Update and Bonus Photos!

Last week I was so looking forward to my visit with the internist about my breathing and allergies. We had to drive halfway across north Dallas to get there and find out after much turmoil and stress that my doctor's office never sent the referral and they couldn't see me. After a continued struggle with the state help Medicaid, that we are blessed and grateful to have despite these inconveniences, I have learned that it won't be that complicated to see someone. I don't even need a referral.
Here, let me try and explain...
When you get Medicaid you don't just get "Medicaid" you have to select a Medicaid 'PLAN.' Now I was given a few booklets about these plans with lists of doctors to choose a Primary Care Physician (PCP) and little other information about the plans. I believe there were three. So when I called to select a PCP at the start of all this I wanted to use an OB since that was what I thought I'd be seeing the most of, but first I had to select a plan. I was rapidly explained the differences between these 'plans' and selected one called Parkland Health First because it seemed like it had the closest doctors, and I couldn't tell much difference. Now I know what I selected was an HMO, which is I suppose why all the jumping through hoops to see another type of doc outside my PCP. What happened last Thursday, as far as I understand, was that the doc that I made my appointment with was a PCP not a 'specialist' and therefore wouldn’t have even been able to see me with a referral, though they’d told me on the phone when I made the original appointment they could. See the PCPs can be Family Practice, Pediatrician, Internist or some other types. But NOT an OB. As a woman, I get to select an OB AND a PCP. But more on that in a sec. The doc from last Thursday couldn't see me because they weren't my PCP and Medicaid told me if I needed to see a specialist from a referral from my PCP that those were located in the BACK of my booklet. OF COURSE they are! I found the list of Internal Medicine Specialists and was quite displeased to see that it was no more than a list of names. Names with no numbers or addresses! Using my Google skills, I found some addresses and narrowed down the list of docs actually taking new patients to a handful that were not on the other side of downtown Dallas. I had to then call the Medicaid people, who btw were so busy they had to keep taking my number to call me back, so I could get these doctors phone numbers and then call the doc’s office for an appointment.
Still with me?
Then I call my OB, my PCP’s, office to give the lady that had been trying to help me, the doc’s name and phone number. She would then call Medicaid to request a referral for me. Then Medicaid approves it, and then my PCP’s office faxes it the doc, and then I get to go see my internist. No problem. I started at the top of the list of phone numbers. Fortunately, I thought, most of the doctors, minus 2, were all located at the same hospital. I thought that would make it real easy! The first office I called said that doc couldn’t see me because he was a gastro intestinal specialist and I’d need to see a pulmonary specialist. Well, I of course had none of this information so I’m calling blind on all of these. She was nice enough to patch me through to the main office so I could inquire about the other docs on my list or whether any of theirs met these requirements. The lovely young lady I spoke with kindly informed me with great assurance, because they had just had a meeting about it that morning, that I could not see ANY of the docs in their facility unless I was referred to them by my PCP and my she (this very modern woman kept referring to my doc as a ‘she’ which I thought was funny) was located in the hospital with which this facility is affiliated. Which of course HE isn’t. And in addition to that, their doc could only see me one time. So there goes most of my list of possibilities. Time to call on the last two, I suppose, and hope for the best! The second to the last phone call I made was met with that lovely recording that let me know I had reached number that was no longer in service. For shits and giggles I tried a different area code since we are drowning in them here in north Dallas, but got the same reply. So on to my last choice of doc that was within reasonable driving distance. Not only was the place I called not a doctor’s office or a hospital but an association of doctors of some kind, BUT the doctor I was calling about was no longer associated with them. Would you agree that Medicaid may need to update their info?
Are you still hanging on? Hold on tight!
I called back Medicaid and talked to yet another different but very friendly and helpful person. She was nice enough to explain to me after I broke down for her the situation I was in and the calls and trouble I was going through, that I didn’t need to be doing any of this really. All I had to do was go back to the front of the book and pick an Internal Medicine PCP, make an appointment with them, call Medicaid back and change that person to be my PCP. What about my OB I wondered. That’s when she told me that because I am a woman, I get both a PCP and an OB. My OB does not need to be my PCP. You see, as a woman, I am blessed to have many other complications to deal with than just one simple doctor can provide. Medicaid supplies an OB for one annual woman exam and all pregnancy and birthing related issues. When I started this gig I didn’t expect to be seeing anyone else, so I wanted my PCP to be my OB. But now that I know the situation, that seems to be a bad way to go. My new options are, find a new PCP that is an internist and tell my OB I don’t need the referral. Or I could even go through my over-priced own insurance that will double btw once we have the baby, and hope they cover a visit even though I am pregnant. I think I’ll try the twisty Curly-Q route that is Medicaid first. I tried calling the lady that’s been helping me in my OB’s office to let her know the situation first and where it stands but she left me on hold so long I had to hang up and go to class. I will start again tomorrow and let you know next week what happens.

