Boy was I Wrong!!!!!

Girl Parts!!! Is that how everyone else sees it?
Yep, as far as they could tell, it looks like we are having baby girl #4. I was so shocked. I was just sure they would say it was a boy!!! Oh well, I am still happy either way. She was so active during the sono that they had trouble getting any good pics of her girl parts. So we are not 100% but as you can see in the top pic, it looks pretty girly if you ask me!! She was touching her face with her knees and she was playing with her head with her hands. It was so precious. So now we need a girl name. I don't think she would appreciate it if we named her Jacob Allen!! We wouldn't know what to do with a little boy anyways, right?

We will know tomorrow!!

Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. we will finally know if this baby is a boy or a girl. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. I just know it is a boy. I am going to be shocked if they say "it's a girl"
My appointment this morning went well. My blood pressure was really high the first two times they took it, but it came down significantly for the third try. The heart rate was 150. My measurements are right on with my due date. Oh and I lost three 1/2 pounds. I have no idea how I lose weight when I am pregnant, but I always do.
So that is it for now. Stay tuned for sono pics tomorrow afternoon.

Our little love bug has a name!!!!

Well that is if the name fits the gender. I let Matt have full rein in the naming department this time. So tonight he told the kids and then they got to tell me. First off, it is a boys name. However, I just have a really good feeling that this baby is a boy. I can't explain it, but I just know. I will be really surprised if they tell me its a girl!! I go to the Dr. in the morning and then I will get to schedule my sono. I am hoping they will let me schedule for this week. I am trying not to get my hopes up too much, but I am just so darn excited!!

So what is this mystery name you ask??????

JACOB ALLEN GUDDE

We had actually talked about the name Jacob back when I was pregnant with Abigail 7 years ago. Allen is Matt's Dad's middle name. So what do you think??? If it does turn out to be a girl, then we have NO CLUE. No girl names are coming to mind for either one of us.

Now I am going to leave you with some more Christmas photos.

Madison and Hayden at Matt's mom and dad's for Christmas.

Maddy and I

Madison and Abby with their 3 story doll house that Santa brought them

Here they are in the Hannah Montana tent that Abby got from her cousin Bailey

Bella hanging out with Grandma Gudde

Just some pictures

Happy Birthday Bella Boo

Tomorrow is the big day!! Bella turns 2!! I can't believe she is already two. It just doesn't seem possible. Friday night we celebrated her birthday with family. She wasn't feeling too great but she had a good time.

My lame attempt at making a giant cupcake

Bella sitting with Aunt Stephanie. Check out her cute little dress and the silver shoes that Aunt Steph gave her for her birthday.

Bella eating frosting off of her cake

After party snuggle time with her sisters. And no, I seriously can't keep clothes on Madison!!

I had to add this one just for fun so everyone could see just how long this girl's hair is.

Ummmm Again, I am sorry for being such a lazy blogger!!

Isabella fell asleep in her high chair after eating her mashed potatoes
Bella hanging out with Abby and Maddy. By the way, that is cupcake on Maddy's face. Also this is the first time Bella has had a pacifier in ages. She loves it. She does not suck on it, she just chews on it!! We gave it to her because she kept chewing on her fingers.
4 Month Belly pic.
Abby and Maddy after Abby's Christmas program.

It has been CRAZY busy around here. I am working on getting everything ready for Bella's birthday party on Friday night. Then we are going up to KC on Saturday to deliver gifts to the PICU with Gifts of Gabi's Grace. By the way, thank you sooooo much to everyone who donated.

I go back to the Dr. on the 30th. We will then schedule my sono. I am guessing it will be the first week of January. I have dreamt for the last 4 nights that we are having a boy!!

Isabella has been working on recognizing body parts. We are working on nose, hair and mouth. She is trying really hard and when she gets it, she is so cute. She grins from ear to ear, like hey look at me!! We are still trucking right along with being off the vent. She has been ornery with her trach lately. She likes to pull on it so she can talk, well sometimes she pulls too hard and ends of pulling her entire trach out!! She has decanulated herself twice in the last week. She also loves to the take out her feeding tube and let her feeding run all over the place. She thinks it is so funny when you say "No, No Bella".

Matt continues to avoid the layoff!! I am so thankful. So other than being super busy (like all people this time of year) we are all doing great.

I would like to leave you with two videos that the girls prepared especially for all of our blogger viewers. MERRY CHRISTMAS and GOD BLESS!!

