Sick-FLU??

It started with a headache on Sunday evening.....it progressed into chills, body aches etc by Monday. We already had a doctor's appointment planned for Monday, so we went in and he said since I didn't have a fever it was probably just a cold, but could be the early signs of the flu. They checked Rory's heartbeat and said it sounded great. So even though Mom doesn't feel well Rory is doing great. Well, by Tuesday AM I had reached a 102 degree temperature, with the worse chills and any light gave me the worst headache. The doctor called in Tamiflu and told me to take that with Tylenol to get the fever down. Yesterday evening, my temperature had gotten down but then I woke up in the middle of the night and it was back up to 102. It was down again this morning and now I just have a sore throat and stuffy nose. Much better then the chills and body aches. I just hope it doesnt go back up tonight. :( On a positive note, while taking one of the dozen baths I have taken the last few days to sooth those chills....i witnessed Miss Rory moving around. I was just watching my tummy when it looked to be twitching wildly in various spots. That was very neat and comforting knowing she is bouncing around in there! And last night greg too could feel and see her making her moves. I suppose my coughing has been interrupting her sleeping schedule. Let's just hope the fever doesn't come back tonight. My teachers assistant Ms Kelli called and told me Monday that we only had 13 out of 21 kids in attendance. The rest were out with stomach bugs, flu, and strep. I guess it is that time of year! :(

Cooper and Auntie's Weekend Of Fun

Greg had a golf tournament this weekend....so Reagan and Cooper decided to drive up to keep me company. These are absolutely my favorite weekends when my sisters and Cooper come to visit. We have so much fun!!! On Friday, we went to Target and my wonderful sister bought me some comfy maternity pants and we of course bought Cooper an adorable Pirate pajama set. He loves coming up here and watching Pirates of the Caribbean....which his Uncle Greg happily introduced to him to. He says "Pirates of the Caribbean" with a country twang and it is so cute. Greg was able to meet us for dinner at Cheesecake Factory. It was delicious!!! After dinner, Greg and Cooper went back to the golf course to get Layla. Cooper loves going to Uncle Greg's work and hanging out at the golf course.

On Saturday, Reagan, Cooper, and I met my good friend Jamie at the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. Cooper enjoyed it, but covered his ears most of the time due to the loud animal noises. It is a great restaurant for kids, however, it was very hard to hold an adult conversation with all of the hootin and hollerin courtesy of the gorillas etc. We then went shopping around Grapevine Mills. Cooper and I had some delicous Dinky Doozies from the Great American Cookie Company!!! :)

We then came home and watched Pirates of the Caribbean....of course. :) And then took the dogs, and Cooper to the park. Thanks to his Aunts....Cooper had been eating sugar most of the day...fruit snacks, marshmallow, dinky doozies etc. He went crazy on the playground.....it was very funny to watch. We made him have a sensible dinner.....even though he kept wanting more sweets.

Greg worked late, but we had to wait up for Uncle Greg. Cooper was watching Lady and the Tramp with us in the bedroom. (Cooper and I were watching Lady and the Tramp.....Greg was keeping up with the Tech/A&M score....i am very glad that game was not on tv) :( Anyways, while we were watching Lady and the Tramp....Cooper kissed my tummy and said, "Hi Rory!" He then proceeded to talk to her. It was so cute!! He is ready for his cousin to arrive....and makes little comments like...."Rory can share my toys."

Today Greg and I went to church and then to Jason's Deli for lunch.....finishing the evening watching the Cowboys.

Thank you Reagie for coming up here to visit and bringing Cooper......i love you and yall make me so happy!!!!

Tech v. Nebraska

We had a great weekend in Nebraska!! We stayed at the Embassy Suites right downtown so we could walk everywhere not to mention the yummy buffet breakfast each morning. Maybe it's my pregnancy taste buds, but they had the best donuts I have ever eaten. :) Greg and Papa J went to see Luke, greg's cousin, play football on Friday night. Memme and I went to see Where the Wild Things Are on Friday night. It was very cute!!! We also went shopping and bought Rory some cute Husker outfits. On Game Day, we enjoyed all the festivities. Tailgating with Aunt Wanda, Uncle Marty, and Cousin Luke, THE GAME of course......Go Tech! And then Valentino's pizza for dinner. It was a great weekend and I loved the cool weather and fall colors all around Lincoln!

Thursday's Doctor Appointment

So Sorry it has taken me so long but as soon as the doctor's appointment was over Thursday we hit the road to Lincoln. :) Everything went well....we had about a 30 minute meeting with a genetics counselor. This was the scariest part because A) she was giving us the worst case scenario and B) i didnt understand half of the medical terms she used. Some things she said,

"There is a 1 in 10 chance your child will have spinabifida. That's only 10%." I was thinking ummm lady 10% is a lot when you are talking about your baby.

