Grandma's visit....

My mom came to visit with us for two weeks. I was so happy to have my mom here with me. She is so wonderful to talk with and to be around. I love my kids very much, buy every once in awhile I like to talk to someone other than my kids. She got here on June 30, we didn't really do a whole lot, we just enjoyed each others company. My mom did get me to watch a show that I get on my Netflix, it's called Medium, and I love it. It's a great show, I am totally addicted to it...thanks Mom!! We went to the mall and out to eat a few times, but nothing really big. The kids had so much fun with Grandma around, they love her very much. I was totally suprised when Hannah immediately bonded with her, and followed her around then showed her the house and where she would be sleeping. It was very sweet, but that's my Hannah bug for you, so sweet. I was very sad when she had to leave to go back home, but she will be here again next year. We all had fun with my mom visiting us. We love you, Grandma Lorene!! So here are some pictures I took. Enjoy.

Alexandra's birth...

On May 14, 2011 we welcomed our newest additon, Alexandra Grace, to our family 6 weeks early. She was born at Good Samaritan Hospital at 10:56am and weighed 4lbs. 3oz. and was 16in. long. She is beautiful, and doing wonderful. I am doing great as well. Alexandra had to be sent to the NICU to make sure she was doing well. She did very well, was breathing on her own and kept her temperature up as well, the only "problem" she had was learning to eat. She was just a very tired baby and having to eat was a lot of work so she wouldn't do it. They ended up having to put a feeding tube in her nose so she could get all the nutrition she needed to grow. She was so teeny tiny the first time I got to go to the NICU to see her. My husband was wonderful, he made sure that I was the first one to hold her. That was so sweet of him to do. The birth was an exciting time, the night before, actually several nights before, I was having a lot of pain to what I assumed was heartburn, really bad, painful heartburn. I tried to go to bed thinking that I just needed to get some rest, but couldn't go to sleep because of the pain. So I got up and went to the living room, my pain got so bad that I actually got sick, and when I stood up my water broke. I called everyone that I had to, and went to tell William. We finally left for the hospital around 10:30pm. When we arrived at the hospital, I was taken to triage to get everything started up and check all my vital signs. Apparently, my blood pressure was up so high that I was developing preeclampsia, which was part of the pain I was feeling. That's when they knew they needed to get her out as soon as possible. They let me go on my own for a while before inducing me. When I first arrived I was only at 1cm, then in one hour I was at 3 then quickly went to a 4. That is when the Dr. recommended that I have the epidural because of the issues I've had he wanted to be sure that I was comfortable and if for any reason something happened I would already have it in. So I got the epidural, which to my suprise, wasn't too bad to get. The Dr. that gave it was wonderful, he talked to me before doing things and made me feel very comfortable. I liked that. Once the epidural was in I was a bit more comfortable, no more pain in my chest which meant that I was able to go to sleep for a bit. The dr. came in to check and I had progressed to a 5/6 at around 10:40. Then comes the exciting part. It was like maybe 10 min later that the nurses came running in and threw the covers off me to discover that I was bleeding a lot. Apparently my placenta was pulling away, and they needed to get her out asap. I was fortuanate enough to be fully dialated and pushed her out with two good pushes, I think the dr. helped too by pulling her out. I was so glad that I was able to push her out instead of having to have an emergency c-section. Later he told me that my preeclampsia had gotten so bad that I started having placental abruption, and if I wasn't at the hospital when this happened I and baby could have died. I am glad that I had the epidural too, because from what I hear having the placenta tear away is very painful, and lucky for me I didn't feel a thing which is why I was a little scared about all the hussle and bussle going on moments before her birth. I believe that someone was looking out for me, and that is why the Dr. recommended the epidural. I wanted to have a natural birth like I had with Aiden, but even though it didn't end up that way I am still very happy and thankful to all those that helped.

This past weekend was Mother's Day (May 8th) I am so grateful to be the mother of these 3, almost 4, wonderful children. I had the best day ever with my husband and our children. We woke up early that morning and took them to Pump It Up. It's a place here in West Chester, that has inflatables for kids to jump around in, along with a big inflatable slide too. They had a blast, and because it was Mother's day they extended the playtime to 12 noon. We ended up playing from 8:30-11. It was so much fun to see how happy they were. Then we went to Lynn's (My mother in law) house and had pizza and played outside with kids again. It was such a special day. I got the greatest gifts too, I got a wonderful new cannon camera and a new purse. I am so happy, now I have an excuse to take more pictures of my kids, besides using my phone. (Not such good quality) Great news for all of you guys. The day before we took the kids to Build a Bear Workshop in the Kenwood Mall. They thought it was the greatest thing to be able "make" their own bears. Sarah picked out a pink multi-colored bear and dressed hers in a sleeping beauty dress. Hannah picked out just a pink bear and dressed hers in a Tinkerbell dress. Aiden he liked the brown bear, I tried to see if they had some Toy Story outfits since that is his favorite movie, but alas they did not so he picked out a boy outfit, some jeans and a nice shirt. Needless to say they had fun making their bears.

