Tuesday, January 27, 2009

4D ULTRASOUNDS!?!?!


No -- this is not our baby!!! But this could potentially be what our ultrasound pictures look like!!!
So, Nana Bernero was baby surfing and came across a website for this incredible facility in Glendale that offers 4D Ultrasounds!!! Their homepage offers this:

It has been our privilege to share this incredible bonding experience with over 20,000 families. We use the Top-of-the-Line, State-of-the-Art GE Voluson 730 Expert System for the best picture quality. Our centers feature comfortable patient lounges in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We take the time to make sure your experience is one you will treasure for a lifetime. We can accommodate up to ten guests. Everyone has a great seat with our 100 inch Screen and 3 viewing monitors. A once in a lifetime experience. Our sonographers are medically trained professionals that are RDMS eligible to perform ultrasounds at hospitals, doctor's offices and ultrasound centers. 4D Sonograms are external, non invasive and include a limited diagnostic. Pictures, DVD's set to music, Digital Pictures on CD, and Gender Determination( as early as 15 weeks). You receive everything at the time of your appointment.

I want! I want!! I want!!!! I will have!!!!!! Oh I can't wait to see our baby in full 4D color!!! How exciting! Thanks, Mom!!!

WE'VE CHOSEN OUR MIDWIFE!!!

I am so excited to announce that Certified Professional Midwife Renee Sicignano and owner of Gentle Beginning Birth Service will provide our prenatal care, nutritional counseling, and attend our home birth!!! That's right!!! I said -- Home birth!!! It is my deepest desire to have our baby in a quiet and peaceful home environment without the use of harmful drugs. I believe that our birth will be beautiful and blessed and that the baby and I are in the best of hands!!! Renee is associated with Perinatologists at Cedar Sinai and Glendale Adventist and in the event of an emergency or the need to transfer for non-emergency reasons, we have already discussed that we are willing and prepared to make those sacrifices!!! We know that as with anything in life, that our birth plan will probably not go exactly as expected, but we are none-the-less thrilled to have the opportunity to move forward in our goals for a home birth. Renee does all of the prenatal care and that includes all the blood tests and exams. We will refer out for our ultrasounds -- and I promise that everyone will get the see the images as soon as we have them!!! Renee will also guide me nutritionally over the next 9 months and beyond and will play a big role in my fitness goals as well. I am scheduling my first prenatal appointment for next week and I will update everyone on how the visit goes and on the health of the baby and I!!!

THE RETRO BABY



I can't wait to find out whether or not the baby is a boy or a girl so I can give all of my money to this company!!! They sell the freaking cutest retro/urban onsies!!!! I love the pink one that says "I'm with the Band"!!! I know a drummer daddy who would melt if his little boy/girl were wearing this!!!! They have so many other styles. I think I saw a few Hendrix onsies and Zepelin. This place rocks the onsies!!!!

Monday, January 26, 2009

WEEK 6: THE NEURAL TUBE CLOSES!!!


This is what our baby looks like this week!!!

WEEK 6: THE NEURAL TUBE CLOSES
Your baby at week six (four weeks after conception)
Growth is rapid this week. Just four weeks after conception, your baby is about 1/8 of an inch long. The neural tube along your baby's back is now closed, and your baby's heart is beating with a regular rhythm. Basic facial features will begin to appear, including an opening for the mouth and passageways that will make up the inner ear. The digestive and respiratory systems begin to form as well. Small blocks of tissue that will form your baby's connective tissue, ribs and muscles are developing along your baby's midline. Small buds will soon grow into arms and legs.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

