Thankgiving

We are traveling to Texas today to be with our family this Thanksgiving. We are all looking forward to it. We will also get to visit Lilly's grave this week. Her headstone was finally placed yesterday, which is perfect timing. I was so afraid it wouldn't be there in time for Thanksgiving and it would be another month or two before we had the opportunity to see it again. We'll take Liberty out there and decorate for Christmas. She is really excited and the thought doesn't seem to make her sad in the least. What an amazing example she continues to be for us. There is such freedom in her childlike faith. She isn't burdened by guilt, worry, sadness, and all the other things that seem to clutter our lives and blind us to things that are most important and eternal.

We continue to be overjoyed with the prospect of our new little one. I cannot imagine what God has in store for this little life. Liberty remains convinced that she is getting a baby brother. She now has Scott hoping for a boy. I cannot imagine having a little boy, but I honestly don't care. I lean toward boy only because people tell me the morning sickness will not be so bad if its a boy. However, if we are going on that, I definitely feel like its a Girl! I have been so sick the past couple of weeks. I am hoping and praying that the end of my first trimester will also mean the end of morning sickness! I am also less than pleased with the fact that I now only have two pair of jeans that fit. What! I'm barely 8 weeks pregnant. How can my clothes already be too tight?! Hmmm...maybe it was all the cookies I ate the first month before I started feeling so bad.

Ok, I am off to pack for all of us and run errands before we head out of town. Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

--Amy

Baby Pic

I had another ultrasound today. I was so relieved to see that little heartbeat! Everything looked great. Scott couldn't come today, so I brought my trusty little companion, Liberty. She was so cute. She totally couldn't see the baby, but she just stood right beside me the whole time. She is such a caretaker. She was primarily concerned with the "picture" hurting me or the baby. She did her best to comfort me until she was satisfied that we were going to be alright. Scott and I are realizing more and more each day what a special little girl we have.

My official due date is July 6, 2009, which is Liberty's birthday. I was so surprised when the technician told me. Scott and I were already joking about how close all of our children's birthdays are. Now there is the potential of having 3 July babies all within days of one another. At very least, we are consistent!

Now we just have to wait about 3 more months to find out the sex of the baby. Yes, we definitely want to know! Liberty is convinced she is having a baby brother. The other day Scott asked her how she knew mommy was having a boy and she said "God told me." I definitely don't want to discourage a word from the Lord, so we will just wait and see :-).

--Amy

Bisphenol A (BPA)

BPA is a synthetic sex hormone that mimics estrogen and is used to make hard polycarbonate plastics. Several studies conducted by environmental organizations such as Environment California and the Environmental Working Group have concluded that the plasitc in baby products such as bottles and food containers leached this harmful chemical into the contents of the bottle, exposing babies to a level of of BPA that causes harm in laboratory animal studies.

Bisphenol A has been linked to early onset of puberty, obesity, diabetes, and behavior problems. The developing fetus and infants are most vulnerable to the effects of BPA and they also have the most exposure. Almost all infant bottles, plastic food containers and liquid formula contain BPA!

The FDA is maintains that these products are safe and the levels of BPA leached into these products is not significant enough to cause harm to developing babies. However, the studies mentioned above provide contradictory evidence.

I know we just one more thing to worry about, right. Honestly, if I hadn't already lost a child, it probably wouldn't even be on my radar. However, until someone can tell me why my baby died and why her body didn't work like everyone else's, I think I can take this minor precaution and not expose my other children to something that could possibly be poisoning them!

If you want more information on BPA visit the following websites:
http://www.ewg.org/chemindex/chemicals/23297
http://www.chej.org/BPA_Website.htm
http://www.enviroblog.org/2007/09/bisphenol-a-in-your-body.htm?gclid=CO7X9NGi_ZYCFQKJxgodExz9_g

--Amy

Tired!

I had my first appointment with my new OB today. She was really great and was immediately willing to help us pursue any type of genetic testing or counceling if we wanted. Scott and I both agree most of the test are not neccessary and would probably just cause us more stress since it is highly unlikely that the tests would turn up anything useful. I did, however, let her know I was concerned about heart and other organ problems and wanted to make sure we did every thing we could to catch any of these things as early as possible. I don't really anticipate their to be any issues since Lilly was born perfectly healthy (at least in those regards). I just think it will ease some of my stress if we check these things out periodically throughout the pregnancy. My next ultrasound is scheduled for next Wed. morning. Hopefully we will be able to see the baby clearly and most importantly that little heartbeat!

Today was the first day I have felt any nausea. I was still able to eat and at least there is no vomiting yet. I am praying its just a fluke and I will continue to nausea free! My biggest complaint is that I am SO tired. I really shouldn't complain. I know what it is to be exhuasted beyond my capacity to function and this isn't even close. It's just tired enough to be annoying. Like I would rather lay on the couch and watch tv rather than clean my house and getting up to get things for Liberty is highly annoying.

