Christmas Surprise For You

Greetings! And Merry Christmas to all!

It's hard to believe the year is coming to a close. So much has happened in 2009! I feel the months just blend in together as one when I try to recount the many blessings and heartaches of the year.

This week I spent delivering a continuity's baby boy. :) Remember May from Bible Study? Well, she went into labor on Tuesday night, so I pulled off a very long night shift. :) Healthy baby Kaser John was born sporting a cephalhematoma and giving his mommy a nasty tear! It took me over an hour to suture it! But May did great. And she is healing happily with her precious Christmas blessing.

Wednesday was spent in a whirlwind of cookie-baking and such. Tim and Promise helped lots while Thursday was spent giving away those countless cookies at the local Philippine Army base with our friends, Eric and Casey. We met with the Chief Executive Officer and delivered enough cookies to bless 400 men! Cool.

Tim and I spent Christmas eve quietly alone watching Christmas movies and eating pizza. What a treat.

For Christmas, Tim, myself and Promise had a very Western meal with our dear friends, Darrell and Shannon. Shannon made spinach dip and broccoli salad!!! My fav. We were even able to find an inexpensive honey ham (though not exactly Western-looking) and I made lots of mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes and candied yams. Yum. We even had my special homemade egg nog! We decided that we were going to have a real home-y Christmas this year...and my tastebuds were in Heaven....but my gut is now reaping the consequences of a very rich meal. I think after 3 years here in the Phils, I can no longer handle the dairy goodness of home. Sad. Or maybe I have worms?

But that's not all that's growing inside!....We have been keeping it a secret from the world wide web for the last 13 weeks, but are sharing our special news now. We are expecting another precious miracle in July. :) I am 13 weeks pregnant! Now, if you look at the posts of the last 13 weeks, you may notice some panicky moments and some emotional blahs....well, they came from a very sick preggo lady. This pregnancy has been significantly different from Promise....from the very beginning.

We got an ultrasound at 5 weeks pregnant to confirm and to receive more accurate dating. However, the ultrasound showed 2 yolk sacs! Being the curious midwife that I am, I started doing my research and was asked to return for a second ultrasound in 2-3 weeks to check for fetal viability and the presence of twins.

I got busy and didn't go. Not until I was about 9 1/2 weeks. My midwife and dear friend, Bea, Promise and our friend Beth came with me to the lab. This ultrasound proved to be a mixed blessing. Apparently, there were two eggs, two yolk sacs, but one did not fully form and split. It began to shrivel up creating a hematoma on the chorion (the outer layer of the amniotic sac) of the other baby. They called it a "subchorionic bleed" or hematoma. The doc assured me that it was not growing at this time, but to return for periodic ultrasounds to ensure the safety of the baby.

Four things can happen with this condition:

1. the hematoma gets reabsorbed into the uterine lining causing no harm to mother or baby, 2. the hematoma can get bigger putting pressure on the amniotic sac of the baby causing premature rupture of membranes or preterm labor, 3. The hematoma can burst causing hemmorhage and loss of fetal life or 4. It can stay the same size until term and cause a minor hemorrhage at delivery.

So we are praying for reabsorption. :)

My awesome midwife, Bea, has been walking with me through the process and so far, things are okay. I am sick most everyday and already experiencing sciatic and herniated disc trouble, but other than that, I am still working, loving my Lady Bird and my man.

The future looks daunting....January requires me to study like never before for my midwifery certification exam (NARM) with February requiring me to fly across the ocean 18 weeks preggo with a toddler in tow alone to take the exam. :) I am excited for the journey....the adventure...though at times, very cautious, almost protective of where I am at...I feel frail. Unlike when I was pregnant with Promise - I felt strong...almost invincible. But God.

So, that's the latest news around here. Promise is teething and has decided to show how talented she is in dramatics...she comes by that honestly! But she is beautiful and quite a lot of fun. She lives and breathes for Dora the Explorer right now and points at stars calling them "Estrellas" (the Spanish word for stars). She's a smart cookie. She received a few Dora dolls from her Grandma Con for Christmas and they still haven't left her grasp. :) She calls them, "backpack baby". So here are some pics of our quiet, somewhat Western Christmas. Be blessed!