PREGNANCY SYMPTOMS

So -- today is Week 4 Day 6 of pregnancy (translates to the last day before I am fully 5 weeks and heading into my 6th week) and I have noticed that the mild nausea, dizziness, and faintness have disappeared. I am so thrilled and remain cautiously optimistic that I suffered the worst of those symptoms and that this is NOT the calm before the storm. I do still have the extreme and I mean EXTREME breast tenderness. Good grief. Sorry Dad... Jaybo and Cris... and John.... and any man who did not want to hear about my boobies. Anyways -- on to the real reason for this blog!!!! I am experiencing a very weird symptom. I have cramps, which in and of themselves are not weird. I have read countless articles on early pregnancy cramps and about how normal and common they are. The weird part is that they come on about 11pm and last until about 5am every night. I can sail through the day with minimal discomfort, but as soon as I begin to wind down for the night -- BAM -- cramp central. What the heck? This coupled with the very strange dreams that I have been having as of late is enough to keep me tossing and turning all night long, missing out on the precious 12 hours of sleep that I for some reason now require!!!! Come on!!! Isn't it a little early for the pregnancy gods to be giving me a taste of what it will be like when the baby is here??? I suppose it's never too early to get a good understanding of the lack of sleep that I will endure in the coming years!!! Oh and Jason too -- I've been keeping him up with my wacky sleep talking and tossing and turning!!! Oh well -- what an adventure. I wonder what today, tomorrow, and next week have in store!!! It's a little thrilling!!!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

INTELLIGENDER????


So -- I'm scanning this pregnancy magazine (I can't remember which one) and I come across and advertisement for a product called "Intelligender: Gender Prediction Test" and I freak. Gender prediction? Really? So I jumped onto my trusty laptop and ran a search for this exciting product. The website lures you in IMMEDIATLEY with their slogan "Pink or Blue: We'll Tell You". I WANNA KNOW!!!! So of course the who, what, where, when, why and how much pop into my head. This nifty little kit costs $35 and promises to determine the sex of your baby at as early as 8 weeks (8-12 weeks earlier than ultrasound) and at a 90% accuracy rate. It tests the urine for male DNA (which the mother would only have in her system if she were pregnant with a boy). If there is no male DNA present you are most likely pregnant with a little girl and vice versa. All you have to do is pee in a little cup. If there is male DNA the test turns green. If there isn't the test turns orange. It's that easy!!! So -- I'm thinking -- I'm in the middle of my 5th week (early I know) by next wednesdy I will be starting my 6th week which means I could potentially know the sex of our baby in 3 more weeks!!!! I'm buying this sucker!!!! I may buy 2. I mean -- it can't hurt to test twice. Maybe wait a few weeks after the first test and try again just to make sure?!?!? I love modern technology.

Friday, January 23, 2009

MY LUCY MOMENT (As My Dad Likes to Call It)


So I've read that the surge of hormones in early pregnancy can make you a little scatter brained, and that simple things can sometimes be forgotten or overlooked. Well -- yesterday -- Thursday January 22, 2009 to be exact -- my scattered brain forgot something alright!!! I grabbed everything that I needed for the day (including the dog/excluding my cell phone because it's in the car) and locked the house up and went down to the garage to load everything and everyone into the car. The car was locked. It was locked. LOCKED. Holy crap -- I forgot the keys. Holy crap -- I locked the house up!!! So I made the mad dash up the stairs to the door leading into our house and sure enough -- locked!!! Ok -- open the garage door!!! No -- because the garage door opener is locked inside the car and we dismantled the main garage door hub because our neighbors kept accidentally opening our garage door with their opener. Ok -- use the manual lever and lift the garage door!!! No -- because I can only lift that thing about 2 inches off of the floor!!!! At this pont I start to panic. I have no way to get ahold of anyone to tell them that I'm stuck (as I said earlier my phone is in the locked car) and that they have to come help me!!!! So I figure -- why not try to pick the lock. I don't know what brand of lock this is -- but everyone should have it because it did not budge!!! So my last and final attempt???? Kick the door in. That was laughable!!! Me, in high-heeled boots, on the stairs, trying to Derrick Morgan the door!!! Yeah right. That lasted a few kicks before I gave in to the situation and accepted my fate. I was locked in the garage until someone figured out that they hadn't heard from me all day. Well -- that would turn out to be 8 hours and 2 water bottles full of pee later. When Jason discovered my corpse (fine I was alive but I felt like the walking dead) I was so relieved that I burst into tears!!! 8 hours is a really really really really long time!!!! Plus I was starving!!! Soooooo -- what's the worst way to spend 8 hours while pregnant with absolutely no way to contact the outside world???? Uh huh -- you know the answer. But, baby and I are safe and Jason took us to the nearest fast food joint (as I couldn't wait for anything else) and we were fed and watered!!!! So we were saved by our knight in leather armor!!!! YAY!!!!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

WEEK 5: BABY'S HEART BEGINS TO BEAT!!!!


