31 weeks- 4D Ultrasound

I had my three-hour glucose test for gestational diabetes. Michael arrived at 8am, I drank a highly sweetened drink and they took four blood samples over three hours. I really hope I passed, otherwise the doctor will be forced to put me on a diet.

Speaking of diet, I weigh 30 lbs heavier at 31 weeks. Not so good, since I have two months left! Can you belive it, two months left!

No ultrasound at the doctor's office. So we went to an elective ultrasound center where they take 3D pictures and a 4D video clip. I gotta be honest, most of the 3D pictures look the same to me but the 4D video clip makes it worth the money.

We were able to see her:

Open her eyes, Stick out her tongue, Smile, Drink in fluid, Suck her thumb and it was truly amazing!

What was really cute, was when Michael would talk to her in his "soothing voice", she would smile. See the picture below.

We also confirmed that she is still a little girl, has plenty of fluid, not breech and she measured a few days behind. Which probably means she going to be a little small, or she could have a delayed growth spurt. Who knows, but I am small frame women but weighed over 9 lbs when I was born.



The video is 20 minutes, I will post a reduced version later...



And this what I looked like when we took the ultrasound pictures above, YIKES!

30 weeks - Lots of movement

I have been feeling the baby alot lately. She kicks and stretches qutie often, especiallly after eating and when I am lying down. I have been working alot, long hours but its almost like a split shift, so I am able to take a two-hour nap some days which helps. So we nap together :)

Not much to report since I was out of town for 12 days, more next update.

When I am out in the field, we do have a trailer house to lounge in and cool off in. Someone offered to call the rental company and request a bassinett, ha ha so funny!

29 weeks- Fat Girl and Nursery part 2

Well I guess I put my foot in my mouth. I failed my glucose test, which is a pre-screening for diabetes. Of course, my appointment was at 3pm and I had a huge lunch at a conference with dessert. I had no instructions to fast beforehand so I didnt. Hopefully I am not at risk and it was just my big fat lunch that made me fail!

Well the nursery looked so fresh and so clean that I asked Michael to keep going....and paint the base boards and the closet! It ended up being more work than I thought. I tapped up all the edging for him but because Home Depot gave us the wrong tint, he had to paint twice. Oops.

We went to the Houston Dynamo game (soccer) against LA Galaxy. It was so much fun, even though David Beckham was suspended. I wanted to see my other baby-daddy but he didnt attend. We had good seats and the weather was great!

Michael and I put the crib together, which seemed to be the easy piece to assemble of three. I messed up on the dresser and Michael had to repair it for me, I nailed the backing to the front the dressser!

Note: Coco our chocolate cocker helping out and Yoshi our siamese being nosey!

28 weeks - Started the nursery

We cleaned out the spare bedroom to make room for the nursery! Michael began painting. We experimented with a two-tone room, sage on the top half and beige on the bottom half. It did look so good so we ended painting the entire walls sage green.

Because of the fumes, I worked on the baby furniture. Each of three pieces, changer, dresser and crib are shipped in a box and must be assembled....UGH. So far so good, I completed the changer and started on the dresser.

27 weeks - Third Trimester!

Well the second trimester went by really fast with work, the hurricane and Cancun. That’s too bad because they say that’s the best time too. I am up to a 20-pound weight gain. Not too bad, its average but I’d rather be on the low end of the range instead of the high end….too many sweets in my life. I eat a lot of peanut butter, bananas and guzzle skim milk which is good but I must confess I pretty much eat a dessert DAILY! Like its a vitamin or something :)

Finally this rash seems to be going away this week, two weeks later, and after it moved from my tummy to my boobs. It’s not kosher to scratch your breast at work, especially in the oil industry.

With some awesome help from Imrana we went Babies R Us and registered this week. Mike had fun of course, I was on a mission since it was a weekday and thanks to Imrana, we were finished in 30 minutes. All the bedding is online at ewish.com so that was simply but I’ll go to Target this weekend to scan away.

Imrana also sent us the cutest wood letters that spell out the baby's name to hang in the nursery. They are pink with iridescent glitter, hung by chic little lace loops. It gets me excited to get after the nursery.

We worked hard on picking the spelling of her name this week. We visited websites that pronounce the names for you, so we have narrowed it down to two spellings: Alessia or Alissia.

26 weeks - no new ultrasound

We went to the doctor this week and he said her little heartbeat sounded good. I took the glucose test and I am waiting for blood results. The bottle did say I was supposed to fast 12 hours before the test, no one said anything to me so I had a slice chocolate
cream pie at my luncheon event that day.

