New Baby Pics!

Hello Dearest Friends and Family!

We went to get an elective ultrasound over the weekend and got some pretty incredible shots. Our little boy is very active -- he moved so much, it was hard to get non-fuzzy pictures of him. However, we managed to finagle a few.

Hope you enjoy!

As for me, I'm swollen, huge, and taking things day-by-day. Had an OB visit yesterday b/c I was having dizzy spells, but the Dr. is not concerned. Could just be hormone fluctuations. Will get some blood tests back next week just to confirm that all is well. Michael and I will take a "prepared childbirth" class this Saturday and next. It's the same class we took before Henry. It was so valuable. Surprisingly, we've forgotten so much since Henry was born, so we need a refresher.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Kiss Kiss,
Mary


(sticking out his tongue)


(profile)


(little smile!)


(yawning!)

Big Brother to Be

Hello All!

Well, time is closing in. Although I find myself saying, "I can't believe I have 10 whole weeks to go until the baby is born!" I also find myself saying, "I can't believe I ONLY have ten weeks to go," almost in the same breath. Wow, it's getting close.

Henry is certainly gearing up to be a big brother. He talks to his brother all the time now, and even brings him his favorite toys to "see" and "smell". As time passes, I am more and more confident that Henry is going to transition exceptionally well to his new role of big brother.

However, I am still saddened to think that he will have to experience less of my attention than usual. He is so clingy right now and our bond is stronger than ever. We are attached at the hip. I am so worried that bringing the new baby home is going to upset his whole world. I try not to dwell on these fears, but they do creep up from time to time. They are very real. All I can do is try to be the best mom possible and ensure that Henry has as smooth a transition as possible. Any advice?

Kiss Kiss,

Mary

Final Stretch!

Tomorrow's the day...it marks the beginning of my 28th week and the start of my third trimester...yay!!!!! I'm so glad this day has come because now I feel like I am finally justified for being so enormous. Trust me, I'm huge!

However, despite my girth, my pain levels have decreased dramatically since I began physical therapy. Kudos to the gals at Bebe PT...they are miracle workers. Actually, they simply know what they're doing and they truly care. I'm so thankful I found them.

Tomorrow is also a huge day because my brother's wife is scheduled to be induced...it is her third pregnancy and my third niece. I'm so excited for them! Hoping and praying that everything goes well.

Please check out my baby name poll to the right and cast your votes!!! So far, it's dead even. Although I've settled on a name, I'm still not 100% sure, so I'm curious to get some feedback.

Kiss Kiss,
Mary

Awwww, Man!

So, it turns out I'm NOT 25 weeks just yet. I will be tomorrow. But all week, I thought I was approaching week 26, not 25. Where/how did I lose a week? I guess I'm getting ready to have this baby, sooner than later.

This experience is way different from my first pregnancy. With that pregnancy, I loved being pregnant--every waking moment. I was on cloud nine and I was afraid of having the baby. Funny how things change.

Physical therapy has been good this week. I've made a HUGE improvement since Monday, when I was in so much pain, I could barely shower myself without yelping after every slight movement. I just hope I can keep up with this good streak. I don't want to ruin things again over the weekend.

Tomorrow is my monthly OB appointment. This is the one where I have my glucose test--to check for gestational diabetes. I hope I pass with flying colors. Wish me luck. I'm huge this time around, so I'm a bit fearful of the results. But, I am trying to eat well as much as possible, so we shall see...(oh, and no, that's not really me in the picture)

Looking forward to getting the great news from my brother and his wife soon! Sounds like their little one is ready to arrive any day now!

Chugging Along - Week 25

Hello All!

I am now in my 25th week. Three more weeks before I can officially say I'm in the home stretch (third trimester). Woo hoo!

It has been a rough road. This pregnancy has been wrought with pain and discomfort since the beginning. I'm doing physical therapy now, two days a week, to try to combat the pain and strengthen my core muscles (which will help with delivery down the road). It seems to be helping, but I also seem to take two steps back every weekend. Apparently, I'm pushing myself too hard, although I feel like I'm taking it easy.

