Our first family vacation

Our Total Money Makeover prevented us from taking a vacation for the last few years. We haven't had a real vacation since 2002, when I was barely pregnant with Sarah (I actually didn't realize I was pregnant until we returned from Gatlinburg--no wonder I was so exhausted when we hiked up the mountain!). Andy hasn't taken a week off of work since our honeymoon. So when we became debt-free in May, we decided that we'd take a vacation this summer and no excuse would stop us.

Andy took all of last week off and we had a "stay-cation" for the first few days. We went bowling, to lunch at a favorite restaurant, to the pool, and did fun stuff around the house. Andy fixed some plumbing issues in the girls' bathroom and in the basement, and it was a good time.

Thursday we left for Holiday Inn at Caribbean Cove in Indianapolis for two nights. We got a deal with a room, entrance to the water park for the three days we were there, and four tickets to the Children's Museum. We were worried that the girls would have difficulty sleeping because they have their own rooms at home and they had to share a bed in the same room as Mom & Dad at the hotel. But they did GREAT!! They went right to sleep both nights!! (I'm sure it helped that we ran them like crazy all day both days and they had NO naps while we were away!)

Unforutnately, when we returned home, we realized that a breaker had tripped in the electric panel and our refrigerator was off for most of the time we were gone. So we lost just about everything in the fridge/freezer. But, since I had to clean the entire thing from top to bottom, our fridge is sparkling clean today!! HA!!

Now--back to real life again....

Photos from our vacation will be posted soon!

Photo Shoot and Complications

It probably seems like all we do is hang out at the doctor's office and have ultrasounds. I promise we do more than that. But it's about the most interesting thing we're doing these days. I WILL post about other things going on in our days--soon--I promise.

But in the meantime, I have more baby photos to show. We had our scheduled ultrasound today and Baby was measuring a few days bigger than its gestation (and had a good heart rate of 170), so that's good. Baby was moving around in there and Char said, "Mom, the baby is waving at me!" She's so in love with the baby already. Our RE (Dr. Burwinkel) is ready to get us off of his books and send me back to my regular OB.

And, it wouldn't be a Murphy pregnancy without our share of complications, right? It seems that this pregnancy is going to be no different. While Baby looks great and and is growing at just the right pace, the cause for my bleeding is a complete placenta previa. The baby's placenta is totally covering my cervix so when I do too much activity (lifting, coughing, dancing, etc.), a little bit of the placenta tears and I bleed. So that's a big thumbs down. :( We had that with Charlotte and whether or not it had anything to do with the placental abruption that happened during labor, we'll never know. But I am at a higher risk for bleeding and stuff because of the previa. So I'm under orders to "take it easy" until further notice. The placenta will likely move out of the way by the time we're ready to deliver, but it'll definitely be something to watch.

Okay, so here are the photos. Our little bean has turned into a moving, wiggling, waving alien. :)

Dr. Burwinkel labeled the hands, legs, and head for the girls. They, at ages 3 & 5, had a hard time deciphering which parts were what. They could tell the heart because we could see it beating and they could tell where the hands and legs were when Baby moved around, but they had difficulty with a still photo. So he did this one for them.

This is a profile photo of Baby's body. I'm supposed to be 10w4d today and baby was measuring a few days bigger at 11w1d, so we're NOT complaining that Baby is growing so well!! :)

Crisis averted

Last week was the "crucial" week for this pregnancy. If we made it through last week, we would have made it past Sam's last day in my belly--and he was our longest gestation since Charlotte. So when I started spotting on Wednesday, I was terrified. I convinced myself it was nothing; afterall, bleeding in pregnancy isn't wildly uncommon. So Thursday morning brought more spotting and again, I tried to discount it as nothing. But when I woke up on Friday morning with brighter, redder spotting, I'd had enough. I left a message for the nurses at my RE's office and they called me back before they even opened with an appointment time for an ultrasound. I really like that office.

So we headed to the office at 2pm (thank goodness we had an extra long playgroup--10am-1:30pm!!). I was very nervous and really prepared for bad news.

But I was pleasantly surprised to see a beautiful 184 bpm heartbeat and a wiggly "gummy bear" in there. Baby was measuring perfectly and dancing around. It has little arms and legs, two little eyes, and a strong, beautiful heartbeat.

