Turkey Perfection

While it has definitely been a rough 6 months for us, we still have a lot to be thankful for this year and yesterday we entertained both our families at our home to celebrate my favorite holiday. (Surprise! It's not Halloween!) After scrambling to get the house put back together after our "renovations," the place looked great and the food couldn't have been better. Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves, especially the boys who chased Denver around all day! He's one tired puppy today!!

Changes

Well, a lot has been going on with the Binnings these past few days. Saturday we got our new carpet which looks fantastic, Sunday we started putting the house back together, and today I was laid off along with 4 other people. Awesome. The good news is that they are covering my medical insurance through June so I don't have to worry about paying to have this baby. The thing that worries me most is that I may not be able to find a job that will hire a 4 month preggo. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that Matt gets this job at Proctor & Gamble, which pays a lot better than where he is at now. And if anyone hears of any job openings, please send 'em my way.

All our love,
Matt and Jen

Home Sweet Home

I am finally back home after my "vacation" at lovely St. John's hospital!! I wish I could say that I feel fantastic, but it's definitely going to be a recovery process. They sent me home on antibiotics, steroids, acid reflux meds, a plethra of other OTC junk, as well as with a prescription for Vicodin, which I hope I won't have to use... Unfortunately, as much progress as I had made on Monday and Tuesday was kinda negated by yesterday's experience with solid food. I realize that it's just going to take some time for my gut to heal.

While the last 2 months has been really tough, I feel better knowing that I hadn't been exposing the baby to all of these treatments during such an important time in his/her development. But what it really boils down to is that I was too stubborn to admit that I needed more medical attention and that allowed the pain to just get out of control. I may regret this later, but I hope that the little bugger got some of this trait because that means he/she will continue to fight to get as big and healthy as he/she can be. Thanks again for all the company and well wishes. It has definitely been appreciated by us both. Well, I'm tuckered out, so I'll talk to everyone later!

Helluva Coupla Days

So I know Jen usually does these things but there are things the out of towners need to know. As most of you know, this pregnancy has not been easy on Jen. On Sunday night she had really, really bad, sharp pain in her lower right abdomen. After failing to wish the pain away, (she's one tough woman!) we decided it was time to take her to the ER. They admitted her and started doing some testing. FOR THE RECORD, THE BABY IS OK. It turns out that she had a pretty bad Crohn's attack. It was the worst I had ever seen it. Apparently it can be stress induced as well as other factors (I think having half our house torn apart for over two weeks now counts). The doctors have her hopped up on morphine for the pain and have increased her meds to clear up her bowels. There is still more testing to be done, but she has gotten a lot better. They are waiting for a stool sample to test, but I'm wondering how that's going to happen on a clear liquid diet. Anyway, we are not sure when she is being discharged from the hospital, hopefully Wednesday, maybe Thursday. The silver lining is that they are checking the baby's heartbeat twice a day, so that's pretty cool to hear.

Things are looking much better, but it's been a crazy couple of weeks. I know the stress I'm under and cannot imagine what it's like being pregnant on top of all this. If anyone would like to call her to check in, please do. She's starting to go crazy from boredom.

In other news, regarding the plumbing issues, the ditch has been filled in and they finished the concrete work today. There is still a big hole in the upstairs bathroom, but the carpet people are hopefully coming on Saturday for the downstairs (provided the concrete is set). So, for the STL people, if you can make it, on Sunday we are having a "Put my friggin house back together" party. We haven't set a time yet, but we'll let you know.

That's about all for now. I'm sure Jen will post more (medical) details later this week.
-Matt

Refugees

So, thanks to the wonderful generosity of family and friends, we have had a clean, stench-free place to stay with running water the last few days! Thursday night, Steve and Barb took all of us in, with the hope that it would have been our only night away from home. Regretfully, there was no good pipe yet to be found, so digging continued. Since then we have been staying with my folks with the exception of Saturday night when we stayed at Sam and Susan's. Lynn and Mike had generously offered their home for the Halloween party, since we could not accommodate. It was great to get away for the night and see everyone. Definitely a big stress reliever!! I hadn't really realized how edgy I had become by that point... So, I guess thanks are also in order for putting up with me!! But with all hope, tonight will be our last night away from home... The outdoor excavating and connection of the plumbing work should be complete tomorrow. We still won't have a floor, but it's a step in the right direction. I'm going to wrap this up since the fumes are starting to get to me...

Here are some random pics of the progress as well as one of the puppy playgroup that is just too cute!