5 Month Birthday Letter

Dear Belle,
Happy 5 month birthday!!! This month has been such a fun one! You spent the last month during the week with your daddy. He sure did take really good care of you while mama was at work. Mom knew what she was doing when she said "I do" didn't she!! That first day back to work was a tough one for me. I cried all the way into work, but by the time I got there, I was doing better. Mama works with such awesome people and they all made sure I was doing ok on my first day away from my baby. :) I tried not to call your dad too much on that first day, I didn't want him to be sick of me already! Your first day together according to dad was a little rough. hahaha I think you both just needed a day to figure each other out. I do know that when I got home that first night, I got a really big hug from daddy. I think he was really glad to see me that night! You both had a great month though. You really did get to bond with your daddy and he with you. It is clear to me that you are definitely going to be a daddy's girl. Starting with the night I went back to work, you started sleeping through the night. You no longer needed that 2am or 3am feeding. Since I was going back to work, your dad would have been the one to get up and feed you. But he never needed to. Your dad had to go back to work for one day so he would get paid for the holiday shutdown; since he had to go back for a day, I took the day off to stay home with you. Guess who woke up at 2am that morning to request a feeding?!?!? HHMM who could that be? What's up with that kiddo? hahaha you sleep through the night for your daddy but not me? Is that how it's going to be? Actually, it's just a sign you are getting older. I love watching you get older, but it makes me so sad at the same time.

This month you started holding your bottle on your own while you are eating. You started doing this on my first day back at work. Dad sent me a video of you holding your own bottle that I watched on my phone at work and I couldn't believe it. I had only been gone for 4 hours and you were already holding your bottle all by yourself. Such a big girl! You are also no longer using your swaddle and you are putting yourself to sleep. We started sleep training with you and you are doing really well. You are learning how to put yourself to sleep and sometimes when you wake up in the middle of the night, you put yourself back to sleep instead of needing a feeding, or needing mom or dad to help you get back to sleep. The hope is that when you become a toddler, you'll be a great sleeper. That's the goal. We decided to stop swaddling you because basically, you don't stop moving. You started to flip yourself over on your stomach while swaddled and it just wasn't safe anymore. Your first few naps and nights of sleep were a little rough without the swaddle, but soon you adapted to being without it.

This month we were able to celebrate Christmas with you. It was your first Christmas and I think you really enjoyed it. You weren't that interested in the presents or the wrapping paper but you still had fun watching everyone open their presents. For only being 5 months old, everyone sure did spoil you rotten. I have a feeling that's not going to stop anytime soon.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You really are the perfect baby. We are so lucky with how easy going you are and how adaptable you've been with everything we've thrown your way. In the next few months you'll be starting daycare. I'm sure you don't have any anxiety about it yet, but I sure do. I'm not sure why I do because I know you'll do great. The nice thing is that Mom and Dad will only be a few minutes walk away. Now your silly parents just have to figure out how we get ourselves ready along with getting you fed and ready and in the car and off to work/daycare. The first few days will probably be a little stressful, but we'll all get the hang of it.

Happy birthday sweet baby girl. Every day you get cuter and cuter, I can't even imagine what the next months will bring. How can you get any cuter??

Love, Mom and Dad

4 Month Birthday Letter

Dear Belle,
I pretty much have been dreading your 4 month letter since the day you were born. I knew your 4 month birthday letter would coincide with me going back to work. Well, here it is. Mommy goes back to work tomorrow. You'll get to spend the next month with your daddy. Oh what fun you are going to have. You love your daddy so much and he loves you. I know he's a little nervous about being your primary care giver so it's ok to go a little easy on him....just not too easy, we don't want dad to think the last 4 months has been a cake walk for mom! :)

This last month we have really watched you grow. Not just physically, but mentally too. This month, you started laughing out loud and we have loved every minute of it. Your dad and grandpa love giving your raspberries on your stomach and we all get to enjoy you laughing when they do this. You will also smile back at us when we smile at you. You have one of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen sweet Belle. Please never stop smiling. Every time you smile at us it makes our day! You have also started grabbing onto your toys and holding them yourself. It's been really awesome to watch you discover your toys and figure out how they work.

You also rolled over from your back onto your stomach this month. At week 7 you could go from your stomach to your back, but going the other way took some time and some more strength. You sure do have it down now. At first it would happen when you would rock back and forth. Now, you can roll over in a quick motion, and bam, you're back on your stomach. Your dad and I missed it the first time you did it. We put you on your play mat on your back and walked in the kitchen to get some breakfast. A minute later we both turned the corner and there you were smiling at us with that toothless grin on your stomach.

I'm not sure if all babies are as flexible as you but holy cow, you are flexible. You use your big toe just like you do your thumb. It's your second favorite thing to suck on, the first being your thumb. It's pretty amazing to see your toe go right into your mouth with ease. Such a sweet, funny baby you are!

This month you also had your first hotel stay. You did great. We went down to San Diego for a night figuring if you had a complete meltdown, we were close enough we could just drive you home to the comforts of your own bed. We shouldn't have been worried though, you really are the best flow with the punches baby ever. You adapt to every situation we put you in.

As I sit here and write up all the wonderful things you've accomplished this month, all I can really think about is how much I have loved the first 4 months with you. There is a Carter's Clothes commercial on right now where this little girl is talking to her mother and she says, "I'll be honest, the first night home was a doozy. But soon you got the hang of it, and I got the hang of it." This commercial made me laugh out loud and cry at the same time. I couldn't have said it better myself, though I think if you could talk right now, you'd probably say the first month was a doozy. I'd probably have to agree. I can't believe how far we've come kiddo. You were only 10 days old when everyone went back to work or went home and then it was just me and you. Thankfully, your grandma came over to help the next 3 weeks and then we were really on our own. We had our good days and our not so good days, but we still survived each and every day. There were days we would laugh together, cry together and fell asleep together. We studied together, sang together (well, you babbled), and played together. But the best part of our 4 months together, was loving each other together. You taught me a lot, and hopefully I taught you a lot. I've had a job since I was 17. Sometimes two jobs at one time, but being a mother to a newborn was one of the toughest things I have ever done. Looking at your now, I can smile through my tears and know that I did a good job. You made it easy though. You are the perfect baby. I love you Isabelle. Returning to work was a tough decision and one that I wish didn't have to be made. But for the next month, you'll be with your daddy, have the time of your life. I  can't wait to see what kind of trouble you two get into!

Love,
Mom and Dad

 

3 Month Birthday Letter

Dear Belle,
Happy 3 month birthday! I know I'm extremely late on writing and publishing your 3 month birthday letter, but I had to write a paper for school and finish up a bunch of other homework, take a bunch of tests and before I knew it, the 27th had come and gone. Don't worry, it won't be the last time I'm late on one of my letters to you, but I'll get it done. I enjoy writing them as much as I hope one day you enjoy reading them.

This month had a few more firsts for you! You started tracking things with your eyes. If we put a rattle or some other object in front of your face, you will follow it if we move it slowly from one side to the other. This has it's pros and cons. You've also started tracking me as I try to sneak out of your room after putting you down for a nap. When you were younger, I could put you down and sneak out. Now when you see me leave, you start crying. It's not too bad though, you are a pretty good napper. Though at the beginning of the month you would cry when you thought you were about to go down for a nap, now you've calmed down and go down pretty easily. I would always talk to you when you were crying because you were about to go down and mention that one day you're going to want to take naps and not have time to! :) You've been a bit challenging with your night sleeping this month however. Your first month you got up A LOT to feed. Your second month you really only got up once in the middle of the night and then again around 6:30am or 7am to start your day. Your third month of life however, you reverted back to getting up A LOT to feed. This made for some extremely long days for your mama. I am really surprised how the human body can function without sleep. Since I'm writing this so late in your third month, I can happily say you've gone back to being a decent night sleeper. Thank goodness! I still get giddy thinking about the day you'll sleep from 8pm until 8am. Giddy I tell you, giddy! Some  say I'll have to wait until you're a teenager for that to happen. Um no. I need that to happen before you're a teenager!

This month you've also started grabbing things and being able to hold them in your hand. It was been such a pleasure to watch you develop your fine motor skills. I've been able to watch you try to grab your rattles or toys to being able to. You've also discovered your hands. I really wish we would have been able to get that on video! The look on your face when you realized your hands were attached to your body was hilarious. You have been putting your hands in your mouth the last couple of months but now you know they are your hands. And oh my goodness do you love putting your hands in your mouth. It's hard to get a picture of you with your hands not in your mouth!

