Back from the Doctors

Thank you all so much for praying for Eliseo. He looked and felt so bad on Monday, but then by yesterday afternoon, he was up playing after his nap. While his ear still hurts, the drainage seems better and his rash is drying up as well. He's not completely better, but much more chipper than he was Monday.
A few of the other children ended up getting sick as well this week. We have thanked the Lord many times for thus far, giving us such a good winter health wise. Seeing as how we came north during the cold/flu season, we haven't had much more than a sniffle all winter. Even now, the ones who are sick (runny/stuffy noses, low grade fevers, headaches) aren't completely "down for the count." They are still eating and drinking and while they've been excused from their chores, have been up to working on their school work from bed or even venturing out to read/play games in the living room. Overall, everyone seems to be on the mend today.
I saw the doctor again this morning. It seems amazing that I am able to type "I'm 30 1/2 weeks along today"! I wasn't given a whole lot of hope of making it this far along at the beginning. And we just praise the Lord for keeping our little boy and me safe so far and yet, knowing how many are praying on our behalf, we are not surprised.
Since I am entering the "very risky" weeks ahead, I have been instructed to head immediately up to labor and deliver the next time I have a significant bleed. They have been coming more frequently, so time in the hospital is very likely in my near future.
The doctor will do everything he can to keep the baby inside me as long as possible. He told me today that, albeit not likely, they will allow me to go up to 39 weeks! Wouldn't that just be wonderful if our boy could stay inside until he's full term? :)
The doctor again went over with me the seriousness of the surgery...how complicated it will be on my end. He's worried I'm not more worried and afraid I don't understand the seriousness of the situation. It's not to say that I've never had moments of fear or been anxious. But I know who holds my baby and I in His hands. I do marvel at the peace He gives as I continually give each doubt and worry to Him. And even if I knew that these would be my last days here on this earth, I would not live them any differently. I would still wake up each morning thanking and praising the Lord for a new day, kiss my husband good morning and bring him something hot to drink, wake up my precious children, chatter with them as we do chores and make/eat breakfast, homeschool them, care for their every need, love them, train them, play with them, and be together with Daniel every free moment we can.
Dr. Van Kirk told me he isn't trying to sca re me but is very concerned and wants to make sure I understand. I told him that I appreciate that and again let him know how many people have been praying for him and the upcoming deliver/surgery as well.
We ended the appt. by me getting another RhoGam shot (I'm Rh neg. and Daniel's positive) and then they scheduled me for another appt. and non stress test in 2 weeks.
Well, I need to wake up the ones who are still napping so they'll go to bed on time tonight. Oh, I want to end with a funny story. Each Tuesday, if they are able, Daniel takes Timothy and Elijah to an early morning Men's Prayer Breakfast at his Uncle's church. Monday night, I told Daniel that Timothy was getting sick and I didn't think he'd be up to going in the morning. So Daniel asked Isaiah (age 6) if he would like to go by himself with Daddy in the morning. He was VERY excited, laid out his clothes, had the older boys help him set the alarm for 5:30 am, and went to sleep right on time (actually a bit earlier than normal as I tried to get all the children in bed early that night as several were under the weather). Daniel and I stayed up talking and working together enjoying the quiet evening. We finally went to bed around 11 pm. I was awoken 4 or 5 times after that by little ones needing a drink or a tissue or some mommy comfort, but was surprised at 3:30 am to see a group of boys walk into our room. Isaiah was up, dressed (as were 2 of his younger brothers hoping to get to go too) and ready to go.
Apparently, when they set the alarm, they messed up the time on the clock, so they thought it was about 5:45 am when it was really 3:30 am. I told them to go back to bed, but to no avail...they just "couldn't" sleep. I finally got up around 5 am and settled the younger 2 brothers back to bed. Isaiah and Daddy left a little while later together for their meeting and by then the other children were waking up and needing me.
All day, I felt like it should have been MUCH later than it really was and couldn't wait until bedtime! Isaiah, bless his heart, was so tired by supper that he couldn't eat and went right to bed. :) But he had very special time with Daddy and made a memory for us all.


