New Beginnings

Hello all,
I didn't realize that I had not updated this since the ultrasound! Yikes! Most of you know that I ended up having a D&C because my body would not miscarry the baby. The procedure went well overall but I am still recovering. I've had a couple of "what the?" moments and not knowing whether what I've seen or what I'm feeling is normal, but after talking with my nurse friends I know that it is. Praise God for that!

We WILL try again to get pregnant in a few months. We have to wait that long to make sure everything is nice and cozy for the baby. In the mean time it'll give us time to work on the house, work on our school work and just spend time with each other. Things have been so crazy these past couple of weeks with my medical issues and us trying to figure out life that things fly by. Plus with my hormones coming down to normal levels it's been hard for me to feel quite normal.

Lately it's all about me getting back to normal physically and getting a job! Jobs are so hard to get these days. I did get offered one but the person I would be assisting (a teacher) had a way far out style that was too far out for me! I got offered the job but had to turn it down. That was way hard to do but I think better in the end.

God has a plan, we know it. We are trying hard to hold fast to the promise of hope He gives us. We will have children someday. Maybe naturally, maybe adopted...but we will. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate them. We'll try to keep this website updated as much as possible about family type events.

Blessings,
Eric and Kristine Reed

Our baby is with God. :)

We had the final ultrasound today that confirmed our baby is no longer living. It actually died about a week and a half ago. I had a feeling because I lost pregnancy symptoms around then and tried to talk with the doc about it but always got the answer, "Just rest". Eric and I are actually doing alright. God's given us a peace about the situation and we know our baby is in heaven. Yes, we might be emotional the next couple of days but really.... we'll be fine.

I am just thankful this happened now so early in the pregnancy than later on when I got to know the baby more. We still loved this baby for as long as we had it. :)

I've decided to try to have the D&C procedure if I can get in to see a doc in time. I'd rather do that than have a miscarriage if I can help it. That way things will be over with, we can mourn some more and move on.

Just know that we really do have a peace about this and we'll be okay. I'll still work on my quilt and collect baby things like I always did! So don't worry about bringing it up to us or talking about your pregnancy or babies or children because we are totally okay with it. I still love kids and love working with and talking about them! We'll probably keep this website up for information regarding our family apart from our missions blog! :)

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Blessings,
Eric and Kristine Reed

They say a mother knows....

Had the appointment, didn't see a heart beat and the baby hadn't grown much since the last time I went in (two weeks ago). So... we are having another official ultrasound at 3:15 to confirm the baby is no longer living. I had a feeling a week or so ago that my baby was no longer living...a mother knows.

I am at peace with it knowing that most likely the baby had chromosomal abnormalities that prevented it from growing. It was only 3 days more growth then it was when I was in there two weeks ago. Which isn't good. God had a plan for this baby and for us. We know that our baby is with God in heaven.

But all the same we'd love your prayers..especially on coping with it and looking forward. Please pass this on to people that know us so they know about it. It'd help us so much not to keep having to answer questions about the baby.

Thanks! God Bless!

Please Pray!

Dear Family and Friends,
We'd like to ask for your prayers for our little family (Eric, me and the baby), especially our little one. Kristine got some news on the phone from the genetic counselor that told her that the preliminary tests show that our little one might have an extra chromosome, the type that would cause Kristine to miscarry or the baby not to make it past birth. We don't know this info for sure yet. Kristine is going to meet with the doc on Wednesday. During that appointment she hopes to get her questions answered and possibly to get a bedside ultrasound to see if the baby's heart is beating. So we'll know first whether the baby is still alive on Wednesday, if so and the doc thinks she should, she'll get the special ultrasound next week to check for the chromosome abnormality. So prayers for our nerves, for us to keep trusting in God when times get tough and prayers for our baby's health would be awesome.

Blessings,
Eric and Kristine Reed

My new AWESOME book!!!

Yesterday I went to go visit my former co-workers at their job site. I had planned on getting there early but didn't leave in time. So I decided to take the long way to Beaverton on the country roads and just enjoy my morning. I went to the Powells in Beaverton (My favorite book store) and decided to use my gift card money I got when I sold them some old books.

