glucose tolerance test

i got the call from dr. d's office yesterday while i was at sam's. i passed!! 3 1/2 hours at the dr's office paid off! praise God for no gestational diabetes and a healthy baby girl!

happy 28 weeks bella joy!

glucose screening

i'm 27 weeks today! yesterday i had my glucose screening (a pre-test to check for gestational diabetes). dr. d's office just called and let me know that mine came back a little high. so now monday i will return to dr. d's office for a glucose tolerance test. this test lasts 3 hours. when i arrive at 830 (after fasting since midnight) they will take my blood once. then i drink a magic potion. then i wait an hour and have my blood taken again. then i wait another hour and have it taken again. and then i wait yet one more hour to have it taken again! please pray that this crazy long test provides us with happy non-gestational diabetes results.

after dr. d's nurse called, i read a little about the test and the "disease" and when it said something about y0ur body not producing enough insulin (which i guess i should have known!) i thought...i wonder if there is a corelation....gestational diabetes and pcos?! i haven't found a definite answer, so if you know, i'd love for you to share your wisdom! and if you failed your glucose screening and had to go onto the glucose tolerance test, i'd love to know that too!

80 jalapenos

on my lunch break i took a stroll on over to walmart in search of jalapenos. i purchased 80 and for a great cause.

you see the gilliland family loves to eat and my daddy is always finding (or making up) new recipes to try out on us.

several years ago he busted out a recipe for stuffed jalapenos and our family will never be the same.

usually you need about 20 jalapenos for a batch. start by cutting them in half (long-ways) and removing the seeds. i recommend that you wear gloves for this task or wash your hands ridiculously well afterward. if you do not you may have some serious burning taking place when you touch parts of your body (ie. your eye, nose, etc.)

only 3 more ingredients:

• 1 lb of sausage
• 1 8 oz package of cream cheese
• 1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese

brown the sausage and drain the grease. combine the hot, cooked sausage with the cream cheese and Parmesan cheese. fill the seedless jalapeno halves with the yummy goodness. bake at 400 for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown on top. ENJOY!

bella and i are very excited that my daddy (her poppy) will be using these 80 jalapenos to create this magical food for us in just a few days!

miracle baby girl

in this post i promised to tell the story of why our sweet baby bella joy is such a miracle...

you see, when i was about 14 years old doctors began telling me that i would not have children. (yeah, i don't recommend telling 14 year old girls this regardless of how accurate your information is). i always knew i wanted to be a momma to lots of babies so when folks began telling me so early that it was not going to happen for me i developed a heart for africa and the sweet orphans that live there and knew that someday i would adopt.

when i was a freshman (i think) at western (i know i was in duc when my dad called to tell me what the doctors had called to tell him) i was officially diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome* and doctors began telling me that if i was able to have children it likely would not happen without the help of fertility treatments. at this point in my life, my walk with the Lord had been established and i knew that even if i could have my own children that i still wanted to adopt.

*polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos) is an endocrine disorder that affects approximately 5% of all women. it occurs amongst all races and nationalities, is the most common hormonal disorder among women of reproductive age (12-45years old), and is a leading cause of infertility. the principle features are obesity, anovulation (resulting in irregular menstration) acne, and excessive amounts or effects of androgenic(masculinizing) hormones. the symptoms and severity of the syndrome vary greatly among women. while the causes are unknown, insulin resistance, diabetes, and obesity are all strongly correlated with pcos....or at least thats what wikipedia says :)

so when adam and i began seriously dating and talking marriage i had to tell him about my disease. it was not an easy conversation (especially because he was preparing to leave for cleveland and i was in tampa). i told him that i knew he wanted to have his own children but that if he were to marry me that it may not happen. i told him how (if possible) i wanted to have 4 children, 2 adopted and 2 biological. he told me that he didn't care if we could never have our "own" children and that it didn't change the way he felt about me.

fast forward to july 16, 2009. adam and i had been married for 8 months and 8 days when dr. hewitt called me at the medical center to inform me that we were indeed expecting and even he was surprised that this girl with pcos who wasn't trying to conceive a child had done just that!

we obviously were not planning to have a child 8 months (+9ish months) into marriage, but God had different plans for our sweet family. we are so so so thankful that He has blessed us with our sweet miracle baby girl.