Funny!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

What have we been up to????

Okay, so I want to apologize for not posting much lately. It has been really busy around here. Matt has not gotten any word on layoff yet. We are crossing our fingers that he does not get laid off. He took a job on a different shift for more pay. He is now working the midnight shift. He is still working hard on the new addition. It is coming right along. It has been kind of a slow process. Matt has been working on it as much as he can and then our brother-in-law Dan comes to help when he can. I really need to take some updated pics to put on here.
Isabella is doing great. She as always continues to amaze me each and everyday. She is just getting so big. She is so active these days and has really been trying to figure out how to go!! She is off the vent two hours at a time. She is getting closer and closer to being able to be off during the day. She babbles constantly and tries to mimic the cadence of voices. I am working on birthday party plans. I can't believe she will be two in less than one month!! Her cake is going to be a giant cupcake. I ordered the cake pan for it and I am really excited to try it out. I think it is going to be a cute party. She will actually be able to eat some of her cake this year.
Matt and I did the black Friday shopping yesterday. What a mad house. We bought a new computer so I don't have any of my photos on it right now. I really need to get with it and post some pics already!!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Good Check-Up and Belly Pic

Bella had a check-up today. They were impressed as always with her progress developmentally. They want us to continue to wean the vent. They would really like to see her off the vent all day and only needing the vent at night. They also decided she has allergy issues so they put her on Zyrtec. With a lot less snot, she should be able to come off the vent a lot more. I really think the Zyrtec will help us wean more quickly. Bella's new trick is pulling on her trach so she can let more air flow. This allows her to be able to make more noise around her trach. When she wants to jabber, she just starts pulling on her trach. It is so cute. Good thing it is secure or she would be pulling the whole thing out!!

Okay, I know what you are thinking, good golly she is only 3 months!!! Well, it is baby #4 and I have heard that you show a lot more a lot sooner with each baby. I popped out really quick like this with Bella also.

Sorry for the huge delay in posting!!

I guess I just have not been in the mood to blog. So here is a recap of the last week and 1/2.
1. Bella has had some kind of stomach virus and did nothing but throw up for 4 days. She is finally feeling better today. She has (knock on wood) kept everything down today. When she is not sick, she is staying off the vent for 6 hours total in one day. She is starting to really interact with her toys now. I think a lot of it is the fact that she is seeing so much better. She is also getting more strength. She is getting soooo close to being able to sit on her own and she is still trying really hard to crawl.
2. I went to the Dr. last Friday. We got to hear the baby's heart beat. I am seriously as big as a house!! I look more like seven months pregnant than three months pregnant. I will post pics soon, I promise!!
3. Also Gifts of Gabi's Grace and us at Miracles Happen are starting to prepare for Santa's Little Helpers again this year. It was a huge success last year and we are hoping for it to be a huge success again this year. So we are asking for your help. We have not set a date yet, but sometime in December we will deliver the gifts to the PICU at Children's Mercy. Some of the stuff we had last year was: coloring books, crayons, jewelry, movies tickets, McDonald tickets, books, and so much more. Ages in the PICU range from infant to 18. So please if let me know if you want to help in anyway. e-mail me at megangudde@hotmail.com or you can donate money at www.giftsofgabisgrace.org

Happy Halloween

Two cutest pumpkins, Hayden and Bella
Sione and Maddy

Maddy (Dorothy) Sione (Red Power Ranger) Sarah (Maiden Princess) Bella (Pumpkin) Abby (Corpse Bride) and Katie (Tinker Bell)

Hope Everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween.

Today Bella had a meeting with CCVI. They did a Teller Test on her to see what her vision is right now. They thought she was around 22/60. I guess this means she is nearsighted but sees fairly well up close.
As I mentioned in the last post, the Dr. put me on Zofran to help with the nausea and vomiting. It helped a little but I am now back to unable to keep ANYTHING down. I am sipping on Gatorade in hopes of staying hydrated. If I am not better in two days, then we will be looking at going into the hospital for IV fluids for two hours as needed to rehydrate me. I asked if I could do the fluids at home, but they did not seem to think so. I just don't know what else to do. I literally can't keep food down. So I am weak and tired all of the time. YUCK!!!! I just want to feel better.
On another note, Matt is probably going to get laid off from his job in the next few weeks. This company always does some type of layoff ever winter. This stinks. I thought of working a few shifts outside of the home, but I don't know if I will be able to being this sick. So I am now officially a Mary Kay Consultant. I am hoping I can help us out with a little extra money by doing this. So if anyone wants to do a Mary Kay party or would like to see our Fall Line just let me know. You can e-mail me with any questions at sgudde@marykay.com