For instance, I went to two parties this weekend, plus ran all the usual errands. I even took a nice, long nap late yesterday afternoon. However, I went into PT today with sharp, stabbing pains in my lower back. My PT told me I am officially restricted to only one party a weekend from now on. Awww, man! I suppose it could be worse. I could be on bed rest...yuck!

For those of you who haven't seen my latest U/S pics, or for those of you who just want to see them again, here they are for you. Enjoy!!! More to come soon.

Kiss Kiss,

Mary

Update on Mya

First of all, I want to thank everyone who sent well wishes and prayers to baby Mya. She is home now with her family and growing every day.

However, she was diagnosed with a very rare disorder called Cri du Chat (or "Cry of the Cat" in French). It's a disorder of the 5th chromosome and results in severe developmental disabilities, including mental retardation and difficulting walking/talking.

Please continue to keep Mya in your prayers and thoughts. Our friends have a long, tough road ahead of them, but we know they are survivors!

Pray for Mya

Dear Loved Ones,

A dear friend of ours recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Mya. She was delivered a couple of weeks early due to retricted intrauterine growth.

A few days after her birth, she was showing signs of growth and doing quite well. But on Sunday, her health took a turn for the worse. The doctors are exploring the possibility that she could have a chromosomal problem.

Please keep Mya in your prayers. I cannot think of anything else we can do at this point.

Love,
Mary

Amnio Aftermath

Hello Dearest Family and Friends!

Yesterday's amniocentisis went well. Of course, we won't have the actual test results back for another two weeks or so, but from the initial findings (via ultrasound), baby Hayes #2 looks great!

We still couldn't get a positive ID on the gender, but the signs still point to this little bugger being a boy. We couldn't get "him" to sit still long enough to get a close look. He is very active!

In fact, I'm definitely feeling him move inside me. He likes to hang out on my left side--or at least that's where he likes to kick the most. Maybe because my stomach is always crowding his space. :) Interestingly, Henry always hung out on my right side. In fact, I can remember my belly always portruding out more on the right side than left towards the end of my pregnancy.

Prior to yesterday's amnio, we got some excellent views of the baby. We got 2-D, 3-D, and 4-D images (4-D being a 3-D image in real-time, meaning, we got to see him moving in 3-D) Amazing. The pictures to the right are of him in 3-D. His head is at the top in each picture. His hand is up by his face in the top two images. We think he looks a lot like Henry...what do you think?

As far as the amnio goes, it was fine. It hurt! I was not expecting it to hurt much at all since they gave me a local anesthetic right before. Plus, so many people told me what little a deal it would be. Well, the doctor poke me without warning and I jumped and then held my breath for about 20 seconds. Finally, he told me to breath and relax. He asked me what my favorite beach was. I was so caught off guard by the question, that I started laughing and then freaked out, thinking that my laughing would make the needle (already inside my uterus) poke the baby by accident. I finally answered, "Pismo Beach", because it was the only beach I could think of--and the last beach I had been to.

Finally, needle came out, I got a little bandaid, one more shot of rogaime (because I'm B neg), and sent home. Prior to the amnio, I had blood drawn. So in one friday afternoon, I was poked a total of 4 times. Glad that's over!

Now, it's time to rest and take it easy. Unfortunately, I'm battling a mini cold, so sleep is hard to come by. But I'm trying to still take it easy. Michael's helping tremendously by taking Henry off my hands and giving me space. I'm so lucky to have such a great husband!

Hope all is well with you. Sorry for blabbering on so much!

Kiss Kiss,

Mary

Soccer Mom

It's official. I'm a soccer mom now. Well, to be more exact, Michael is a soccer dad. I guess, by default, that makes me a soccer mom.

Henry had his very first organized soccer meet/class on Sunday at Cheviot Hills Park. His team is called the Booters. Michael took him (I was sick, in bed), but from what I hear, it was the cutest damn thing you've ever seen!!! We have the photos to prove it.

