He likes to move it, move it

Cocks has been moving and shaking and letting me know it since our official 16 week mark.  Today, though, I was able to get Cory's attention in time for him to feel it, too, for the very first time at 21 weeks.  Moments of this kind make everything so real and timing so imminent.  Perhaps we should think about a place for Cocks? 

Safety

Sometimes I forget just how fortunate I am to be a part of a family in which I always felt safe.  (Not counting the super miniscule number of times I did something wrong and sneaky and feared being caught.  Probably less than twice, surely.)  Today, I realize how fortunate my family is to be safe.

Elizabeth made it back safely from her Semester at Sea on Monday afternoon.  Her flight arrived in Charlotte as planned, and although I am sure that she misses captain's dinners, the best sunset views, and her group of friend-explorers, we are glad she is home.

My brother's family is safe and sound in Alabama.  After talking to David on Wednesday evening, I felt relieved to know their basement status, but after watching the news coverage of tornado damage across their state, I realize that prayers for others impacted by the damage can't stop any time soon.

I forgot

When Henry is at school and I am at home, I can watch all of my DVR'd shows:  The Real Housewives of Orange County, The Real Housewives of New York, Bethany Ever After... the list of high quality television goes on and on.  Thank you, Bravo.  You are the very best at producing shows that showcase self-destructive behavior that makes me appreciate my simple life--even the bed rest part.

And for the three channels that syndicate Buffy the Vampire Slayer in marathon fashion:  Thank you, too.  I will never get tired of them.  Well, except for season four.  Boring ending!

Law and Order, all types, it's getting to the point where I am seeing episodes I already watched at some point.  Weird.  Thank you, though, for this gem from yesterday:

     Witness:  What?  Wait.  You think I killed her?  No way!  I don't even kill bugs!
     Detective:  Being nice to bugs doesn't mean you're not a murderer.

So true, Law and Order.  So true.

Back to school... Back to school...

Henry is going back to school today since being out sick starting last Thursday.  I have to admit a level of anxiety is settling in this morning.  Will it be too quiet?  It was difficult and sometimes nerve-wracking to have a whiney and crappy-feeling housemate, and, of course I am glad that he feels well enough to return to normal life.  But, overall, we entertained each other well.  Hope he has fun today and doesn't miss me too much!

When I grow up...

Last week, Henry told Daddy that he wants to be a Spiderman Robot Chef when he gets big.

Sunday, after Daddy tenderly took care of H who was not feeling well at all, he told Daddy that, "Now I want to be a Daddy Robot Spiderman when I grow up."

It's pretty obvious that our boy admires his Daddy, and I do pray that he will have lots of Cory elements when he grows up.

Magic Egg

What is it?

Place in warm water to find out...

Why, it's a Tow-Mater and Lightening McQueen washcloth!  

Thanks for the magical minutes, Grandjane.

Unstoppable Personal Chef

I am fortunate in that I am married to an excellent cook.  Here's what Cory and I were enjoying just before Henry gave us warning of his soon to come up-chuck.

Garlic-thyme marinated lamb chops, roasted asparagus, fresh organic strawberries and pineapple--not even some table side puke kept us from finishing our meal.  

Parenthood: expect the unexpected, clean up, then keep eating.  

Easter at Home

Henry sometimes comes to our door in the morning and asks, "Is it time to wake up?"  It's a good sign if he does so--not going to be too difficult to get going in the morning.  He came to our room this morning around 8:00, and all indications were that he was feeling OK and in a moderately good mood as he wrapped himself in my body pillow.

But, then, things took an obvious turn for the worse mood-wise.

The Easter Bunny did bring some momentary uplifting moments.

And since the Easter Bunny put coins in plastic eggs, he immediately needed to put them in his train bank.

He reluctantly went outside to look for the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid, but then he decided to just leave them out there to cook a little more.

Shortly after, the boy said he wanted to go to sleep, and then he put himself in his camping style bed (proactive mattress placement since Thursday night), and went straight to sleep.

He awoke to Grandjane's presence--much more valuable than the Easter Bunny.

