Baby Roeder Update...

Baby Roeder is growing right along.. We got to hear the heartbeat for the first time last week and it was an amazing sound. Baby R's heartbeat was really strong in the 150's. I go again for a check up on the 20th and then the date is set for my next ultrasound. January 3rd is the Big day! Hopefully, if baby cooperates, we should know whether Baby R is a He or a She! :) It cannot come soon enough!! I am so glad I have lots of things to do over Christmas Break to keep me occupied until then!
This past weekend, Chip and I went to Austin, TX for a conference for Chip's work and his secretary came along. For fun, she begged me to take the DrainO test. I don't know if any of you have done this before, but I would Love to hear if it turned out true for you! This test is supposed to predict the gender. Well... after watching for a reaction, there was none, so DrainO says we are having a Girl!! We shall see in a month if it is correct or not! :)
I have been feeling Great finally! I'm like a totally new person now! :) I am having some heart problems though. All through high school, I went to several different cardiologists because my heart would constantly skip beats and then just take off super fast. After seeing several cardiologists, they basically all told me I just had a "weird" heart. I was constantly monitored and no doctor could come up with an explanation. For the past few years, I have not had any problems... until I got pregnant.
I know this is normal in pregnancy, but in my case it's been extra fast and constant. This weekend my heart raced for an hour and half straight. Chip kept checking my pulse the entire time and i was in the 100s. It happens several times a day, along with constant black outs, ringing in my ears and skipped beats. I will be meeting with a cardiologist in the next week to get checked out again. Please pray that this is not harming the baby. It is VERY annoying to me, so I can only imagine what it is doing to baby. I will keep everyone posted on what the cardiologist says.
For those who have been wanting a new picture... Here is baby Roeder today at 15 weeks!! :) My belly is definitely growing and super hard. I don't know how it will stretch any more.

Here are two pictures of our living room decorated for Christmas! I just had to add these because I absolutely LOVE Christmas and would leave the tree up All year long if I could get away with it! :)

And here are my babies in their favorite spots in the house...
Nemo :)

And Jane! ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Baby Roeder is GROWING!!!

So once again, God continues to amaze me! I just feel beyond blessed right now! This morning Chip and I went in for my 10 week ultrasound and got to meet with my doctor. We got to see the most precious baby doing flips and waving at us! It was awesome! Baby R is already super active! Chip says he is in trouble when this baby gets here because he/she is already very active and pissed off like their mother. haha. It was so neat though to see our baby move and know that that is all taking place inside of me right now. I cannot wait until I can actually FEEL he/she moving inside of me! :) My doctor said the heartbeat was very strong and everything else looked great!! We go back again in 4 weeks! We are still so in awe of God and praising Him for this little blessing inside of me!
Here is Baby R today at 9 weeks 6 days. He/She is finally starting to look more like a baby! I love it! :)

And here is the latest belly shot, for all of you who are "bugging" me! :) This was taken last week at exactly 9 weeks. I am showing and growing way faster than I imagined but I am loving it all!

On a different note, our chair that we ordered in JULY for our new house is FINALLY in, so for all of you who have been driving me crazy to get pictures of our new house posted, I will post them sometime this week! :)

Thank you for all of the continued prayers! We so appreciate them and you more than you will ever know!

Our Family is GROWING!!!

So.. I am sure most of you have heard by now, but last week Chip and I got a very Unexpected yet Very Exciting surprise!!! On Monday of last week, I found out I was pregnant AGAIN!! Keep in mind, I had a miscarriage only 5 weeks and 2 days before that! At our doctor's appointment concerning the miscarriage we were told Do Not Get Pregnant for at least 2-3 months, just so my body could heal and get back to normal. So we did what the doctor told us to do and tried to NOT get pregnant. Turns out... God had very different plans for us. Based on my due date now, we got pregnant only 4 days after miscarriage!! Here is a warning to kids and adults out there. If you don't want to get pregnant, keep in mind, protection is not always 100%!! So when I took that pregnancy test last Monday, I was Very Shocked, Excited and Scared all at the same time. I had so many different emotions and questions running through my head. After I told Chip the news, and heard his response of simply, "How?", I called my doctor and they got me in immediately for bloodwork and said they would call me the next day with the results. If any of you know me real well, Patience has never been a strong suit of mine. So, the wait was pure torture. Finally on Tuesday afternoon, the nurse calls and says, "I have exciting news for you. Your counts are over 4,000 so you are definitely pregnant!" At this time, I was sitting with Rachel at the mall eating a pretzel and I could Not believe what the nurse had just said. With the previous pregnancy my counts never got above 1,200 so I was definitely not expecting to hear 4,000!!!! The nurse scheduled an ultrasound for first thing the next morning and this is what we got to see....

