Cardiologist appointment-second opinion (8/25/14)

  The morning started off great before the appointment when Shane, Brielle and I all got to go out to eat and just enjoy being together since we hadn't been together for a few days.  It was just nice to relax and really realize what's important and say a prayer before the big appointment.
  The appointment was scheduled for 1pm, so since Shane and I were leaving from my parents house in Lockhart, we left around 11:30A just to be careful.  We got there at 12:15p and was given a stack of new patient paperwork to fill out which is expected but then we had to wait another 45 minutes until the doctor could see us. (Our original scheduled time)   Meeting the new Doctor (supposed be one of the best pediatric Cardiologist in our area) was definitely something interesting at first.  He shook mine and Shane's hand and just kind of asked us about our history and what brought us to him.  He is not one of those friendly doctors you can just tell anything and everything to, but he was very factual and knowledgeable.
  He then set up the ultrasound machine and took us to another room to be examined.  He didn't say much at all kind of just set me up and began with the exam.  I then wanted to break the ice and ask what he was seeing and he cut me off saying "I will explain everything when I am done, I need to be completely focused on this exam.  Note taken! I didn't say a word for the rest of the appointment which led Shane and myself to doze off plenty of times during the exam.
  The results were not what we expected.   If you remember our first Echo was posted here and we had so many questions going into this Echo that we wanted to make sure we got answered.  Our Doctor (which shall remain unnamed unless you would like a referral which we will gladly give you) started out by stating what all is wrong. He began by tearing off the paper from where the patient sits on in the room and drawing a heart. He said that the ASD that we were told from our last appointment is not what he could see as a major problem and seems to appear the regular size of a hole that all babies have before they take their first breath out of mom, in which the hole closes majority of the time (80% is what he said).  He calls this a PFO(Patent Foramen Ovale) and not a full ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) at this time. Rochelle does have a VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect) which is a moderate to large hole in her heart.  He then went on to say that surgery would not be the best option for a child with her condition because the complications that could occur with major heart surgery would be worse for someone who has Trisomy 13.  He said it wouldn't be needed right away and that the side effects that could occur 2-3 months down the road would be where the hole allows more blood to be pumped to the lungs causing her to probably be placed on diuretics.  He told us that the life expectancy of a child with Trisomy 13 is usually not longer than a year and we should think about doing pallitative care (make sure she is comfortable at all times at home) and live her life to the fullest every day.  He then went on to say if she makes it past a year and is stronger and able to tolerate surgery then we can revisit the surgery then.
  Then came all of the positive aspects from the exam which he started out by saying that I should be able to have a normal vaginal delivery and shouldn't have any complications related to Rochelle's heart.  He started pointing out the areas of the heart that were normal which were the valves, the aorta, the size of the heart, the blood flow, and the beginning part of the pulmonary arteries.  He said if we ever have any questions after she is born that he would be glad to see her and do an Echo of her heart then and if we had any questions at any other point in my pregnancy I can always call him directly and he will answer anything we needed.
  I could finally breathe with somewhat knowing what lies in the next 12 weeks of this pregnancy.  We are going to finally register at the same hospital that we delivered Brielle at with the same doctor and finally somewhat feel comfortable with how the labor and delivery process will go.  God has given us so much strength to find out as much information as we possibly can to be able to help our baby girl when she arrives and He continues to provide us with the answers at the right time.  Thank you so much to my Mom, Adriane and my Sis in law Tiffany who remembered how big of a day this was for us. We love y'all and appreciate you being in our lives.

Please continue to say prayers for these next 12 weeks and beyond. We can't wait to meet our precious baby and hope to continue to grow her inside of me as long as possible.  Thank you everyone :)

The picture our MD drew for us. How amazing! He was great at explaining as well!

Early Birthday Celebration

  This past weekend was so much fun celebrating my birthday early and my best friend's birthday a little later with all of our closest friends and family! It's so crazy how we realize how little of people we really have to close us since we have gotten older and value friendships so differently, some have  been over 10+ years! Thank you to our best friends who have continuously been there for us through thick and thin and I know this year is going to be amazing!