Here's the thing.  We were hoping to attend church as a family this morning, and I had visions of wearing makeup and even something that Cory was going to have to iron for me.  It didn't work out since Henry was clearly not well enough yet, and he later proved that he's more sick than we were thinking.  But, I still felt the importance and specialness of this day. I felt important today. My God cares for me enough to come back from the dead, so He certainly doesn't just reach me at church.  I am loved immensely, and I felt like we did a good job of loving and caring for one another today.

Easter Eve

Due to several factors in the Hughes household, we are keeping Easter very simple.  We did manage to dye some eggs tonight, though.

Henry was very into the process, and his fingers are a lovely shade of blue to prove it.

Power Hour

Poor Henry.  He woke up around 5AM on Thursday very politely but urgently calling Daddy, saying, "Daddy!  Can you come in here!  I need you, Daddy!"  Then we heard, "I threw up, and I need your help."  Big mess.  He seemed to rebound quickly then settle back in to sleep.  We really thought we were in for less than a day of illness.  We were wrong.

Poor guy was not happy about being sick.  He would ask me, "Remember when Grandjoe took me to the zoo (last Friday), and I wasn't sick?"  "Remember yesterday?  I felt better."

He didn't like having to lie on the floor with bowls around him.  They really made him mad, but they were necessary. 

And, in Henry fashion, he spiked a fever of 103.9 that stuck around, and he couldn't keep down any medicine.  So, the pediatrician said that due to his unusually lethargic nature and inability to keep anything down, we should give him a teaspoon of gatorade every ten minutes for an hour. Thankfully, he kept the gatorade and medicine down, along with a piece of dry toast and a couple of saltines.  Crisis averted!

We are so glad that he's better now.  Henry is, too.  On Friday afternoon, after one more bout with the bowl, he asked me to text Mrs. Hannah.  Here's what I was instructed to send to her:  "Thank you for letting Henry be sick.  Henry is happy now."

Love this boy.

We're down with OPP-Other People's Parties

The above photo of Henry was taken by a friend at her youngest daughter's birthday party.  The below picture was taken at another one of H's friend's 4th birthday party.  Arrrrr...

My fear was that Henry would become a recluse during my time of being a shut-in, but since bed rest began, Henry attended a few birthday parties, some play dates, trips to the park with friends, and even dinner on the town.  Cory and I are grateful for these weekend opportunities for Henry to have fun with friends instead of just messing around the house and watching way too much TV.  Down time is important, but it's not our goal to have MOSTLY downtime.  Thank you, friends, for the parties.

20 Weeks Today

I think my feelings can best be expressed by quoting "Living on a Prayer" as sung by the great Jon Bon Jovi on 1986's Slippery When Wet album.

We've got to hold on, ready or not

You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

We're halfway there - Livin' on a prayer!

Oh-ohhhhh!  Thanks for your pray-ers!

You're all superstars!

On my Bedside Table

Henry has been rather sweet during this whole bed rest thing.  Almost every day, he presents me with some treasure dug out of his pocket--mostly rocks, but also an occasional "dried" flower and one sticker.  There was a marble, but it rolled away somewhere.

He just gave me two more rocks after I typed the above.  I am a very lucky Mama.

I didn't know...

Henry informed me today that he has "dog allern-gies and it makes my eyes watery and bubbly and makes my teeth get cavities."  Poor Penny.  I guess we are going to have to find a new home for her.  We just can't have our son inflicted with bubbly eyes and oodles of cavities.

The Boy

Go Cocks!

We went for our level II ultrasound this morning, and Cocks is a good looking baby boy at 19 weeks.  Still a boy.  Still with all his parts, chambers, structure, appropriate functions and fluids, and surrounded by a healthy environment.  We are so thankful for his steady health and for his continuously healing abode, and we are reminded how very lucky we are to have access to prenatal care that allowed us to recognize and manage this risky pregnancy.  We will see Dr. Keith on Friday for a follow up, and we also have another ultrasound scheduled for early June to make sure that everything remains healthy.

