It has been tooo long

We are no longer a family of three but a family of four. Ashley joined our family on March,3 2011 8lbs 3 oz 19 inches long. We are so in love =)

IVF for baby #2 underway

It's been awhile since I have updated...We did one FET on May 7th and it was a BFN..today was my ER and were told we have 26 mature eggs. We get the fert report tommorrow fingers crossed! =0)

On her way to 10 months old!

I really need to start updating this blog more! =0) I have been slacking I know!
It's been crazy around here for us.

I am now a Stay at Home Mom with Kendall, and am back in school for medical assisting, and then going onto nursing. My aspiration is to work in maternity or in an RE's office. Bob has been quite busy as well. Home Free giveway is under way again this summer, and he has started his DJ'ing business here in the Berkshires. He does Karaoke at Halpins on Thursdays, and Friday's he does Karaoke at Applebees. Applebee's by the way extended their contract through the end of the year so we are very excited about that.

Now onto the star of the blog, Kendall. She began crawling the other day! So exciting!! I have to upload the video of her, and will do as soon as I get some more free time. Kendall is fast approaching her one year mark, and we are already laying out the ground work for her first Birthday party! =0) Ok I have to run now as the princess is ready for her nap, but I will try and update more often I promise!

Ok So it's been awhile..I am going to try and get back into the swing of things and update more often. Kendall is 3 days away from being 6 months old, and here is her first offical picture here on my blog..Yes she is daddy's little girl to a T~ =0) The child has more Patriots, Celtics, and Red Sox gear than Bob and I combined!

Kendall is 5 months old~!

Being a new mommy really does take alot of my spare time up..But I am going to start bloggin more often. Kendall at her last appt weighed 14 lbs and 27 inches long. He is the light of our lives for sure! I will try and update as best I can from here on out.

Kendall Morgan has arrived!

