Wait Gain

 Yes, that title was on purpose. I LOVE being pregnant. I DO NOT like gaining weight. Let's face it, pregnancy seems to be the slowest weight gain and weight loss process ever. It's all just a waiting game. First you gain weight for 9 months, and then you do your best to lose that weight over the next 9 months. It's a LONG wait!

During my first two pregnancies, I was told that a healthy weight gain was 25-35 lbs so I made sure that I met those guidelines. During this 3rd pregnancy, the number has changed to 20-30 lbs so we'll see how well that works out. :)

I'm going to be very brave for a moment and throw out some numbers. I'm not sure that any other woman would do this, and I'm not quite sure why I'm doing it either. I guess my motivation is to be able to look back at this a year from now to check my progress.

I'm 5'7" and the "average" weight for my height is 125-135 pounds.

• When I got pregnant with Bailey, I weighed 133 lbs. During those 9 months, I slowly gained 30 lbs, which put me at 163 pounds on  delivery day. During the 10 months after having her, I slowly lost 19 of those pounds before getting pregnant with Lou.
• When I got pregnant with Lou (11 months after I had Bailey), I weighed 144 lbs. During those 9 months, I slowly gained 29 lbs, which put me at 173 pounds on delivery day. During the 12 months after having her, I slowly lost 19 of those pounds (again!) before getting pregnant with baby #3.
• When I got pregnant with baby #3 (13 months after I had Lou), I weighed 154 lbs. I'm half way through my pregnancy and so far I've only gained 12 lbs. I admit, that's not bad, but it's hard not to factor in the weight that I already needed to lose from my first two pregnancies.

If you haven't already guess it, I'm pretty hard on myself when it comes to gaining weight. I've played sports my entire life and I've always been in shape. I'm not obsessive and I'm not going to be one of those crazy people that does whatever it takes to lose weight. I'm realistic - I realize that when baby #3 comes that I will have had 3 kids in 3 1/2 years. I know that takes a toll on a woman's body. But, I also know that I'm not going to let myself settle with this extra weight and I'm writing this to hold myself accountable to return to my pre-pregnancy weight.

Yikes! I can't believe I just put all of that in writing...

Blessed

As I was leaving work today and walking alone toward my car, I was greeted by a frantic young woman. She wanted a ride somewhere, but she wasn't making a lot of sense with what she was saying so I was hesitant to help her. I apologized that I could not give her a ride, wished her luck, and she went on her way. For those that don't know, I work at 13th & Lewis in Tulsa. Although our company, along with a few others, have greatly improved that intersection, we still get a lot of homeless or intoxicated people in the area. As I got in my car and watched her jog away, I said a prayer for her and her safety.

I reflected quite a bit on my past on the drive home. I have made good and bad decisions in my life. I know I'm not done making mistakes, but I have made enough of them to learn valuable lessons along the way. Thankfully I have made more good than bad decisions. I believe that the road I'm on is exactly where I'm supposed to be. Had I made other choices in life, I could have been where this young woman was today ... roaming the streets, frantic, not making sense, and simply moving on to the next best thing.

As I reflected, I started thinking of all of the wonderful things in my life that were results of the good choices that I made:

• God - I gave my heart over to God when I was 8 years old. Throughout high school and college, I strayed from Him and returned, strayed and returned, until finally returning to stay. He has never let me down ... even when I wasn't seeking him.
• Family - I have always had great family support. I've never known a family member to tell me that I can't do something or that I'm not good enough.
• Husband - My husband is my best friend. He supports me and he lifts me up when I need it. He works full time and he has attained two college degrees, which have allowed me to work part time to enjoy a few extra days at home with my girls.
• Children - I'm blessed to be the mom of two beautiful, healthy girls. I believe that my children are simply on loan from God, and I'm honored and humbled that He sees enough in me to allow me a 3rd baby girl to raise.

I guess I'm writing this to encourage you to make more good decisions than bad decision in your life. You never know which path will open a door to the rest of your life.


James 1:12 - Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Naming Number Three

Parker Eva Morrison

There you have it ... baby #3's name. We are pretty excited about it because it has a lot of family history tied into it.

