Weekend Update....

Well, this weekend was a little more eventful than I had hoped it would be! As most of you know my dad is battling late-stage cancer and has been undergoing very intensive chemo treatments, which haven't been making making him feel just 100% to say the least. On Saturday morning he passed out multiple times and began to go into convulsions. My mom called 911 and they took him to Baylor Hospital in downtown Fort Worth. He was severly anemic, so they began giving him fluids in the ER while they waited for the shipment of blood to arrive. I got there as quickly as I could. I kept thinking to myself "stay calm" - everyone has been telling me how important it is to stay calm right now. Well, that's much easier said than done. While driving to Fort Worth I had 5 painful contractions, was in a cold sweat, and was just praying that I could make it there in one piece.

The human body typically holds 9 - 10 units of blood total. My dad had to receive 6 units of blood. The doctors said that they've never given that much blood to a non-trauma patient before. So Saturday was primarially focused on pumping as much blood and fluids into my dad as they could, but at a safe pace. He also had a CT scan. By Saturday evening his color had returned and he said that he was feeling much better. On Sunday, they ran several tests including an echocardiogram, ultrasound on his heart, and full endoscopy. We haven't gotten the results of anything except for the the endoscopy - I was able to speak to the physician immediately after the procedure. My dad has a large duodenal ulcer that he believes has been the primary source of his blood loss. He said that it is a result of the large amounts of ibuprofen that he has been taking, in addition to the stress from chemo. They're going to put my dad on a treatment program for that, so hopefully that will help. He also said that my dad was "one half of a horse," and he'd let me figure out which half - good to hear that my dad is giving everyone a hard time right now!!

I only have had a few additional contractions since Satruday morning - about half of which have been painful. I'm going to call my doctor today - hopefully everything is fine. I'm sure that it was just stress-induced. I'm in my 27th week of pregnancy - I read this morning that most women at this point have gained 16 - 22 pounds. I'm still at negative 3 pounds as of this morning..... A little discouraging to say the least, but it should be relatively easy for me to shed my baby-weight! I just hope that Baby Ruby can't tell how stressed and how sad that I am. I'll post a new belly picture soon - she's definitely growing.

Please keep my dad in your prayers. He has some great doctors working on him, but he's not out of the woods yet. Say a prayer for little Baby Ruby too - I want her to know how special she is and how much everyone loves her.

Anyone want to buy our house?

We made the sad decision to sell our beautiful home. It's really the only logical option given the circumstances, but it absolutely breaks my heart. Our house is officially "listed" now - here's the link: http://ntreislistings.marketlinx.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?emailGUID=e8e59290-16ab-4734-b36a-20ba3c95329a&AgentId=0555945. If you click on the picture of our house you can see additional pictures. I'm sad because I feel like so many other things in my life, no one will ever love it as much as I loved it.

6-Month Doctor Visit

I just got back from my Dr's appointment. She had some good news and some bad news. The good news (actually, great news) is that the baby still looks ok. She's not overly concerned about her - she says that as long as I'm trying my hardest to eat, staying hydrated, and taking my prenatal vitamins, that she should continue to take what she needs from me. She said that babies are like leeches - they get whatever they need from you at your expense, and that this doesn't stop until they turn 18. Haha. She gave me a prescription for anti-nausea medicine that should hopefully help both with the sickness and help me to sleep at night. The bad news is that I lost a pound from last month's visit, which puts me at 5 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. And that was after I drank copious amounts of water this morning and wore heavy clothes..... She also said that what I've been experiencing the past few days are probably Braxton Hicks contractions. They were pretty painful this morning, but she said that as long as I don't have more than 6 per hour and as long as they don't get increasingly more painful, I should be fine. If they do, I have to come in to the hospital and they'll admit me for monitoring.

She measured at 28 weeks for her Fundal Height (I'm only 24 weeks along), so Dr. Dullye sent me in for an unscheduled sonogram to make sure that everything was ok. The sono showed that Baby Ruby is in the "Frank Breach" presentation - http://www.americanpregnancy.org/labornbirth/breechpresentation.html - it's not a problem just yet, but it could be if she doesn't flip around in the next month or so. The sono confirmed that she is 24-weeks, and our due date is still the same. It also confirmed that she's still a girl!

Here's another picture of her beautiful face from today. Seeing her today was such a blessing. I wasn't scheduled to have a sonogram, but it made me so happy to get to see her, her little beating heart, and to watch her move around on the screen as I felt her in my belly. Damian came with me to the appointment and held my hand as we watched her. It was so nice, but my heart is still so very sad. I hung the few baby clothes that we've gotten up in my closet last night - in the empty half where Damian's clothes used to be. It makes me happy now to walk in there, I see something that makes me smile now instead of just emptiness. I'm praying that each day gets easier, that each day will hurt a little bit less than the previous day. That's all that I can hope for.

Back to Zero.

A lot has happened over the weekend. More than I had hoped for. I've not only lost the one single pound that I had gained, but I'm actually down 4 pounds. I have a Dr's appt. tomorrow, so hopefully she'll be able to ease my mind a bit. I've been having trouble keeping down any food at all and have been fighting off panic attacks.

Damian decided on Friday that he didn't want to stay with his wife and his unborn baby girl. I truly thought that the other woman was out of his life all together, but it turns out that she is not. He moved all of his stuff out in a matter of hours yesterday. I love that man with all of my heart, and I always will. I hope that we will be able to get through this terrible process in one piece and that he will uphold his promise to be there for me and Baby Ruby.

I know that this is for the best. I keep telling myself that I'll be better off. But I feel silly ever giving him a second chance, silly for trusting him again, and very silly for falling back in love with him. The one thing that I can say is that I can go to sleep every night knowing that I gave it my all. I have no regrets. I know that God doesn't make mistakes and that He doesn't give us more than we can handle. I am so very blessed with so many things in my life - my family and all of my beautiful friends, who I can't thank enough for being there for me. Say a prayer for me and my sweet baby girl today - we need all that we can get.

Belly Pic!

Here's a new picture of me from this morning - 6 months along! I noticed last night that I can no longer see my feet when I'm standing up. I finally caved in and have started buying some maternity clothes - they're so cute! I read that our baby girl is about the size of a large papaya this week and is a little over 1lb. Works out well since that's all that I've gained so far (although I have no idea how considering that I can't go an entire night without some kind of dessert).....

Today is also my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Nana!!!

Aloha!

Here are a few pictures from the Honolulu part of our Babymoon. It was beautiful and we had a fabulous time!!!

Our baby girl has been really moving around a lot! She's very active at night - Damian felt her move last weekend for the first time, which was really neat. We bought her crib last weekend (yay for Labor Day Sales!) and are in the process of picking out bedding/paint colors/etc. I'm really trying not to go overboard with it, but it's just so much fun! I also took the soon-to-be-Grandmas ("Nana" and "Mimi") to Babies-r-Us and we registered - talk about overwhelming! I had no idea what half of the stuff was. I have a lot to learn still, but we had a great time. I'll post a new belly pic soon - she's growing like crazy! As of yesterday, I've officially gained my first pound since I've been pregnant!

At a Luau on the North Shore

Sunset at the Hotel Halekulani

The most amazing view from breakfast one morning!

Pineapples at the Dole Plantation

On a Sunset Catamaran Cruise off of Diamond Head

Honolulu sunset

Hawaiian band and hula dancer on the beach