Our little miracle daughter Kendall Morgan entered into the world on 10/25/08 at 9:16 am. I went into the hospital on the Wed night before, stayed over night, and was sent home late Thursday morning. We were scheduled for induction on Friday 10/24. I woke up at 6:20am, called the Labor &Delivery unit at our hospital, and they told us to arrive anytime after 7am. We got showered, and ready, and as we were leaving the house at 7:15 I felt a huge gush....It was my water breaking. We got to the hospital, and the fluid was tested, and came back as positive, we were joking that of course this would happen to us. Meaning my water breaking the morning of the induction. I was hooked up to my IV, and Pitocin was started. I started feeling some good cramping about an hour into it. My contractions were manageable, and I thought so far so good wow this isn't as bad as I had imagined after all. My Dr came in to check me that morning and I was between 1-2 cm dilated. Pitocin was given all day, and my Dr came back at about 6pm to recheck me. No change, and he found my water had to be ruptured completely again. Apparently, the fluid keeps replenishing it's self, so he finished the rupture, to try and get things moving. He said it was my forwaters that had broken earlier in the day. At this point I told Bob to go ahead with his mom, and our best friends to grab a bite to eat, b/c it was going to be a long night. My sister, and my aunt stayed with me, and no sooner did Bob leave I had my first strong intolerable, untalkable, painful gut ripping contraction....they kept coming stronger and harder about every 1-3 minutes. THANK GOD for my Auntie Donna who caught on immediately as to what was occurring and fast, and started helping me breath thru all of my contractions!! She was a live saver!! I had my Sister call Bob, Mamma Heck, Ant and Ellen and asked for them to get back to the hospital I needed Bob, and the contractions were extremely painful. By 7:45pm I asked for my epidural. We were told b/c it was a Friday night there is only one Dr. on call, and the sooner the better to get it. The Dr. on call arrived to give the epidural, by this time I was in tears, and couldn't focus on anything but breathing thru, and answering the questions in between. He then gets a page on his beeper and has to rush to the ER, he returned 20 mins later. We get things started..He washes my back, numbs it or so I thought, puts the Epidural needle in ( I just about jumped off the table b/c you can feel the needle not piercing your skin but very unpleasant pressure in your back) and then he gets ANOTHER page. He returns it, and says “I am sorry I have to get to the OR, I'm taking the needle out" He pulls out the needle, and he is off....I am beyond beying comforted at this point. All I remember is lying on my side begging for the pain to stop...the contractions were every 2 mins, and STRONG. My nurse was very apologetic, and said in all her years working, she has never seen this happen. About 20 mins later he still had not returned, so she called downstairs to OR to get the status, and I heard her say "I want to be able to tell my patient something, b/c she's laying here in agony, he got halfway thru, and had to leave" I was then given Stadol per my Dr after she called him b/c of the time I had been waiting... Apparently, they had to call another Dr in, and it would be about 30 mins for him to arrive..It felt like an eternity! He arrives, and we have to restart the whole epidural process AGAIN obviously.....He gets the epidural in, (Not a pleasant experience at all) and my BP drops, so now they are giving me medicine in my IV to stabilize my BP, I am very sick to my stomach at this point as well, which the Dr said was caused by my low BP. Finally some 45 mins later I am stabilized, and my nurse gives me Nubain to help me sleep, and relax. At 10 pm she comes back to check me....no dilation change, and she can feel "molding" of the head. She explains that she is going to call my Dr. and advise him of this b/c apparently molding tells them at that point, that the baby may be too big to fit thru the pelvis, and rather put me, and baby thru a long labor it would be best to just go right to a C-Section. My Dr. tells her to up my pitocin, and recheck me in an hour, and we'd go from there. 11pm comes she rechecks, and I am now 3-4 cm's and the molding is getting less apparent, and her head is coming down nice. My Dr. at this point says ok lets let her go and see what happens. I labor overnight, at about 400am I start feeling my contractions again...not so much in the tummy but down low, and the pressure is so painful I have to breathe thru them, and I am in tears yet again. They recheck me and I am just at 4 maybe 5 cm's., so they decide to change my anesthesia, to a different dose etc.. That works up 6:00 am. I start feeling pressure again, and am now at 7 cm's. My Dr was called and he said he'd be in at 730. He was technically done being on call at 730 but the Dr coming on I didn't feel comfortable with, and we really wanted our Dr to deliver Kendall, as he and his assistant were so wonderful to us during our