  One important thing that had to happen this month was to see my step-dad David and Pop.  We haven't seen them in a couple of months and my mom and I love to take Brielle with us to visit at least once a month to see how everything is going.  David's health changes everyday, but he stays so strong and keeps busy as much as he can and it makes me so happy to see him fight so much to live everyday to the fullest! My mom and I were babysitting my niece and nephew so it was a whirlwind driving with all three in my rav4, but at least we know we can now fit everyone in the back row! :) At one point on the drive to Seguin, all three kids were crying in the back and before we got on the highway I said a prayer to please calm all of the kids and let us have a smooth drive and thank goodness after a couple of minutes, all three kids were knocked out in the back seat!   I love spending time with David and Pop and hope to see them soon again! The kids had fun as well so that made the trip well worth it :)

  Saturday I worked in Austin and Brielle sleeps crazy when we are at my moms and woke up at like 4:45AM of course I fed her a bottle, changed her and put her back to sleep.  Since my alarm is at 530A on my workdays I just decided to get up and get ready knowing it was going to be a long day since I get off at 7pm.  My patients family decided to take me out to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate me being with them for a year and it was so much fun and I am so thankful I have this job in Austin.  

  Sunday was the birthday celebration day and Shane came up in the early afternoon and went to meet up with Adriane, Lauren, and Krystle at the nail salon to get manicures and pedicures and it was so worth the 30 minute wait and we all had a good time! Shane just sat there and waited patiently for all of us to get done (such a sweet hubby!) and then we headed to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and it was uh-mazing to say the least! We haven't been there in over a year and decided that would be a good place to go to so our friends Carli, Rigo, and George came up from Yoakum and met us there which was so much fun to catch up with everyone and just laugh and have a good time.  (Child free!) :) We walked around the arboretum after dinner since we were all SO full and took some really cute pictures and then went bowling as a group before heading home.  Since Brielle had a late nap with my mom she was actually up when we got home so we got to put her to sleep (Double yay!)

Here are a few pictures from the weekend! I will be blogging about our cardiologist appointment that happened yesterday and let everyone know the results of baby Rochelle!

Mommy, Daddy and Brielle before dinner!

Cheesecake Factory amazing desserts!

Brielle up late with my mom!

My mom, Aiden, Emma, Brielle, Me and David

Our gorgeous baby girl before heading to breakfast!

Changes Are Coming

  These past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind with working, lack of sleep, and lots of training at both of my jobs.  It's been at times stressful, but I wouldn't change a thing, and I am so honored to have all of the love and support I need as a person to get through it all!
  Brielle has loved being able to spend time with her cousins lately when my mom has them at her house as well and they all play so cute together (majority of the time unless Brielle and Emma have disagreements on sharing toys) and let me tell you- I am so glad that my nephew is so calm and patient with Brielle when she kisses him like 100+ times a day.  She LOVES babies, kids in general but she has such a fascination with little babies.  (Definitely gives us a lot of hope for how she will behave in about 3 months!) She has been going through the "NO" phase which we could tell is definitely overused in our household and are trying to re-direct her using other words now since we are getting it told back to us with a little finger shaking as well lol. I know that each phase of toddler-hood will pass so this is just a part of her development that she must go through in order to grow up.
  Shane and I have been losing a lot of sleep lately whether it be Brielle waking us up in the middle of the night, or the dogs.  I am so glad we still tag-team it like when Brielle was an infant and switch off who gets her when (I am so thankful he still helps me in the middle of the night even when he has to work the next day).  She usually goes back to sleep with a diaper change and doesn't need a bottle but at times she justs wants extra TLC.  Does anyone know if their children had nightmares at 14 months old?  Sometimes she wakes up screaming so loud (not crying) and just terrified when we go in there and it takes her a little while to calm down.  This occurs at times during naps now too.
  We realized that we were in much need of a weekend vacation to refresh our marriage and ourselves with some good sleep and time spent with just each other and I am so glad we did just that this past weekend in Houston.  We dropped Brielle off Saturday morning with my mom in Lockhart then headed on our long drive to Houston.  We first visited my cousin Cara and her adorable family and my Aunt Linda was there as well and it was so nice to catch up like old times and just laugh and bond together.  Her 3 kids are growing up so fast and it was great to see her husband John again! Then we left and picked up a bite to eat at Freddy's (SO GOOD) and headed on to Lakewood Church to see our favorite Joel Osteen preach.  We always feel so revived when we leave there, it's such an amazing experience! We then checked in at the hotel and was up until like 1am due to our partying neighbors. But sleep was definitely needed and woke up and enjoyed an amazing breakfast buffet at the hotel before checking out and stopping by the Galleria on our way out of town.  That mall is huge and amazing and a lot of expensive stores inside! We left with only a bow for Brielle and a headband for me.  We just couldn't fathom spending a lot of money on stuff we don't need! We headed back to Lockhart to greet our precious non-napping angel outside and she was thrilled to see us! We then stopped by our friend Caitlin's house and got to enjoy a great dinner before heading up in which we changed her in her PJ's because we knew she would pass out.

