In my last entry I was writing about how quickly things will start moving now and that was confirmed at our doctors appointment this afternoon. I'm at the point now where I had to schedule all of my remaining appointments today. There are only SIX appointments left before the baby is due! I still can't believe that we're going to have a baby girl soon.

Things are going to start moving quickly now, I think. We have a doctors appointment today and every two weeks for the next three appointments, then down to once a week until the baby is born. Jeremy and I start our six week childbirth education classes in about ten days. A few days after that is the rehearsal for our wedding. Two days after that we are getting married. Then we only have 7 weeks until the baby is due! I hope things really do move as quickly as I see them playing out in my head. I'm getting extremely anxious to meet my baby girl. 30 weeks of pregnancy will do that to a person. 10 weeks to go. Wow! In some ways that seems like such a short time, but at the same time it seems like a long road ahead. Oh, and for the record.. I'm beginning to get a tad bit nervous about the whole labor and delivery process.

Jeremy and I are getting married in two and a half weeks. I can't believe how close it is! My mother and I had an appointment with the florist this morning and picked out the flowers. Now everything is ready to go. The next step is our rehearsal on the 14th. I am so excited and nervous. Unfortunately, I won't be able to wear my engagement or wedding ring. My fingers are too swollen due to being pregnant.

I have gone to work every day this week. Can you tell? I haven't updated nearly as much. Do you know why? Because I'm freaking exhausted!! I don't know how I will manage going to work every day, each week until the baby gets here. It's simply too much to ask of a woman who is growing a baby. I am ready to go to sleep by 6pm, but I can't because then I would be wide awake in the middle of the night. *sigh* Can we just fast forward to November now? At least when the baby gets here I can nap when she naps. I'm fairly certain there is a no napping policy at work. *grin*

I just got a call from the specialist. They got the results of Jeremy's blood work and he is Kell negative. Which means that the baby is also Kell negative. Which means that the antibodies will have no effect on her and she is not at risk for anything! Such good news! We are SO happy! Our baby girl is perfect!!

I am going back to work tomorrow - and NOT looking forward to it. It's been nice taking so much time off over the past few months, but we need the money so we can save for the next couple of months before I'm off again for a while. I also can't quit my job until the baby gets here because I need the insurance until then.

We have a fairly busy day tomorrow. First we have an appointment with the specialist at ten-thirty. Hopefully everything is the same if not better. Later in the afternoon Evan has an appointment with his doctor at children's hospital (the ADHD doctor). We see him every month to discuss how things are going. I think we may need to increase the dosage on this new medication one more time before school starts. Finally, we have an appointment with Nick, the music director at our church, to discuss music for our wedding. We've already picked most of the songs so it shouldn't take long. We also need to pick up our marriage license, but that won't be ready until Friday.

Today is a Holy Day of Obligation, The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, therefore we (Jeremy, Jamie, Evan and myself) are going to seven o'clock mass this evening. I'm looking forward to it. It's a much better way to spend our time than sitting around watching the same old thing on HBO or melting our brains by playing video games. *grin*

Speaking of our church, we finally picked all of the readings and prayers for our wedding ceremony. Tom, the best man, is going to do the first reading (old testament) and Diana, my sister and maid of honor, is going to do the second reading (new testament). We are going to ask my mom to do the prayers of the faithful. We have an appointment with Nick, the music director, on Thursday evening to choose our music.

I don't know what it is about this desktop, but I totally dig it. Feel free to scroll down and snag it for yourself off my side bar.

Jeremy, Tom, Jamie and I went to see Clerks II this afternoon. It was quite entertaining, but I wouldn't say it was as amusing as the first. I'm happy we went to see it though.

Well, we spent 3 hours at the hospital this afternoon. I got a very indepth ultrasound to measure everything and make sure that the baby looked good. She currently weighs 2 lbs 10 ozs - about 6 ounces above average for her age. There is no fluid around her heart or brain - which is really great news. They also measured the amount of blood that is flowing through the middle cerebral artery to make sure that she is not anemic. She looks really good as of right now. The level of Kell antibodies is low at this time, but because the specialist said that it's unpredictable I will be getting a weekly MCA doppler (which is what they use to measure the blood flow in the middle cerebral artery). So, good news as of now. Let's hope that the level doesn't get any higher.

I love trees. I especially love winter trees. This desktop may not be around too long because it's quite chaotic, but I had to post it for the time being.