entire pregnancy...so my Dr said he was going to see this thru, and come in to deliver me. My D arrives at 730 cks me I am now about 9cm, but there is a lip of the cervix that is stopping her from coming down more. He said I'll be back in 20 mins and that I'd probably be pushing, 15 mins later I had that strong urge to push, and he came right back and I did a couple practice pushes. I started pushing at about 8:15 or so...it was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. My MIL, my Aunt, DH, my nurses, and my Dr. were all very encouraging. I started to feel tons of pain and after laboring all night long and pushing for 40 mins I was beginning to get exhausted, and I was just saying over and over please just get her out. I gave another 2 or 3 pushes, and all of the sudden I remember my Dr saying, Jen...don't push her heart rate is at 190 so I am going to have to get the forceps set up, we have to get her out now. I was relieved, but so SCARED I knew this was going to hurt worse than pushing, and it was urgent we get her out. They got set up, and I pushed with the forceps, at this point everything is a blur. Bob and family told me after the fact her heart rate jumped to the 200's, and all I remember is the Dr saying come on Jen push sweetie...and the searing pain...which stalled for what seemed like FOREVER. Next thing I know my Dr has two nurses take my legs, change postion, and has one I think pressing on my stomach, apparently her shoulders got stuck!! I found this out after the fact, b/c I was so out of it and in so much pain. At 9:16 am I felt her come out, and she was placed on my stomach, and the room erupted in cheers. I looked at Bob and naturally a wave of emotion came over us. Everyone was in tears! Our Dr. came around to my side while the resident worked on me, and said "You did awesome,. , she's beautiful, and you’re miracle baby is finally here you did it Congrats" I did end up with a 3rd/2nd degree tear...b/c of the delivery....Let me just say despite how much pain I felt, the 26 hours of labor, and the downfalls we had...and still a week late I feel that no words can explain our love and amazement of this little girl. She has a full head of dark hair, Bob's eyes, my lips and pout, Bob's nose (I think), and when she sleeps she looks just like him. I can see just how much in love he his with his daughter, it brings me to tears every time I see him holding her b/c he's just in awe and amazement with her. The love we feel for her is just beyond words, and we just look at her and say over and over she was worth every step of this journey.....every needle stick, every surgery, everything she was WORTH every BIT of it!We were finally released from the Hospital on Wed b/c she has jaundice, and it was SO hard not being able to hold our baby girl b/c of she had to be in the Billi blanket. I also suffered a bad bout of baby blues while in the hospital. My wonderful mother in law stayed with us up until yesterday, and is coming back Sunday and suddenly the anxiety is flooding back....I am up at every sound she makes, checking on her constantly, and am so NERVOUS. Is she still breathing? Is she warm enough? Does she need to be changed? Is she hungry? Is she going to get flat head if she sleeps all the time? All of these constant questions go thru my head NON stop. it will get easier, but the hormones after having a baby are not fun, not to mention the sleep deprivation, but again SHE'S WORTH IT!!Well that is about it for now. Sorry it took me so long to post but we've been so busy I just haven't had a chance to post much this last week. =0) Thank you all for your kind words, congrats etc..I just haven't had a chance to get back to everyone individually. It's taken me bits and pieces over the course of 3 days just to write this blog all out =0)Thank you to all of our friends & family who sat in the waiting room for HOURS literally during my Labor and Delivery...those who came in during Labor, and offered comfort...thank you for coming to see us in the Hospital, and for helping us get thru our rough spots!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Your kindness and outpouring of support, and love for that we are forever grateful!Thank you to Mom and Auntie Donna for being SO wonderful, and supportive of Bob and me during the Labor and Delivery!! I know it wasn’t easy, and we appreciate everything so much!My wonderful mother in law has been out here for the last week, and we are so lucky to have her, and I couldn't have been blessed with a more caring, loving, patient, compassionate, beautiful mother & father in law, and brother in laws. Someone up there was watching out for me that I am sure of!Most of all Thank you Bob...hunny you were my rock thru everything during this.you were my hero, you comforted me, you encouraged me, you supported me, but most of all you love me and your daughter very much and that is the best gift ever!!! I know it wasn't easy for you to see me in so much pain, and what Kendall had to go thru but thank you so much for being you, and for loving us as much as you do!Thank's everyone again!!Jen, Bob, and Baby Girl Kendall