Timothy had requested a "throw up bowl" as his headache was making him sick to his stomach. I came in to check on him a short time later and I found him working on his math with his "new hat". :)

Nehemiah "studying" while I prepared lunch yesterday :) Notice the many stickers he used to decorate his head




Boys feeling better and playing "Uno".

Prayer for little Eliseo

One of the biggest blessings of being back in the states has been the time we've been able to spend with our family and friends whom we haven't seen much at all in the past 5 years.
Friday, we went over to my one and only brother's house. He and his wife have a little girl and our children enjoyed spending the afternoon playing with their cousin. My sister in law made us a delicious lasagna supper and we enjoyed watching some recorded episodes of the Duggar Family.
Here is a picture of little Eliseo Friday afternoon, as happy as can be.
\
Then late Friday evening, my sister and her husband drove up from the Bay Area to visit. The children were already alseep when they arrived, so we enjoyed visiting with them late into the night, and then the next morning, we all visited together with the children and enjoyed a pizza lunch together before they had to head back home.



Elias is from Mexico and speaks Spanish, so the boys enjoyed talking Spanish again and playing soccer in the street :) just like they do at home.


Rebekah told me she wanted to take Eliseo "sledding". You can tell the children are from the desert...they enjoy imagining snow :)


Yesterday, we went to church in the morning and right before we left, I notice Eliseo had a little rash by his left ear. He seems to get a rash by his ear every month or so, but it usually goes away in a day or two.
At church, I noticed that he had a bit of fluid leaking from his ear. He wasn't warm or fussy, but I figured he might have an infection. Sunday afternoon, he woke up very fussy with more drainage. We put a warm compress on his ear, gave him some children's ibuprophen and he fell asleep.
This morning he woke up all congested with lots of drainage and the rash was covering his hands, face and neck. I took him to the doctor who said he has a bad infection and perscribed him some antibiotics and ear drops.
Poor little guy looks and feels pretty miserable. At least the pain reliever seems to keep his fever/pain in check and he is mostly just sleeping all day. It's the first time he's ever really been sick and of course, it tears at my mommy heart to see my "baby" hurting. When you think of us, will you please pray Eliseo feels better soon? We appreciate it so much!
I go back to the doctor Wednesday morning and I will let you know what he says.
Have a wonderful week in the Lord!

He's still working on me!

I'm so glad the Lord's mercies are new every morning. I'm so thankful He's so ready to forgive, ever patient and such a gentle Father. While He's taught me so much, I have so much to learn.
The past couple weeks I found myself sulking, grumbling, and complaining...about what? About something that is really one of the greatest blessings and opportunities the Lord has given me. I was unhappy because I "never get out of the house!" Of course, I could only see how "terrible" this was and how Daniel is out and about every day. And sadly, I began to feel jealous of his work and unhappy with mine. I won't tell you all the lies Satan so readily brought to my mind that I was eager to swallow hook, line and sinker. And the more I "justified" my reasoning, the worse I actually felt.
I knew how wrong this was and was surprised to see how miserable I'd actually become (to myself and others!)as I'd let myself think such wrong thoughts for so long.
So opening the Bible to Phil. 4:8 again (I do this a lot!), I asked the Lord to forgive me, to renew a right spirit in me and renew my mind with His Word...His Truth!
It didn't take long for me to write a list of all the blessings I have by having the ability, resposibility, and privilege of being in the home each day so I can care for my husband, children, and home. My list got so long, I actually had to stop writing because my hand hurt! :) What a good pain to have! And while my hand was aching, my heart wasn't anymore! I was so happy and so very thankful.
How many problems simply start in our mind!