Phwew, did you get all that?

Also, next week is out next OB appointment. I don’t know whether this one will have another U/S or not. I think I am only allowed 2 during the whole pregnancy on my HMO plan, and we’ve already had one, so I want to be sure the next one is during a time that we can for sure see the sex. That is of course if the little bugger cooperates and shows us its privates! I’ll only be at the beginning of my 18th week and if doc says it may not be clear till after 20 weeks, I’d rather wait. I have read on some of my pregnancy forums that girls are finding out as early as 17 weeks, but most of these ladies can also afford to get the super expensive private 3D U/S’s done. We can’t do that, and I don’t want to risk missing our only chance on our last sonogram! I do plan to drink some sugary juice and eat a few chocolates before the appointment just in case we can do it. I want to make sure the little one is awake and jumping, not sleeping and shy. Let’s see those privates baby! My big fear now is that it won’t show us what its packing, and we won’t be able to find out at all. But that would be a blessing in a way. The pressure would be off to find out the sex since we’d no there was no way, and it would sure make the phone calls much more fun after the big birthday! Either way, I’ll be happy; I am getting a little tired of playing the “that means it’s a boy – that means it’s a girl” game. Although I’ve done enough reading about wives tales at this point, I could almost write a book. In case you’re wondering where we stand, it’s about half and half! I even took a quiz online of old wives tales and got 52% girl and 48% boy. But some of the questions I am still a little early on to tell the answers to. Maybe I should take it again before the next appointment. I’ll let you know next week how all that goes.

Andy is my rock as usual. When I had the breakdown after the doctor’s appointment fiasco last week, I had been so excited to finally see someone about my allergies! He was the greatest comfort. Even just now tonight. Believe it or not, this is my second writing of this entry. I made the mistake of not writing in Word first and thinking I could just write it directly into the blog entry system. When I went to spell check, I lost everything expect the first two paragraphs. As you can see this is quite a bit of typing. And I had the pics all in and everything ready to go too! Well, Andy kept me from throwing the keyboard out the window and held me and even went and got me some apple juice from downstairs to calm me down! Then he talked me into retyping it all, and I’m glad he did!
We’re really just trying to focus on relaxing right now. There is a lot to get done and I know it will all get done, but once September hits, there will be little relaxing time left for quite a few years to come. We want to make the most of it and each other while we can!

School is finally almost over! It’s been a rough semester as the baby has slowly but surely stolen my brain. I have such a hard time thinking of words when I am talking and my memory is shot! Makes learning microbiology a bit tough for sure! I did take a test in nutrition this week and got the highest score I’ve gotten all semester. They’re all open book open notes, but they’re really long and still difficult tests. I’m hoping that this good grade will give me enough points for the semester to be exempt from the last test. I’m not sure yet, but even if it’s not, I’ve done well enough all semester that the pressure is off to do too well on the last test. Which will be good since I have about 4 tests in micro to take in these last 3 weeks of class. And that I can’t afford to take it easy with any of them. We had a test this week too, and I am pretty sure I passed, which is all most of us in the class can hope for. I could still finish with an A but I’ll be satisfied with a B because there is some extra credit and a couple more big projects to turn in. Keep your fingers crossed that I make it through this. It’ll mean once I start back in another district in a year, I won’t have to retake this class! I swear, if I was tested over the first 17 weeks of pregnancy and foods for pregnancy and stuff like that, I’d totally ace it since that seems to be what I am spending the majority of my time studying!
Here we have the biggest and the smallest of the bunch posing together. Big Tyler and Thunder, who got named for his booming voice. He thinks he can talk like we do, and he yells at Andy sometimes when they talk. It's so cute! He's such his daddy's boy that we have to feed him next to Andy's computer chair or he won't eat. Lately he's been snuggling up to me more than ever in the last 7 years I've known him, I wonder if that means it's a girl...? Tyler wouldn't look at the camera for this one, he was showing off his profile.
Here's the daddy-to-be cuddling with his Thunder in Thunder's favorite cuddle spot. I often find him sprwled out under daddy's hand with one paw stretched out. He tries to sleep with him at night like this but it's harder because me and Tyler are there too so he waits at my feet where there's more room and waits for Andy to wake up. I always say no kids will be sleeping in our bed because there's no room left, Tyler likes to sleep right netween us!




16 week belly. This is last weeks. I don't feel like I am getting much bigger. I am ready for it! I am ready for strangers to touch my belly and to feel this little one do some kicking! I think I felt it move the other night but I'm not sure. I haven't felt the same thing since. It was a different kind of movement than gassy-ness, and believe me, I know what that feels like for sure!






The three little piggies in a row! Beggars waiting right outside the door while we eat hoping to be invited in for some treats. The funny thing is, they don't eat people food, they just want to have their faces in whatever we're eating! From left to right we have the baby, my girlie Sammi, Big Tyler, and Raven, the loudest of the bunch. Raven almost never shuts up. He'll talk just when he's getting up to go downstairs. And forget about it if he can see the bottom of his food bowl, no one's ears get a break!