32 Days left...give or take

We had our 35 week appt today
Baby Kendall is doing great..She has dropped for sure!! My BP is ok, and swelling has gone down alot! My Dr. is still measuring me bigger, bigger by a few weeks! I have only gained 1/2 lb since my last appt 2 weeks ago!! So we are very happy with that...and the biggest news I am 1 cm dialated!! At this point in time if I go into full blown labor he'll just let me deliver. He explained babies born spontaneously at 35/36 weeks do pretty well as far as lung maturity goes vs. a baby that is induced. We go for another u/s tommorrow to get another weight on baby girl =0) As I am measuring so far ahead. So that is it for now! Next appt next wed =0) I am so estatic there is some change it means the end is in sight! =0) Additionally, Group B Strep was negative, and I got my flu shot per dr's rec b/c flu can be so dangerous to Baby and Mom =0)
She's almost here everyone!! =0)

We have named our Baby Girl

Kendall Morgan =0)

Only 10 weeks to go!! WOW!!

11 Weeks 4 days to go

Yep..time has flown by that fast!! Things are going great. She is a very active baby, and loves to keep me up at night already =0) She is so worth it though, this lil girl is loved so much already, and we can't wait to welcome her into the world! We'll keep you posted. We don't have a name yet, but we will soon =0)

Thanks everyone for your love and support! =0)

26 Weeks

We cannot believe we are 26 weeks along already. Things are going great. I had my Gestational Diabetes draw yesturday, and my sugar is great, but my Iron is low. So I have to go on an Iron supplement. Here is my latest Belly Pic taken at 25 weeks. So far I am pretty much all baby which is a good thing!

Here is a picture that Bob and I had done at 24 weeks

My first baby shower is in a couple of weeks, and I have selected the bedding. It's called Sugar Plum

We still don't have a name yet..but that is soon to come! =0) I'll try and update more, life has been crazy!! =0)

It's a .........

GIRL!!!! After experiencing minor contractions last week we went in for an ultrasound, and our lil one was willing to give up the goods! We are so excited to be having a lil princess! =0) 20 weeks already time is FLYING by!! More soon!

We didn't find out what we are having

18 Weeks and counting almost half way there!!

So last Wednesday was supposed to be our big ultrasound. Lets just say our lil one was very uncooperative! Baby was in a breech position, and legs crossed of course tech tried to sneak a peek inbetween but what do you know the cord was right in the way! Go FIGURE!! While everyone else around me who is due around my time on the boards, and etc, already know what they are having Bob and I have to wait another 3 weeks! This is TORTURE! It's like the 2ww all over again! Baby looked great..and is VERY active. (S)he wouldn't stop moving during the ultrasound so the tech had a very hard time getting measurements which is another reason why we have to go back in 3 weeks. So until that is the latest update! I am feeling good, headaches have been BRUTAL, and I am tired all the time! I will update again soon!

Bump Alert!!

11 Weeks

14 Weeks

16 Weeks

Weeks 11-16

Baby Hecks Growth weeks 11-16


11 Weeks

Baby's size = Lime

12 Weeks







Baby's size = Prune

13 weeks

Baby's size = Peach

14 Weeks

Baby's size = Lemon

15 Weeks

Baby's size = Naval Orange

16 Weeks

Baby's Size = Avacado

13 weeks 1 Day

Well after bleeding heavily again today we had another ultrasound. Thank god our lil Pineapple is good. It was SO cute! Jumping around, waving it's arms, kicking it's legs, opening it's mouth. ADORABLE! We still do not know why I am bleeding have not spoke with my Dr. yet, but I am just so relieved our baby is ok that is what is most important! Here is our most recent pic of our baby.

A look into the first 10 weeks

Here is exactly how baby develops during the first 10 weeks just to give you all a perspective

WEEK 1



Week 2


Week 3

Week 4

Baby's size = Poppy seeds

Week 5

Baby's size = An Applseed

Week 6

Baby's size = Sweet Pea

Week 7

Baby's Size = Blueberry

Week 8

Baby's Size = Raspberry

Week 9

Baby's size = Green Olive

Week 10

Baby's size = A prune

9 weeks 1 Day

Well here I am 9 weeks pregant! My time has flown! Sorry I've been MIA things have been busy, and honestly there wasn't much to report until now. This is our 8W5D ultrasond the baby is looking more like a baby and less like a blobby!!

Here is our video from that appointment, which was our last RE appt.






See the big picture
How your baby's growing:Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

7 Weeks 1 Day

We went today for our follow up appt, and all looks great!!! Heartbeat is great, baby looks great! We go back on March 28th and will hopefully be discharged, and then we'll meet with our OB/GYN on April 3rd.
Babys size this week: The size of a blueberry!

How your baby's growing:The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

6 weeks 3 Days

How your baby's growing: This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.

Houston we have a heartbeat!!!!

