Family Updates!

Life in San Diego has been so good to us!  I need to be better about blogging all of our fun times!!!

He likes him, I promise.

Tripp is loving life, as usual.  We had a rough little stretch with sleeping but that has pretty much passed now.  He's in his 'big boy' bed and has his special spiderman to keep him company at night!  Our next big step is potty training.  He's been ready for a while, but with school and pregnancy I just haven't put the time in to do it.  We bought our last pack of diapers and when we run out it's game on!  Wish us luck :)

Last little snuggle in our 'baby bed' aka... the pack-n-play

Showing off his new bed!!!

Michael has been working like a dog!  He really loves his new job (although it kicks his butt at times) and the people he works with.  We don't get to see him as much as we would like but life has been really good to us.  He is working for a company name Hensel Phelps who are the general contractors on a new Kaiser Hospital in San Diego.  Michael says he is burned out on pouring concrete and ready for the next phase of this build :)  We have loved working for this company so far and even though they work their employees hard, they see the importance of maintaining a quality of life plan.  I know that no matter what is going on at work, if I needed Michael in an emergency, his co-workers would drop their stuff and cover his so he could get to us... without a seconds hesitation.  It's been one of the most family-like work environments we have every experienced!

Christmas was so much fun!  Michael has several sisters out in Idaho and one of them could not get off of work for the Holidays.  The thing I love about his family is how important FAMILY really is to them.  Instead of leaving her on her own for the holidays, they packed up and drove out to Idaho!  We were lucky enough to be able to meet them for a few days in Salt Lake.  So!  After our first Christmas morning in our own home, we loaded up and hit the road.  Can I please just brag about Tripp for a second.... HE IS THE BEST TRAVELER EVER! Seriously.  The kid sleeps most of the time, colors, reads or plays puzzles on my phone for just about the rest.  Of course we do breakout the shows when things get a little rocky, but usually games and food keep him happy.  Okay, bragging done.  

Growing up Santa would touch our head with a sooty finger after he had set the presents out!
Yay for keeping traditions alive :)

He only gets mad in the car when I
try to take his picture... 

Tripp loves all of his aunts and uncles, but
Chris won the cake on this visit

my boys 

cutie pie :)

My stud of a husband!

Just missing Tamra!

As a lot of you know, we have baby #2 coming in the middle of March (I'm 31 weeks tomorrow)!!!  We officially decided to keep this one a surprise until delivery day and can't wait to see his/her sweet little face.  Can you believe we're almost to the middle of January?! March is going to be here before we know it... I'm so not ready!

Before we left for the our visit in Salt Lake I got an alarming call from our midwives.  Early on in this pregnancy some blood work showed I had an extra antibody (antibody E) popping up.  No one was concerned at the time but at my glucose testing they rechecked my levels.  It had quadrupled! At the time I had no idea what that meant (and neither did the midwives) but I was told to get the first available appointment with a perinatologist.  I was told this could be absolutely nothing or it could get bad.  I was put at ease by a specialist who reviewed my case and told me I was fine to wait after the new year (the first appointment they had available) to be seen.

At the appointment, this is what we learned.  Blood is tricky.  When you are caring another person they have their own blood type.  Most likely, Tripp has something in his blood that my body sees as foreign and bad (hence the presence of the antibody E) BUT my body didn't recognize it until I delivered him.  Some of our blood must has mixed, which isn't uncommon, and my body reacted to whatever it is he is caring, which isn't common.  

What does this mean now?  This new baby must have this same stuff in his/her blood that my body didn't like from Tripp.  My body now sees it as an enemy and is producing antibody E to fight it.  This means that I have to go every two weeks for blood testing to check the antibody level.  My antibody titer started at 1/2 and was 1/8 at the last blood draw.  at 1/16 they will do another ultrasound to check blood flow to the baby (which is what the did at the appointment I just had).  If everything is fine with the blood flow but my levels are still high then they'll probably draw blood more often and have regular ultrasounds.  Also, I will have an ultrasound at 37 weeks regardless of my levels.  If the blood flow is too high then this indicated sever anemia in the baby.  The next steps will be induction with special (antibody E free) blood waiting for baby and most  likely a blood transfusion, for baby, immediately after delivery.  The scariest part, for me, is that no matter what we see in ultrasounds or in my blood work, the baby is still at high risk for anemia and a blood transfusion when born.  

Right now we are all hoping for everything to remain normal: low levels, great blood flow, and delivery when baby is ready to come.  But Michael and I are preparing for baby to come sooner rather than later.  We've got the crib/ bassinet out, are making freezer meals, washing our gender neutral collection of clothes and knocking off the mountain of to-dos on our list.  

Our birth plan has changed so many times with this baby!  We started at a free standing Birth Center and then our insurance kicked them out of the network... Then we switched the UCSD Birth Center (which is in the hospital) until all of this happened.  Now we are with UCSD high risk doctors and planning to deliver in their Labor and Delivery unit.  It's been a crazy ride so far!

We're nervous, to say the least.  The majority of our nervousness is for the baby and making sure he/she gets her safely.  We're also nervous about what this means for having more kids in the future and I am nervous about having this baby in a hospital (which sounds silly, right?).  Tripp was born in a free standing birth center and for me it was an ideal birthing experience.  This is something new for me and not something I wanted... that being said, I am so grateful for modern medicine.  Did you know that if we had seen signs of anemia earlier in the pregnancy that they could give the baby a blood transfusion in utero?!  Now THAT is a miracle.  I'm also very confident in the doctors I have seen and that they will listen to me, my body and do what is necessary to keep this baby safe.  

We feel so blessed to have the support that we do in our new ward.  Although we haven't spread the word on everything that's going on (because hopefully nothing will actually happen), I know that we could count on our friends here to help us if we asked.  We 'just happened' to fall into the right place for our situation and for that I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father.  

Here's to 9+ weeks left of pregnancy and a healthy happy baby at the end!  

Love,

Madi, Michael, Tripp and Baby #2!!!