Henry took to it immediately--no reservations at all. Michael said that he was actually quite good--able to dribble the ball all the way down the field and kick it into the goal really well (for a 3-year-old). Immediately after the game, Michael and Henry went out to buy cleats, which Henry proceeded to wear all day Sunday. He barely let me take them off for bed! :)

The entire weekend here was hot hot hot! When I wasn't laying in bed, I was out at the mall, the store, wherever there was A/C to try to keep cool. I hope this heat doesn't last too long. Being pregnant, I already sweat perfusely. This heat just makes it worse (and stinkier!). It's the only reason why I'm thankful to be at work today--central A/C. Ahhh, nice!

Hope everyone has a great week. Oh, my amnio is scheduled for this Friday, the 27th, so please send your prayers and good thoughts.

Kiss Kiss,

Mary

Feelin' Sorry for ME

Hi.

It's been a while. Sorry.

I'm feeling particularly blue today, which is why I'm writing in my blog. Sometimes writing just makes me feel better. I can get stuff off my chest, vent, daydream, imagine, etc.

To try to cheer myself up, I'll write a list of 20 things I am thankful for today:

1. Family

2. Friends

3. Income

4. Baby on the way

5. Vacations

6. Mrs. Winston's salad bar

7. Clothes that fit

8. Great childhood memories

9. Crazy, entertaining dreams

10. Ice cream

11. Cheese

12. Henry's nanny

13. Henry's school

14. Having a reliable car

15. AAA

16. Great neighbors

17. Fruit smoothies

18. Friendly faces

19. Laughter

20. Long fingernails

I also want to add that FAMILY is a MAJOR MAJOR #1 on the list. I'm especially missing my sisters. I'm pregnant, needy, and blue and wish my sisters were nearby so we could all cook each other dinner, bake cookies, watch each others' kids, watch cheesy movies, and blabber on and on about everything and nothing at all. I miss my sisters.

Love,

Mary

Oh Baby!

Hello All,

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. No excuse, other than things have been busier than usual at work and I'm exhausted when I'm at home.

This week, I had a very good Dr. visit. I went for my "1st trimester screening," which involves a detailed ultrasound and blood tests. The point is to screen for any indicators/predictors of genetic abnormalities.

The official results will be ready in about a week or so, but the preliminary results from the u/s looked very good - "perfect", in fact, according to the Dr. :)

The most amazing part was that I got to see the baby moving for the very first time. He even lifted his arm and put his hand on his head...yes, I'm calling the baby "he" b/c even though I thought I was having a girl, this little bean looks just like Henry to me. Time will tell for sure, though.

Hope everyone is doing well, happy, and healthy. Have a wonderful weekend!

Kiss Kiss,

Mary

Fleurgen Deurgen

(Update: Please take the baby girl name poll to the right!)We're going to IKEA!!! It's a Swedish dream come true!!!

Truthfully, Michael and I have many fond memories of shopping at IKEA...finding a desk for his room in college, furnishing our very first apartment together, and turning our Casita into a mini home away from home.

Now, it's time for Henry to get a real big-boy bed. So off to IKEA we go. Should be fun. Henry's at the age now where he is SO fun to shop with. I know he'll get a big kick out of picking out his very own bed.

Hopefully, we'll have photos updates soon. I'll keep you posted!

Kiss Kiss,

Mary

Sweet Dreams

Pregnancy brings with it a host of symptoms. "Every woman is different," they say, and not all of us experience the same things. This is very true. What's more, not every pregnancy is the same. My current pregnancy is vastly different from my pregnancy with Henry. Henry's was a breeze in comparison--at least in the beginning. Along with the daily bouts of nausea, I've been experiencing another new symptom this time around--frequent and abnormally vivid dreams. I thought I'd share my most recent...

In this dream, I'm pregnant. I'm at the doctor's for what is supposed to be a routine ultrasound appointment. Except in this nether world, the doctor's office is really a surgery suite in the hospital and the ultrasound involves, what else, surgery!

As the doctor views my baby through the ultrasound screen, she determines that the baby is ready to come out for a sneak peak of planet earth. I'm awake as this is all happening, and luckily, I feel no pain as the doctor slices my stomach open and removes a fully grown baby girl. My baby girl doesn't make a sound, and her eyes are close, yet, she is able to walk around on the surgery room floor for several minutes. As she's walking, the doctor begins clapping and singing, as if my baby girl is putting on some sort of show. Then, the doctor proclaims that it's time for my baby girl to go back inside her home.

