December 7th..Here We Come!

Wow..what a week! Not sure where to begin, so I'll just start by saying that my Parent Teacher Conferences are completed and went wonderfully! I have the sweetest class this year and their parents are equally as wonderful! I was excited to announce to the parents that my student teacher, Lauren, will be replacing me once I go on maternity leave! I am so excited to have Lauren take my place, she has been with me since the first day of school and does an excellent job, so hopefully it will be a smooth transition for everyone come December.

As far as our comedian in the family goes (who knew Adam possessed such humorous writing skills), he will be making a monthly appearance on our blog to provide some comic relief, I am not even going to try to compete!

After the crazy week of work, I was looking forward to a much needed Fall Break! It began on Friday, when Adam and I had our monthly doctor appointment and ultra sound. Baby B still did not want to cooperate and wouldn't let us get a good ultra sound picture..I guess he/she wants everything to be a surpise:) Our baby is already 3.3 pounds and is currently in the breeched position, which isn't such a big deal since I already knew I would have a C-section. However, we did get quite the surprise to find out that Baby B will make his/her arrival on DECEMBER 7!!! That is a week earlier than we expected, which means we have less than 6 weeks to go until we meet our little bundle!

After the exciting news on Friday afternoon, Adam and I drove to my parent's house in O'Fallon, MO for the weekend. Saturday my fabulous sisters, Julie and Jill and my amazing Aunt Sissy, hosted my first baby shower! I was overwhelmed by the generosity of all my family and friends and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the day! Check out the pictures below of my college friends who were able to attend the shower.

That evening, my friend Judi and Kim stayed in town and we were able to have some much needed girly time:) I can't believe it's the last time I'm going to see them before Baby B arrives!

On Sunday, we attended my adorable niece Isa's baptism! I haven't seen her since she was 3 days old! She is such a sweet baby:) I also was able to spend the day with the rest of my nieces and nephews (6 in all), which Adam and I both enjoyed. Adam, is of course, the FAVORITE uncle! He is the official jungle gym and he loves every minute:) We were also able to celebrate my sister Julie's birthday Sunday evening! We packed in every moment we could this weekend with family and celebrations!

After the busy weekend, Adam loaded up my dad's truck with all the goodies (thank goodness my dad let us borrow his truck, our little car didn't stand a chance)and we left early Monday morning to meet the Daryll and Laurie Hartig for breakfast. Their son, Jefferson, also has spina bifida and I was fortunate to teach him as well as his little brother, Jackson, several years ago when I taught in St. Louis. Daryll and Laurie were kind enough to take some time on Monday morning to tell us their story and share their experiences with us. Adam and I truely appreciated the time they took to meet with us and we hope to be able to inspire other people down the road the way they were able to for us. Jefferson is an amazing kid and I hope Adam and I can be as encouraging and loving to our baby as they have been to theirs.

Now if only we could decide on a name if Baby B is a boy.....we had a few new options for either a boy or a girl from the shower and they were........ Jerry Hubert (after the grandfathers), Pearl H. Arbor (since the baby will be born on Pearl Harbor Day) or Adaline Bohute (named after Adam and my parents lake house) .....I think those names were the most orginal! No worries....Baby B will not be tormented by those names... just possibly Parker, Nicholas or Noah and Olivia is still our choice for a girl!

Have a fabulous week and thank you all for your continued prayers! We are truely blessed!

My Turn

This week we are calling an audible...the closer has been called in from the bullpen...I have put down my clipboard and put on my helmet. Sorry if you were expecting another post from Jodi this week, but I stole the facebook machine, and now you have to hear from me.

Others of you may be asking, "Adam, why haven't you posted yet?" And the answer is simple...I was too busy building a tin foil hot air balloon and prepping Nicolivia NOT to say, "It was for the show." when the Today Show comes calling.

Actually, the conversation this week went more like this:

Jodi: "I have to go to school today and get ready for Parent/Teacher Conferences, can you write the blog this week?

Adam: "I have to mow the lawn, trim the hedges, and finish installing and wiring the ceiling boxes in the upstairs bedrooms."

Jodi: "You told me when we started this blog that you were going to help, you haven't done a post yet!"

Adam: "Honey, when I woke up this morning, all I wanted to do was post on the blog. Thank you for trusting me with it this week."

Jodi: "That is what I thought you said."

Adam: "I love you."

Jodi: "Just get it done before I get back from work."

Just to let you all know, this has been a pretty slow week, baby wise. No doctor's appointments, no ultrasounds, just another week at the Burns House. Jodi has been busy getting her class ready for Parent/Teacher Conferences, and I have been using my nights and this past weekend to continue to get the nursery ready. So far we have painted the room, installed chair rail, put together the crib, installed some shelves, and installed a ceiling box and wired the wall outlet for three switches. {Editor's Note: For any of you out there who are in the process of building a new house, when the builders says do you want us to install ceiling lights in all of the rooms. It will be about $XXX? DO IT! You may say to yourself, I can do that after the builder gets done. I can save $XXX, and put it somewhere else. DO IT! It won't take long, I am pretty handy, I will just take care of it later. DO IT! Big Jer and I spent the better part of Saturday running around town picking up supplies, crawling around in the attic, and cutting holes in perfectly god drywall in the three upstairs bedrooms. Spend the money have the builder do it. Sorry, where was I?} Oh yeah, the nursery, well anyway, I have attached (I think) some picutres of the work thus far. Jodi and I still need to get the crib skirt and mattress, pick out a celing fixture, hang some window treatments, and bring in the rocking chair. Hopefully, by the end of the month we will have all of the work done, and can enjoy a clean nursery up until the time that Nicolivia is born.

