Dear Baby...

Dear Baby,
Wow! Where do I begin? You have been in my womb for 12 weeks now and Daddy and I already love you so very much! We can't wait to meet you...get a glimpse of your precious self...and hold you in our arms. I already know I will be kissing and hugging you like crazy! :)
We still do not know if you are a boy or a girl, but we have some names in mind for you already. We definitely have 3 names that Daddy and I agree on. We'll share our news about your gender, but will keep your name a surprise until you are born. Aawww...I can't wait until you are in my arms!
You know, we got to see you through an ultrasound on Tuesday. YOU are a very crazy active baby! You were bouncing up and down like you just drank 5 cups of coffee! Daddy and I just laughed! You wouldn't stay still long enough for the sonographer to get good measurements of you. Then...you decided you were tired and wouldn't move at all, yet you still weren't in a good position for measurements. Daddy and I laughed again! The sonographer kept pressing up and down on my belly to try to get you to move, but you refused. I mean, after all, you were tired after all the jumping you were doing! Daddy and I can't figure out where the stubbornness comes in?! Surely not either one of us!---and yes, that is sarcasm! :)
Anyway, we love you so much! We've waited a long time for you and feel so blessed! I love knowing you are growing inside of me! I love you so much, Baby Anderson!
Love & more love,
Mommy

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOOOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Good report!

12 week ultrasound...Little Baby Anderson's head/face...

Well, today we met with a genetics counselor and also a Maternal-Fetal Specialist down in Dayton to further assess this chest/abdomen fluid around the baby. Praise God the ultrasound showed nothing of concern! The doctor explained things that were over Nathan and I's head, but said everything looks normal. Praise God! Praise God! This means no more 4 hours in the car to appointments! We now will fully transition back to our doctor here in Findlay, which is literally right up the street from us. We also had the opportuntity to have a DVD made of our little one. What a crazy-active baby we have! The sonographer had a hard time getting measurements due to the baby bouncing up and down. The baby actually looked like it was doing lay ups. A basketball player in the making, perhaps? Then...of course, the baby decided it was tired and wouldn't move into the right position for her to get a good measurement. Stubborn? Oh wow...Nate and I can't figure out how this baby would be stubborn because neither one of us certainly are! ;) So, that's our update in a nutshell! We are so very thrilled and feel very blessed for this miracle!



Posted below are our first belly pictures right at 12 weeks. It's funny when I look at them on the camera, they don't seem like much, but looking down on my belly, I can definitely tell there has been some growth! :) Again, we're ecstatic and we hope you enjoy following us on our journey!
Much love!
Joy, Nate, and Crazy Baby Anderson! :)

Our little bean to our little baby!

Well, here are all of our pictures so far from our ultrasounds. So far, we've had one at 6 weeks, two at 9 weeks, and one at 11 weeks. The reason we had two at 9 weeks is because our doctor saw excess fluid around the baby's chest and abdomen, so he sent us to a hospital right away in Dayton to see a Maternal-Fetal Specialist. We will see the specialist again on Tuesday for a 12 week ultrasound as well as have the opportunity to meet with a genetics counselor to further discuss this fluid. Other than that concern, I'm feeling typical (tired, sick, and hungry). We plan to start posting belly pictures very soon, so stay tuned! :) Enjoy the pictures! I know we sure do! I have to admit, I look at them several times throughout each day because I love them so much!


6 week ultrasound (heart rate is 104.74 beats per minutes)

6 week ultrasound (the little bean is the baby and the circle is the yolk sac)

9 week ultrasound (heart rate is 179.10bpm)




11 week ultrasound (heart rate is 171bpm)The precious little hands (it's a picture looking down on the baby---you can see the little toes hanging out, too)!
Our absolute favorite picture so far! Baby Anderson just veggin out with its legs crossed. Check out the tiny little toes! :)
Baby Anderson's little face (we were able to see the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears).

If you look closely, you can see the 2 legs and the "in between" however, the doctor said it's too early to confirm if it'a boy or girl due to the boy part being really small at this point and the girl part being really big.

Well, we're super excited to begin this blog! I've seen friends who have started blogs and they are so fun to read and stay up to date on. So, here we are, ready to share our journey with you. We hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Most of you who will be reading this, will already know of what I'm about to share, but...I'll start out by saying Nathan and I have been married for a little over 4 years. He's a Software Developer at Cooper Tire here in Findlay. He also helps his brother, Matt on Saturdays with Matt's excavating business. I'm a Licensed Social Worker working at Children's Mentoring Connection (formerly Big Brothers Big Sisters) as well as working at Blanchard Valley Center with the Mentally Retarded/Developmentally Disabled (MRDD) adults. We have a dog who we've completely fallen in love with. :) She is a 4 year old Beagle (we got her when she was only 6 weeks old) and her name is Bailey. I'm sure you'll hear more about her in later posts!

