This tornado loves you...

Hello everyone.  First off, I should probably update on our little guys condition, especially since we had our last ultrasound over a week ago.  I've been slacking, sorry.  Little Jeremy Jr's CCAM didn't grow at all.  That's what the ultrasound Dr. told us.  So I'd say it's a pretty good sign.  He seems like he's doing alright in there.  He moves a lot.  We would still appreciate all the prayers we can get for our little guy.  Our next ultrasound is tomorrow.  I'll try to update faster when I have info.

I've been reading The Hunger Games series.  A friend let me borrow the books.  It's weird for me to read anything new at all because I tend to read the same several books over and over and over.  They just don't get old to me.  But I finally decided to try reading something new for a change.  They're really good.  They're basically about a nation that's under the rule of a very selfish and violent government.  I would recommend the series to anyone.  I'm currently on the last book of the series called Mockingjay.

Christmas Eve was the one year anniversery of my sisters death.  It was a sad day but we tried to keep our spirits high.  We visited Jill's grave as a family and left her lots of flowers and a mini Christmas tree that we decorated with battery powered lights and tinsel.  Christmas was great.  We opened presents and ate an awesome turkey dinner.  We played scrabble too!  Such a fun game!

Now that the holidays are over it's time for the RGIS work season to start again!  I'll be working through January but I won't be continuing with the job when the team starts traveling again.  I'll be quitting after six full years with the company.  I'll be a busy housewife/mom!

Ok, I'll leave you with a song.  This is 'This Tornado Loves You', by Neko Case from her album called Middle Cyclone.  Neko is great at painting a picture with the instruments and lyrics.  If you listen to it and close your eyes, you can imagine yourself in tornado alley, watching a lonely twister rip through town, looking for it's love. The lyrics are below.

My love I am the speed of sound.
I left them motherless, fatherless.
Their souls dangling inside out from their mouths.
But it's never enough.
I want you....

Carved your name across three counties.
Ground it in with bloody hides.
Their broken necks will lie in the ditch.
'Til you stop it.
Stop it. stop it. stop it.
Stop this madness.
I want you.....

I have waited with a glacier's patience.
Smashed every transformer with trailer.
'Til nothing was standing 65 miles wide.
Still you are nowhere.
Still you are nowhere.
Nowhere in sight.
Come out to meet me, run out to meet me.
Come into the light.

Climb the boxcars to the engine,
Through the smoke and to the sky.
Your rails have always outrun mine.
So I picked them up and crashed them down,
In a moment close to now.
'Cause i miss, i miss, i miss....
How you'd sigh yourself to sleep.
When I rake the springtime across your sheets.

My love I am the speed of sound.
I left them motherless, fatherless.
There souls dangling insde out from their mouths,
But it's never enough.

My love I'm an owl on the sill in the evening.
But morning finds you,
Still warm and breathing.

This tornado loves you.....
What will make you believe me?
This tornado loves you....
What will make you believe me?

Hope you enjoyed!  Thanks for reading!

Important information about our baby!

Here's a little update on things...be sure to read the last half of this blog.  There is some important information about our baby.

Last month, while I was on an awesome vacation in North Carolina, my mother in law threw me a surprise baby shower.  She volunteers at a pregnancy crisis center called Open Arms.  We had a tasty lunch and then I opened some presents.  We didn't know the sex of the baby yet so they made up two giant bags full of things I would need for a baby.  One for a girl and one for a boy.  I got to go through both of the bags and look at all the cute things.  It was such a fun time!  Thank you, Cindi!

Even Jeremy got a present!

We had the big ultrasound on Tuesday, December 13th.  It's a boy!  Our excitement was cut short though.  They found a problem with our little man.  They saw a bright spot in his lung and diagnosed it as a CCAM (Congenital Cystic Adenomatoid Malformation).  This problem can have several different outcomes.  10% of the time, the CCAM can shrink and disappear completely.  Less than 10% of the time, the CCAM gets bigger and causes heart and circulation problems.  They could do a surgery where they take the little guy out, remove it, and put him back in to continue the pregnancy but the chances of him surviving it are 50/50.  Thankfully, most of the time the CCAM stops growing at about 25 weeks while normal lung tissue grows around it, making the mass appear smaller.  He would be born normally and operated on in his first year of life to remove it.  Babies with this problem go on to lead completely normal lives.  Even though chances are he will survive this, we could still use all the prayers we can get.  We love our little guy and just want him to be a happy healthy little boy.

They're going to keep a close eye on our little guy.  We have to have an ultrasound every week for three weeks to see if the CCAM growth is slowing down.  If it turns out that it's slowing after checking on it for three weeks, we have to go in every 2-3 weeks to check on it until I deliver.  Our next ultrasound is tomorrow (December 20th).  I'll update when I have more information.

For more information on CCAMs, click this link.  It's a very informative website!  Be sure to click the "learn more about..." things.  They have the most important information.  Also, the videos have doctors that explain everything about CCAMs.  Be sure to watch those!

http://fetus.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/ccam/