25 week update!

how far along: 25 WEEKS!!!!
total weight gain/loss: still not telling, but hello, you can see my huge belly!
maternity clothes: yes, however i did by a non-maternity sweater/pullover thingy the other day cause it was so cute that i wanted to still be able to wear it when bella arrives.
stretch marks: sadly yes. i'm using the magic stretch mark lotion...but it doesn't seem to be working.
sleep: somehow, i think i'm sleeping a little better lately. i don't know if it is because i'm used to sleeping with a watermelon by my side, or if i'm really just that tired.
best moment this week: getting furniture in bella's room and watching her move through my shirt. adam and i just crack up at this!
movement: yes, we can feel her and see her moving and we love it!
food cravings: same ol' stuff really. i realized that for the most part, if someone else cooks it, i'll eat it.
gender: GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
name: isabella joy elizabeth jochim
labor signs: still nope.
belly button in or out? in...but i have a feeling that it won't be for much longer...it is disappearing as the days progress.
what i miss: people not saying inappropriate (often rude) things to me about how huge i am. oh, and i miss not crying at the drop of a hat!
weekly wisdom: i have baby brain...no wisdom here.
milestones: we are 2 weeks from being in the 3rd and final trimester...which totally blows my mind! she will be here before we know it!

bella's room gets furniture!

this weekend my awesome momma and daddy delivered the furniture that they purchased for their 2nd granddaughters room! daddy and adam put it together while momma and i shopped. we are very very pleased with the finished product and now we just need stuff to hang on the walls!

cutie changing table/dresser and my dorky face!
her happy little crib! the stripies in the crib that are like rainbow colored are the bumper and crib skirt that adam's momma made for bella! she is one loved little girl already!

25 week update coming wednesday!! seriously, can i already be 2 weeks from my 3rd and final trimester!?!?!?!?!

two sweet little ones

today is a big day for two little ones that i know and love dearly. please be praying for them.

caroline is having a palate lengthening surgery today in north carolina. adam and i are staying with her 3 older siblings while her mommy and daddy are with her at levine childrens hospital. you can read more about caroline on her caringbridge site at www.caringbridge.org/visit/carwile

spencer is having a palate reconstruction surgery today and vanderbilt. he will be a year old at the end of this month! you can find out more about him on his momma's blog at www.borderspatrol.blogspot.com

please be praying for these sweet children and their families today. praise God that he is the Great Physician!

bella joy's new paint job

last weekend, amanda and andrew headed to bg to help paint their very first nieces nursery. thought you may wanna see some results :)

mommy and daddy in our baby girls room.

we are so pleased with how it turned out!!!! what do you think!?

mini update

last night as adam and i watched the colts play (he watched, i kinda listened as i read a great book by dr. russell moore called adopted for life) i started to feel bella move. any time i do, adam rushes over to try to feel for himself. well, last night was the first time that she was finally big and strong enough to let her daddy feel her move! lots of times i'll say "did you feel that?" and he'll say "well, i thought i felt something but i didn't know if it was just you breathing." but this time i knew he felt it! it felt like a big move for me and as soon as i felt it, his eyes got huge and he looked at me and said "WAS THAT IT!?" and we laughed joyfully together. a few minutes later he even got to feel her move again.

we love this baby girl so much.

happy anniversary!

yesterday, adam and i celebrated one year of marriage. we had a sweet day of rest and reflecting on everything that we have seen in the past year. for those of you who do not know, here is the story of how adam and i began.

january 08-we officially met (although i knew who he was). we rode to nashville together in the back of a yaris (with another person in the back as well) to eat dinner at pf changs for carly's birthday.