Your dad and I talk all the time how big you are getting. You are growing leaps and bounds and on October 24th you were 10 lbs 13 oz! Not only are your growing in size but in your development as well. Everyday you amaze us with your ability. At least once a day your dad and I say in amazement to each other, did you see what she just did??

We are so blessed to call you our baby. You really are a good and happy baby and we love you so much!

 Love, Mom and Dad
P.S. It took me two days and a million pictures to get a good one. You were being so stubborn during this photo shoot. Most of the pictures were of you putting your dress in your mouth and sucking on it or not looking at the camera. The picture below pretty much sums up what you thought of taking the picture this month. You silly kid!

2 Month Appointment

Last Friday was Belle's 2 month appointment. We knew when we got there she was going to get her 2 month shots which I was mentally trying to prepare myself for.

We had a new parent fail moment when we dressed her that morning. We dressed her in an outfit that was difficult to put on and get off. If we would have been thinking we would have remembered that when we get there we have to completely undress her. Duh! We will not make that mistake again.

She weighed in at 9 lbs and 12 oz. I was hoping for 10 lbs but at least she weighed more than when I had her weighed on the 17th. Since she was born she's been stuck on the 15th percentile line for weight. I would like to see her get a little higher than 15 but she has not dipped at all so the pediatrician is not concerned. I guess I'll keep doing what I'm doing and she'll grow at her own pace. Her head and height both come in at the 50th percentile, so she is exactly average for both of those.

When they gave her the 3 shots they had me lay her down on the table and then they gave her one shot in one thigh and two shots in the other thigh. Nobody should be shocked to know that I cried along with her. LOL she actually did really well after they gave her the shots. She screamed bloody murder during them, but she did calm down quickly after them which is good. Looks like all of her future appointments will require more shots for the time being. Poor baby. I know they are necessary, I just wish there was an easier way. She's going to hate going to the doctor because every time she goes she gets poked!

Overall her appointment went really well and the pediatrician said everything looks good. The pediatrician also mentioned how cute she is! We tend to agree with that assessment!!

Love, Suzanne

2 Month Birthday Letter

Dear Belle,
Happy two month birthday baby girl! Mama is so happy to report that in your second month of life, you have finally mastered breast feeding. God Bless America! As you know from reading your one month letter you still had yet to master breast feeding. Cows on the milk farm were feeling sorry for me at how much I was pumping to give you enough breast milk for all of your feedings. I only had to supplement you with formula that first week while I worked on getting my milk supply up. Once it kicked in, all I had to do was pump 10-12 times a day and you would have enough for all of your feedings. Yes, 10-12 times. Do the math. I was a pumping fool. Now though, I don't have to pump so much. Thank goodness. This was quite the exercise you put me through the first 5 weeks of your life. But really, here is what you should have learned, and I'm sure you did learn it, so take that lesson with you the rest of your life. Especially in your teenage years. You won't beat me. Yes, for you, taking your feedings from a bottle was much easier. You ate your food much faster and it was a lot less work for you. I was determined however. You are one stubborn little baby, but remember who carried you for 40 weeks and 6 days. I'm stubborn too. Round one goes to mom. Like I said, remember this when you're a teenager. I intend on winning those rounds too!

This month, you have also learned to smile. I can't even begin to explain how much we love to see you smile. Now, I understand why adults act a fool by making funny faces and talking at a high pitch all while doing the baby talk, trying to get a baby to smile. Adults do this so those cute little babies smile. And guess what, we all do it to you. We would all do it for hours and hours just to see your beautiful smile. Keep smiling my beautiful baby girl. It makes our day!

Guess what else you did this month for the first time? Unfortunately for your mom and dad, you didn't just stop at doing it once. This month, you started pooping on us. Sure, go ahead and giggle. It's just sooooo funny. You've pooped on your dad twice, but because clearly you like him more, you did it while we were at home and he was holding you. You saved your extra special blow out for me. While we were at a mommy bootcamp class. The class instructor invited us back to talk to pregnant soon-to-be mommies. We were there to tell them all about how great being a mommy is and to give them all the great and not so great details of labor and bringing baby home. You waited until that class to poop all down the front of me. Not only did you poop all down the front of me, but you left a pile of green poo on the floor right where we were standing. It was classic Belle. The look of horror on those soon-to-be mommies faces was priceless. Poor things, they have no idea what is coming. Just a few short months ago, I was one of them. But you are quickly breaking me in. In fact at this class, they kept calling me a veteran mommy. hahaha now that is funny. I feel far from a veteran mom that's for sure. But, I'm getting it.

Every week you continue to amaze us with your super human strength. You have always had really good neck control when you want to. Sometimes you just want to be a wet noodle and have no control over any part of your body. Unfortunately for us, you don't tell us when you feel like being a wet noodle so we have to be ready for it at all times. This month you also rolled over for the first time. You performed your roll over trick for your dad first, who then flipped you over, pulled out his camera and took video while you did it again. We did research at what age most kids roll over for the first time and it said 3 to 4 months is when kids normally roll over. Not you, you did it at 7 weeks. Wow Belle! Very impressive! Keep it up sweet pea!!

Your hair is also starting to grow. This month you went from having pretty much no hair, to sprouting some all over. Don't get me wrong, you are still bald, but you're not bald bald anymore. You just look like your buzz cut is starting to grow in. Last month you had some hair on the sides and back, but really nothing on top. You hair on top seemed to grow over night! One day I went to kiss the top of your head and there was hair there. I was so excited I took a picture of the new growth and sent it to everyone. Now the question remains, what color is your hair going to be. Some days it looks blonde/brown. Other days it looks red. Your eye brows definitely look red. Especially when you are mad or tired.

I was rocking you to sleep the other day and our eyes were locked. Right now you have these beautiful deep blue eyes courtesy of your dad. I hope that you keep them. If you get stuck with my green/brown eyes, sorry, I was pushing for you to have your daddy's eyes!! Dad claims he likes my eyes, but I think he's just being nice. :) Anyhoo, back to our eyes being locked. I realized as I was rocking you, that I wouldn't be able to rock you much longer. Sure here and there when you aren't feeling well, but in the next few months if I continue to rock you, you will start to require that to be put to sleep. And frankly, I can't start that habit because I can't rock you every night until you're 18. Ok, wait, I'm lying. I would totally rock you every night until you were 18 but you're friends might think you (and probably me too) were weird and we don't want that now do we. As you grow older you will start to develop your habits and your needs. All the books say you need to learn to put yourself to sleep. To sooth yourself. I get it. It makes sense. But it also makes me sad that soon, that will be coming to an end. And soon you'll be too big to fit in my arms, where I can hold you close, tell you how much I love you and rock you to sleep. As you get older and bigger and we start walking the fine line of what the books say and what our hearts say, remember one thing. You will always be our sweet baby girl. Our first born. The one who taught us everything we know about being parents. Which right now, is not a lot. The good thing about you being so young right now is you won't remember all of our screw ups unless I blog about them. We have a few years to figure things out and get it right. Until then though, I'm going to enjoy every moment of rocking you. You won't ever be this small again.

We have really enjoyed these last two months, Belle. Month one really did fly by and I feel like I was pretty unconscious during it. Month two however, I have been able to soak up every second. There are still growing pains, even though most days are good days, there are still days where you sleep less at night, or you don't nap or you are extremely fussy. There are days where both of us are in tears. For the most part, you really are a really good baby. I know how lucky we are. I know people who can't leave their house for months and months because their newborn cries all the time. When we are out, people stop us all the time and tell us how beautiful and perfect you are. We couldn't agree with them more.

Daddy and I love you Belle. Happy 2 months on this earth!

