Baby Harvey's Nursery

Okay... so maybe I went a little overboard with my video. But I got a new camcorder for Christmas and I had a little too much time on my hands tonight :) There are still a couple of additions still to be made to the nursery (i.e. wall decor, the baby...), but it is a HUGE transformation from what the room used to look like. Below the video you will find some pictures of what the room room used to look like. 

     

The room is 100x better with a fresh coat of paint and new carpet! 

The Silly Preggo Woman

This is what happens when you have too much free time on your hands. I figure that I'll enjoy it before the baby comes and reality hits :) 

Here's a little preview of my sweet baby belly! I am 35 1/2 weeks along!

Baby Harvey

This is the most recent picture of our lovely daughter Harvey. For those of you who have yet to receive the memo, Josh has affectionately nicknamed our baby girl "Harvey" until we come up with a more suitable female name :)

So far Harvey has been doing well. She is turning into quite the little kick boxer though :) I am currently 24 weeks and I am already beginning to struggle bending over and getting out of my chair! I can't imagine getting any bigger than I already am! I have 16 more weeks to go and the baby has about 6 lbs to gain!!! 

Apart from turning into a small whale, I am truly blessed to have had such a wonderful and healthy pregnancy! Please pray that the next 16 weeks go as smoothly!

The Cruise

As many of you already know, Josh and I took a cruise at the beginning of October. It was the first cruise for both of us and we were quite pleased with our Carnival experience. At first I was quite hesitant to go on a cruise while I was 18 weeks pregnant! Josh convinced me I would be fine by showing me many positive reviews from pregnant cruisers and loading up my suitcase with anti-nausea medication :) I was glad that he did. Thankfully I only needed the medication on the last evening when the water had 10 feet swells! Other than that it was smooth sailing.

One of the highlights of cruise life for us was the opportunity to eat something fabulous every minute of every day! I was glad to be pregnant and have the excuse of "eating for two." Josh on the other hand was supposed to be training for his fitness test with the Army. Bad timing to take a cruise (not even a week before the test), but he was all about enjoying his precious and little time off work!

       

Another highlight for me was winning 50% off the most deluxe spa package. For those who know me well, you know that I never win anything so this was a BIG deal. I decided to give my prize to Josh who has been working insane hours and needed the extra pampering. Josh got treated to a back massage, a scalp and foot massage, and best of all, he had this green seaweed goo spread all over his body before being wrapped in aluminum foil!

 

Here are some more pictures from our cruise:

                             

Jack

I know it's been a while since we've put a post up. Things have been very busy for us.  In early october we went on a cruise in the caribbean, which was magical.  We set sail from Tampa and went to Grand Cayman and Cozumel.  The cruise was 5 days.  It was just awesome to sleep in everyday, eat whenever we wanted to and had fun at our leisure.  I discovered that cruises are neat "choose your own adventure" vacations.  I'm sure they'll be more to come.

Sarah is doing well.  She's right around 21 weeks now.  She continues to grow bigger and continues to be healthy.  We had an ultrasound at 19 weeks which showed that we'll be having a baby girl!  It's very ironic that it is a girl because we've affectionately nicknamed her "Harvey", which will be her name until she's born, then she'll have a proper girl name!  Sarah is up visiting her parents for approximately 3 weeks.  She's been gone two, and will be back this next saturday.  I guess it's a good thing, but I'm pretty miserable without her.  She's the best friend and wife anyone could ask for, and my love and fondness grows for her each day she's away!  Not to mention her sweet home cooking and awesome wife skills that she has to offer.

Now to the sad story.  For those of you who knew Jack, he was the sweetest, most loving dog anyone could ask for.  He was a black lab mixed with what we think was a great dane that Sarah and I got as a pup very shortly after our marriage.  Seeing that we got him then, he's been with us the whole time we were together in Memphis and then when we moved here to Columbus, and truly was one of our best friends and certainly like our child (those of you who have got a dog as a puppy and raised them will know what I mean).  About a week or so ago he got some cellulitis/abcess on his leg that required some antibiotics.  That seemed to be healing up well, when about 3 days ago he started getting real lethargic and didn't seem to have much energy.  Yesterday when I got home from work he stopped eating all together and was laying about the house with no real energy. As soon as I could this morning I took him back to the vet to have him checked out.  He seemed so tired and just ill.  The vet got some blood work on him and the numbers were horrible.  He had a 106 degree fever, his white count was out of the roof, and his red cell count, his hematocrit was 15 (normal is supposed to be >35 for a dog).  His liver enzymes were also very high.  While the vet was telling me about his lab results he got called to the back for something. About 5 minutes later he came in to tell me that Jack had had a seizure in the back and had passed away.  It was news that I honestly didn't know how to take.  I knew that he was sick, but for it to happen all so fast was just heartbreaking. He was only 2 and a half, a mere pup still.  