I really wanted to see the baby via ultrasound, but it didnt happen. I am curious with all her movement, as it has gotten stronger. Is she making a fist yet, is she blowing bubbles or sucking her thumb, how big is she, stuff like that. Next appointment is at 29 weeks, where I will have another ultrasound, maybe.

The textbook says: Your baby weighs just under 2 pounds and could possibly survive if delivered now. Your baby measures approximately 9.2 inches from crown to rump.

I really want to change doctors, but its hard finding one, I have referrals but what if I go through three of those before I find one I like it!

We’ve been slow in registering but we did open registries at Target and Babies R US (BRU) online.

Good luck to her dad that will ride his bike to the beach this weekend for the MS Society, from San Antonio to Corpus over two days.

25 weeks - Viability

This weeks marks the milestone of viability; 'With modern medical technology, your baby would have a chance to survive if it were born now.' Amazing but true, we have witnessed this miracle through Danica Lynn and she is a healthy and strong one year old!

Cancun was beautiful of course! I somehow survived being pregnant in the tropics looking at others in bikinis while I was wearing a biohazard suit. I do think I may have a mistake though. I didn’t want to have a farmer’s tan so I did sunbathe my tummy a little. I may have started a revolution of some kind because my body is killing with a rash that itches, burns and stings! The rash started that same night on my belly, then the next day it moved to my hips and pelvic area. So I have been applying Caladryl and taking Benadryl at night. It started to clear up after a few days then Montezuma’s revenge hit with the rash all over my breast. Gosh it hurts……Help me.

24 weeks - Hurricane Ike

Well this is an interesting time, at six months pregnant I technically survived a hurricane in Houston! The nursery will be delayed as we repair all the damages from Hurricane Ike.

Shoutout to Mike for tarping the roof in the rain and then patching the roof and two other neighboors'.

The good news is that we live from Cancun in two days, leaving all the Houston Hurricane drama behind, for awhile anyway.

23 weeks

The boob fairy has been demoted. Lets just say that they things are starting to look down, they aint looking up any more! She also brought a friend along named stretch marks. She is now known as the boob witch in this household!

22 weeks - No more innie????

WTC: What the craze! So Michael made a man comment the other day to this pregnant lady, me of course.. He said that my innie belly-button was becoming a big fat outtie. Sure enough, my little innie is rising to the top. For real, this is not cool. I do not want a belly-button protruding out past my belly. But if this worse body damage, I guess I can I saw I got off light :) Michael was also nice enough to notice and celebrate the boob fairy paying a visit to our home, oh brother.

I have gained about 15 pounds and this little girl only weighs one pound, you do the math!

There has been talk of baby shower dates already, how exciting! Its really sweet to have such loving friends and family to host such an event. I can't wait.

We received the crib bedding this week and its soooo cute. The colors of the nursery are going to be pink, sage and ivory. We can now move forward with the paint selection since we have our colors. We are going to paint the celery/sage green and add a wallborder border. The crib furniture is antique white or ivory. This is the FUN part! PS: I love ebay!

We are going to Cancun with the Sorola aunts and uncles. I guess you could call it our little babymoon. However, finding a maternity bathing suit has been no small feat, and I off to search the web once more for one...

21 weeks - I'm feeling the baby!

So we dragged our friend Amos Alvarez to a popular spot in Houston to take some pictures of Michael and I, he was sweet and obliged. We wanted to take a few snap shots to send out pregnancy announcements that we are having a little girl. So check your snail mail, you should see yours soon. Below are some of the shots.

I noticed that when I we settle down for my bath at night, I could feel some small thumps here and there. Sorta like a strong heartbeat type of thump. Then I saw it! This little baby was moving around and pushed her arm or leg up and out of my belly. I dont know what kind of party was going on in there, but I thought it was pretty cool to feel her move finally. Of course, I couldn't resist poking back to get to interact with me :)

20 weeks - the big ultrasound

I went to the doctor had the anatomy scan. First the tech checked the length my cervix, it was good and long. Then via sonograph ultrasound they measured the head and femur bone, looked at the heart, bladder, cerebellum, stomach and kidneys. Everything looked good. She also checked the four pockets of fluid, told me to drink a little more water in the day. They did push my due date back to January 9th based on head and femur measurements.

The heartbeat was 156 BPM and the baby's estimated weight was 10oz. I am at 135 lbs, gaining about 11 lbs so far.

They checked the gender when the cord was not in the way, still three lines, still a girl.

She was very active, and moved around alot. She is breech position but no big deal since there is still plenty of room to move around. She was fully extended with legs out and she would kick when the tech would prod her with the ultrasound wand, too cute. Her hands were up by her face.