Anyway...over a year and a half ago (19 months to be exact, but who's counting?!), with much thought and prayer, we decided we were ready to expand our family. What we thought would be an easy journey turned into a very challenging, trying journey. We went to a doctor only after 4 months of trying to conceive. I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome which can affect fertility. I began a medication to help with this, yet we still did not have success after several months. My doctor suggested having surgery (a laprascopy, hysterscopy, and a chromotubation) to "diagnose and treat." My surgery was scheduled Friday, September 7th of last year. To my surprise, I was leaving work the evening before and looked at my cell phone. I had a voicemail from my doctor saying I needed to call her right away because there were some issues regarding my surgery. I was puzzled, but picked up the phone and called her back. To make a long story short, my pre-op blood work showed I was indeed pregnant! As you can imagine, I was shocked, yet ecstatic. I ran home to share the news with Nathan and we celebrated with a nice dinner. We barely had enough time to fall in love with the fact of me being pregnant and a few short days later it was all stripped away from us as we suffered a miscarriage. We were devastated and exhausted with all of the emotions we encountered in those few days. Anxiety for the surgery, excitement at the fact of being pregnant, devastated because of our loss, to frustrated with the fact of my surgery had to now be rescheduled. So, my surgery was re-scheduled and that took place on October 2nd. The day started early and they said I should return home by lunch time. Well, the anesthesia kicked my butt and we didn't make it home until dinner time! They, again confirmed I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Adenomysosis (similar to Endometriosis). I thought I was on the road to recovery once I hit our couch at home, only to end up in the ER a few days later from a terrible infection from the surgery. It took me about a month until I finally felt somewhat like me again! I must credit my amazing husband who took such great care of me!

We then began the wonderful world of fertility drugs and procedures. From Clomid to Femara (a breast cancer drug that has shown to help with fertility) to injectables and on and on and on, it felt like! Started out simple and quickly became more complicated and involved. Never in our wildest dreams did we know trying to conceive was going to be such a "chore"---and an expensive chore, I might add! After months of this, we decided to go to a fertility clinic 2 hours away. We knew this was going to be a huge sacrifice with it being 2 hours away. Spending 4 hours in the car driving, with high gas prices, and having to rearrange work schedules, we decided we had exhausted all other resources and it was a sacrifice we were willing to take. Two months with this clinic and we are PREGNANT!!! It probably could have been one month, but the first month we didn't do all that was suggested due to finances. We allowed ourselves a month to save up more money as our insurance company had put a label on me as "infertile" and refused to pay for anything. So, you can imagine how costly things were with blood work, ultrasounds, medications, appointments, etc.

So, the fun part is beginning! Our exciting news was confirmed on Monday, July 26th with blood work. I since have had blood work two more times to make sure my hCG levels (the pregnancy hormone) was rising as it is suppose to. Last Tuesday we had our first ultrasound. We made the trek to Kettering (the fertility clinic 2 hours away) as they will watch me closely for the first trimester. The doctor told us at the beginning not to be discouraged if we did not hear anything because we are very early into the pregnancy. He said only about 50% do hear a heartbeat. So, he started the ultrasound and we got to see "our little bean on the screen." Yes, it was literally smaller than a bean, but the cutest little speck we have ever seen! He then turned the doplar on and there it was...THE HEARTBEAT (! We were so thrilled! I think we both fought back tears, yet smiling ear to ear as we watched and listened to our precious baby. "It" measured 3.40mm and the heartbeat was at 105 beats per minute. Truly the most amazing thing both of us have ever experienced!

We always thought we'd wait until we were further along to share our fun news, however our situation has been different as family and close friends have walked beside us each month and we think they always knew about when we'd be finding out if things worked or not. So, yes...we shared our news early, but we are feeling very at peace that this is it. I, again give much credit to my precious husband who has been laying his hands on me each night and praying over my body (and now praying over the baby). God is good, all the time...all the time, God is good! And we of course, give all the glory to God as we have truly learned that the gift of conception truly does come from Him.

I know this is a super long post and I'm sure future posts won't be this long and in depth, but one last thing I want to share are some pictures. We wanted to share our news in a fun, creative way with our families. Nathan thought of the Mastercard commercials (the whole priceless concept) and I couldn't think of a better way to share than this!