Thank you so much for your support and congratulations on our big news. I am 9 weeks and due February 3 (and obviously not good at all at keeping a secret for very long). We saw a strong heartbeat at 6 weeks and if horrible fatigue, hunger, nausea and vomiting are any indication of a healthy baby, this little one is doing just fine so far! Seriously, this baby is nothing but drama at the moment…shows up unexpectedly, making his momma sick and tired all day, oy. But this little Drama Queen/King is already so very loved and wanted. We are excited.

I have so much I want to write about, but almost every night after I get G in bed, I head to bed myself, hoping sleep will take away my miserable nausea for a few hours. The timing of getting MDCP and Medicaid could not have been more perfect- Grayson’s nurse started last Monday, and has been a lifesaver. She is here every day from 8-4 and takes such good care of him. It was a little awkward for a few days, because I’m still the mom, and want to do all the things, and I think we both were trying to figure out who does what, when. But now I’ve become much more relaxed about it, and it has been so nice to be able to lay down when I’m feeling awful, go to work for a few hours, or just run an errand without having to strap G in a car when it’s 105 degrees outside. Plus, when the baby comes, I know I will appreciate the extra set of hands more than I can imagine right now.

Update on Grayson: he is thisclose to crawling. This is awesome, fantastic, etc. but the downside is it’s causing him a lot of frustration. He gets in the position and gets “stuck” and then starts to whine. Oh the whining. Give me some earplugs! This has also caused big issues with his sleeping. My little bedtime rockstar who would fall right to sleep the second I put him in bed is gone. Now, he wants to practice his crawling in his crib. He grabs the railings and pulls himself up, but then falls back and hits his head, and of course, starts screaming. Or, he gets himself in predicaments like this: (this was actually just a few minutes ago, and now he’s screaming his head off again, sigh).

We were supposed to get G’s genetic testing results back over a week ago, but are still waiting patiently. Although the test results won’t be able to tell us if we’ll have another Mito baby, hopefully they will give us some direction and we can get some genetic counseling to see what our percent chance is. There’s no prenatal testing for Mito that I know of, but once we know better what we’re dealing with with Grayson, we can be better prepared should this baby carry the same genetic defect. We are of course praying for a healthy, disease-free baby, but if we have another one with Mito, we’ll be prepared and know what to look for much earlier this time!

This is a sad time for my extended family; my Grandaddy in North Carolina is now in hospice care. I still have all 4 of my grandparents, and this is so hard. My mom and siblings are in Charlotte this week and I am planning to go sometime next week to spend some time with him and my grandmother. I am so, so blessed to have had so many wonderful years knowing my grandfather and have so many precious memories- saying goodbye is going to be bittersweet. I know he will soon be in Heaven with a new body that’s not tired or sick and will be playing the organ for Jesus, but we sure will miss him on Earth.

So there’s my update- we are surviving, if not thriving around here right now. I’m hoping I’ll start to feel better in the next coming weeks and get back to regular blogging!