Love, Mom and Dad

Thriving

We have our health insurance through Kaiser and their big slogan is THRIVE. Well, I'm happy to report that Belle is thriving! She continues to grow like a weed and she's putting on weight at an acceptable pace. At her last weight check she was 8 lbs and 10 oz. I'm taking her in tomorrow to be weighed again and hopefully she is still gaining at the pace she needs to be. She definitely feels heavier to me when I'm carrying her in her car seat from point A to point B. That car seat can hold a kid up to 30  lbs but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to carry that car seat for a very long distance when she's 30 lbs! I can't even imagine her at 30 lbs! hahaha

I've been back at school for 3 weeks now and I'm finally at the point where I don't cry every time I leave her. The first few weeks were a little rough. Only on me though, she loves when I leave her with Aunt Cat on Tuesdays and Thursdays and her grandma and grandpa on Wednesdays. When I go back to work Wednesdays are going to be really hard on me because I go to school from 7pm until 10pm which means I won't see her at all on Wednesdays. I keep telling myself that it will only be for 3 weeks though and then I'll be done with the class. I just have to make it through 3 weeks! I'm done talking about it for now though because I'll start crying. LOL 

***Breaking News***

I started this blog post this morning and then got distracted with feedings, diaper changes and tummy time. This morning she was trying to roll over, but her arm kept getting in the way. While I was in the shower, I heard Lance yelling something and a few minutes later, he came running up with this video. Click here to see the video.

She rolled over on her own!! I missed it, but thanks to Lance's video I can watch it over and over again. I can't believe she's already rolling at 7 weeks. That's amazing. Online it says your baby will start rolling at 4 months. Not Isabelle! She's a rockstar! The article I read online was talking about at 3 months how your baby would start lifting her head high and arching her back at about 3 months. That made me laugh because she started doing that at about 2-3 weeks. This kid has been strong from the get go! Anyone who held her when she was first born would always comment at how strong she is. I have a feeling I'll be chasing her around the house before I know it!

Great job on your new achievement Belle! You are one amazing little girl and mom and dad are so proud of you. You're still not allowed to date though until your 30 so don't try and grow up too fast!

Have a great Sunday! We're going to spend the day practicing more rolling over maneuvers!!
Love,
Suzanne

More Appointments

I had my final OB appointment a week ago and it was a little bitter sweet. I am glad that I am done with all my doctors appointments, but we have been visiting Dr. Gleeson and nurse Bev every two weeks since I was 5 weeks pregnant. They've watched my tummy grow and they took such good care of me, Lance and Isabelle. I really could not have asked for a better team to lead us into having our first child.  When I first took the at-home pregnancy test back November 18th, I called my provider to set up an appointment with an OB. The receptionist said, who would you like? I remember thinking, I have no idea! hahaha She said, how about Dr. Gleeson? I said sure, having no idea if he would be a good match for us or not. Luckily for us, he was. During our first visit with Dr. Gleeson we discovered that he was a huge Yankees baseball fan. The trash talking started from that very first visit. :) My mom went with me to my last appointment so she could watch Isabelle in the lobby. Once I was done, I went and brought Isabelle in to meet Dr. Gleeson in her special outfit.

She was decked out in her Angels onesie and a cute red headband. Of course when he went to take a picture with her, he stood in front of his big Yankee Stadium picture in his office. He told me he was going to put in my final doctors orders that we weren't allowed to take her to any Yankees games! hahahaha

Dr. Gleeson also mentioned that he read the report of my surgery and that Belle was actually head down in the birth canal but that she had her arm wrapped over her head. Which is why Dr. Bull decided to do the c-section. So she didn't actually flip herself back to a breech position as we first thought. Dr. Gleeson said he probably would have had me try and labor in hopes that during the labor process, Belle would have moved her arm and I could have had her naturally. The catch to that though is that if she didn't move her arm, I would have ended up having a c-section anyway after who knows how many hours of labor. It is what it is. A c-section was not my first choice, but we have a healthy baby and I'm forever grateful for that. My incision is healing well. It's actually more painful now than when I first got out of the hospital. My doctor said that's because all my nerves are growing back. Hopefully they will grow back quickly and the pain will go away.

Isabelle is growing and growing. At my last lactation appointment she was 8 lbs 6 oz. To me, she doesn't look any bigger, but then I look at those pictures of her first few days in the hospital and she definitely looks bigger from those pictures.

The best news of all......after 5 hard fought weeks.....yes....FIVE WEEKS, she is finally breast feeding correctly. She latches on without the nipple shield and she is pulling what she needs at each feeding. I think I could cry just typing this paragraph. I seriously didn't think it was going to happen. The lactation consultants kept saying she can still get this, but week after week I was wondering. I wasn't giving up on her though. Scratching the whole breast feeding thing had crossed my mind, oh, I don't know, 6 billion times the last 5 weeks, but now, she's got it. And this mama couldn't be prouder.

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend!!
Love,
Suzanne

1 Month Birthday Letter

Today Belle, you are one month old. I want to start a tradition between you and I where I write you monthly letters for the first year of your life. Then after that, I'll probably just commit to yearly letters. These letters will be my little recap of what you've been up to and what milestones you reached that month.

So, here we go.

Dear Belle,
I can't believe you are one month already. It really does feel like your dad and I were just in the hospital waiting for you to arrive. You came into this world via c-section, thanks to your inability to sit still. My guess is that you being a wiggle worm will come up in many many more letters to you because now that you are out of mama's stomach, you are just as much a wiggle worm as you were in my stomach! Your birth was one of the greatest moments of your mom and dad's life. The day we found out we were pregnant we already loved you more than we could describe, but to actually hold and touch you for the very first time was something so special it's so hard to put into words. Carrying you for 40 weeks and 6 days I felt we had a strong connection. I talked to all the time and you, well you kicked me. All of the time. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take your dad and you to connect though. He talked to you every night and I remember seeing no greater joy on his face than the first time he had his hands on my stomach and felt you. I had no need to worry about your connection with your dad though because you were only about 2 minutes old when your dad walked over and was able to cut your umbilical cord, talk to you and help clean you up. I was still on the operating table and could not see either of you, but I could hear your dad talking to you and calming you down. Only you two know what was said, but whatever it was, it was very clear to me that from that moment on, you were going to be a daddy's girl. I myself baby girl am a daddy's girl, so I am perfectly ok with you being a daddy's girl as well. Stick with me and I can teach you a thing or two about getting things from that dad of yours!!! :)

Everyday of your first month has been a day of learning for each of us. Your dad and I took a ton of classes before you were born and even after all those classes when we brought you home we still felt so unprepared. Thankfully we all survived your first month. Truthfully, after your first week, you were winning. Have no fear though, we are figuring it out and you won't get the upper hand on us for much longer!

Thank you for being such a good baby. Your dad and I know how lucky we are. You can continue to spoil us with sleeping 6 hours throughout the night anytime you want! So far you've only done it once in this first month of life, but I am very grateful for the extra sleep!

We are so in love with you sweet Belle. Not just your mom and dad, but  all 4 of your grandparents and your aunties and uncle! You amaze us everyday with your good nature and your strength. You are one strong newborn! You are already holding your head up by yourself and when you get those frog legs of yours going, you look like you are already ready to walk. Don't grow up too fast little one. Your mama and daddy are trying to soak in every moment with you.

We aren't sure if you're going to be a red head or a blondie, or if you're going to have green eyes or blue. Only time will tell. Right now our days are just spent feeding you, changing you and kissing on you every chance we get. Speaking of feeding you, one day when you're older and you understand breast feeding ask me to tell you about my experience breast feeding you. I really hope when you have children of your own, you don't have nearly the difficulty that I've had with you. If you do, know that I will feel really really bad for you, but I will probably tell you a number of times that you made me pump every two hours because you will not (even after a month) breast feed correctly. I'm still holding out hope that someday soon, you will just get it. Everyone tells me that day is coming, but just so you know, you are winning on this one too. I'm trying really hard to not let you beat me, but you are wearing me down. But really, I'm a tough cookie to break, so game on. You're going to get this whole breast feeding thing if it kills me. And it just may. So, if your children are just as difficult as you were, keep trying. You'll be stronger than they are, I know you will be.

Thanks for a wonderful first month Belle. We'll keep loving on you next month just as much as we have this first month. All we need you to do is keep growing and to stay healthy. Leave the hard work to us.

Love,
Mom and Dad

3 Week Appointment

Yesterday we had our 3 week appointment with our pediatrician. Belle is up to 7 lbs and 15 oz and she grew an inch too! I think because I see her everyday that to me, she doesn't seem any bigger. But then again, I look at pictures of her when she was born and she does look bigger to me. By next week she should be 8 lbs! 

