Just waiting...

Last night I happened to think it's been awhile since I've updated the blog...over a month!  Sorry folks, but the month of May can be summed up pretty easily.  Get up, go to work, come home, nap, bath, dinner, and bed....repeat!  There's a new level of end of year teacher tired...end of year pregnant teacher tired, that's why there wasn't a blog update for May!  However, we made it through the Little Feet Meet, graduation, paperwork, conferences, and packing up my classroom...thanks to the fabulous girls at school.  

Baby Andrew is just growing and wiggling away, we are up to going to the doctor every week.  It worked out great, weekly appointments didn't start until school was out!  After 36 weeks, Dr. Darroca said we are good to go anytime contractions start up again.  Top secret that we finally let out, we actually have been to the hospital three times since March.  Weird pains and feeling that something wasn't right, it just happened to be contractions which they were able to stop and we were able to keep on moving along.  We didn't really let anyone know because the contractions stopped and we didn't want everyone to panic, but confession is good for the soul and we finally told both our moms!  If this blog is to accurately document our journey, I guess I'll keep it real with you folks!  

We were blessed with a shower in Marion and a surprise shower at preschool!  Steph and Marie organized an awesome football shower, and Carrie and Amanda added some tailgate foods to the menu.  It was great to see my teacher friends and First Friends ladies and celebrate, plus it gave me one more chance to break out my #1 jersey!  I came home and Joe got to unload the gifts and open them again to see all our goodies.  

34 weeks/29 weeks/14 weeks

School is out, so life these days consists of walking around Meijer, Target, or the mall, taking naps, watching TV, or attempting to do something productive around the house.  Doctor visits are on Thursdays, so hopefully this week we will have some progress to report.

The struggle is real folks!

Who knows, maybe the next blog post I write will be about Baby Andrew's arrival or it may be an update on how he loves kicking my ribs...it's all up to the Baby now!   Please keep us in your prayers as we just try and patiently wait for our little guy to make his much anticipated entrance, pray for a safe delivery and healthy baby and mama!

I'll leave you with some pics of the showers and the nursery, we are surely blessed!

Love,

Sarah & Joe

Feeling the love!!

Who am I to argue with Winnie the Pooh?  We sure felt the love yesterday as we celebrated with our families and friends for our baby shower.  The amount of love and encouragement was overwhelming.  It was so great to see everyone, even if we didn't get to sit down and visit too long.  Baby Andrew is definitely a blessed boy already.  Who am I kidding, this little guy has been blessed and prayed from the beginning.  With each kick and twist, I am reminded of the amazing gift that we have been given and how loved he is already.  There will be pictures coming from the festivities, but I wanted to make sure and share just how thankful we are for everyone!  Thank you cards have been ordered, let's see how long it takes for me to finish them.   

This verse could be tweaked for us, "For this child, WE have all prayed..."  It's really overwhelming to think about how much support, prayers, and love have taken place for our little guy, starting before he was even conceived.  Last week was National Infertility Awareness Week, so I spent a lot of time thinking about our journey and everything that has brought us this fear.  It's been a long and bumpy road, something that I wouldn't wish on anyone but looking back I can say I am thankful for our infertility because it has brought us closer together, taught us a lot about faith, hope, and loss, and made us appreciate every second of this pregnancy.  
We are going to the doctor every two weeks now for what have been pretty quick visits.  This Tuesday marks 33 weeks, it's crazy how the weeks seem to be flying by and yet going slowly. The last student day is May 23, which will be 36 weeks...I keep telling baby boy that he has to hold tight until then.  I may be waddling around preschool graduation, but I want to be there to celebrate with my families and say good bye to those going to kindergarten.
Please pray for us as we enter the last month of the school year, which is always crazy so I'm sure it will be quite an adventure as I get bigger every day!  Keep praying for Andrew to stay put and keep growing.
We are so thankful for everyone's love and support, there will never be enough words to express it!  Have a fabulous week!
Love,
Sarah & Joe

#storyofmylife

Ten more weeks?!?!?!