Then I met with the doctor and he said my bloodwork looked good, tested negative for Down's syndrome.

Next appointment is at 25 weeks when I will do the glucose test.

Below is a spooky picture of her face, you can see the eyes of her skelton. The large dark area to the left is the brain. The small round bright area near her face are her little bitty hands.

19 weeks - choosing a name!

Michael and I decided to make two separate name lists and then see if we chose any name the same! Below are the lists we came up with separately:

Michael's list:
Amabella
Izabella
Juliana
Hope
Callie Anissa
Callie Bird
Callie Hope
Callie Rebecca
Angelina

Anissa's List:
Anjeli
Angelina
Asteria
Alisia
Lauryn
Nathalia
Tatianna
Thalia

So we have come together and both like: Alisia Callie

17 weeks and its a GIRL!

I went to my OB appt yesterday. The doctor's office said I am 17w0d. They also said I was 5 pounds heavier than my scale at home!

A ultrasound was not scheduled for me but I really wanted to at least take a pick at the baby to see if we could tell gender yet. So my sweet husband asked everyone that entered our exam room if would could please have a peek. The doctor and ultrasound tech said they would squeeze us a freebie in. It was already after 4:30 pm so I was very appreciative.

Basically she said she was 95% sure it was a girl, she saw three lines, no testicles and an elevated heart rate.

Good enough for me! To at least getting me thinking pink, but I wont paint the nursery just yet.

Next appointment is Aug 18th for the big ultrasound at 20 weeks when they measure the little baby.

16 weeks - tellling the job....

I visited with my boss and basically said:

"I have some good news and some bad news. Good news is that Michael and I have been trying for awhile and I am finally pregnant and due in January! Bad news is that I am coming back to work so you are getting rid of me yet!"

So the cat is out of the bag at work. I plan to take two weeks vacation at Christmas when I will be nice and turkey plump. Then I will start a 6-week maternity leave January 2nd 2009!

Fifteen weeks- itty bitty baby bump

We went to one of my girlfriend's wedding, Ms. Saani, and it was beautiful! It was at the Dallas Arboretum so I took advantage of the photo opportunity and took my first pregnancy photo!

Its a little bump but it definetly looks big to me, of course....

Next appointment: July 28th.

Fourteen weeks - now SECOND trimester

How exciting, we are in the second trimester, thanks be to God!

And like a lightswitch, the first trimester naurchalpsy has subsided! No naps needed for me, well Mike and i did take one yesterday. But I am defiently out and about, pool parties, movies, resturants, shopping again....I cant live without my bargain shopping.

We went to San Antonio this week where there was lots of baby talk. Cousins Chris & Emily are having a boy in September confirmed by 4D ultrasound, they took a test early in the pregnancy though called Intelligender. In the mood, I took this OTC urine test to determine the gender of the baby! The test results were GIRL! But I am not going to go out buy all pink just yet, I'll wait for the ultrasound, it was just for fun.

Twelve weeks - new doctor!

We had our first appointment with our new doctor, Dr. Pinky Ronen. Interesting fellow, but very throughout.

The doctor ordered a ultrasound and we were able to see the baby move around actively! He decided to do a somersault during his spotlight debut! A little scary if this is an indicator of out of womb personality....

Bianca bought us the bassinett that Michael Aunt Alma is lending us, very nice. Biance also bought us a crib that is basically new, hardly used by Mia and Cale.

Eight Weeks and a heartbeat!

We went to Dr. Jacobs again and he performed another ultrasound and this time we were able to hear the heartbeat! Good odds from here. The heartbeat of babies are very high, ours measured 169 BPM! The due date changed by one day, January 5th 2009.

The doctor referred to the baby as a gummy bear from the shape at this age. See the ultrasound picture below:

Still blessed with no morning sickness however I am sleeping tons! I feel like something is wrong with me....oh yeah I am pregnant. I eat in bed, spend the day in bed, sleep in bed and eat again in bed. Its so depressing not to go anywhere or want to do anything. I take naps almost daily, I guess building this little baby is hard work on this 32-year old body!

Six weeks and its confirmed!

We are very excited as we just came from our first doctor's appointment for the baby! Dr. Jacobs performed a intravaginal ultrasound so we able to see the yolk sack. We were also able to see the baby's heartbeating, a flashing white blip in the middle of our bean. Although it was too early to hear the heartbeat seeing it was great news to us.

Our due date is January is 5th 2009!

Since this will be a 2009 delivery and our doctor is retiring from delivery we must find a new doctor soon....ugh.

No morning sickness as of yet. I am getting breakouts that are very annoying but no nausea so I am happy.

Here is the ultrasound picture, not much too see yet....