Parker: Her first name comes from my mom's parents, Kenneth & Vivian Park. Growing up, we called them Bo & Bibby. We were blessed to spend a lot of time with Bo & Bibby over the years. Bo passed away in October of 2009 and Bibby passed away in March of this year. We are proud to let their legacy live on in their great granddaughter. Below is a picture of Bo & Bibby.

Eva: Her middle name comes from Greg's dads grandmother. Darrell's mom passed away when he was only 12 months old, so Darrell was raised by his grandparents, Homer & Eva Pleasant. We are proud to let their legacy live on in their great great granddaughter. Below is a picture of  Darrell (Greg's dad), Eva, and Homer.

I came across this passage when looking up the word family in the Bible:

Ephesians 3:14-16: ¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being

Amen!

Race for the Cure 2011

In 1993, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was 13 years old at the time so I didn't understand a lot about what was going on. I'm excited to say that as of this year, my mom is an 18 year breast cancer survivor! Praise the Lord!

I (along with my family) have chosen to run or walk in the Tulsa Race for the Cure every year (since 2003) to show our support for the survivors, those who are currently battling, and those who have passed from this disease. Throughout the years we have know quite a few others to be affected by this disease, including my mom's mom, who was diagnosed in her 80's.

Because our group has gotten so big, we decided to form a team this year. Our team name was Boob Supporters. With a name like that, you just have to make a t-shirt. The front is our team name logo and the back is my brothers logo from his store in Fayetteville, AR. Come on, who doesn't like Boobs and Mustaches! (In case you are interested in his unique store, the website is http://www.shopthemustache.com/).

This year our team consisted of 17 adults, 9 children, and 4 children in the making!

The kids started this years 5k race in style...

After the race, we continued a tradition by meeting at Mimi's Cafe for a much needed breakfast!

I'm also very proud to work for a business, Hasty-Bake, that supports the Komen Race for the Cure and events in the Tulsa, Ok area. We made this one of a kind grill (retails for $999) to be auctioned off at the Race today.

GO PINK!

And the winner is ...

For those of you that have played soccer or maybe you know some of the rules ... in soccer this would be called a hat trick! Yes, Baby #3 is another GIRL!

Right when the tech put the ultrasound machine on, our little princess was bottom up. The tech scanned away from that area pretty quickly, but Greg and I both saw what we needed to see. Our thoughts were confirmed later in the appointment. Wow, three girls! Our future is looking bright ... and full of more pink and purple!

Her name will be coming soon!

The Gentleman

In 2003 Greg's dad, Ralph "Darrell" Morrison, was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), which is a precursor to Leukemia.

In 2008, Darrell was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. His radiation treatments lined up perfectly with Bailey's due date. His last treatment was the same week that I was due so I challenged him to a race. The loser buys the winner a steak dinner. To win, I would have to have Bailey before his last treatment. Luckily, she came two weeks early so I was treated to a nice dinner ... and a new baby girl ... and he was cancer free! I'm pretty positive that he would not have let me buy him a steak dinner even if he did win.

In the Fall of 2009, Darrell's MDS was starting to progress. He was having trouble keeping his white blood count and platelets up so he started having blood transfusions every 6 weeks or so.

In February of 2010, Darrell was diagnosed with full blown Acute Leukemia. We knew this was going to be a long road, but as a family, we were more than willing to do whatever was necessary to heal him. That month was the first of many trips to Dallas and the Baylor Medical Hospital's Cancer Treatment Center. After some testing, Darrell was approved to receive a  Bone Marrow Transplant. This was fantastic news, except for the fact that we now had to find a donor. Not just any donor. A donor that matched him perfectly AND was still willing to donate.

This picture was taken on Father's Day 2010. This was Papa with Breanna (my niece), Lou, Bailey, and Rachael (my niece).

After lots of prayer, the perfect donor was found and Darrell (and Cindy, Greg's mom) moved to Baylor Medical Center in June of 2010 to prepare for his transplant. After his last and strongest round of chemo, his cancer level was still around 50% which was much higher than the doctors wanted it to be. By God's grace, he was still cleared to receive his bone marrow transplant on July 1, 2010. Darrell was the 116th person to receive a bone marrow transplant that year. What's the significance in that you ask? Darrell's birthday is 1/16. We took this as a sign from God that He was in control.

