Gallbladder Attacks...

Come to find out, these "attacks" I have been having is coming from my gallbladder. :(  I didn't think horrible heartburn could ever feel that bad...  I had my ultrasound done a few days ago and the doctor said it needs to come out ASAP!  I have several gallstones in my gallbladder and one has found its way into my bile duct and is causing it to dilate - no wonder I have had intense pain.  I am now seeing Dr. Haraway since Dr. Torres has left and he has assured me that this surgery has to happen and that it will be fine.  However, I am terrified.  I don't want to take a chance of losing the baby and it scares me to death.  I know that I need to have it removed for the sake of the both of us but it is terrifying.  I can barely eat anything... even restricting myself to a zero fat diet is causing me to hurt.  I see the surgeon on Wednesday and I plan on asking him a lot of questions - please keep us in your prayers!!

It's Official...

Yesterday morning was my 2nd appointment for lovely blood work this week.  Dr. Torres wanted to make sure my hcg levels were at least doubling in two days to confirm the pregnancy since we caught it SO early on - 3 weeks!!  I was so nervous all morning for his phone call... for some reason it didn't seem real yet.  He called around lunch and told me I am definitely pregnant.  My hcg levels went from 13 to 40 in just two days!! :)  Such a relief!!  I have been really nauseous and crampy the past week but I have felt great today!! I'm hoping the sickness doesn't last quite as long this time around as it did with Christian.  I'm definitely making a conscious effort to eat better, drink a lot of water, and stay active.  Hopefully that will help!  I'm so sad that Dr. Torres is leaving but he assured me that we would be in great hands with Dr. Haraway.  Our first appointment is May 1st and we can not wait to see our little peanut for the first time!  I will be 4 weeks on Saturday!

  When daddy came home from work, he had this shirt on... The look on his face was priceless and I will never forget it!!  What a perfect, special moment!!!  Thank you, Lord...

Amazing Grace...

Today was one of the best days of our life.... We found out we are pregnant with Baby Iovinelli #2!!  I'm still in shock but so excited!!  We have been praying about another baby for a few months now... Initially, we had planned to wait until Christian was 2 to start trying, but we all of a sudden felt like now was the perfect timing.  I believe perfect timing is God's timing so we continued to pray.  Just a few weeks ago I went to a women's conference with our church and broke down about it.  I knew that God was trying to tell me something... it's just a feeling and when you feel it, you know.. there are no questions.  When I got home from the conference Corey and I talked about just letting God take control and whatever happens, happens.  We did a lot of praying and a lot of crying... All we knew is that we wanted to do whatever God had planned for our lives.  I had just got out of the shower and went to my closet and fell to my knees crying and praying some more, just asking God to help me understand why I was feeling so strongly about having another baby.  I had such a sense of peace come over me after that talk with God and I knew everything was going to work out perfectly.  After that we completely left it up to God and three weeks later... PREGGO!! I have complete faith in God's will for our life and His amazing grace.  We could not be more thrilled!!  

I have felt sick since last weekend.  It all started when I couldn't eat my favorite home cooked meal from my mom last Sunday night.  It made me so sick to even smell it.... then I noticed that everything smelled a little stronger and I was getting nauseous quite frequently.  I had been feeling the very same way I did with Christian.  I had taken a few (5 or 6... LOL) pregnancy tests through out the week (every day... ha!) and they were all negative.  Rightly so since I was taking them 2 weeks too early! haha.. Patience is not one of my strong points!  Anyway, I still just knew in my heart that I was pregnant.  Last night I woke up at 4 in the morning with the worst heart burn I have ever experienced.  So, I decided to take a test this morning.  It came up 2 lines but the one line was so faint that it was really hard to see.  I called Dr. Torres' office and scheduled a blood test because I knew if I was not pregnant - then something else was wrong.. maybe a virus or something?  When I got home I took the other test and the line was a little darker this time... dark enough that I didn't feel like I was seeing things.  Dr. Torres called me shortly after to let me know that my hcg levels were at a 13 - which means it is extremely early on... probably only a couple weeks pregnant at this point and that I need to come back Wednesday to see if they are continuing to elevate.  I will be praying hard until then.... praying that everything comes back just fine and we can celebrate being pregnant again with another sweet baby!!!

Spring Has Arrived...