It's been a full week here sprinkled with lots of fun treats and surprises. We got some sweet cards in the mail and a care package for the children...including something for our new little boy of whom Daddy still wants to keep his name a secret! :)



Monday, Grandpa and Grandma treated us all to pizza for lunch. Eliseo ate and ate and ate...I think he really likes pizza! So he may look like his Daddy, but gets his tastes from his Mommy! :) That's my Daddee there holding our little guy...I somehow managed to only get part of his head in the picture :(

Yesterday, Timothy and Elijah woke up early to go to a Men's Prayer Breakfast with their Daddy and from there went over to help clean the church building before they came back home to start school. They were a bit tired by evening but had a good day.
Isaiah was up early too and so wanted to go along with Daddy and his big brothers; Daddy said next week maybe he and Benjamin can have a turn to go. So he was my big helper that morning! He got out all the breakfast dishes and milk, did his chores, and then played with Eliseo so I could get myself ready for the day.
It is amazing to me how different each child is! The Lord has made each one so unique and special. They are all ours, brought up in the same home, in much the same way, yet they each have their own amazing personality.
Isaiah is our very quiet, sweet boy. Quietness is not something that is natural in our family...something that we are continually working on. But out of 11, we have 3 that are naturally much softer spoken.
Isaiah is Mr. Slow and Steady. He is very rarely the first one done with anything, but whatever he does, he does well. He is very thoughtful, kind and diligent. He never wants to be the leader and is such a servant. He is our 6th child (therefore right in the middle) and never demands attention. Daniel and I try to be extra thoughtful in spending time and doing special things with this little big boy the Lord's given us.



And finally, here's a little something fun and goes along with the title of this post. :) I was trying to figure out how to take and post video with our camera. I took a clip of the children singing last night while we waited for Daddy to come home for devotions. I hope it doesn't make you too motion sick...Nehemiah was climbing on me part of the time and with my tummy resembling a watermelon right now, I have a hard time keeping balanced! :)

Counting blessings

Did you all have a good weekend? I was just thanking the Lord for the many blessings of the past couple of days when I thought I should take a couple minutes and just jot them down here...it is always wonderful to remember how very good the Lord is.
Saturday afternoon, Timothy and Elijah came running into the house after returning home from soul winning with their Daddy, Grandpa, and Uncle. "Mommy, the Lord answered our prayers and somebody asked Jesus to be their Savior today!" Then they sat on our bed telling me all about this lady who had given her life to Christ.
Saturday evening, after we'd tucked the little ones in bed, Daniel's sister came over so Daniel could take me out for supper. We enjoyed a delicious meal together that even came with a complementary dessert and an even sweeter time of fellowship together.
Then this morning, we were so blessed to watch our pastor baptize 6 people who wanted to publically profess their faith in Jesus Christ and follow Him in baptism. And right now, Daniel and the older children are at a gospel outreach where Daniel is preaching to a group of unsaved teenagers.
It is so wonderful to be able to serve the Lord no matter where you are!
Oh, and here are some pictures of Rebekah making her banana cream pie yesterday~ Daddy's words- Absolutely delicious!

I got new batteries! :)

While we await the arrival of _______ ______ (we have a name! :)...but I haven't asked Daniel if we can share it yet), between all the doctor appointments and prayers, we are all still just as busy and goofy as ever. The days are full of much of the same as in Mexico...homeschooling, chores, playing, praying, singing, training ect...
Daniel came home the other day with a package of batteries! I've missed taking pictures lately. It seems the children are growing up more quickly here than in Mexico (Timothy tells me it's because we eat pickles here ???) and I love taking picures to capture precious memories.

Yesterday was a cold, rainy day. Daddy had lots of work to do and after school and chores were done for the day, I heard lots of "I don't know what to do Mommy". So I gave them the idea of making up a play, acting it out, and then I'd let them record it on the camera too.
It worked great and kept them busy for the next couple of hours. I even got a nap with Eliseo and Nehemiah :) Their favorite part was using water paints to paint mustaches on themselves as they were going to be "men" and needed to look the part :)






The other evening, we had Daniel's brother and wife and their 6 children over for supper. Seventeen children under the age of 12 all together in the same room...lots of fun! My favorite part of the evening was when we gathered for evening devotions and just listening to them all sing together.


