The countdown begins!

26 weeks ago I thought there was no way possible that I would make it this far, let alone with my sanity intact. After months of throwing up, needles, IV's, hospitals, and Dr.'s appointments I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! This pregnancy has been filled with ups and downs(more downs than ups) but I am so grateful to be having this baby boy. As of my last ultrasound 2 weeks ago, the baby is right on schedule. I have to say that with everything that has happened its been so nice to get to see him every 3 weeks, I've had 11 ultrasounds in the pregnancy. We just pray and are keeping our fingers crossed that there are no ill effects on the baby with everything that has happened and all the medication that they have had me on. My perinatologist and my nephrologist both think that it will take somewhere between 3 to 6 weeks for my body to reset and if it doesn't then I'll have to have a biopsy done on my kidneys.

In other news, the girls are growing like weeds and watering them doesn't help! Every Thursday Nate flood irrigates our yard and the girls think that it is the coolest thing.  It's only been warm enough for the girls to play in the water once over the past month. The weather here has been crazy, rain, snow, wind, and if we are lucky, occasionally the sun will shine. So we spend a lot of time inside making forts, watching netflix, and using our imagination:

Here they are using empty diaper boxes as race cars, spaceships, and a train. I love that they play together, don't let me fool you....they definitely fight with each other and Maya loves to antagonize Jensen. Its really sad that Maya is only 2 and she knows exactly what to do to push Jensen's buttons! Nate and I really have to use our self control sometimes and not laugh when Maya does stuff to Jensen, we don't want to encourage her to pick on Jensen, but sometimes its hilarious! The girls share a room and have their own beds but sleep together. Every night at 8:30 they lay sideways on Jensen's bed, Nate reads them 4 to 5 of their books and then a chapter or two out of the classics, i.e. Peter Pan, The Little Princess, Camelot, and Treasure Island. They love story time and only Daddy is allowed to read, if I read to them Daddy still has to come in and read before they will go to bed.

Well, as you can clearly see, I am not an avid blogger. It's been almost a year since my last entry. You would think with all the time I have on my hands while I am at the hospital I would have updated you all a couple of times by now.

Just in case your in the dark, let me shed some light.....

We are expecting baby #3, now you all may be excited and think this is wonderful news, and its not that I don't, but let me share with you what the past 14 weeks have been like.

At the beginning of December I found out that I was indeed pregnant!! On December 22 I became ill, thinking that I had the flu, however, after 4 days of throwing up and body aches and fevers I sent myself to the Dr. It took several days, IV fluids, and numerous blood tests to find out that I had West Nile Virus. Apparently you can become infected and then it can lay dormant in your body until your immune system is weakened and then it takes over. On January 14th, I went in for my first O.B. appointment. Dr. B took one look at me and had me admitted. My blood pressure was 83/46, I had lost 7 lbs in 5 days(a total of 13 lbs all together), and I could barely walk. After 5 days of IV fluids and lots of medication she released me to go home, but I was not allowed to be alone. I have been diagnosed with a condition called Hyperemesis, it affects 1 to 2% of pregnant women and can last the entire pregnancy. With Nate in school and still coaching basketball, me and the girlies moved in with Grandma and Grandpa. They take wonderful care of us and Nate stays with us on the weekends.

So after I got out of the hospital I still required IV fluids. The easiest way for this to be done was to put in a PICC line, a permanent IV line that goes in at my arm all the way to chest. They draw my blood from this line as well as give me my IV fluids. So EVERY day I go to the hospital and they draw my blood, run the labs and send them to the pharmacy where they mix me a custom "banana" bag according to what I'm low on(yesterday for example, they gave me 10 grams of Magnesium, whereas a normal person would get 1 maybe 2 grams). All of this takes anywhere from 7 to 10 hours a day! I go and see a high risk Dr from the University of Utah on the 4th of March and we will go from there. They have done 2 ultrasounds and everything with the baby looks great so far!! So we wait and we pray that this baby will be healthy and strong.

In other exciting news, In April we take our sweet Jensen to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City to find out why her body isn't working properly. Her bowels don't work and she has a difficult time going poop.

Maya and Jensen on Halloween

Other than that, we are doing great. Little Maya isn't so little anymore and Jensen is smart as a whip. She loves learning and going to preschool, or as she calls it "playschool". We are so grateful for the prayers and helping hands that have been extended to us, everyone has been so wonderful these past few weeks. We love you all!