Ok, where did I leave off from my last post....aahh yes, the c-section. They took me back to the operating room by myself and they had me get up on the operating table and basically just wait. When I first got in there, there was only the one nurse, then others started to show up and get set up. It was really a unique experience to be sitting on the operating table, watching them get all set up for your surgery. They came in and were counting all the equipment and laying everything out. It was really just a surreal situation. I was sitting there so scared and feeling very alone. Lance was in some room by himself waiting to be let in and all my family and friends were in the waiting room. All the operating room staff were all running around getting everything ready and nobody even said a word to me while they were setting up. It was weird. I had a nice conversation with Belle since nobody needed us to do anything. It really calmed my nerves to be able to talk to her. Finally, the anesthesiologist came in and gave me my spinal block. It didn't hurt which I was happy about! They told me to make sure I told them when I started to feel nauseous and it happened twice. I guess my blood pressure was getting really low so that was what was causing me to feel (and get) sick. When the surgery was about to start, I started to panic because I could still feel my legs. I said to the nurse, wait, I can still feel my legs. She got a funny look on her face and said, you can? I said yes! Then she said move your toes. So I did. Then she said, are you moving them? I said yes, and she said no you're not. hahahaha I seriously felt like I was moving my toes so for her to tell me I wasn't, that was creepy! 

I was so happy when they finally brought Lance in. It felt like it had been forever since I had seen him. When he came in they had him sit at my head and we were blocked from seeing anything from my waist down. Lance came in and kissed me on the forehead and then it was go time. The nurses and doctors were doing their thing and Lance and I were pretty much in our own little bubble. We started talking about how excited we were that our daughter would be with us shortly, but I could tell both of us were nervous. We just wanted our little Isabelle to be here and be told that she was healthy and that she had all 10 fingers and toes. 

Since we couldn't see anything, we had no idea when they were going to pull her out. When they went to pull her out, my body went into convulsion type movements. It was so weird because I had no control over the fact my body was moving up and down as they were trying to pull her out of me. Lance described it perfectly as taking a cork out of a wine bottle. You wiggle it out until it's out. That's what they were doing with Belle, until, she was out. We actually didn't know when she was out because she didn't start crying like you see in the movies. We figured it out though because my body stopped going into the weird convulsion movements. The nurse took her over to the side of the room and that's when Lance got the first glimpse of her. When he told me he could see her, I told him to go over there and get a closer look. When he went over there I had no idea what was going on and I couldn't hear a whole lot because it was so loud. Every once in awhile I could hear him talking to her. She never really did cry and freak out, she remained pretty calm the whole time. I couldn't make out a whole lot of what Lance was telling her but I could hear the tone of his voice and it was so calming and soothing and loving. I was laying there with tears in my eyes. The two loves of my life were meeting for the first time. For 10 months Lance took care of me, therefore taking care of her. I got the great experience of being able to feel her all day and to be able to spend literally every moment with her for 10 months. Being that Lance can't carry a child, he could only bond with her from the outside. Until she arrived. Then it took .2 seconds for them to be connected as one. The anesthesiologist leaned over and said to me, she has daddy wrapped around her little finger already. hahaha I just laughed and said, she sure does. 

It seemed like Lance was over there with Belle forever and he finally came over and showed me a picture. It was the first time I was able to see my baby girl. It was awesome. I was a little sad that the first time I was seeing my daughter was from a picture, but it is what it is. I was just thrilled she was so healthy and everything was going well! The nurse said that they were going to take Belle to the recovery room and I told Lance to make sure he went with her. The nurse picked her up and started to walk out of the room with her and I still hadn't seen her yet. I was starting to cry and the anesthesiologist said wait wait, let her meet her mama. Yay!!! Then either the nurse, or the anesthesiologist took pictures, when I got to meet my daughter for the first time. I'm not sure who took them, but I am eternally grateful. I LOVE these pictures. 

After I got to meet Belle, the nurse, Lance and the baby went to the recovery room. That part sucked because I was still stuck in the operating room completely alone (well sort of alone, all the medical staff was still there) but this time I didn't have my daughter to talk to. They finished sewing me up and then the OB, Dr. Bull came over and talked to me and told me that the way she was positioned even if she would have stayed head down, there was a 50% chance I would have ended up in a c-section because even if she would have stayed head down, she still wasn't facing the right way. That would have been a real bummer to labor for hours and hours and then still end up in a c-section. I am glad that scenario didn't play out. :)

Well, this post is long enough, so I'll stop here. When Lance is home with us on weekends, I'm able to blog more since he is around to help with the feedings and the holdings and diaper changes. We love when daddy is home!! We sure do miss him during the week! 

Have a good weekend!

Love,

Suzanne

Isabelle Has Arrived

Our beautiful baby girl has arrived! She's 18 days old now and we are still trying to get used to one another. :) Lance and I are so deeply in love with her we feel like she has been a part of our lives forever.

As you all know from my last post, she had flipped back into the correct position so the c-section that was scheduled for July 20th was cancelled. We had another appointment scheduled with my OB on Wednesday, July 25th to meet with him in case I hadn't gone into labor yet. Which, by the 25th, I was no where near going into labor. I was still only 1cm dilated and had not had any contractions. Since I wasn't progressing my OB, Lance and I decided we would come back Thursday, July 26th at 11:30pm to be induced. Dr. Gleeson had me come in at 11:30pm because my induction wasn't going to be normal. Since I was only 1cm dilated, they were going to insert a balloon into my cervix to stretch it out to about 5cm's and then at that point they were going to give me the pitocin to get me from 5cm to 10cm.

Thursday was a pretty surreal day since we had all day to think about Belle arriving that night. Lance took the day off work and we just ran some errands trying to get everything in order before she arrived. That night we had a nice dinner with my parents and sisters, and Lance's parents. It would be our final dinner with no baby.

July 26th Lance and I headed into the hospital at 11:30pm to get set up to be induced. We were definitely nervous! The nurses took us back to our labor and delivery room and we started all the questions, paperwork, tests etc. Thankfully for me, they did an ultrasound before they actually started the induction. I say thankfully, because when they did the ultrasound the doctor discovered that (wait for it, wait for it) she flipped again. O.M.G. She flipped back out of position from Wednesday to Thursday night. Lance and I couldn't believe it. This time her shoulder was down in the birth canal which meant they would not be able to induce and they would have to do a c-section. I couldn't believe it. So let's recap my little flipper. She was in the correct position all the way up to week 35. On week 35 we discovered she was breech. Week, 36, 37, 38 still breech. Week 39, she flipped back into birthing position and was no longer breech. Week 40 and 4 days she was still in the correct position, week 40 and 5 days, no longer in the correct position. Wow. And let me tell you, now that she's here, she still moves just as much out of the womb as she was moving in the womb!

I was really disappointed when they told me she had flipped again. The doctor working that night was actually the doctor that I had seen at week 20 when I had to go in because I was sick and dehydrated. We had discussed with her our options and really our only option was to have a c-section. Of course it was. I'm actually really glad that she flipped at week 35 so I had 4 weeks to get used to the fact I was going to have to have a c-section. If she wouldn't have flipped at 35, and this was the first we were discussing c-sections, it would have really been hard for me to handle the idea of having a c-section. But, I had weeks to get used to the idea so I was as ok with it as I could be. I really had no other option. LOL

The c-section was scheduled for 6am so Lance and I tried to get some sleep for a few hours in the hospital (which didn't happen, we were way too nervous to sleep) and then called all the family and friends at about 3:30am to let everyone know we would be going into surgery at 6am. Everyone showed up about 5:30am and we were all hanging out in our room until it was time to take me back for surgery. Lance got all scrubbed up, they took me back and we were off.

Lance put together this great video of Isabelle being born and her first hours of life. I'll blog more as I have time about how our first couple of weeks have been. We are doing well, I'm exhausted, but Belle seems to be doing well and that's all that matters to me.

Click here to view Belle's video.

Love,
Suzanne

Popper a.k.a Flipper

Oh my beautiful beautiful Isabelle. You sure do know how to leave us scratching our head wondering what next you will throw at us. Today, we had our (what we thought would be) our last doctor's appointment before our scheduled c-section on Friday. Post below about the scheduled c-section. We hadn't seen my OB doc in a little over a month so it was nice to be back with him and our awesome nurse Bev. Our OB doc was the one who was going to preform the scheduled c-section on Friday as well. When he came in, he said, do you think she flipped? I laughed and said nope, I'm pretty sure she didn't. Please go ahead and refer to my June 28th post to really understand how sucky my mom instincts are. My doctor started the ultrasound and said oh my goodness oh my goodness. Lance and I both looked at each other, looked at the screen and I'll be darned if we weren't looking at her head in the downward position. Lance and I were stunned! The doctor was stunned too. His quote of the day was, wow, I haven't seen a baby flip this late in the game in a very long time. LOL thanks doc.

