Baby Weber #4...

I can't even begin to tell you how fun it was to actually video tape my mom's reaction to this new little blessing that God has blessed us with! Her reaction was absolutely priceless!!! I am so blessed to have a mom who is so loving and compassionate, so giving and kind. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and totally made me feel that she was beyond thrilled and excited for us. It was so wonderful to share this news with her and to get her reaction on film. And my dad too, he is not quite as demonstrative as mom, and essentially just said "wow" but you could see the joy in him. So so blessed. The kids were so excited too! It was fun watching Sam trying to figure out what Preston's shirt actually meant. And then when I showed them the ultrasound picture they were even more excited. As I have already been to high risk OB, and to the doctor and had a few ultrasounds already I have already been anxious and seeking God for His peace through this pregnancy. It is so hard to be positive and realize all the complications that I have had and in the medical community will probably have again. When I went to the high risk Ob, she said that I was "very scary", so not what you want to hear from a very educated, and specialized doctor who works at an amazing high risk hospital... But I am focusing on God and His blessing, He has given us this baby, and He will see us through. I would beg of you to please join us in prayer for this baby and for myself that God's glory will be revealed in the whole process. Our official due date is September 22, and we are 14 weeks along now.

Our BIG news....

We are expecting again! I still am kind of in shock about it at times. We have been saying for quite a while that Preston was our "grand finale" but God had better plans for us. We actually found out in january while Preston was sick and in the hospital. As you can imagine I was exceedingly nervous at that time, thinking about the possibility of another immunocompromised child, or just the sheer logistics of having another high risk pregnancy and all the fear/anxiety that comes along with it. So far things are going well. The high risk ob doc actually said I was a scary patient :-( Totally not something I really wanted the specialist to say, but I understand that I am very high risk and that I have had lots of complications in the past. I am trusting and placing my faith in God, knowing that He will be walking down this road with us. We actually had decided to keep it a secret until today, as it was Sophia's birthday and that way we could tell a majority of our family members in person. That plan however didn't work. My sisters that live up here both had to work, so they weren't there. And Matt's brothers family have an illness going through their house so they weren't there either. We had Preston wear a shirt that said "Big Bro Preston" on it. We had Sam actually read the shirt, and try to figure out what it meant. It was so cute to see the understanding come across Sophia and Sam's faces when they figured out what we were saying. My mom had the BEST REACTION ever! She was so excited and happy. I of course then started getting all these questions about my working and everything from her, she is so nervous and just wants happy and healthy for all of us. I will post pics tomorrow....

Immunology update..... and world prematurity day

So we have gotten multiple things back for Preston's testing. Although I have expected it since he got meningitis, it is still a little overwhelming to actually hear it officially that I have another child that has some level of immunodeficiency. At this point we know that IgG levels are low, we don't have the other immunoglobulin levels back yet, however last month the IgA and IgM were low as well. He also has not mounted a decent response to some of his vaccines which is certainly scary to me. We are also awaiting his T cell and B cell counts. His immunologist already had me do the consent for IVIG, and since we have already been down this road before I know what we are in for. But at this stage of the game I am feeling overwhelmed. I absolutely know without a doubt that God is completely in control of this situation, and He is the author of this book, He knows each and every chapter and page, He has the perfect ending planned. Who I am to question it? So today I am just trying to focus on the knowledge that God's plan is absolutely perfect and that He has got this in His hands. Today is also World Prematurity day. This is something near and dear to my heart. I longed for full term healthy babies that came home with me on the day of my discharge, I unfortunately was not allowed that. But I was allowed to witness God's most innocent creation thrive and grow. As a nurse I have taken care of micropreemies, and delivered preemies, and as a mom I have taken care of my three little preemies. There are so many misconceptions and thoughts about what causes prematurity. There are people out there that think that the mom didn't care for herself well enough, or that she was doing things wrong. But in all actuality perfectly healthy people have complication filled pregnancies and we don't know why. I am a healthy person, but cannot carry a pregnancy to term. With each of my pregnancies I started contracting around 26 weeks, but praise God He kept my precious miracles in for longer. Tonight I ask you to pray for all preemies and for their families, caretakes, and anyone who has any contact with them, around the world for their health, and for organizations like the March of Dimes to continue to strive towards ending this terrible heartache of babies born too soon. For now I leave you with a picture of each of my tiny little miracles, Sam, then Sophia and then Preston. And then I will end with a picture of Sam at the age of 13.5 months when we first started IVIG. Preston will likely be about fifteen months when we start him I think....

And here is Sam's first adventure with IVIG. Wow he was such a ham!!! :-) I am praying that Preston will also be able to easily tolerate the IV attempts, the side affects, the being unable to get around much because of the IV, etc. I am praying for our nurses and staff. God's got this! We will set up the official start day the monday after thanksgiving.

GI update

So we started Sam on the new medication called Dipentum on friday. Friday he was absolutely miserable in the evening. Saturday AM he seemed better, and by saturday night he was even better. Today he says "My belly only hurts a little." So God is healing this little guy and I am so thankful. He seems like he is still fairly wiped out but rallies for a while and gets wild and crazy. We set up a little 8foot pool for them to swim in. They love it, although Sammy gets freezing really easily. Poor guy was shaking like a leaf, we kept having him come out to get warmed up and then he would want to go back in. I am just so thankful that he is feeling better. His appetite is pretty poor but at least he is eating. He is drinking ok as well. The other day we got to watch my little nephew Darius. Darius was one in december, can you see how close in size he is to Preston? My big guy is growing so big:-)

My due date

Today I would have been full time with Preston! But he came at 34weeks instead. I look at him today and can't imagine him inside me still:-) I was so thrilled when the visiting nurse came in and weighed him. Drum roll please.....7lb and almost one ounce!!! So so excited about this. She made some comments about how active his bowel sounds were, and I in turn again commented about how gassy he is, all the time. It doesn't seem to be really related to feeding. He all of a sudden just starts screaming and arching his back. He has these long periods of passing gas, or of hiccuping very forcefully. He just screams out in pain, it is so pitiful.
So I may have had a seven pounder if I had carried him to term! That is so amazing to me. He was certainly my biggest. I am so thankful for him and for the blessing he has brought to our family.