Third Trimester, Here We Come!

I've officially entered the third trimester of my pregnancy. This morning, I took a trip to the high-risk OB for an ultrasound, and got some good news. It looks like the baby's right kidney is now down to normal size, and the spot on her heart is "resolving" (which I think means that they couldn't see it at all, but don't want to admit it!). The left kidney, however, is still lingering at around 14mm, which is twice the size that it should be. We will still continue to closely monitor via ultrasound; I'll go back in about 4 weeks. She is weighing around 3 lb 4 oz. and was moving like crazy during the ultrasound. We got 3 really great profile pictures, one of which showed her yawning. She also showed off her new skill during the ultrasound - sucking her thumb! Hopefully that's not a habit that she keeps! 

As we are getting closer to her due date, we've started the process of preparing for our new little one! We have even decided on a name... Madelyn! Taylor loves the name and calls her "Baby Maddy". 


Sam began his second round of chemotherapy this week, and is having a tough time with it. His hair began falling out, and his nausea and fatigue are little bit more intense than last time. We plan on shaving his head tomorrow!

 

1 Down, 11 To Go...

Sam is officially done with his first round of chemo. He will begin round 2 tomorrow at the University of Chicago. This past week was his "off" week, and he felt relatively good. The beginning of the week was rough, and throughout the week he had a few incidents of fatigue and upset stomach, but near the end of the week he felt normal. Once he was feeling better, we tried to cram as much family fun in as we could! Sam was able to come to Taylor's "Under the Tree" class at the park district on Tuesday, and took her to swim class on Saturday. We brought Taylor to a water park with her friend Madison. She absolutely LOVED it! In the beginning, she was too scared to even go in the toddler section; but by the end of our time there, she was going down the "bigger kid" slide all by herself!

Another highlight of our week was when we spent the day in Lake Geneva, where Sam and his friend and co-worker, Donna, went parasailing! Taylor and I, along with some other friends, watched from the shoreline. Sam was a little apprehensive going in, and got really nauseous and faint during and afterward. But he did it, and it was quite an accomplishment!

Near the end of the week, Sam was able to go out with some of his friends on Friday night. I was able to catch up with some great friends on Saturday afternoon for lunch, and then we ended our week with a child-free night away in Michigan, thanks to my wonderful aunt and uncle! We enjoyed a nice walk on the beach, and some quiet time to read our books and chat uninterruptedly with each other. 

This was definitely a rejuvenating week for our family. We have not had any care-free time like this for the past 5 weeks, and it was definitely something that we needed to reconnect with each other. Although we've got a rough 2 weeks ahead of us, we will try to plan a few more fun things to do during his next "off" week, to give us something to really look forward to.

Please keep Sam in your prayers as he begins his second round of chemo tomorrow. We anticipate that, as the medicine accumulates in his body, the side effects will begin to affect him more and more. We both agree, however, that having wonderful friends and family supporting us has been such a blessing, and has truly made this whole nightmare more bearable. For those who have helped by sending cards and gifts, helping us with chores, bringing dinners (and a special "thank you" to Lydia, who organized our Meal Train website!), and visiting, calling, or emailing and being our moral support, we can't thank you enough.

This upcoming week, I will have another ultrasound to check on the baby's kidneys. I will be sure to post some pictures and information afterward!

I have realized that, with everything going on, I haven't posted much about Taylor's development lately. She is 31 months old now. It's hard to believe that she is going to be 3 soon, but she certainly acts older than she is! She has a phenomenal vocabulary, and is constantly making observations about the world around her. She asks a lot of questions, and is very interested in nature. She LOVES the show "Little Einsteins" and is constantly pretending to go on missions with them. The show has really fostered a love of music in her as well. She's also been really interested in how our family is related. She asks a lot of questions about who mama & dada's brothers and sisters are.

Here are some of our favorite Taylor quotes lately:
"Mama/Dada, I love you so, so, very much"
"Oh no, I have a big problem... I can't stop praying!"
"I can not believe it! It's a rocketship!" (she said this when seeing a helicopter flying overhead. Everything is a rocketship now, thanks to Little Einsteins!)
"Dada went up in the sky on a big kite!" (referring to Sam going parasailing)

 Taylor being silly! 

 Feeding goats at the petting zoo in Lake Geneva

 At the beach!

 She loved being swung and dipped into the water! 

 The "before" shot - getting ready to go parasailing! 

Taylor and Madison hanging out on the dock! Of course, Taylor wouldn't smile nicely for me!

You can't see them, but Sam and Donna are up there!

Update...