I knew the second she was no longer breeched, he would cancel the c-section, and I was right. Kaiser won't do c-sections unless they are medically needed. Which when she was breeched it was medically needed. Now that she's not breeched, not so much needed. My doctor said, aren't you so excited. And I just laughed and said, yep, but I'm still in shock. Here is the thing. I had 5 weeks to come to grips that I wasn't going to be able to have a natural birth. I finally accepted it and I was 48 hours away from holding my daughter. 48 HOURS AWAY! Now, it could be a week or so before I get to meet her. So yes, I am very happy that I don't have to be cut open. But oh my, I really wanted to be able to hold and kiss my beautiful Belle on Friday. The pros of not having the c-section definitely out weigh the cons so now we just wait. Place your bets on baby watch 2012. When will she arrive?!?!?!

My next appointment is next Wednesday if I don't go into labor before that. At the next appointment, he will check to see how far along I am (right now I'm only 1 cm dilated) and then schedule to have me induced if I'm not progressing on my own.

How quickly our weekend plans have changed! We were planning on being parents this weekend and now, we are planning on going to the fair. hahahaha I'll be 40 weeks on Sunday, so here is to hoping she comes soon! We can't wait to meet our beautiful Belle!

I'll keep you all updated!

Love,
Suzanne

We Have A Date!

Well, it's official, our c-section is scheduled for Friday, July 20th! I can't believe we actually have a day set. It seems so surreal so think that this time next week, my daughter will be 1 day old. I'll be an official mom and Lance will be an official dad. Crazy!

We still have an appointment with my OB on Wednesday, July 18th to make sure she hasn't flipped and to do one last check to make sure everything looks A-Ok. I haven't seen my OB in a month so it will be nice to have him back. He's the one who will be preforming the c-section on the 20th and I'm very happy about that. If I was going to have to have a c-section, I'm glad that my OB is going to be the one to bring Isabelle into this world. He's been with us since week 5, so it seems almost fitting.

I work up until the Thursday, July 19th, and then baby girl will be here on the 20th. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, being off today, I'm glad I'm working up to the very last moment. hahahaha If I was off next week, I would probably just be at home panicking and worrying all day. I have been working a lot of hours trying to get everything done, but just like coming to grips with having to have a c-section, I'm coming to grips with the fact that no matter what, and no matter how much work I do, the guy taking over for me just won't be ready. No fault of my own, and no fault to him, it's just that by the time I leave, we'll have only had 7 working days together. Unfortunately, he's new to my programs and the things I do at work, so he's slightly overwhelmed. At least I'm reachable. I promised him I'd answer my phone if he called for some help. :) I'm learning to let go when it comes to work and that's been hard. My career has always been super important to me, and balancing a husband and a career (especially a super supportive husband) has been doable. But now, with a baby on the way, things are changing. Baby beats out career. There will definitely be a balancing act when I get back to work after Thanksgiving, but the thought of being able to spend every day with Isabelle from her birth until after Thanksgiving sounds absolutely amazing!

I feel like we are ready for Isabelle to come home, hopefully when we bring her home we aren't running around like chickens with our heads cut off. But, if we are, I know we'll have a great support system that's here with us to help us out! My in-laws, parents, sisters, and BFF's will be there so we are well covered and will be well taken care of.

I still have a bunch of posts to do to show some pictures of all my wonderful showers. Hopefully I can get those done before Friday....hopefully! :)

Only 6 days to go, and yes, we are counting! We can't wait!!

Love,
Suzanne

The Name Game

Naming Popper wasn't as difficult as I had thought it was going to be. Here is how it went for us. I threw out a bunch of names, he said no. He threw out a bunch of names, I said no. I threw out Isabelle, he loved it, I loved it. Perfect. See, how simple was that?!?!? HA! The tricky part with picking the first name was that we wanted a name with a double letter. Why you ask? Because Lance married a crazy person! Here is my reasoning. My first name has two N's. When I married Lance, my new last name has two L's. My mother in law's first name has two R's, my father in law's first name has two N's, Ryan married Emma, which has two M's and they had Ella which has two L's! I mean really how cool is that!! So basically Ryan and Lance are the only two who can't play in our double letter first and last name game! hahahaha As a disclaimer, there is absolutely no pressure on Ryan and Emma to continue the double letter name game when they decide if/when they are going to have more kids! Like I said, I'm the crazy one and I just think weird things like that are neat! So that's how we came up with Isabelle. We call her Belle for short, though my sister Cat calls her Izzy. I like calling her my beautiful Belle.

Speaking of beautiful Belle, here is a picture from our 3D ultrasound we did at 30 weeks.

This is the picture I have hanging in my office. I love it. That is her hand on the side of her cheek. The lady doing the ultra sound said, ooohhh look at those cheeks. I just shook my head and apologized to Isabelle now because unfortunately for her, she's never going to grow out of them. Her mother is speaking from experience!

This one is cool because you can sort of see her right eye which is open and then her cute little hand in front of her left eye.

Here is another cute one with her hand rubbing her eye. She was pretty cooperative during the ultra sound but almost all of the pictures we got of her have her hand trying to block some part of her face. She wasn't a huge fan of the paparazzi! Her lips look like she's trying to give kisses to us!!!

The whole 3D ultra sound experience was absolutely amazing. I would highly recommend it to any parents who want a sneak peak of their little one. For us, it was worth every penny! We were able to Skype with my in-laws during the ultra sound so even though they were in Tucson, they were able to experience it with us. We had my family in the room along with my BFF Wendy. Having everyone there (and on Skype) seeing Isabelle for the first time was one of the coolest experiences ever.

Isabelle's middle name is going to be Olivia. I can't really remember how we came up with that name. It was a name we both liked and it went well with Isabelle so we went with it.

Isabelle Olivia arriving July 21, 2012!!!

Love,
Suzanne

37 Week Update

Well, we are coming to the end of week 37 and my stubborn little girl is still breeched. I was certain when we headed in there at week 36 she had turned. I guess my mommy instincts suck. I hope it improves soon! haha My regular doctor who we have been seeing since week 5 is off having his own baby (well at least his wife is) so we have 3 appointments without him. Unfortunately for us, they are 3 of our last 4 appointments and right about now I'm really wishing he were here with us to keep me calm. The midwifes that we've had the last two weeks have been very nice and have been very helpful but it's just not the same. The midwife last week really put the pressure on us to schedule the version flip right then and there and I just couldn't do it. I was terrified of the thought of having someone take their hands, place them around my stomach and the outside of the baby and try to flip her. I decided at that point my fear of the flip was greater than my fear of a c section so I guess c section it is. I've heard many stories of friends and family who have had babies flip the day they went into labor or a few days before their scheduled c section. But, if she doesn't flip, she doesn't flip and I think now, I'm at the point where I'm ok with it. What other choice do I have?!?! hahaha I'm sure this kid will wait until the c section is scheduled on the books and then flip. She's my daughter, why wouldn't she be difficult?!?! :)

We had an ultra sound scheduled for yesterday so they could determine how big she was. I was pretty confident she wasn't 10 lbs or anything like that since my stomach isn't very big. My doctors still wanted to check because if she was big, I think they would have recommended a c section sooner rather than later. As of yesterday she is weighing in at about 7 lbs. The thing with the ultra sound weight measurement game is that it's not an exact science. When they told us she was approximately 7 lbs they said, but that could be higher by a pound or lower by a pound. hahaha um ok, so really, she could be 6, 7 or 8 lbs right now! hahaha Either way, at the end of 37 weeks I'm perfectly happy with a 6, 7 or 8 pound baby. Though if she is going to flip and I am going to push 6 lbs is starting to sound even better! :-P

Lance and I could not be happier than we are right now. We can't wait to meet our little girl! And to think that she's going to be here in about 2 weeks just rocks our world! We have truly felt so blessed this entire pregnancy. When I got up on the ultra sound table yesterday, the ultra sound lady said, are you so over being pregnant? I said nope, I've had a super easy pregnancy and I know it. And I am grateful for it! If I didn't want to meet her so bad I could easily carry her for another couple of months. But lets not get crazy 40 weeks of carrying a child is enough for me. I'm starting to miss my coffee, and my occasional adult beverage and my Pei Wei, oh my goodness do I miss my Pei Wei! I know my coffee and adult beverage aren't coming for awhile longer since I'll be breastfeeding, but that's ok. Because Pei Wei's Pad Thai has my name all over it as soon as this little girl gets here!

