FAQs

Here are some common questions that I've been asked and figured it'd be good to get them all down in one place.

1. How are you guys doing?
We have a peace about us that has been with us almost from the beginning. We know that God is in control and are trying to show his glory through it all.

2. Have you thought of any names?
This is already been answered here but... Noah Christopher. Noah means rest or peace and that is how we've felt. Carver can say Noah (he says 'no-way') and that helps.

3. What have you told Carver?
He knows that the baby has an owie on his head. That Jesus (we say Jesus instead of God because Carver can say Jesus) said that the only way to fix Noah's owie is for Noah to go live with Jesus in heaven. That only super special babies get to go straight to heaven. We reinforce that Noah will not get to come home with us. Carver has added that Noah will fly to heaven (after seeing his uncles do the iFly) and that he will have bobcats and diggers to play with up there.

4. When is your due date?
April 6th but I will go early. Hopefully I'll make it to 34ish weeks. With Anencephaly, it is common to go into labor early so that could happen at any point.

5. How can we pray for you?

• For continued peace.
• That Noah will continue to grow and develop.
• That his head will be healed.
• That through us, people will turn to God.
• That, somehow, we'll be able to donate organs. We haven't ruled this out and will continue to talk to the doctor about it.

That's it for now. When I have another group of questions I'll post those as well.

26 Weeks (a day early)

First, I finally decided to take pictures and do updates again. I've been on a hiatus since we got the diagnosis but decided that I still want to do a scrapbook so I need pictures and info.

We had a doctor appointment today. Everything seems to be on track. I do the glucose test in 2 weeks for gestational diabetes (yuck). I picked the lemon lime flavor since that's what I did with Carver and it didn't seem that bad. I'm hoping that it's the same this time. I asked Carver if he wanted to go to the blood draw with me and he said no. haha The doctor said that I could go into labor at any point but to not cancel any plans out of town - I'm going on a girls trip in a few weeks about 5hrs away and he said to go ahead and go. I'm thinking I'll deliver somewhere in the 30s week wise (I'm hoping 34-36wks). Other than all that, I made another appointment for 4 weeks from now and the Dr just said that if I notice a change in movement or a stop in movement all together to give him a call.

I'm pretty pooped so I'll post pictures tomorrow, but here's my stats for now.

How far along are you? 26 weeks tomorrow

Total weight gain: up 18lbs

How big is baby?: I'm not keeping track anymore.

Maternity clothes: all tops. I would need to buy new jeans so I've been wearing yoga pants and leggings. Maternity clothes was the hardest part for a long time. I still don't want to pay for maternity clothes and I don't want to answer questions that come along with shopping for maternity clothes.

Stretch marks?: No new ones.

Sleep?: Pretty good lately. I've found a pillow combination at my mom's that's perfect and I have a body pillow at home that's heavenly!

Best moment this week?: Seeing Carver's face on Christmas morning.

Movement?: He's gotten a lot stronger in his kicks in the last couple weeks. He's definitely a strong little boy!!!

Food cravings?: Sweets. I got a KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas and the first thing I made was sugar cookies. haha

Food aversions?: nothing, really

Labor signs?: not really. I was never able to distinguish braxton hicks with Carver and I'm the same with this one, I guess. Hopefully nothing starts happening for another month.

Belly button in or out?: Slowly disappearing

What I miss: I really like being pregnant, I think I am already projecting what I will miss after he's born. All the little things that go with having a newborn.

What I'm looking forward to: Nothing really. Well, I guess my mom getting married tomorrow but nothing pregnancy-wise.

Milestone: Almost to 3rd trimester. I'm kinda scared to officially be in the 3rd trimester. That means that it's almost to the end. I just want to keep Noah inside for as long as possible.

I guess I've been kind of down lately. That usually happens after Christmas is over. But I have nothing to look forward to anymore until I go into labor. I'm doing ok though. So don't worry. After this wedding tomorrow, life will get back to normal and we can get back to our routine. We'll be home for at least the next 3 weekends and it'll be nice to just relax.

A Breakdown of Christmas

We've had a total of 6 Christmases this year. Here's a breakdown of what went down in a little over a week.

