Sugar and spice and everything nice...

That's what little girls are made of. Baby Mitchell #2 is a GIRL! Apparently nobody wants to spend a whole day with me since only 5 of you commented :(. I'm fun I promise haha. So another little girl for our family! Of course it didn't matter to us boy or girl but we are both extremely excited for PINK. I have some of the ultrasound pictures that were taken and also a video. However since I am still new at this I am still trying to figure out how to upload the video for you all! So for now enjoy a few ultrasound pictures including some 3D ones of our little girl :).

 

 

Wasn't too shy showing us her hoo-ha :)

Covering her face, she was kind of shy

Waving to her mommy and daddy

As adorable as we all know she will be, the 3D photos are a bit alien looking right now since it's so early. She still needs time to get cuter :). She does look so much like Sloane though, we compared Sloane's 3D pictures and regular ultrasound pictures and it looks very similar. Sloane wanted us to be able to give all her bows and outfits to her younger sibling and she just knew daddy wouldn't allow them on a baby brother :) so I know she had a little something to do with bringing her baby sister into our lives!

 

Baby Mitchell #2 Is...

Our first doctors appointment after the cerclage was this morning, and things looked pretty good. Dr. Font said that my cervix was shorter than what the ultrasounds had been showing earlier. Not the best news but he said they were still able to do the cerclage successfully and stitch up what was left of my cervix. So bed rest it is. Staying off my feet as much as possible. Baby looked great. Strong heartbeat and measuring right on target if not ahead by a couple days. He however didn't take a look between its legs, but Marty and I were sneaky enough to schedule an appointment at Peek-a-Belly in Lockport a few weeks ago just so we could find out for sure. We went to Peek-a-Belly at 15 weeks to find out with Sloane so being right at 15 weeks again we figured lets go again! The baby was moving like crazy! Trying to flip over, kicking its legs, looking like it was having a ton of fun in there! He/She kept covering its face but once I moved over to my side, he/she put its hands down and started to wave :). We have plenty of pictures that I want to share with you all however you are just going to have to wait. I want to see what everyone thinks this baby could be, boy or girl. So after this post you have a place where you can comment. I want you to guess what you think Baby Mitchell #2 is and also give us a good name :). So if you think it's a boy give us a boy name you would like, if you think it's a girl give us a girl name you like. All of you that guess correctly win a day with me on bed rest!! Yup that's right you get to hang out with me for the day so guess wisely! Ill post a schedule for the winners so I don't get visitors at the same time :). So guess away! I'll leave you with one picture, and I'll also post Sloane at exactly the same gestation so you can see just how much they resemble each other. Good Luck :).




Sloane at 15 weeks

Baby Mitchell #2

Bed Rest Thankfulness

The Start of bed rest has begun, and it couldn't have come at a better time...The Holidays. I say that half sarcastically and half serious. These holidays are obviously a bit different for me with Sloane not being here like she should. They are all apart of my journey, my firsts. My first Thanksgiving without her, and then Christmas. However, I "celebrated" with her brother/sister in my belly and ate as much as I could for the two of us :). Thanksgiving is also a bit different for my family this year because 1. Marty is in Georgia celebrating with The Mitchells and 2. My parents are stuck with not only me living in their house for 5 days but also Lola and Lucy.  Oh and Zeke! It is a full house, and as I mentioned before, the four of us haven't been under the same roof for more than a day let alone five days since I was probably in High School. We are going on day 3 and all of us are still alive. So far so good :). Since I had decided that I didn't want to do anything for Thanksgiving and really couldn't do anything the highlight of the day was when my brother brought over my favorite dishes from their Thanksgiving celebration at my Aunt's house. Pasta, Aunt Nancy's Salad, and my favorite of all time Garlic Lemon Broccoli. The only way ill even think about touching broccoli. Most of it was gone by the time Zeke had dropped it off, let the dogs out, feed them and then made his way back to celebrate. Delicious! The actual whole point of this post was to be thankful, and as much as I have so much to be thankful for I am glad the holiday is over and its just another normal day. However without further ado a few of the things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving...

I must mention this is the first picture Marty and I took together xoxo

Now before I hear how come you're not thankful for me or you forgot...I must mention that I am thankful for EVERYONE who has supported Marty and I through everything this year and I couldn't possibly fit or find pictures of all your beautiful faces. Also keep in mind it was easier for me to be thankful for those who are taking care of me this week while Marty is away and if I wasn't thankful for them I'd for sure be in trouble :). So of course I am thankful for Lola and sometimes Lucy. I am especially thankful for my parents this week for taking care of me waiting on me hand and foot and giving Marty a break (even though Marty only had 2 days of bed rest with me). I am thankful for my friends who have called, texted, sent goodies, and visited. My two great friends, Lisa and Matt came to visit me Friday and I honestly can say that I haven't laughed as hard or as much as I did for those 4 hours in a really long time. I am also thankful for my brother Zeke. Even though he picks on me as if he is my big brother, he did give up his bed in my parent's house so that I could be comfortable. Something completely random, lemons. I am thankful for those too this year. Yes I eat them, yes I know they take the enamel off my teeth however they help with this nausea that this baby of mine has been giving me. Next, I thank god everyday for being pregnant again. I am thankful that I am in fact fertile mertile and have been given the chance to bring another child into this world. With that said I am obviously thankful for my husband! I can't do this without him. We just celebrated our first wedding anniversary and I think I heard the first year is the toughest? I might be wrong however we faced the worst year of our lives unfortunately during our first year of marriage. But in that worst year we created a miracle, Sloane Elise Mitchell, and although she didn't spend nearly enough time here on earth with us I am thankful for carrying her in my tummy for 24 weeks feeling her move and kick. I am thankful for those 2 hours we were able to spend with her. I am thankful for the memories I will cherish for a lifetime. So, that's my bed rest thankfulness, which also includes a long list of silly items like nail polish, my phone ha, pay pal (because that allows me to just purchase things online without having to get up because my husband's credit card information is already listed) :) and all my extended family, in-laws, and friends. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! 

