26 Week Update

I had my 26 week appointment today and am happy to report that nothing has changed since last week! I'm still contracting a bit, but on and off again and it hasn't changed my cervix--it was still the same as last week--just opening and thinning. So I'm still on bedrest but not strict bedrest. He just said to limit my time standing up and to sit/lay as much as possible which means many more weeks of sitting at home--but if it keeps RV in longer, then it's worth it!! Oh, and for my record, his heartbeat was 145. I've also been measuring a couple centimeters big the past couple of appointments so hopefully that means that if he does come early, he's a big boy! However, if he comes full term, he really does not need to be that big:-).

Hermina Raak

This afternoon my grandma went to her eternal home. She will be missed by our family and many others, but I feel blessed to have had her for a grandma for the past 27 years. She was always a very sweet and loving grandma and I'm thankful that she could have such a full long life here on earth.

The visitation will be Wednesday night and also Thursday morning followed by the funeral Thursday morning. I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon so hopefully nothing has changed since last week so that I can go to the visitation and funeral.

My grandma, sister, great-grandma, mom and me...

Starting us young:-)...

My mom, grandma, Em and me at Em's wedding...

Great-grandma with Layla when Layla was only a couple of months old...

Layla and Great-grandma at Easter...

Name Game

After we had Layla I had some people tell me they were surprised that we chose the name Layla--more so that they were surprised that Joe would choose the name Layla. I'm not entirely sure what they meant by that, so I'm curious as to what people think we might name our boy. Now that I've made it to almost 26 weeks, I thought it'd be fun to start giving clues to our name and to see what people guess we might name him. Please don't be shy about posting a comment:-). I'm not sure how often I'll post clues. It probably depends on how bored I get sitting around:-). Oh, and we're not set on a middle name yet, so for now the clues will only pertain to the first name.

Clue #1 - It has been used to name other nouns besides just people (meaning it's the name of a place and/or thing--like Meredith is not only a person's name, but a name of a college as well--Meredith College in Raleigh).

Resting

I've been doing lots of resting this week. I did work yesterday, just not a full day. My doctor first told me I couldn't work, but then when I said that I sat all day and only work one day he said that I could work this week. I came in late and then was pretty uncomfortable by the end of the day so I left just a bit early. I can tell that my contractions/uterus uncomfortableness does get better when laying down/sitting comfortably (meaning not in an office chair). This morning Joyce has Layla which is super nice to be able to enjoy some rest time all alone and not have to get up if Layla gets into trouble in another room or have Layla constantly climbing on me on the couch or having to help Layla get a toy out of the bottom of the toy box if she can't reach it. I almost don't know what to do with myself without Layla around! :-)

I don't have any recent pics since I've been just chillin' on the couch. Layla keeps bumping her scap on her forehead so it now has a cute bandaid on it to keep from bleeding again. Gavin felt bad for her having an owie:-). The other day I guess Em asked Gavin who Layla's mommy was and he said "Joe". So we tried it again and then he answered with "Momma Joe". I thought that was funny:-). He knows I'm Layla's mommy and that my name is Mere, but he loves Uncle Joe (even though he doesn't get to see him much), so maybe he was just so excited to talk about Joe:-). I think Momma Joe should maybe be Joe's new name:-).

