Here's a super quick pregnancy update:

I've been diagnosed with Thrombophilia, a blood clotting disorder and another blood disorder that prevents me from absorbing folic acid and other vitamins. Not the best news in the world to hear but still glad that between my midwife, OBGYN, perinatal specialist, and regular practitioner I've been tested for everything under the sun and that they found this. So I was prescribed blood thinners and a couple of prescription strength folic acid vitamins and other vitamins along with my regular prenatal vitamins.
Also, my midwife and perinatal specialist both feel that this blood disorder had nothing to do with Tatum's death. They still feel that it was the knot and not a blood clot or a vitamin deficiency. Which was good news for me. I never want to have to hear that there was something I could have done to prevent losing her. It was an accident, it was sudden, and there's nothing that could have changed that. She was a big, healthy, beautiful baby and just happened to have an umbilical cord knot and just happened to pull it tight the day before I delivered.

I can't believe that it's been a year, Christmas Eve marks the day that I delivered her. I tried so hard to prepare for Christmas this year....anticipating a melt down....it's hard because I correlate all things Christmas with the traumatic experience of finding out she was gone and then being induced and prepped for delivery and then delivering our sweet baby stillborn. Holding her. Saying goodbye to her. Being wheeled out of the hospital without a baby. And then Christmas day. And then the day after Christmas we started preparation for burial, the graveside, picking out a coffin, picking out flowers, coming up with a program, letting people know, etc, etc, etc. Christmas. It just all reminds me of all of the preparation that went into preparing for her and preparing to bring her home. All the shopping, the nursery, the Christmas tree, the lights, and it doesn't help that I'm pregnant again and again and this year feels a lot like last year only now I have more anxiety. Then there was New Year's and then FINALLY the graveside on January 3. Tyson and I learned the hard way that if you have a loved one pass during the holidays all of your burial plans end-up postponed. No one has funerals around Christmas, therefore they all wait until after Christmas and the county offices are closed during the holidays and it became an ordeal trying to get a death certificate as well. Having the burial behind us was such a relief! We needed that day to come so desperately to allow us to begin to move on. This is turning into a really sad post.

On lighter note, I just want to say that I'm really excited about our new baby coming in March. I just really need to get over this first holiday hump without Tatum, while trying to remember her and how she has impacted our lives.
Tyson and I are house hunting and actually put an offer on a house last week and we're waiting to hear back from the bank. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be moving into our very own house!!! We're hoping for the best but we're prepared to keep looking if someone else had a better offer than us.
It really is a happy and exciting time for us and I know that with this holiday season will come much joy and peace!

Wishing all of you peace, hope, joy, and faith in Christ! Merry Christmas! xoxoxo

Ultrasound!

We met with our perinatal specialist again today.
We had a special Ultrasound that looked at EVERYTHING! Our little baby girl is doing really well! Everything is normal and healthy! She is cute as a button in her 2D pictures! We can't wait to met her and see how much she looks like Tatum.
I'm 20 weeks and she weighs 11 ounces. We're just SO happy!

Here are our name ideas:

Emmerson Ivy
Ivy Grace
Chloe Emmerson
Tayley Jade

Which is your favorite? Tyson and I are having a hard time with names.

Elder Hales x 2

I just posted about Mark and realized I couldn't post about Mark without recognizing my youngest brother Elder John Taylor Hales! John is also serving a mission! John just left for his mission a few months back. He's serving in the Toronto West, Canada mission! He's LOVING it so far! John is one of the most enthusiastic kids I know when it comes to doing what's right. All of his letters are really upbeat and filled with stories! Mark and John's missions overlapped so unfortunately for the boys they haven't seen each other in quite some time and won't be seeing each other for another couple years. They're just about 18 months apart in age. It's been a really neat experience for us having both my younger brothers out at once! Here are a few pictures of Johnboy.

Before John even left on his mission he baptized our friends, Mercy and Michelle. He also baptized another friend named Chloe.

Off he went to the MTC

His Address

With Bishop and Sister Haar at his Farewell Party!

Saying goodbyes

Mercy and Michelle's baptism back in February!