Closing Time

Well, I didn't get a lot of sleep (I figured that) and for some reason when the alarm went off at 3:45am I woke up chipper. Odd. Especially with how nervous I was, and I am not a big morning person: SHOCKER! So I did what everyone would do before prepping for a surgery, I straightened my hair and applied my makeup :). Marty took one look at me and his face said it all, are you nuts!? Regardless, I felt better getting "done up" for all the nurses, and doctors who were about to get real personal with my bottom half. Always on time Marty, we were early checking in at 4:40am. I was nervous at first dreading being in the same room that I was in with Sloane, thankfully we were not. They had my room all set up for me already in Labor & Delivery so we were all checked in by 5:30am. Then the dreadful waiting happened.



Love the gowns

Dr. Font arrived fashionably 15 minutes late. So to say the least, those 2 hours that we waited to go into surgery were the worst. Finally my nurse came to take me into the OR to get my spinal started. Walking down the hall towards the OR I felt like I was leaving for school with my husband and mother waving at me until they couldn't see me anymore. Probably one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. I was all anxious for the spinal and to be honest, not bad at all. Just like a shot only in your spine :/. The procedure itself, the actual stitching took maybe 15 minutes. I didn't feel a thing! I actually didn't even know that Dr. Font had started to work "down there" until my anesthesiologist asked how I was doing since he started 5 minutes ago. Unfortunately Dr. Font wasn't too happy with the length of my cervix. He said it was a lot shorter than it had been. However we were still able to place the cerclage so it was a success! We do meet with him next Monday and he said he would be able to go over everything with us then. My blood pressure did spike once my legs were brought down from being up in the air so I was given medicine for that, which caused instant nausea, so he gave me something for that. I had to wait in recovery for an hour with some woman who had just had a ceaseran section. She was a little out of it though :). From there I was able to be with Marty and my mom and just wait until my spinal wore off. Unfortunately it took longer than we thought.

 

 

As you can see, it was a lot longer than Marty thought as well. Poor guy couldn't get comfortable. I mean I wouldn't have been able to in those chairs after 10 hours of waiting. I wasn't able to feel any type of pain obviously until the spinal finally wore off. I was finally able to feel my entire body which was extremely sore from my lower stomach down and was able to use the restroom on my own so we were discharged!

 

 

Guess what's back now that I am on strict bed rest...

 

 

MY TRAY!!

 

 



 For those of you that dont know, my smart husband came up with the idea of using the tray back when I was on bed rest with Sloane so it was easier for him to wait on me hand and foot :). So I have just been resting ever since we got home. My lovely friend Jessica stopped over and brought me a bed rest basket full of all my favs and visited with me for a while, and Marty got in care taker mode already and made me dinner :). P.S. I have only had a little spotting, just a lot of cramping which should subside in the next few days. Next up, family weekend! My mom, dad, Zeke, and I all under the same roof for 5 days! Hasn't happened since I was a senior in High School :). 

 

 

Lemons, flavored H2O, nail polish, Taco Bell, Magazines, and a candle!

My last weekend as a free woman...

 

Let me just start off by saying I planned to do a lot of things this weekend. Most of which I did not even attempt to start. However we did have a fun jam packed weekend that I enjoyed immensely. Friday was what we are pretty sure was my last time teaching until after the baby. Not only was it by far one of the best classes I have had since I started, but I also took that little gem of a note you see above from two students during a quiz. Keep in mind these are 7th graders. In math class, taking a quiz on decimals, fractions, and sequencing. All things I didn't get back then and still didn't get as I was supposed to be "teaching" them :). At first I opened the folded note in front of them making sure it wasn't a cheat sheet, and as I read the first sentence I almost lost it in front of them but knew I just couldn't embarrass them anymore than the two of them probably already were just from me reading it. So of course I waited until after class. There was no way I was giving this back because A. It was wrong they shouldn't have been passing notes, and B. I was too nosey not to find out what this guy's answer was going to be. Apparently its just that simple, kiss me and you'll understand. I hope she decided not to kiss him already. I mean if this baby is a girl, my daughter better not be kissing in 7th grade. I know I wasn't kissing yet, I just wish I could say the same for good old Marty.