After a scare that sent us the ER yesturday, and the dr telling us we were having a threatened miscarraige, we went to our Dr's office this morning. The baby is growing beautifully!!! Has heartrate of 105 beats per min which is perfect, and is measuring 2mm. To see the heartbeat more clearly, and strong was AMAZING! I am still measuring 5w6d, and they gave us a due date of 11/3. I go back Next Monday for a re-check. Now, the fun stuff, what is going on with me, why am I bleeding? For starters, I am on strict bedrest until at least Thursday. My nurse said I can go back to work on Wed only if I have no spotting and bleeding. When I return to work, it must be light activity. So the ultrasound shows the baby is stil high in the uterus, and on the ultrasound she saw a sac of fluid kind of bubbling out from the gestational sac. I can't explain it like she did, but we understand it, basically it's like fluid or something like cycst type thing, that will bed rest should shrink down, and go away on it's own. It's not quite as bad as sub hemo bleed, but still enough to constitue bedrest. The pregnancy is not as threatened as we thought last night, however by NOT resting it can put the baby at risk, anything could unfortunately still happen, but we have faith, hope, prayers, and love. So that is the update...long story short..Hugs to you all thank you so much! Here are the two most recent pics. The baby is in between te two plus signs.

Had quite the scare today

Thank you all first and foremost for all of your prayers and thoughts. So...this is what happened I was sitting on couch talking a friend of mine this morning, drinking my morning sickness tea, and I stood up and felt a gush, I assumed it was the prometrium supplement, so a few mins later I went to the bathroom wrong...there was Blood everywhere heavier than a normal period (sorry TMI) I yelled to Bob and said I am hopping in the shower to clean up call the RE on call, let them know we are going to the ER. The Dr. called back after I got out of the shower. At first he had me totally mixed up with another patient, after a min or two of him rambling on about my chem pg, and how we'd have to see how my draw is tomorrow, and this is common and it sounds like a miscarraige. I said I think you have me confused with the wrong patient I am 6 weeks along. He apologized, asked what was going on, and then basically told me there is nothing we can do to just relax and come in the morning. Completely not useful, and well we basically said SCREW THAT we are not sitting around bleeding heavily with NO answers!!!! So off to the ER we went, they got me right in, I was a mess in tears, and the Nurse, and Dr. we had were AWESOME. Apparently, BMC doesn't do ultrasounds on Sundays unless it's an emergecny, and my case was not seen as an "emergency" but when I told then told the dr all we had been thru, he looked as us and said man you've been thru hell and back...I am gonna really push to get you an ultrasound. We informed him that we transferred 3 embryo's and only one was visable it became a life threatening emergency. (Possible, ectopic, of one of the embies..etc..)So he gets us to ultrasound stat! Also they were watching my bloodpressure closely, it was high, then dropped, then back up. Needless to say I have the headache from hell right now. So we go off to ultrasound, bleeding has lessened at this point but still pretty steady. The Gestational sac is still in tact, as well as the yoke sac, and WE SAW THE HEARTBEAT!!!! Amazing to see for the first time..there was the yolk sac, and then above that we saw this grey pulsating blob. It was very faint but there, I am however measuring at 5w6d instead of 6 weeks, and EDD is 11/4. Now the diagnosis..We get back to our room and the gives us the news. I have what is called a threatened miscarriage. I am on Strict bedrest only to get up to go to the Bathroom only! I cannot return to work tommorrow per the ER Doc, and have to go to my RE in the morning. My HCG levels are a huge 15,338! My white blood cells are slightled elevated, which isn't necessarily uncommon, but still alaring. My beata is a doubling time of 51.4 hours. I feel so bad for Bob he's been working straight since Friday morning basically coming home to just sleep, and today was his day to recoop and relax, So we aren't out of the woods yet by anymeans...I want this so badly, and this baby is my world already, I do not know what I would do if we lost it...thanks for listening girls, and for the prayers, we need them....

Yolk Sac is visable!

