...The Mother of All Posts...

I don't even know how to go about starting this blog. It's a post that I have been wanting to put up for 17weeks now:) So I guess I'll start with this:

Yes this is a German Pregnancy test we purchased when we were there at the end of Oct.

So we found out we were pregnant at the beginning of November and within a few weeks I KNEW I was pregnant! If I'd ever thought I was sick with Maddix it was NOTHING compared to this pregnancy.
One day Travis came home and found Maddix sitting on the counter tops eating banana chips from the container... he then found me barely conscious on the bathroom floor. Every day went this way and Travis was finding he was doing everything. I couldn't function without running to the bathroom; and the vent above our bed became a constant dry-heave trigger since it often wafts in strong smells of fish, beans, and cabbage from whomever is cooking below us! Another place I could not enter was the kitchen. I could smell the fridge and the garbage from the hall. Poor Travis was barely hanging on to make grades, shop, cook meals, tend to Maddix, fulfill his church callings, and keep me alive.

Needless to say that first trimester couldn't go by quick enough. And when it did, it brought on a new challenge: How to find a doctor... and a good one. My first decision was I was going to ask a single mother in our branch, who spoke English, if she could help me out. The morning we were heading to church I just kept getting this reoccurring  feeling that I should ask Anna and Arek (our friends that I have mentioned). I felt strange that I should ask them since I had only met them a few times and always for short periods of time, but I felt very strong to ask them. After church I pulled them aside since no one knew we were expecting and they, of course because they are wonderful, were more than happy to put me in touch with her doctor... and set up my appointments... take me... and basically always make sure I was taken care of. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. They were a blessing put in our life. I will thank Heavenly Father the rest of my life that we became friends with such wonderful people.
So my first appointment came. Anna translated with the nurse then left me to go see the doctor (who is wonderful and works in the U.K. two weeks each month and speaks wonderful English). The first things he said during the ultrasound was, "uh oh." I FREAKED OUT. He calmed me and said the baby was just fine and healthy but my trophoblast was in the wrong place. At the end of this appointment it was determined that it looked like I was almost 14weeks, we were 80% sure baby  was a boy, and that I was going to need to be on bed rest. The trophoblast (or would be placenta) was sitting directly on top of my cervix instead of up near the belly button. Long story short the bed rest was a precautionary watch for Placenta Previa. I was told a long list of restrictions, among which were no exercise and no heavy lifting, i.e. no carrying Maddix; that has been rough.
The last few weeks we've been ordering groceries online, and what we can't get Travis then picks up on Sat. mornings. He also has to carry everything from Maddix to the backpacks, and all the garbage by himself. I am useless. However as the weeks have been progressing I can cook again, clean, and actually hold a smile.

T to B: Full baby shot, his hand and arm, and then his gender shot!

Full side shot of baby

 Now I was also sent down to the clinic to get some blood work done and the results did not come back pretty. Also I want to note that Arek met us there before he went to work and translated for us. My results showed that I was extremely anemic, had a yeast infection, urinary tract infection, and that I had a hypothyroid. So I was put on a numerous amount of safe meds and told to wait three weeks then we'd meet again. I'd really run myself down by not eating (and only eating high-carb whatever I could get down) those 1st trimester weeks.

During this time we were also dealing with a major problem. We had applied for our residency cards and been denied because the process took 45 days and our visas were expiring in 26 days... it turned into a real mess that was consuming every thought and action. My doctor was so mad that they would try to make us leave, so he wrote up a certificate and had Anna take it to the immigrations office stating that I could not fly due to my bed rest; we though this would work, but we were still denied. We called our friends at the embassy and after many phone calls on their end they told us our option was to find a way to Ukraine, stay there while our visas expired, come back as tourists, and then apply for residency cards! But to also know that it was a sketchy, somewhat legal loophole that would only work depending on the mood of the boarder patrol. WHAT?! So I was looking getting stuck in Ukraine, unable to fly anywhere else while pregnant! Anna and Arek instantly volunteered to drive us, but that Arek wanted to try one more time to see if he could make something work. So last Monday he took work off and went to try again for us. That night we received the best news we'd heard since we read the pregnancy test: we could stay. I don't know how, or who he spoke with, or really how it all works (well we know it was all in the Lord's hands), but we can stay; case closed. And it ended up having a lot to do with the doctors note; so, what a blessing it turned out to be.

