Time....too slow, yet not enough

JUST BREATHE comes out of my mouth on a daily basis.  It seems like I have no time to do anything, but I also feel that this pregnancy is taking forever!!  Sorry, I haven't written an update in awhile....life in the Howey household has been just crazy between doctor appointments, work, school, being parents of a toddler, building a house, and trying to still have a somewhat normal life.  Here is a recap of everything that has taken place in the past month....

Since I last wrote, I have been to visit the surgeon once, perinatologist (maternal-fetal) once, pediatric cardiologist once, and my OB twice.  Yes, I have four doctors to rotate between, and now til delivery the appointments are going to be more frequent....aaahhhh....JUST BREATHE!  The update on everything is that Cason is growing perfectly....except for the heart, of course.  There isn't any evidence of further deterioration which is GREAT!  Another wonderful piece of information is that I don't have to have a c-section!  All the doctors agreed that a scheduled normal delivery would be best for both mommy & baby.  The plan is to have the delivery sometime between the 38th & 39th weeks, so that means he will be here between January 10 - 17...if he doesn't decide to come earlier.  Hopefully, he will allow us to decide his arrival date! 

Latest profile pic of Cason

As I mentioned above, we are building a new house.  It is in the newer part of our same neighborhood...just across the train tracks (literally, not figuratively).  When we first found out that Cason's diagnosis, we feared that we wouldn't be able to continue with the build because of all the expected hospital bills.  Thankfully, we won't be out the 10s to 100s of thousands on medical bills as we first thought.  People, our situation is why you pay so much in health insurance because it really provides a huge savings when you have a major medical issue like this.  Our insurance company and Medical City Children's both have held my hand through the last month.  I receive constant phone calls to check on how I am doing, to tell me what I need to do next, or to answer any questions.  This week, I get to tour the Neonatal ICU (aka NICU) and the pediatric cardiac ICU, plus I will get all the paperwork out of the way, meet with the neonatologist (special baby doctor), and maybe even the OB hospitalist. 

As for my older little price, Coyt, he is doing very well!  He amazes me with his adorable little mind each and every day.  He sings his ABCs, counts his toys or other things, makes up his own stories while looking through his books, etc.  Sometimes, he will bust out with a word or phrase that I have no clue how he learned that.  Saying that, mommy & daddy have to make sure we keep our language clean as well....uh oh!  Also, he loves to tell Cason "Hi!" and kisses his little brother through mommy's belly button.  We are very blessed to have this little guy.  Here's his latest school picture:

Again, thank you for all the prayers and sweet comments!  We appreciate each and every one.