Marty and I had mentioned to Mason (the little boy I nannied) that we would have him over for a sleep over. So why not make it during my last hoorah! Side note: I say this was my last weekend as a free woman, and my last hoorah sarcastically. I cannot wait for this little baby to make his/her entrance into this world, and put his/her life in front of mine. However until that happens, the next 20+ weeks on bed rest probably are not going to be so much fun. So back to Mason :). We ended up taking him to see Madagascar at the movie theater, getting him popcorn, fruit snacks, and a drink. You know the "must haves" when going to see a movie. After the movie, we decided to go for some pizza. I ended up taking the most adorable picture of Mr. Marty (as Mason calls him) and Mason.

I love these two :)

The cuteness didn't stop there. The last time we had Mason over he slept with Marty and I in our bed, and we really didn't realize sleeping with a two year old was that big of a mistake. He kicked, he moved, he practically slept on top of us. All of which I may not mind if I wasn't trying to sleep myself. So Marty and Mason made a "fort bed" on the floor next to our bed. Where I obviously slept because I was not going to sleep on the floor :).  

 

 

Mason is looking at me in the second one like, 'Really Ash, I wanna sleep in the bed!" He had a blast sleeping with Mr. Marty though. He waited for Marty to make a move in the morning before asking him to go downstairs. They were really cute together. Marty is already an amazing dad, but seeing him with Mason I can't wait to see him like that with one of our own.

 

Without Sloane during the holidays, I decided I just wasn't really in the mood to really go crazy and decorate this year. Instead I came up with a great idea! Since I couldn't really help put up our big tree and decorate and then help take it down (which I never really did anyway) I thought about getting a smaller tree just for Sloane and all of her ornaments. We had already gotten a few and I am of course hoping for a bit more ;) having her own little tree was genius! So we went out and picked a perfect 4.5 inch pre-lit Christmas tree with baby pine cones. Its perfect and I know Sloane is checking out her ornaments that are already on the tree.

 

Miss Sloane's Christmas tree

 

So, I still haven't done the laundry, or cleaned a little and I am still not ready for Monday morning. I will get the laundry done tomorrow. I can feel it. The cleaning not so much, and will I ever be ready for Monday? I don't think so, I just hope all goes well and that my angel is looking down on me and her little brother/sister as we take the next step in our journey. Wish us luck!

Surprise!

Yes its true, Marty and I were given another miracle on Sloane's due date. On September 11th we found out we were expecting, and due May 20, 2013. Just two days before Sloane's birthday. It was definitely a bittersweet day for us, and we knew it was a gift from our little girl in heaven. Now fast forward 10 weeks :) I am currently 13 weeks pregnant, and so far so great! Our doctors have been absolutely WONDERFUL! Right at 6 weeks we went into Dr. Khater's office (OB GYN) to see exactly how far along I was. It was no surprise we were right on target and even got to see the little one's heartbeat :)



Our little meatball

At 8 weeks we met with our MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) doctor Dr. Font. We received another ultrasound and saw that our tiny meatball of a baby had turned into a tiny gummy bear :)

 

Meatball turned Gummy Bear!

At this appointment, Marty, Dr. Font and I all agreed that placing a cerclage (the placement of a nonabsorbable suture around a functionally incompetent uterine cervix) would be the best for our situation. At 8 weeks there really isnt any precautionary measures to take so from then until 12 weeks I saw Dr. Khater every other week and continued taking my progesterone cream (I took this with Sloane too from weeks 4-12). Last week I received another ultrasound at 12 weeks and we were able to see just how big our little baby was getting! Cervix looked good as well at this appointment. We are always looking at my cervix to make sure its at least 3cm. Just about every appointment my cervix has been anywhere from 3cm to 5cm. Which is fantastic. The longer the better. It gives Dr. Font more to work with when he places the cerclage. During this ultrasound we did ask the technician to take a peek and see if we could see anything between the baby's legs. After 5 minutes of searching and looking she was able to give us her educated guess :) However we will know for sure in the upcoming weeks!



Big Hand!

Our Baby's Profile

 

Finally we are up to date! This past Monday, Marty and I visited Dr. Font and once again got to see the baby with an ultrasound (we have been so spoiled by getting an ultrasound almost every week!) We then were able to schedule the surgery. So Monday November 19th at 645am I will be getting my cerclage placed by Dr. Font. Of course Marty and my mom will be taking me. From what we know, we can expect to get a spinal and the procedure itself will only take 15 minutes. I will then be monitored for the rest of that morning early afternoon until the spinal wears off and everything looks good. I will experience some potential bleeding or spoting and mild cramping which all should go away by the end of the week. On Monday my cervix was 5cm and the baby was kicking and swinging its hands all over the place!

Baby Mitchell #2

Now that we have caught you all up to speed I welcome you to our blog. As long as I am on bed rest and new updates come up I'll be sharing them with all of you. This is going to be a long but successful journey as we plan to meet Baby Mitchell at the end of May. He/She has one of the best angels looking after him/her and without a doubt I know Sloane is watching over us as well. g