Well tomorrow marks my 34th week. I can not believe we or should I say I have made it this far. Just from what has happened in the past and with being put on bed rest then taken off, it has been quite a trip. I am very happy to have made it to this point in my pregnancy because even if she is born this week (which I doubt) she has a 98% chance of survival. So I feel at ease. I also found out that my darling little Hannah was born early, I had no idea, but she was born on January 26, 2007, but her due date wasn't until February 18. She wasn't too premature but 36 weeks 5 days. I always thought she was 37 weeks and something, guess I was wrong. I just can't believe that my due date is only 6 weeks away, unless she would like to join us sooner, but not too soon. I would like to leave you with some videos of my wonderful Mother's day.

a long time...

Hello everyone!! I know it has been awhile since my last post, please forgive me. We are all doing very well. Baby Ally is doing very well, I have been given weekly ultrasounds and they have not found anything wrong with her, for which I am grateful. They have also been keeping track of her measurments to make sure she grows well. At her last measurment she was 2 pounds 13 ounces. She is still on the small side of the scale but her weight is increasing everytime which is what the doctors (and myself) want. At this time I am 31 weeks along, so almost at the end of my pregnancy. You might be suprised to hear me say that I cannot wait either. The kids are doing great as well. Sarah has become interested in soccer, althought she just likes kicking the ball around. So we bought a kids soccer ball and some small size cones to set up as the goals. Hannah is still loving school, and this week happens to be her spring break she misses it a lot and asks when she goes back to school. She has also been interested in writing her letter preferably the letters in her name. She can do the letters H and A, yeah!! Aiden is, well, a boy. He loves to play ball sometimes stealing Sarah's soccer ball away. He is totally in love with anything Toy Story, clothes or coloring books whatever, but especially the movies. This coming Sunday is Easter, and we have planned an easter egg hunt for the kids, unfortunately it will have to be indoors due to all the rain we are getting and could potentially get on Sunday. I am very excited to see their faces when they do this. It will be a great day. I will post pictures of them on Easter Sunday shortly after. Hope all of you are doing well too. Take Care.

Update...

It has been awhile since I have last posted, so I thought I would post something today. As you are all well aware we got some fantastic news about my amnio test, it came back that all her chromosomes were normal. I am so relieved to have that come back normal, I was very afraid that something would be wrong and I would ultimately be left with making a very difficult decision. Now knowing that she is chromosomely sound the doctors have told me that I can do more things, but would still prefer that I not lift heavy things just to be safe. They also have me getting an ultrasound every week to make sure that she is doing well. The first 3 scans in the month will be limit scans to look for something called Hydrops Fetalis, then every 4th scan will be to track her growth. Hydrops fetalis is a severe, life-threatening problem of swelling in the fetus. There are two types of Hydrops, immune- results when the mother's immune system causes breakdown of red blood cells in the fetus, and non-immune- (more common) results when diseases or complications interfere with the baby's ability to manage fluid. They want to test for this because of my placenta issues, and just to be on the safe side. For me, I feel wonderful and am pleased that they are taking all the precautions to make sure that my baby is healthy. I feel a lot better than I have felt since this whole thing started. I have even felt her move a lot more to this point, she is quite active too usually when I am going to sleep, but hey she has time to adjust to my sleeping pattern before she comes, right? HA, yeah. Anyway, it is a great feeling when I do feel her move or squirm or kick almost like a reassurance she is doing ok. I love it when she does, it makes me smile every time.
As for the rest of the family they are doing wonderful too, my wonderful husband took me on the most wonderful date this past Saturday. He took me to the Iron Horse. It was fabulous, and very relaxing as well, a much needed date. Sarah is getting to be such a big help around the house, although she sometimes complains about having to "do so much" but she knows that she is helping mommy and baby Ally, so while she complains she is happy to do it. Hannah is loving preschool, and has overcome her fear of talking, although I still may not be able to understand she now talks more when before she would just stay quiet. Aiden is my little monster, he likes to pretend he is a monster or a ghost and ran around pretending to scare people. It is very cute, but sometimes he can get carried away. So, as you can tell, we are all doing very well at this point. Hope you are doing well too, until next time.

Great News...

