Thankful Thursday

Hello, everyone. I really should be in bed, but right now I just really need to focus on the things I have to be grateful for. About 14 years ago, not long before Nick and I got married, my dad had a serious heart attack. He actually had two, but the second one came on the heels of the first and was much less serious. It turned out that he had major blockage in the big vein they call the widow-maker. At the time he was just 52, and he made a full recovery, although he was out of work for almost six months.

Sunday before last my mom called me before church and told me that he’d had a nosebleed they couldn’t get stopped and had been in the ER all night. His blood pressure has spiked, and caused a ruptured vein, which was thankfully in his upper nasal cavity and not his brain where it would have caused a stroke. They packed his nose and gave him some medicine, and on the following Monday he was able to get the packing removed, and everything seemed fine.

This Tuesday morning he called me and told me that his blood pressure had spiked dangerously high again and that they were on their way back to the hospital. I called Nick and my brothers and let them all know, and after a while my mom called and let me know that his bp had stabilized, but that they were going to run some blood work. A bit later she called back to tell me that his blood work looked fine, but they wanted to keep him overnight and run some heart tests. I wanted to go see him, but she said that he was resting and would be checking out early the next morning, so rather than injecting my toddler into the situation, I just waited. I talked to him that night, and he seemed to be feeling well.

Yesterday morning (Wednesday as I’m writing this very early Thursday morning) my mom called again and they had run some stress tests on him, and they had come back with some abnormalities, but they were waiting on the cardiologist to come and tell him was that meant. It turns out that it meant that there was serious blockage again and that his heart was only functioning at 45%. Nick was home by then, so we all loaded up and went to see him.

There’s just something indescribably frightening about seeing the man who raised you, the very epitome of strength, lying tethered by tubes and wires to a hospital bed. In a few hours they’ll do a heart cath to see if they can put in a stent or if they’ll have to do open heart surgery. I covet your prayers.

Focusing on good things: The ABCs of Gratitude:

• Hospitals – they aren’t very fun places to be, but oh how grateful I am that we have access to them, and that the one currently caring for my dad is such a fine one.
• Husband – I am far beyond blessed to be married to such a wonderful man, one who didn’t hesitate to, without having dinner, pack up me and both kids and drive across town to take me to see my dad.
• Hugs – right now Daisy is a world-class hugger. I’m talking about those priceless little toddler hugs where she throws both arms around my neck and squeezes as tight as she can while saying “Mmmmm-mmmmm!”
• Halfway – as of today, I’m half-way through my pregnancy. Yay!
• Heaven – the place that I know I have waiting for me, and if you don’t know it too, you can!
• Heat – it’s starting to finally cool down around here, and there’s nothing cozier than the first time you turn the heater on in the fall!
• Home – these days our house is feeling a bit crowded, and it’s only going to get more so, but crowded or not, it’s our home, and I’m grateful for it.

Recent blessings:

First of all I’m grateful that my dad was sensible enough to go to the hospital when he needed to. He very nearly died with his first heart attack because he was too stubborn to go on his own. My mom found him in bed and made him go, and the doctor said that if she’d gotten home 15 minutes later we would have lost him.

I have a client who I’ve done a couple of photo shoots for. She always wants to buy the CD, but she has a hard time holding onto money, so she mails it to me a little at a time. A couple of days ago she sent me the last $20 on this order, and that paid for our hospital parking as well as our dinner tonight (since I didn’t have time to cook).

Daisy and I got to have lunch with Nick today. It was just sandwiches and chips from home, but we really enjoyed the time together.

I went to the used book store today and traded in a bunch of children’s books that the kids didn’t care for. I didn’t get much for them, but it was almost enough to pay for two books that I know my dad will love for Christmas.

Saturday I got to go to a car show with Nick. He finally got to drive his Fairlane, and we really enjoyed the kid-free time.

Night before last Nick’s parents had us over for dinner. Hooray for food someone else cooked!

I’m super excited that we’re having a little boy! Of course we would have loved  another little girl just the same, but we’ve both always wanted a little boy.

Speaking of, when I went to the doctor last Wednesday to find out what we’re having, the ultrasound tech came out just before I went back and announced that the ultrasound machine was broken. I was terribly afraid that we’d have to wait another month to find out, and Nick had even taken the morning off to come to the appointment with me! Fortunately the doctor across the hall was out that day, so we were able to use his machine. The baby looks great, everything’s normal, and he’s growing right on schedule!

Saturday I have an engagement shoot. It’s a bit of a drive away, but I should get the down payment on the whole wedding package, which Nick and I will be shooting together next month. Yay, teamwork!

Baby Update:

Week 20 of Pregnancy: Boy or Girl?

You've got a heavyweight in your belly now (well, in baby terms, anyway). Your little champ weighs about ten ounces and has a height, crown to rump, of about six and a half inches. Think of your developing baby as the size of a small cantaloupe (and probably as sweet too). Boy or Girl? You'll also be able to see your baby's gender in the ultrasound by now!

You've got a heavyweight in your belly at 20 weeks pregnant (well, in baby terms, anyway).  Your little champ weighs about ten ounces and has a height, crown to rump, of about six and a half inches. Think small cantaloupe (and probably as sweet too).

Is it a boy cantaloupe or a girl cantaloupe? You'll be able to find out your baby's gender via the ultrasound by this point. If you're carrying a girl fetus, her uterus is fully formed this week and her vaginal canal is starting its development (which means that in about twenty-five or thirty-some-odd years, she could be just where you're at, Grandma!). She also has primitive eggs in her tiny little ovaries now, seven million of them — though by the time she's born, that number will be down to two million (still more than she could ever hope to use). And interestingly, your baby girl will be born with all the eggs she'll ever have. 

Have you got male? If your fetus is a boy, his testicles have begun their descent this week, though they're still located in the abdomen, waiting for the scrotum to finish growing so they'll have a place to drop into in a few weeks.

Though the external genitals in both male and female fetuses still have a way to grow, you should be able to find out the sex of your baby (if you want to) during an ultrasound exam. 

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