Baby Bump

I know that some of you may be interested in seeing my progression and how big I am getting. And some of you may not. So I will post a link to my pictures so you can choose to go there or not. I'm filling out and not really fitting into my regular clothes anymore. I haven't gained much weight, just my stomach is getting bigger. Hopefully, I won't be too gigantic by the end of it all, but we'll see. So here is the link if any of you are interested.

Baby Bump

First big baby purchase

I have been looking at the GMC Acadia's for awhile now. I really like the way they look and we've been thinking that we should probably get a bigger mode of transportation sometime in the near future so we can carry our expanding family. So last Saturday Jeff and I went to "test drive" some cars, specifically the Chevy Traverse and the GMC Acadia. Jeff said to me that morning, "We're not buying a car today, I just want to compare the two and see how they drive." Famous last words! We went to the Chevy dealership first and drove the Traverse. It was pretty nice and we liked it, but that particular dealership was not going to deal with us (we figured this out since they are preordering the 2010 Camaro's at $5,000 over MSRP and not really caring about the customer). So we left and headed to the GMC dealership. We drove the Acadia and really liked it. It was pricier than the Chevy version, but there were a few things on it that were better. And they had a lot of them on the lot and were itching to get rid of them. So after a long day of driving and negotiating, we drove home with this:



It has all the bells and whistles on it, which we don't really need, but it was sitting on the lot and we got a really, really good deal on it. Jeff was excited to get rid of the truck, but will now have to wait on getting his new camaro. I think he will survive, though! He is loving the power windows since his truck didn't have them! Here are a few more pics. Not that great since I took them, but you get the idea...

Good Cause

I was watching Oprah the other day and she had a show about child predators and how we can help catch them. John Walsh was on (the guy from America's Most Wanted). His 6 year old boy was kidnapped and murdered almost 27 years ago and that's why he is so passionate about catching bad guys. He had a bill passed a couple of years ago that established a National Sex Offender Registry (instead of each state having their own laws and the criminals being able to jump states before serving any time). The bill is in danger of expiring in July, so they are encouraging everyone to write their senators and congressmen to put the law back into effect before it expires. They have made it super easy to do. Just follow the link and you can find your states representatives, their email addresses and also a letter already written for you. Just cut and past and add your name and the reps name. I did it and it took less than 5 minutes! Please help protect our children by sending a letter.

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090220-tows-adam-walsh-act

Results

Good news! Nothing new showed up on xray or ultrasound. Will go back in July for another check up. But just a chest xray and bloodwork, probably do my leg every 6 months.

Checkup

Today I had my checkups at MD Anderson. My doctor wanted to wait until after my first trimester to do any scans, so here we are. I had a chest xray, blood work and an ultrasound of my leg. I didn't have to stay all day (like I usually do if I have CT scans or MRI's), so that was good. I convinced the girl doing my leg ultrasound to do a quick scan of the baby and she was happy to do so! The equipment is not as high tech as the one in the high risk doctor's office, but everything looked fine as far as she could tell. The little heart was beating away and the baby was flipping all around. Still very tiny (I'm 14 weeks today), and still with Alien face. ;) But in a few weeks, that will all change. I'm still feeling good. I'm starting to outgrow some of my clothes, but you still can't really tell I'm pregnant unless you know. I'm sure in a few weeks I'll start to pop out. I may post a picture then, we'll see! But that's about all that's going on. Had a quick trip to Fredericksburg/Austin last weekend so we missed the "non-hurricane" hurricane like weather. I'm glad since I would have freaked out watching the water come closer and closer to my doorstep. (We have a drainage problem on our street). We came back to blue skies and warmth. Perfect! I see my doctor tomorrow for the results of the tests I took today. I'm not worried about the ultrasound, just a little worried about chest xray. We're praying nothing shows up. I'll post tomorrow and let you know.

TTFN!