I wanted another pregnancy book so I went to that section. There were tons of different pregnancy books in that area. I knew I wanted a book that would have almost everything I needed and wanted to know as a new mom. Kind of a tell-all book that I could go to and reference with my many questions. At first I didn't think I was going to find the book I needed. Many of the books covered things I already knew. I was going to give up when I saw this book.


It's awesome! It has wonderful pictures and step by step directions on how to do different essential things before the baby and after the baby arrives. It also has a detailed section of different common complications that mom's have during pregnancy, explains what those things are and explains treatment. It even talks about different complications the baby might have and treatments for them. I am totally going to recommend this book to any new mom because for me it's perfect.

Also.... it's hard for me to get Eric to pick up a book that doesn't involve airplanes and he completely went through this book last night. (Well went through the pages and read some parts). So this is definitely the book for us.

Sleep... or lack thereof

So I've heard people tell me over and over again, "Cherish your sleep because once you have kids, you'll never sleep the same again." Or this, "When you have a newborn you are going to wake up multiple times in the night and never sleep. So sleep now and enjoy it!"

Well, I would sleep and cherish it if I could, but lately I've been getting up multiple times in the night to use the bathroom. The little life inside of me is growing and that growth, however small it is, is right next to my bladder. They say to drink lots and lots of liquids to help the baby grow. Well that's awesome except at night I wake up over and over again. I don't think I've had one solid night's sleep in a few weeks.

In a way this is preparing me for the new arrival in March. I'll be used to getting little sleep, perfect! :) Seriously though, I feel that it's been such a blessing to have my first trimester in the summer. To have that nausea that I had and now my stomach issues and to have to continue to take off from work, that would have been really hard and miserable. I'll have my third trimester in essentially winter time and the baby will come just in time for spring! So yes, I'll have to be careful not to waddle out on the ice in my third trimester, but at least it'll be cooler than this summer!

Again, my husband has been such a wonderful man during this time. He's taken me yelling at him in my mood swings (which have been short in duration), gone out to get me things I've needed and has really cared for me and our little one. I make sure to show him my appreciation, I don't want to lose this man! :) I love him so much, which is good....cause he's my baby's daddy. I am excited for our baby to get to know him and for him to teach our baby many things.

Now if only I could figure out way to sleep at night (without putting a bedpan in the bed, don't worry I would NEVER get to that unless medically necessary) and to control these stomach issues.... that would be AWESOME. :)

The "joys" of pregnancy and note for baby....

I figured it out in my head what I wanted to write, got the computer and sat down....now I can't remember. I'll do my best though! Just wanted to give you a heads up...in this post I might talk about things that could be labeled TMI...so...fair warning.

Today was a great day, we got to visit with my Aunt Jan, Uncle Joe and Janelle for about 4 hours. We talked about all sorts of things. My aunt dropped off some books for me to look at. It was good to see them. Even though we live only 40 minutes away we all usually are so busy we don't see each other. I'm glad we all made the effort to schedule in some time to visit. :)

These past couple of days I've been extra tired and weak. Last night wasn't cool.... I was up with gas pains and constipation. It was so painful! I always get that feeling that possibly it couldn't be gas pains and maybe it'll be preterm labor (miscarriage) pains. But that's me being paranoid and worrisome. Today I've been feeling a little of it, but it's off and on. I am trying to figure out if it's something I am eating or not eating. It could be that I am not drinking enough liquids, so I am trying to remedy that tonight.

A couple of days ago I had some troublesome stuff show up ( I won't go into detail, you can ask me separately...which can be normal during pregnancy) and mild abdominal cramps. I waited on hold for an hour to talk with the advice nurse and she told me to rest for two weeks, no heavy lifting, no sex and to drink LOTS of liquids. So we'll see....

On a more serious note.... I haven't had morning sickness the past couple of days. Which actually makes me worry. To be honest with you as annoying as morning sickness is, at least I know when I have it that I am pregnant! So... I am kind of hoping it comes back...

To our little one...
Your momma and daddy love you very much! We consider it a joy to have you with us even though you are still in the womb. You are still precious to us and we cherish every day we have with you. We can't wait to see your growing body at our next visit. You should have formed arms, legs and a nose too! Your heartbeat should also be audible. We love you dear baby.