#1: My mom's family (her siblings, mom, etc) 12/17/11 We went up to Burien (1hr away) for this. It was great to be around family. We all live pretty close but are all so busy that the only time we can guarantee seeing each other is at Christmas. Carver got everything for his own beta fish - including a gift card to go pick out a fish. We've since done that and he picked out a really pretty blue and green one that he's named Winnie the Pooh (or 'winnie pooh-aa' as he calls him). We stayed in a hotel that night with mom, her fiance, my brothers, and one of their girlfriends. The next day was my mom's birthday and my brothers were doing iFly (indoor sky diving) as their Christmas present from my mom. After that, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and did Snowflake Lane after that. One of the big malls around here shuts down a street and has drummers, fake snow (soap suds) and lots of holiday aspects. It was a blast and we'll definitely be doing it again next year.

#2: My dad 12/23/11 We ended up meeting my dad at his work (the fire station). He was working and we thought it'd be fun for Carver to see all the rigs. Dad gave Chris and Carver the grand tour (we kinda-sorta grew up there if you know what I mean). We planned it so that we'd go when Carver woke up from his nap but he decided that he didn't need a nap that day. Joy! He did great for the first 2/3 of it. He got to sit in a firetruck and saw everything. Then one of the medic rigs came back and dad's friend, Jim, hopped out. Jim is about 6 1/2 feet tall and that was a little too scary for Carver. haha After that it went down hill. But we gave my dad his presents and Carver got a fire hat. It was great to see my dad, even though it was only for a little bit.

#3: My mom, her fiance, my brothers, etc 12/24/11 We made Christmas eve into Christmas morning. We woke up with breakfast at 8am and had Swedish Pancakes. After everyone was done eating, we opened presents. Carver got a battery-operated John Deere tractor with trailer from Mom and Charlie, plus some smaller toys. I got a KitchenAid Professional Stand Mixer (in red) from Mom, Charlie and my Gramma and Chris got loads of Cabela's gift cards. He's still trying to decide what he wants the most. :)

#4: Our little family 12/25/11 We came home from my mom's house on Christmas eve so we could do our family Christmas on Christmas morning. Carver slept in so we didn't get out of bed until 8am. We'd set out milk and candy (we were out of cookies) for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Carver's face LIT UP when he saw that everything was gone! I wish I'd gotten a picture. It was priceless! We then opened stockings and had breakfast. After that, we did the big stuff. This year, by far, was the best! Carver's reaction with everything was amazing. To see that innocent glee was priceless. Some present highlights: Carver got a VTech Innotab (a kid's version of an iPad), a Craftsman chainsaw and toolbox to go with his work bench, and a new Bobcat Excavator that's the same as Chris's. Chris got a road sign that says "Garland City Limits" and wait for it... another Cabelas card! I got a Gene Juarez gift card. That's where my nail lady works and I've been wanting to get my toes done so it's enough for two pedicures!!

#5: Chris's family 12/25/11 We went over to Chris's parents house around 4pm and hung out. Santa (aka Chris's dad) made an appearance, but Carver didn't really think much of him. Carver got another bobcat (different than what we got him) and a dump truck, along with books, paints, playdoh, etc.

#6: My friend Mallorie 12/26/11 Mallorie tends to work too much. ;) So it's hard for us to get together. But she had Monday off so we said that planned for her to come out for the day and veg all day until my nail appointment. Well she texted me that morning saying that she had a horrible headache and was congested and was thinking that if she laid low and slept that we could do dinner after my appt. So that's what we did. We met at Olive Garden and had yummy food. :) She gave Carver a couple pillow pets (a regular and a mini) and he loves them!! The regular size one will be going to my mom's house so he has a pillow to sleep on there. The mini is roving as of right now. :)


And that's it! It's been a busy week but it was great to see all of our family and friends. I just wish that it have to be a holiday in order for us to get together.

I guess I should do an update

There hasn't been much to update on, hence why I haven't posted.

We've decided to go full term - or as full term as I'll let it go. I'm thinking that as soon as my cervix starts to thin and it's more favorable to induce, I'll ask my doctor about inducing. We would have to deliver in the next 3wks if we wanted to go now and that seems way too soon and as both Chris and my brother have said, we're not leaving room for God to work if we deliver now. I know that it's not going to be an easy road (today started out a little rough) but this increases our chances of a live birth and to be able to spend more time with this precious little boy.