Although the transplant was the closest match they could find, the new donor cells were up against a fight to replace the cancer still in Darrell's body after chemo. What should have taken days, took approximately 24 days, and then we heard the best news we could have ever heard ... "you are cancer FREE!" Darrell was considered a miracle by the doctors and nursing staff at Baylor. We made sure that every one of them knew that his healing was by God's hand.

A day or two after being pronounced cancer free, Darrell's organs started to shut down. Although he was healed, his body just couldn't fight anymore from the effects of the multiple rounds of chemo he went through to prepare for the transplant.

So, on July 27, 2010, as I stood beside his hospital bed in ICU (along with Cindy, Greg, Greg's brother, Greg's sister, Darrell's sister and her husband, and Cindy's sister and her husband) we said goodbye. That was the toughest day I've gone through so far as an adult. To be honest, that day sucked.

Without God, our family, and close friends, that day would have been unbearable. However, with God, our family, and close friends, we were able to see the blessings in that day.

About a month after Darrell passed, I was able to give my testimony of this journey to my Sunday School class. Thankfully I was among friends and they allowed me to cry through most of my talk. What I wanted them to know, and what I want you to know, is that God is there in the good and the bad. If you just let go and allow Him to work, then He will make you a stronger and better person than you were yesterday. Journey's like this don't happen every day, but I'm thankful that I went through it because afterwards I came out with more faith than ever before. I was finally able to say (and actually believe) that I had enough faith to move a mountain.

Matthew 17:20 says "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”


If you would like to sign up for the National Bone Marrow Transplant list, please click on this site: http://www.marrow.org/. It's free and you could save a life.

And baby #3 is a ???

Ok, that wasn't fair. We don't find out for another 10 days, but I'm fairly certain that baby # 3 will be a boy. I have to be honest though. I was 99% sure that Bailey (girl) was a boy and also 99% sure that Lou (girl) was a boy so I'm not really good at this guessing game.

Here's what I do know:

• My first two pregnancies were a breeze. They weren't perfect by any means, but much easier than this one ... so far.
• This time around, I had nausea ALL day from approx weeks 7-12. I never actually got sick, but at times I wondered if I would feel better if there had been an end result to all of my nausea. I couldn't cook at home because I would be grossed out by the meal before it was time to eat, and I couldn't eat at the same restaurant for a second time. I was afraid Broken Arrow and Tulsa would run out of eating locations before I got past that stage. So glad it's over!
• Weeks 12-14, I had vision issues. So much so that I talked to my OB about it and even made an appointment with my eye doctor. I was told that, with my contacts in, my vision was better than 20/20. Diagnosis: hormones. It's true, I could see (as in read things) fine, but when I went from looking at one item to the next, it would take me a few seconds to adjust and refocus on the new thing I was looking at. This was a little disturbing while driving!
• Weeks 14-16, headaches. My vision seemed to be improving, but was being replaced by daily headaches with 2-3 of those (a week) resulting in migraines. Let me just say, migraines are NOT fun when you are pregnant because all you can take is Tylenol. For me, Tylenol just doesn't cut it. A friend suggested caffiene to calm the headaches. I don't drink pop because of my hypoglycemia so I would fill a nalgene bottle with half unsweet tea and half water. I think it did the trick.
• Weeks 17-now, vision issues are paying me another visit. This time around is not as bad, but I'm still having issues almost once a day. Thankfully, it's not all day anymore!
• Last but not least, I should be napping right now, but I'm wide awake. I try to lay down when the girls do (on days that I'm home) just so that I can be rested enough to keep up with them. I LOVE sleep! This afternoon, I napped for about an hour and woke suddenly. I knew the girls would still be napping for another hour so all I had to do was fall ... back ... asleep. Not going to happen. This pregnancy has had its fill of waking multiple times a night and suddenly waking from naps unable to fall back asleep. I guess I'm getting ready for all those night time visits when the baby arrives.

So, all that craziness leads me to believe that baby #3 is a boy. Will I be right? We'll see (if I can focus on the ultrasound screen)...