Heart break

We had some very hard and sad news on Friday 15th February. I wrote an email to some of our friends and it's the easiest way to journal it here too...

Dear Friends,

It’s with a heavy heart we send this email to you; unfortunately it does not bring good news about our little bambino. We went for a routine scan (at 21 weeks) on Friday (15^th Feb) at Whyalla Hospital. It became clear quite quickly that things were not going well for bambino. They found a few things they were concerned with. There was extra fluid on the brain, some issues with the spine and they thought there might be a cleft lip/pallet. They made an appointment for us immediately in Adelaide for Monday morning. So this past weekend was pretty crap as we waited thinking about what could be happening for our little bambino and to hear a second opinion. We had done a little bit of research with the small amount of information we had and we thought that maybe they were concerned that bambino had spina bifida.

We had our appointment yesterday (Monday 18^th Feb) and after 3 hours of ultra sound and meeting with the Doctors and Midwife it is all bad news. They think that bambino has a genetic condition known as Trisomy 13 or 18. It’s on the extreme end of genetic disorders with the baby having a number of different problems. There are some deformities of the hands and feet, a cleft face and pallet; scoliosis and extreme brain formation problems. There is a possibility that I will have a miscarriage but they said more likely that the baby would die during birth or shortly thereafter. This is the most likely diagnosis but we will not know for certain until we have the results of an amniocentesis that we will have done next Tuesday (and even then it’s a couple of weeks waiting for those results). We went to have that test done today but because my placenta was obstructing where they needed to extract the fluid we will come back next week. We also meet with a cardiologist for them to do an ECHO (which from what I can understand is a special heart ultrasound) on bambino on Monday.

As you can imagine we are absolutely shattered and heart broken.  If you are someone who prays we would really appreciate your prayer support. We are likely to be travelling to Adelaide (from Whyalla…which is around 4 hours each way) every 2-3 weeks for a check-up/monitor at the clinic at the Woman’s and Children’s hospital in Adelaide. At 34 weeks (mid May) I’ll come to Adelaide and wait to deliver here.  As a lot of you are aware, Tim has literally just started his work in Whyalla. The congregation have been very supportive but I am really worried for Tim with the load of travelling back and forward for appointments and doing his work. 

We were able to find out that Bambino is a little boy and will be naming him in the coming weeks so we can bond with him as much as possible.

If you do happen to text or email, Thank you and please bear with us as we get back to you, we are pretty physically and emotionally exhausted even in these first few days and we know the next weeks, months…year(s) will be pretty tough, but we appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Much love

Loz and Tim xxx

Since writing this email we have had the echo and the heart is generally fine. We were also able to have the amnio successfully and we are now waiting for the results. Every day is different but our hearts are slightly lighter now then what they were a week ago. But it is going to be a long few weeks, months....year(s)

#52lists

Best Snacks...

 Things I do Everyday...

Another couple of fun lists.

Check out some more at Pip's place

our new home

We've been slowly getting our boxes unpacked. We did really well the first few days and now we are going a bit slower...but we have unpacked all the things we use everyday. Here are some photos of our place. One of the best things is the storage,in built wardrobes in each room and all have at least one mirror panel.

The back cave or rather my craft nook/one of the spare rooms...I am looking forward to finding a little wardrobe or bookcase to sit beside my desk to store my crafts supplies...having the inbuilt wardrobe helps with some of the storage!

Tim's domain! (which is connected to the "back cave") His work study...it is quite large and has some couches at the other end of the room for meetings and visits.

The lounge area, a great space and our couches fit really well. We've put our white book case off of the wall so it sections off the dining area and lounge, because it's a really large space and it doesn't cramp the space.

The dining area (the white bookcase is to my left in this photo)

The Kitchen...I think it might be triple to size of our old kitchen...it's fantastic!

The other spare room (bigger than the back cave, a very generous size room)

Bambino's room...which needs the most work :)

The bathroom

...and our room! 

Lots of little bits to work on and make it our own...eg painting our room...that isn't just a feature wall. The wall opposite our bed is the same colour...It's not my favourite but we are able to paint so that will be one of our projects in the next couple of months

We're enjoying making it our own and it is such a blessing to have so much space...for instance we had 8 other adults and a bubba here on the weekend...and it wasn't squishy, there are 2 toilets and 2 showers too.