Eliseo is getting so big! He's still my little baby, but it's so fun watching all the "big boy" things he's doing. He loves being with Nehemiah who in turn loves being with his little brother.


Today Daniel, Timothy and Elijah picked up Grandpa to all go out soul winning. The girls, Benjamin, and Mommy cleaned the house and washed all the clothes. Rebekah is making a yummy bananna cream pie right now, and the little ones are having a picnic in the dining room with some home made peanut butter cookies the neighbor just gave us.
Have a wonderful weekend in Jesus!

Some good news!

Sorry for the delay in updating. In Mexico, I use the computer in the evening after the children are all in bed. This works well as Daniel is often not home until 10 pm or later so I use that block of time while I'm waiting for him to update the blog and do other paperwork. But here in the states, Daniel is often gone during the day, but home in the evenings. I don't use the computer during the day as I'm with the children, and now in the evening...well, computer time or Daniel time....that's easy...hubby wins every time :)
But as they say, no news is good news. We are just grateful for yet another week with our little baby safe inside me (28 1/2 weeks now!) and while we had a few rough days, we are doing well now and still at home. If we were to have a medical emergency and were unable to update the blog, we would do our best to have someone update for us as soon as possible. We just thank you for your continued prayers.
And, we are excited to share a bit of good news. The doctor called back today with the results of the MRI and while my condition is still very serious, it appears as if the placenta has NOT exited the uterus or attached to another organ. The doctor gave the diagnosis as a placenta increta. So while we do understand how very serious this diagnosis is, we just thanked the Lord for the "good news" as it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And if the placenta is all contanined inside of the uterus still, then I can have the baby here rather than having to go down to Davis.
We are so thankful for this answer to prayer and even though there is still a very high possibility that they will have to remove the uterus during the delivery, it looks as if my other organs will be fine. We just continue to rest in the hands of our Heavenly Father and just want our lives and the life of our little son to bring Him glory.