Well as you all know I had an Amniocentesis test done two weeks ago this Friday. I was supposed to recieve some quick results as soon as Monday or Tuesday the following week, but to my dismay the results for that were inconclusive, so I was forced to wait for the final results. I finally got those results today. This Morning, February 16, around 10:30Am I got a phone call from the genetic counselor, Jamie, and she told me that the baby's chromosomes are normal. Meaning she has two sets of 23, nothing is missing or extra. I was so thrilled to hear this, infact I feel elated. I was so worried that there would be something wrong with her, but to hear that she is perfectly normal is such a blessing.
I also had to go back to Good Sam today for another routine ultrasound to make sure Alexandra is gaining weight. She is gaining weight just fine. She is currently 15oz. which means she has gained 5oz. since February 1. I may not be a doctor, but I think that is pretty good. I also found out that my due date has been changed from June 11 to now June 22. So I am currently, with my new due date, 22 weeks. They changed my dates because she was always measuring smaller than normal for the date I had. So now she is almost a full pound at 22 weeks gestation. YAY!! I do have another dr appointment tomorrow and will talk with her about what they may or may not do now that we know her chromosomes are normal. They are still concerned about my placenta so we will see what they want to do about that. I shall write more tomorrow after I have talked to my dr. so until then goodnight everyone. Have a wonderful night.

Amniocentesis test..

On Friday, February 4, I went into Good Sam to have the amniocentesis test done. I got to the hospital at 10:15 that morning and waited to speak with a genetic counselor about what the test results might look like and how they read them. She also talked about the test itself and what they were going to do. For those of you who don't know what an amniocentesis test is, it's where they take amniotic fluid out through your belly. The test went something like this for me.
First they cleaned my stomach with an antiseptic solution to prevent infection, then the sonographer put some gel on my stomach to look on the ultrasound machine where they could get some fluid without hitting baby or my placenta. Once that was determined the doctor numbed the area (which he ended up doing twice) with anaesthetic. This stung a little bit, but not too bad almost like getting a shot, just in your stomach. Then with the help of the ultrasound he took a long needle and inserted it into my stomach and through the amnioc sac at which I was asked to count to ten. Then he used a syringe to take out the amniotic fluid, again I was asked to count to ten. Then he removed the syringe and they put a band-aid on the wound.
I will say that this did hurt quite a bit, but it didn't last too long about 10 minutes from the time I walked into the room until I walked out. I was very sore afterwards and started to have contractions that they had to send me upstairs to labor and deliver to give me some breathyne and watch the contactions. They did eventually stop, and they did tell that sometimes after having the procedure that may happen. I was told to take it easy for the next few days, which doesn't really change what I have already been doing at home. I was very sore the day I went home and even the next day, now I am not as sore it more just feels like a big bruise on my stomach were they inserted the needle. I am hoping to have some quick answers as soon as Monday or Tuesday but the final answers won't be back for 2 weeks. I will let you all know as soon as we do.

Naming the baby...

We have been contemplating about a lot of names throughout this pregnancy, whether the baby turned out to be a boy or a girl. Now we know that the baby is a girl we had to come up with some girl names, that we both agreed on. Two names that we had picked out but couldn't agree to were Samantha Grace and Madison Nicole. Try as we might to get the other to agree to the name it wouldn't work. So we had to think a bit more and that's when my wonderfully, clever husband came up with the name Alexandra Grace. Once I heard that name I liked it immediately. My husband thought since we had decided if the baby were a boy to name him Alexander he thought why not give her the same name but the girl version of it. I have to say that was very clever. My mother-in-law, Lynn, also decided on giving her the nickname Ally. To make it easier for the kids to say. So it's official her name is Alexandra Grace Harvey.

5+1 more

Well as many of you may know through our facebook pages, we are expecting our fourth child in June. We found out that I was expecting sometime in October, but opted not to tell anyone until we knew the sex of the baby. We ended up telling family members around 15 weeks. We found out we were having a girl while I was in the hospital at Good Samaritan. I was in the hospital for a kidney infection, which really hurts too, and while there I began leaking amniotic fluid and that was the reason for the ultrasound, to see if there was enough fluid around baby. There ended up being no problems with the baby except that she was small for her size, but there ended up being a much bigger problem that has raised concern for the doctors and that was the size of my placenta. It did look much bigger than what I remember seeing with my other children, but I didn't know it was a problem. From then on we have had difficult times. My doctor then told me that sometimes the hole will fix on it's own, and put a limit on my doing things. At a later follow up doctors appointment I found out that I might have what is called a Molar pregnancy or medically called Hydatidiform mole. There are two possiblities one is a complete where there is no fetus or two a partial where there is a baby. A partial can happen when two sperm fertilize one egg causing the fetus to have too many chromosomes. If this is the case the fetus will usually abort itself or it will not live very long after birth, usually only hours. The doctors are not certain this is what I have though, they can only make guesses at this point. The only way for them to be certain is for me to have the amniocentesis test done to look at the baby's chromosomes.
On February 1st I went to Good Samaritan hospital for another, this time routine, ultrasound and that's when they made the discovery that she had a hole in her heart. I was then asked to go over to Children's hospital to have an echocardiogram done to see the extent of the hole and if there were any other problems pertaining to her heart as well. Of course I was quite nervous, but to my much suprise the cardiologist said that there was no hole at least not one big enough to cause concern and they did not see anything that would raise concern for them. This was the first peace of good news I have had so far. So as you can tell we have had a lot of things going on thusfar with this pregnancy.