Hello!! Good grief, I have to get better at posting more often!! Life is so busy these days with a toddler running around.. Christian is a walking/running machine these days!  He loves to go in his room and play... it's so stinkin cute!  I think it's his favorite place to be besides outside!  That little boy will go to the door and cry until we go out to play.  He has this little push mower that makes the mowing sound and he LOVES to push it around the yard!  He also has a little swingset/slide that he really likes to play on, but his favorite is going to the park!  We took him to the park for the first time yesterday since he's been old enough to play and he absolutely loved it!!  He went down the slide a bunch with me and daddy but his favorite thing to do was swing.  His daddy pushed him on the swing forever and he just smiled so big and giggled the whole time!  I never imagined life being so perfect. <3  It's in those moments that I have to stop and thank God.  We are so blessed to have a healthy, precious little boy to share our life with... blessed beyond measure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corey also mowed the yard yesterday for the first time this year!  That means Spring is officially here and that makes me extremely happy - besides the fact the temperature is already in the 80s!! What the heck?! What happened to having four seasons??  Seems like we only have two these days!  I'm learning to just embrace each day, whatever the weather, and be happy that God has given us another amazing day to spend together!  So excited we finally planted a tree over the weekend!!!  My daddy took me tree shopping on Saturday for a father/daughter date and we had such a great time!!  I picked out a huge Autumn Blaze Maple tree that is already 18' tall.  We planted it in the back yard centered behind our living room windows because when the sun sets in the evenings, it beams in and makes the house so warm!  Hopefully the tree will help a bit. :)  Now Corey wants to buy another one for the front yard.... we will probably look for one this weekend.  He also wants to pour a patio out back to connect to our deck - that man always has a project!  He just finished building me a dining room table that I wanted really bad.... it's quite impressive!  I'm so blessed to have a talented, hard working husband!

Well, that is about all for now...... I will try to write more often!!  Until next time, everyone have a blessed day!!

Kristen

Where did the year go?!

So, oh my goodness.. This week has been extremely emotional for me. Not only is my baby boy turning 1 tomorrow, there has been a whirlwood of "1st" this week!! Tuesday was his 1st day at daycare.... definitely the hardest one of them all for me!  Christian is such a little social butterfly that he absolutely loved it.  Momma however, broke down atleast 7 times that day!  I kept praying that God would just give me the strength to make it out of there without crying, but that did not happen.  Surely they are used to crying mommas though, right?!  I hope so!! haha!  When I went to pick him up, all the little kids were outside playing.  He was at the picnic bench with another little boy just his size.. It was one of the cutest things ever just pulling up and seeing him out there playing with a little buddy!!  My heart melted!  They said he did great and had a wonderful day.  He fell asleep before we even got home.. He was wore out from all that playing!!  Wednesday he got to stay home with his Nana so I was at ease all day UNTIL he had his 1st hair cut that evening.  I didn't cry (surprisingly) but it was so emotional sitting there with him in my lap watching her cut his little newborn locks off! :(  Where did my little bitty baby go?!  Now he has a big boy hair cut - which looks stinking adorable!!  He went back to daycare on Thursday... It was a lot easier this time for me.  He was playing with his little friends before I even left so I know he is loving it there!  I went and finished all of his birthday shopping last night for his party and his presents.  It has been so much fun planning his 1st birthday party and buying his little birthday presents.. We got him some new clothes, shoes, socks, a couple of toys, his first set of crayons and coloring books, bath droplets to make the water green, AND a wagon!!  He is going to be SO excited about the wagon... He has this little dump truck right now that he likes to get in and me pull him around.  He looks huge in it because it is so small but he scrunches himself in there because he loves riding around.  I can not wait to see the look on his face when he goes for his first ride!! :)  His birthday party is "Dinosaur Train" theme.  He loves that show.... and he doesn't usually pay attention to anything on TV.  Every time the song comes on for that show he squeals and starts dancing - cutest thing ever!!  So when it came time to pick a theme for his party, there was no question!  I've made a lot of the decorations for his party.. I love crafting and I love the meaning behind it when you do it yourself.  I have so much to do tonight though to get it all ready for tomorrow!  Last but not least, this morning he took birthday cookies to school for him, his friends, and his teachers... It was SO much fun sending those to school for him!!  I'm starting to really enjoy the whole daycare situation a lot more than I thought.  It's just perfect because he gets social time 3 days a week but still gets to stay at home some, too.  I love that little angel more than anything I could ever explain.  I can not believe he has been with us for a whole year tomorrow.. How blessed our lives are!!!! "Every good and perfect gift is from above." -James 1:17 *How true is that!!!!*

I'll be writing all about his birthday soon... I can't wait to take lots of pictures and share these wonderful memories!