New Arrival!

Ellen Katherine Cassidy was born just a couple of hours ago!  See her picture below--she is adorable!

11/11

Because we are pregnant again--and past 12 weeks, I haven't thought much about the  miscarriage(except the added worrying that something might happen again, and how neat it will be to see that baby someday in heaven)--until last night.  Today, 11/11, was the due date.  My sister and I talked about how neat that date was!  Well, here we are.  I had so many questions of why God let us get pregnant for it to end in miscarriage--and especially when Lynne, PJ's sister was due about the same time.  I think we may have our answer.  Lynne's water broke last night, and may have Ellen Katherine on 11/11.  Now we will never know when, if we carried to term, that baby would have come--but that sure would have been crazy!  I clung to two verses during that time that I read over and over: Philipians 4:8-9 &13 and Psalm 62:6-8, and as I re-read these tonight, I see how when in despair we cling to our rock and salvation-for he gives us strength & boy does he ever for I would not have been able to go through that alone.  The Lord does work in mysterious ways.  We wouldn't be pregnant with this gift had we still been pregnant with the first--so I am thankful everyday for this pregnancy and all the wonderful moments it brings.  

I pray for Lynne and he labor tongiht , and can't wait for the news that little Ellen has entered the world and is in the loving arms of her parents!

Surprise! Happy Birthday!

Oh, this weekend was so fun!  It was Carolyn and Marcy's, my mother-in-law and their best family friend, surprise Birthday dinner.  The six "kids" showed up to the restaurant early and then the 2 couples came.  The moms thought it was a romantic dinner for four by the lake, and to their surprise---it was for 10!  We had a wonderful time of laughter and fun!  Then the women beat the men in Pictionary--a family tradition!  Today (sunday), we had a nice breakfast, and both Paul and Carolyn got to feel baby kick.  They were surprised at how much baby really does move!  I can't wait for our trip to California so that my mom, sis, and dad-and the rest of the family-can feel baby too, and see the baby bump!

Friday was Halloween, so instead a Friday night fish fry, PJ and I went on a date on Thursday night.  It was so wonderful, and we promised to not talk about anything baby.  It was very nice to catch up in this way--we had so much fun!  We are going to try to make this a tradition.

Friday was fun handing out candy to the cute little trick-or-treators!  Two little kids came up, and looked about the same age.  I asked if they were twins, and the woman answered, no they are cousins 6 months apart.  I got a huge smile I am sure, as I could picture Ellen, and our baby, cousins--4 months apart, they will have such fond memories. 

21 weeks

We had another 4 week check up today (21 weeks), and oh the joys of waiting.  The receptionist came out to all of us waiting asking which Dr. we were seeing.  All of us were seeing the same one....she let us know the Doctor was about 30-40 mins behind schedule.  Well, considering there were 6 of us, I knew that wasn't true!  So I asked if I could run an errand and be back--so I picked up Madi's dog food, and got a knitted pair of booties that I have had my eye on but the store is only open Thurs. -Sun.  And got back to the doctors office just in time for them to call my name, and then I got to sit in another room for 20 mins!  Haha. Well, everything is great.  Ultrasound is normal (baby's weight is great, enough fluid, heartbeat of 150, has all its limbs and the placenta is healthy).  My wt. gain is right on target for where I am supposed to be to, 11 lbs. to date!  Today was the first time that I had my belly measured too--the fondus is right on track for 21 weeks--so all is swell!  I learned a new phrase from a friend in New Zealand..."up the huff"= pregnant!

"Pop"

Everyone has said that all of a sudden one day your belly "pops" when you are pregnant, and that happened Friday and Saturday.  My belly is definately looking different, and I have the baby bump now!  We had an exciting weekend.  I was baptized on Friday night with 16 other adults.  It was the first time I have been baptized and it was an incredible experience.  It was an emersion baptism, which really implants the experience into your mind!  Then we went to Racine for the weekend to be with the Noelke's.  Lynne's baby shower was on Sunday, and it was so darling.  The decor was pink and brown, like Ellen's nursery is decorated, and the gifts were all so darling!  Many of the women who attended the shower are gifted in the crafting department, and the homemade cards and gifts were adorable.  Lynne looks incredible for being due in a couple of weeks!  

The Kicks

What an exciting weekend!  Saturday we went shopping for maternity clothes.  Hmm, the selection in Madison is not great, so figured out my size and got a few things from Gap maternity (thanks Lynne for letting me know about this!)  PJ says these clothes make me look more pregnant that my normal clothes--they are tighter in the belly region.  We shall see how much longer I will be able to button my jeans!  Also on Saturday my Mozart Effect CD's arrive for "mums and mums to be!"  Trying to stimulate right brained synapses in our growing baby!  Tonight PJ and I went to see a movie and the baby was really active, so I took PJ's hand and placed it on the spot where baby was kicking, and PJ felt it twice--oh it was so fun! 

Ultrasound!

Oh today was so exciting! Our nurse was so wonderful!  I told her that we did not want to know the sex, and she said, we can take care of that!  We saw so many pictures! After a few looks, I still didn't see the fluttering, and asked where is the heartbeat, and then she went to it, and it was so amazing to see!  Then we saw the head, the heart better (a heart beat of 147 and 4 ventircles visable!), the kidneys, the stomach, the umbilical cord (a three vessel one which I guess is good!), the arms and legs, the spine and ribs, the lips nose, and eyes, you could see it all.  Then when we got to the abdomen and the femur(upper leg), she had us look away so that we wouldn't be able to tell the sex! It was so exciting. PJ kept looking-he wants to know! But he couldn't tell what was what anyways, so he had no idea what to look for.  He asked her what it was, and she had a great poker face!  No telling.  I can't even explain the awe that the situation presented.  What a miracle to see this baby growing inside.  It was moving so much, she kept trying to chase it as she said.  It weights about 12oz now, which absolutely surprised me!   Based on that and some measurements, we are about 19 weeks 4 days she says, we thought we were 19 weeks today, so a tiny bit further along.  I have the pics of our baby's first photo shoot at the bottom of this page.  The first is so clear! The black spot is the stomach, and the bony things are the ribs, and as you can see the mouth is open, and you can see the nose! The second is similar.  The third you can see the hands near the face!  The fourth shows the heart really well with the 4 ventricles.

Enjoy!