That's all I got for now. Hope you made it this far! Please feel free to comment, but remember our families read this so be good. ;)

Finally Picture Time!

Well, here's the few pics we had on the cam from last week. Unfortunately, there aren't any of Andy this time! I'll be sure to catch him this week! ;)
This is one of my favorite Tyler poses. I took this one night when I couldn't sleep and I had gotten back up to hang out online and try to get sleepy. I turned around and there he is all posed like a sweetie with a belly up just begging for a rub. And for a picture! He's such a sweet kitty.







This is me in my new outfit Andy got me to make me feel better. I plan on wearing it to school tomorrow!Unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten how to smile in pictures, so I just end up making these goofy faces. And I know our place looks a little messy in the background, but we've redocorated since then and it seems to have helped. It just always seems to be so hard to find places for stuff! I'm sure having kids will only make that better and easier right?










Here's me and a few of the babies on our futon couch. As you can see I am not only surrounded by cats but also pillows. It is becoming a necessity to have a ton of pillows surrounding my body to hold me in a comfortable position. With the bigger belly and stuffy nose and inability to lie on my back, it's tough to get a position on one's own!
I do love having a home where there's always a kitty ready for some petting and loving!






And here's my latest belly pic! I think I am really starting to look pregnant! This is towards the beginning of week 15, and I am already bigger now than I was then! We'll take another pic this week. We may try to take more than one a week as we get farther along and I grow faster. I am keeping a folder of pics of my belly all facing the same direction so when it's all over and we have our little one, we can look back at all the pics in a row and see the changes!




Well, that's all the pics I got for now folks. I am seeing an internist this week at my OB's request to check out my allergies and breathing problems. I don't know that there's much they can do for me now, since I can't take most meds, but I am excited to talk to someone about it finally.
We go back to the OB on the 25th, so hopefully then we'll find out when the sex will be determinable. I am not feeling any movement yet, but I hear that the first takes longer to feel. I can't wait though, that will be quite amazing!

Finally saw the doctor last week!

And we liked him a lot! He’s not the perfect doctor, but is there one? A little preachy maybe but we don’t mind. Dr Anthony agrees with us on our views of c-sections, and he says he’d rather wait, knowing because of years of experience that labor can take quite a long time. This was a great relief to hear. I have been stressing a little about a doctor who doesn’t feel like waiting and after 12 hours of labor says you aren’t progressing fast enough, time for surgery. Dr. Anthony says he believes in vaginal birth no matter how long it takes unless mother requests or the baby is in trouble. I agree, I told him, I’d totally be into a c-section if the baby’s life was at risk!

We also decided to NOT go for the testing for spina bifida/down’s. There’s no way we could abort this little life after all this time just because of one test that is not always right. Plus the positive result means you need an amniocentesis follow up and those are very risky to the baby, not something I am interested in. Also, it’s a small percentage of cases that actually find any genetic defects. Andy and I think if we have a child with a special situation like that, then we were meant to and we’ll do our best to care for it and keep it happy. We love this baby already.

I don’t know when we’ll find out the sex. He didn’t say and I didn’t ask specifically. Part of me still doesn’t want to know! I really don’t care either way. I just want a sweet baby!

We did have an ultrasound and it was great to see the baby! S/he’s not as much of a wiggler as last time but still pushing around in there. It’s a bummer I can’t feel it yet, but I hear first time mothers have to wait longer to feel movement usually. It got all measured up and is normal. According to the length measurement I am at exactly 15 weeks and 2 days today. But who’s counting right! Only 25 more weeks to go and we have a new family member, look out kitties!

Dr. Anthony also asked me to see an internist for my breathing/allergy/nasal congestion. He doesn't believe I have asthma - neither do I, adn said he'd give me a referal. I am having a bit of a hard time finding someone right now, so I may have to call his office for a recommendation.

In a couple of months we’ll start looking in to some classes for birthing, and I want to do a breast feeding class. I’ve talked to some girlfriends and they say things about when they were breast feeding and I say, really? You have to do that? I know it’s instinctual but I may need some guidance. And it may be early for me to have fears, but I am reading a book about pregnancy ( a few actually!) and I just got through the birthing part. Sounds pretty scary, painful and little gross. Andy keeps telling me to keep my eye on the prize! He’s going to be a great coach!

We’ll be having the little person at Presbyterian of Dallas. I will have a list of phone calls for Andy to make as soon as we get there so if anyone is interested in coming for part of labor or after the birth let me know. Email me or comment should work. If you’re out of state and want a call, we’ll wait until after the baby is out, since I doubt you could make it for any of the labor! ;)

I do have pictures I want to post but due to some computer complications (it’s going to be a big pain to get pics off the cam now since Andy rearranged his PC), we’re going to wait until we have a few more pics taken to get them off. So be expecting a big picture update to come soon!