february 08-valentine's day weekend...pretty close to the same group travels to nashville together again to play laser tag and to play at the parthenon. lots of funny things happened while we were there. when we returned to bg, a few of us went to carly's to watch ratatouille. i fall asleep in movies, and this night was no exception. (much later adam told me that i was touching his shoulder in my sleep, and i promise i didn't know it!)

the next night we ended up hanging out with adam again. and throughout the week i couldn't stop thinking about him so of course, i wrote him a facebook message! we started talking through facebook messages multiple times a day and watching lost on dvd at night.

one week after laser tag in nashville, adam came to watch lost-we talked-he held my hand :) (let me remind you that adam jochim had never had a girlfriend before, so this was a very bold move!) the next day i was determined that i would not call him and he finally called me at around 4pm. we watched lost some more and talked some more.

february 23, 2008-adam asked me on our first date by saying "do you have plans for lunch tomorrow after church?" i said no. "well...you wanna go?" i agreed to go and then he said..."ok, i'm gonna hug you now." so awkwardly funny! we love it!

february 24, 2008-adam and i have our first date at o'charley's. it was fantastic. afterward we had a long talk in the car and he asked me to be his girlfriend.

the next few weeks we spent time together nearly daily. we had both made clear that we wouldn't date just to date and would end our relationship if at any point we didn't feel that it was leading to a marriage relationship. we also made a promise that we would not kiss until we knew for certain that we would spend our lives together.

june 17, 2008-after a long day of babysitting a sweet little girl, adam jochim asked me to be his wife! and we get busy planning our big day!

november 8, 2008-we vowed to spend our lives together and said our "i do's".


it was fast. the past year has not been all easy. but yesterday as we reflected on our year, we decided that we would never have traded those not easy moments for anything. we've grown closer this year. we bought our first house. and God has blessed us with a sweet little miracle baby girl. (if you don't know the story about why our baby girl is SUCH a mircale, i'll share it on another day.)

adam, i am so thankful for our first year of marriage and can't wait to see what the next year holds for us. i do praise God for you and am so thankful for your heart, your patience, and your leadership. i love you sweet husband.

week 20 update! :)

how far along: 20ish weeks (19 weeks and 4 days?)

total weight gain/loss: i have an idea, but i'm not gonna tell :)

maternity clothes: yep. exclusively.

stretch marks: still nope.
sleep: not sleeping super great still...even in my cage of pillows.
best moment this week: seeing our sweet baby for the very first time!

movement: yes indeed and its incredible!

food cravings: cereal. mexican.

gender: GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
name: isabella joy elizabeth jochim. bella for short. daddy will call her izzy.
labor signs: thankfully, no.
belly button in or out? in
what i miss: liking food. and brushing my teeth and blowing my nose without nearly puking.

weekly wisdom: some folks give more thorough ultrasounds than others.

milestones: uhhh...knowing that our baby is a girl and seeing her...and feeling her move on a very consistent basis.

we are so so so so thankful for this sweet little miracle!

best weekend ever!

we had an awesome anniversary getaway weekend. we spontaneously decided to leave on thurday evening instead of friday morning. we got to a happy little holiday in express in newport at about 11pm. we got some rest and didn't have to wake up crazy early to drive to newport, which was great! we ate breakfast and headed to the aquarium. we had such a fun day! we made 2 good loops through the aquarium and stopped to see the piranhas, otters, and penguins eat and we fed the lorikeets (which i was not a fan of!). by 3 i was ready to leave so we headed to west chester to check into our other hotel. we ate dinner at pf changs (my favorite!) and ate a lot! lettuce wraps, sweet and sour chicken, crispy honey chicken, brown rice, and mini desserts. after dinner we made a loop through ikea (my other favorite!) and then headed back to the hotel to snuggle the night away. we caught most of juno on hbo and slept like babies again.
saturday morning we had breakfast and spent our day at ikea. we got lots of fun things for baby j and some fun things for our parts of the house too. sunday my sweet niece and her momma and daddy participated in family dedication at church so mom and dad came down and it was another great day! monday morning adam and i were so sad to leave each other after our great long weekend together. here are just a few pictures from the weekend.

