March 31st - Easter
Our Easter wasn't exactly the fun-filled day we had planned. Saturday afternoon Zach threw up. He said he felt fine so we chalked it up to a fluke and went out to dinner. He got sick again at the restaurant so we got him to bed early and assumed he would wake up fine Sunday. Sunday morning he said he felt ok but was "off". As the day went on he got more clingy and had less energy. We skipped the farm for a big long nap but he still didn't feel well. He finally kept a hotdog down Sunday night. Monday he couldn't even keep water down. By 7pm I was desperate to get something in him and gave him a handful of jelly beans (not my most proud parenting moment but you do what you have to do with sick ones!). He chewed the jelly beans really well and the shot of sugar perked him up. He then devoured mac 'n cheese and some ramen noodles. Thank goodness for jelly beans! :)
March 26th
Chris went back to work on Tuesday but I just wasn't ready. I decided I was going to make the most of my day off and spend it with Zach. I took him and picked him up from Preschool. We went to Hy-Vee to buy eggs for Easter, ran a bunch of birthday errands, and had a special mommy/son lunch date. In the afternoon we headed to the mall to see the Easter bunny, ride the train, and play. We went to the Hy-Vee in Ankeny for more fun with an Easter egg hunt around the store. It was a fun filled day my soul needed.
March 25th
Monday morning I woke up 16 weeks pregnant. Monday night I went to bed empty...both physically and emotionally. I was fine until they made Chris go to the waiting room and a nurse wheeled me through a maze of hallways to the operating room. I started quietly crying. When my doctor saw me she came over and got up on the operating table with me and literally hugged me and held my hand telling me everything was going to be ok until the anesthesia kicked in and I fell asleep. When I look back on this whole ordeal that is the image I have and I will forever be grateful it is an image of compassion & love instead of fear & loss.
Thank you to everyone for thinking of us and checking in the past few days. It means more than you will ever know.
Thank you to everyone for thinking of us and checking in the past few days. It means more than you will ever know.
March 23rd
Today Zach had a birthday party at the YMCA for one of his Preschool friends. They played with scooters and games in the gym and had face painting, cake, & presents. He had a blast!
March 20th
Yesterday Chris and I had a very rough day. Last week the spotting came back and Monday I had 2 relatively minor bleeds. Since it had been about 3 weeks since it stopped, I called the doctor just to check in. They said they wanted me to come in for an ultrasound just to check to make sure baby was fine and my cervix was normal. We went in at 3 and immediately saw the baby's heartbeat but the technician got quiet and I knew something was wrong. She took the measurements to the doctor and we waited and waited and waited.
Finally at 4 the doctor came in and told us the worst news possible. They think my water broke. They aren't sure if the bleeding caused my water to break or if my water breaking caused the bleeding. They don't know when it happened. They want to see at least 5 units of amniotic fluid around the baby. I had 1 1/2. She sent my scans over to the Perinatal Center and consulted with them and they agreed with the prognosis.
A baby needs amniotic fluid for its lungs to develop. Not enough amniotic fluid means no lungs. Plus having my water broken so early opens me up for a life threatening infection. There is nothing they can do. This baby developed with a crappy cervix. She said there is nothing I did or didn't do or ate or didn't eat to cause it. It was just very bad luck. It shouldn't affect future pregnancies (try telling that to my over analyzing brain). The doctor was amazing and kind and thoughtful and answered all of our questions with compassion and love so that at least helped.
So now Chris and I have decisions to make, procedures to be done, and healing to start. My heart breaks most for Zach who was SO excited to be a big brother. The good thing is he has no idea the difference between 9 months or 15 months or 18 months. Hopefully someday there will be a baby...but it won't be in September.
Please keep us in our prayers as it is going to be a difficult few weeks for our family.
