Big Changes

We moved!

The new house:

Ok, so let me back this story up and start from the “why” we decided to move.  Some of you may be wondering if we are a couple of crazy people over here just loving to constantly have big life changing events happen to us (baby, dog, we moved a year ago)

As I have mentioned before, me having a baby was always a giant “maybe”…I have a hereditary heart condition and it was always thought that being pregnant might not be possible due to the strain it could put on my heart. After we got married we visited doctors and got the ok to get pregnant, but I was followed VERY closely by high risk doctors and had to stop taking one of my medicines while I was pregnant.

Other then being super uncomfortable, carpal tunnel…etc, etc, etc (pretty normal) pregnancy stuff everything seemed to be going ok until about 8 months pregnant. It was at that point that my heart function started to decrease, which the doctors had expected so it wasn’t some huge surprise, and I started retaining water more.  Fast forward…I delivered Ellie and everything went pretty smooth, again I was monitored heavy and had to stay in the hospital a few days extra.  The thought and hope was that my heart function would increase after Ellie was born and my body had a chance to get back to normal. 

That didn’t happen…at my one month appointment my heart function had not increased, so  I had to go back on the medicine I used to take before pregnancy and return to see later.  At three months after delivery my heart function had slowly increased (which is good) but not as much as they had hoped.  In the meantime I found out my thyroid was also all kinds of crazy which can influence your heart function…so long story short…I started some other meds and have to go back to cardiologist in a month in the hopes that my heart function has increased further and my stupid thyroid has gotten back into check!

Blah…sorry, super long story!!!

Ok…so what does this have to do with moving???

As some point in that story Joe and I had long discussions with my doctors and with each other about the possibility of having another baby.  We had always wanted to have at least two kids and have them pretty close together in age, not to mention I am already 33 years old so my body is only getting older (duh) and not as quick to recover or as easy to get pregnant.  Anyway,  after much deliberation, tears, long late night discussions, more tears…we decided Ellie should be the only baby for us.  My doctors really feel like it would be a huge strain to put my heart through again.  Things could go ok, but they could also go bad and I might be left with two babies and they might be left with a mommy that has no energy for anything and a failing heart. We just don’t feel like risking my life is worth that…we want Ellie to have us both around.  We are aware of adoption and surrogacy and haven’t completely ruled those out (although, holy crap-o, both are pretty darn expensive!!) We are also so so so extremely grateful that I was able to carry and deliver one healthy baby and feel like we need to just focus on that and move forward.

Which brings me, finally, to why we moved!

We both really wanted me to be able to stay home with Ellie the majority of the time so our first reason for moving to my hometown is because it is way more affordable.  We downsized slightly in our house, and love the new house so much!!! We are able to better afford things and have me stay home. The other reason we decided to move is because I have a ton of family here.  Two of my cousins had babies within a month of Ellie, so we felt strongly about having family around for her to grow up with.  It is a smaller community, which we like also.  There is also far less traffic, which isn’t a reason, but it is still really nice!

We put our house on the market and in 2 days we were in contract and a month later it was sold!  We couldn’t believe how fast things went but it made it feel even more like it was meant to be.  We (my dad) found our new house and we haven’t looked back.

So…super long story, but that is why we decided to move…and we are happy we did.  There is plenty we miss, but it is not far away so we can still enjoy so much of what we loved there. 

Now that the dust has settled and I am home with Ellie I am hoping to carve out some more time to post what we are up to.  Thanks for still reading if anyone actually is!

And I will leave you with this sweet little face…6 months old and getting way too big already!!!!