Not Much Going on Here

Baby News: I spent the weekend SICK!!!! I don't know if I have been that sick ever. I couldn't keep anything down and as the weekend progressed, I just got weaker and weaker. I have been still fighting this morning-all day sickness. It was better for a few days after the dr. put me on the motion sickness medicine and the unisom, but then it just slowly crept back until it was full blown sickness. Not kidding, I lost 6 pounds in like 30 hours. So first thing this morning I called the Dr. and now I am happy to say I am on Zofran. It is suppose the be the best anti-nausea pill. So far so good. I don't feel 100% yet but I don't feel on the verge of death anymore.

Bella is getting bigger all the time. I just can't believe my baby is just about to turn two!! I need to start working on birthday party ideas. If you know me and my parties, they are well, somewhat overboard!! So if I start now I should be ready by Dec 23 :) So does anyone have any good birthday party ideas for Bella? I am definitely open to suggestions.

I told you guys when I got pregnant about one of my best friends (Amber) and how she got pregnant first and that all of our kids are just weeks apart and yada yada. Well, Amber found out last Tuesday that she miscarried. I am so saddened for her and her husband. They are two great people that I love with all of my heart. I hate that this has happened to them. Please pray for Amber and her family.
Amber-I love you girl. You are the greatest. I am here for you always!!!

Worlds of Fun/Vacation Pics

Spending quality time the Ackers!!

The girls enjoyed Camp Snoopy. Abby rode one big kid ride (Timber Wolf roller coaster) but after that she wanted nothing to do with anymore big kid rides!!
Bella on the train. I thought she would like it, but she cried the entire time. I don't think she liked all of the noise and the shaking.
Lunch Time with the family

Loving on Snoopy
Madison loving on Bella while we waited for Abby and Matt to ride the Timber Wolf.
Abby and Maddy on the Air Mail Ride

So we are home now and it is so good to be home. Isabella did not like being away from home for that long. She just wasn't herself all weekend. By the way, the medicine the Dr. gave me for the morning sickness is helping a lot. I feel 100% better!!

This is a super cute video of Maddy saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I didn't even know she knew it. Little Miss Smarty Pants!!

Baby Update

I thought I would update everyone before we left town. I went to the Dr. this morning. He did not give me zophran, but he did give me a motion sickness pill and then put me on Unisom at night. The Unisom will help me sleep, but it will also help with the nausea. My Dr. is happy about everything thus far. I will try to scan the sono pics in after the weekend. We got to see the little baby heart beating!! It was so sweet.

Leaving for Vacation

As soon as Abby gets out of school tomorrow, we are out of here!!! We are going to KC for the weekend. We are taking the kids to Worlds of Fun and I got them a hotel with an indoor swimming pool. I am bringing my lap top, so I will be posting lots of pics.
I go to the Dr. in the a.m. for another sono. I have no idea why he is doing another sono, but I keep dreaming that I am having twins. YIKES!! I am going to see if he can put me on Zophran (a high powered anti-nausea pill). I can't keep anything down. It is to the point that I am pretty sure I am getting dehydrated. I couldn't even lift my head yesterday and I kept spiking temps. With Abby and Maddy I had a rare condition known as Hyperemesis Gravidarum. It is severe vomiting in pregnancy that leads to dehydration. I had to be hospitalized several times with Abby and Maddy to get IV fluids because I was so dehydrated that I was going into labor. My Dr. never mentioned that there was a drug out there to help with this!! One of the causes of HG is high Progesterone levels. I remember my first appointment a few weeks ago when the Dr. made a big deal about how my progesterone levels were nice and high and that I have practically no chance of miscarriage and that I will most likely carry this baby to term. Hmmm, I wonder if that is what is causing me to be so sick. I guess I will find out more tomorrow.

Tagged

Tag #1

My friend Amy Boeckman tagged me for a photo tag. You have to pick the photo from the fourth file and then the fourth photo. My photo ended up being a pic of Bella after her first open heart. She still has the steri strips on her chest so I bet she is like a week 1/2 post op here. I can't believe how tiny she looks!!

Tag #2

This tag comes from Amy at http://kadenboeckman.blogspot.com/. Here are the rules...