Here’s a little info about the stage the baby is at right now from two of my sites:

"Your baby may have developed the habit of sucking his or her thumb! The skin is very thin and you can see the blood vessels clearly underneath."

"Fine hair is starting to cover baby this week. It's called lanugo. Bones are getting harder and retaining calcium. (Be sure to get your daily allowance of calcium in!!) Baby can suck his thumb now, and many moms to be, have seen them doing this on ultrasounds. Baby's skin is still very thin, and the blood vessels can be seen through it. By the end of this week, your baby is about 4 inches long and weighs 1.75 ounces."

As for me, I am feeling great. Still a little tired, but I think that is more from the hour lost last weekend, and I’ll settle in to spring soon enough. Andy is doing awesome as well. He’s very supportive. Soon he will start singing to my belly!

Just a few pictures

I have a couple of more on the camera I want to post too but since they are still on the camera, it'll wait tilll next time! :D



This is our first child together Sami. We have 4 cats, but she's the only one we got after we moved in together. Before that I had one and he had two. We have all become quite the big happy family, and they are all very much our first children. I can't wait to see how they react to a new member!






Here's our big buddy Tyler again. He's our favorite to take pics of because he poses and being so fat he often ends up in funny positions naturally, too. It's hard to tell with the light but he has his front paws crossed, a usual for him. He is sitting right by an open window enjoying the breeze. They aren't allowed outside so he soaks it up when he can.
One day a week or so ago, the front door flew open while we were upstairs and Tyler got out! Scared the jeepers out of us for sure. We looked all over the complex for him before Andy found him around the corner from us down a hall at someone elses door trying to get in! Now, every now and again, he'll cry at the front door like he wants out. No way! I don't get why he'd want to after that traumatic experience, though it may have been more traumatic for us than him!


Here's where one will find Tyler almost every morning. Sleeping with his daddy! He often gets in bed with both of us and lays right in the middle for some rubbing and cuddles. When I woke Andy up for this, he had been curled around Tyler with his arm over him, which is the norm. I'll try to catch a shot of that while they're still sleeping next time!

Doctor's Visit Bust!

I realize that it has been a little too long since I last updated and I am sorry. Unfortunately the big reason is there isn’t much to report on the last doctor visit. I didn’t get to see the doc! I didn’t have my Medicaid card and papers yet, which I told them when they made my appointment, and apparently it’s against the law to begin treatment without my stuff. I have since received the papers and have an appointment to at least meet with the doc on Wednesday this week. The lady I talked with says they need to do an ultrasound really soon since I am out of the first trimester, but I don't knwo if that'll be happening Wednesday. I did get a lot of my preliminary paperwork, medical history and question after question out of the way first so it was not a total wipe. The lady I met with was very nice and seemed to think very highly of the doctor she works for. It was also nice to go to a real doctor’s office instead of a clinic which seems to be where we always end up! Thelma was her name and she said that Dr Anthony is in his 50’s and comes from a school that believes in hard work. He works all the time. I said I was surprised to hear he’d be here on a Saturday, and she said he’s always working, and when he’s not working, he reads. If you talk to a doctor in his thirties, he’d want to know when his vacation and days off are! At least according to this lady, and I believe her, the whole working on a Saturday thing and all. I am over the anxiety about meeting him for now. I’m sure it’ll pick back up by Tuesday. I’ve just been feeling a lot better about the whole deal. From what I saw he is a good person. He treats Medicaid patients and not all docs will do that. The hospital he's in has the best neo natal care in Dallas. It’s not too far from where we live. Though by the time the baby comes who knows where we’ll be living! That’s my new stress! I am trying to get through all of our belongings and thin things out. Slowly. The problem is it seems in the process we just keep getting more and more stuff! I’m sure it’ll all be done by the time we move, or we’ll never have room for a baby!

