Sunday, October 7, 2012

And the week ends on a high note

We had our anatomy ultrasound on Thursday.  And weren't we shocked and elated when the technician said that we were having a girl!

Her name will be Kathleen Rhea.  Kathleen--we will call her Kate or Katie for short--was Sean's mom's name.  Rhea (Ray) is my grandmother's maiden name. 

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After such a trying week, to see our little baby girl wiggling around on that screen and sticking her little hiney up in the air, watching her heartbeat and hearing that she looks absolutely healthy was a huge relief.

And suddenly my sadness and self pity about being diagnosed with thyroid cancer seemed to take a backseat to the happy news of our daughter.

On Friday, I had a wonderful talk with a friend of a friend about her experience with thyroid cancer.  She took me from feeling like my life could be over very soon to feeling like this is just a tiny speed bump.  My favorite thing that she said was, "I don't even really consider myself a cancer survivor."  That sentence has taken me miles in my healing journey because cancer is a total asshole but it's only as scary as your outlook.

Saturday was Dylan's 2nd birthday party!  We only invited parents, siblings, and Godparents in the hopes to keep the party low key.  But with just our immediate family there are 33 of us.  Luckily, everyone was really amazing and brought food and helped clean up and the party ended up being extremely stress-free for this mama.

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Photo of us by Rachel

I love this next one of Dylan beaming after blowing out his candle:

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I'm not sure who took this photo

Dylan played with his presents all day today and had a fabulous time at his party. More happiness added to our week.

Tomorrow morning we meet with my surgeon for the first time at Yale New Haven Hospital.  I'm not stressing about it, mostly because my wonderful midwife prescribed me some Wellbutrin to help with my increasing anxiety and I'm actually sleeping through the night these days.  This surgeon is the best of the best and I've got a good feeling about him after researching his background.

And lastly, my sisters are visiting from Californ-i-a for the week and so I am looking forward to spending time with them.  Dylan's actual birthday is on Wednesday and we will take him on his annual shopping trip to Toys'R'Us where he will get a balloon and an announcement over the loud speaker.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out to me this week with encouragement and prayers and love.  I feel you all squeezing me in your thoughts.