This is the strange part. Suddenly, I'm out-of-body, watching a nurse place my baby into my womb and sew me back up. My perspective is as if I'm standing next to myself, lying on the gurney. I'm watching and thinking, "why do you have to put her back?" "She's walking already and looks fully grown!"

I don't question the doctor's decision as I begin to head home, thinking about how I'm going to tell Michael about my incredible doctor's appt. Immediately, I stop in my tracks. It just dawns on me that while I was watching my baby walk along the floor and be placed back into my womb, she is NOT attached to an umbilical cord. My basic learnings from Anatomy 101 come flooding back to me, alerting me that a baby cannot survive in the womb if it is not connected to the placenta--which can only be achieved via an umbilical cord.

Frantic, I rush back to the hospital, track down the nurse who sewed me back up, and question her about my discovery. She calmly reassures me that babies at this particular gestational age are able to sustain themselves sans placenta for about 20 minutes. She continues...the doctor simply detached my baby from the umbilical cord temporarily, and then fastened her back to the cord when she placed her back inside. This wasn't good enough for me.

I couldn't help but think, "how can you safely detach a baby from an umbilical cord and re-attach?" "Wouldn't the connection be much weaker after a procedure like that?" I was terrified that my baby could easily become jarred lose from her cord at anytime. I demanded regular ultrasounds to monitor her. Sure enough, when I next went to the doctor, we found that my girl had become disconnected. Luckily, it was only for a few seconds, so we were able to re-attach her. Granted, this again involved a full-on surgery! From then on, I had to wear a monitor attached to my belly--designed to alert me anytime she became detached again.

That's where this dream ends. No wonder I wake up feeling nauseous every morning. That was a stressful dream. And because it was so vivid, it felt so real.

- Me

Oooops, I Did It Again

Aaaaaaaaaaa-cho!

The sound is often associated with several sensations and emotions:

1. relief
2. embarrassment
3. surprise
4. sickness, etc.

For me, a sneeze is usually followed by instant relief. But these days, that relief is suddenly replaced by sheer horror and humiliation. Ooops, I peed my pants. Yes yes, this is one of the joys of being pregnant and/or simply being a woman who has given birth at least once in her lifetime.

Many of us don't speak of this terrible affliction. It's far too embarrassing. But I've come to a point in my life where I prefer to call things as they are. Why pretend that the world is all roses and sunshine, when it's not? If we do that, we're just setting ourselves up for constant disappointment.

Oh no, I'd rather keep things honest and laugh at the things I cannot control...at least I try to. Hope you'll get a little chuckle of out this, too.

So, next time you hear a woman sneeze, take a good look at her...you might know something about her that she'd rather you did not. :)

And They Call it Puppy Love

Today marks day one of my 7th wedding anniversary weekend celebration spectacular! Actually, our anniversary was last Sunday, but we couldn't get reservations for last weekend, so this weekend it is. We also couldn't score a babysitter for this weekend, so the whole family is heading up the coast to Pismo Beach for a weekend of sand, sun, food, more sand, sunset-lit dinners, more sand, and more food! Should be a blast!

Pismo Beach holds a lot of meaning for me and Michael. We used to go there a lot when he was in college. Its just a short 15 minute drive from SLO. Pismo's "Splash Cafe" has the absolute BEST clam chowder you've ever had in your life! Don't believe me? Try it yourself. They ship overnight! http://www.splashcafe.com/ According to their website, most Costco stores carry their chowder...who knew? You'll never forget this chowder. Besides the fact that it tastes wonderful, it will leave you with "clam chowder burps" for hours after you eat it. :)

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and moms-to-be!

Kiss Kiss,

Mary

Hello All!

Welcome to Bloggy McBloggerton, my official piece of the blog-crazed internet world. Feel free to stop by anytime. I'll try to update regularly with family updates, photos, rants, raves, and random nonsense.

More to come soon.

Love,
Mary