Easter weekend

We have had a busy 5 days with my sister and her family in town! They got in late Thursday night. Friday we had a crawfish boil that was awesome. We got 2 sacks of crawfish and it was all gone! Great crawfish, great company and great weather. Saturday Nicki, me and the kids went to an Easter Egg Hunt at a church near our house. We met my friend Dee Ann and her two kids there. Not only did they have an Easter Egg Hunt, but a fun jump, games, tattoos and face painting! Kirsten did very well finding lots of eggs. The weather was kinda nasty and it started sprinkling, so we left after just a little bit. But she racked up! Saturday afternoon we braved the mall and got the kids pictures taken with the Easter Bunny. They came out pretty good. Sunday was Easter, so we went to church and then came home and started cooking our Easter lupper. We had ham, homemade mac and cheese, deviled eggs and crab dip. It was yummy! In the afternoon, Jeff and Tony put up some new ceiling fans in our guest rooms. It sure helps out having those fans back there! Monday we drove to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory and took their tour. It was neat to see how they made all the yummy ice cream. There was even a free scoop at the end! Well worth the trip to Brenham. On the way home, we stopped and took our pictures in the bluebonnets. We found a giant field of them on the side of the interstate and had a photo session. It was really windy, so our hair was kinda crazy, but I think we got some good pictures. Today was a packing day for my sister. They left a little bit after lunchtime. We had a good visit and were glad that they came.

Here is a link to all the pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jeffery.mauldin/EasterWeekend?feat=directlink

2nd doctor's appointment

Today I saw my regular OB. It was a short appointment since I had just seen the High Risk OB yesterday. We got to listen to the heartbeat, which was nice and strong at 162 beats a minute! I have not gained any weight yet, which I guess is ok since she didn't mention anything about it. I'm sure the time will come when I will gain alot. That's pretty much all we did. Next appointment is scheduled for 4 weeks from now. I'm still feeling good.

We are getting ready for my sister to come into town for a few days. The whole family is coming, so that should be pretty fun. I'm hoping the weather cooperates and the rain doesn't spoil our plans. It will be good just to hang out though. I'll probably update later on after they leave and hopefully have lots of good pictures. I hope everyone has a great Easter!

12 week appointment with High Risk Doctor

Today I had my first appointment with my high risk doctor. I really like him. For starters, he is a former NICU nurse, so I think he will remember me pretty well! ;) We went straight into an ultrasound room and the tech immediately started the scan. They will record a DVD of the entire ultrasound for you for the low cost of $20. But she warned us since we're still kinda early, there wouldn't be much to see. We kinda said, ok, I guess we'll wait till the next time to get one (they have to know at the beginning of the scan so they can record it from the beginning). She took one look at the baby and said, Oh, this baby is too cute not to record this! I'll just let you have it and you just put it in your purse. We were like, Great! We'll take a free dvd. She scanned me for over 10 minutes, really looking and taking pictures along the way. It really looks like a baby now. A far difference from 4 weeks ago when it looked like a gummy bear. You can see fingers, the nose, heart, stomach, bladder, feet, arms, legs, etc. They look at the neck to see if the baby looks like it will have down's syndrome. The skin was thin, so that is a good sign. She also gave us her best guess as to what the sex was. Then the doctor came in and looked at the pictures. He said everything looks really good and he also gave us his best guess as to what the sex is. Funny thing is, they both said one thing, then during the process of the scan, they both changed their minds and said it was the other gender. So now we have an idea, but it could possibly change. But all in all, it was a great appointment and we got some great pictures. I will see him again in 6 weeks. I will see my regular OB tomorrow. Here are the pics we got today:









Foot:



Alien shot:








After looking at these, can you guess what the sex is? I'll give you a hint, the 6th picture is the one you need to scrutinize. Have fun!

4 years ago

So I was at work last night thinking, Wow, I think it's been 4 years since I had my tumor removed from my leg. It was April 5, 2005. I can't believe it's been that long since I've had cancer. Time really flies and a lot has happened since then. I found some old pictures to compare my leg then, after 1 year and today. Just thought it might be cool to compare. You may feel otherwise. :) But the nurse in me thinks it's kinda cool. And I found a picture from after surgery that was pretty healed and not too gross!

April 20, 2005



Leg after 1 year:




Leg today (sorry it's not the best, I took it myself)



So just a little nostalgia for you!

Tomorrow I have an appointment with my high risk OB Dr. Rowe. It will be the first meeting with him and I hear nothing but good things about him. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I'm assuming he's going to do another ultrasound (which I like!) and there is a possibilty we could find out the gender of the baby! That is, if the baby cooperates. He has an 80% success rate of being right at 12 weeks, which is what I will be tomorrow. Then on Thursday I have my appointment with my regular OB. We will post more pictures and news after these appointments.