Monthly Archives: March 2015

Another Week for Nora!

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Today I had my 22 week appointment and Nora got another good report from the doctor! Her MCA scan was about a 1.43 so she’s holding steady and staying just under the 1.5 cutoff. Today the doctor and ultrasound technician had a really easy time getting a good reading on the scan because Nora is getting bigger. The bigger the babies are the easier MCA scans and blood transfusions are. Nora was so cute on the ultrasound and we could see her sucking on her umbilical cord like a pacifier!

I asked the doctor if he would be giving me steroid shots to develop Nora’s lungs soon since she’s almost viable. He said he probably won’t since she’s doing so well and the steroid shots make the MCA scans unreliable for about three days. He doesn’t feel comfortable having three days where he can’t monitor Nora at all so he is going to wait until she gets a high MCA scan (1.6- 1.7) and then he will give me the steroid shots the same time he does her first transfusion. Dr. Moise is extremely pleased with how well the IVIG is working to keep Nora’s anemia in check! Thank you all for praying for her so regularly, it is making a huge difference. Just two more weeks to viability!

Dr. Moise told me to come back in a week and he gave me permission to go home for a visit between appointments! When I packed to come here I really didn’t envision myself giving birth to a live baby so now I get to go back and re-pack things in anticipation of Nora’s birth…things like my breast pump, more baby clothes and Nora’s car seat. I can’t believe we might be bringing home our LIVING, BREATHING baby girl. We’re also going to set up her nursery while I’m home which sounds so fun. I can’t wait to see my friends and family and sleep in my own bed for a few nights.

Here are a few pictures from this past week:

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Day trip to Galveston!

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Asher and Grandmama on the ferry trying to spot some dolphins

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Nora’s first trip to the beach

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22 Weeks!

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Asher asks every day when Nora will be here and he sleeps with her blanket every night. He can’t wait to FINALLY be a big brother (on earth)

 

Pray for Emily

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When I was pregnant with Lucy I prayed for her all the time. It felt like every breath I took ended with a “Please God.” A married couple who were friends of ours had been struggling with infertility for years and didn’t have any children yet. Their empty arms weighed heavy on me. I decided that every single time I prayed for Lucy I would pray and ask God to give my friends a baby (soon!) So my “Please let Lucy live” prayer became “Please let Lucy live and please give Ashley and Travis a baby.” It became a habit and from then on it was easy to remember to pray for them. They now have a beautiful daughter Lucy’s age, almost two years old.

I have another baby girl who weighs heavy on my heart now, and her name is Emily. She’s about to turn three years old and she is here at the Ronald McDonald House in Houston with her parents. Emily was just diagnosed last month with an inoperable brain tumor and has been given a 0% chance of survival. The doctors are not very hopeful and are treating her here in Houston to improve her quality of life.

Even though the doctors are not hopeful, I am and her parents are desperate for hope too. This little girl is like sunshine. She brightens every room she walks into. I smile every time I see her. She just sparkles (LITERALLY she is usually wearing a “Frozen” dress or princess crown😊) Even Nora loves Emily! The first week we were here Nora wasn’t moving much and I had gone almost an entire day without feeling her move. I was so anxious as I sat in the playroom watching Asher play and only feeling stillness from Nora. Well, in prances Emily and probably about two minutes later I hear an ear piercing screech (I THINK it was a happy screech) from Emily and Nora IMMEDIATELY started kicking and punching like crazy. She squirmed around for the rest of the night. A couple days later the same thing happened. Emily entered the scene and Nora responded wildly to her voice, the best feeling in the world. Emily does have a bubbly, infectious laugh so I don’t blame Nora one bit.

Here’s Emily doing her trademark laugh that Nora loves so much (and I do too.) Just TRY to look at this picture without smiling:

imageAnother sweet image of Emily in my mind is from the very first night we were here. Asher was feeling shy and anxious (I think he was missing his brother) in the playroom around the other kids. Emily walked right up to him and started talking to him and playing with him like they were already friends. It put his heart at ease and he relaxed enough to play and have fun. This little girl melts my heart.

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Will you all commit to pray for Emily every time you pray for my Nora? That would mean so much to me. Pray for God to do a mighty miracle in Emily’s little body. Pray for Him to COMPLETELY heal her. He can do it. I’m praying one of my favorite verses over Emily:

Psalm 136:4  Give thanks to Him who alone does mighty miracles. His faithful love endures forever.

