Happy Holidays!

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We feel fortunate to have celebrated the season with most of our family this year!

Dave and I will spend New Year's Eve celebrating Christmas together - our annual tradition! We'll enjoy some pork and sauerkraut with family and friends to ring in the New Year on Thursday. On Friday, we have another appointment with our doctor. As usual, we are looking forward to it and seeing our baby's heartbeat once again. This pregnancy has definitely been different from the last with much fatigue and nausea - both of which I don't mind as they are a reminder of the miracle taking place!

Many blessings for a wonderful start to 2009! Hugs and love from both of us!

Bruised Bottom

So I am feeling great with all pregnancy-related issues, however, after a short fall down three stairs yesterday, I am left with a sore bottom.  Not sure if I broke my tailbone, but I sure did bruise the heck out it!   You would think that with all the "extra padding," that the pain would be minimal - guess again!  The simplest of tasks, like sleeping, getting in and out of the car, and sitting on the couch are painful beyond belief.  I had to really watch myself in church this morning to not screech out loud every time we stood up or sat down.  Thankfully this will pass - hopefully sooner than later, but for now, prayers for pain relief are welcomed (remember - no Advil for me right now - so prayers are it :-)).  Off to go buy a "donut" - Happy shortest day of the year!!  

Baby Coe - 19December2008

8 weeks, 5 days!

We had another successful trip to the doctor today!  We got to see the heartbeat again.  Our doctor is keeping us on track with the original due date of July 27, making me 8 weeks, 5 days along!   My doctor is kind enough to know that waiting 4 weeks for the next appointment is just too long, so she's offered to get us in 2 weeks from now - January 2 for another ultrasound.  We are grateful that all has gone so well thus far and hopeful that the journey ahead will continue to be amazing.  Thanks for the prayers - keep them coming!  

Focus Factor

You've seen it advertised on t.v. - the magic pill that is supposed to help you focus. If I thought it was safe to take, I'd be doubling up on some right now. I'm having such a hard time focusing at work. I find myself wandering to baby websites on my lunch break- reading as much as I can. Apparently this is very normal in early pregnancy - but it's driving me nuts. If anyone has a great advise on my "issue" - let me know :-) !!

In the meantime, we are looking forward to another appointment this Friday with our Doctor. I haven't seen her since my initial appointment 3 weeks ago - so it will be great to have some face time with her and get some additional questions answered. I'm sure she'll do another ultrasound at this appointment - so we'll get to see the flicker of our baby's heart again. Look for some updates Friday!

6 weeks, 4 days!

1 Peter 5:7

Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.

Since our last ultrasound we have been overwhelmed with the possibility of another non-viable pregnancy. We have found calm in knowing that He is with us and our concerns are in His hands.

We have spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this little Coe and the health thereof. We believe we have been challenged by God to believe and to have faith. We have found much comfort in the following passage:

Hewbrews 11:1

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

The hope we've had for this little Coe is something that we cannot put into words. We know this is only the beginning, and can't imagine the joy that awaits us. The certainty of what we do not see was placed into context this afternoon at our most recent visit to the Doc's office. Below is just one example confirming the Faith that He has provided us. The joy we had when we saw this image was something we can't place into words. It was awesome. He provided us a visual image of the gift of life at one of its earliest stages. We saw the heart beat! A light flickering on the screen. Thank you!

We go back next Friday for another appointment (technically our first). We will keep you posted as things progress.

Wow!

Just an update on the anticipated due date: August 2, 2009. So we are roughly a week behind where we thought we were, though it makes sense based on previously noted comments.

Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound this afternoon.  It showed the baby at 5 weeks, 3days, which is one week past where I had calculated us to be.  As a result, the picture could only display the sac with no evidence of a fetus yet.  This is not atypical for a 5 week view...but of course, leaves us feeling unsettled until our follow-up ultrasound next Friday.  If we are indeed further behind than originally calculated, it would explain why it took so long to get a positive read on the pregnancy tests (nearly a week later).  It would also confirm my belief that I ovulated late last month - at which point we "took care of business" long after the timeframe that one would typically ovulate.  (sorry for the tmi).   Should the ultrasound next week show no change, it will be considered another non-viable pregnancy.  As you can imagine, we are hopeful and anxious.  Please continue to pray!  Love and hugs!