On a more serious note, I want to take this chance to thank all of our great family and friends for their notes, cards and prayers. I know that I speak for Jodi when I say that we have been truly touched and humbled by the outpouring of love our support group has shown us. Jodi and I have stood in awe over the generosity from everyone in our lives, and are amazed at the length people have gone to learn more about Spina Bifida. We are blessed.

Stay tuned for next week, when your regular narrator will be back in the driver's seat.

Nicoliva

Whooooo...what a weekend! My weekend officially began Thursday night with a surprise evening out. My wonderful friends Jeannie, Laura, Heather and Colleen surprised me with an evening filled with pottery, conversations and yummy Mexican food. I couldn't have asked for anything more, especially the night before our big doctor appt. It really took my mind off things and reminded me how lucky I am to be blessed with such wonderful friends! Later that evening Adam's parents and my parents roughed the storms and arrived in town around 11pm in order to accompany us to our appt. the next morning.


Friday morning was the "big" day as we like to call it, well at least until baby B joins us! We had an appt. with our neurosurgeon, Dr. Ackerman, that morning at Riley. Our parents joined us for this meeting so that they could be as informed about what to expect once Baby B is born as we are. We met with Dr. Ackerman for about an hour which allowed her to explain in detail every aspect of spina bifida, the accompanying conditions and the surgeries our baby will undergo. She was wonderful and we felt very confident that our baby will be in the best hands once he/she is born. We left this appointment feeling a bit overwhelmed with information, but confident that our baby will be in the best hands during those first precious weeks.



We know that once baby B is born via C section at IU, the doctors will stabilize our baby before taking him/her to Riley (which is attached to IU) to complete the first operation. This will be to close the lesion on the back to prevent further infection an/or paralysis. As Dr. Ackerman put it, this surgery is somewhat like trying to sew wet toliet paper together, but again we feel VERY confident with Dr. Ackerman. After Baby B undergoes this first surgery he/she will be in the infant intensive care unit. During this time, the doctors will monitor our baby's hydrocephalus to determine if a shunt will be necessary( there is a 95% chance that our baby will need a shunt). If a shunt is needed, our baby will undergo this surgery sometime during that same week, this will also extend the time our baby will be in the ICU. We are anticipating that our baby will be in the ICU for at least 2 weeks.



After we left our appt. with Dr. Ackerman we walked over to IU for a tour of the delivery unit. We (our parents along with Adam and I) were able to see where I will deliver and where the baby will recover before moving to Riley. We were pleased to find out that Adam will be able to accompany our baby as they transport him/her to Riley. I will have to wait until I recover(most likely 24 hours) before I am able to visit. Although I know this will be one of the hardest days of my life, I am praying for God to give me the strength to trust in our doctors and to rely on my family for support during this time. I also know that Adam will be worried about where he needs to be since the baby and I will be at different hospitals for a while. Our top priority is to have someone with our baby at all times while he/she is in the ICU.

The nurse, Ann, was also wonderful to us and spent at least an hour with us touring Riley and explaining to us what will happen during those first few weeks. She also decided to name our baby Nicoliva since we are not finding out the sex of the baby and we told her our top choices in names right now are Nicholas and Olivia. Although, this week we are also considering the name Parker. So we shall see:)

We left Riley around 1:30 Friday afternoon exhausted and a little overwhelmed as you can imagine. Adam and I feel so lucky that all of our parents were able to accompany us to our appointments and that we are able to count on them for support through this challenging time.

Through it all, we know Baby B (or Nicoliva) will be such a wonderful blessing to us and has already changed us for the better. We continue to be wowed by all the thoughtful cards, messages and hugs sent our way from friends, family and coworkers. So thank you all! We have also been very impressed by all the doctors and nurses that have met with us who have gone above and beyond to help us feel comfortable and who continue to fill us with valuable knowledge about our baby.

Birthday Weekend

I had a wonderful birthday weekend celebrating with Cari and Judi! Friday night Adam made a yummy dinner including stuffed mushrooms, a mushroom medley(one of my favorites) and a delicious steak and green bean stir fry! Our friends Tom and Lisa joined Judi, Adam and I for a great start to the weekend. On Saturday, my friend Cari drove up from STL. We (Cari, Judi and I) enjoyed a pedicure and some shopping before joining Adam for a delicious dinner out! The baby was quiet most of the weekend, but after a late night surprise of German Chocolate Cake, thanks ladies, the baby started kicking away:) Today, Adam and I went to the Colts game and cheered on a win, the baby liked that too as he/she kicked away!

We have a busy week ahead as we prepare for our upcoming neurosurgeon appt. on Friday morning. Our wonderful parents are driving in town to join us for this appt. so I will be sure to update everyone next weekend. We continue to feel blessed and are trying to maintain a positive outlook for our baby. December will be here before we know it! Now if we could only decide on a name!!!! Right now we have a couple in mind, so let us know what you think if you want:) For a boy we have Nicholas Theodore as the top choice right now, I like Noah, but Adam isn't as big of a fan. He likes Garrett, I'm not sure about that either! As for a girl, I think we are fairly settled on Olivia Elizabeth, but again this could change too! I need to start making a list of names, but never seem to have the time!

I'm posting some pictures of this past weekend. I can't believe I"m already 7 months along! Wow!! As always, thank you for all your positive thoughts and prayers!