Hello everyone! It's been a little while since I've updated. We are almost done with the first round of chemotherapy already. Sam is getting it now, and will get it tomorrow, and then have a week for his white cell counts to recover. So far, the chemo side effects have been pretty mild. Sam is uncomfortable, but it's nothing like last time. He gets nauseous and very tired. So far he's only thrown up once. He's looking forward to his week off next week for sure.

We got a phone call this morning with results from his PET scan. This scan was not one that would determine if the chemo was working; rather, it showed the metabolic activity of the tumor. Everything looked great. Aside from where the tumor is located, there was no tumor activity anywhere else in his body. Great news! In about 4 weeks he will have another scan to determine if the chemo has done it's job.

As many of you saw on Facebook, we were having issues with our Sprint service that was adding extra stress to our lives. We did finally win our battle with Sprint (after 4 months of trying), after my dad contacted a writer at the Chicago Tribune. Sprint FINALLY agreed to cancel our service without penalty. We are with Verizon now and haven't had any problems! I've copied and pasted the article below:

Problem Solver: Dropped calls become towering annoyance

Bad service becomes serious problem for Minooka couple

Cheryl and Sam Pavelka struggled to get Sprint to cancel their cellphone contract after service proved poor near their Minooka home. The couple say they need reliable service because Cheryl is in a high-risk pregnancy and Sam is battling cancer. (Jean Lachat, for the Chicago Tribune / June 27, 2012)

For almost a decade, Cheryl Pavelka had U.S. Cellular as her cellphone provider, and she was happy with the service.
But after a new home was constructed on a hill behind their house in Minooka last fall, coverage became spotty.
Pavelka called U.S. Cellular, which agreed to terminate her contract without penalty, and she began looking for a new carrier.
After researching which company provided the best coverage in her area, Pavelka and her husband, Sam, signed a two-year contract with Sprint in January.
Initially, service was great, but in mid-March, things took a turn for the worse.
Some calls were dropped, others went straight to voice mail. The couple had difficultly sending and receiving texts.
Pavelka said she called Sprint several times in March and April to complain and was eventually told that the nearest cell towers needed updating.
"We were told that they would be completed June 10, that we were not able to terminate our contract, and no credit to our account was available," she said. "We were stuck."
Pavelka, who is pregnant, remembers driving home from a doctor's appointment in May after an ultrasound had revealed complications.
"On the way home, I tried to call my husband to explain the situation and our call dropped half a dozen times," she said. "I came home and found my husband talking to Sprint."
The company gave the couple a $25 credit and promised to send an Airave device, designed to boost signal strength in their house. The couple hooked up the device, but it did not improve the signal, Pavelka said.
After several more weeks of poor service, the couple contacted the Federal Communications Commission on June 8, which patched them through to a Sprint account representative.
"She assured us that the main tower in our area was now complete and we should have no problems," Pavelka said. "She gave us a $40 credit for our troubles."
For several days it seemed that service had, in fact, improved. But a week later, the signal once again tanked. When the couple called and again asked out of its contract, they were told the tower would not be updated until July 24, Pavelka said.
To cancel their two-year contract would cost $185 per line, or $370 total.
Pavelka told the story to her dad who, upset with the situation, emailedWhat's Your Problem?
Pavelka said she is entering the third trimester of a high-risk pregnancy, and her husband, Sam, is battling cancer that recently resurfaced after years in remission.
"We have missed or dropped calls from doctors, nurse practitioners, insurance companies and our employers," Pavelka said. "Ultimately, we'd like to be let out of our contract since they're not providing us the service we signed up for."
She said waiting until late July for the cell towers to be fixed isn't an option.
"In our current situation, it is crucial that we have reliable phone service," she said. "We have been extremely unhappy with the lack of options that we have been given, the lack of courtesy and information given to us by Sprint representatives, and the overall unwillingness of Sprint to help."
The Problem Solver called Sprint spokeswoman Candace Johnson and relayed Pavelka's complaints.
On Friday morning, a Sprint representative spoke with Pavelka and agreed to let her and her husband out of their contract without having to pay the $370 early termination fee.
"I was very, very excited to hear that," Pavelka said. "I dropped the call three times when I was on the phone with her too."
Pavelka said will again research cellphone companies to determine which one provides the best coverage in her area, then make another switch.
Johnson said Sprint is upgrading its network in the Chicago area and around the country. During the process, some areas will temporarily experience issues, such as what Pavelka had in Minooka.
"It's kind of like road construction, where you might be down to one lane for a bit … but when it's done, it's a nice new road," Johnson said.
Sprint decided to let Pavelka out of her contract, Johnson said, after looking more closely at her case, coverage where she lives and the issues she has encountered.
"Every customer is different," she said. "We just take it on a case-by-case basis. We definitely apologize for any inconvenience and hate to lose her as a customer."