Here is the one good 4D image she was able to get.  Cocks mainly wanted to not move as requested.  Another head strong boy is headed our way!

Full body and facing us:

Profile and full body... he actually put his hand in his mouth shortly before this image.  Our technician explained that most babies don't actually put their hands in their mouth, people just think they are when  they see the hand beside the mouth.  We already knew our determined little boy was special, and a big mouth is no surprise, either.

Vicki did our first level II ultrasound for "Totch."  She was obsessed with feet then, too, and I think it began my own obsession with them:

Boy parts were evident and confirmed again.  Cory and I often refer to Henry as "the boy," as in, "Don't forget to get some milk for the boy."  We are definitely going to have to use differing monickers after Cocks gets here.  

Eggciting Eggscursion

As you know, I am preggnant with our neggst little one, and this time, I was eggshiled to the bed rather than being able to participate in the annual egg hunting eggersize at Advent's Eggstravaganza.  Daddy and Henry were able to make it, and as eggspected, they had an eggsellent time.  Daddy took some pictures and shared the jpeggs with me to share with you, my eggspectant reader.  Here are the eggclusives:

He's off with an eggstraordinary energy eggsplosion!

Some eggs were clearly eggsposed, but since H's search eggstended to the older age group this year, other eggs required eggstensive eggscavation.

Some might find the effort to be eggspecially eggasperating, but Henry didn't become egghausted from eggsamining the wide eggspanse, in part due to his hearty Eggo breakfast.

Eggsactly ten eggs were required for the candy eggschange, but Henry found an eggscuse to gather a little eggstra, ending up with an eggsorbatant 14 eggs.

What eggsess!

Our hunting eggspert also managed to find time to pose with some chicks.

Thank you, Daddy.  You eggcel in eggsplaining the events and making me feel like I was there.

Conversations with Henry

I love my funny kid.

Last Sunday, I ventured to the couch for lunch.  Since I ate my sandwich on the couch, Henry wanted to eat his with his plate on the floor--an occasional treat.  At one point, we noticed that H was putting his sandwich on the floor rather than the plate, so Daddy reminded him where to put it.  Henry quickly responded, "I'm just testing this carpet with my sandwich."

Later, after he polished off his sandwich, he began asking for something else to eat.  I asked him what he wanted, and he said, "I want a thing that is pink.  And like a bean.  And it's a food, and it's a... jelly bean.  I don't want any healthy food."

He was obliged.

Tonight, Henry came into our bedroom while I was watching "Say Yes to the Dress," a show that I began watching about a week into my bed restdom and that is all about a bride's wedding dress shopping experience in the world's largest wedding dress boutique.  Henry said,  "That dress is beautiful."  And I said, "Yeah, some of those dresses really are beautiful."  H nodded his head and then asked, "Can I get one like that when I get big?"  I just giggled and explained that probably whoever he marries may want a dress like the ones on TV.  Without skipping a beat, Henry said, "OK.  I'll probably marry you, though."

Awwwwww...

Sometimes, H can be serious, too.  Old man serious.

Henry stayed home with me all day on Wednesday and Thursday due to the peak of a nasty cold.  Today, he returned to school.  One of his teachers recounted a conversation to Cory when he went to pick up Henry.  Henry told his teacher that when you are sick, you have a fever.  His teacher explained that sometimes, you can be sick without a fever.  Henry agreed, saying "That's very true, Miss Hannah... that's very true."

Final Frontier

Henry's class wrapped up their space unit a few weeks ago, and when they finish a unit, the parents get all the projects to bring home to add to our pile.  This one, though, really stood out to me and brought me a good laugh when I really needed it.

If you enlarge the sketch, you will see that our young artist drew a store complete with a door and an exiting patron.  The rocket itself dwarfs the store, which I think makes sense.  It would cost some major overhead to build a show room large enough for every rocket in stock.  

Go Cocks!

Let me catch you all up on our exciting lives.  Warning!  It's long, overly detailed with only two pictures, and involves blood and urine.

