More Updates and a Prayer Request

I'll start with the prayer request.

My heart is so heavy for some dear friends of mine. If you have a moment, please say a prayer for my friend Jason and his family. I've known Jason since junior high school and he has been a great friend to me for many years. Even as I write this, he is attending the funeral of his precious little nephew whose life was taken in an accident this week. Please pray for Jason and pray for his sister, her husband, and their two other children. Thank you, friends. I know that Jason reads this blog, so feel free to let him know in the comments that you are lifting them up in prayer today.

Besides our heavy hearts for our friends, things are going okay for us here at our house. We did get the Doppler in the mail on Tuesday of this week and it has been a great comfort for us. We have listened to the baby's heartbeat twice already and it is truly helping us to relax during these waiting periods in between appointments. It is a huge blessing!

This afternoon I have an appointment with our family doctor for my annual thyroid checkup and blood work. I have been on medication for hypothyroidism for probably 7 or 8 years or so now. It's something I always watched and had checked because I have a long family history of thyroid disorders. In addition to lots of other family members who struggle with this, my mom had problems with a hyperactive thyroid after she had me. My sister was diagnosed with Grave's Disease after she had her second child. (Coincidentally, my sister-in-law also has Grave's Disease.) Needless to say, I was glad to have mine already monitored and under control by the time we started trying to have babies, and it's something I definitely stay on top of.

I'm planning to take the doctor's consent form for the elective ultrasound with me to the appointment today. I was told on the phone that it could be signed by a family doctor as well as our OB, so I hope to get it signed today while I'm there in person. I'm afraid if I fax it to the OB's office they might not get it back to me in time for the ultrasound appointment on April 23. Hopefully I can get that done and crossed off of my list!

Our family doctor has always had an interest in my fertility history. Every time I go in to see her about a cold or any other problem, the conversation always turns to what our next steps will be in trying to have a baby. I appreciate this about her, although I must admit that sometimes I just wanted her to give me my medicine and let me get out of there! She is the kind of doctor who likes to chit-chat, so I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about today.

I still haven't quite decided what to have engraved on the charm I want to get to remember our babies. You gave me plenty of wonderful suggestions to consider, it's just that I'm a pretty indecisive person! I think it will be something that Chuck and I do together for Mother's Day this year. We will probably go and pick it out together and make the final decision about the engraving. (While I loved your ideas about hearts and trees, etc, I'm thinking they are probably only able to do text, but it's something I want to ask about.) I'm actually looking forward to having something to do to commemorate that day for us.

Finally, I want to thank you for watching the Beach family's Extreme Makeover last Sunday! Thanks to those of you who came back and left me a comment about the episode. We thought it was fantastic! We very much enjoyed watching it, although we may have gone through almost an entire box of Kleenex. We are still so happy for that very deserving and special family. Oh, and we did NOT see ourselves in the crowd on TV, but a few friends said they thought they did see us. If you think you spotted us, you may be right! :)

I hope you are all having a wonderful week! Thanks for checking on us and keeping up with our journey every step of the way.

**Edited to add: Our family doctor was happy to sign the form for the elective ultrasound. Yay! We are all set for the 3D/4D ultrasound on the afternoon of April 23. Hopefully that will be the day we will find out boy or girl. I can't believe it!