I just realized I have not done a blog about what our baby girls name is going to be. I think most everyone knows it by now, but in the next blog, I'll share her name, along with some pictures from the 3D ultra sound we had at week 30!

Love,
Suzanne

Can't Sleep

4am blogging is not what I had in mind for today. I can't get my brain to shut off so after laying there for over an hour I decided to get up and do something useful. Like watching the news and blogging! :) I haven't real time blogged since Rachel was in the hospital, that was almost 2 years ago now!

I was actually sleeping well until 3:30 when I woke up having to use the bathroom. Which, if you've ever been pregnant before you know in these last few weeks happens at least once a night. If I make it through the night with only having to get up once to use the bathroom, I consider that a successful night! hahaha After I got up this morning to use the bathroom, my brain went into overdrive and sleep apparently was not on the list. I'm anxious for my appointment today. I've been trying to tell myself to relax but being that I'm up blogging right now, clearly, that's not working.

Today is our 36 week appointment, at our 34 week appointment we found out baby was breeched. I was totally bummed. She had been face down in the proper position for the last two and a half months and now as we approach her due date she flipped on us. My doctor told me that she needed to flip back by the 36 week appointment or we would need to discuss either planning for a c-section or planning to have him manually flip her. There is a another term for the manual flip, I just don't remember what it was. Anyway, I don't want either. Neither sounds fun. I'm horribly afraid of having surgery and the thought of my doctor putting his hands on my stomach and forcing her to flip makes me start sweating just thinking about it.

The day before our 34 week appointment Lance was outside grilling our dinner and I was in the kitchen stirring the rice. I looked down at my stomach, it was the weirdest thing to watch. My stomach looked like it was being taken over by and alien. Lance came in from outside and I told him to check it out and we watched her moving around making my stomach do some really weird looking things. It never occurred to us (hello! Clearly we are first time parents!) that she was moving out of position. We had never seen that before so we were pretty in awe. Well, the very next day our doctor was doing the ultrasound and was not happy when he couldn't find her head where it had been for the last 2 1/2 months.

My gut tells me she actually has moved back down into position but my head won't rest until I know for sure. I really hope my gut is right. On Father's day right before bed, she started moving like crazy again, creating another alien baby moment. The next day, and the days to follow, I've had a hard time walking after sitting for a long period of time. That was the same issue I was having when she was the correct position before. Those issues relieved themselves when she had breeched herself. We kept laughing every time I would get out of the car after our long drive home and I couldn't walk. I told Lance I really hope all this pain really does mean she is back in birthing position!

My in-laws come into town today for my baby shower on Saturday. I'm very excited to have them here, and I know they are very excited to see their future granddaughter! We haven't seen them (other than Skyping) since we told them we were pregnant at Christmas time. My stomach is much much bigger than it was at Christmas time! We will have great weather while they are here, though, I have the news on right now and they keep talking about the "heat wave" we are going to have this weekend. Apparently us SoCal residents think heat wave means 80 degrees because that's what we are going to have. I'm sure Ronnie and Sherry will very much enjoy our version of a heat wave especially since they live in Tucson. They know heat in Tucson!

Well, I better finish up here. I need to start getting ready for work and my appointment. I'm sure this afternoon I'm going to be a pregnant sleep deprived zombie. ha! Hopefully my next post will say baby girl is back and position and we are still on for a natural birth, that sure would make me one happy mama!!

Love,
Suzanne
P.S. Lance is my proof reader before I normally post my posts, but he's sleeping. So hopefully this post isn't a hot mess of grammatical and spelling errors! :)

35 week update

I posted a new post last night, so scroll down if you haven't read that one yet. Besides yesterday's update, the last time I updated I was 22 weeks and now I'm almost 36 weeks. Holy cow has time flown by! I can't believe I'm going to be 36 weeks already! About a month left!

These last 14 weeks have been crazy! I didn't know how I was going to survive May, but thankfully I did! Between working full time, taking two college classes and taking a million baby classes May was a month I would soon like to forget. Just looking at the month of May on my calendar seriously sent me into a panic. We had 3 doctor's appointments, I had class two nights a week, plus finals and we started our birthing classes and maternity ward tour. The stress had reached it's peak about mid way through May, but once my two finals were done, I felt like I could breathe again. And, I got good grades in both my classes so I was happy about that. I do remember a certain sister of mine (CAT!) saying I shouldn't take two classes this semester. Clearly, she has no faith in me! :)

We really did enjoy our maternity ward tour. We have two options of where we can give birth at. One of the hospitals is in Irvine and the other is in Anaheim. The Anaheim hospital is closer to us, but the Irvine hospital is much newer. The Anaheim hospital will actually be closing in September to move to their new hospital (still in Anaheim) so we wanted to take a peek at what the old Anaheim hospital looks like. The new Anaheim hospital is the one we go to every two weeks to have my check ups. It's really nice. I'm sure the maternity ward in that hospital is going to be awesome. But alas, baby girl is coming in July, not September. We actually really enjoyed the tour we took of the current Anaheim maternity ward. They really have kept it up and it is a really nice place. After doing our tour, we decided that Anaheim it would be. Plus, my doctor said he thought the staff was better at the Anaheim hospital so when it's time to give birth, that's where we'll be! On the tour we got to pick a little hat for our baby! A volunteer knitted them and each parent to be was able to pick one for their baby. Lance let me pick and of course I picked a super cute yellow one! I'll be sure to post a picture of her wearing her super cute hat. I think it's so nice that volunteers would make these hats for all the parents to be on the tours! It's such a nice thing to receive.

The birthing class we took were actually very good. It was a 5 week class that was held every Thursday from 6:30-9pm every week. After a full day of working from 7-5 then hopping on the freeway for an hour and a half drive to the class, to then be in class until 9pm, we were pretty much over it by the time our 5 week class was up. We learned a ton in these classes which was great. Now if we can avoid a c-section all these classes wouldn't have been for nothing! One of the things we did learn was that by now, we should already have our bags packed for the hospital. Um, ya, we are 4 weeks away and we still haven't packed our bags yet. hahaha Maybe this weekend!

All of my appointments in May went really well. My glucose levels are still staying normal (knock on wood) and my blood pressure is remaining perfect and I'm still in the negative for my weight. I'll take it. I really have been super blessed during this pregnancy. No morning sickness, no heartburn, no swelling, I'm losing weight, the baby is doing great and I'm able to sleep at night. Can't ask for much more than that!

More updates to come. I have a bunch of pictures to share from 2 of the showers we've had so far, pictures from our 4D ultra sound and pictures from us getting her nursery ready. So many fun things left to share!!

Love,
Suzanne

One Month To Go!

I wanted to do a quick post tonight since we are exactly one month away from our due date. I can't believe it!! Where have these last 35 weeks gone? I thought for sure by the time we reached the 4 week countdown I would be starting to panic, but I am surprisingly calm....so far. haha I'm more panicked about work and being gone for 4 months. The amount of work I have left to do before I go out on maternity is absolutely crazy. If all goes well, I plan on working until July 19th. If she actually comes on July21st then bonus. If she comes later (which Wendy will not be happy about! haha) then I'll just be at home waiting for her to arrive. Lance plans on taking at least a week off after the baby is born so he'll be going to work until after the 19th until I call him (if he's at work) and tell him it's go time. Hopefully baby girl won't decide to come during rush hour while Lance is at work! :)

I have a bunch of posts I still need to finish which hopefully will happen this weekend. Here is the latest picture of me taken on Father's Day.

Everyone keeps saying my baby bump is so small, which makes me laugh. I sure don't feel like it's so small when I'm trying to turn over in bed, or when I'm trying to get out of a chair! I do feel very lucky at how this pregnancy has gone. One might call it an easy peasy pregnancy, but I don't want to jinx myself, I still have 4 weeks left! 

More posts coming soon!

Love,

Suzanne

More Appointment Info

I did an update yesterday so if you haven’t scrolled down yet, make sure you go back and check that post out. I know I don’t normally post two days in a row so I didn’t want to throw everyone off!