Overall even though we have all been going through changes with lack of sleep, traveling, and trying to prepare little by little for Baby Rochelle's arrival, we couldn't be more excited for the future and the growth of our family.  Thank you to everyone for all the continued prayers you have given us! We are 27 weeks today and go to see the Cardiologist on the 25th to determine the next step of this journey! :)

Here are some pictures from our latest adventures!

One of my biggest fish that night!

She snuck in her room and grabbed her paci (I only let her have them when sleeping) so funny!

Emma and Brielle in the ball pit!

Cousin Aiden growing up so fast!

Brielle and her cute self!

Having fun with Nana!

Bubbles time!!

Brielle and her favorite baby Emmie!

Me and Shane at the Galleria

Whoop Whoop! 

Amazing breakfast buffet. 

Brielle playing at Nana's

Shane and I at the hotel

Downtown Houston

Joel Osteen

Amazing shake at Freddy's! 

Shane and Levi

25 weeks!!

Baby: 25 weeks old!! The baby is the size of an eggplant (9 in., 1.7 lbs) and growing more and more everyday! I wish we did a sonogram this appointment but that is just the measurement of the app that I use which has been spot on all the way.  Rochelle has been kicking SO much it's adorable and I love it! She is so precious and hates when other kids/babies are laying on my belly for too long.  She's like "this is my mommy!!" lol I can already tell she and Brielle are going to have quite a few jealous times ahead :) Her heart rate was 153bpm and sounding great and my doctor plans on waiting to see what the Pediatric Cardiologist says he would like to do before we register at the hospital yet.  I can't wait to register and have the final steps in the works soon!

Mommy:  Honestly just been SO relaxed lately. I worked a total of 8 days last month and didn't have too many appointments so I got to soak up the moments with Brielle and Shane and loved every.second.of.it.

Daddy: Got to spend his first weekend mommy-free with Brielle while I worked in Austin and he LOVED it.  As did Brielle, they are so much closer because of it and I can't wait for them to be able to do this again!

Cravings: I honestly craved cake for like a week straight and I am pretty sure I ate a piece a day at that.  I loved the vanilla cake with the whipped cream frosting.  Now please don't bring it around me anymore, I can't stand to look at it I definitely over did it!

Brielle: She has been saying baby to everyone that has somewhat of a round belly (family members) like mommy, which is funny at the same sense because she is so innocent and just doesn't know.  She loves seeing babies and kisses them ALL over! She says "hi" and "bye bye" to everyone we pass by at the stores which is hilarious because even the people who try to ignore her, she won't let them.  I love her personality and how much more she is understanding and talking/signing these days! :) (Our baby girl is growing up SO fast!)

Brielle at Children's Place

We ran into Shane's mom at the mall!

Brielle on the bench at the bakery!

