We moved the first week of May into a cute little house right down the road from seminary. We were so thankful for our few friends that came out and helped us move despite the rain. When packing up the old apartment, we strategically packed things that we'd need in the next 4 months versus things that could stay put away until we get settled into our next home. So unpacking wasn't too bad, although I'm still working on getting some decor up to make it a little more homey, as well as getting Gavin's things put together. Elias adjusted very well, and really enjoys playing outside in our yard. In fact, all he seems to ever want to do is going outside, rain or shine.
On May 12 Kevin walked at his graduation ceremony. It truly was a wonderful celebration, with his entire family coming up for the weekend to celebrate with us. We were blessed with wonderful weather, and were able to celebrate mothers day cooking out outside on our front lawn.
Then a week and a half later we were back in PA. Kevin had the awesome privileged of giving the charge at a friends wedding in Pittsburgh. This was the first wedding he's ever done any part of, and he did such a great job! While we were in Pittsburgh, Elias and Callie got to spend some quality time with Nanny and Pappy.
We then headed to my parents house for 5 days, caught up with some of my friends and spent lots of time with my family. Elias gets the biggest kick out of Aunt Brielle, and he LOVES playing in his Pop-Pops office, especially with the fax machine :) Its so nice that he now knows who these special people are, and that we've gotten to the point where he's remembering his grandparents and aunts/uncles when we go home. Now he'll pick up my phone, hold it to his ear and say "Nanny...Nanny" or come to the computer and say "Pop-Pop" because he wants to skype with my dad.
Then we headed to New Albany, PA, up in the mountains in the middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania for our annual family weekend at Kevin's grandfathers hunting camp. We look forward to this weekend all year long. The weekend typically consists of 4-wheeling, playing in the yard, TONS of food, board games, and wonderful conversations with family. The house is filling up quick now with kids being born! So it was the 3 of us, Kevin's grandparents (Gigi and Great Pap), Kevin's mom and stepdad (nanny and pappy), and Uncle Josh, Aunt Abby, and Zion. Although it rained practically the entire weekend, we enjoyed each others company and ate all our hearts desired.
Elias' vocabulary has exploded in the past couple months. He's now attempting to repeat just about everything when we say "Elias, say ___". Our favorite things he says or attempts to say as of late are "amen, love you, thank you, and please". He has his big evaluation with Early Intervention next Tuesday, and I'm very anxious to see where he stands. The only thing he was behind in before was gross motor skills, and thats because he wasn't walking yet at his last eval, so we'll see how it turns out!
Just a quick medical update for Elias before I move on to Gavin. For those who remember (or don't), Elias was born with torticollis, which basically means tightening of tendons on the one side of his neck, making his head tilt to the one side. Through therapy and just everyday life, he's head has righted itself so well. However, his doctors still notice that he tends to hold his head tilted slightly to the one side. Both his ENT and orthopedist think we should consider a tendon release of the one muscle in his neck. But heres the problem at the moment...one doctor says if he were to do it, it would be a very quick recovery, no brace at all, and just a teeny incision on his neck. The other doctor said with the way he would treat it, he would be in a pinless halo brace for 3-6 months. Um, WHAT?! That's a HUGE difference of opinion! The problem is, both these doctors are absolutely amazing, and everything they've both done for Elias has been very successful up until now. So we're looking into getting another opinion. We're also evaluating whether we think the surgery is necessary in the first place. Is it bad enough that 15 years from now Elias is going to be self conscious about his neck and upset with us for now fixing it when we should have? We also know for sure that Elias is going to be getting a tendon transfer in his left foot around 2 years of age to try and straighten out his foot a little more. That surgery will require him to be in a cast for 6 weeks or so. Which means no walking. I'm having difficulty imagining Elias not having the ability to walk. I'm not sure how we'll react! We just know there's no way we can have him in both the pinless halo brace and the leg cast at the same time. On TOP of Gavin most likely in casts for his feet, too. So that's currently where we are with Elias. I'll try and update with the results of his Early Intervention eval next week!
Now. Onto Gavin...
This morning we had an ultrasound and a checkup to see how our little chunk is doing. At the last appointment, which was May 7, he was measuring great! He was right in the 55th percentile, and measuring right on schedule, and my fluid was looking good. At that point, I was suppose to come in every two weeks from then on to get ultrasounds. However, going to PA threw everything off, and my appointment today ended up being 4 weeks from the last instead of two. So today at the ultrasound, we found out that Gavin's weight gain has slowed substantially, with him now measuring in the 13th percentile at 5lbs 2 oz. Almost failure to thrive. My fluid was measuring low as well. The doctor came in a did her own measurements, and the fluid measured a little higher for her, which is good. However, its still low. Just not AS low as they first thought. At this moment, the baby isn't in danger. However, if I lose much more fluid, he will be. The problem is, the fluid isn't leaking, so its not like I can visually see that's happening, making it very hard to self-monitor the situation. So I'm going back Monday for a stress test, basically where they'll hook on lots of monitors and listen to him breathe and move. If he's in distress, or if the test shows possible signs of low fluid, they'll take me in for an ultrasound and see whats going on, and if he is indeed in distress or if my fluid is lower, we're gonna call it and get a c-section. If everything is okay, we're gonna try and make it to Thursday, where I'll have an ultrasound to check on the fluid. I have a feeling Thursdays gonna be the day though. This is the same exact thing that happened with Elias. My placenta just pooped out in the final couple weeks, resulting in a small baby and hardly any fluid. I just want to get him out before he's in any danger from being inside and going without what he needs to thrive. We're hoping we can get past next Wednesday, which is when he'll be 37 weeks/full term. Otherwise, if he's born before then, he'll forever have the "preemie" title on his record.
Its pretty scary. She also checked me to see if I was dilated at all, and I'm not. The baby's head is down pretty far, but there's no sign of my body wanting to naturally end this pregnancy and deliver yet. My doctor won't induce me this time around, as it would be too much stress on my uterus and scar since I had a c-section last time. However, if my body decided to kick into gear and go on its own, then it would be okay to try and deliver natuarally. However, we're not expecting that to be the case, and have resigned ourselves to the fact that it'll probably just be a c-section. Which we're okay with. Gotta do what we gotta do to keep our kids safe and healthy!
Please pray for Gavin's safety and health over the next few days. I've just very nervous that between now and my appointments, my fluids going to drop and he's going to be in distress and I won't even know it. The only thing I can do is try and monitor his movements, and his movements are so sporadic that I'm afraid I'm going to just be paranoid the whole weekend and think any stop in movement is him in distress. Also pray that we can get the house clean and ready. With having moved, then going away, I still have things left to do before I feel ready for him to come home. I know they're not imperative, and if they don't get done, it'll be okay. But I know I'll be able to rest so much easier at the hospital knowing my house is clean and ready for Gavin to come home with us.
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