The ultrasound tech goes on to explain what that little "dot" is on the screen. I was so amazed and in awe. With the last pregnancy, I saw nothing but an empty black hole, so I cannot explain the feeling of seeing that little "dot".  Come to find out, I was 5 weeks 1 day when this was taken. Because of my history, the doctor decided to have me come in one week later.
Chip and I didn't tell our family about the last pregnancy until I was miscarrying and we were not about to go through that again. Our feelings about this whole situation was that the more people praying the better. So, we decided we had about 8 hours left to make up some cute frames to tell our family the Great News! I had to be home in Memphis for a show the very next day, so there was very little time to get these done! I think they turned out Awesome though! Here are a few pictures of some of the frames we made!

This was for my parents. My mom has always loved Lolli and Pop so that one day the kids can say they are going to LolliPop's house. I have always thought this was too cute! Let's hope she still likes it, because this is what they are getting called! :) This is going to be their first grandchild so it says "established 2011" across the bottom. My mom and dad were beyond thrilled to hear this news!!

This was made for Chip's dad. :)

These were made for our two brothers.

This is Jeremy, Tracey and their two boys' frame! I love it!

I made a few more but forgot to get pictures of them.
We just had another ultrasound yesterday morning and got to see the most precious flicker (heartbeat) on the screen. Here is our sweet baby at 6 weeks 1 day! :)

Just goes to show... it's all about God's timing and God's plans... not ours!
"For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord, "plans to Prosper you and Not to harm you. Plans to give you a Hope and a Future!" Jeremiah 29:11

My due date has been constantly changing due to the fact I got pregnant immediately after miscarrying. As of right now, I am due May 31, 2011! (my due date was June 2 when I made the frames) Please continue to pray for both me and baby. It is still very early and I am so exhausted. I was put on modified bedrest this week, so it has been very hard. Hopefully, I will be able to make it through these first few weeks. It is such an amazing feeling seeing my belly grow (YES! It is already growing!!) and thinking about how that precious little flicker on that screen is beating in side of me right now. I am just so amazed and in awe of God!

cheer squad...

So as I was writing my last post about Chip's new job, I totally forgot to mention his new Internship. During this semester, Chip will be doing an Internship for his Masters in Sports Rehab. Weird huh? how he gets his Doctrine Before his Masters?? He actually starts his Internship Tomorrow at.... the UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS!!!! He is super excited about this! He will be working with the head athletic trainer for the Basketball and Baseball teams and the CHEER SQUAD!!! haha... We have had NUMEROUS talks about his role with the cheer squad. Let's just say I trust my husband a whole lot to let him work with all those pretty college cheerleaders. :) He will go 2-3 times a week and hopefully (fingers crossed) this will lead to a paying job with the university in the future.
And... just an update. Chip officially has 3 Patients now! YAY!! So, keep those prayers coming for more patients!

Here's a picture from the HOGS game on Saturday! We had a blast with Amy and Dustin and cannot wait for the next game on Saturday!

Dr. Chip Roeder

So as you know, Chip just graduated from Chiropractic school in August. So he now requires everyone to call him Dr. Chip or Dr. Roeder. :) Just kidding. I still think it sounds so weird. It is definitely something we will have to get used to! This is a picture of us on Graduation Day! I am so so proud of him and cannot wait to see the great Doctor he will become.
He has just started working at Maximum Performance Chiropractic here in Rogers. He has a great set up with an established doctor. Scott and his wife, Rachel, have been super helpful since we've moved here and I am just so excited about this partnership they are embarking on.
Right now, Chip has no patients. So if you're in NWA, come see him! :) He's about to start marketing to get his name out there and get established with insurance companies, so hopefully the patients will follow soon. In the next week or so, I will be putting my Krazy Daizy touch all over their office with vinyl, so I will definitely post some pictures when we get it all done.
My parents just got into town for the weekend, so I am off to dinner with them! I hope everyone has an awesome, relaxing Labor Day weekend and GO HOGS!!!!

