Beautiful weekend and a loose cannon on a ship

This past week and weekend was stupendous.  It was a busy week, but totally worth it.  Earlier in the week McKay and I were able to attend Jenelle's endowment with the family.  Going to the temple once a month is a real challenge for McKay and I, the sad part is whenever I go I'm so glad I went.  I was so glad that we were able to attend the temple this week, especially when with what we were about to deal with later in the week.   

Thursday was an exciting/tough day.  It was exciting because I was leaving work early so we could head down to St. George.  It was tough because right before I left work I got a phone call from my OB that my test results from my Alpha Feto-protein Test came back abnormal.  This test tests for Down Syndrome, spina bifida, and other genetic problems.  So when the OB told me there's a change there might be something wrong with the baby, I was numb.  My doctor scheduled an appointment at McKay Dee Hospital with a Fetal Maternal Physician where we would meet with a genetic specialist and get a detailed ultrasound.  In tears I called my Mom and told her of the news.  She reassured me that those tests have a lot of false positives and that everything would be OK.  My Mom was so sweet to send a little e-mail to immediate family letting them know about our news and asked everyone to keep us in our prayers over the weekend.  McKay and I decided we wouldn't tell McKay's family because we didn't want to dampen the mood for Jenelle and Mark's wedding.  It was hard not being able to talk about it because we were surrounded by his family the entire weekend.  

Friday came around and it was a beautiful day, because it was a busy day, it helped McKay and I not to focus on the sad news we got the day before.  Jenelle and Mark got married in one of the sealing rooms that's in the Celestial Room, so all of us had to change into our white clothing.  It was special, small, and intimate.  I told McKay if I could redo our wedding again I would opt for a smaller more intimate wedding like theirs.  What a beautiful couple Jenelle and Mark are, they will definitely have beautiful babies.  After the ceremony was a luncheon, and a reception. 

On Saturday the girls spent a extensive amount of time at the D.I. where I found a army green colored leather jacket and two tops that will be very cute once I fix them.  The family decided to go hiking up Snow Canyon.  On our way back from the hike McKay and I both felt it was good time to tell his family of our heavy news.  It felt so good to be able to get it off our chests and be able to talk about it with people who we love.  I feel very blessed to have a family that is supportive, loving, and caring.  Everyone put their arms around us and told us how much they love us and how everything was going to be OK, no matter the outcome of the ultrasound.  We spent the rest of the afternoon hiking, going out to dinner, and watching a movie.

Sunday rolled around too fast and I felt the need to go to church.  I hate admitting this, but I always find it a drag to go to church while on vacation.  That is a terrible attitude and I knew I needed to go.  The speakers talked about faith and I really enjoyed their talk because I could apply it to my life at that very moment.  On the way home we stopped in Orem to drop off McKay's brother and his wife.  Before we departed the family decided to have a family prayer and a priesthood blessing to comfort me and bless the baby.  I could truly feel the love and power of families in that room.  We were really excited to pick up little Winston from my parents house, especially when my Mom would tell me how he had behaved so well and how he was getting along with Molly and Maisie.  My Mom made an authentic Irish corn beef and cabbage dinner with potatoes and carrots, yummy.  It was good to hang out with my 90 year old grandparents.  I heart them.  

Today was the day.  The day we were going to get our ultrasound to find out if there's something wrong with the baby.  I felt very lucky to have McKay there next to me.  I kept thinking to myself, the positive thing about all of this is that I'll be able to find out the sex of the baby sooner.  We met with the genetic specialist that went over my lab results and immediately asked me what my due date was, I told him August 30th, he told McKay and I on the lab results someone wrote in August 13th as my due date.  He told us that having the due date off by that many weeks can make a huge difference whether or not the Alpha Feto-protein test comes back normal or abnormal.  He was pretty sure this was the reason for our abnormal test results.  This relieved us of some of our worry, but he recommended us getting the ultrasound just in case.  We went into the ultrasound room and I got ready and McKay got comfy.  It was amazing seeing the baby and how it was moving all over the place.  I thought to myself, wow this baby acts a lot like me, it can't sit still for very long.  Just like my Mom would tell me when I was young, "Courtney, you're like a loose cannon on a ship!"  We could see its five fingers, feet, hands, brain, heart, and it's face (the face looked kind of scary, because we could only see the skeleton).  Everything looked healthy and normal.  We told the tech we wanted to know the sex of the baby. She looked and said, "we definitely don't see any boy parts, so I'm assuming it's most likely a girl."  We were both really excited, especially me because this entire time I was certain it was a girl and McKay thought it was a boy.  The technician measured the baby and with its measurements the hormone levels the baby was giving off was accurate with my test results.  So the doctor gave us a thumbs up that nothing was wrong with the baby, hearing that made the weight we had been carrying for the entire weekend go away.  I'm so grateful and thankful that our baby girl is normal and healthy.