Elder Mark Cameron Hales

Mark is COMING HOME!
Well, not for a couple months but I can hardly wait!
Mark has been serving faithfully in the Guadalajara, Mexico mission for the past two years! We love him so much and are so proud of him! He's lost himself in the Lord's work! He can hardly speak or spell in English anymore! Lol! And he has the darkest Farmer's tan I've ever seen!! Lol! We might as well call him Marcos. ;)
His letters are always fun to read every week and they put a smile on my face!

The wheels on the Bus...

All in White for Baptism

Night Rider!

Country Livin'

His only follower that day:(

Middle of Nowhere!

I never update this thing! :/

Things are going really well! We feel really blessed!
I'm 5 months pregnant and we're expecting another baby girl in March. My actual due date is March 20 but I have a feeling that I may deliver a couple weeks early if I get the final OK from my Doctors.
Life has definitely had its ups and downs for the last 10 months. I'm just so happy to have the knowledge I do about life after death, forever families, and our Savior! My testimony and Tyson have been my rocks this past year! I've always been blessed with a soft heart and faith just seems to come easily for me. I think that's one of the only reasons I've been surviving the trial of losing Tatum so well. I had plenty of moments where I had that "ugly cry", the kind of cry you just can't control or stop. But I've mostly had peace and understanding about it all.
For some people it might have been a hard decision to decide to get pregnant again right after a loss but for us it was an easy decision. We wanted to start our family when we had Tatum and now we want to continue our family. Getting pregnant right away, sort of helped me keep my sanity, too. I'm sure for some couples they might feel the opposite about this but I didn't want to postpone trying again.
We were able to get pregnant at 5 months post-partum. This pregnancy has been a little bit easier as far as the morning sickness goes but I've had to take it easy a lot more. My body just isn't as strong as it was the first time around and it just seems to be a bit worn down. I just didn't really have time to get back into shape or tone anything up after having Tatum.
I'm anxious to have this baby and get back into shape, though! I want to run and have a normal exercise routine! Unfortuneatly, for now, I've been put on limited activity "bed rest". I can still work, which is nice because my job isn't physically strenuous and it's only 3 hours per day and 4 days per week. I just can't exercise, lift things, or doing any sort of physical activity, at least until the end of the month. My Doctors think I have a low-lying placenta right now and we're hoping for it to rise as the pregnancy progresses. Until then, I'm advised to have limited activity. It's pretty boring, to say the least but I'm following all of my Doctor's orders. :)
I'm just hoping and praying for the best and I'm confident that there's next to no chance that I would have another full-term stillbirth due to an umbilical cord knot. The chances are slim to nothing that it could happen again. Plus, I'm being monitored much more closely this time.
In fact, just today I was at Quest Diagnostics having my blood drawn and tested for multiple preventative things. They took approximately 10 viles of blood from me today. 10! I stopped counting after 7 because it was making me light headed but, it was a lot! All I know is that I feel I'm getting the very best care and things seem to be going well so far.

Tyson and I are still having the hardest time coming up with a name that we love for this baby girl!

??????

Any suggestions? I've already had a million suggestions and lots are cute. Nothing has stuck yet, though. We'll see.

Monterey Bay, 3-Year Anniversary!

So many Sea Lions!! We loved this trip! The weather was perfect and it wasn't too crowded. It was such a relaxing trip!









Tyson took this pic of me watching the Sea Lions.
They were everywhere!



The Aquarium was so cool! I hadn't been there since I was a kid. I loved it.








We got some great pictures at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! These jellyfish were beautiful!

I need to get back into blogging!

I'm terrible about updating this thing! Lately, I upload all of my pictures onto facebook because it's so darn easy! I really want to have my photos tell a story though. I think that blogging is such a neat way to share experiences with people. I just need to designate time for it, I suppose. Is it just me or are there TOO many things that require a designated time? Exercise, grocery shopping, household chores, lesson plans, callings, blogging, etc. Some day I'll figure it all out! ;)

Tyson and I just celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary on July 27. We spent a few days in Monterey to celebrate. It was so nice, the weather was beautiful and we were walking distance from everything. We stayed at the Portola Hotel and Spa. It was the perfect location. We were able to walk to Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row, the Aquarium, and Down Town. It was so relaxing.

This summer we decided to take a few trips around California instead of one BIG trip like we usually do. That way we can spread out our vacation time and vacation money!
So far, we've traveled to San Diego, Holly Wood, and Monterey and next on our list is a RUSH concert in San Francisco. It's been such a fun summer!