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog--some random, some weird.

3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

About Myself

1. I consider my self to be a bit OCD. I love love love to clean. I sweep my hardwood floor like four times a day.

2. The books on my bookshelf are separated out by author and genre. (another OCD trait!!)

3. My favorite music is Christian Rock.

4. I love to read and I seriously read around 75 novels a year.

5. I love to bake. Up until I got pregnant and became so nauseous, I was baking about 3 batches of cookies a week. That is like 9 dozen cookies!!

6. My husband and I were set up by a friend. When we met we didn't waste anytime planning our lives together. We were engaged within 6 months and married at one year. We used to think we wanted 7 kids!! (We are not to far from that goal)

7. I rearrange my furniture ALL the time. My sister-in-law Steph works every other weekend, and she comes in and can never find anything because I have moved it ALL!!

I am tagging YOU!!

1. Micah- http://gabrielesheridan.blogspot.com/

2. Angela- http://mom2girlsgirlsgirls.blogspot.com/

3. Hollie- http://hollie-walkingthefineline.blogspot.com/

4. Angie- http://www.xanga.com/Ivys_Vine

5. Carrie- http://cbranam.blogspot.com/

6. Penny- http://sporefamily.blogspot.com/

7. Laura- http://lilliansheart.blogspot.com/

Off the Vent for 1 1/2 hours!!!!!!

You read it right, Bella was off for 1 1/2 hours in one trial yesterday. Her o2 saturation never dropped below 95% and she didn't seem to be having any trouble breathing at all. The only reason I put her back on after an hour and a half, is because her heart rate was starting to creep up. This usually indicates stress on the body. GO BELLA GO!!!! That's right, they give my baby a challenge and she greets it head on. We are going to try to be off that long three to four times a day. At that rate, she will be off the vent during the day all together before we know it. That is the plan, to be off during the day and then just be on at night. Then eventually wean at night. And then wean her off the trach. I think I can actually see light at the end of the tunnel!! Another big excitement around our house, is that we are going to Worlds of Fun next weekend. I can't wait and the girls are even more excited. Everyday Maddy and Abby are asking how many more days until Worlds of Fun. Abby has been on the Worlds of Fun website and already decided what rides she wants to go on. Believe it or not, she is really wanting to ride a roller coaster. We are going with ALL of Matt's family. So his sister Steph (one of our nurses) will also be with us. It is going to be a great little family vacation. We have not had one of those since before Bella was born. It is suppose to be really nice that day, so I think Bella will really enjoy herself.
Well, everyone have a great Friday!!

Dr. Appointment

We just got back from KC for Bella's check up. She had a good report!! Dr. Gratny would like to see Bella off the vent 1-2 hours at a time now. She really feels like we need to start pushing her a little harder. Bella showed off for everyone. She rolled onto her tummy and got her knees up like she was going to crawl. Everyone was really impressed. Dr. Gratny just can't seem to get over how much Isabella has improved. She says these kids never cease to amaze her. Bella has a new thing now that when she is bored or wants something, she fake cries. It is so stinkin cute!! She will not take a nap during the day now unless you snuggle her and rock her to sleep. She is just determined to stay awake and capture every moment.
As for me, I am sick!!! I have morning sickness from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. It never subsides, I am just constantly nauseous. I am not actually throwing up, it just feels like I have 24/7 motion sickness. I am also VERY tired. I have to have at least one really long nap everyday and then I still am ready to go to bed by 8:00. I just hope the second trimester I have more energy and less nausea. It takes all I have everyday to keep my house clean and to cook meals for my family. I am not complaining in a bad way though, I am VERY VERY excited about this baby and I would suffer through anything for all of my children. This pregnancy is just so different from the other three which makes me wonder, is it a boy??? I don't know. I guess we will find out in December.

Matt's 30th Birthday Party

Kevin and Jerri. I think he looks like Ducky from Pretty in Pink
Steph and I. Steph made her own dress!! I know she is awesome
Chels and IMatt getting ready to hit the Pinata
Jerri dancing to Thriller

Girls just wanna have fun!!
Nichole, Me, Steph and Jerri
A bunch of random people
Matt with his Mom and Dad and all of his brothers and sisters
Everyone doing the YMCA

We had a great time last night celebrating Matt's B-day. We had an 80's themed party. We had disco ball, lots of 80's music and some really awesome costumes. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us. As you can see, we had the party in the unfinished new addition.