doctor's visit in review

This morning, I'm staying home from church with Gracie as she's not feeling well. She has a headache again. :-( She started saying last night that her head hurt and she wasn't feeling well. You could tell. She just had that lethargic kind of attitude and went to bed before 8:00 with no protest. I expected her to be be all better this morning since she usually bounces back as quickly as she goes down, but she was still not feeling great. We went back & forth on whether or not we should have her go-she doesn't have any fever or anything-but decided to keep her home to rest. Hopefully, she will feel better by this evening and can go to Life Group tonight. It will be our first meeting of the year, and I'm anxious to see what the dynamic of the group is.

Since I'm staying home with Gracie, that leaves Chris to do some fancy footwork this morning. (Being deacon over education, he seems to assume that role at least once a week-just not usually for his wife!) He teaches 1 of the adult classes, and I teach the 1st & 2nd grade class, so he will have to find someone to cover my class. I hadn't even made my copies yet for this morning! *gulp* I told him what lesson I was on and gave him 2 suggestions of people to ask to cover the class. Hopefully, it will all work out. I hate to be asked to cover a class at the last minute, so I hate for someone else to have to be asked at the last minute, but sometimes it just can't be helped. Gracie was also supposed to have a playdate with the visiting nieces of some of our friends this afternoon, but I don't guess that will work out either. So, Chris has to break that date. Goodness. The things you have to do when a child gets sick!


Katie is feeling fine! She is such a goofball and so much fun! When Chris was pulling Gracie's tooth last week (and she was screaming!) Katie was dancing around making funny faces & funny sounds trying to distract her. It didn't work, but it was cute that she was trying. It made me laugh!


So, I feel like I need to back up a few days and give some more details about our doctor's visit last week. I was so full of nervous energy all morning and had dreamed about the visit all night. We'd had a light dusting of snow Wednesday evening which had all the kids hyped up and hoping for no school the next day. I was worried we wouldn't be able to get to our appt. which is about 30-45 minutes away. Since the snow stopped in about 45 minutes and turned to nothing but rain, we had no problems. A light dusting of snow in this part of the country is enough to get us excited around here-we don't see much of the white stuff!


Katie & I went to playgroup from about 9:00-11:00 when we left to go pick up Gracie from school. I got her out of class and ran home for about 30 minutes to wait for Chris and feed the girls some lunch. I'd eaten something around 9:30 and was way too nervous to eat again, so I didn't eat. We headed for the appt. and waited for my name to be called which happened quite quickly. Seriously, this new doctor is awesome! There are probably 12 doctors in the practice (although I only see my 1 doctor), but everything is always so serene & calm, and the wait time is fantastic! There is no watching of the clock in their waiting room. They get you in & out which I love.


I did all the lab stuff-weight, blood pressure, etc. I then went to the next waiting room where I joked about Chris & Gracie being able to read a book calmly while I was about to jump out of my skin! That's just the way they are. Katie & I talked. There's not much calm about her!


When they called my name, I knew the time had come! We went into the u/s room and got started. I was hoping to see the little heart fluttering right away so I could take a deep breath, but I couldn't see it. I think she must have started at her back because I saw the spine immediately. The sonogram lady (different from the one we'd had last time) wasn't saying too much, but I've learned not to freak out from their faces or lack of conversation since I haven't met one yet who is too chatty. Finally, at one point she said, "Stop moving, baby." At that point, I was able to relax a little since if the baby was moving, it was doing okay! She told us a few things along the way and at one point I asked her if that was the baby moving or her moving the baby, and she said it was the baby. (I'd had a Dr. Pepper on the way so the baby would for sure move-guess it worked!)


I kept looking for anything that would give me an indication of the baby's gender. A couple of times I thought I saw something but then wasn't sure. Those sonograms just look so foreign to me! Of course, I was a little distracted by the girls too since Katie was acting like a 3 year old. Gracie was okay, but I think she would have done better without Katie there to bother her. Finally, the lady said she was going to load some paper in the machine to get a picture, so I asked, "Were you able to tell what the baby is?" She said, "I couldn't a few minutes ago. The legs were crossed." I made a comment about not finding out with the girls and if we couldn't find out I'd be disappointed. She got back to the u/s and was encouraging the baby to cooperate (she was moving a lot!) She said, "I think it's a girl." She then looked some more and confirmed that yes, it was a girl.


To say that I was surprised is an understatement! I was 85% sure that this precious baby was a boy! The closer I'd gotten to the u/s, I'd started second guessing myself more, but I'd really thought it was a boy, pretty much from day 1. Chris had too. Lots of people thought it was a boy. However, we were wrong and that's okay. God has decided to bless us with a sweet, precious, HEALTHY baby girl and we are very excited! I won't lie. I have gone through some different stages of my emotions-sadness over not being the mother of a son, frustration, then GUILT over feeling those things. I'm only being honest. However, this little girl is SO loved and is obviously what God has picked out for our family, and He knows best, and we are thankful for HIS wisdom!