January 2:  I happily interrupted Cory who was wrangling Henry in an attempt to get ready for church.  It was apparent that he was a little confused as to why I would stop him from urging Henry to finish eating his cereal.  I showed him this fancy digital read to assure him it was worth being a little more late for church:

February 8:  Cory and I went to our initial appointment at Carolina Women's Health to meet with the nurse practitioner and schedule our first OB appointment.  We mainly addressed my over-the-top fatigue and what seemed like too-early symptoms of sciatic pain and an inflating belly.  Our OB appointment and initial ultrasound was scheduled for February 18.

February 16:  I called my parents around 1:30 AM to tell them I was pregnant.  Only, all I managed to say when Daddy picked up was, "Sorry to bother you, but could one of you meet me at the ER?"  Then I cried.  Cory took over the phone conversation and explained that I was pregnant but was bleeding heavily, and that the on call nurse instructed us to go to the St. Francis ER.  Grandjane and Grandjoe rushed over to our house so that Cory and I could leave and they could stay at home with Henry.

Once the ultrasound tech arrived to wheel me back to the machinery, we already spent about three hours just sitting in an exam room while a (terrible) show called "The First 48" ran its all night marathon.  Needless to say, we were groggy, foggy, and must have carried a presence of general malaise.  However, despite the fog and fatigue, I can recall with vivid accuracy the image that the ultrasound tech showed us.  (Cory tried to stop her from showing me, but she assured us it wasn't bad.)  It was not the expected embryo but a fetus--with busy arms and legs and a steady, resonate heartbeat. Amazing!  Beautiful!  We were shocked and confused, and the one thing that I am not to clear on is my verbal response.  I either said, "Oh, wow!  That's not what I expected to see," or I said, "Oh, s#*!"  I do know that I had to pee like a mother (pun intended) and when I got back on the table, the tech showed us more images and said that she regretted not having film to provide us pictures of our little baby who was measuring at approximately 12 weeks--at least three, almost four, weeks older than we originally thought.

The fog of total distress was lifted.  The ER doctor came in to tell us that he consulted with my OB over the images, and that there is a tear in the placenta which is common and not usually threatening but can cause very heavy bleeding.  We returned home around 7:00 AM and were greeted with a chatty Henry, thanks to the dose of ibuprofen administered by Grandjoe.  (Henry was sick with a fever of 104.9.  That boy runs some high fevers!)  It occurred to me that the midnight emergency was actually in good timing.  He was oblivious.  I sat on the couch with H and watched some cartoons then called both the pediatrician and my OB to schedule appointments.  Later that afternoon, Cory took Henry to his doctor, and I went to see my doctor.

Bleeding was still heavy when I saw Dr. Keith that afternoon, so she did another ultrasound herself and then informed me that yes, tears were common, but that this one was larger than common and that, while it was never proven to directly help a tear heal, she was recommending bed rest until at least my regularly scheduled appointment for that Friday.  She explained that at least it may help the blood flow to lessen and therefore start to clot.

February 18:  At my regularly scheduled appointment, Dr. Keith gave us great news.  The tear was clotted and she thought that after a long weekend (including the President's Day holiday) of rest, I could return to work, just being careful not to lift, walk too much, etc...

February 22:  I returned to work and about halfway through the work day, despite my attempts to consolidate my steps, I felt mild cramping and responded to Cory's mid-day inquiry about how I was feeling with, "definitely will need to go straight to bed after work."  I did go to bed early, but I also felt a strong inner heat localized to the tear area when I leaned over to get my PJ's out of the drawer.

February 23:  I called my OB to report the cramps and heat and the accompanying spotting that began again that morning at work.  She assured me that it was OK, just to keep taking it as easy as possible and to not miss my appointment for that Friday morning and to call if it worsened.

February 25:  I left work to go to my OB appointment, and since spotting and cramping were recurring, Dr. Keith did another ultrasound.  This time, her news was that the tear was back--larger.  The treatment plan was complete bed rest for an indefinite time period.  I went to my office after calling Cory and took care of a few important emails and some quick paperwork and managed to avoid coworkers.  My brain was reeling from thoughts of personal and professional obligations, but my overriding love and concern for this baby took me home and to bed.