Let’s pray that God not only does a mighty miracle in Emily, but that He will show her His faithful love every step of the way until then. Perfect love drives out fear. Please, God, cover Emily with your love. Protect her from fear and suffering and heal her completely.

Let’s also pray for Emily’s parents, Kyle and Stephanie, who are facing the unimaginable. Pray that they would have peace and that they would not give up hope. Pray that they would know how to parent Emily and her baby brother Blake during this hard time. I’m praying this verse over them specifically:

Romans 15:13  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

With God’s power, Kyle and Stephanie can abound in hope. I’m also praying this verse over them:

Psalm 90:16,17  Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us.

Let’s pray that God would show Stephanie and Kyle his amazing work and that He would show His glorious power to their children, specifically Emily. Lord, let your favor and love be poured out on this family, please.

They need hope and strength and they need  you to pray for Emily. Let’s change our “Please, Lord, let Nora live” prayers to “Please, Lord, let Nora and Emily live.” Thank you all for wrapping us in prayer and for strengthening us with your encouragement.

21 Weeks 💗

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*Sorry in advance for any mistakes…I didn’t have access to a computer so I had to type this post out on my phone.

I am 21 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Just typing that out and seeing it written here on my blog seems unbelievable to me. How have we made it this far without any anemia and without needing a blood transfusion? On Monday I had my 21 week ultrasound to check Nora for anemia and signs of distress. Last week she got about a 1.48 on her MCA scan, dangerously close to needing a blood transfusion. This week it went down to a 1.42! What a wonderful surprise! Once again, the doctor couldn’t see any signs of anemia or distress- no extra fluid or dilating of the heart, so he said to come back in a week for a recheck. He said the weekly IVIG treatments must really be working and keeping Nora safe from my antibodies for now. They measured Nora and she was a little big for 21weeks, weighing in at one pound. This week alone I have met two different families whose babies were born at 24 weeks and each baby weighed one pound at birth (and both survived!) I am so grateful for my big growing girl. I also finally gained my first pound of my pregnancy this week. My nausea is slowly subsiding and I have an appetite for the first time since November. It is WONDERFUL to actually enjoy some of the food I am eating.

This past week I finally took a leap of faith and bought lots of summer maternity clothes. My normal clothes just aren’t fitting anymore and I have finally allowed myself to actually believe that I might still be pregnant when summer arrives. I was lucky enough to stumble on a maternity section at a local thrift store. Apparently there was some lady out there who was also pregnant in the summer and she was my EXACT size and she donated her really cute Motherhood maternity clothes to the thrift store 😃 It was such a blessing since we weren’t sure how we were going to afford a whole new season of maternity clothes (I had mostly winter.) I also bought a cute little sister onesie and hat for our Nora girl. I REALLY hope this is finally our little sister that we get to bring home.

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We are very thankful to be here in Houston in the Ronald McDonald House, so close to such amazing medical care (we can walk to our hospital!) However, the strain of being away from home for so long is finally starting to weigh on all of us. We don’t know how long we will be here, but lately we have been coming to terms with the fact that I will probably deliver Nora here. If she is in danger at all, we can’t risk her life for our convenience. She will have the best medical care and the best chance at life, which means staying in Houston until she arrives. The financial strain is growing with all of the extra medical costs, living costs and the fact that I can’t work while I’m here. The emotional burden feels even heavier at times. When Josh left to go home after his visit I felt depressed, knowing I might not see him for several weeks. Today my Dad left with Liam to go back to Tuscaloosa. Asher begged to go too, then burst into tears when I told him he had to stay here in Houston with me. He wept so hard, “But I want to build a weally big twain twack in my own house and I want to see my puppy and sweep in my bed!” I don’t blame him. I want to sleep in my own bed too (especially with the discomfort of pregnancy.) He cried for a long time and the only thing that kept me from breaking down and crying with him was imagining him crying over his dead baby sister, because that is the alternative. I have seen my sons cry giant tears and beg me for their baby sister to come down from heaven. I have seen them cry because Mommy wouldn’t stop crying and I have seen them neglected for long periods of time while I struggled on my darkest days just to get out of bed after Lucy died. Our suffering now is nothing compared to the pain of losing a child. I know that all of this is worth it if Nora lives.