Finally at 4 the doctor came in and told us the worst news possible. They think my water broke. They aren't sure if the bleeding caused my water to break or if my water breaking caused the bleeding. They don't know when it happened. They want to see at least 5 units of amniotic fluid around the baby. I had 1 1/2. She sent my scans over to the Perinatal Center and consulted with them and they agreed with the prognosis.
A baby needs amniotic fluid for its lungs to develop. Not enough amniotic fluid means no lungs. Plus having my water broken so early opens me up for a life threatening infection. There is nothing they can do. This baby developed with a crappy cervix. She said there is nothing I did or didn't do or ate or didn't eat to cause it. It was just very bad luck. It shouldn't affect future pregnancies (try telling that to my over analyzing brain). The doctor was amazing and kind and thoughtful and answered all of our questions with compassion and love so that at least helped.
So now Chris and I have decisions to make, procedures to be done, and healing to start. My heart breaks most for Zach who was SO excited to be a big brother. The good thing is he has no idea the difference between 9 months or 15 months or 18 months. Hopefully someday there will be a baby...but it won't be in September.
Please keep us in our prayers as it is going to be a difficult few weeks for our family.
March 17th
We celebrated St.Patrick's Day by having a green breakfast. We had green grapes, kiwi, green eggs, and green pancakes. Saturday night Zach and I conspired to both wear pajamas with green on them. We didn't tell Chris of our plan so when Zach woke up Sunday morning he pinched Chris who wasn't wearing green!
March 16th
Today Zach & I went to a St.Patrick's Day healthy snack cooking class at Hy-Vee for kids. They made turkey sandwiches with green pepper shamrocks, a fruit rainbow, gold coins, & and a leprechaun shake. Zach had a lot of fun and tried everything. He found out he likes kiwi & natural peanut butter so it was a big win!
March 14th
Today Zach's preschool class celebrated "Silly Thursday" before starting Spring Break. They were to dress like a Dr.Seuss character or just their favorite silly outfit. They watched the movie The Lorax and ate Dr.Seuss soup with marshmallows, Skittles, gummy bears, cereal, and all sorts of other good stuff.
Zach looked pretty darn silly!
Zach looked pretty darn silly!
March 11th
Chris & I are thrilled to finally officially announce we are pregnant!
Baby Palmer #2 is due September 7th...my dad's 60th birthday.
(If you are friends with us on Facebook, please don't post anything until we officially announce it there. I haven't told my work yet! Right in the middle of harvest isn't the best time to be taking leave when you work in agriculture so I keep putting it off!)
We found out we were expecting on New Year's Eve, the morning of the Cyclone's bowl game. With their dismal performance that day we should have known the road ahead was going to be rocky! Since I have had 2 previous miscarriages (July & October) the doctors monitored my blood work for a week to make sure my levels were rising appropriately. They did and we finally started to let ourselves get sort of excited. On January 20th I started bleeding. We thought for sure we were having another miscarriage. After a late Sunday night trip to the ER and a lot of prayers, we heard the best news ever...there was a heartbeat. I spotted on and off for about a month. The doctors thought I had a subchorionic hemorrhage which is pretty common in early pregnancy and normally resolves itself. I worried and worried and worried and Chris reassured, reassured, reassured. He really is my rock. On February 9th, at Baconfest of all places, I had another big bleed. Why do these things always happen on the weekend? Valentine's day evening I had the biggest bleed yet. We headed to the ER for a romantic holiday of blood tests & ultrasounds! Everything looked fine with the baby and they couldn't see what was causing the bleeding. The spotting eventually stopped about 10 days ago and I PRAY that is the end of it.
With all of the uncertainty, we really debated about when to tell Zach (and everyone else) about the baby. Cupid left Zach a note on Valentine's Day telling him he was going to be a big brother. He was BEYOND excited and told his whole preschool class & daycare that day. He is 100% sure the baby will be a boy. We were going to send out Valentine's Day cards as the announcement, but got scared with all of the complications.
