26 Weeks!

Today marks 26 weeks ... and Christmas is in 3 days! We are so close the the milestone of when Malia was born, I think New Years Eve will be the day, 27 weeks and 4 days. Which is also our Wedding Anniversary. So this year we have so much to celebrate. I went to the doc yesterday and all is well. Doctor Weiderman said that we keep looking for issues and there are no issues. Blood pressure and swelling are fine as long as I stay mellow. If i do too much I swell, so being mellow is working. I had another appointment of no weight gain! Yay! I was so relieved about that because I have had my moments of sweets but in general Ive been eating pretty healthy. I would love to not gain another pound for the rest of my pregnancy ... but im sure I will... so ohh well. I just need to do the best I can and that's all I can do. Last night I had a dream that baby boy was born at 7 pounds and 7 ounces .. and he was a chunky monkey. I am really looking forward to the holidays and being with family and celebrating feeling good. We have so much to be grateful for and I am so grateful!

Next doc appointment is in 3 weeks because my doc will be on vacation .. and the 28 week ultrasound is in two weeks on January 4th. I also have to take my gestational diabetes testing and get my shot for having a RH negative blood type ... both happen at 28weeks. 

25 Weeks and Counting ...

Not much to report ... everything seems to be going good with the baby. Morgan and I had a chance to register at 9 months later in the Eureka mall. That was fun to discover all the new baby things out that weren't around when we had Malia. And all the boy related things which are a whole new world. Sleeping has become a major issue .. Im super uncomfortable and feeling a lot of aches and pains so the next several weeks will be a big challenge.

Ive been going through my pregnancy with two other best friends, both are 4 weeks ahead of me. We all were so sick and having the same worries and challenges. One of them went to the doc at 28-30 weeks to discover no heart beat out of the blue. This has been so devastating. They think the cord straggled the baby .. but aren't for sure what went wrong. Its heart breaking to get so far along and have something that devastating happen. So Ive been very sad for my friend. We all certainly don't know whats in store for us every single day. This pregnancy thing is a very fragile. Sending lots of love to my friend.

24 Weeks!

On Tuesday we hit another big milestone .... 24 weeks! Which means the baby is viable outside the womb. Although that would be horrible and wont happen ... it still feels good to make it here and feel healthy and happy. It is such a relief that the swelling and high bp has disappeared ... feels like a miracle has happened. I now am super confident that baby boy will come when he is supposed too. I had my 4th ultrasound yesterday, baby boy measured 1 pound and 3 ounces ... which they said is normal for 24 weeks. Its amazing since Malia was born at 1 pound and 7 ounces.  I cant wait to hear he is 6 pounds or more :) next doc appointment is this Monday ... and the next ultrasound is at 28weeks.

Lots going on ...

It has been very busy lately. Morgan had his gall badder out over a week ago and my mom needs open heart surgery in the next two weeks. So its been a bit stressful with worry for me. The baby and this pregnancy seems to be going well. The pregnancy hormones make me cry at everything which is a bit overwhelming. Then having real life and death issues going on just makes it worse. Baby is kicking up a storm .. all day long every single day ... so I think we will have our hands full with these two kids ... whoa! I feel he is healthy and active and that's a beautiful thing. My body seems to be doing just fine. Not swelling much at all and blood pressures are normal ... although i choose to not take it last week due to the stress. But I feel pretty good physically so that's great. Im 23 weeks pregnant tomorrow ... wow .. it is going fast. I do feel its time to get baby organized ... Im a bit nervous that I have no baby boy things ... all in good time I guess. I have another ultrasound in a week to check the baby boy's growth. Things are going well .. i just need my moms surgery to go well next! Im sure it will. Malia and I drove to Santa Rosa for Thanksgiving and we had a great time .. she was the best travel partner ever!

A few good days ...

So the past few days have been much better. My swelling has been down and my blood pressures have been normal ... Yay! I have hope for a long boring pregnancy once again! Those bad days really scare me! We moved out of the studio this weekend with the huge help of the parents. So that will help to just rest and finish the loads of editing I have. I will be relaxing and editing from here on out. I am having a very hard time sleeping due to being uncomfortable and needing to pee constantly ... then waking up for my 4 am glass of milk. I swear the pee thing must be designed to get you used to getting up with the baby every two hours. I cant even nap these days. Ive been doing yoga with Malia .. only until i start swelling then I stop. But watching Malia do yoga is the cutest thing ever ... that girl is a crack up. She has gotten used to having a baby brother instead of a baby sister, she now corrects her self when she calls the baby her sister. I am going to take her shopping soon to pick out an outfit for the baby. It will be the baby's first purchase ... I want Malia to have the honor of selecting what to get. The baby is kicking up a storm ... all the time .. becoming very active as we go into our 21st week tomorrow. I can feel the baby move from outside of my skin .. crazy! I do believe boys must be more active than girls .. I dont remember Malia moving this much.