Thank you all for following our story and praying for us and spurring us on. You give us strength and encouragement and we appreciate every one of you. Please continue to pray for us…for Liam as he is without his Mommy and brother and for Asher as he is away from Daddy, brother and home. Please pray that God takes care of all of our needs while we are here and especially for Him to continue protecting Nora in the womb. What an amazing God we have and what a miracle that He has allowed our Nora to flourish like this. I can’t wait to see what else He is going to do.

Here is the 20 week belly (I haven’t taken a picture this week yet):

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Today I had my 20 week ultrasound. Nora has been right on the threshold of needing a transfusion for the past couple of weeks so I just KNEW today would be the day that she would need her first blood transfusion. I was so nervous…sweaty palms, racing heart, sinking feeling in my chest. As usual, Nora was in a terrible position for the scan, all balled up and facing the wrong direction way down in my pelvis. Four different doctors and ultrasound technicians tried to get a good MCA scan (it has to be at exactly the right angle) and their scores ranged from 1.3-1.8. Finally, Nora shifted a bit and Dr. Moise was able to get three or four really clear, accurate readings. He said they were around 1.4-1.48 which means she is still right under the cut off for being anemic and needing a transfusion. She is fighting hard and holding her own against these antibodies. I’m so proud of my strong girl. She was showing no signs of anemia or distress so Dr. Moise said he would rescan in a week. I feel nervous about another week-long wait, but he promised me that she would be safe for at least another week and that I should trust him. Thank you all for praying for our Nora, it is a MIRACLE that she will make it to 21 weeks next week without a transfusion. She is defying what all the doctors said- that she would be affected even earlier than Lucy was and would more than likely be stillborn by this point in the pregnancy.

Psalm 136:4 Give thanks to Him who alone does mighty miracles. His faithful love endures forever.

This week is Spring Break for us so Josh and Liam were able to come down to Houston for the week. It has been so wonderful to all be back together again. Today the weather was warm and sunny so we decided to try to walk back to the Ronald McDonald House from the hospital after my appointment was over. IMG_5747 As we were walking I noticed that the grass was turning green and the flowers were blooming all around me. Months ago I daydreamed about STILL being pregnant with a live baby in the springtime and it seemed completely impossible. I fantasized about walking around in the warm weather with a swollen belly stretching out in front of me. Today I realized that my “impossible” daydream was coming true. After two years of shattered dreams, what an amazing feeling to have one come true. Nora was kicking around and the weight of my belly was such a comfort. As I was walking I realized that not only was my belly full but so was my heart. I felt full of joy. Two years ago I never could have believed that joy would be possible again. I was reminded of a promise that God gave me in February of 2013:

I will fill your heart with joy and your belly with a baby again.

I thought it was impossible. The doctors told me I couldn’t have any more babies naturally. Impossible. The same impossible that David probably felt standing there in front of Goliath, how Sarah felt when God promised baby Isaac. And JOY in my heart again? Even more impossible. Over the past couple of years I have doubted that promise many times and often wondered if maybe I had made it up in some wildly hopeful moment. But I flipped back through my journal today and read about how He had promised me these things in one of my most desperate times of despair. I remember how clear those words sounded when He whispered them to me and how calming they were. Today He fulfilled His promise, the one I thought was completely impossible.

Hebrews 10:23  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 

 My journal entry from February 21, 2013:

(I’ll type it out underneath so it’s easier to read)

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My grief is so deep. I can’t believe that my girl is gone and my belly is flat. It should be swollen with her life growing inside me. Yesterday was such a good day. As evening came my grief came…a hopelessness so great it overtook my mind. I could barely meet my boys’ most basic needs. I wanted to die, I felt like I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I tried to nap today, but all I felt was my flat stomach clenched in pain. I curled in on myself and felt so empty. I cried out to God, begging Him to come be close to me, to heal me. He said,

I WILL FILL YOUR HEART WITH JOY AND YOUR BELLY WITH A BABY AGAIN

I felt safe and loved and quieted by His love. He has continued to whisper these words of hope to me throughout the day and my soul is calmed.