Partial Bedrest

So my appointment didn't go quite as well as I was hoping. My cervix is just starting to thin--I'm not dilated, but he called it a fingertip cervix?? All the medical talk is really quite confusing to me:-). He said that in some cases at 25/26 weeks this could be normal for a second pregnancy, but due to the fact that I'm having some contractions and since I went into preterm labor last time, he doesn't want to take any chances. I don't either! Whatever I can do to keep RV safe and whatever I can do to prevent/postpone strict bedrest will be worth it! I pretty much just need to sit/lay whenever possible. I told him that my grandma will be passing away sometime in the next few(ish)days and he said that I can go to visitation/funeral if I'm sitting the whole time, but if I get uncomfortable/have more contractions, I'll need to leave. I'm sure grandma would understand:-). I go back again next Tuesday to see if anything has changed. Hopefully not! Next Tuesday I'll also have some more tests and stuff done--coming up he'll do that culture test again and I think some other test that can maybe tell you if you'll be going into labor in the next few weeks and the shot to help the baby's lung development--I think that might have been the appointment after next week--that only helps the baby's lungs if it's been in you for at least 48 hours, but no more than like 4 weeks I think. Part of me is a little overwhelmed to start thinking about how everything will work this time with taking care of Layla and such, but I know it's all in God's control and I don't need to worry about it. Hopefully RV can be in me for many more weeks. He said that even if we could make it to 33/34 weeks this time that'd be a big accomplishment. I'm happy to have made it to 25 weeks and 2 days, but many more days would give RV a much better chance at survival/being healthy! I'll now do as much relaxing as possible so that there will hopefully be no more change with my cervix next Tuesday--although I fully understand that it's not all up to me! Please just pray that my cervix stays the same for a long time so that RV can be in me for many more weeks!! Oh, and I had my gluclose test today but they won't have results on that until tomorrow, so hopefully I passed that and don't need to retake that test!

Life as of Lately...

A couple of weekends ago we headed to Calvin with Lucas' and Konings for our 5 Year Reunion. It was actually tons of classes reunions including graduating classes 00-09 and then every 5 years before that. I don't know why they do it that way that they include 00-09?? Anyway, it wasn't quite the turn out we had expected. I think we saw 3 other people from our class and hardly any that would have fallen into the 00-09 range! We saw online ahead of time that you could sign up for the pizza dinner ahead of time, but we weren't sure if we wanted to stay for that anyway so we decided to not sign up figuring that we could just sign up when we got there. We arrived about a half an hour early, hardly anyone was there, and they told us that the tickets were all sold out. They must not have sold any tickets that night--only ahead of time--I don't know how else they would have "run out". We probably could have stuck around and they wouldn't have noticed that we were missing name tags to eat, but we decided to get better food anyway at BW3's:-). Brought back good college memories as it's within walking distance of where the guys used to live--but it really wasn't quite the same being pregnant and having toddlers with us!! :-) At least we got to see the new field house--that was one my main reasons for wanting to out there. And we were able to show the kids where they'll be attending college:-). Only kidding, I won't be THAT parent! Well, maybe a little...:-).

The guys and the kids...

Our family...no, I did NOT try to make Layla and me match!! I realized it as we were leaving and with limited maternity clothes I didn't feel like changing!

Konings...

This was from a few Fridays ago at Kohls. It's a weird format b/c I took it with my phone, but it's a rare occation that these two fall asleep in their strollers! I thought it was too cute to not quick send to daddy:-). Em and I went to Woodland and had met Mike and Joe at the food court for lunch and then continued to shop--I guess we really wore the kids out!

This was before church yesterday morning. Layla got a booboo on her head early last week and it's finally starting to go away. I think she just hit a wall or something--her and Gavin were playing together when it happened.