I was thinking my super tired time was over, then I fell asleep at our friend’s house this afternoon! We did eat some junk-food which I think is what really made me sleepy, it was just funny. I have been finding myself waking up after no more than 8 hours even ready to go and not needing a nap unless I take my calcium in the afternoon. Last night I couldn’t even get to sleep until 2am! I am grateful and have decided to roll with it. While I’m up I may as well catch up on some of the tasks I’ve been putting off right! Working from home affords me not having to worry about schedules. Except for school and I can get through a day of school since I am home by 230, and if I am wiped, I can always nap! I am the luckiest woman alive! And I have been feeling really good; I only get sick when I eat something that upsets my stomach.
I have been having fun playing old wives’ tales about figuring out the sex of the baby. Andy doesn’t think it’s as fun! There’s even websites out there you can put in dates and it’ll tell you or a chart you can check. I get both boy and girl equally. At first I was really hoping for a boy because I thought it’d be easier on Andy and I am not very girly. But since I have been thinking it is a girl more and more I have been getting excited about having a girl! I won’t be disappointed either way, but don’t think we’re stopping here! I want at least one of each, if that means we have to 5 to get there, so be it! (Don’t tell Andy I said that!)
Here's my belly from the other morning, toward the end of week 13. It doesn't look like it's getting much bigger, yet I cannot seem to fit any of my old pants! All the maternity pants Andy's mom got me are still too big, so Andy took me to Target the other night and got me a cute warmup suit. It's warm enough to wear these last few cold days, comfortable enough to stretch over my bloat after eating, cute enough, and it may end up being my going home from the hospital outfit if I dont' completely pack on the pounds, which still remains to be seen. I am sure I will start showing more in the next two weeks. I hear about 15 weeks for a first pregnancy is usually the real blow up phase, though everyone is different. We'll just have to wait and see, but we'll keep snapping shots!

Beginning of the Last Week of the First Trimester!

Here’s how the baby is this week according to one website I read weekly:

“Your Baby
The fetus’s urinary tract is on line, and the fingernails are growing. A big portion of the amniotic fluid from this point on will be baby urine. Your fetus is looking like a baby and has advanced to the stage that its brain can transmit messages. Vocal chords are complete, and the child can and does sometimes cry (silently). The brain is fully formed, and the child can feel pain. The fetus may even suck his thumb. The eyelids now cover the eyes, and will remain shut until the seventh month to protect the delicate optical nerve fibers.”

I read about 3 week by week pregnancy calendars every week to see how baby is doing and if I should expect anything strange. So far, my symptoms have been mild and minimum. With the exception of the snotty nose, which I think is more due to lack of medication than anything else, though I know fluid volume increases has made it worse. I do pee a lot too, but to be fair I drink a ton of water. It is more often then normal, but that should come to an end after this week as the uterus moves up. At least until baby gets big enough to kick my bladder or sit on it! I am still tired too, but I started exercising and that seems to have worn me out!

We’re pretty healthy I think, me and little one. No issues I can detect anyway. I see the doc I selected on Saturday, so I’ll know for sure then. I got approved for the Medicaid but I don’t think I’m supposed to get my card until April. I don’t want to wait though! I am anxious to meet the doc since I had nothing to go on when I chose him except his name and address! I hope he’s cool and is interested in my way of doing things. My biggest fear is that he’s some old doc who knows what’s best because he’s done this a billion times and isn’t interested in what I have to say. Suppose that’s worse case scenario.It’ll be exciting to be out of the first trimester. This is the last week! After this I should start really getting big and then the pics will really flow!

Doing Great!

I am feeling great lately! Of course this makes me nervous, aren’t I supposed to be sick? Seriously, I think my only problems as of late are worry. I know though that the worry has not yet begun. As soon as we have this delicate little life in our hands to nurture and teach, the real worry begins! It will be a fun journey.
Last week we went to a clinic. The Medicaid had yet to come through but I wanted to see someone to be sure all was going well. They were great and said they’d send us a bill but hold on to it and give it to Medicaid once it comes through. I didn’t like a few things about the place. 1. Andy couldn’t come with me to the room for my appointment. Now to be fair I got all the girly stuff done (pap and so on), so I understand them not wanting him there for that, but I also got to hear the heartbeat on a Doppler, which he missed. It sounded great. So fast! But really strong and healthy! 2. It’s a clinic not a set doctor. I saw a practitioner, which was fine, but I’d probably never see the same one again if I went back there. I really want a doc I can see repeatedly.
While I was waiting one of the many, many times we sat there and waited for the next step, I received a very promising phone call. It was from a lady about something called the Star Program. She told me they assisted Medicaid members in choosing a physician. In fact, if I didn’t choose one they would have to choose for me. There were also two different plans I could choose from. This was great because the clinic, besides its things I mentioned, was also far away. The lady told me to keep and eye out in the mail for my information. It came the next day! I looked through it and found a list of Ob/Gyns but they were all so far. I really didn’t know what to do. She called back on Tuesday but I missed it. When I came home from work on Thursday, there was a note for me on the door saying I better call them by the next day or I’d be out of luck. I called right away and the operator explained more to me. I had more choices than I had been looking at, I just didn’t understand it all. I told the guy, I needed a little more time and I’d call back So I looked some more and called a couple of docs to see if I could use them as primary care physicians, which is what I needed to select, even though they were Obs. I found one that sounded fine and booked me for an appointment right away even though I said I was waiting for the confirmation on my Medicaid. I thought they seemed nice.
I called back and made my choice. The lady I spoke with was great! I asked her if she could tell if I got the Medicaid or not and she said yes! So I am pretty sure it’s coming. I’ll believe it for sure when I see it, but this was still awesome news. Apparently, I get a paper every month that I take with me to my appointment and a Medicaid card that also goes to appointments. Unfortunately I won’t start getting these things until April. But I have an appointment to see the new guy next Saturday. I am going to call then back and see if it’s ok if I come without the stuff or if I’d need to pay out of pocket. I am anxious to get started with him and meet him and all. His name is Doctor Anthony. He’s been a doctor about as long as I have been alive. I am also anxious to discuss things with him, just some of my concerns and ideas about the actual birth. He’s located at Presbyterian of Dallas hospital, so that’s probably where I’ll be having the little miracle.





