Great News!

Here is the newest addition to our family! It may not look like much but its a new little baby that Jarod and I will be adding to our family. This was taken at 8 weeks so its super small and they were measuring the length so you they are looking down on it but you can kind of see some little limbs if you look close. I am now 12 weeks along (and still sick so don't ask-hopefully we won't have a repeat of last time, my children just love me so much they can't leave me alone for one minute of peace-oh well). Our due date is January 15, 2010. We are going to the same clinic we went to before and love them. They are so nice and accomodating and try to make me feel better as much as I need. I will also be going to see a perinatologist (a doctor who specializes in babies in the womb). I will go to them for my 20 week ultrasound since they have a higher quality machine and are more apt at looking at babies in the womb. We may see them on and off after that in addition to our regular doctors appointments. I will have more frequent doctors visits as well, right now I am going every 3 weeks (mostly for my sanity) and we will increase the frequency as I get farther along. Once I am 32 weeks I will also start doing Non-Stress Tests (NST). This is where they hook me up to a fetal monitor and record the babies heart rate for a half hour or so at a time. It helps them see what is going on with the baby and make sure they are staying healthy. They will also check the fluid levels frequently with an ultrasound as I get farther along. Its reassuring to have so many things that we can monitor and make sure are ok, but its a little stressful too. We will probably induce me so that I can be monitored the whole time I am in labor. We haven't set a date or anything for that but will see how things progress and how I am doing as time goes on before we set anything in stone. I am trying to keep my anxiety in check and its been difficult sometimes. Since I can't feel the baby move yet I start to freak myself out and worry that something is wrong. One great thing is I received a fetal heart monitor in the mail yesterday. There is a great foundation called Tiny Heartbeats (their website is http://www.tinyheartbeats.org/) and they give heart monitors to mothers who have lost babies free of charge. These are doctor grade monitors, which usually cost several hundred dollars, but they let me borrow it during my pregnancy and I just send it back after I have the baby. They take donations-if you need a good charity to give some $$$ to- and also doctors offices can donate monitors so ladies, please pass this on to your doctors. Jarod and I were able to find the heartbeat last night and it was so reassuring (now I don't have to call my doctor's office everyday freaking out). We will make sure we keep everyone posted on our happenings. They are going to let us find out the sex of the baby early (because they love us so much at our clinic and they have an ultrasound tech in their clinic) so in a few more weeks we will know. I have an appointment next Wednesday and than the next one will be 3 weeks after that and that is the appointment we should be able to find out so only about 4 more weeks!

4 Years and Counting!!!

Jarod, I love you more everyday. Even though life is tough and unpredictable, having you as my best friend to share it with has meant everything to me. I love being with you and talking with you more than anyone else! I am so happy we are a family together forever!

Jamaica & Grand Cayman Cruise - Celebrity Century

Tanya and I decided that we needed to get away for a while. Our sanity was wearing thin and the feeling of being in the same old place doing the same old stuff was getting to be too much. Being the master planner that Tanya is she had already been looking at cruises and had found a five night carribean cruise at a great price. The more we talked about it the better it sounded. Neither of us had ever been on a cruise, we considered it an adventure. We decided we would set sail on Valentine's Day. We purchased the cruise tickets without travel insurance and then booked our flights, we were committed.
I won't get into travel details other than to say we took the red eye from SLC to Miami and set sail the next morning. As with many things, Tanya had to convince me of something I already wanted, but didn't know I wanted.

There were a couple of other ships leaving at the same time and we got to see them off. We also say a lot of amazing sites as we were leaving Miami-one being of course the famous Miami Beach.

Our ship was smaller than most of the others we saw, which was great! Less people and more room to breath. Our little state room was tiny and without a window. I thought we might feel clausterphobic but it was great. If you sat on the toilet you could wash your hands in the sink at the same time.

The food was magnificent. I have never eaten so well in all my life. During the day we would stop by the buffets and graze on our favorite foods. Or we might drop by one of the cafes or the pool side grill for a burger and fries. We had the late dinning which was convenient because we usually weren't hungry until later anyway. Our head waiter Martins was from India and our support waiter was from Honduras, his name was Santos and they treated us like royalty. Every night was a five course meal. Sometimes they would bring us multiple entrees if we couldn't decide which one we wanted more.

We had the time of our lives! We loved being able to relax and forget about things for a few days. We also went to Stingray City in Grand Cayman and we will post pictures when we get our underwater camera developed.

Hope Maxine Rollins

On October 19, 2008 Hope Maxine Rollins was born into our family. I was 40 weeks and 5 days into my pregnancy and about Midnight on Saturday night I went into labor and everything was progressing well. At 10 am we went to the hospital and once we were checked in and in our room the nurses brought out the fetal monitor. From the moment they put it on my belly they couldn't find a heartbeat. The ultrasound machine was brought in and the dr. found that her heart was no longer beating. At 10 pm that evening I gave birth to Hope Maxine. There were no signs of trauma, infection, or anything. About 50% of the time there is no reason found for why a baby is stillborn. She was 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and 20.5 inches long. She has long legs and big feet just like her daddy and she has the Yeates chin. We feel blessed to have Hope be part of our eternal family. We know that the Lord must have great plans for her and us. We are so blessed to have the support of our families-we couldn't ask for more from everyone. Thank you to all who have helped us these past weeks and for all of your love. We know Hope will be well taken care of with all of our loved ones who have passed on, but we still miss her and want her back, but we need to be patient for now.

No Baby Yet

Nothing much happening with the baby lately. I had my weekly appointment on Tuesday and I was about the same as the week before (50% effaced). The baby's head was a little bit lower than last week so we are making some progress-even if small. My doctor's office is pretty conservative on interventions so I won't be electively induced until Oct. 27th if she doesn't come before than-I am sure, however, she will make her debut before than. Jarod and I have been working on her bedroom trying to get as much done as we can so its nice to have a little extra time-if she likes where she is at we are ok with it for now!

Little Kitty

I found this cute little kitty costume at Walmart the other night and had to buy it for our little one. She is going to be the cutest thing in this! Jarod and I have finally finished our bedroom (I will take some pictures of the finished product and add them on here). We moved everything into our room and have proceeded to take apart the next room. We painted the closet and its all done so we moved all kinds of things into it, thankfully! Our piles of things in the living are shrinking! We are going to be painting the walls in the baby's room next than work on all the moldings. Jarod has been so swamped trying to finish up his calculus class that ends in about a week so not much is going to be happening until that is done. We did move the cradle into our room so whenever our bundle of joy decides to arrive she has a place to sleep for now! I have been going to the Dr.'s weekly now but not much to report there-they keep telling me first time moms on average are 6 days late. So we will see when she arrives-its a guessing game! Its nice that the weather has been cooler-I love fall. HAPPY FALL!

Our baby bedding-Ladybugs!

I have had a lot of people ask what colors the nursery is going to be so I decided to post a picture of it on our blog. It is a sage green mostly with accents of black and white gingham and of course cute little ladybugs. I wanted something not too over the top girlie but just simple and sweet. Of course as I mentioned in the last post our furniture is white. We are painting the walls kind of a creamy pale yellow (if we ever get done with our bedroom to move on to working in the baby's room). The changing table has two open shelves with baskets on it. The liners of the baskets are red and white gingham and the changing pad covers I registered for are red and white gingham too. Hopefully everything will all coordinate and look great together! I will post pictures when everything is set up (hopefully that won't be too long from now).