On Wednesday my Grandma Raak (my mom's mom) had a very bad stroke. All day Thursday and Friday she didn't really even open her eyes or say anything. Friday night shortly before I got to the hospital she started "talking" and opening her eyes a bit, but we weren't sure what she was saying or even if she knew what she was trying to say. She also hadn't moved her left side at all. The doctor said that we needed to make a decision about whether to put a feeding tube in or not. If not, it would be time to move her to hospice care as it would be a matter of days before she would pass and if we chose to do the feeding tube, she'd then move to a nursing home, but even in the nursing home she would not improve from her current state. Em, Mandi (my cousin) and I decided to meet my aunt (my mom's sister) again Saturday night to discuss how we were all feeling about what to do in order to help my aunt and uncle make the decision. Unfortunately my dad and Joyce were on a Mediterranean cruise--my family seems to often have bad timing with crisis like this (my grandpa on the other side died during spring break--thankfully we knew ahead of time and cancelled our trip to Disney, when my mom passed away last December 22 it was such a bad snow storm we were worried about making it to Spectrum and back successfully, and when Em had Gavin at 31 weeks pregnant my parents were in Alaska and Joe and I were in Canada on a mission trip. I feel like there was something else too, but maybe that's all--just goes to show that it's not in OUR timing, but somehow it does all work out okay). Saturday showed no signs of improvement for my grandma--worse really--so on Sunday she was moved to hospice care. We talked to a lot of different people about what to do and many have actually been in the same situation and all chose to not do the feeding tube. I will miss my grandma, but I know that this was the right decision for her and it's what she would have wanted--laying in a bed not being able to move/talk/think is not how anyone would want to live--and if you know her you know how much she enjoyed talking:-). I am excited for her that in the coming days she will get to see Jesus and will also be reunited with my grandpa and my mom!! How awesome for her!!

Saturday night before I left to go to the hospital we celebrated Joe's sister's 23rd birthday! We had dinner at the Butler and then went back to their house for cake and presents.

Layla has begun to love Elmo (or Momo as she says which often sounds more like Mama:D). Gavin started to like him so of course now Layla does too! She enjoyed reading her Elmo book with Uncle Steve and Aunt Heidi.

Apparently whatever Layla is laughing about in this picture, no one else thought was funny:-).

I bought Layla a Halloween costume awhile back, but then a guy from Joe's work gave us this cute ladybug costume. I HATE real ladybugs--especially lately, yuck!!!--but I've always thought she'd make a cute Laylabug:-). And I even found Elv a matching costume:-). It's a little to big on her so we're going with the original costume I bought her, but maybe for next year. Elvis has another costume to wear too so I guess we'll just save his ladybug costume for next year too:-).

He's not a big fan of costumes, yet every year he cooperates and wears them:-). If anyone has a small dog that ever needs to borrow a costume, just let me know, he's accumulated quite the closet full:-).

I have my 25 week appointment today (and the gluclose test), so hopefully all is still well with RV! I was supposed to have it shortly, but they pushed it back to this afternoon:-(. I pray that everything is still okay--3 more weeks puts me at where I went on bedrest with Layla for being dilated early and effacing due to contractions! Recently I've had quite a few braxton hicks contractions, but not as often as last time or as painful--so hopefully that is all they are--fake contractions!! They might be annoying, but if RV is safe and cozy in me, then that's all that matters!

A Birthday, A Shower and some Gavin Layla Time

Last week Joe's dad turned 60! We celebrated by going to his parents' house for some Margaritas (the Mexican restuarant, not the drink:D). Here he is opening our gift (from us and Heidi and Steve), a slop sink for their barn...

Layla with Aunt Rachael...

Layla enjoyed trying out his new sink...

This was from awhile ago (when the weather was much warmer), but I don't think I ever posted it. I thought they were both cute in their silly monkey shirts. Monkey see, monkey do...

I found this Stanley Tool bench for Layla at a garage sale the other week. It was from 1991 and still in the box! The main reason I liked it was because Joe works at a Stanley company. Gavin likes it too. Layla wanted in on the play time and thought she would just scoot her little buns right in there while Gavin was playing with it.

They like to just chill in this chair...

We had bow making night last week at church. Elv enjoyed this bow:-)...he is in desperate need of a hair cut!!

We had a shower for Joe's brother's fiance, Heidi, last week with Joe's mom's side of the family at Joe's aunt and uncle's cottage. Only 7 more weeks until they get married!

Joe's sister, Rachael, me, Heidi and Joe's mom...

Cousin Kim with cousin Paula's daughter, Isabelle...

Heidi opening our present (a place setting)...

Heidi opening a blanket knitted/crocheted (?) by Grandma (every grandaughter gets one when she gets married)...

Kim, grandma, Paula and Isabelle, and Cindi...