Other than that, we've just been getting ready for Christmas. I'm making a lot of the presents this year so I've been super busy getting those done on time. I needed them to be done by today (my goal anyways) since we have a family Christmas with my mom's family today an I needed two presents finished for that. Actually one is for my mom's birthday tomorrow but still. So this next week should be a lot easier for me. :)

On a sugar high!

Well, today is day three if potty training Carver!!! We decided that Saturday would be a "No Diaper Day". We stayed home all day (except when Chris ran a couple errands, Starbucks included) and Carver ran around without clothes. We had our fair share of accidents but he peed 3 times and pooped once in the potty. I call that a success!!

Yesterday, we had church so Carver was in a diaper for that and his nap when we got home. We went back to nakey-time for awhile before we left for a meeting Chris had in Tacoma. Then we were planning on going to Zoolights but it started to rain so we ended up at Olive Garden. So yesterday was a wash in the potty training department.

This morning I woke up with a HORRIBLE headache (day 2 of it actually) and Carver didn't want to sit on his potty so he was in a diaper until he woke up from his nap. Then we tried wearing some of his Mickey underwear that we bought Saturday night and he started to go in those before we made it to the potty. So since then he's been naked. I haven't had to tell him to sit on his potty. He can feel it coming and goes to sit and then gets up and says "dessi pee pee!!" I've lost count of how many times he's peed on the potty today but he hasn't had any accidents (except for that one with the underwear but that doesn't really count).

I can't believe how easy it's been!!! I know we're not anywhere close to being done and we'll have our bumps but it's been kinda fun. :) Carver gets to flush the toilet and he gets a Mike n Ike every time he goes. Chris happened to get a cake pop when he was at Starbucks Saturday so that's what Carver got when he went poop.

I know how she feels

I just saw this article about Michelle Duggar's miscarriage. They had the same situation as we did. They went to the doctor to find out the sex, and instead of finding out the baby had Anencephaly, they found out there was no heartbeat.

No matter when you lose a child, there is still grief and sadness. I fully respect their decision to hold a funeral for this little life. It is a big step in the healing process.

What's in a name?

Shortly after we found out we were pregnant, we came up with names that we liked for either a boy or a girl. I'm not going to share those because we will probably end up using them on the next child and don't want our names to be stolen. Long ago, we decided that we wanted our kids to have unique names that are easy to spell. We didn't want them to be Sarah #3 or have to add their last initial to their name (Chris G). Along with that, we wanted the middle name to be a family name. My middle name is my Great-grandma's name and Chris's middle name is his dad's name.

So when we were given the news about this little boy, our whole naming scheme changed. We didn't care how unique it was, as long as it had a solid meaning behind it. We still felt that using a family middle name was important though.

1. Noah

Shortly after we first talked about donating organs, I was looking up name meanings and came across Noah. It means "rest, peace". We had been filled with such a peace after we had had that conversation that it seemed to fit more than any other name we'd seen. Since then, those two words have popped up everywhere! I've had people use them in emails to me, it's shown up in my Bible Study and just in general conversation. God was clearly telling us that this is the name for this little boy.

2. Christopher

We were never planning on using Chris's first name as a middle, since we'd already used his middle on Carver. We were going to look to our grandparents names and pick one from there. But again, things changed. Using any other middle name didn't seem right in this case.


We've started calling him Noah and I have to admit, it's taking some getting used to. But I know that this is the name he was meant to have. As a perk, Carver can say Noah, he just doesn't unless we ask him to. :)

Well there goes that idea...

Well God doesn't want anything to go our way on this.

We met with my OB today and he said that we won't be able to donate the baby's organs like we were hoping to. He said that there's not really a need for them and since the baby has a defect, they might not be accepted if there was a need.

So we have two options. We can either be induced early (before 28 weeks so that we can have the more potent meds) or wait until my cervix thins and is more favorable to be induced (more like 36wks). Going early would mean a full day of labor and more trauma on my cervix. Going longer would be a quicker labor and easier on my body, but it's also means being pregnant longer. I'm 22wks now so we have some talking to do before my next check up in four weeks.

We're really disappointed that we aren't going to be able to donate organs but know that there is a reason for all of this and just have to be patient and listen to God.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers.
Tana, Chris, Carver and baby