baby name announcement!

we are excited to announce that we have finally decided on a name for our newest son!
(and yes, this is one of the few posts where i will mention our sons' actual names). 

silas was a leading member of the early christian community who accompanied paul on his second missionary journey.  we knew we wanted another biblical and unusual name to go with our other two sons, titus and abraham.  i had originally read online somewhere that silas meant "the third" which i thought was totally appropriate since this is our third son but researching a little more, silas is latin for "woods" or "forest."  i like the first meaning better myself!

we picked jack for a middle name because our other sons have "j" middle names.  we wanted another name to also go with titus james and abraham jude.  i've always wanted to incorporate my hubby's name john in one of our boys' names but he's always been against it.  it was his idea to choose jack, which is often a nickname for john.  i loved it!  jack means "God is gracious."

so that's a little background behind his name.  while we love it, we have also experienced reactions of those who don't.  if you don't like it, please keep that to yourself.  you don't want to upset this already hormonal momma, alright?  ha, ha!

and here is an update on little silas jack:

 

i've definitely got the baby bump going on now.  i will be 24 weeks tomorrow, 6 months!!!  i had a midwife appointment this past tuesday.  i've only gained 6 pounds but she wasn't too concerned because silas is measuring close to normal size on that last ultrasound.  i was really sick early on in the pregnancy so i think that's why i've been slow to gain weight but if this pregnancy follows my previous two, you just wait!  i will be huge!  

his heart rate was 135 and he is still moving a lot!  we talked about several possible scenarios with silas' birth and i feel more at ease about things.  we are basically in a holding pattern until the next sonogram at 32 weeks, which would be the second week of june.  we would likely have another closer to delivery time, perhaps at 36-37 weeks just to triple check on things.  as of this moment, i still have the option of delivering him naturally in a birth center which is my goal and desire.  then we would head shortly thereafter to the hospital to have silas checked out fully by a neonatologist.  if anything new pops up on the sonogram, then we will just have him at the hospital and have everything done there.  

so my job right now is to just keep cooking this boy so that he will be big and strong when he makes his appearance.  i'm feeling good, just really tired.  i think it's a combination of keeping up with the schedules of my older two boys and worrying a bit about this little guy.  i stopped consulting "dr. google" which has definitely improved my nerves, and i'm trying really hard to trust God and have faith that He will provide for all of us whatever we need.

we are so encouraged by the kind words and prayers of our friends and family.  it is good to pray for silas by name.  thank you!

burrito is 9!

i know i say this every year (and i'll keep on saying it!), but i can't believe how fast my little men are growing up!

burrito you are my first born.  you made me a momma and i will always treasure that!  Some of my favorite things about you right now are you're love for listening to a good book (harry potter is your current favorite) and you're ability to do many things at once without missing a beat.  you love your friends at school but not so much the homework.  you amaze me with your memory of bible stories and it makes my heart so full to hear all that you've learned about Jesus and His Word.  you have endless stores of energy and you love all sports.  i love watching you pitch in your baseball games and shooting hoops in the driveway.  you still LOVE drinks and your favorite right now is coke. 

we celebrated your birthday this year with a family fun day spaced out over 3 days!  with baseball games on your actual birthday, we had to get creative in fitting in all of our fun activities.  your first choice was donuts at school to celebrate your birthday with your class.

next up was a fun family trip to it'z, a pizza buffet and video game place.  we had fun rock climbing, playing games and driving bumper cars.

we celebrated with mimi, poppy, stacey and sutton with a dinner at chili's, presents and chocolate pie.

we will conclude our weekend of fun with lunch with friends and red velvet cake!

burrito we love you so much and are so proud of the little man you are becoming!

please pray for our baby boy

To be completely honest, we've had a tough week at our house.  I had my anatomy ultrasound performed last Friday and received a call on Monday with some unfortunate news.   Our baby boy's abdominal organs are flipped, meaning his stomach is on the right side instead of the left, etc.  We were immediately referred to a maternal/fetal specialist and we had that appointment yesterday afternoon.  He performed another ultrasound to take a closer look and give us an idea of what we may be facing. 

He confirmed that the stomach and all associated abdominal organs are flipped.  The heart is not flipped and looks good with no sign of a congenital heart defect (a huge praise!).  The blood flow going in and out of the heart was going in the correct direction.  His brain looks good with no signs of any problems there.  He also looked at his kidneys, intestines, brain stem and maybe some other things that I can't remember now.  The only other concern was that his intestines looked "whiter" than normal on ultrasound, but he said that could mean nothing or it could mean something that we would check again later.

We went into the appointment fully expecting that this one appointment would be the first of many but the doctor felt like we should have a normal pregnancy with a normal delivery.  We've been seeing a midwife and the doctor said we could still have a birth center birth as long as we planned on having the baby evaluated by a neonatologist within 24 hours of birth.  He recommended that we see him again at 32 weeks (I'm 21 weeks now) for another ultrasound to take a look again once he's a little bigger.  If nothing is suspicious, then the baby will be examined after birth to check on things that we cannot see in utero.  With this organ flipping syndrome, there is usually an issue with whether the spleen forms or not.  The spleen is the body's organ to fight infection so if he does not have one, we would be looking at a daily antibiotic for the rest of his life.  This is something that we won't know until after he his born and the baby has an ultrasound.

So here are our specific requests at this point:
1.  An uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery.
2.  That although the abdominal organs are flipped, everything is "hooked up" correctly and will not require surgery
3.  That he has a spleen!

4.  That the ultrasound at 32 weeks will not reveal any further problems

4.  Wisdom in deciding where to give birth
5.  Wisdom in financial matters...this is REALLY overwhelming to me
6.  That we would be faithful in trusting the Lord in ALL things

So we are proceeding with hope that all goes well until we have the next ultrasound at 32 weeks.  At that point, decisions will be made about how best to proceed.  We are praising God for a good appointment yesterday.  We covet your prayers!