A Baby Update and More of Colten!

A few weeks ago, we had a baby scare. Some of my numbers came back high during my blood tests. When I got the call from the doctors, they assured me that it could be a false alarm due to my diabetes and/or age but that they wanted my to come in the next morning for an ultrasound to check the baby for spina bifida. Despite the hope of a false alarm, Tom and I were worried and prayed that everything would check out okay. After an initial shedding of tears, I was able to cast all of my worries to God and leave it in His hands. Tom, on the other hand, made his worrying even worse via google. In the end, God was with us because the baby's spine and brain appeared perfectly normal! Regardless, my doctor still wanted me to see a high risk doctor just as a precaution. We were lucky enough to get an appointment for the following week, and once again the baby seems perfect! It turns out that one of the blood tests checks the amount of a hormone produced by the baby that is spilled over to the mom. My number was 2.49 and the normal cutoff is 2.5; however, since I'm a diabetic, the cutoff is 1.7 so my number seemed very high and was a red flag that perhaps the spine had not fused, allowing more of the hormone into my blood. Thankfully, that is not the case. The doctor comes highly recommended so I am pleased to have him involved in the care of the baby, even if I did feel insulted once during the consultation. It turns out that my A1C was 7.7 in April (but it has since dropped to 5.8). When the doctor saw this, he pretty much said that the baby has an increased chance of having complications because of me and then he went on to ask me why I even got myself in this position in the first place. I was completely caught off guard because I would never intentionally harm my child and in fact did not know my A1C when we got pregnant in February. I know that he needs to be realistic and up-front with us as our doctor, but sometimes I wish doctors had more compassion too, especially a high risk doctor who only deals with women whose babies face more dangers. Enough of my whining though because he was wonderful aside from that comment. We go back to him in a few weeks for an intensive heart scan so I will have to keep everyone posted. Since I am a diabetic and have had this one scare, he too will be active in the care of both me and the baby until I deliver. I will do whatever it takes to keep us healthy.

As most everyone knows, we did not find out Colten's gender until he was born and had the same plans for this pregnancy. However, after having such a scare, I felt like I needed to know who I am carrying. I know that may sound silly since everything checked out but I couldn't help thinking about it after we left the doctor's office that day. Unfortunately, that was the problem. Within a week, I had had two ultrasounds but refused to know the gender, and now I wanted to know. The day after our appointment with the high risk doctor was our 8 year wedding anniversary so I decided that if I could find out the gender, I would surprise Tom with it during our dinner out. I figured that the gender would be recorded in our file so I called the high risk doctor the next morning - they did not note it... My last hope was my regular OB. Since I had errands to run, I stopped in to see if they could check my file - they did not note it either... I thought it wasn't meant to be until the ultrasound technician offered to rescan me quickly in-between her patients - what a special woman! I wanted to learn the news with Tom so I put the sealed photos in my purse and waited for our dinner.
After we ordered, I had Tom come sit next to me for his "present." I took the photos out of my purse, opened them, and together we read "Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad. I'm a boy!"
So many people have asked me if I'm disappointed, if I wanted a girl. Yes, in some ways I wanted a girl, mostly because my mom and I have such a special relationship and I would've loved to have had that with my own daughter. But no I am not disappointed. I will be the queen of the house with my soon to be three best guys! My only disappointment is perhaps the fact that this will surely be the last child I deliver. I always entertained the idea of having three children, but my diabetes gets worse with every pregnancy and it can lead to serious complications for the baby as well. We were lucky that God was watching over the baby this time and will not risk my health or that of a baby's simply because I may have wanted three kids. If anything, maybe we will adopt one day. Who knows what the future holds? For now, I am looking forward to Colten meeting his life-long best buddy in a few months!

Speaking of Colten, here's what he has been up to...

With the HOT weather, we have really been enjoying our new pool!
Attacking Uncle Mikie with a shark water shooter.
Every year we attend the Beck's July 4th party and have a blast might I add! To kick off the day, Mr. Camuso leads all of the kids in a parade down the street as patriotic music plays. The kids all decorate their bikes, wagons, etc. Since Colten is too young for a bike, I decorated his mower. Here he is getting ready for the parade to begin.

Taking a swing at the pinata...

Enjoying red, white, and blue treats!

YSU has an art festival every year that we love to attend. This year Colten was able to make a craft for the first time!

And PNC Bank lets the kids dress up in a career option of their choosing and then they take a photo of them on a green screen, imposing the appropriate background. Here we are waiting in line. Colten chose the construction outfit this year because the background is a digger and anyone who knows Colten, knows that he LOVES diggers!
A few weekends ago, we headed to Columbus to visit with Uncle Mikie and also to celebrate my cousin Chris's marriage to Liz. Congrats to you both! We had such a wonderful time in Columbus and at the wedding!

Uncle Mikie was Colten's best buddy. They played so hard together the whole time!
This is from a school's playground near Uncle Mikie's house.

We also visited a splash pad!
And we made it to Thurman's for their famous burgers. Every time we have tried to go, there has been at least a 2 hour wait, and that is way too long to keep Colten occupied. This time we were determined. We arrived at 10:30 (they open at 11) and would you believe that other people were in line ahead of us! Regardless, it was so worth it! I have never had a burger so yummy (or so large)!
And a few photos from the wedding. Colten loves is older cousin Braden so much! Colten was only happy if he was playing with Braden; I just wish they could spend more time together.
And I'll end with a family shot (simply because Colten is getting up from his nap so my blogging time is over : > )
Hope you enjoyed! Love to you all!