our sweet little family of 3. (baby update to come...saturday hopefully, but monday at the latest)

adam's favorite part of the aquarium was the sharks...although you may not be able to tell from this picture :)

i got to pet a starfish! and sharks! but this is the starfish.

adam feeding the lorikeet. he didn't mind it. i did!

baby j's first piece of furniture! we have the room completely cleaned out now, except stuff that will be in there for him/her.

happy (my) friday!

all week adam and i have been looking forward to this day! it is our friday for the week! tomorrow morning we will leave for our (2 week early) anniversary getaway! we are so excited to getaway from bg for a couple of days and to just be together. so tomorrow morning we will head toward cincinnati with a stop in newport to visit the aquarium. i have never in my life been to an aquarium...unless you count walking through the aquarium restaurant in nashville (which i do not). after our fun day of penguins and lorikeets and fishies of many types, we'll head to west chester and eat at pf changs and then head to our happy little room at the hampton inn. saturday morning we will wake up (without an alarm) and eat our hotel breakfast and make the .5 mile trip down the road to....you guessed it! IKEA! :) we will get lots of happy things for our new house and for our new baby! a recap of the weekend is to come.

then next week, that is right-NEXT WEEK we find out what our baby is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (pending the cooperation of baby j).

insurance update :)

after a fun weekend camping with adam's family, we returned to our happy little home in alvaton. upon arrival, i asked adam to get the mail. he returned with a letter from guidestones (a place where employees of a southern baptist church are able to recieve insurance coverage). after reviewing my application, they have APPROVED me for medical coverage!!!!!!! we won't go into debt to deliver our sweet baby!!!!!! praise the Lord!!!! :)

week 15 update

i got this from another blog. this is how i will give baby updates.

how far along: 15 weeks and 2 days :)

total weight gain/loss: there is definitely a gain, but i'm trying not to look when they weigh me at my appointments, cause i don't really want to know!

maternity clothes: nope, cause i don't have any, but unless my bottoms are elastic waisted, i have to wear my belly band.

stretch marks: nope.

sleep: not sleeping great at night. i always sleep great on the couch for naps, but as soon as its time for bed sleep is no longer good.

best moment this week: heard baby j's heartbeat for the second time.

movement: as i've never been pregnant before, i can't be sure, but i think i am feeling little movements.

food cravings: i crave eating out. funny, i know. i don't want anything i cook, except sometimes chili or taco soup. i hate looking at raw meat!

gender: we will find out (pending cooperation of baby) on october 30!!!

name: we have a girl name and a boy name and we reveal the name when we know what the baby is.

labor signs: thankfully, no.

belly button in or out? in

what i miss: sleeping well, head ache free head, and painfree upper back.

weekly wisdom: each day that i carry this sweet babe is a gift from God alone. even in the midst of crappy sleep and nausea, i praise Him for creating this child!

milestones: i thought i was over my morning (read-all day) sickness....but then it came back :)

please continue to pray for our sweet baby j. dr. d told me this week that he recommends that i get a seasonal flu and h1n1 vaccine. i don't want to. but i'm going to.

fall: just around the corner

its mid september. fall will be here before we know it! i love fall. it is without a doubt my favorite season. sure the snow of winter is pretty and the new leaves of spring are great. yeah, i love to swim in the summer. but there is nothing like fall. here are my favorite things about my favorite season.

• scarves (wearing, knitting, crocheting)


• leaves (the colors, jumping in them)


• pumpkins


• apple cider slushies


• hay rides


• bon fires


• sweaters and cardigans


• jacksons orchard


• fall getaway (once upon a time i looked very forward to our crusade fall getaways)


• thanksgiving


• pumpkin pie


• pumpkin carving


• the cooler weather


• pumpkin muffins


• tall socks


• taco soup


• pumpkin ice cream


• fall festival


• the medical center 10k classic (although my preggo self will not be participating this year)


• pumpkin spice lattes


• ok, lets be honest-all things pumpkin

what are your favorite things about fall?

