Two Beautiful Lives Have Gone to Heaven

It has been such a long time since I have posted an entry on my little slice of Internet heaven. I was getting soooo excited, because we were a few short weeks away from making a big announcement, and I was going to be on here a lot more through the next 9 months. But then things started to come crashing down.

Rewind to a few weeks ago: Foster, Ava and I were in Cinci for a class Foster had to take for the Army. We visited Santa:

And did A LOT of Christmas shopping. However, on our way home, we received a phone call we were not looking forward to. Foster's 98 yr old grandmother had passed away.

We had expected it for some time, but I don't think it is EVER easy.

Surprisingly, a day later, we found out we were expecting Foster baby #3. We were ecstatic, and took it as a sign from his Grand mother (who LOVED children), that this baby was meant to be.

We planned fun ways of telling our family members on Christmas, and we were thrilled to start rearranging our home to accommodate another bundle of joy. 

It took EVERYTHING in us not to spill the beans the 2 days of Foster's Grandmother's funeral. And I even let it slip on accident in conversation with his sisters. However, they promised to keep it a secret until we could surprise his mother.

We celebrated my family's Christmas on the 21st, where we packaged up a pregnancy test and my mom opened it. She was sooooo happy to be having another grandchild. But we were all bummed, because Ava didn't seem to be feeling well, and wasn't excited about Christmas AT ALL.

The next night is when things in our life started to flip. Ava had been showing signs of being sick for a few days. Sunday the 22nd her temp spiked to 103.8 and couldn't be controlled w/ Motrin or Tylenol. So we brought her into the ER. 10 hrs later we were sent home with antibiotics and albuterol treatments. 

Tuesday, Christmas Eve, we attended mass with my mom, dad and aunt. When we got home to have an AMAZING dinner Foster prepared, I went to the bathroom and I had started bleeding. With it being Christmas Eve, and the bleeding not being AWFUL, I decided to wait to call the doctor until the bleeding either got worse, or they opened on the 26th. 

Christmas morning should have been magical for Ava! Instead she was MISERABLE. One of the signs the nurse mentioned to look for was dry diapers from dehydration. Sure enough, Ava had gone almost 24 hrs w/o a wet diaper by 5pm. It was time to bring her back into the ER. This time they admitted her. Their diagnosis was RSV and Pneumonia (most likely bacterial).

The 26th I decided to call my OB. They were still closed for the Holidays, so it was time for ME to go to the ER, since the bleeding had increased significantly!

My Quant (HCG levels) were drawn, and were only 689 at 7 weeks. The U/S showed I was only measuring 5 weeks w/ a gestational sac visible, but no baby. 

I just had my follow up blood draw yesterday, and it looks like I am in fact miscarrying. The levels are only 696. they are supposed to double every 24-52 hrs. 

The good news, is Ava is doing great!!! She is home after 4 long days in the hospital, and starting to feel like her old self again! She makes me smile sooo much. The bad news, it doesn't look like she will be getting a sister or brother in the next 9 months. 

It has been an AWFUL Christmas, and I am just praying that this new year brings better things. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and be safe and enjoy this New Year!!!! 

HUGS!