Here is our precious Tyler resting comfortably and happily on our futon bed by our computers. How could anyone disturb such a sweetie?








Because it's funny! Here he is a fraction of a second after Andy clapped loudly by his head. He is so confused. What was that noise and what's that bright light? Why is everyone laughing at him? Don't you just want to rub this big guy!?!




Overall, it’s been a great week! Spring Break is next week so no school, though I have tests when I get back so I’ll be studying, but I don’t have to get up before dawn to do it!
Andy and I are having a great time together. I am getting the house cleaned and will soon start widling down our belongings. I know that babies don’t come alone, they come with a ton of stuff. I am a minimalist and don’t like having too much stuff, so this will be a challenge for me. I figured the best thing to do will be to clean out the stuff we have now and stream line. Plus, it makes moving easier. Now the question is where to? We have limited options as we have no proof of income yet, so we’ll see. As long as it’s closer to the grandparents!
I am getting a bit more of the pudge around the middle! I needed to though since I was a little underweight and want to go into the second trimester at a healthy weight, which is in one more week! Especially since that’s the time I really will gain! I have gained five pounds and they all seem to be in my belly. Building a little layer of fat to protect my person I suppose!

Real Life Simpsons

Very cool! :D (click play)

First baby pics!

Suddenly, it’s all so real. Last Saturday we had a sonogram at a pregnancy center run by a local church. Everything they offer is free. Sure they try to get you to go to their church, but it’s no big deal, they are super nice people and very helpful not just to us but the community. They try to prevent young girls from getting abortions and stuff.
I was officially 9 weeks and 3 days the day of the sono. EDD is Sept. 27th. Baby was about an inch long and wiggled like it’s mom! We saw the flutter of the heartbeat and the nurse played it for us. I must admit that up until that moment a part of me still didn’t believe the whole thing was real. But now, it’s so real.

These are the best pics of the sono we could get. We don’t want to scan it because it’s heat sensitive paper so we took pics with our own digicam. You can tell it’s in there at least!







I have been feeling physically so much better. I am definitely getting bigger, but I needed to even first trimester because I was a little underweight to begin with. I’ll worry about losing it after the baby comes. Here’s my belly about 8 and a half weeks. It is bigger now. That’s mostly gas! My uterus hasn’t popped out or anything but it is bigger than it has ever been. Most of my pants don’t fit anymore that’s for sure! Good thing my wonderful mother-in-law Grandma Phyllis has set me up with tons of maternity bottoms! Now that the weather is turning warmer I can even wear some.
No news on the Medicaid yet, but you know how government agencies are always so speedy with their service. Most doctors won’t see me for 2-3 more weeks anyway. We do have a preliminary appointment at a clinic this Friday. They may be able to set us up on a program. It’s affiliated with Parkland somehow, which is always a place we can go. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Overall, I feel so much better, physically and mentally, being home helping Andy on the business and taking care of the home. He is picking up two more clients tomorrow; we have a meeting in the morning. He’s going to need me for sure and he’s showing me all he can for now. It’s so good to be with him, to be together.
We are going to have so much fun as a family with our new member!

Cuteness Overload!!

I love baby kittens. Click the play button to watch the video.

Things are going great!

Well, things are honestly going better right now on many levels than they have in over a year it feels like. So many positive things happening which I'll cover for you below so you'll have the inside scoop on the exciting lives of Andy and Lea! ;)

Our business, A&L Concepts, produces websites for ourselves that bring in ad, affiliate, and subscriber revenue of their own, but we also have clients we do web work for as well. When we first started out with this whole idea over 5 years ago, I was working for Network Associates, a company that dealt with a many computer software packages, one being the Sniffer Protocol Analyzer. It was a tool that network analysts and administrators could use to "sniff" the packets on the actual wires comprising the network. If I sat between your computer and your cablemodem with one, I would be able to see in various ways many, many details of what your computer is sending out as you browse the web. I can see URL's you are vising, pictures or videos brought up (any files really), how much congestion there was on that link, how long each packet took to get to it's destination and back, all *kinds* of stuff. Really, really geeky stuff. While it paid very well, had great benefits, and even flew us both to New York for a business trip, it had zero creative outlet. It became more and more depressing for me to spend so much time on such an in-depth technical product with very little room in my life for anything creative. Something had to be done, so after teaching myself PHP and the basics of HTML, we started our first website. It was nothing more than a website where I would post and share the jokes, pictures, and other things I would recieve in emails and find across the internet. I had so much fun learning programming again like I did when I was 10-15!