"If the doctor sees something then you have the choice to insert a needle into the placenta to remove some amniotic fluid...but that might cause a miscarriage." SCARY!

She said a lot of other scary things but I didnt know what they meant. And I was too nervous to ask questions. All in all the counselor was very nice however they need to give you a dictionary before the meeting so you can understand what they are talking about. The normal level for a AFP Test is 2 mine was over 4. :(

We had the sonogram and he said everything looks good. He didn't see anything to be worried about. He did say however that there has to be a reason why my AFP is so high so he will be monitoring me the rest of the pregnancy in addition to Dr. Vaughan. I am what they call a "high risk pregnancy." Nothing to be concerned about just extra care, and more appointments. We were very nervous waiting for Dr. Payne. Rory could feel my nervousness because she was moving around a lot, Greg kept telling me "its her way of telling you everything is going to be fine." Greg was wonderful.....he was so supportive and said the sweetest things to me that day. We are so blessed that everything is okay and are praying for a healthy pregnancy! I see Dr. Vaughan next Monday and then Dr. Payne in 4 weeks.

Our families were so supportive on Thursday. I think we had to make about 10 different phone calls to update them on Miss Rory. We are so loved and Rory is already loved by all of her grandparents, aunts, and uncles. :)

We are so ready for Rory to arrive! I keep having many dreams about her. Greg keeps asking what she looks like, but I can never remember. I have really started to bond with her these last couple weeks, probably because I can feel her moving. We love her so much and I get weepy thinking about it. I can honestly tell you that I havent liked being pregnant until the last couple weeks. Don't get me wrong I am SO SO SO GLAD TO BE PREGNANT. However, I just wish she was here already. Some mom's say...i loved being pregant. I don't think that will be me. Rory moving has really changed that though and I am feeling blessed to be able to experience this process of bringing a precious little thing into our lives.

We had a great time in Nebraska this weekend. We took some great pictures and I will post them ASAP. :)

I haven't figured out spell check on this thing so forgive the errors. :)

Rory Hammerlun 21 weeks

Week Twenty One: Nourishment evolves

You are 21 weeks pregnant. (fetal age 19 weeks)
Length is now measured crown to heel.
The fetus has grown to 10.5 inches (27 cm) - 12.7 ounces (360 grams).
It is now gaining weight steadily, with fat being added to the body.
Bone marrow has started making blood cells.
Their small intestine is starting to absorb sugars.Your baby's bone marrow has started making blood cells, a job done by the liver and spleen until this point. The placenta has provided nearly all of your baby's nourishment, now your baby will begin to absorb small amounts of sugar from swallowed amniotic fluid. Based on the size of baby's head, which is about 2 inches (5cm), the date of birth can be determined to within one week. The fetus is steadily gaining fat and has grown a whitish coat of a slick, fatty substance to protect skin in amniotic fluid and to ease delivery. In girls, the vagina is formed and the ovaries already contain over six million eggs which will be reduced to about 400 by the time of puberty. For boys, the testes begin to descend from the abdomen this week. (Boys don't produce sperm until puberty). The baby can hear and recognize the mother's voice, and may respond to some types of music.


Your BabyChances are good you're feeling someone performing a round-off back handspring in your uterus by now. Is there any other feeling this cool? Other highlights this week:By now your baby looks like a mini-version of what she'll look like when she's born. All her facial features are formed and hair is growing on her head. She's even acting like a baby and will occasionally suck her thumb or yawn. Aww ...Baby's heartbeat is getting stronger and can be heard using a good old-fashioned stethoscope. Ask for a listen at your next prenatal visit! By 21 weeks, fetal bone marrow starts making blood cells—previously done by the liver and spleen. This may not sound that exciting, but it's good news. The amniotic fluid that has been cushioning your little bean now serves another purpose: Your baby uses it to "practice" chowing down. Yes, it sounds gross (as many aspects of pregnancy do), but it's an important step for your baby toward being able to chow down in the real world. Your baby has been swallowing amniotic fluid for a while now, but now the intestines are finally developed enough that she's absorbing small amounts of sugars from it. And let's face it, being able to effectively digest sugar is important at every stage of life.Your baby now weighs between 10 and 11 ounces and is approximately 7 inches long—the size of a delicious, cold, frothy bottle of root beer. Float anyone?