Times are a changing ...

So I hit 20 weeks and so have the swelling and high blood pressure. I feel this feeling in my hands and legs that I had with Malia. Im having headaches ... although I have my whole pregnancy. I officially have pregnancy induced hypertension. This is so scary ... here we go again. But this time we have a little boy to worry about vs. what rock stars girls are when born early. I need to make it to 28 weeks - January 7th for this baby boy to have a chance. Premature boys have a much higher rate of death when born early. If I can make it to 28 weeks than the baby has a 90% chance of survival. But before that the odds drop off. One thing I read said that they think boys develop more slowly in the womb than girls ... so where Malia was at 27 weeks ... this baby most likely wont be as far along.

I officially am now resting for the remainder of the pregnancy ... no more nesting ... no baby stuff ... its life and death. If resting will help keep this boy in at all .. I am going to try it. So send your positivity and prayers our way! It is really too bad that my body rejects pregnancy so much ... I just want our son to be ok ... that's all I want.

20 Week Ultrasound Photos

Baby Boy Profile

Baby Looking

Baby Penis! That little dot the arrow is pointing too

20 Weeks - The big news!

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound! It was very exciting ... we found out we are having a baby boy! We couldn't see much on the screen other than fuzzy body parts .. but we saw the baby kicking and heard the heart beat. She said she is 100% sure its a boy and pointed out his little penis. We had a doc appointment directly after which my BP was borderline high so I now i will start taking my BP at home a few times a week and keeping track. I am also doing a 24 hour urine collection for a baseline - for future possible protein showing up. The baby is growing appropriately and is 11 ounces! We will do the steroid shot at 24 weeks just in case things turn bad we are good to go. I will have another ultrasound at 24 weeks then another at 28 weeks - to check my amniotic fluid levels and the babies growth. This is crunch time ... I know Malia stopped growing at around 22 weeks so we will be on top of the ultrasounds and make sure the baby is growing fine. Time to think about a nursery! I am wrapping up a lot of loose ends right now. We are moving out of the studio this weekend. Then i will be home editing and nesting. I am in full nesting mode. I hated not having one thing prepared when Malia came into the world .. so I am determined to be completely prepared by 25 weeks with this one!

I came home and told Malia about her baby brother! Here is the video!

Week 19!

Wow I cant believe I am at week 19 now ... that is pretty scary because my to do list is still long. But im so happy that we have made it this far. Week 18 and 5 days I woke up with extreme vertigo ... out of the blue .. started vomiting immediately ... such an awful feeling. I cant sleep because I have to basically be at a 45 degree angle and on my left side. If I lay down flat it is much worse. I went to the ER and they said it sounded like positional vertigo. I went to my OB yesterday and he said its Maniere's Disease ... that is a scary name for vertigo. Im not sure I buy that its Maniere's Disease and that's that. So of coarse Ive been searching the internet for possible answers. Today i discovered something called Benign Positional Vertigo .. i think this is the closest to what I have. Plus it has a treatment of exercises. The meds the ER gave me dont really work for me ... which also says to me that it may be Benign Positional Vertigo. The good news is .. it has nothing to do with my pregnancy or the baby ... the bad news is .. i was trying to work as much as possible before November 15th to save money for the coming months. And now i really feel completely disabled. I cant function. As I type this my eyes cant focus and it feels like I am just not with it. Moving my head produces major spinning of the room and the immediate feeling of nausea and vomiting. Im so bummed. I really wanted to do all these last photo shoots and it looks like im done. I just need to finish up all my editing and get ready for the baby. I hope this goes away sooner than later!! Next Wednesday is the big day of discovering whether we are having a boy or girl .. I can not wait. My gut tells me its a boy. We cant agree on boy names and have a list of girl names.

