baby will be here July 15th-ish. I'll be induced around that day so he can get surgery later that same week.

Baby will be in the hospital until about August 15th. (we're planning on a month hopefully its shorter) Folks are more then welcome to come visit us at the ICU while we are there. Only a couple can be around his bed at a time though.

Baby will be blessed August 20th in the evening at my Dad's house.
Ryan and the boys will head out August 21st for Indiana.

Baby and I will stay behind only until he is cleared for take off. Then we'll fly out to meet Ryan and start our new adventure.

Are we crazy? I think so ;)

Mother's Day & Baby Update

This year Mother's Day was pretty low key. We went to Club 90 with Darla's Family for a nice brunch. It was so fun to be with all her family and the food was delicious. 

I'm so glad I have this woman in my life. She is a perfect addition to our family. I am so excited that my baby boy will have her as a grandma. Darla is so loving.

On Monday we went in for an ultrasound. It was so fun to see the little man. We asked our ultrasound tech if she could get us a good profile picture since we haven't got one yet. She did one better and gave us a 3D ultrasound.

I am in love with this face.

Here is the classic ultrasound picture. I am in love with it! 

That is life at 31 weeks pregnant. 

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.