Today was my 2nd monthly checkup.  I had my list of questions and concerns for the doctor and off we went.  Because of being so sick…I have lost 8 lbs since becoming pregnant.  Tummy is getting rounder but still dropping the pounds.  I’ve still been getting sick.  I seem to have one day a week that I feel pretty good and the rest of the week is a battle or recovery from being sick the last couple of days.  So far, pregnancy has not been very fun.  The doctor shared that the hormones seem to peek around Week 10 and then begin to gradually readjust until about Week 17.  She said by Week 17 I should feel back to normal.

We do have one area we would like to ask for prayer.  The doctor shared that the ultrasound tech from our last visit thought she saw something of concern.  The ultrasound tech said that she thought she saw the abdomen of the baby not being closed yet.  The doctor said that this happens in the normal development of every baby.  But, there can be a condition that could be of concern.  So…out of precaution the doctor scheduled another ultrasound in two weeks to check and make sure that everything is okay.  The doctor didn’t seemed concerned yet…but wanted to be upfront and honest of the possibilities.  So…I am not worried yet, but I do believe it never hurts to cover it in prayer.

The good news is that she checked the baby’s heartbeat and it was going strong and pretty fast.  In fact, the doctor made a prediction that it’s a girl.  We will see if she is right in about 7 or 8 weeks.  I still need to post pics of the last ultrasound. I will try to do that soon.  I’m waiting until, I feel a little better before I take a pic of the baby bump.  Being sick, doesn’t make me look very good right now.  I’ll try to be better about the updates…but I feel bad that most of my updates just involve being sick right now.  Hopefully, this will be gone soon and I can share all the good stuff.

A little scare occured last night.  I was getting ready for bed and I had some bleeding.  Not just a little actually quite a bit.  It was a very real reminder of what happened in January.  Of course…I was hysterical. Micah was worried but he stayed calm and tried to keep me calm. A million thoughts raced thru my mind and all of them led to…I can’t believe this is happening again!  I prayed…Micah prayed and we prayed together.  We called the emergency number thru my doctor’s office and the doctor went thru the typical questions and said to call the office first thing in the morning and have them fit you in.  I didn’t actually get to see my doctor…I saw another doctor within the same office.  So…we drove to Oxford, OH.  This is where I will actually deliver the baby.  They did the typical procedures…I weighed in (lost a few pounds…but what do you expect when everything makes me nauseated or puke), urine sample, and blood pressure.  The doctor came in and discussed the situation with us.  He tried to hear the baby’s heartbeat thru this little microphone thing that you put on the stomach…but being only 9 weeks and 5 days it was still too little to hear.  I was examined and poked and prodded.  Then they sent me over for an ultrasound.  I was really nervous…because this was the moment of truth.  Would there be a heartbeat? And…..there was!!!!!  It was going 178 beats per minute.  Going strong our little baby measured exactly the size it should and it was beautiful.  We even watched it wiggle around a little.  One of it’s feet was visible plain as day.  It was so tiny, but a perfect little foot.  Eventually, I’m sure that little foot will be kicking me in the ribs before it’s all over with but right now I am so thankful.

Thank you for al of your prayers.  Thank you God for hearing these prayers and granting us such grace and mercy.  You are an awesome God and I am so grateful.

Ultrasound pics coming soon!!!!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post all of this.  I’ve still been battling the morning sickness and fatigue…and haven’t felt up to blogging. All excuses aside…here’s the news.  We had an ultrasound on Wednesday.  We arrived at the place, I did my registration stuff and it was all official.  They even put on one of those hospital wristbands on me.  We waited and then the ultrasound tech called us back.  He was a man.  I have to admit…I’ve had approximately 3 or 4 ultrasounds before and I’ve never had a man before.  He was very nice…but I was a little caught off guard.  Nevertheless he went out of his way to make us feel comfortable and tell us about everything he was doing and what he was looking at.  I had more information from him than any other ultrasound tech I have ever had.  Micah stood right by my side…I’m so thankful for a wonderful husband.  Well…everything was going okay but because I was only 7 1/2 weeks a long it was hard to see everything from my stomach…so we had to also do an internal ultrasound.  This is what I have become most accustomed to.  All of my other ultrasounds were like this one.  I have to admit this is an awkward procedure to do with a female tech…but it was even more awkward to do with a male tech.  He even had to go get a nurse to come in the room with us while he did this procedure.  I totally understand why….but it definitely made me feel even more weird.  However, everything went fine.  He did express what sounded like a concern…but wouldn’t give any definitive answers…when he was examining my ovaries.  Apparently my right ovary was kind of down underneath the uterus.  He did say that after my bladder was emptied it seemed to have moved up again.  I’m not really sure what all of that means but he said that a radioligist would review my pictures and my doctor would call me in a few days.  I have yet to hear anything…so I assume no news is good news and that everything is fine and that my body is doing some weird stuff.

Now on to the good part.  We got to see the baby.  It is about 1/2 inch long now.  (I can’t believe something so tiny can reek such havoc on my body.)  It actually kind of looked like a little tiny baby.  It was pretty cool. Then we saw the heart beat.  There was this little dot that was bouncing up and down on the baby.  It was so cute.  Then all of a sound he turned on the sound…and there it was the actual physical heartbeat of the baby.  It was going so fast…I think he said 158 beats ber minute.  He took that measurement twice and it was the same both times.  He said that was a good heart rate.  It really was a comforting moment to not only see it but to hear it beating so strong.  God is so amazing, how can anyone doubt a Sovereign Creator…this just can’t happen by chance.  I am so blessed….although I still wish the morning sickness stuff would go away.