16 Weeks brings on a few changes

Last week was full of stress, worry and flash backs of Malia's pregnancy. Around Tuesday of last week I started swelling in my legs and feeling puffy. There is this indescribable feeling in my legs. But very familiar. Swelling was how it all begun with Malia's pregnancy and a bit earlier. I got out of bed Wednesday night and started searching the internet (like Ive done on this subject many times before) for anything possible that can help prevent preeclaimpsia. I found a diet for pregnancy called The Bradley Diet and read about how I should do yoga instead of walking. I was all geared up to do both ... and I have for the most part since last week. I woke up Thursday morning and called the doc to let them know if my new symptoms of swelling and a head aches that wont quit no matter what I do. The doc told me to come right in to talk with my doctor and be evaluated. I spoke with my doctor for a very long time about all my concerns and worries. He put things in perspective for me by reminding me that it is completely out of my control whether I get preeclaimsia again. He said I can eat all the special diets I want and do yoga everyday and it wont make much of a difference at all. Which is discouraging in one way and a relief in the other. A relief that its not something Im doing or not doing that will make the difference. He said if yoga and diet was a cure ... every doctor would be prescribing it to their patents. My doctor told me that he doesn't want me to work due to the swelling and what I can do is keep the swelling under control by not working on my feet, walking, hiking, etc. So Ive tried to cut back but its very hard. People want their photos and its been a fine line of making others happy yet putting myself and my baby first. Unfortunately I don't get disability since I am self employed ... so its a real financial hard ship for me not to work. So Im just keeping a check on my swelling and this week Im having good days and bad days ... which is encouraging ... because when I was pregnant with Malia I never had good days when it comes to swelling. I will slowly ramp down my work schedule as time moves forward. Tomorrow I go back to the doctor. I will now see him every week or every two weeks. I can not wait for our ultrasound on November 10th and to know if we are having a boy or girl. I have my list of girl names and a few boy names that Morgan and I cant agree on. As soon as we find out Im going to take Malia shopping so she can pick out the babies first outfit purchase.

Ultrasound scheduled

We will find out the baby's gender on November 10th in the morning!

Another Doc Appointment

Well today's doc appointment came with the news that Morgan and I have not been calculating our due date correctly, meaning we are a week farther along than we realized. Opps. So I am 16 weeks not 15 weeks. And this week I am supposed to do the genetic testing. I'm also gaining weight ... bummer. So I need to be more careful of what Im eating. I had a wedding this weekend and I noticed that my feet were swollen after .. and today I feel puffy. The doc said I need to keep my working to a minimum because I need to just take it easy this pregnancy for this baby. Which in not easy for financial reasons, plus business is booming ... so the career girl in my is struggling with my current physical limitations. The medical bills are already stacking up, just from my pregnancy blood tests we were charged $1000 out of pocket ... insurance paid about $200 of it. Unbelievable! I didn't even know insurance as bad as our existed ... but it does ... unfortunately.

Starting Low Dose Asprin Therapy

Spoke with my OB yesterday about starting low dose aspirin therapy for high risk patents for preeclaimsia. So now that I am out of my first trimester i will start taking 61 grams of aspirin a day. The research on this is very mixed. Some studies say it doesn't work at all and some say it does ... so there is a small chance it could help ... so i am going to do it. Pregnancies that are not high risk should never take aspirin during pregnancy.

Todays's doctor's appointment

Today I had another appointment with my OB, he wanted to make sure I am not losing any more weight since I lost 19 lbs in my 1st trimester. He said no more. And today i was the same as my last appointment ... didn't lose and didn't gain .. so we both were happy with that. There was blood in my urine so I had to go do lab tests after my appointment. He doesn't know if i have a bladder infection or what is going on. So we will see. He was having a hard time finding the heart beat ... he said he knew it was there but wasn't hearing it. So I was sent in for another ultrasound. Which is always fun. The baby had a strong heart beat and everything is fine. Here are my photos. The baby looks like a baby now! Next OB appointment is in 4 weeks. And I am now entering my 2nd trimester, Yay!

 
 

Baby's 1st Ultrasound Photo - 6 weeks

 

This was 6 weeks ago! So a lot has changed since then. I cant wait for the next ultrasound!

First Blog Post!

For those of you that dont know we are a few days away from being 12 weeks pregnant. The first three months were very challenging due to severe morning sickness. Today i woke up and ate breakfast! This was a very new experience since I have been too sick to eat much at all in the past weeks. So starting today, I feel like I get my life back! Very Exciting! Just in time for my 35th birthday!