~Mallory

Lots of Changes...

So as most of you know, our lives have been changing like crazy here lately. I feel like we have just now been able to slow down after almost 2 months of chaos. I wanted to start this blog because I just really wanted to share what's been going on in my life. This is probably going to be a LONG first post! :)

Some may know this, but most will not. 

On August 1, Chip and I had just flown back into town from our vacation in Montana when I took a pregnancy test and found out I was pregnant! I was ecstatic! (I took 7 different tests just to make sure.. :) We weren't really "trying" but we definitely weren't preventing it either. And.. if you know me any at all, you know that this has always been my dream. My dream job is to be a mom! So to say I was excited when that test came back positive was definitely an understatement. So as the week went on, I called my doctor in St. Louis and scheduled an appointment. They wanted me to come in when I was almost 8 weeks, so I had to wait another 2 weeks, which was pure TORTURE!! Chip and I were both super excited and were dying to tell our family and friends, but we decided to wait until after the doctor appointment. Chip was graduating 4 days after my appointment so we thought that would be the perfect time to tell everyone. All of our family and close friends would be there and I decided I was going to make these super cute Krazy Daizy frames for everyone announcing the good news. Those two weeks I was feeling great! A little tired, but that's nothing new... When my appointment finally came, Chip couldn't end up going with me because of school, so I was on my own. When I got there, I was so excited, nervous, anxious.. I really had no idea what to expect. When the doctor came in to do the ultrasound, I couldn't wait to see that little baby. So when the doctor looked at me and said, "I can't seem to find the baby" I pretty much freaked. I was so upset, shocked, you name it. But I tried my best to hold it together. I was by myself and didn't want to totally freak these people out. So, the doctor explains to me that this could mean several things... 1) I might not be as far along as I thought (She could see a sac about the size you would see at 5 weeks) or 2) It might not be a "normal" pregnancy. So the doctor scheduled me for blood work that afternoon and then 2 days after that. They wanted to check my HcG levels to see if they were doubling every 48 hours which would mean I probably just wasn't as far along as I thought. 

Just keep in mind, the whole time this is going on, Chip and I are trying to pack to move back to Arkansas and everyone is coming in to town in 2 days for his graduation!!! So now I was not only stressed from the packing and moving but now I had to worry about my baby for 2 more days until I got the results back.

On Thursday, my doctor called me to give me the results. When she said, "I'm afraid I have bad news," I just started bawling! Long story short, she told me I would probably start miscarrying in 2-3 days. Chip graduated in 2 days!!! 

I called my mom almost immediately  (who had no idea I was even pregnant) and of course her and my dad insisted on coming to St. Louis a day early. Like I said earlier, if you know me I have always dreamed of being a mom ( I would've started trying on our wedding night if Chip would have let me!). Well, my mom has wanted to become a grandmother so bad! Ever since Chip and I got engaged, that's all we heard from her. haha "When are you going to have me some grandkids?" So to tell my mom that I was going to miscarry broke my heart even more. I'm not going to lie, she was definitely devastated. But she was also SO encouraging. My mom had two miscarriages between my brother and I, so it was very reassuring to hear her stories.

Moving on..So as graduation week continued and graduation arrived, so did the pain. On a day that is supposed to be one of the most exciting days for my husband, he was having to watch his wife go through a miscarriage both mentally and physically. And some of you are probably thinking.. it's a miscarriage. Tons of people have them. No big deal...

I used to think that too.. But it definitely IS a big deal. It is devastating to have something and someone you have dreamed about your entire life, taken away so quickly. I honestly have never been in so much pain physically or emotionally before in my life. You really just don't understand until it has happened to you. I sure didn't. 

Things are better now. Although Chip and I were both devastated, we have found peace in knowing that God still has amazing plans ahead for us. My mom's favorite verse has always been Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and NOT to harm you. Plans to give you Hope and a Future." That verse and Casting Crowns': I Will Praise You in this Storm have been constant reminders that God has not forgotten about us and that there are things more beautiful and more amazing than we can ever imagine in store for us.

I guess with all of this said, I just ask for your prayers that I will get back to full health soon (my HcG levels still aren't back to 0, so more weekly blood work ahead). Chip has been amazing through this whole process and I have been thanking God everyday for bringing him to me! 

I really wanted to talk about Chip's new job, but that will have to be a different post, because this turned out WAY TOO LONG! :) 

-Mallory