Grace's first echo

Today I had an appointment at Texas Children's for a fetal echo for Grace with Dr. Altman. My friend Claudia was sweet to keep Jake for me so I wasn't trying to keep him still and quiet while I laid still for 45 minutes for the test. Her heart basically looks very good, but the doctor did find some leakage in her aortic valve. Most of the time that means absolutely nothing, but given our family history Dr. Altman was interested. I gave her Jake and Ty's history as well and told her about Jake's check-up last week when Dr. Reddy found the extra membrane under Jake's aortic valve. When I told her that, she pulled up Jake's echo from last week as well as all of his surgery notes and past echo results on her computer. She compared the different results and noticed Jake has leakage in his aortic valve too. Its possible that the membrane that has developed is because his mitral valve (the one fixed in surgery) tried to correct itself and formed the membrane which causes the slight leakage. All that to say, she is wondering if leaking in Grace's valve is similar.

She wants me to come back at 34 weeks (I was 27 weeks today) for another echo to see if there is still leaking. If the leaking is still there, she suggested I might have to deliver Grace down at the Med. center instead of in the Woodlands so that she could have an immediate echo after birth and appropriate doctors on standby. I'm praying that isn't the case and that I can have my regular OB, Dr. Turner, still deliver. All of this is probably nothing, but she says she prefers to be overly cautious. She spent a good 30 minutes going over all of this with me and looking over all of Jake's notes. Ty had a meeting today and couldn't come with me. I always feel quite incompetent when I go to these appointments by myself. I explained to her that I'm an English teacher and have worked hard these past few years to indoctrinate myself with all of these heart terms but still feel like a deer in the headlights at times. She laughed and said her 4th grader brings home grammar homework she doesn't understand. I told her I would be glad to help with that :)

Please just pray that the leaking in Grace's heart is nothing and goes away by the next appointment. Also, continue to pray that Jake's leaky valve slows down and doesn't get worse. She agreed we should take him back to Dr. Reddy in 6 months for another echo to evaluate his membrane issue. Hopefully all of that made sense...I'm still processing what I heard myself.

The Remodel

For the last few months, our house has been turned upside down. To make room for Grace's nursery, we decided to move the office downstairs to the dining room. Jake's new room will be what was the upstairs office and then we're switching Jake's old nursery and guest room. Grace's nursery will be the old guest room and the guest room will be in Jake's old nursery. Confused, yet? I am and I live here! The whole project started when Ty decided the new office downstairs needed french doors to make it look like an office. We had those installed and had to add some sheet rock to the wall to make it work. Then, the office needed to be painted so Ty painted it a nice dark olive color and painted the trim to match the new doors. While we were at it, we painted the whole downstairs and stairway which was in a dire need for new paint. I believe it had the original paint from 1982...not too good. The living room is now a nice dark khaki color and the hall and stairs are a light khaki color which match our bedroom color. After all of the painting was finished, we added new flooring. Our entire downstairs was a white tile which was nearly impossible to keep clean. It also had begun buckling in the kitchen because apparently the previous owner of our home hadn't put it down correctly. Ty took up about half the tile which was incredibly hard work. He rented a mini jack hammer and went at it. We decided to pay the tile company to do the other half. We now have new tan tile in the kitchen and laminate wood floors in the living room, hallway, and office. Pretty much a new house! I took some pictures this morning of it. I'll throw in a disclaimer that they aren't too good, but I was trying to hurry while Jake still slept. We're just left with switching the upstairs rooms and decorating Grace's room. I have Jake's new room done but I'll post those pictures later.

The new french doors to the office

The new office...this was Ty's desk growing up that Al made for him and of course his deer head (which ironically he shot on my birthday in 1987--we were meant to be!)The main desk in the office...Ty's lighthouse picture has also moved from over the sofa to over the desk. I'm saving room over the sofa for a really great Jake and Grace picture when she comes. You can also see the pretty laminate floors...they turned out great. Oh, also notice the bear rug...more wildlife--Ty's grandad killed that in Alaska. Jake likes to ride it :)Here's a glimpse of the living room (including the lovely Lego's table--my $20 secondhand store bargain for Jake). You can see the new wall color and the floors. Eventually I want to replace the fireplace cover and change the gold to black.And, the new kitchen tile...I already love it. Cleaning the shiny, white tile was pretty much the bane of my existence...I welcome the nice tan color!