I can already tell this pregnancy is going to be different than my previous two. The biggest difference so far is that I am STARVING! With the girls I could barely eat at all and tended to lose weight rather than gain. This time I am predicting a much larger weight gain. My current craving is cookies. Not just any cookies, but Eileen's Cookies. Thanks to my dear friend Lydia for introducing us to the wonders that are these amazing creations. They make the most unbelieveable double lemon cookies and I'm perfectly willing to drive half way across town to get one (or a dozen). With Liberty I craved wierd things like soap. I would just imagine how great it would be to eat and entire bar of soap. Weird, I know, but totally true! With Lilly I craved lobster. I have know idea what lobster even tastes like. I refuse to eat anything that ever lived in the water. Nonetheless, in my mind, lobster seemed like it would be the best the ever. Pregnancy obviously makes me crazy!

Thanks for checking in on us and just keep praying for our precious baby's development and that the enemy would not use our past experiences to make us overly anxious and stressed!

More Drama

So far I am feeling really good. No morning sickness yet. Since I was sick the entire time with my previous two pregnancies I am hoping this one will go much more smoothly. I have to repeat the ultrasound in two weeks to find out how the baby is developing. By then we should actually be able to see the baby.

The big drama of the week is that my purse was stolen--apparently right out my car which was sitting in my driveway. I keep hopeing it will turn up, but so far no luck. Today I am busy canceling checks and getting a new drivers license. Thankfully we don't have credit cards. Unfortunately the whole ordeal is going to be quite expensive. Ugh...

Liberty had basketball evaluations last night. She was so cute. She is not very good at all, but she is really excited. We bought her a new basketball and she is very dedicated to practicing at home (which means in my kitchen since its too windy and cold to go outside). She starts practice next week and will even have games on Saturday. Its only for six weeks, but its going to be so cute.

We also had our first Hope Link meeting last night. Hope Link is a support group that myself and two other women founded for mother's who have children with rare disorders. We had one person showed up as well as someone from OGAC. We had some really great discussion and we are so excited about watching the group grow and ministering to these women.

I am looking forward to a stress-free weekend after all of our activites this week!

--Amy

Happy Election Day!

No pictures today. We are not as far along as we thought. Best guess is 4-5 weeks, so the ultrasound showed very little. All we could see is the sac that surrounds the baby. It was a little disappointing, but just seeing that gave me some relief. At least I know I am 100% for sure pregnant and the baby is where he/she should be. My first OB appointment is next Wed (12th). Hopefully then she will let us know when the next Ultrasound will be.

Lots of people have been asking me if there is any way we can test the baby to find out if he/she is sick. The answer is no. There is nothing we can do now or after the baby is born. Lilly was 5 months old before we knew she was sick. It was five more months before we knew why. We literally did every test available to us (researchers have more, but aren't available to the general population) and we were not able to link a specific gene to Lilly's disorder. This makes genetic testing impossible. Unfortunately, there are still limits to genetic testing and so much doctors still don't know. We will just have to wait and see.

The good news is that science has its limits, but God's power is LIMITLESS! He is the author and creator of life and we trust that our baby will be perfect in every way JUST LIKE LILLY WAS!

--Amy

Vote!!

If you didn't participate in early voting, make sure you get out and vote tomorrow. Vote McCain/Palin!

I'll post the pictures from my first Ultrasound as soon as I can. I am so excited and I know tomorrow is going to be the longest day ever since my appointment isn't until 3:30.

Liberty showed her very first signs of jealously the other day. We were all laying in bed playing and talking. Scott and I briefly took our attention off her to talk for a moment and she said "You and Daddy are really excited about the baby and your not excited about me anymore!" Oh boy! We are trying to avoid this as much as possible by including her in all the conversations and decisions. I guess some jealousy is inevitable though.

--Amy

The Holidays

Scott and I put up our Christmas lights yesterday. I am so excited about the holidays this year. I don't know why. I was anticipating a sense of emptiness without Lilly. Of course, we will be missing her, but its not nearly as difficult as I anticipated. So, we decided to kick it off early this year and here at the Haas house we are displaying our holiday spirit.

My first ultrasound is Tuesday afternoon and I cannot wait! For some reason I just can't quite wrap my mind around the whole pregnancy until I see that little blob that is our baby. I was the same way with both the girls. It just isn't "real" until I see that first picture.

Of course we are already tossing around names. Scott and I can never agree so this time I am enlisting the help of our friends. Click the button on the home page that says vote for our baby names and help us out. This is the initial list so keep checking back for more selections. I suppose it will be much easier once we know the sex of the baby, but it doesn't hurt to get started!

--Amy

I'm Pregnant!

Wow! We are all still in shock, but so so excited. The pregnancy was planned, but we never expected to conceive so quickly. We have been discussing the possibility of having more kids for some time. The possibility of having another sick child has been very overwhelming and weighing heavily on our hearts. We have prayed through all the possibilities (adoption, IVF, etc...) and Scott and I both felt God's plan for our family was to conceive another child. Going through this process was not easy, but last month Scott and I both felt it was time to start trying. The timing was obviously perfect because almost immediately I became pregnant!

We are all very happy and already eagerly anticipating the arrival of our little one. We are holding tight to Jesus and believing that He will prepare us for what is to come. We know there is 25% chance that the baby will have the same disease Lilly had. We are not naieve nor do we pretend these odds do not exist. However, we believe God is ultimately in control and we will trust in His plan for our lives and that of our unborn child.

Please join in celebrating and praying for this precious new life.

--Amy