Now I've been waiting to record on the blog that I'm pregnant because I wanted to have one more doctor's appointment to see how things were progressing with being on bed rest, and that appointment was tonight. I found out all good news, but slightly depressing at the same time. My Thyroid levels didn't improve so I have to go on a stronger dosage (which I'm not excited to adjust too because adjusting to the first level of pill really tripped out my mood swings/depression), my other levels improved, baby still looks like a healthy boy complete with a symmetrical head, beautiful spine, and all 10 fingers/toes... however.... I am not quite as far along as we'd originally thought :( After measuring the baby (which is the most accurate) I showed that I'm actually 17weeks tomorrow... not 18 this Thursday. I know it's only a difference of maybe 6 days but it makes such a difference to me! My beginning weight was around 112 or 113lbs (I never had a scale to make for sure) and tonight I measured in at 117lbs (and that was in heavy clothes and at night), so my weight gain is MUCH better so far than it was with Maddix. And finally, we checked the placenta and it had moved!!! We are now looking at a healthy placenta that is on it's way up so it's almost certain I will fly home in May to deliver, instead of have a C-section here. However, although it's been moving, it's still overlapping a little so I am on bed rest for another month! So I still can't hold my precious baby boy for another month, but at least now it's just a waiting game instead of a wondering game (if everything continues well). So now we're in the clear. It was never really a secret since I told my family... and my family told everyone else ha ha. Love you guys.. but if there is anyone else out there that didn't know, now you do. It looks as if we are 17 weeks, with a healthy baby boy, and they don't really do due dates in Europe (and he refused to give me one and laughed because of the way American women cling to a due date like it's their Independence date) so according to our last ultrasound, our due date was July 4th (Funny enough because that IS Independence Day)... but who really knows ( I should, but it's not a European things, so I'll have to wait until MAY for an Official Doctor's statement. I find it funny :). And we've been receiving ample amounts of help/blessing from those around us. To quickly list some blessings we've experienced since getting here:

• My extreme amounts of morning sickness: being so sick kept me in bed and unable to workout,which more than likely would have torn my placenta
• We met Anna and Arek at church and they have been attending because they know our Taiwanese students from Yoga, so we have made good friends. 
• We canceled our big Christmas trip because of ample amounts of sickness/tests coming up, and flying is dangerous at this point, so it could have been bad. 
• I followed that prompting to talk to Anna which not only led me to someone who would devote more time to me than the other person, but also got me a great doctor whom I trust 100%, and also gave us the key people to keeping us here in Poland during our visa fiasco. 
• The fact that the placenta is on my cervix and put me on bed rest granted us a doctor's note that eventually kept us here, and now the placenta is making its way to a healthy spot.
• Ever since we announced at church that we were pregnant everyone has taken such care of us and tomorrow the Elders are taking me to the grocery store since Travis is in the Middle of End of Year Finals. 
• Travis has been doing extremely well. His grades slightly dipped at first when I was really sick, but the Lord has really helped him use every minute of the day to the fullest and so far he did so well on his semester final in Genetics that he is exempted from the end of year final. And today he came home feeling like he crushed his anatomy end of year final. 
• Maddix has been very understand every time I tell him I can't hold him, or chase him around, and that I can't take him outside. It's hard for him, and he's more and more pent up by the day but at least once a week someone comes up with something that takes us outside so he can get out a bit of his energy. 

Okay... I'm so sorry this is so long, but this is for my journal I plan to print out when I can afford it, and it's something I have been waiting to get off my chest. So for now, everything is good, and in one month we will go back to check my blood levels again, confirm that baby is a boy 100% (however it's pretty positive after today:), and we'll see the progress the placenta has continued to make. The End. 

12 Weeks

15 weeks

17 Weeks (on a bloated night)