Our first website was getting popular and eventually grew out of it's hosting and thanks to a friend in Canada, we landed some storage up there for a fresh new, better, faster, website with a forums this time! Building a sense of community is something I've been fascinated with since I saw my first web forums and the new site had it's own. It grew to be so large and started making a bit of money so with our savings and a great leap of faith, Lea and I agreed I would walk away from making $50k a year to persue web development even more. I quit Network Associates after 2 years of work and started working full force on a new website built from the ground up with everything handcoded. From the login and profiles system, to the forums, to the front page system, everything was built by me from scratch using nothing more than a text editor. This would be our 3rd iteration of the same concept website and from there, it grew into a large community site with links, videos, pictures, articles, games, flash, all kinds of things and *THAT* site spawned off sites like CombatVids.com, ContentBin.com, NWSGaming.com, NWSDeals.com, and PoliceVids.com.

That decision to start our business, A&L Concepts, was made nearly 5 years ago and now we work on 15 sites of our own and as of today we have 4 clients we are working with to assist them with their websites. We just signed our newest client up yesterday and now have a portfolio of working with a realtor, a car sales business owner, a cafe/natural goods shop owner in Baltimore, and a fashion design video house in LA. This is great news as our own websites pretty much run themselves, like little money machines that bring in their own revenue streams while the contract work we do brings in a whole other source of cash. It sure is going to help out with things during the pregnancy and on through the years of having baby Goin.

Lea recently quit her job so we could both stay home, enjoy each others' company, work on the house duties together, and even develop websites together. She does wonderful work on some of our clients as well as running the deals and bargains website we have. NWSDeals is about to go through a major redesign as well and she is designing what she wants and doesn't want for the website. Her quitting the job she had is something we've both been aiming for and hoping wouldn't take too long. We felt comfortable enough with the business as it stands and the future it holds to agree she would be better off staying home and helping with it, both of us focused 100% on it and enjoying life.

We're more in love and closer together than we've ever been and so excited about the baby and spending time with the family! Thanks for reading if you've made it this far! :D

Our Baby Will Be Like This

If it's anything like Lea! ;)

This Baby Likes the Water

What a cute baby! :D

Still making it...

Things seem to be going well. We are not approved for Medicaid yet, and probably won’t find out for at least another week. So we decided we can’t wait much longer, and we may have to try and see a doc next week even if it’s just someone from Parkland with their Help program. My mom says she may have a number of a doc who would cut us a bit of a deal also. I just want to see a sonogram or ultrasound or something. I’ll feel so much better about the whole deal once I see a heartbeat.

We do have an appointment next Saturday morning for a free sonogram, so I may have to just make myself wait one more week. :(

As for me, I am doing… ok. I get pretty emotional and although I don’t have morning sickness, I seem to have afternoon sickness. I cannot eat much as far as choice goes. I can eat just the things that appeal to me are limited. Most things make me nauseous. Especially strong smells. I manage to eat a decent breakfast despite my overwhelming morning-mucous-battle but by afternoon my stomach seems to turn sour. The saltines help. Yesterday I got so dizzy in the afternoon Andy had to help sit me in a shower. It may be from what I ate as well, or lack of. I try to keep drinking water, but water doesn’t taste the same to me as it used to. I always have been a big water drinker but this last week the taste in my mouth has made it difficult. As for the phlegm, it’s driving me crazy. Especially in the mornings. If I do get sick in the AM which has happened a couple of times, it’s from the mucous draining. It’s totally gross.

I’m also not sleeping well. Which doesn’t make the tired-all-the-time thing any better! I go to sleep pretty early but start waking up within a few hours to pee, blow my nose or cough something up.

I have a new found admiration for pregnant women. I feel like I bitch a lot. As beautiful of a thing as this is and as special and fortunate I feel, there’re a lot of annoyances. I do know that at the end of this journey when I hold a perfect healthy baby in my arms, it will be so worth it, I will want to do it again.

I also know that because it is all new to me, I had no real idea what to expect. And my body isn’t used to all this. My uterus is already bigger than it has ever been. Next week starts my 9th week and things should really start growing soon. I can’t wait to get big! I know that will start a whole new onslaught of issues and annoyances but then it will feel more real.

We’re so excited everyday. Thank you for joining us in this journey!

We're expecting!

Thanks for stopping in at the ol’ Goin blog! We’re glad to have you! For those of you who don’t yet know, I am pregnant. This was quite a surprise to both Andy and I, but we are thrilled.

When we were first together we toyed with the idea of having kids and wanted to at the time, but I suppose my body wasn’t ready and the greater being wasn’t ready for us to have one because we never got pregnant. Despite our lack of “preventing” it.

