Home Again!

We have officially made it home to resume a somewhat normal life again. As you all can see we are not the only ones excited about this. Eli is plumping out quickly, it is hard to believe less than 2 weeks ago we were given the most difficult test of our lives. What we learned as a couple is how to survive. Looking back on how we survived it is as simple as 2 letters, "we". We never turned on each other. If we experienced this for a reason, I would say it was to learn that our relationship (our marriage) is rock solid. If we survived this, any financial crisis, job uncertainty, or wayward child is small potatoes. It is great to be home and thank you all again for the love, support, and prayers. We are in the works of planning Eli's first, and hopefully last, welcome home party, consider this your invitation! We'll keep you posted on the details.

Eli Update

Eli is recovering well! Last night he gained 2 ounces and the doctor's are hinting at getting us out of here tomorrow. What I think is the most amazing thing of this past week and a half is the faithfulness of our God. All of your prayers and support were seen in a mighty way. This kid is a fighter and his life is going to be amazing. The emotions we experienced were crazy and I don't think we ever expected to encounter anything like this when we said, "I do" a year and a half ago. I think what we've really learned through all this is to live for the moment. For us, we need to see how Eli is improving every day, not focusing on us still being in the hosiptal. When we focus on the future and our desires to be out of here we miss what God is doing in the moment. I hope for all of us we can take time to see the blessings of the moment and give the proper thanks. You all are amazing!

Pregnancy Pictures

Here are some pics we took for the pregnancy.  A friend took the pictuers.  They turned out great.  As far as the countdown...we are at 32 weeks.  Only 8 more weeks to go....

Back to normal...baby update

Tyler is super excited to be a dad!

Here are some more updates on how Eli is doing in the belly....

We went to the specialist doctor's office for a check up on the baby to see how everything was developing.  The cystic hygroma has decreased even more...it is no longer a cystic hygroma.  We no longer have to go to All Children's hospital for sure and all our doctors are so excited.  I can't wait until we can just give Eli a hug and cuddle.  

He is very active and is starting to kick more than just when I lay down.  Tyler is so far the only one who has had the blessing to feel him and the other day we could see him roll around in the tummy.  It looked like a scene from Alien the movie or Spaceballs.  It was the coolest thing I have seen.  

24 weeks

This is the belly at 24 weeks.  I am 26 weeks on Friday and will update some more pics soon.  I just keep getting bigger...Stay tuned.  By the way, my shirt has a stork on it carrying a little baby...boy :)  It's the cutest thing I got at a local baby boutique called Baby Boutiki.  Love it!

This is for Uncle Kevin

Kevin started singing this song last weekend when he was down.  "Eli's coming".

Here is the link for those who remember the 60's.  I've never heard of it, but it is kind of funny.  Thanks Uncle Kevin for the song. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdpEyxS0988

Mover and a Shaker

Hey Everyone.  Thanks for all the comments and love.  Just wanted to update everyone.  I have officially felt Eli moving.  At first it was a soft pitter patter every once in a while, but I feel him move more and more and harder and harder.  It really is the coolest feeling.  Tyler hasn't felt anything yet, but he tries every night.  

Also, my belly is popping out more and more everyday.  I literally wake up felling bigger every morning.  It has been harder to find clothes that fit me so I have made some trips to the maternity store and to Kate's closet for dresses or shirts that might look good.  :) I will try and post another picture soon.  

LeeAnn- We got the St. Gerard.  Thanks.  I'm going to put the note into Eli's scrapbook.  

20 WEEKS

Kate just came over and took some pictures of the belly.  This is Eli at 20 weeks in utero.  I am in the middle of making Kate some dinner...I have become quite the house wife.  

Eli's first picture

I seriously love this blog...it's fun.  This is an ultrasound picture of Eli I scanned into the computer (this is a big accomplishment for me).  This is from the Level 2 ultrasound where the cystic hygroma and heart problem was discoverd.  The cystic hygroma is the black area around the neck.  