MRI

Isn't he just the sweetest little thing you've ever seen? This little guy is so very loved and prayed for by so many. Through all the complications this pregnancy has had, I always remember that my loving Heavenly Father is never taken by surprise. He is holding our baby and I in His tender hands. His eye is upon our son day and night...and He see's Him even more clearly than an MRI scan does! :)
I almost didn't get my test done today! I spent the morning as usual (overseeing the chores and homeschooling). Benjamin helped me make a big pot of spaghetti and some green beans for lunch and I had to leave just in time to miss eating it.
I got to the hospital around 12:30 pm to check in and was in radiology by 1 pm. After waiting for about a half and hour, the technician called me back to tell me there was a problem. She said that in her 20 years of doing MRI scans, she had never had an order like mine...to scan a placenta. She was uncertain how to even take the shots. She had asked the head radiologists in that department and he told her that he had never had to read a scan to determine placenta accreta/increta/percreta either and they just thought it was above their area of expertise.
She recommended that I get this done in Davis (at the hospital where I had my level 2 u/s).
She was very kind and sorry for the time I spent waiting which I didn't mind a bit (it was nice for mommy to have a bit of quiet time to herself after watching all the children by myself all week; and the children were having so much fun back at home with Daddy).
I called my doctor on the way out to my car to let them know that I had go in for the MRI but was told they were unable to do it. My doctor told me to just wait at the hospital and he would call me back.
About 10 minutes later, the doctor's office called and told me to go back to radiology. So I did and the lady explained that the doctor called and told her what shots to take and that (unknown to her), they have an evening radiologist team that are specialized that will be and are capable of reading the scans.
I had to drink a few cups of water and wait a bit (as they needed a full bladder and I had stopped by the rest room on my way out of the hospital as I thought was wasn't able to get the test.) . Finally we made our way to the MRI machine.
The test took around 45 minutes. For those of you who are not familiar with the test, you simply lay down on this table which slides into a tube. You have to lie perfectly still and they give you some ear plugs as the test is quite loud (sounds like lots of banging, shooting, and clicking). The worst part for me was laying on my back for that long.
Once the test started, little guy began to kick up a storm...the first few shots she got were all blurry and she looked in at me through the window thinking maybe I was scared or moving around. She was perplexed for a few moments as I was laying perfectly still before she realized it was the baby doing all the moving! :)
After about 15 minutes, I fell asleep...she finished the test, woke me up, and laughed saying, "You have to be a pregnant mom of 11 children to be tired enough to fall asleep during an MRI."
:)
She was so sweet and showed me all the shots and even gave me a cd of them all. The shot posted here is as if my tummy were a glass window and you were looking straight at me and I was facing you. Baby's tush and back are right on top of the placenta (that grey and black spotted thing at the bottom below the baby). His legs are to the left of me and his head to the right.
The tech was unable to give me much information as to what the scan showed as she has had no experience with this. She said the doctors would come in later to read it and then I can call my doctor later this week or next for the results.
I had to stop by a couple stores on my way home and as I was in the baby section picking up some diapers for Eliseo, it suddenly occured to me that this baby will be here before I know it. Of course, we hope a bit later than sooner, but all the same, he'll be coming soon...and I don't have even one baby thing here with me for him. So I bought a pack of onesies and a couple of sleepers and a couple receiving blankets. Now I feel a bit more prepared! :)
Daniel took the oldest 6 boys to watch a basketball game at my parent's church. And the girls and I need to clean up the house (the house LOOKS like everyone had LOTS of fun with Daddy today!).
Thank you for praying...please keep praying! I know the Lord is hearing you and you are all such a blessing to our family.

Praise and Prayer

UPDATE: The doctor called and said that because things seemed to be stable for the time being that I can stay at home today with my feet up and go to the hospital as planned tomorrow for my MRI. :)


With Daniel being out of town for the past week, I've been busy just "holding down the fort" here at home, and haven't had much time on the computer.
Praise the Lord, Daddy made it safely home late last night. The Lord blessed his time down there back at "home" and we are all very happy to have him here again.
Praise the Lord that until yesterday, I had a very uneventful week without any problems and the children and I enjoyed having a
young lady from our church stay with us to help out; since I had an extra set of hands/eyes, I was able to take the children to the park most everyday after school/chores which made the time Daddy was away pass more quickly.
Yesterday, I began having a significant increase in bleeding. It seems to be doing better and so we decided to wait on having to make a trip to the ER and call my doctor as soon as his office opens this morning to see what he says. He may want to admit me into the hospital here, so please pray for wisdom for all the decisions needing to be made for both the care of baby and I and the care of the children back at home.
I have an MRI at the hospital here scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. This should give them a much clearer picture of exactly how far the placenta has grown into the uterus and if it has grown out of the uterus. Since my level 2 ultrasound last week indicated this probability, this is the next step in determining the situation and so we can make the best plan possible for delivery.

Well, I need to get breakfast made and pack some bags for the children just in case we need to head to the hospital, but I'll end with a few pictures for the past week.
So what do we do when Daddy is away???


Eat cereal for supper :)

Eat cereal for supper in our pajamas while watching a Moody Science Video :)

Look what little Mr. Nehemiah has been up to...He's been very excited about the entire process...I didn't tell him to smile for the picture...this is just how he sits there the entire time while doing his business :)

In the morning, Josiah's chore is to put the chairs back at the table after we vacuum. While waiting to do that, he said he was bored and wanted another chore to do. I said, "Well, what would you like to do?" He told me, "Laundry". I said, "I think you're a bit little still to do that" He responded by running to get a stool and then in he went :)

I'm in my 27th week this week! The Lord is good! Thank you for praying and I'll update as soon as I can.