9/11/01

on facebook today, everyone has a status about 8 years ago today. i do not. but i'm thinking about it.

i was a senior at tell city high school and standing in senior hall way when my best friend kathryn came to me and said "emily, a plane just hit one of the world trade center towers." i said "oh kathryn, i'm sure it was an accident." then i went to my second period ceramics class. mrs. hatfield had the radio on, and we listened as the second plane hit and the first tower fell. after class was over, i ran to find kathryn and told her i was sorry i made light of it before. we watched all day. in fear. we watched the next day too. in fear. kathryn and i (along with her little brother david) went to their house for lunch and i called mom. we were in disbelief.

i wasn't walking with the Lord then, so i really had no way of knowing true hope.

i really will never forget that day, or the coversations that were had, just like i'll remember that i was in the library with mr. morton at tell city junior high during the oj simpson verdict.

i'm so thankful that 8 years later i know hope. i have hope. and i know that even in the midst of tragedy and trials, God is still good. and i am so thankful.

where were you 8 years ago today?

home sweet home

just a few pictures of our happy new home. we are getting settled and i think its coming along quite nicely. we have stuff to get sell if you wanna come over and see it!

ok. so a few months ago when i changed jobs and began working at the church, we also changed insurance. i worked with the man that the church recommended and got our insurance stuff in order. i made clear that we would need maternity coverage (although we weren't expecting to be expecting this soon).

fast forward to july when we get our happy news that we are, in fact, expecting. the appointments begin. and all kinds of bills started to arrive. i contacted the man that the church recommended and after looking over our application he noticed that the box for maternity coverage didn't get checked. the box didn't get checked. he said he would do his best to get it straightened out. i just got the call. he didn't get it straightened out. the insurance company denied us. so here i am, 12 weeks pregnant, without maternity coverage.

weekends make me happy

i'm so excited about the long weekend that i could cry!!!

after a slight modification in our plans, we are ready to rock!

friday: hot rods game with 3 of 4 carwile kids.
saturday: rise early to head to audubon state park to play and camp with adam's fam.
sunday: lechner (my mom's) family reunion and back to bg.
monday: PEI WEI!!!!!!!

thank you Lord for this happy weekend of fun with family and friends!

heart beat

well, yesterday was probably the best day of my life to date. i heard our sweet little bean's heart beat for the very first time! it was the most beautiful sound i had ever heard and i fought back tears as dr. d confirmed that that was indeed what i was hearing.

the house is coming along nicely. i've taken a few pictures and will post some soon. last night adam put my sewing nook together while i was at a meeting at church. what a sweet sweet hubby i have! :)

official

well, we slept in our very own house last night. it was on an air matress, with nothing else in the house (besides some boxes), but we slept and woke up in our very own house. as we paint and make things pretty, i'll show you pictures.

in other news. i'm 9 weeks today. nausea may as well be my middle name, but it will so be worth it just a few short months from now!

lylah mae mattingly

my sweet niece was born yesterday, august 7, 2009 at 322 pm.  she weighed in at 7 lbs 14 1/2 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.  she is awesome.  i am so in love!

she's on her way!

my sister called at 215 am to tell me that her water broke! i've never been so excited about a wake up call in all my life!! i met them at med center and about 2 hours later mom and dad got here.

and now we wait....


more to come soon! :)

please be praying...

today is a big day in the life of someone close to me. please be praying for the logan family as their youngest son, Alex is deploying to iraq today. pray for safety. pray for a peace that surpasses all understanding. pray that he'll be a light in a very dark place.


in other news, i saw our baby yesterday!!! he/she is TINY, but the folks at dr. davis' office seemed pleased with all they saw.

my sweet neice, lylah mae, should be here any day now too. today is the first day of school and my sis sure did go, but we are hoping that lylah will decide to enter this world after school gets out today!!!

a big change is coming

well folks, last week i had a great time at j-creek with the living hope middle schoolers. i had the best room of 8th grade girls and enjoyed worship multiple times a day. it was a very refreshing week if i do say so myself.