From here we had weekly OB visits, my muscle tone quickly diminished, my ass grew larger along with my daytime television knowledge, and we kept a close circle of friends and family informed of the situation and progress.  At one visit, we were informed that the tear was larger once again but that it was already clotting again--a good sign.  We slowly began to widen the circle of knowing and support, and our hopes were building.  Tests for trace amounts of protein in my urine and for anemia due to about three weeks of constant bleeding came back negative.  Positive signs of assurance were all around.

Here's where it gets a lot more fun and a lot less gross...

March 21:  Our sixth ultrasound was scheduled, and we were 16 weeks pregnant.  On our way to the appointment, Cory asked me, "Last chance.  Do you think it's a boy or girl?"  Truthfully, I was having images of a boy, but this pregnancy was so darn troublesome compared to Henry's uterine residence, that I had a nagging feeling we were about to find out it was a girl.  So, I replied, "I don't know.  What do you think?"  Cory shrugged, "I really don't know, but I am going to guess girl."  So I concurred with, "OK.  Then I will guess girl, too.  That way we can both be wrong."

And, I was right!  We were both wrong!  The ultrasound showed clear evidence of male anatomy.  Plus, we were elated to find out that the tear was healing and was almost half the size measured at the most recent ultrasound.  Baby boy himself looked great and was measuring about a week ahead of schedule.  Woo Hoo, Yahoo, Hallelujah, Thank Goodness, Yea!  We immediately began to discuss family names again, and I pulled out my ace in the hole.  We are already close to agreeing on the dubbing of our newest boy.

And, since we were feeling quite optimistic on this day, we decided to share the ultrasound images and the news with Henry.  I will post the video soon.  Meanwhile, just know that it only took a few minutes to convince him that it was good news.  He also provided baby boy with his in utero name, and based on what we saw on the ultrasound, it's fitting.  Introducing...

Baby Cocks!

(Profile shot)

Bed rest and hopefully healing continue.  Signs of hope and joy are all around, including the faint movements of our busy and growing boy.  I began feeling them just a day or so after the last ultrasound.  He also seems to be making lots of room for himself, possibly the cause of a whole new set of cramps and constant pains that subsided after about a week.  Dr. Keith offered to let me stop by the office anytime to listen to the heartbeat, and I took advantage of the offer just last Tuesday.  The assuring rhythm is still going strong.

When I say, "Baby!" you say, "Cocks!"  Go Cocks!

Cupcakes

Henry was a gracious cupcake eater this year.  I didn't have the energy to make them from scratch, and I also used store bought icing.  I have to say, though, they were pretty good.  We took enough cupcakes to share with his friends at the yW on the day after his birthday.  His teachers were relieved, because I think that they were truly saddened that we were going to be out of town on his actual birthday.

The final cupcake marked the final third birthday celebration.  

Fishing you a happy 3rd Birthday!

Henry attended the Georgia Aquarium when he was about eighteen months old, but I doubt he remembers it.  This time, though, we went on his third birthday, and I am hoping he carried away some long term memories.

1) He was very attracted to this random animated plush statue that I assume was placed for posing purposes.  Every time we exited an exhibit, we had to go back to it.  But, hey, it was his birthday!

2) While H didn't want to actually touch the manta rays, sea urchins, starfish, or sea anemones, he did have Daddy as a surrogate toucher

3) There is a play area where Henry spent a great deal of time climbing and sliding, which are among his top ten favorite activities.

4) Walls and walls of fish!

Lion fish... beautiful!

Giant grouper... yuuuuuuuummmmm.

Furman starfish.  Clearly, it's the stand out starfish.

5) Hanging out with the penguins 

6) The slowly moving conveyor belt was, by far, the favorite exhibit.

The above sharks were OK.

Happy Birthday to our favorite three year old.  We love you, Henry.  Seeing the world through your eyes makes everything sparkle.