It's crazy and amazing to think we hit the 30 week mark on Tuesday!  Every day that passes, it becomes more exciting and less scary (unless I think about delivery)  that we come closer to meet Baby Andrew.  Everything has been going well, we are seeing the doctor every two weeks now.  Today, he actually cooperated so Laura (our PA-C) could get his heartbeat on the Doppler.  The downside was we didn't get a sneak peek on the ultrasound machine, but my future punter was a man on the move in the waiting room.  Joe has now gotten to actually see and feel the punting party in my belly.  We have taken the labor & delivery class, breastfeeding class, and care for newborn class (or "don't drop the baby" as Joe called it).  I've been a geek and signed us up for everything.  We still have the safe sleep class to attend, hopefully there's a spot in the evening session at the end of the month.  Joe is going to take one for the team and go by himself if there's only an open spot in the afternoon.  

The nursery walls have finally come down, new electrical work was done today, so it's time for the new walls to go back up.  It's a busy time of year as the school year comes to a close, add getting ready for our little miracle's arrival and we really kick it up a notch!

Continue to pray for Baby Andrew to keep growing healthy and to stay put!  Pray for Joe because I'm going to be an even bigger (quite literally) handful than usual as the school year comes to a close and we get ready to meet our baby boy.  Keep praying for me to be a healthy and safe place for Andrew to keep growing and keep as sane as possible being in the third trimester and the end of the school year.

We are so thankful and blessed to have such a supportive group of family and friends that keep encouraging us.  It continues to be such an amazing adventure!

Celebrating April Fools' Day with Labor & Delivery Class

Joe was a rock star participant and volunteered pretty quickly to try on the empathy belly.  Oh, and Pat McAfee responded to my picture with congratulations...awesome, right?!  I'm so going to put it in the nursery, which will surprise nobody.

#justbewarned

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss and 24 week ultrasound!

This week is Read Across America week and today celebrates Dr. Seuss' birthday!  I wasn't there to celebrate with the kiddos today because we had an appointment to check in on Baby Andrew and how he's doing.  Dr. Darroca's first order of business was checking my amniotic fluid because last time I had a lot.  Today, it was better so one less thing to worry about.  The plus side of having too much amniotic fluid last time was we got another ultrasound this time, which included a couple 3D pics.  Baby Andrew is estimated to be around two pounds and everything is developing as it should.  It's really amazing to think about our first ultrasound with Dr. Bopp and how he has grown and changed.  Please keep praying for us though, we want Baby Andrew to keep growing healthy and strong!  Pray for my immune system to fight off preschool germs (I was not feeling so hot last week) and for Joe as he deals with me, works on the nursery, and maintains his status as the level headed one around here.  I think for so long I was scared to be excited that we were pregnant, always waiting for something bad to happen because of how long and difficult the journey has been, but with every day that passes I'm more excited and thankful.  Let's be real, I still am scared and pray a lot but seeing that little guy and feeling him move is just amazing!  We are so blessed!
Much love to all!
Joe, Sarah, and Baby Andrew 

Over Presidents' Day weekend, we took a quick trip to Vegas before we become parents!  We had a great time, saw Michael Jackson's One, I got a massage & mani-pedi, and Joe got to spend time with our favorite girl Penny getting his Dude tattoo.  Isn't it awesome?!

I was super excited to find this shirt on Etsy to kick off Dr. Seuss in preschool!!

Last picture, but certainly not least...the best 3D picture from today!

Spoiler Alert!!!