Loving on our baby girl!

Brielle sniffing the flowers at the Doctor's office.

It's all about love.

  Just thinking about this past week has got me so happy both on the inside and out. Shane's older brother Shon, that lives in Chicago, only comes down once a year and wanted one last hoo-rah on a Thursday before we left back to go home.  His brother wanted to go to the coast and since Shane and I have not made time for it in so long, we definitely were excited to go!
  We went to Port Lavaca and played on the beach area for a while and then did some fishing for about 3-4 hours and since it wasn't really the time to be going we didn't catch any fish! lol We had so much fun just being together the two of us (thanks to my parents for watching Brielle overnight so we could go) and we cannot wait to go again! :) Next time we are definitely spending the night so we can fish all night.
  The next day was time for me to go to Lockhart to spend time with my niece and nephew who came back from California with my sis-in-law and I was in awe of how much they both have grown up in the past couple of months.  I missed them so much and Brielle is so cute saying Emma and Aiden all the time.  It is so adorable to see family loving on each other.  Aiden is now 5 months old and Brielle loves having a baby around (kissing him ALL the time!) Brielle wasn't going to spend time with them this weekend since it was her first weekend alone with Daddy in a LONG time (usually shane works overtime but this weekend he wanted her all to himself) and their bond is so precious!!
  This weekend I worked in Austin and got to attend my first spanish speaking service with my patient and her family and you could just tell the Lord was speaking good messages through the pastor (even though I really didn't understand majority of the message I loved seeing him so moved by what God was telling him to speak to us).  The mom of my patient later told me it was message about waiting on miracles to happen, and even though people tell you that something may or may not happen, they happen every day and God will provide the miracle for you when he is ready.  She truly felt like it was message I definitely needed to hear and I completely agree!
  Today is such an amazing day.  My brother turns 27 and I can't wait to see him again, it's definitely been TOO long and my friend Courtney welcomed her new baby Declan Daniel Ibarra this morning which he is SO cute and adorable and I can't wait to him as well! :) Also today marks the 25th week of my pregnancy and we have another appointment with our regular doctor today which will hopefully be another sonogram and just measurements to see how she is growing! We love seeing our new baby girl and it's been 3 long weeks without an appointment which is crazy rare for us and we are definitely ready to see her again! Will update you all tomorrow with how she's doing!
 Hope everyone has a fabulous monday! Spread some love today! :)

24 weeks!

Me and my love.

Brielle in the ball pit at Nana and Grandpa's house!

Hiding her juice while playing with Nana

She loves exploring outside.

Brielle giving baby A kisses!

Emma in Brielle's birthday chair!

Emma, Bri, and Aiden. So cute!!

Baby in a bag! :)

Monday's Memories

  A lot has been going on and I would love to just kind post a little bit of some randoms that have been going on around here the past couple of weeks! :)

*We got to spend some time with one of my good friends Caitlin on her birthday and hang out with her kids! So much fun just to chit chat and have girl time while our kiddos play and have fun.  Oh ya, she loves kissing her son James, but she also bit him as well :/ I see that too much kissing with her tends to lead to that. (I warned Caitlin of Brielle doing that at her party as well, but I still felt bad for James!)

* I got to meet baby Natalie for the first time, I seriously fell in love! First off, I love babies (as you can already tell I'm sure) but this family will always hold a special place in my heart as I was a Nanny for them for about 3 1/2 years.  It's so crazy how time just flies by and she was only 1 week old! So precious and sweet.

* I finally found one of the pictures I was looking for with my best friends pointing to my pregnant belly at Brielle's birthday when we revealed we were pregnant with a baby girl! :)

* I got to spend some time with my girls for dinner which is rare while I was in Round Rock visiting baby Natalie and we all went out to eat at Mesa Rosa.  So fun! I really missed Adriane, Lauren and Krystle!