before we left for camp though, i was having some pain in my abdomen and called the doctor to see if they could get me in. they had no openings until this week. so i went to camp in pain. on thursday, the pain became so intense that i couldn't function. so i called the doctor only to discover that the three docs in the practice were out for the afternoon. luckily one of those doctors is a member at our church so my boss/the high school pastor called him. he said that i needed to get back to bg and head on over to the medical center to see what was wrong. when i arrived they did some tests and we waited for the doctor to call with the results. (you see, he wasn't at the hospital, he was on the lake.) after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, he finally called.

dr: "well emily, we've discovered what is causing all of your pain."
me: "yeah?"
dr: "it looks like you've had some cysts that have ruptured."
me: "ok..."
dr: "usually i would give you some pain medicine, but i can't because you are pregnant"
me: "SERIOUSLY!? LIKE ARE YOU SURE?!?! I MEAN REALLY?!?!?"
dr: "yes, you are. you hcg number has to be 50 for pregnancy and yours is reading 156."

so there you have it. the jochims will soon become 3! it is very early in the pregnancy (probably about 5 weeks) and they have checked my hcg levels 2 more times this week (the latest was 3575, less than a week after the first! :)) i have an appointment on monday and we will hopefully get a due date there. we are very excited, very surprised, and were very much not trying. but God knows best and we are so thankful for that! so please join us and many others in praying for baby j(ochim). pray that he or she will grow to full term. pray that God would be glorifed throughout the pregnancy and in the birth of this sweet one. and GET EXCITED!!!!!

coming soon.

an update. i promise. be on the watch.

the weekend, and a little before then too

first, let me start by saying i made 3 new things for dinner this week. i'm going to try to start taking pictures of my dishes and posting recipes for yummy things. this will probably not happen until i have my new larger kitchen.

friday night we had a few friends over to play games...

cbev is one of those. this is the last weekend that i will see this sweet friend for at least 6 months. she is going to east asia to share the love of Christ with those who do not have access to it otherwise.

kasey & jr are sweet friends of ours. we spent friday and saturday evenings with them. we love spending time with them!

ok, this isn't game night, but it is the night before. last week we did vbs at an apartment complex in bg that has people from all over the world. these are some sweet burmese friends.

saturday evening we also attended the wedding of our friends lucas and amanda. it was outside and it was beautiful! this is amanda and her daddy walking down the aisle.

our weekend was so great. the best we've had in a while. we relaxed and spent much needed time with our friends. saturday we slept until 10am!!!!!!! and we took a nap before the wedding!!! it was so needed.

home sweet home...soon

we found a house. its in alvaton, just a few minutes outside bg. we are really excited to make this place our home and can't wait to get closing over with and get moved in. our scheduled closing date is august 11th, which is just the day before my sweet niece is DUE to enter this world. what a great week that will be! here are some photos to give you an idea.

front of house.

big big yard! (we actually need some help to know how big it actually is, pretty sure pva is wrong.)


back of house.

dining room.

kitchen. wonderfully big kitchen!

kitchen again. the border will go. no offense to anyone who has it.

a bedroom.

another bedroom.

living room...with current owners stuff in it.

there is another bedroom...and a garage and a bath and a half. but these pictures are all for now. painting parties are to come, and moving parties soon after! :)

sushi!!!

this past weekend, adam and i went to s. indiana to visit the fam. when we arrived at amanda and andrews on thursday evening, andrew was busy putting together a glorious feast for he and i. it was fantastic, and i can't wait to try to make some on my own!!!!

isn't it beautiful!?!?! adam even tried it. i was so proud!

17 J's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a while ago, i posted about wanting a j wall. so i've been searching, and you've been searching and i now have 17 j's!!!!! take a looksie.

from ashmill. (she affectionatly named this one "poop-j")

i got these 3 in cali.

happy birthday to me, from carly!

all of the j's on the kitchen table, not the wall...yet.