We aren't entirely sure what was wrong with him, but I'm very certain that he must have had a parasitic infection that involved his red blood cells.  There are a few tick/flea borne diseases that affect dogs that can present like this.  For his hematocrit to be that low outside of a possible leukemia it doesn't make much sense to me other than a hemolytic infection.  Many doubts run through my mind if I did the right thing, did I take him in on time, could I have done something more?  But honestly, I feel that I couldn't have done a whole lot, he turned very quickly, and I doubt with such vague symptoms until the last 2-3 days any vet would have figured it out before it was too late.  

So I guess this post is in memory of Jack.  He was such a kind and loving dog that did nothing for Sarah and I except give us joy each and every day.  He was always there to love us and comfort us when we have felt so alone moving from place to place, always a constant and imposing guard for Sarah when I was away so many nights at the hospital.  He was a true joy to our lives and still the tears come, and I'm sure will continue to come for days and days.  He was so much more to us than just a pet, he was part of our small family that we invested time and love into.   I'm sure as time goes by it will be easier to handle, but for now I'll remember him for the good times and for the happiness that he gave us.  Above are some pictures of our big, little, guy.  We'll miss him terribly.  

the wee one

So, I'm sure that many of you know, but also many don't!  Sarah is with child.  Here's a snap-shot of the little "it".  (Sarah refuses to call it an "it" and insists on "he/she").  We were unsure if there would be only one "it" there today or possibly that there might be a second, as Sarah's mom is a twin.  As you can see there is only the one wee one.  

It's a very exciting time for us to know that we'll be starting a family soon!  Sarah is working hard taking care of herself, getting the needed rest and trying not to puke up her guts.  She's doing a pretty good job at it though.  She's in the process of applying to the local school district as a substitute.  She'd do that for a while until she gets to the point that she doesn't want to.  

I, on the other hand, am in the midst of intern year.  This month I'm doing OB.  I've delivered around 10 babies thus far.  It's definitely been a learning experience.  Yesterday was my first OB call  (24 hours on the labor deck accepting whatever may come my way).  A lot of the time it's women who think they're in labor, but their cervix tells  a different story.  Other times it is truly women in labor or women with "interesting things" coming out of personal places.  All in all it's a great experience, I just get sick of being at the hospital sometimes.  God is so good to see me through in the place He has called me to.  

Sarah and I are really looking forward to October.  We're taking advantage of not having any kids quite yet and are going on a cruise.  Our motives are for regeneration as well as a spy mission to scout out a cruise as a fun place for us to meet up with our friends sometime in the future.  We'll leave out of Tampa and go to Grand Cayman then onto Cozumel, Mexico.  We know it's still in the hurricane season, so we're really hoping that we miss those crazy storms.  

We would love to hear how many of you are doing, feel free to call us anytime or to drop us an email.  We'll try and keep up on the blog so ya'll will know what's going on with us!  Take care.

Josh and Sarah

Internship

Hey guys,

Well, we've settled down in columbus and now we're getting ready for me to start internship.  I spent the past two weeks getting in-processed into the army (quite the event- mostly spent standing in lines for hours and then people telling us we were in the wrong place).  Then this past week I did actual medicine stuff, like how to run a code and neonatal resuscitation and all that jazz.  All that was in preparation for monday, dun dun dun, which is when i start internship.  Monday night is the big day, starting on night float.  For those non-medical people out there night float was created for medicine programs as a way of getting out of being on call every 3rd or 4th night.  Basically someone works nights for a month at a time.  It's actually not that bad of a schedule, i have saturday and sunday nights off and work from 6 pm to 7 am monday through friday nights.  

Sarah has settled into doing projects around the house, this past week she painted all the cabinets and put new hardware on them and as i type she's painting the kitchen.  She's keeping her eye out for a good job, but is trying to hold out for the right one that she will enjoy (in the meantime there are plenty of projects around here to do).  

It is an interesting time in our lives as i am starting my residency, but also we are being introduced to the military.  One good thing is that there are 5 other people here who are going through the same experience with us.  Today we had a general come and visit us and give a talk over lunch-time.  He spoke of the radical extremism that is bent on disrupting our lives here in america as well as many other democracies abroad and of the certainty that things like 9/11 will happen again.  It put into perspective and articulated for me some of the reasons why I have decided to join the military and serve our country.  It's so people like you and I can go about our lives and our children can pursue whatever dreams they may have.  To support the proud men and women who are serving by providing quality healthcare for them and their families is of utmost concern to me.  I have begun to realize the importance of me becoming a part of the solution and participating rather than being a bystander.  I would encourage each of you to think about the freedoms and advantages we as americans have over much of the world in terms of seeking our pursuit of happiness, of our liberties and inalienable rights.  Take time to consider how you can participate rather than being a bystander.

We appreciate your prayers and support during this time, and i'm sure that as the year progress sarah would love any phone calls for encouragement and invitations to come visit as i'll be working like a dog and won't be home much!  We love and miss you all very much and hope that God is guiding you in your present circumstances.