Waiting – It's the Hardest Part!!!

Okay!

  So we really want to announce this to everyone.  We both are finding is very hard to not share this wonderful and exciting news.  Being around family for the Thanksgiving holiday was awesome, but it felt so weird to not share this with people.  We really want to wait until things are further along.  You know, until the worries of the now pass – a time when I am sure we will have new worries.  But at least we will be more confident of the health and growth of our little Coe.  So to all of you reading this who were not initially informed, please know that we truly wanted to.  All of this said, the waiting for our little Coe to arrive in July seems like an eternity.

Amazing Feat!

After reading the gestational updates for week 6, I was truly amazed at the precision, complexity, and the overall God orchestrated creation and development of this little Coe. One can see the eye spot, limb buds, jaw, and heart bulge depicted in the picture to the left. Taking a step back, it is fascinating to think about the million-and-one things that have to come together just perfectly! This is a process that is out of our hands. We get to watch (or for now think about with the use of visual aid) the miracle unfolding before our eyes. We are, however, still very nervous for the next several weeks, but know, that with God's hand and our (and your) many prayers, this little Coe will continue to grow and be healthy.

Friday's Appointment

I had a great initial appointment today with the Doc.   They verified that I am indeed pregnant (no surprise there :-)) and she answered some of my early questions.  She went ahead and did an ultrasound and was able to see that my uterine lining is thickening.  She also saw what looked like the "yolk-sac".  She was not surprised to not find a heartbeat as it's still a little early.  She is having us return next Friday for a "real" ultrasound in hopes that the heartbeat might be detectable at this time and will put some of our early anxieties to rest.   We are obviously super excited for this appointment.    That's the update for now...stay tuned!

Doctor's Appointments

I called yesterday to schedule our doctor's appointments. When I was in this summer for my routine physical, my doctor said, should I get pregnant, she'd see me earlier than the 8 week appointment - so I'm going in this Friday. I'll be nearing the end of week 5 and am unsure what to expect other than verifying I'm pregnant and answering questions. Our first "real" appointment when they draw nearly all of my blood and (hopefully) hear a heartbeat is scheduled for December 19. This date feels forever away - but we'll wait patiently and continue to pray.

We are excited to share our news tomorrow with the Terrell's! We'll be stopping by their new home in Medina after our follow-up appointment for Brutus at the doggie ophthalmologist. We told Megan on Sunday with an "Aunt Megan" phone call. We'll plan to inform Lewis and Gina when they visit at Christmas. That will end our sharing of good news until we're past the 1st trimester.

Hugs to you all!

You've been informed!

If you are reading this blog, you've been informed of our good news! This past weekend, we had the joy and excitement of sharing our news with our parents. We contemplated not sharing our news until our 1st doctor's appointment, but decided that the prayers that would come with others knowing outweighed waiting. We have consumed our weekend thinking, talking and praying about this exciting journey ahead. We ask that you too, pray for good health in this pregnancy.

We broke all the rules tonight and put up our Christmas tree. We know that the coming weekend will be consumed with family and friends...and wanted to have this "chore" (not really - it's quite enjoyable actually) done so we could enjoy the holiday season ahead. As we were hanging our childhood ornaments on the tree, all we could think of is how exciting it will be for our little one to start collecting his/her own ornaments next Christmas.

For now - be well and thank you for your prayers!

Finally...

....a positive test! After taking numerous pregnancy tests, today's showed the blue line we've been praying for. While it was faint, there was no denying that it was a positive test result! If our calculations are correct, I should be 4 weeks, with a due date of July 27, 2009. We are waiting to tell our families closer the the holidays. Hopefully, this will fall after our 1st doctor's appointment. I'm overjoyed at the thought of adding a little bundle of joy to our family...but I must admit, after our miscarriage last summer, it's hard to get too attached to the idea until we're further along. For now, it's in God's hands and we'll pray daily that He blesses this pregnancy.