Elijah

Our official name for our baby boy is Elijah Althof....for now anyway.  A nice, strong, biblical name for the strong baby he is.  We will call him Eli for short. (Like Eli Manning).  We expect great things from him and the doctor even said she wants an autograph. :)  

As for the middle name, we are still thinking.  I like Tyler.  Tyler likes Judah.  Maybe Jay, or Gerard...these have been mentioned.  The good news is, they all mean something important to us.  So no matter what the  name becomes, we are always reminded of our blessing.  

Let us know what you think, or if you have any suggestions.  

Power of prayer...thanks

My friend Ashley actually set up this blog.  I am not the best with this kind of stuff, but I think it is a great way to tell our story and keep all our family and friends up to date.  During these last few weeks, I was blown away by all the support from family and friends.  Everyone we knew was praying for us and even people we didn't know prayed for our baby.  The power of prayer is awesome.  This is a way to say thank you and keep everyone in the loop with our pregnancy.  We still have a long way to go.  We go back to the doctor for a check up in 3 weeks to take another look at the heart, but we are definitely in the clear of any major complications.  

Today, we are at 20 weeks.  Half way there.  I'm going to start posting pictures of my growing belly.  It has started to pop out and I am officially wearing maternity clothes...the cute ones. :)  Stay tuned.  

We love you all!

Our Miracle

February 25th, we were scheduled for the baby's heart echo.  As the ultrasound tech was checking out our baby boy he asked me if we had been praying.  "You can tell," he said after I had answered.  When the doctor came in she had good news.  Our baby's cystic hygroma has almost completely gone down.  This is a very rare occurrence in babies with this condition.  As the doctor looked at the heart, she told us that it looked perfectly healthy, like a brand new baby.  Our miracle.  No more worst case scenario.  "This is amazing," she kept saying.  Apparently, our doctor, who receives  all the hard cases like ours in the area, said she has not been able to give good news to someone with our condition in a very long time.  I think we made their day as much as they made ours.  "This is overdue for us," she said.  A miracle.  No bad news.  We were projected to deliver at All Children's, a hospital that specializes in complicated pregnancies and births.  We no longer have to go there or change doctors.  The doctors said sometimes babies fix themselves...I say God is great and has fixed something very small.  

Test Results

The doctor called three days later with our first set of test results.  Our baby had normal chromosomes...and was a boy! God is great!  We weren't going to find out the sex, but under the circumstances, we had to.  All the other test results came back normal as well.  This was our first hurdle and the doctor now wanted to focus on the heart.  We were scheduled for a heart echo 3 weeks later.  A heart echo is basically an ultrasound that takes a really close look at the heart.  We started to share our story with all our family and friends, co-workers and students, and we knew we had many people praying for us.  I tried to mentally put the baby's heart problem out of mind until we knew more information and could prepare ourselves for what was to come.  We praised God for the first set of good news, and kept praying.  

The story of our baby

 Pregnancy is like a roller coaster.  I expected the usual.  The ups - the new mom feeling, watching the baby grow through my belly, and shopping and eating for two.  And the downs - the nausea-for the entire first three months, and the absence of Starbucks and sushi.  However, I didn't expect any complications.  We're young and healthy and were far from being considered "high risk".  

At 14 weeks, we started bleeding.  It was only a scare and after 4 hours in the hospital, a bunch of blood work, and a very long ultrasound, the baby seemed fine and we were free to go.  They did want us to do a Level 2 ultrasound and one was scheduled once we were 16 weeks.  During the ultrasound the doctor said our baby had some swelling in the neck.  This swelling is diagnosed as a cystic hygroma, basically, fluid build-up.  Along with the presence of the baby's cystic hygroma, the heart was not developed fully, but it was too early to know what was exactly wrong.  With this news, the doctors thought our baby had a chromosomal abnormality or a major heart defect that was causing this cystic hygroma.  I had an amnio done and was told to wait for the results so we would know more.  According to the doctor, our best case scenario would be heart surgery once the baby was born.  This was not the news we expected.  What do you do when there is nothing to do as a parent?  

Tyler and I both stayed positive and prayed for miracle.  We knew our baby was fighter and we had faith that God would provide a miracle if we asked him.  The next morning, I felt peace for our baby and tried to keep our mind off the waiting we faced.