Ultrasound

Today I had my first ultrasound on our little peanut. It was so amazing to see that tiny heart flutter so fast. The baby was so tiny, it just looked like a little turtle swimming in my belly :-)

The radiologist said everything looked great with the baby. Phew!!! I feel so much better now that I know my peanut is safe and wasn't harmed from all of the stomach issues and procedures I went through last week.

Unfortuantely I don't have any pictures to share. I had the ultrasound done at St. Tammany hospital and they do not have the capability to print pictures. Hopefully Dr. Lobello will order another ultrasound in her office so I will be able to share pictures soon!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers!

Results

I had my endoscopy today and we finally got some answers!

My doctor said they found several ulcer like erosions in my gastric fundus and inflammation was found in the entire examined stomach area. There was stigmata of recent bleeding and biopsies were taken from every examined area.

The good news...we have an answer as to why I was in so much pain. The bad news....not too much we can do about it. I will continue to take the Zantac 4 times a day for 3 more months and then start to wean off. I go back to my GI doctor in a couple of weeks for another evaluation. I'm sure there will need to be some diet changes and well as some stress level adjustments.

The doctor said she believes the attack was due to an increased level of stress. But how does an anal, Type A personality reduce stress? I create it in every aspect of my life. I guess that is why I have the ulcers in the first place.

On a side note, when I woke up from the anesthesia, I had some pain in my right eye. Apparently I was rubbing my eyes when I was coming to and scratched my cornia with my new long prenatal vitamin fingernails. Talk about bad luck! They sent me straight to the eye doctor. (I was assured that the anesthesia they gave me would be metabolized from my body before it ever reached the baby)!

A special thanks to MawMaw and Pops for watching Chase three days this week for me while I tried to rest. You were such a big help and made this process a little easier to tolerate. We love you! :-)

Update

I went to the GI doctor on Tuesday. Once again my meds were changed up a little bit and we scheduled some more tests. I am feeling better than I have for the past week, but I'm still in pain with the major burning feeling (no more vomiting, thank God)!

Tomorrow morning we are going to EJ Hospital and they are putting me under anesthesia so they can perform an endoscopy to get a better look of what is going on inside my stomach. Then on Monday I am going to St. Tammany out patient hospital for a pelvic exam (to check on the baby), an echo and to get the heart monitor that I will wear for 24 hours. Tuesday morning I need to go back to EJ Hospital for my abdominal ultrasound to check on my gallbladder, pancreas and liver.

Hopefully we will get an answer soon and find a way to rid the pain. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated. And hopefully I will have some ultrasound pics of the baby from my appt on Monday (that's the only procedure I'm looking forward, too)!

Party

We celebrated Chase's birthday with a kid's party at Ducky Joes in Mandeville. This was Chase's first time at Ducky Joes and he seemed to really like it. After having his first birthday celebration at our house, I can tell you that renting out a place is definitely the way to go!






As for me, I have not been feeling well for the past week. It started on Wednesday morning. I have an awful burning in my stomach along with nausea and vomiting. I have also been having a lot of dizzy spells, too. I haven't really been able to eat or drink anything at all. My stomach pain got to be more than I could handle and ended up going to the ER on Friday night (yes the night before Chase's birthday party...thank you Christy for staying with Chase while we went to the hospital)!

They checked my blood, gave me an ultrasound to check my gall bladder and an EKG to check my heart. Test results came back good and they gave me some muscle relaxers for the spasms in my stomach and another med for my pain, but it didn't work. The night time was way worse than the day pain for some reason, and I often ended up curled up in a ball on my bedroom floor crying.

I luckily had my first prenatal visit with Dr. Lobello today. She is sending me to St. Tammany out patient hospital to have quite a few test done. I am having both an upper ultrasound and total abdominal ultrasound to check everything in my stomach and make sure the baby is doing okay. I am also having an echo done and I need to wear some sort of heart monitor for 24 hours just to be sure my heart is okay (a precaution from the dizzy spells). She also changed up my medicines and prescribed me a narcotic for the pain.

Tonight I made it all they way until midnight before the pain really kicked in. That is an improvement from the past week, but I'm still hoping for the pain to cease all together soon. I have no idea if this is related to the pregnancy or not, but I'm pretty sure Shane and I have decided that this will be our last pregnancy :-)

Please keep us in your prayers as I get all my tests done and that baby number 2 is safe and healthy!

