Our Baby Girl Is Coming This Weekend!!

So I went in for my 38 week prenatal check-up yesterday, very nervous for the results... And as I feared, the doctor did want to induce labor this weekend! It's great in some ways, because I can plan, (and I am a total planner), and I know for sure the baby won't be "late":)... BUT it is also nerve racking because things are going to be started before my body is ready. Please pray for Nate, baby Anna, and I as we prepare for labor this Friday. Please also pray that I could turn my brain off at night and actually get sleep before the baby comes!!Now, for the details... Basically my feet started itching terribly a month ago. I thought it might be from changing detergents, but when it didn't go away after changing back to my original detergent, and more than 2 weeks passed, my doctor decided to do some lab work. She wanted to test for Cholestasis... I'm going to cut and paste some info about it below:
"Some women experience a very severe itching in late pregnancy. The most common cause of this is cholestasis, a common liver disease that only happens in pregnancy. Cholestasis of pregnancy is a condition in which the normal flow of bile in the gallbladder is affected by the high amounts of pregnancy hormones. Cholestasis is more common in the last trimester of pregnancy when hormones are at their peak, but it usually goes away within a few days after delivery.""Cholestasis may increase the risks for fetal distress, preterm birth, or stillbirth. A developing baby relies on the mother’s liver to remove bile acids from the blood; therefore, the elevated levels of maternal bile cause stress on the baby’s liver. Women with cholestasis should be monitored closely and serious consideration should be given to inducing labor once the baby’s lungs have reached maturity."
I got my lab results back online on Saturday, and all but one of them were normal. There was one bile acid that was heightened. It didn't seem too far out of range, but how am I to know? So, I figured everything was OK. Then Monday morning I received an email from my doctor, and my heart began pounding! She said that we'd talk more at my Tuesday appointment, but that she thought it might be Cholestasis, due to the lab and continued itching, and she would normally induce at 38 weeks. I will be 38 weeks this Friday!
Needless to say, I couldn't think about ANYTHING else all day Monday, and I was awake ALL night, and felt anxious waiting to hear for sure what would happen!
At my appointment we scheduled the induction, and the nerves did not go away. sigh.Basically she said that I might have Cholestasis, or I might not, but because the risk is so great (Still Birth), we wouldn't want to risk it. It is better to induce while baby is healthy.
Sorry this is so long. Please pray for us.

Our Little Musician

A good friend of ours, Russell, took these photos during our Christmas visit in Fresno. Alex just loves music!

It's Official!

Alex is walking everywhere! He's been practicing for quite some time now, but he's been a little chicken. It ususally takes some coercing to get him to walk. Well, today -all morning long- he's been getting up and walking all over! Not only that.... amongst his travels, he figured out how to open and close doors with the handles! Oh man, I thought it would be a while before he'd even reach them! (It doesn't work to just close a door anymore!) So, while I was putting new sheets on his bed, Alex was walking from room to room, opening and closing doors- it was actually really cute:). It's a whole new world now!

Side note: Here are more words Alex is saying: ball, apple, kitty, na-night, bubble, and for things that go around, he waves his arms in a circle and says, "noa noa noa". He also tries to mimic lots of things that we say.
And oh man, I know that I mentioned he says "hi" before, but he is just sooo funny! Wherever we go, he likes to wave and say, in a very loud voice, "HI" to just about everyone he sees! If he gets someones attention, he'll keep saying Hi to them:). I wish I were so outgoing!

Alexander Update

I was realizing that it's been a very long time since I've given an update on Alex, so I thought I'd just list a bunch of things that he says, knows or does....

Alex says:
Ma-ma
Da-da
Hi
eyes
c-cker (cracker)
nana (banana)
ice
ba-bye
uh-oh
up
nnnn (nose)
gock (socks)
boo

He signs:
more, please, all done, thank you

If you ask him, he'll point to his:
hair, eyes, nose, ears, tongue, teeth, belly, foot, toes

Things he does:
claps, folds his hands to pray, blows kisses and sometimes even gives kisses, waves, plays piano and sings along "Ohhhh", helps daddy strum the guitar, waves his arms to direct whenever he hears music, dances to music, crawls up and down the stairs, plays peek-a-boo, makes LOTS of animal sounds and gets EXTREMELY excited whenever he sees an animal.