Good times!

some thoughts on our new town

Tim and I as we made our way into Whyalla for the first time :)...as you can see a windy day!

We have been here in Whyalla for just over 2 weeks now. We are slowly settling in. The first week was pretty tough, it was pretty overwhelming to have all our things dropped off and then start the big unpack. I felt like I wanted to cry all the time. But that has subsided for now...I only want to cry some of the time ;) 

We have started checking out the restaurants and cafes for coffee/hot chocolate, which aren't many but we have tried the Chinese restaurant, the beach side cafe, the cafe at the uni...all have been pretty good!

Tim has said a number of times that he thinks he could really enjoy living in this town and I think I can too. It's nice to hear him say that.

We have a lovely house (which I'll share some photos in the next couple of days of what we have down so far with the spaces, it has been fun to set our things in their places and make this house our home)

There are many positives: It only takes 5 minutes to drive...anywhere. It is a really flat town so very easy to ride my bike around (which I did today!), The people Tim will be working with have been very welcoming, it's not too far from my family and Tim's sister (and they visited just this weekend), the Doctor's surgery we were recommended is great! The doctor I saw was lovely! Very thorough and friendly and there is a nurse I can see too. They also helped me sort all my appointments for bambino and it was very helpful (we have our next scan on Friday)

So all in all it's been a positive, some days are harder then others but that's all part of the adjustment. We don't hate it here...so that's a start :)

Have you ever been in a new place? How did you feel?

Project 11 #28 Projects

I wanted to revamp a couple of pieces I bought at the OP shop...both quite some time ago. This little desk I saw out the front of a "junk" shop about 4 or 5 years ago. I think I paid $20 for it. 

I got a voucher from Spotlight for Christmas so I went and got some paint and got to painting. I did two coats and painted it over two days. I like the way it turned out but I don't think the paint was the right one...because when I've already chipped a bit...perhaps a coat of lacquer...but for now I like it and I think it'll be a nice nook for sewing :)

Our last weeks in Adelaide

After all the business of finishing work, Christmas, packing up and cleaning our little unit. We were able to have a really lovely holiday. I received a voucher to go to Gold Class for my birthday (in March!) and so we finally booked it and went and saw the Hobbit! It was great. We enjoyed the decadence and the treat. We went on New Years Eve day so it was a nice way to finish the year.

(and yes these are tickets for Les Mis for Gold Class, when we got to the Gold Coast to spend time with Tim's folks we asked if they wanted to go and see Les Mis, they did, and we worked out it was only going to be a couple more dollars to see it in Gold Class during the day...so we did...never mind the extra money we spent on the delicious snacks! Ha)

Just after our little unit was packed up we house sat Tim's sisters and her husbands place and out the back one of the neighbours sunflowers were just glorious!

We caught up on a couple of our dates that we hadn't got around to doing during the year! We went to the Drive in and saw Wreck it Ralph. We had such fun! And ate way too much candy...but it was so good! And we had only had our new car for a day so it was even more novel and fun!

We went and stayed at Mount Lofty House, which was a bit of a diversion to one of the dates we were going to go on earlier in the year...we were going to go have dinner at Mount Lofty Summit Restaurant ..but we went away for a night here instead...bit more expensive, but very lovely and relaxing!

We also went and had a look at the look at the Christmas lights which was our December date! There were maybe 4 dates we didn't get to in the end. One we couldn't do in the end because I was pregnant...and then we just didn't reorganise other plans.

We hung out with family and friends

(the photo I wanted to upload when I saw these friends!)

My sisters and I went on our yearly pilgrimage to savers...and we were not disappointed! 

We celebrated a special friends special birthday. It was a lovely party.

So now we are here in Whyalla making our house our home. I'll come back tomorrow to reflect on that :)

#52 Lists- Favourite Smells

Another great list to ponder- favourite smells!

This list isn't exhausted! Just ones I thought of in a few minutes!

Check out Pip's list and others who are playing along...here :)