One of the things I've appreciated the most is the reaction of our friends & family who seem truly happy for us. I love to hear a friend react with excitement when I tell her the news! I want this exciting time to be exciting for my friends as well! Of course, my dad & brother laughed. My dad laughed hard and asked what Chris was going to do about paying for weddings! My parents now have 5 granddaughters and no grandsons-which I think suits my mom just fine! I really think she wanted another little girl, so she's happy!


3 DAUGHTERS! How fun! I can't wait to see what kind of personality she will have. Will she be more studious & quiet like Gracie or more zany & colorful like Katie or will she bring an even different personality to our family? I can't wait to see the relationship these 3 sisters will have as they grow up together. I ALWAYS wanted a sister! Funny thing is, when Gracie is a Freshman in college, this baby will be in the 5th grade! WOW! What an age difference! We told Gracie she is going to have to be an example and help teach her lots of things. Of course, Katie will have that opportunity as well being over 4 years older. I really appreciate that God chose to let Gracie be the oldest sister because I think she is going to do such a fantastic job! Not that I don't think Katie is going to do a great job-she will-I just think God really used his wisdom in allowing Gracie to be the 1st one to babysit, the 1st one to drive, etc.


Here is a funny story about Miss Katie Boo: She had pretty much all along said it was going to be a boy. I would ask them what they thought, and Gracie would say girl & Katie would say boy. When we found out it was a girl, Gracie was ecstatic-grinning from ear to ear! This is what she wanted & expected. I don't think Katie understood that we had really found out. After the u/s, we had to back to the waiting room to wait to see the doctor. We looked at the pictures and had gotten up to go start making phone calls when the nurse called us back (about 30 minutes earlier than our appt. time!)


After we saw the doctor, we went out to start making calls. We called my mom at home and she didn't answer, so we called my dad at work. I let Gracie talk to him first and tell him the news. We said something to Katie about the baby, and she was still insisting that it was a boy. Chris said no, and showed her the u/s and told her that we had found out the baby is a girl and we weren't just guessing anymore. She threw her head down and acted as if she was going to cry! It was so sad! She said, "I 'thoughted' it was going to be a boy!" She was so heartbroken! I said, "I 'thoughted' it was going to be a boy, too." We decided to call my mom on her cell phone, and I thought I'd let Katie tell her the news. Lo & behold, the stinker tells my mom, "I'm going to tell you what the baby is. It's a boy!" I had to grab the phone away from her quick and correct her! She made a comment later in the day about wanting a baby brother and yesterday was carrying a baby girl doll around. She said the baby doll was a boy. *sigh* We're working on her!


Since this is a girl, I will tell you my boy name. I have had this name picked out since before I got married because it is my maiden name. JACKSON. I love it! I know it's #7 on the Top 100 list, and I didn't love that, but I wasn't using it because it was popular. I was using it because it had family meaning to me. So, I am hoping that a friend or family member of mine (ANDREA!) might use it. (Andrea is my cousin who is 4 weeks behind me!) We had a different middle name picked out with each pregnancy. With Gracie, it would have been Jackson Caleb. With Katie, it would have been Jackson Dallas (yes, my husband is a huge fan!). With this baby, it would have been Jackson Landry. We heard the name Landry on "Friday Night Lights" and both liked it. It also could work as a substitute for Dallas since Tom Landry was a Dallas Cowboys coach at one time. As for a girl name, we're still taking suggestions! :-) We have quite a few possibilities but nothing concrete. I might just keep that secret from the blog world just to keep things interesting-of course, if we don't come up with something it might be a secret from everyone-including ourselves!

As for meeting with the doctor, things went pretty well. Because of my medical history, I will go back in 2 weeks for an u/s to check on some things that could potentially-but hopefully not-be a problem. At 26 weeks, I will have another one to check on something found in the u/s that could also be a potential problem-but he wasn't too concerned-just being cautious. I think I'll have another one at 32 weeks, too. He said (with a twinkle in his eye), "You don't mind if I give you a few extra u/s, do you?" Of course not! It's always fun & reassuring to see my baby!

Thank you for all the well wishes & congratulations! We are truly blessed & excited about welcoming our new baby girl into our family! Since we know it's a girl, I am excited to keep Katie's room painted the way it is (green with other girly accents) and make it a girly nursery! We will start working on Gracie & Katie's room soon. Their bunkbeds should be here end of Feb. or first of March.

Oh, and in case I haven't mentioned it before, Chris is the BEST daddy to girls ever! Seriously, I don't know that he could be a better daddy. These girls are truly blessed to have him as their male role model!!!!!!


Thank you God for our healthy baby girl and her big sisters!