Alright…here it is.

Here is where you can hear the baby’s heartbeat…Just click on the link and listen to our little locomotive.

http://chir.ps/Z2

Enjoy the picture too.  Thanks for going with us on this journey.

Mathis Baby #2

Alright….so today I had my first doctor’s appointment in Indiana.  I really like my doctor.  She is young and just had a baby herself.  She seems very knowledgable and very personable.  She took a lot of time to talk about my medical history and then examined me.  She said everything looked fine and that things seem to be going good so far.  She was very sympathetic to the morning sickness stuff and said if I needed anything to giver her a call.  I then got some blood work done and an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow.  We hope to see the baby’s heartbeat and see our “little peanut” growing.

I felt a little yucky today.  I’ve been taking my medicines but I felt a little more nauseas today.  I really can’t wait for this part to pass. Hopefully we will have pics to post tomorrow.  Yay!!!!

Well we received some very painful and heartbreaking news this morning.

Due to the complications Courtney has been experiencing all week the doctor recommended she have an ultrasound done this morning to check things out. So Courtney and Wanda went to the doctor’s office to have the procedure done. Much to our dismay the results confirmed the worst, we have lost the baby.

I am still in Des Moines, and so Courtney called me immediately with the results. We both sat in tearful silence as we pondered the news. I didn’t know what to say and neither did she except for “I am so sorry.” Sorry for what I am not sure, because neither of us had done anything that required an apology, but it just seems like that is the thing to say in times of shared sorrow.

Later I called her back to get more medical details about what happens next, what her current condition was, and so on. Wanda was taking her back to their house to stay until I can get back tonight. She told me what the doctor had said, and how she would have to have D&C tomorrow at 12:30 pm. She also told me that she had called her mother to tell her the news, and that after joining Courtney in her tears she shared that just this morning God had given her the following verse, and that it must have been for Courtney.

Romans 5:2b-5

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Boy was she right. What a perfect verse for this tragedy. In this time of loss we can cling to nothing greater than hope in our Savior Christ Jesus. The Creator and Sustainer of all things. The light in the darkness. The Living Water. He never disappoints us. Even in this broken and depraved world of death, loss, and corruption He never fails nor forsakes us.

So this day we cling to our everlasting hope in the Almighty One. We rejoice in the fact that our baby is currently in the arms of his/her Heavenly Father, and hold on to the promise that one day we will get to see him/her in a land where death has no hold and all things are made right. This does not mean we fail to hurt or mourn, but only that when our mourning is complete He will still be there to pick up the pieces and lead us forward.

I will end with another big thank you to all our friends and family who have prayed, called, emailed, twittered, texted, cried, cooked, drove, and loved. You are the reason we know that hope exists. You show us who Christ really is and for that reason we can continue to persevere.

Please continue to lift Courtney and I up while we recover physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Life may be gone, but hope still remains.

–Micah

Yesterday, I got a phone call from Chris. My blood work was in and my progesterone has dropped again. I am now at 21.5. I am not in the danger zone, but we don’t know why it keeps dropping. So, now I have to take 3 doses a day which makes me extremely tired. Say a prayer for me that my levels will go up and that the baby will be okay. My pregnancy levels didn’t go up either, but since we saw a heartbeat they aren’t really concerned about that test. I had no idea there was this much pressure during the first trimester. There is a constant fear that I might not be doing everything right and something bad could happen. But, then I remember that God is totally in control and His will is perfect no matter what happens. God is good.

-Courtney

Well we had our first ultrasound today. It was awesome. The baby is doing well and based on it’s size it is estimated to be 6 weeks and 4 days old. We did not get to hear a heartbeat, because the baby is still to young, but we did get the following pictures.

We will let you know more when we actually talk to the doctor next week.

-Micah & Courtney

Well last Friday morning Court went and had a second set of blood-work run to confirm the pregnancy and make sure everything was progressing as it should. We received the results back via phone yesterday and good news, we’re still prego. We broke the news to Court’s family Sunday afternoon when we celebrated Christmas with them, and will tell my parents this week at the respective Christmas celebrations.

We are having a hard time keeping it secret until the selected time arrives, but we know that it will make for a better surprise if we hold out. We have more blood-work and our first ultrasound scheduled in the weeks to come so we will keep you updated.

Merry Christmas!

–Micah

Well today Courtney got a call from our dear friend and nurse Chris Peters. “Congratulations!” she said as Courtney answered the phone. This past Friday night Court took a home pregnancy test that came back positive, and so Chris had her come into the office yesterday for blood work. We found out today that the blood confirmed what the home pregnancy test had stated…We’re Pregnant!

This is long awaited news and we are extremely excited about it. We haven’t told anyone yet, so that means if you are reading this you either stumbled upon this blog, or it is several weeks later. Still we wanted to get things kicked off today, knowing the rest of you could catch up later.

In classic web 2.0 style here is a picture of our at home test:

Our Pregnancy Test

More updates to come later.

–Micah & Courtney