These are the two newest pictures of Baby Heck. You can see a Yolk Sac has appeared in the gestational sac, which the ultrasound tech labeled for us. In picture #2 if you look directly to the left of the arrows you will se a circle, that is the yolk sac. The yolk sac nourishes the baby

for now until the placenta takes over =0) So far so good. We go back on Tuesday for a Heartbeat Check!

We went to BMC today b/c I started having bad cramps, followed by bleeding. Thank god everything is ok!!! Thank you everyone for keeping the prayers up, and for thinking of us!

5 weeks 3 Days

How the lil pineapple has changed ....

You won't believe the changes that the baby has already gone through in such a short time. The baby's heart is 3/4 of the way formed and will begin beating this week! Also developing are the brain, cardiovascular and nervous systems and the reproductive and other major systems. Early this week the baby becomes pear-shaped. The rounded end will become the head while the pointed end will become the baby's spine. The baby is now known as an embryo and is about 1.5 - 2.5 mm or 0.05 - 0.09 inches in length.

What baby looks like





We go in on March 11th to see the heartbeat!! Fingers crossed!!!

Symptoms so far

Tired....very tired
Heartburn
Cravings

We have a visable sac!!

" While a gestational sac is sometimes seen as early as during the 4th week of gestation, it may not be seen until the end of the 5th week, when the serum HCG levels have risen to 1000-1500 mIU." Just something I found on a IVF Site...


I woke up this morning with some more spotting/bleeding. I was to go in tommorrow morning for another beta test. I called my Dr's office, and they told me to come in today to be seen, so I made the hour plus commute to my RE's office. They set up to do an ultrasound first to see where the bleeding is coming from. My cervix is long and closed, which is good, so they think it's just an irritation from the Prometrium. The nurse asked u/s tech if we can scan for anything visable, and Poof right away we have ONE perfect sac visable!!! I am measuring exactly 4weeks 5 days so they are estatic with that, so good I don't need any more blood work! In order for anything to be seen on ultrasound you must have HCG levels of at least 1000 I was only 320 on Tuesday, and nothing showed on ultrasound then...so it's pretty obvious my numbers more than doubled! WOO HOO this is such a huge hurdle for us....and the nurse said everything looks perfect, just to take it easy, and I could even have a glass of red wine tonight if I want to. I guess Red wine is ok during pregnancy only occasionally though and right now I would be fine if I wanted to. I was so nervous, the nurse also reassured me if something looked off they would see that and would certainly tell me. We are over the moon right now...so for right now we have one TTP ( Teeny Tiny Pineapple) that will be our babies name until we know the sex...lol =0)

Here are a couple of snaps of the ultrasound. To find the sac...look directly under the "GE" on the left hand side. The black circle with a Gray sphere next to it is the Gestational Sac =0) Measuring exactly where I need to be =0)

Here is a close up You need to look dead center, and for the black circle that is it =0)

What is going on this week..

Your pregnancy: 5 weeks (4 Weeks Gestational)

How your baby's growing:
Deep in your uterus your embryo is growing at a furious pace. At this point, he's about the size of a sesame seed, and he looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human. He's now made up of three layers — the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm — which will later form all of his organs and tissues.

The neural tube — from which your baby's brain, spinal cord, nerves, and backbone will sprout — is starting to develop in the top layer, called the ectoderm. This layer will also give rise to his skin, hair, nails, mammary and sweat glands, and tooth enamel.

His heart and circulatory system begin to form in the middle layer, or mesoderm. (This week, in fact, his tiny heart begins to divide into chambers and beat and pump blood.) The mesoderm will also form your baby's muscles, cartilage, bone, and subcutaneous (under skin) tissue.

The third layer, or endoderm, will house his lungs, intestines, and rudimentary urinary system, as well as his thyroid, liver, and pancreas. In the meantime, the primitive placenta and umbilical cord, which deliver nourishment and oxygen to your baby, are already on the job.