New Blog...

I thought I should create this blog for all my family and friends to follow what has been going on in the Harvey household. I also couldn't remember my password to my other blog, I know pathetic, right? Just to update you on our family; we currently live in West Chester, Ohio. We moved up this way in August, August 14th to be exact, which happens to be an anniversary of ours. What irony. My husband and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this year, which really consisted of unpacking boxes and getting rooms set up, but soon after we got to have a nice dinner alone, just the two of us.

Sarah turned 5 years old this past year in October. I can't believe she is 5 now. Wow, time really does go by fast. She is such the little princess in the family, always dressing in pretty clothes usually with a necklace on, and wanting to make sure her hair is perfect with her headband on. She has become very fond of headbands lately always wanting more. I think I may try to make some of our own for her to have. Although Sarah does not go to school just yet she still has ways to amaze me everyday, like when she writes her sister's name from memory without help. I am so proud of her and know she will do great once school starts in the fall. Sarah also has a talent for drawing, she loves to draw and color and does it quite often too. Her walls in her bedroom are lined with pictures she either drew or colored. She loves to show them off. Sarah has also started CTR-6, in our church we have a program called primary which children get together to learn new songs and stories, and they even have individual class time as well with kids around the same age. I can't believe she is in such a big girl class. Before I know it she'll be in Young Women's. (12 years to 18 years) Yikes!

Hannah, our little bug/banana, just turned 4 this year in January. She is such a cutie too. Hannah is very diffent from her sister, not really caring about being so perfect. Hannah usually doesn't care what she is wearing but does care about her hat. She has a hat that goes with an outfit that once belonged to Sarah, but Sarah never wore the hat, and now Hannah wears it all the time, it really goes with her personality too. We find it funny that she will even wear the hat to bed sometimes. Back in November Hannah started going to the early childhood school (Prek-1st grade) for speech therapy once a week for 30 min. I knew she needed some speech but didn't think it was quite as bad as what they evaluated her as. Normal range is 85- 115, Hannah was at 60. After going to some of the speech classes, I was concerned that she wasn't getting enough out of the program so I asked about her starting preschool classes. She now has started preschool and gets to ride the bus and everything. She goes M-Th 9:10-12:20, including bus time. She is such a big girl now. She absolutely loves going to school too. She tells me about her teachers and friends and what they did that day. She has another speech therapist come to teach her as well so this way she can really learn to use her words with teachers and friends. It has been a wonderful blessing for her. Hannah has also graduated from Nursery to Sunbeams at church. She was a little afraid the first time she went to the primary room, it can be intimidating to go to such a big room without mommy there with you. She loves it though, I think she likes learning all the new songs (She loves to sing).

Aiden, our little champ, turned 2 this past November. He is such a big boy, and I mean that in both ways size and personality. He may only be 2 but he is wearing a 3T, sometimes a 4T. He loves to play with his sisters. He always wants to be included in everything they do. Weather it's dressing up in princess costumes or playing with baby dolls. He will do it all. Aiden is also a little talker, he says more than I have ever heard a 2 year old say in my life. I think it may be due to the fact that he has older siblings. As much as he loves to play with his sisters he also enjoys irrating them too, but what brother wouldn't? When he gets in his moods he will try to wrestle with them or take some things away from them just so they play what he wants. Aiden has a lot of toys that he loves, but I think most of all he loves his baby, yes I found him a boy baby doll to play with, and his cars. He will line his cars up then with another car crash it into the other lined up cars. It's really kinda cute and a very boyish thing to do as well. He also likes to color, I think because his sisters love it so much. He got his first coloring book from his Mamaw, my mother-in-law, the other day and has colored on almost 1/3 of the book already. Aiden is still in Nursery at church, but doesn't seem to care that much that his sister is no longer in the class with him. He likes going to Nursery, although I think his favorite part is snack time. Well that's about it for the update of our wonderful children.