Psalm 44:25,26  For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.

And I will always remember how He whispered to me in the hospital as I gave birth to my lifeless baby,

I WILL REDEEM THIS

Guess Who Contacted Me?

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So, you’ll never guess who contacted me this week…Kailee and Peter, baby “Scarlet’s” birth parents. The last time one of them contacted us was October 11th before the baby was born. After that, they completely cut off communication with us and ignored all of our attempts to contact them. Apparently they just now read my blog and the only reason they contacted us was to threaten to sue us if we didn’t immediately take down their names. I’m not surprised that they don’t want other people to know what they’ve done.

This post isn’t really about whether I took their names down or if they are going to sue me (they can’t, legally.) This post is about what I’ve learned from Kailee and Peter’s betrayal and how God has brought good out of it.

It was hard not to respond to their emails out of anger and disgust. I wanted to defend myself and point out all of the terrible things they did and completely lash out at them. I ALMOST wrote that email, but right as I was about to I heard a quiet voice telling me to sit and listen first. It’s hard to sit and be still and listen to God when your blood is boiling with “righteous” anger. I did, though, and I read these verses and they quieted me:

Psalm  37:7-9  Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret- it leads only to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

Proverbs 29:22,23  An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins. Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor.

Do not fret. Those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. What a burden lifted, what peace I have, knowing He will defend me. Revenge usually feels like the best choice, but forgiveness is so much sweeter. I forgave them already and because of that I am not eaten up with bitterness or hurt. Honestly, until this week, I have barely thought about them since last fall. I can focus completely on my family and give Liam, Asher and Nora the gift of a peaceful, happy Mama.

Not only have I realized how much peace comes with forgiveness, but I have also been able to see God’s providence clearly this week. When we first found out “Scarlet” would not be ours we were devastated. I not only felt betrayed by Kailee and Peter but I felt a bit betrayed by God too. Even though I was shocked at the evilness and cruelty of K and P, I could rationalize that they WERE human which means they are sinful and have the free will to do what they want. But how could I rationalize God allowing more tragedy in our lives, especially when we were just trying to obey Him and help people? I chose to trust Him anyway, a hard thing at the time. I still don’t have all the answers to my questions, but this week, after listening to Josh (the gentlest, kindest man I know) tell me about Peter’s angry voice mail on his phone, and after reading Kailee and Peter’s barrage of emails, I found myself thanking God that my family is not tied to these people for the rest of our lives. I am so relieved that I can just ignore them and that I don’t have to deal with them anymore. I have realized how grateful I am that God allowed our adoption to fall through. If we had adopted that baby, Nora would not be here today, kicking and growing and showing us all the power of God. If the adoption had worked out I would have continued breastfeeding and Nora never would have been conceived. We would have had to interact and communicate with Kailee and Peter for the rest of our lives. THE REST OF OUR LIVES, and the fact that I can now move on and our family never has to be affected by them again is a gift from God. Is it possible that all of those prayers that I prayed leading up to October, begging God to be good to our family, to BLESS us and to give us our baby girl might have been answered with a “yes” all along? When I was asking Him over and over again to protect our family from more tragedy, He knew the hearts of Kailee and Peter and He knew the best thing for our family was to break our ties with them. And maybe the very moment I thought God was betraying me was the moment He was giving me exactly what I asked for.

19 Weeks

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I am now 19 weeks pregnant, exactly how far along I was when I lost my Lucy Dair. It is a sad benchmark to reach, but wonderful at the same time because Nora is ALIVE! I know exactly what Nora would look like outside of the womb this week. Perfectly formed in every way, just tiny…9 inches long and 1 pound tiny. I miss Lucy so much, every day, every time I see a toddler girl, every moment. It’s devastating to think that Nora will never know her big sister on earth or share all those fun sister moments in life that I am so grateful for. Loss will forever be a part of our family. I always wanted a picture of the boys kissing my belly with Lucy inside, but when I was pregnant with her I was paralyzed by fear. I barely took any photos because I thought they would make me sad if I lost her. If only I had known those pictures would have been my most treasured possessions. This week, I made sure to get a picture of Asher kissing his baby sister (if Liam was here he would be in the picture too.)