Here's the latest photo of Baby Murphy:

Grow, Bean, Grow!!

We had another ultrasound this morning and I was a little tense because we had the girls with us. I was worried that if something was wrong, they'd be there to see me distraught.

Fortunately, all is well and Baby is growing well. Again Baby is right on target for growth and the heart rate has increased to 175 beats/minute!! YAY!! The girls LOVED hearing the heartbeat and I loved seeing their faces when they heard it.

Our next ultrasound is August 5.

Here's our latest photo. Baby is almost upside down with the head toward the lower right and bottom toward the top left. If you look closely, you can see a little arm hanging down, too. YAY!!

Open wide!

In January, I took the girls to the dentist. Sarah had been several times already so she was an "old pro" but it was Charlotte's first visit. After all was said and done, I was concerned that it would be her last. She was TERRIFIED and screamed the entire time.

So I wasn't super optimistic about this week's visit. I scheduled Charlotte and me together, and Sarah separately next week. When we arrived at the office, the hygenist had it all set up for me to go first, but I asked if Char could go first. As soon as Charlotte realized it was her turn, she started to panic. To get her into the chair, I offered to allow her to sit on my lap. She was okay with that and as the cleaning got started, I could feel her body tensing. But she eventually started to lighten up and seemed to be enjoying it. I was whispering into her ear that I was proud of her and she tried to smile. (If you've ever tried to smile with an instrument in your mouth, you know how hard it is!)

After she was finished and she hesitantly allow the dentist to look at her teeth, she received a toy from the prize box (a rubber frog like Sarah picked in January), a new Princess Jasmine toothbrush, and a pair of yellow star sunglasses.

I think each visit will get easier now that she's overcome the first full exam. That is, until we start working on fixing her "thumbsucker overbite". :)

The sweetest sound

Because we've had 5 miscarriages since November 2006, we never count on a positive pregnancy test to mean much of anything until we see or hear a heartbeat. We haven't had that pleasure since Charlotte was in utero, so considering I've been pregnant 5 times since then, it's definitely not a given that we'll carry to term.

But today changed all of that. After finding out a couple of weeks ago that we were again expecting, I've been on pins and needles (twice daily heparin shots, that is) waiting to see if this one is going to "stick".

We had an ultrasound appointment this afternoon and I was nervous, excited, and scared to death. But it didn't take long for me to see that beautiful image---a beating heart. And it was really pumping--not just a flicker--it was a REALLY, TRULY, LIVING HEARTBEAT!! I immediately covered my face and sobbed. I was crying so hard that that doctor couldn't focus the probe on the heartbeat to hear it. When I realized what he was doing, I gathered myself (as best I could) and waited. Low and behold, there was the sweet, beautiful sound. Thumpa, thumpa, thumpa, thumpa-----I could have listened for hours.

So while we're only 6w5d, it may as well be delivery day for me. We are thrilled and elated that God has blessed us with a living baby and we pray that he/she continues to grow and develop and stay in there as long as possible. Hopefully in February, we'll be posting pics of a brand new Murphy.

In the meantime, here's a shot from today's ultrasound. Not the greatest photo in the world but it's Baby Murphy's first photo. :)

Why do they call it a "disease"?

Charlotte was diagnosed yesterday with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. She had a high-ish fever all weekend, was extra cranky, and had started complaining that her tongue was hurting. Worried that maybe her ear tubes had come out and she had an ear infection, I took her to the pediatrician. The doc said that she didn't have strep throat (Char was a CHAMP with the throat culture!) but she did have bumps on the back of her throat. After close examination, we saw a bump on her right palm and a couple of little ones on the soles of her feet, too.

After the diagnosis, I asked all of the regular questions: Is she contagious? Should I be worried about other children? What can I do to help her feel better? But I didn't ask why it's called a disease when it's really just a virus. There's nothing I can do to make it go faster or feel better. We just have to let it run it's course.

So why is it called a "disease" when it's really just a virus? They don't call the flu a disease because it's a virus. So why isn't this called Hand, Foot, & Mouth Virus?

I'm sure that the folks at the CDC that name these things aren't parents because they'd certainly give appropriate names to these things.