* Brielle has been going through this weird phase of waking up 1-2 times during the night crying so loud wanting us to come pick her up (which we have been doing for the past week until last night I had enough after getting her 1 time and she woke up an hour later crying.  I then re-read my post about crying it out found here and it helped me let her cry it out back to sleep for about 20-25 mins at 5 this morning.  So worth it!

*I got to have my first girls night in a LONG time with my best friend Saturday night after I worked to Sunday afternoon.  Eating out, enjoying long girl talks all night, swimming in the pool and sleeping in =Heaven!

* We have our appointment to meet with the Pediatric Cardiologist Aug. 25! :)

*Baby Rochelle loves swimming in the pool.  I am assuming that is how she feels all the time, but when I was swimming back and forth in the pool she was kicking like crazy, so cute!

* I have wanting to get more crafty and creative with teaching Brielle on picking up her toys, putting things into jars/containers, and just overall having more fun games to play and she has been doing great!

* My mom surprised with me with the new Samsung S5 Active this past week and I LOVE it! So good to have a phone like this with children.  Thanks again mom! :)

Brielle loves going out to eat with her Nana and Grandpa while I am at work.

Riding her bicycle with Grandpa around the house.

Playing in my parents sprinkler.  She LOVES water!

She wouldn't nap all day for my mom until she finally crashed on her for an hour.

Our little future doctor/nurse! 

Lauren and Adriane pointing at my pregnant belly!

Brielle and James

The girls bribing Brielle to follow them with food lol!

Me with Brielle, Rachel, Natalie, and Sara

Rachel, Baby Natalie,and Sara

 I hope you all have a great rest of the week and enjoy your Monday!

Saying No

  This past month has brought a lot of new and different changes in my life.  I had a lot of great opportunities to look forward to with a new job, and the potential moving up in the current position at one of my jobs by going to training.  I was trying to juggle how everything would work out with 3 jobs instead of my two that I already have and I just knew I could make it work. The new job was perfect location (in my moms home town so that I wouldn't have to drive so far to work) and I could be right there and spend more time with Brielle on days that I work than I am currently able to.  Everything seemed like it would all work out, but I am so glad that it did not.
  I was so excited to go into training for the new job and start something different, until they told me that the patient that I was hoping to work with was no longer available for a full-time nurse in the area that my mom lives at and I was heart-broken! I knew that it was the end of the new job for me at that moment, I just didn't know how to tell them no I wasn't going to take the job.  I called Shane after training to discuss the events, and we prayed that God would let give me the strength to do something that I have never done before with confidence.  I called the company that next day, and let them know I was no longer going to work for them.  They were so sad and said that they could make it work, but I knew in my heart that everything happens for a reason and that just wasn't the right time to start another job.
  It was about a week later that I had to do some homework for my training that I was attending, and my boss sat down and discussed with me that even though I was the only part-time employee attending the training they knew I could do this job, and wanted me to put more effort and more of my own time in to learning new skills and further my training.  I knew she was right, but right now my off time is my only time to spend at home with Shane and Brielle and I just couldn't give up more of that precious time to go up to my facility for who knows how long multiple times a week to learn what all I needed to learn.  I just felt like everything was weighing on me and my family to continue to job training knowing that it might be good for us in the future.  After many late night conversations about what I should do, it ultimately came down that yes the training would be great for any leadership positions, and learning more about my facility would have been great but the job position they were wanting me to do was just not what I saw in my future or my family's.  It required us potentially picking up everything and moving just to get started, a lot of stress, and a lot of time that I knew (especially with this pregnancy and my baby) that I just couldn't fully commit to.  After calling and telling my boss that I am no longer going to continue with training (and sticking with my no even after a lot of attempts to convince me to stay) I felt SUCH a relief and knew that I made the right decision.
  Let me tell you, I have never been SO happy, content, satisfied with my choices and the way that I am living my life and working with my husband to support our family.  If you ever have any doubts, fears, or questions with how your life is going and you are afraid to say no, just think "is this really what I want to be doing long-term"? I feel so much better knowing that I can stand up for myself and my family and it will definitely help me with important decisions coming up in our life! :)