Happy Birthday, Chase!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Chase!

It feels like just yesteday we was anxiously awaiting the birth of our first child...we didn't even know if we were having a boy or a girl. After two long days of labor, we welcomed our son, Chase Patrick.

These past two years have just flown by so quickly. Chase's 2nd birthday is bittersweet for me. On one hand I am happy to celebrate this day and look back at all his milestones and accomplishments. But on the other hand, I have to wonder, "Where did my baby go"?

It has been such a blessing to watch this handsome little guy develop into his own person. He has his own moods, jokes, facial expressions and ways of affection. He is absolutely hysterical and has brought so much joy into Shane and I's life. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful little boy as our son!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea! And may God continue to bless our family with many more wonderful memories!

Chase's 2 Year Lamb Picture:

Chase's 1 Year Lamb Picture:

Chase's 1 week Lamb Picture:

WHAT?!?!?!

Yes, it's true...Chase is going to be a Big Brother! We're so very excited! I just got my test results back from the doctor today, and everything looks great.

Let's see if I can anwser all your questions in one post:

- My due date is March 27th
- It's not a surprise...this was our first month of "trying"
- I have my first doctor's appt on August 4th
- I'm not sure if I'm going to wait again to find out the sex of the baby this round
- Chase and his sibling will be 2 years and 8 months apart (3 school years)
- I feel GREAT!
- And yes, we are VERY happy!!

Visit With the Gandy's

We spent yesterday evening in Mississippi visiting with the Gandy's. This was the first time Shane was able to visit with Tory since the accident, so Shane was very excited to see him.

Everyone had such a nice a visit. Chase was so happy to see Jay and Roo, he immediately called out their names when he saw them. It's been too long since they've played together, and we're so happy that they are back home.

Julie and Tory are currently looking for rehab centers that specialize in spinal cord injury. They loved the facility they were at in Houston, but they do not have an out-patient opening for 8 weeks. If anyone has any recommendations, please let us know!

Texas Roadtrip

We just got back from our Texan vacation. We left Thursday of last week and drove to the Dallas area to visit with Shane's brothers (Sean & Scott), sister-in-law (Angie) and nephews (Max & Evan).

We squeezed a lot into a couple of days. We took Chase to his very first professional baseball game which lasted way past his bedtime. Chase had so much fun at the game, but I think he was most into the moon, the planes that flew over the stadium and the large, oversized sign of a starbucks coffee cup.

We also took Chase to a waterpark. He was timid at first, but it didn't take long for him to warm up. Before we knew it, Chase was running into the wave pool, totally surprising Shane and I. He did so great, and I can't wait to take him to the beach later this summer!

But I think the highlight of the Dallas vacation for Chase was playing with Jo-Jo, the family poodle. Chase would wake up in the morning and ask for Jo-Jo. He was either chasing Jo-Jo around the house or climbing into the kennel and playing with his toys. It was so funny!

We left Monday morning and drove to the Houston area to visit with my sister Jamie and the rest of the Straughan crew! We took Chase to a couple of nice parks to play and feed the ducks. I think he was overstimulated by the massive play areas at the parks because he couldn't stay still. He just kept running from the slide to the jungle gym to the sea saw, to the bridge, etc... Needless to say, he had a blast! We also hit up some yummy Mexican food before we got back in the car Tuesday afternoon and drove back home.

It was a lot of driving, but we had such a good time visiting with our families and are so grateful for them being such wonderful hosts to us. We can't wait to see all of you again!

What's That?

Chase's new favorite phrase, is "What's that, Mama"? He asks me this question all day long! Half the time, I don't even know what he is pointing to, but I always try to give him an answer.

Last week I bought Chase his little toilet for potty training. I wasn't planning on starting anytime soon, but I wanted him to get used to the potty being in the bathroom. He LOVES it. He drags it in front of the big tv and sits on it like it's his recliner...so funny!

Also, Chase just finished his swim lessons. It went much better than I expected. Before the lessons, Chase was absolutely terrified of the water. Although, he's still not crazy about the water, he'll still get in the pool with us now (of course, he holds on for dear life the entire time)! Baby steps, I guess :-)

Hmmm, what is this thing?


Just chillin' in my new potty chair

Looks like he's really working on something in this pic :-)