This is what our baby looks like this week!!!!

"WEEK 5: BABY'S HEART BEGINS TO BEAT:
Your baby at week five (three weeks after conception)
At week five, your baby is 1/17 of an inch long — about the size of the tip of a pen.
This week, your baby's heart and circulatory system are taking shape. Your baby's blood vessels will complete a circuit, and his or her heart will begin to beat. Although you won't be able to hear it yet, the motion of your baby's beating heart may be detected with an ultrasound exam.
With these changes, blood circulation begins — making the circulatory system the first functioning organ system. "

THE FIRST MONTH


So here it is!!! The first month gone and done and my belly is as flat as board. Look at those abs!!!! I may not be showing yet, but my body is going through all kinds of changes. I am so impressed at the amount of energy my body requires to grow a baby. Good grief. I can't sleep enough right now. 10-12 hours at night followed by a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. The fatigue is outrageous. My mornings are great -- I feel revived and full of energy. By early afternoon I start to get sluggish and experience mild bouts of dizziness. By 3 pm I am downright exhausted, dizzy, faint, and I have mild nausea. This lasts on and off for the rest of the night. The nausea is pretty mild for the most part, although I had to have jason pull the car over the other night cause I was gonna blow chunks!!!! I swear it had nothing to do with his driving....;0). The only other symptom I've been experiencing is very mild burning/cramping in my uterus. Oh how that little egg loved to burrow!!! The cramping and burning has pretty much subsided now and I get little twinges here and there as my uterus prepares for the changes it's about to go through!!!!! I am welcoming week 5 with open arms and I can't wait to take our 2 month photo!!!

OUR TTC JOURNEY



I'm pretty sure that everyone knows that this pregnancy was no surprise to Jay and I. We've been TTC (trying to concieve) for a few months now and I have to admit that there was some major naivity on my part. I was convinced that as soon as we shelved those little latex barriers that our first attempt would result in a positive pregnancy test. I thought -- it's just that easy. Well, when nothing but a BIG FAT NEGATIVE resulted that month I thought "Huh, that's peculiar." So I dug my feet in a little more, reworked our "TTC Schedule" and we tried again. Still nothing. So I finally had to admit that we were clearly not the picture of TTC perfection that I had painted. I had to admit that we didn't know what the heck we were doing and that we needed help. So I enlisted the help of this amazing website called FertilityFriend.com. You basically chart 4 signs of fertility: Cervical Position, Cervical Fluid, Basal Body Temp., and Ovulation Predictor Test/Fertility Monitors. I had no idea that getting pregnant was so much work or that it was such a shot in the dark. I learned through my research that the average woman has a 20-25% chance of getting pregnant each month. WHAT???? So you have a 1 in 5 chance of getting pregnant in a 6 month span????? Anyway -- I started charting all the signs, taking my temp. at 7:30 every morning, and taking these little ovulation predictor tests. This chart was our first ever and I cannot believe it, but it worked. Look at that thing!!! In my humble opinion -- that is the most perfect temperature chart around!!!! A little jagged and peaky before ovulation (day 12). A huge spike the day after ovulation (day 13), followed by a slow rise and then an implantation dip (day 21) and then a very steady and even raised temp. ever since. Presto preggo!!!! Now we have a 9 month -- well 8 months now -- journey ahead of us and I can't wait meet our little embryo!!!!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

THREE SEPERATE TESTS CONFIRM IT -- WE'RE PREGNANT!!!


Look at all of those beautiful positive results!!! When I took the first test the line was so faint that I didn't believe it was positive. So I waited 2 days and tested with the middle test and got that gorgeous purple plus!!! But here's the thing -- a few days after the second test and after I discovered that everyone on the planet had heard the news I freaked and thought "oh no -- what if I'm not pregnant and it was just a fluke?!?!?" So I took a third test (this one digital) and as you can see -- PREGNANT!!!!! Holy crap!!!! I am a little ashamed to admit that I broke down again this evening and took another test (I am having a hard time believing that this is real) and lo-and-behold, it was positive. I didn't take a picture of that test. I was a little embarrased....;0)!!! So there it is -- we are pregnant and we are so freaking excited!!!! And nervous..... and terrified.....but oh so over the moon!!!!!