Another great weekend.....on Friday Greg and I went to Grandma Connie's and Grandpa Dick's for a delicous steak dinner. Grandma Connie is the best cook!!!! I love having home cooked meals and I should probably start to learn how to cook. The best conversations are with family at the dinner table. I still remember home cooked family meals growing up.....it was always so much fun. I just remember my dad sitting at the head of the table staring at us always thinking, "Who are these children?" I think he still thinks that everytime we have a family meal. Now their are grandkids in the mix. :) On Saturday, I treated myself to a pedicure while Greg was at work. It was very nice! Saturday night we went to J.J. and Kelsey's wedding in Fort Worth. It was very beautiful and the reception was on the rooftop of the Reata Restaurant. It was chilly, but they had heaters set up and it was a beautiful fall night. J.J interned with Greg at Mira Vista way back when. It was a fun evening filled with lots of golf course superintendents! Golf Course Superintendents are SO CUTE!!!!! I am so glad I have one of my own!!! We are meeting Memme and Papa at Cheddars for lunch in a little bit and then watching movies today. We are going to try to convince Jerry and Vickie to change their grandparent names to Grandma V and Papa J. What do you think?? Our doctors appointment is this thursday so keep us in your prayers. If everything looks great we are off to Lincoln for the Tech v. Nebraska game! Wreckem Tech!

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!!! We have been married 4 years today....hard to believe it has been that long. Greg bought me a Prenatal massage.....so i will be making an appointment very very soon. We met for lunch today at Corner Bakery....and tonight catching up on recorded shows. A very mellow anniversary this year......we were just reminiscing about how we were in Vegas last year for our anniversary. We are so glad we took that vacation!!!!!!

A funny little note...when Greg and I were engaged we had to meet with Mike (the preacher who married us) a few times just to make sure Greg and I were on the same page about important things like kids, church etc. Mike made us each fill out a survey of various questions and we had to answer them alone and then discuss them in a meeting with Mike. One of the questions was...."How long do you want to wait to start having children?" I said,"2 years." Greg said, "Five to Seven years." (SEVEN YEARS....ARE YOU KIDDING?) I guess we compromised and here we are married 4 years and expecting our first baby. Now we just have to agree on how many rugrats.....FOUR FOUR FOUR is our lucky number!! That might take a little convincing.

Happy Anniversary Babe!!! Love you!!

Elevated AFP

I was hesitant to write this blog, but when I started this I promised myself I would be open and honest. Last Thursday I got a call from Dr. Vaughan's nurse. The first thing she said was, "I hate making this call because it is usually nothing, BUT your blood test for spina bifida came back elevated and it is something to be concerned about." She told me to make an appointment with a perinatal doctor at Baylor Grapevine where Rory will be delivered. I hung up the phone called and made the appointment. I was a little shocked and it didn't hit me until the receptionist said, "You and your husband will meet with a counselor before your appointment." I was devastated. I called Greg and told him. We really had know idea what any of this means. So I called my dad who called his good friend Dr. Kuhlman. He then called me back and said that this test has a lot of false positives etc. and told us not to worry until we have our appointment. Which is next Thursday. That is right 2 weeks of waiting. We are staying positive and i am giving Miss Rory little pep talks. We are hoping and praying for the best. We already love our daughter more then words can say and if Rory were to be born with special needs then that is what God had planned for us and she is and will be our precious Godsend.

I don't want anyone to worry. I just wrote this entry in case anyone has a similar story to this and can offer us some encouraging words. :)

What a great weekend! I took Friday off for a eye doctor appointment and spent the rest of the day shopping with Madison and Amanda. We went Fall Harvest shopping at Hobby Lobby and Home Depot and had lunch at Jason's Deli. Madison is such a sweet baby and always has a sweet smile. "We are getting old," was a comment Nan made as we were trying to find a scarecrow and looking at the circulars to see what was on sale. HaHa.

Linds and Aaron came down this weekend too. They brought lots of cute new outfits for Rory and an "Aggie Mom" shirt for me. Very funny Mr. and Mrs. Kozak! We met Vickie at Macaroni Grill for dinner on Friday and then the boys went to the A&M game at the cowboys stadium. Linds and I had a relaxing rainy Saturday afternoon napping throughout the day. It was great!!! We also met my dear friend Shannon and her boyfriend Josh on Sunday for lunch at BJ's Brewhouse. We have not seen each other in a long time so it was such a treat. Lots of sleeping and eating this weekend.

I am anticipating the day that i can feel Miss Rory kick. The doctor said anytime in the next few weeks. :) I am so sad the weekend is over.....back to school.

Happy Birthday to my Mom and Greg's Mom!!! They both have birthday's this week! We love you Mimi and Memme!!