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I am so thankful Asher got to kiss Mommy’s belly this week instead of his lifeless baby sister outside of the womb, a fear of mine that has grown stronger and stronger as the 19 week mark approached. Thank you, Lord, for this gift.

Yesterday I had another check up with Dr. Moise. I was totally expecting Nora to be anemic and need a blood transfusion since her MCA scan was 1.48 last Wednesday. God did another miracle and somehow her anemia has slightly gone down to a 1.40. She looked great, no signs of distress, no extra fluid and a healthy heart. Dr. Moise said he would see me in a week. A whole week without an appointment! That means I will be at least 20 weeks before Nora will need a transfusion. My goal was to make it to 20 weeks before needing a transfusion and I can’t believe it’s going to happen! For some reason babies seem to handle the blood transfusions better once they’re past the 20 week mark. Another amazing development- last week Dr. Moise told me that my placenta was partially on the front of the womb, blocking his way to the umbilical cord. This would not be ideal for a blood transfusion since they stick a long needle in through my belly and try to hit the baby’s umbilical cord to get blood into her umbilical vein. He said he was going to have to go through my placenta to do a blood transfusion, which makes it a bit more risky. I asked if that could cause a fetal maternal hemorrhage (when the baby’s blood leaks out through the placenta) and he said it could. Josh has been praying specifically that something would change before Nora needed a transfusion and that the doctor would not have to go through my placenta. Well, guess what? Dr. Moise was baffled while looking at the ultrasound because my placenta has moved (in only five days!) It’s now completely out of the way and there is a direct route to the umbilical cord without going through the placenta. The doctor couldn’t believe it and said maybe I had a strong contraction that moved the placenta or something…he didn’t have any other explanations. Thank you all for praying so fervently for our family and especially for little Nora. Your faith is moving mountains! Or placentas….just as important 🙂

Another thing we are thankful for- we were able to get a room at the Ronald McDonald House last night and can stay there up to 45 nights. We were on a waiting list since all of their rooms were full and we were the sixth family on the list, so I thought it would be a really long time before we got a room. Well, they called us at 4:30 yesterday and said, “We have a room and it’s only available today. Can you get here before 6:00?” It was rush hour traffic and we were at least an hour away but I said, “Yes! We’ll be there!” So we grabbed as much as we could in about two minutes and rushed over in the pouring rain, hoping we would make it in time. We got there at 5:50! Asher had no idea what was happening because we didn’t have time to prepare him. He was just getting settled in at “Mrs. Joyce’s house” so when we got there he walked in and just burst into tears. He has had a lot of major changes take place in his little life recently, poor guy. The people at the Ronald McDonald House were so kind and welcoming. They gave Asher a pack of matchbox cars (which instantly made him feel better) and there was a really cute dog walking around (apparently he’s the house dog and he lives there) that put Asher at ease. It is such an amazing place with fun play areas for the children, a playground outside, TV rooms, a kitchen and dining room and more. A delicious dinner was provided the first night we were there (most days they provide at least one meal.) Here’s Asher having his first meal at the Ronald McDonald House:

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We also received more encouraging cards in the mail this week with sweet notes from people (mostly strangers!) who are praying for us. All of these things have made our stressful time a blessed time and we are thankful for each one of you. Please keep praying for Nora. Pray that God would do more miracles and would keep her anemia level under a 1.5. I will post an update after my appointment on Monday. I hope you all have a great rest of the week.

We Made It to Houston and Nora is Ready to Fight

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We finally made it to Houston, Texas after a very stressful few days. I noticed on Monday that Nora had been kicking less and I had barely felt her move in the past three days. This can be a sign of extreme anemia so I called my doctor and he said the baby was probably fine but I could come in the next morning for one last MCA scan before leaving the state. This complicated things because we were supposed to leave early the next morning for Texas but we all agreed it was important to get Nora checked out. Josh and I were really worried about her because Lucy stopped kicking completely a couple weeks before she died. It was hard to pack everything up and get ready for an eight week trip wondering if Nora was dying at that very moment. Josh and I barely slept that night. Thankfully, the next morning her scan revealed that she was doing fine and her anemia level (MoM) was 1.3. They noticed that my placenta wraps up the side and partially covers the front of my uterus. Nora was under there kicking my placenta which kind of acts like a cushion and that’s why I couldnt feel her moving. I was so thankful that she was ok and I could now focus on getting to Texas safely.