We had an OB appointment on Friday and got to hear the heartbeat again. It is like music to my ears. During the first 10 weeks of this pregnancy, we had 6 sets of blood tests, 5 ultrasounds, & 2 ER visits. We are really hoping the drama is over for awhile. Since Zach was born with a birth defect (I HATE that phrase and don't associate it with Zach but I guess it is what it is), we are having our big ultrasound at 20 weeks at the Perinatal Center instead of Iowa Radiology. They have better equipment and experience I guess. I am currently 14 1/2 weeks pregnant and we will find out if it is a boy or a girl April 19th.
Love you all!
Chris, Sara, Zach, & Baby Beans #2 (Baby will get their own nickname soon)
Baby Palmer #2 is due September 7th...my dad's 60th birthday.
(If you are friends with us on Facebook, please don't post anything until we officially announce it there. I haven't told my work yet! Right in the middle of harvest isn't the best time to be taking leave when you work in agriculture so I keep putting it off!)
We found out we were expecting on New Year's Eve, the morning of the Cyclone's bowl game. With their dismal performance that day we should have known the road ahead was going to be rocky! Since I have had 2 previous miscarriages (July & October) the doctors monitored my blood work for a week to make sure my levels were rising appropriately. They did and we finally started to let ourselves get sort of excited. On January 20th I started bleeding. We thought for sure we were having another miscarriage. After a late Sunday night trip to the ER and a lot of prayers, we heard the best news ever...there was a heartbeat. I spotted on and off for about a month. The doctors thought I had a subchorionic hemorrhage which is pretty common in early pregnancy and normally resolves itself. I worried and worried and worried and Chris reassured, reassured, reassured. He really is my rock. On February 9th, at Baconfest of all places, I had another big bleed. Why do these things always happen on the weekend? Valentine's day evening I had the biggest bleed yet. We headed to the ER for a romantic holiday of blood tests & ultrasounds! Everything looked fine with the baby and they couldn't see what was causing the bleeding. The spotting eventually stopped about 10 days ago and I PRAY that is the end of it.
With all of the uncertainty, we really debated about when to tell Zach (and everyone else) about the baby. Cupid left Zach a note on Valentine's Day telling him he was going to be a big brother. He was BEYOND excited and told his whole preschool class & daycare that day. He is 100% sure the baby will be a boy. We were going to send out Valentine's Day cards as the announcement, but got scared with all of the complications.
We had an OB appointment on Friday and got to hear the heartbeat again. It is like music to my ears. During the first 10 weeks of this pregnancy, we had 6 sets of blood tests, 5 ultrasounds, & 2 ER visits. We are really hoping the drama is over for awhile. Since Zach was born with a birth defect (I HATE that phrase and don't associate it with Zach but I guess it is what it is), we are having our big ultrasound at 20 weeks at the Perinatal Center instead of Iowa Radiology. They have better equipment and experience I guess. I am currently 14 1/2 weeks pregnant and we will find out if it is a boy or a girl April 19th.
Love you all!
Chris, Sara, Zach, & Baby Beans #2 (Baby will get their own nickname soon)
March 9th
Saturday morning we headed out the farm to see Great Grandma Huntrods & Uncle Jim. We had fun visiting, eating nutty bars, and building with real Lincoln Logs. Zach was pretty proud of his house & barn.
Saturday night the whole Huntrod family went to Latin King to celebrate my parent's 35th wedding Anniversary. We had a great time and Zach loved the spaghetti as you can see by his stained shirt, tie, and face!
Saturday night the whole Huntrod family went to Latin King to celebrate my parent's 35th wedding Anniversary. We had a great time and Zach loved the spaghetti as you can see by his stained shirt, tie, and face!
March 4th
He gets his sense of style from his Daddy.
(wearing: Chris' socks, my slippers, no pants, & Chris' belt around his head)
(wearing: Chris' socks, my slippers, no pants, & Chris' belt around his head)
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