Since our leap day appointment we had another regularly scheduled appointment with my OB. The only issue I have with my OB is that he is a huge Yankees fan. Hahahaha Baseball season is amongst us so you know the trash talking has begun! Other than that little fault, I really like him. He seems to really know his stuff and always give us all the time we need to ask all of our questions. I know this guy saw NEW PARENTS written all over our face when we walked into his office back in November. He hasn’t had to grab us by the shoulders yet and tell us to snap out of it so that’s good. We must not be freaking out too bad!

My appointments have been going really well. Thank goodness! My sugar levels continue to remain consistent and my blood pressure has been outstanding! I have read a bunch of information that says during your second trimester it goes down but should return to normal in the third trimester. I am still carefully watching my diet and exercising so I hope that when I hit the third trimester my blood pressure continues to stay normal. I know swelling and discomfort are part of the deal with being pregnant but I really don’t want swelling or discomfort! I mean really, who does? However, if walking or riding my spinning bike helps with the swelling and discomfort, you’ll find me on the track or walking my neighborhood! I can just hear all you moms out there laughing at me. Saying, she thinks she’ll be out there in the 9th month! Hahaha
At the appointment before the leap day appointment, I had gained two pounds and I figured here is where the baby and all the extra blood and fluids I’m carrying were going to start to outweigh my good food choices and exercise. But then at my latest appointment I had lost 4 lbs! Yay!

My doctor had looked over all the ultrasound pictures that were taken the week before and said that everything looked good and that our little girl was growing and developing very well. He also said the latest results to our disabilities screening had come back and everything looked normal there too. We sure do like hearing such great news. Keep the good news coming!!

This Sunday we start week 22! I have already started to feel the flutters I was told would be coming. I normally only feel them when I’m sitting at my desk at work. They aren’t strong enough to feel while I’m walking or moving around. The other day I was sitting at my desk at work and she must have given me a huge kick or punch because it was the strongest one I had felt yet and it totally caught my attention. I immediately emailed Lance telling him about it! I can’t wait until she’s kicking and moving and he can feel it. Every night before we go to bed he lies right next to my stomach and talks to her. He always tries to get her to kick me, but so far she hasn’t done it on command. Last night he was encouraging her to kick me and he was waiting patiently trying to feel any movement, but she wasn’t going for it. As soon as I turned over she began kicking. I started laughing and told Lance that she was already toying with him! Hahaha She is so going to rule this household.

Lance has continued to be awesome and has continued to be the rock I need at times. Going through all of this with him has really made it so much easier on me. For that I am truly grateful! He has really picked up a lot of the things I used to do around the house since I have school two days a week and when I’m not in school, I feel like I’m always walking. Just knowing that things are getting done really does take a bunch of stress out of my life. I really do have the best husband ever!

This is the latest picture of our baby girl. Even though this isn't a high resolution shot, we are starting to see more features especially on her face. In case you can't tell what you're looking at, she's laying on her side, and her head is on the right of the picture. She is laying on her hand.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Love,
Suzanne

Popper Update

Well I hope everyone enjoyed watching the video!! If you haven’t figured it out yet….we are having a baby girl!! We couldn’t be happier! We didn’t really have a preference on whether we wanted a boy or a girl, just a healthy baby will do us just fine. But, now we know what we are in for. Pink, butterflies, princesses and more pink! And of course a bunch of baseball stuff too, she’s not going to be totally girly!! Hahahaha

Our appointment was on leap day and I had been dreading the 24oz of water I had to drink an hour before my 7:30am appointment. It actually wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I drank the water no problem, it was only right at my appointment time that I really needed to use the rest room. Luckily though I only had to wait a few minutes into the appointment before the technician let me use the restroom. Yay! I guess they needed to take a few ultrasound pictures with my bladder full, then she was able to let me go to the bathroom and she could take the rest of the pictures with a empty bladder. They wouldn’t let Lance come back with me at first so I was back there while she was taking all the ultrasound pictures while he was waiting in the waiting room. I don’t think he liked that very much especially since I was back there for about 30 minutes or so before they came and got him. Once they brought him back he totally gave me the stink eye trying to figure out if I knew if we were having a boy or a girl. I started laughing and told him right away he could stop trying to read my face to determine if it was a boy or a girl because I didn’t know. The whole time the tech was taking all the ultrasound pictures she didn’t have the screen facing me at all. I couldn’t see anything. Once Lance was in the room the tech turned the screen towards us and we could see our little Popper! This kid really tried to make sure that we were going to leave there not knowing if it was a boy or a girl. She was all over the place. She was doing cartwheels and summersaults and handstands. The tech kept saying to me, can you feel that, she is kicking you with both feet. Hahaha Unfortunately I couldn’t, but I really wanted to be able to! Though in a few months I might be begging this child to stop kicking me for just a few hours so I can sleep!

Every time the tech tried to get a shot between the legs she would move her position. Finally, after about 10 more minutes of trying to get a shot, she gave us a quick peak. The tech said, see that line right there, with the three lines in it? That means your baby is a girl. Lance and I were shocked. I literally looked at the tech and said seriously? It’s a girl? Here is why we were so shocked. My OB that we see every two weeks told us about a month ago we were having a boy. We get an ultrasound every two weeks when we go to see him and he showed us why he thought it was a boy and hey, I couldn’t disagree with him, it looked like a boy to me. We had a month to digest the fact that we were going to have a boy and now we are being told, nope, it’s actually a girl. We weren’t disappointed, just shocked. I think I was more shocked than Lance was. I’m pretty sure the tech was tired of me asking, really, a girl? Are you sure it’s a girl? Hahahaha I actually had an ultrasound picture with me from our last visit with our doctor where it seriously looked like boy parts. She looked at the picture and said, she wasn’t sure what that was, but it wasn’t boy parts. I will say that the ultrasound our doctor uses every two weeks is a portable machine that is definitely not as good of quality as the one we used on leap day, so I am very much trusting that machine more than the portable one. Though I swear on everything holy that if I go through the next few months thinking we are having a girl and then I deliver a boy, I am going to go kung fu crazy on someone. It’s a crazy emotional rollercoaster! I had already started calling the baby the boys name we had picked out! hahaha I’m very confident though that it’s a girl now though. We’ve had another ultrasound since then and now my doctor is convinced it’s a girl too. So that’s good!

We made two videos, one for a boy and one for a girl. Lance did a really great job! He did all the work and he was so convinced as well we were having a boy that he almost didn’t make a girl video. The night before we were to have our appointment, he showed me his final boy video and I said that I loved it and could I see the final girl video. I received a blank stare and he said that he didn’t do a girl video. This is how sure we were people!!! I started laughing and said well what the heck are we going to do if it’s a girl tomorrow? He quickly made the girl video and low and behold, that’s the one we needed! Thank goodness he made that video!

We made cupcakes the night before for all of our co-workers at work. We decided we would make cupcakes with white frosting and then put pink sprinkles if it was a girl, or blue sprinkles if it was a boy. The cupcakes with pink sprinkles were a big hit and a fun way to let everyone know we would be welcoming a baby girl in July!!
Here is a high resolution shot of Popper from the ultrasound appointment on the leap day. She is getting so big!

Love,
Suzanne

We're having a...........

We had our ultrasound appointment this morning!! We are having a..........click on the link to find out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_cVi8X7GnU

I'll give a more detailed blog post about our day when I have time. For right now, enjoy the video! July will be here before we know it!! Murphy, Lance and I can't wait to meet our little bundle of joy!!

Love,

Suzanne and Lance and Murphy too!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s so crazy to think that next Valentine’s day we’ll be celebrating with our little Popper! Lance and I have a funny relationship with Valentine’s day. We don’t hate the day, we just don’t do anything special. I guess it’s because since we starting dating in 2004, we’ve been able to go to nice dinners or travel whenever we felt like it and whenever we had the money. We didn’t need one day to do something special. Maybe after we have kids we’ll start celebrating with each other just because we won’t be able to do what we want when we want. Hahahaha We have definitely decided that when Popper is two or so, we’ll start some new family traditions. Ones that will probably involve baking heart shaped goodies,cards, candy etc. Celebrating Valentine’s Day with kids sounds like so much fun!