We left later than we thought because of my morning appointment so we had to split the driving between two days and stay in a hotel that night. It was Asher’s fourth birthday too, so I tried my best to make it special for him and get him excited about our “Texas adventure.” We got up EARLY the next morning and drove straight to my appointment with Dr. Moise at 8:30. We were all deliriously tired but so glad to finally have Nora in safe hands.

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Dr. Moise did a very thorough ultrasound, checking all of Nora’s organs and her growth and her anemia level. Everything looked great and she is measuring perfectly, weighing 10 ounces (so adorable!) I was surprised to find out that her MCA scan was actually 1.48, even though the doctors in Birmingham had said just the day before that it was 1.3. I kind of don’t think her anemia went up that fast in 24 hours and that the scan the day before was not an accurate reading. She was in a difficult position for the MCA scan that day. Dr. Moise was able to get a very clear reading (which he checked over and over again) so I trust that her level truly is 1.48. This is frighteningly close to the “anemic and needs a blood transfusion” level which is 1.5. Dr. Moise said there are other indicators of anemia that he checked for (extra amniotic fluid in the womb, slightly dilated heart, etc.) and Nora had none of them so he thinks she is holding her own right now and not in distress. His plan is for me to come back on Monday and have another scan. If her level is over 1.5, he will do an intrauterine blood transfusion on Nora the next day (Tuesday.) I will be 19 weeks, which is still very early to need a transfusion and dangerous since the baby is so small. I’ll write more on how they actually do a blood transfusion on a baby in the womb later when we know she is going to need one. They also checked my antibody titer (level) since it hasn’t been checked in weeks. Unfortunately it is back up to it’s original 1,024. When it gets to an 8 it is considered critical for the baby.

Dr. Moise and his nurses were SO kind and welcoming. They explained everything in great detail and answered all my questions. I was told that for some reason, baby girls do better than baby boys so Nora has a little bit of an advantage there. His goal is to do blood transfusions regularly until 35 weeks, then deliver a week or two after that. With each transfusion we have a 2-5% chance of losing Nora. Sometimes they can wait a week between transfusions and sometimes they can wait up to three weeks. I said I would just be thrilled to get to 26 weeks. I truly feel like I can trust them with Nora’s life, which is a huge comfort. Dr. Moise is VERY experienced with all of this and teaches people all over the world how to treat pregnancies like mine. He had to excuse himself halfway through my appointment to go give a lecture to a national audience. I finally feel like I can relax a bit with all the researching and advocating for better medical treatment for Nora. It is a great weight off my shoulders. Even though she has a huge battle ahead of her, I know there is nowhere else in the world where she would get better medical care.

We are currently staying with a family friend until we can get into the Ronald McDonald House. When we arrived at her house there were several get well cards from her neighbors and friends waiting for us and one woman even brought over a delicious dinner that night to feed us! How amazing is that? We know none of these people but they are praying for us and encouraging us so much. We can’t believe all the kindness that has been poured out on us lately during this stressful time. Thank you to all of you who support us so well even when I know you have very busy lives of your own.

Please continue to pray for our little Nora, who has a huge fight ahead of her. In fact, she is struggling hard right now as I type this and as you read this. Her little body has to work extremely hard to fight back against my antibodies that are constantly attacking her and making her anemic. I believe that all of the MANY verses in the Bible about strength and courage also apply to babies in the womb as they are just as important as those of us outside of the womb, especially to God. Please pray that God would infuse our daughter with strength and a tenacious will to fight for her life. Pray that her MCA scan on Monday shows no anemia and that she can have a little bit more time to grow before she needs a transfusion (bigger babies have safer transfusions.) Pray that she makes it to viability without any problems and that she is born alive and thriving. I will update after our appointment on Monday. Here are a few pictures from our “Texas adventure” so far:

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Halfway to Texas on Asher’s birthday

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Asher’s favorite part of the new hospital- a direct view of the train stop

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According to the ultrasound technician, Nora’s second toe is a little bit longer than her big toe…silly little details that you notice when baby gets ultrasounds every few days 🙂

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Nora’s preemie outfit, just a little bit bigger than my hand

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Exploring the local children’s hands on museum with Asher