An update on our favorite fetus...or fish

Shelby made her first visit to the doctor today. She's 8 weeks and 5 days ( <--- those are sweet little fetus feet @ 8 weeks). The baby will officially become a fetus on Wednesday when he/she reaches 9 weeks. Shelby's due date is September 26 (I'd like everyone to know that my calculations were only 1 day off - I estimated the 25th :-). Jared & the kids accompanied Shelby today, so they all got to see the first ultrasound and hear the heart beat, which was 171 beats per minute! The baby is approximately one inch long. After seeing the ultrasound, Avery is now calling him/her a fish. Avery was at my apartment last weekend and was really fascinated by Carthel, so I'm sure she's happy to be getting a baby fish at her house.

Shelby has been sicker with this pregnancy than with the others, but the doctor gave her a prescription for some good anti-nausea meds today. Hopefully those will kick in and Shelby will soon be able to eat something besides peanut butter and crackers!

Pray for Ethan!

I'm asking for prayers for a baby I don't know, and you probably don't know him either. Those of you who are Harding people know that Harding connections are a little ridiculous...everyone is connected to everyone somehow. Ethan's parents went to Harding. Mom found out about Ethan through the blog of another Harding mama & baby, and she heard about Ethan through an e-mail from a friend of hers! Ethan and his parents live in Louisiana. On Tuesday, Ethan's parents took him to his regular 2-month check-up. The pediatrictian found that his liver was enlarged, discovered his white count was way too high, and Ethan and his parents were sent to the hospital with a diagnosis of leukemia. Yesterday, Ethan's counts had come down enough that he could be flown to St. Jude. He's currently in ICU at St. Jude and has been diagnosed with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia). ALL is typically very treatable (Elisa, the 5-year-old I used to baby-sit, was given a 90% chance of survival when she was diagnosed 1.5 years ago). However, Ethan's high counts and very young age complicate things. He has been given a 15% chance of survival. But, as Ethan's father said in his post tonight, "God doesn't do percentages!" We can all be thankful for that! Please pray for Ethan's healing and pray for his parents, Ben and Becky.

To learn more about Ethan and get updates, visit www.ethanpowell.com. If you're in Memphis and want to help, call Mom. She hasn't been able to go to St. Jude yet, but she has been in contact with the Powell family and could give you more info.

So next Christmas...

there will be one more little person in this lovely family portrait.


Baby #3 is on the way for Jared and Shelby!!! Hunter is excited and wants a baby brother, and Avery is pretty convinced that she has a baby in her tummy, too. I spoke with her on the phone tonight and taught her to say "Mommy has a fetus." This is going to be fun...

He or she should arrive around the end of September!

Lots of happy news!

First...Paw Paw saw Dr. Owen today. He didn't do the surgery, but he's the surgeon that Dr. Gooch was covering for. He released Paw Paw from his care and gave him the go ahead to drive. He also took him off Coumadin. He said his cardiologist might not be too happy about that (he was supposed to be on Coumadin for 2-3 months). Paw Paw will see his cardiologist on Friday. Paw Paw's been feeling pretty good; he's just been very, very tired. Dr. Owen said that should get better within the next 6 weeks. I know Paw Paw's glad to be able to drive again!

Second...Mom saw Dr. Tauer today. No PET or CT scans, though - just bloodwork and a herceptin treatment. But things are still good, and Dr. Tauer still plans to keep her on herceptin as long as it's working. Mom is the farthest out of any of his patients.

Third...it's SNOWING!!! And clinical is cancelled tomorrow! I'm a little sad about that because I was supposed to be in the NICU...my favorite spot! But I certainly won't miss the waking up early or the drive to Little Rock.

Fourth...this last piece of good news deserves it's own post...or should I say...his or her own post...