Our latest appointment was last week and thankfully, the baby and I are doing just fine. Last week when I was at the doctors I was 16 weeks, thus making me 17 weeks this week. 17 weeks. WOW! I can’t believe we got to 17 so quickly. I’m sure I’ll be thinking the same thing at week 40. Popper measured at about 4.5 inches last week and my handy dandy Mayo Clinic book tells me that at 16 weeks most babies are between 4 and 5 inches long. Perfect, right on schedule.

I lost another 3 lbs at my last check up, for a total of 15 lbs lost since November 21st! My doctor said that if I continue with my eating habits and exercise I could end up not gaining any weight this whole pregnancy. Well how sweet would that be? Sounds pretty fan-freaking-tastic to me. All this hard work is paying off, and will pay off the most when I deliver a healthy baby boy or girl.

Speaking of boy or girl……we weren’t able to find out last week if we were having a boy or girl. It was still too early to tell. I will say, we do have the best doctor ever, and he sure did give it the old college try. He tried from every angle possible, but it was just too early. We have a big ultrasound scheduled for February 29^th, which is when I will be 19 weeks. The big ultrasound is with their fancy machines that will give us a great picture like the one I posted on January 20^th. I am very much looking forward to February 29^th, however, they require that I drink 24oz of water before the ultrasound. Drinking 24oz of water sounds doable until I realized that I have to be finished with my 24oz of water an hour and a half before my scheduled appointment. Then I have to wait for my appointment, have some technician push down on my bladder while trying to see Popper, all without peeing myself. Yep, should be a fun day indeed. They better have a bathroom very close to the ultrasound room! Thankfully there is a good payoff for holding all that water in my bladder for 2+ hours!

So, we’ll be leaping on leap day. Either for a boy or a girl we’ll soon find out. Everyone is pretty neutral so far on whether they want us to have a boy or a girl except for Auntie Cat. She wants Popper to be a boy; and she’s 100% sure it is. Popper, if you’re reading this one day and you turned out to be a girl, Auntie Cat will still love you, she’s just going to make sure you are a tomboy!

Love,

Suzanne

P.S. here is one of the best pictures of our latest ultrasound. Maybe you can tell if we are going to have a boy or a girl! :)

Appointment Update

We had another appointment this afternoon, and it was a really good one! We had another ultrasound which looks like that is going to be the norm, and I'm totally ok with that because I really enjoy seeing our little Popper every two weeks!! Our doctor was very pleased with how the baby was progressing. Unfortunately none of the ultrasound pictures he took produced a good picture but on the screen we could see him moving around and he even waved again. He moves his arms so much I think he's going to be a baseball pitcher! This time when he moved his arm we could clearly see him move his fingers. They showed up on the screen so well even our doctor seemed surprised saying, "there are his digits!" hahahaha

I'm going to laugh if we end up having a girl. Poor thing is going to read this blog one day and ask why we keep referring to her as him! We might actually be able to find out the sex of the baby at the next appointment in two weeks. But, that's a big maybe. So I'm trying not to get my hopes up just in case we aren't able to find out. Hopefully Popper will be cooperating and give us a good show!

So the baby is doing well and my doctor is very pleased with how I'm doing as well. I think I've mentioned on the blog before that my glucose numbers in my second month of pregnancy were all out of whack. I've been on a strict diet with lots of exercise. Thanks to the diet and exercise I've lost 12 lbs so far! My doctor said he knows I'm not lying to him about my diet and exercise because the scale doesn't lie. He said women come in and tell him they are following the diet and exercising but then gain 6 lbs in two weeks. I see no point in lying to him. It doesn't help me or the baby, so I might as well do what I'm supposed to do. Plus, I'm an overachiever so if I'm instructed to do something you best believe I'm going to do it right, and well. I would blame my mom for the overachiever trait, but my dad's guilty of it too. He just pretends to be a rebel. :)

Well, sorry I don't have a picture for you. Hopefully in two weeks we'll have a good picture and know if we are having a boy or a girl!! How exciting!!!

Love,

Suzanne

First good picture of Popper

I had another appointment last Monday as part of the California disabilities screening. The ultrasound I had at that appointment was my best one yet. It was very clear and we had one of the best pictures of our little popper. Popper is our nickname for our cute little baby. I tried to take a picture of the ultrasound printout and this is what it looks like. I hope you can see him.

In this picture he is only 3 inches long. It's crazy to see how big his head is at only 3 inches long! My test results came back with low chances of having a child with a disability like Down's Syndrome and some other disabilities that the doctor told me about but I just can't remember.

I start my 14th week of pregnancy on Sunday and I feel really lucky and grateful with how things have been going. I've been tired, I've had spotting, I've had to change my diet (for the better so no complaining there!), but I haven't been sick! I am so so so grateful for that. I can't even imagine being sick everyday for a few months, ugh, miserable. I am lucky and I know it!

I'm reading a great pregnancy book by the Mayo clinic and it has been so helpful. It explains everything week by week and it has been pretty spot on with the different things that are happening to my body. It's nice to have that to reference since I can't reach my doctor 24/7. Though that would be nice if I could. He'd probably block my number though! :) All funniness aside, I am much less stressed as I start my second trimester. The first trimester brought stresses that I didn't even know were possible. I think Lance and I both are starting to finally enjoy this process and are really excited for July to arrive. Though we do have a TON of stuff to do before July does arrive so we better get to it!

I start school on Monday which I'm excited about but it's definitely going to be a juggling act. A full time job, Dr's appointments every two weeks, class twice a week, homework, a planned trip to Las Vegas, Arizona for Spring Training, and Colorado to visit the grandparents is going to make for a crazy couple of months. But really, if my life wasn't super crazy, I'd be bored, so bring it on!

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Suzanne

Finally!

We are so happy to finally announce we are pregnant! I found out November 18th thanks to a pregnancy test yes, indeed it was true, we were going to have a baby. Lance and I had been trying for a year to get pregnant and it is so funny how quickly the shock and excitement turned into sheer panic! hahahaha The panic has slightly worn off for now and we are just enjoying telling everyone. We truly feel blessed at how supportive everyone has been.

We really enjoyed telling both sets of families at Christmas time. We have some wonderful memories of Papa and Nana and Grandpa and Grandma realizing what their picture frames were telling them. The excitement they showed when realizing a grand baby was coming their way was so awesome.

At this point in my pregnancy I am about 12 1/2 weeks. I am very excited to be starting my second trimester. I am starting to see my stomach change and a baby bump is starting to form. I really am looking forward to being able to feel the baby moving. That is going to be awesome when that happens! I have been so lucky that I did not have one day of morning sickness. Lucky party of 1 indeed! This pregnancy hasn't been all full of rainbows and cupcakes. I have had some issues during my second month of pregnancy with elevated glucose levels. Which has been an added stress I really didn't need, but I will handle it. So far thanks to careful meal planning and lots and lots of walking, my glucose levels have remained exactly where we need them to be which is making this future mama very happy!

Lance has really stepped up and has made the first few months of pregnancy as easy on me as he can make it. The elevated glucose level issue has really changed our day to day lives and how we prepare for our day and I really could not have done it without him. The planning and exercising 3 times a day has just become a part of our daily routine and is not so overwhelming as it was when the madness first started.

Lance is over the moon at the thought of becoming a daddy. People have asked if we want a boy or a girl and we really have no preference. Just a healthy baby is all we really care about. We are going to find out though, I'm not a big fan of surprises. I'm a planner; and I have no desire to start planning the nursery, clothes etc. after the baby arrives! During these blog posts I'm going to refer to the baby as him just because I don't want to type them or he/she every time.

We did get to see the baby last week when I had one of my appointments. The baby was actually starting to look like a baby and not an alien which was so cool. Lance and I were both speechless. As soon as the baby came on the screen he waved at us. He may have just been moving his arm, but I'm counting it as a wave. And I'm sure he was saying "hi mom and dad!!" but we just couldn't hear him.

I'll keep everyone updated on how my appointments are going and how we are holding up. We probably won't stop worrying and stressing until the baby arrives in mid July. Then after that we will have 18+ years of worrying ahead of us. hahahaha What have we signed up for?!?!?!!? :) I always knew I was a worrier, but I didn't realize until just recently I may have married someone who worries more than me. This poor kid. His parents are crazy and he doesn't even know it yet. Poor thing will realize it when we wrap him in bubble wrap before we let him outside to play!

Love,

Suzanne