And his most recent achievement happened on December 23rd... He took his first few steps on his own!!

I've probably missed a bunch of stuff, but this gives you an idea of what he's up to. He's such a sweetheart. He smiles at people everywhere we go, and he is always sad when people leave after a visit of any length. He's also my cuddle-bug. We love that he will hug and cuddle with us.

Our Christmas Decorations

The Enns' Traditional Trip To Lori's Diner

Every year, sometime right before Christmas, Nate's family makes the trek on Bart into San Francisco. We hit Lori's Diner for dinner- so yummy! We visit the St. Francis hotel elevators for a great view of the city, and some fun. And we walk through the city enjoying the lights. We walk all the way to Embarcadero to see the Christmas village set up inside the Hyatt. Then before heading back to Bart, we ride the Hyatt's elevators, and enjoy the view from way up high once again.

This year it was raining, so the challenge was to keep Alex dry and warm. He actually really loves the rain though:). I think we all managed to stay fairly dry, and it was fun all the while.

Here are some pictures, including preggo belly shots of my sister-in-law, Heidi, and I! She is due January 19th, just about a month before me!

I'm planning to post a few more pictures of the evening when I get them from Nate's Dad. Our camera battery was practically dead when we got there, so we didn't get to take a lot of pictures.

I've been a bad blogger!

I'm sorry I've been such a bad blogger! It's been a LONG time since I've posted anything new. I keep meaning to post, but life takes off and doesn't stop! So... I'm going to just summarize a bunch of our family happenings to fill you in and catch us up:

One, not-so-fun, thing that has been going on in our family since November 1st, is illness. Alex got a really bad cold that actually started with a fever, and then just as he started feeling better...I got it! And now I know why he became such a terror that week! I felt absolutely awful! It was like no other cold I've ever had in my life! Then, just as we thought Alex was finally totally better (3 weeks into it), it started all over! And just about that time, Nate got it too. And what do you know, once Nate was better, I got a mild version of it, again. It has been a rough month and a half! I think we are FINALLY all over it! And I really hope it doesn't come back in any form!

Amongst the fun colds, we've kept busy... I've continued to watch Nikki every Wednesday and Friday (having to keep her and Alex apart the times when he was sick)... Nate worked many evenings at home, and just about every Saturday in October and November... We've had a lot of fun dinners at both parents houses... I was busy singing in choir, getting ready for Christmas!

Then came Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving was awesome! This year it was at my parents house, and I think there were a total of 26 people! Nate's whole family came, Andrew and Bekah and Karis and Sophia came up from L.A., Bekah's parents came up from San Diego, Chris and his new wife, Katie came, and Katie's whole family came, and of course, my mom, dad and grandma were there! Fellowship and food were great. Also, Thanksgiving landed on Andrew's birthday this year, so we sang to him and he opened gifts.

The next day a bunch of us went into San Francisco to see the lighting of the tree in Union Square. It was WAY crowded, and over-rated, but it was fun to be with family, and dinner afterwards was delicious.

Saturday the 29th, Nate, Alex and I went to get our tree!! We got it from Home Depot- which we've done the past few years, and it is absolutely gorgeous! I will try to post pictures soon. The week following, we did a little decorating each night. It's so fun having space to decorate now!

Other than that, I've been enjoying time with family, lots of baking, a Women's Christmas Dinner at church, shopping, another night in the city with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory:), a progressive dinner with our Sunday School class, and ...FEELING BABY MOVE! It is such a joy to be pregnant. This little girl has been quite active the past few days! I'm not sure what's gotten into her? But it's sure fun.

Yesterday we went into the city again, but I'll do another post for that one...