Every week that passes and appointment that comes is another milestone for us.  It took us so long to get here, we just continue to pray that Baby Jones keeps growing and stays healthy.  Joe is busy working on getting the housework done, getting the nursery figured out, and all that kind of stuff.  My life is pretty much preschool, a nap, dinner, a bath, and back to bed to do the whole thing over again.  It's safe to say I'm not as exhausted I was, but preschool is tiring...especially without caffeine!  The kiddos and my preschool peeps are so excited and sweet about Baby Jones.  We made some predictions this week and will have a special snack tomorrow for the kiddos!  It's really sweet to have my little friends counting and singing to Baby Jones.  I was bent over picking something up and one of my kiddos said, "Be careful, you are squishing Baby Jones."  Seriously, I love those kids!

Baby Jones was pretty wiggly today during the ultrasound!  Everything looks great and is developing normally.  I've got some extra fluid that he wants to keep an eye on, so we get another ultrasound in three weeks.  Since the baby looks good, he's not concerned just wants to monitor me.  If you are curious, yes...we are getting flipped off in the first picture!  

Okay, I guess I've made you read and ponder enough...

Yes, it was very clear on the ultrasound that Baby Jones is a boy!  This June, we will be welcoming Andrew Eras Jones to the world.  If you don't know, Joe's Uncle Andy was an amazing man that we loved so much.  Uncle Andy was always there for advice and a laugh when we needed it.  When he passed away in 2008, we knew that when/if we had a baby boy we would name it after our Uncle Andy.  Given the journey and what a blessing this baby is, it's just a perfect fit.

Please continue to pray for us as we get things together, pray for Andrew Eras to keep growing and stay healthy and strong!

We are so blessed and thankful for the love, encouragement, and prayers we receive!

Joe and Sarah

Week 16 appointment

Just a quick update today!  We went to Dr. Darroca this morning for a regular checkup, we are normal pregnant people so we don't get an ultrasound every time.  Dr. Bopp spoiled us!  Evidently, dopplers and I aren't good friends.  Dr. Darroca said I'm loud, referring to my heartbeat, but I said that's the story of my life.  Once again, we got a sneak peak of Baby Jones in the ultrasound room to get a heart rate!  Today, 138!  Everything is going good, so we go back on February 8th for another ultrasound (don't worry, I've kept a jump drive in my purse since our last one).  Dr. Darroca said he'll be able to check fetal development and all that important stuff, plus we will hopefully see if Baby Jones is a boy or a girl.  For our prayer warriors, just pray that Baby keeps growing and everything looks good on the 8th.  Let's talk about another prayer request for February 8, my blood pressure.  Today, they made me lay down on my left side for a little bit because my BP was so high and then they rechecked it.  I am such a nerd, I totally used my Conscious Discipline STAR breathing and repeated We are calm, We are safe, We can handle this.  It worked, my BP was down after that.  Real talk, my anxiety is so high on appointment day.  I think I'm pretty good on the day to day things, but when it comes to appointment day the whole fear versus faith battle really does a number on me.  We have been through so much to just get pregnant and stay pregnant, I'm always on guard waiting for something to happen.  This morning, I listened to a hymn station on Pandora to try and just give me some calm.  I did hear two of Grandpa Tinkle's favorites, so that made me a little emotional.
Back to the preschoolers tomorrow, so far only one kiddo has commented on my growing belly.  I haven't made a big class announcement with them.  Before our next ultrasound, I will let the kiddos predict boy or girl and offer some name suggestions...because those will be awesome!
Thanks for all the love and continued prayers, we wouldn't get by without our support system!
(I've said it before and I will say it again...we are so blessed.  There are so many couples who work to overcome infertility alone because it can feel so isolating and they don't want judged by others.  It breaks my heart to think how those couples deal because our friends and family have been such an amazing support system and continue to be!!)
While I'm asking for prayers, please pray for a friend who had a miscarriage and now has two angel babies in heaven, pray that Baby A will continue to grow and be strong!  She miscarried on January 2, the same date that we did.  So many emotions, just lift her up!

Have a great week, stay safe and warm!
Love,
Sarah & Joe

For real, I could use some energy back with my preschoolers!😂

Just in case you see me and are curious! 😜