After the first year or so we realized we were in no shape financially or emotionally to parent, and we gave the idea a rest. A big rest. Even started to plan our lives as if we’d never have our own kids. My mom began adopting grandkids thinking she’d never get one out of me! We considered someday maybe even fostering because even adoption was too much of a commitment!

Then right before the holidays last year, we were discussing raising children and just basically influencing a child’s life someday, and we decided it was something we really wanted to do. I think it may have been something we always wanted; we just knew the time wasn’t right. Admittedly we aren’t in the greatest position right now with me still in school and working part time for eight bucks an hour and Andy trying to get our business off the ground and to a point I can stay home and help him with it more. But our relationship is the strongest it’s ever been! We’ve had a lot of time together just us, almost 7 years! And a lot of time to discuss and come to agreements on things I am sure most parents don’t get the chance to do. We have come to a place in our love where we are beyond selfishness and see ourselves as a team that works together for a common goal rather than two separates that come together on occasion to hang out. I could spend every minute with him. I don’t know that he could with me, I’m the crazy one! ;)

It really couldn’t be a better time for us emotionally, and as I know from many friends and people that I have met through the years, the money thing works itself out. Plus with a kid on the way, it’s a whole new level of motivation for us to be better at what we do.
My dream now would be to not go to a shitty part time job and just stay home taking care of the house and working on the things on our websites that Andy has just gotten too busy for until the baby comes. Now that he takes clients and builds and maintains web sites for them, the ones he built for us can’t be updated as regularly. He needs me! And I want to help.

As for the baby, we couldn’t be happier. I know our close by family is also thrilled, Aunt Tressie, my mom, his mom, they can’t wait to watch ME grow, and then have a new baby to play with. I can’t wait for this adventure. We have no idea what the immediate future will hold. Where we will live. I want to live closer to our moms for the birth, but it’s hard to prove income and get apartments when you’re self employed so we may have to stay here. But one of Andy’s clients buys and sells houses so we kind of have a hook up with that option.

As for me, I am feeling fine. I am scared of what my body is going through, it’s all new to me. I taste metallic blood in the back of my mouth from my increasing blood volume. I have more mucous coming out of my nose and throat everyday than I ever had from my allergies, also from increasing fluid volumes. My boobs have doubled in size, much to Andy’s joy, unfortunately they also hurt! I have the worst gas and my belly is already expanding… could it be twins? And I’m so damn tired I sleep for 9 hours and could still have an afternoon nap, but who has the time?

The biggest unfortunate situation we are in at the moment is the lack of maternity insurance. We signed up for personal health insurance with outrageous rates over a year ago, but the company couldn’t offer maternity something to do with the state of Texas. We would have had to add about 25% to the bill and go with a whole other company to get it, and at the time we weren’t even considering pregnancy. And honestly when we talked about it 2 months ago as an option, neither of us thought it would happen this fast! So yesterday, we applied for Medicaid. We won’t find out until Friday when we see a case worked whether or not we can be approved. I don’t’ think it’ll be a problem because this state takes care of its pregos. Wish us well with that. If we don’t get it, I’ll be on the phone with various doctors trying to find someone who will cut us a deal and work out a payment plan. I’ll let you know.

Thank you for being a part of our lives. Please comment here and email me if you like! We love you!

Welcome to the Blog!

First things first, welcome friends and family to Lea's and my blog! We will be updating this occaisionally so be sure to check back often. I will also post funny or interesting family safe videos hosting from Google for you to laugh at or ponder. But most of the time, we will be using this to let you know what's going on in our lives and we'll be sharing pics of it as well.

For those that don't know, Lea and I own our own web developement business, A&L Concepts. This is something we've been working on for around 4 years now and started by building our own websites and recently has expanded to working for other professionals on theirs. We aim towards small business owners and right now we have 3 clients we are contacted with bringing in a good wage. Lea handles the backend of things with the paperwork and office stuff, while I work on the actual coding and designing. There are links on the sidebar to a couple of examples of our own sites and you can see our company site right here. It's still being worked on but does have a simple form interested parties can use to inquire about our services.

Lea is also going to school at Brookhaven Community College taking classes on "Nutrition" and "Microbiology: this semester. We both went there last semester and while Lea stuck with the easy classes like "Anatomy and Physiology", I figured I would take a class that would strain my brain and took Weight Training. We also took an introductory Spanish class together to work on our communication skills. We live in Addison, TX which is a suburb of Dallas in an apartment with our four cats; Tyler, Thunder, Raven, and Sami. There will be plenty of pictures coming of the cats in various poses as we go.

It's been a great start for this new year so far, our business is picking up and we recently got some very good news in which I will let Lea post and tell you about. By the time you read this, you probably have already read her post as well, so let me just say I am exteremly proud and excited! It's going to be a very fun ride from here on out and Lea and I couldn't be happier.

More to come later, thank you for visiting!