I've done so much research that I don't think the specialist could possibly tell me something I'm not already aware of. Here's the situation... the level of Anti-Kell that's in my blood will determine what treatment is going to be needed to rectify the situation. If it's a low amount I will be put into Zone I which will require amniocentesis every 3 to 4 weeks so the doctors can monitor the level and the baby. If it's a higher level then I will be put into Zone II. Now a low Zone II is not too bad and will require amnio every 2 weeks for monitoring and I should still be able to carry the baby to term. If it's mid or above Zone II it will require either blood transfusions (for the baby in utero) and possibly delivering the baby early. The objective is to keep the antibody from crossing the placenta and attacking the baby's red blood cells. Whatever the situation I'm glad that they caught it and can do something to keep the baby from developing fetal anemia. Fingers crossed that all will be ok.

Jeremy and I are trying to keep ourselves busy until our appointment on Thursday. We went to pick out the top for our wedding cake today (the bride and groom for the top) and then sat at Borders looking through bridal magazines for pictures of hair styles. We are going to the salon tomorrow for a "trial run." Debbie is going to spend an hour playing with my hair until we decide which way we like it. That way, when I go in the morning of our wedding day, no one will be stressed out trying to figure it out then. We are also going to call the organist at our church on Thursday to see if we can schedule an appointment to discuss music. At that time we will pick up a book from our priest (specifically for engaged couples) so we can choose the two readings and the gospel that we want read during the ceremony.

As my mother said this afternoon - it's amazing how life can change so quickly. One day you're so happy because everything is going along great and the next day life knocks you down.

I received a call from my doctors office today regarding the blood work that was done during my Glucose test last week. My sugar is fine, but they also do an antibody screening (which I wasn't even aware of) and it came back abnormal this time even though it didn't show up on the first blood test they did when I was 6 weeks pregnant. She told me I had to see a specialist at the hospital and they were trying to schedule an appointment for me. I didn't know what that meant!! Is the baby ok? Am I ok? What antibody was detected? I had a million questions that they couldn't (or wouldn't) answer. I know what antibodies are, but I didn't know what it meant to have a screening come back abnormal during pregnancy.

Well, after several calls back to my doctors office to get answers I finally asked which antibody was detected. It is Kell (or Anti-Kell) and it's extremely uncommon. The medical assistant told me I shouldn't go digging around online because it's complicated and I will probably just freak myself out. Uh, ok.. I'm already TOTALLY freaked out and of course I am going to research it! I have to wait until Thursday to see the specialist at Maternal Fetal Medicine so I need as much info as I can get at this point.

Well, from the hours of research that I've done I've learned that the only way for my test to come back Kell + (since I've never been before) is through a blood transfusion (which I've never had) OR it's the baby that is Kell + and she would have gotten that gene from Jeremy. From what I understand, there are treatments (injections, I believe - such as with an Rh situation) that could keep things under control during the remainder of my pregnancy. What really worries me is reading about the possibility of the baby ending up with fetal anemia which has the potential to be fatal.

Yeah, so... we are totally freaked out at this point and Thursday seems like a very long time from now. I don't know how I will function over the next couple of days. We have to take into consideration that the lab may have screwed up and the test was incorrect to begin with. That is what we are praying for, of course.

We met with Father Joe this afternoon and set the date for our wedding. We are getting married on Saturday, September 16th at twelve noon. That leaves us six weeks to plan. Actually - most of the plans have been taken care of. The place is booked for lunch after the ceremony. My dress has already been purchased and is currently hanging in the closet. The wedding invitations are paid for and waiting to be printed. They will be going in the mail early next week. The only thing that really needs to be done is a boys day out shopping - Jeremy and Tom need to buy what they will be wearing.

You can't even imagine how excited we are! All day as we did our running around we would look at each other and say, "we're getting married in six weeks!" with big smiles on our faces. We are one happy couple.

I can't wait to see this movie!

We got the annulment decrees in the mail today! Our priest wouldn't let us set a date until we actually got them because there may have been stipulations that would need to be removed. Luckily there weren't any and we have an appointment with our priest the day after tomorrow to fill out paper work and set the date!!!!

Also.. we had a doctors appointment today and everything looks great. The baby is doing just fine in there. I have another appointment at the end of the month and after that every two weeks until 36 weeks (so 3 biweekly appointments) then every week until she's here!!!