Registry Done!

*Note- I did this post a couple weeks ago when we actually went to Babies R Us to register.  I guess pregnancy brain got the best of me b/c I forgot to post it (no surprise there!).  But in efforts to preserve every memory of this pregnancy that I possibly can, I guess better late than never! : )

I had this image of how amazing registering for Isabella's baby stuff was going to be.  Jon and I would spend the entire day together laughing and dreaming about the walks that we would take her on, the cute little outfits that we would dress her in, and the little things that would comfort her.

We would go into the store, get our bag of freebies, get the registry gun and skip happily out of the store an hour later so happy with all of our picks.

Flash to reality: We got into a small argument before even entering the store about the proper way to prepare and actually register (not even going to go there...it was silly!).  We got the registry gun and wanted to scan completely different patterns and colors- he wanted all things pink, frilly and girly while I was sticking to greys and black.  Ha!  And then about 3 1/2 hours later we finally left the store.  Exhausted and a bit overwhelmed, but certainly elated that we had done it...and it was over!

I have to say, I had done quite a bit of research for all of our big ticket items, so those were pretty easy to pick out.  For those, it was more a matter of checking them out in person to see how the fabrics looked, or how amazingly awesome the stroller maneuvered!

Luckily, we have amazing friends who have given us a swing, bouncy seat, rocker and glider, bumbo, boppy, high chair, and exersaucer! 

So we're glad that it's done!  And more importantly, I can't wait to see our Little Lerma strolling in her stroller, sleeping in that crib, or playing with her piano kick mat! 

26 Weeks!

We are officially 3 months (yes, just 12 weeks!) away from our scheduled C-Section!  How in the world are we already this close!?!?

26 weeks have gone so fast, and it's definitely been such an incredible, amazing experience that I am truly grateful for!  I think as time gets closer and closer to the end, I am savoring every little pregnancy symptom, especially every kick and punch (even the strong ones straight down to my cervix that sometimes take my breath away a bit).

With everything that it took for Jon and I to get here over 4 years, and the threat of a possible hysterectomy at the end of all of this, I am wanting to take it all in.  Trying to etch every little detail of this pregnancy into my mind.  And certainly our dream and our prayer is to be able to do this all over again after Isabella is born, but if not, I will be grateful for each and every moment that this pregnancy gives me. 

How Big is Baby: The size of a head of lettuce!

Weight Gain: +2 this week, so +15 total.

Workouts: Just one...prenatal yoga. 
-->It's getting harder and harder with the activity restriction that I have to get in workouts during the week, because with the amount of time that I walk and am on my feet at work, I have surpassed my "activity" for the day, and then once I catch up on things that need to get done and run errands on days off, many times that surpasses my activity restriction as well.  Oh well...I can work out til my heart desires to burn off all the baby weight once Isabella is born.

Maternity Clothes: Maternity pants are a must. Still using regular shirts and dresses.

Belly Button: In

Sleep:  Still falling asleep sometime between 8:30 or 9pm, and waking up at 5 am for work, and closer to 6am on days off. Other than one nighttime pee break, I'm sleeping great!

Cravings: No true cravings yet, although yesterday I asked Jon if we could stop at the drive though at Wendy's for a frosty while driving somewhere. I think this was the first sweet/dessert thing I've asked for all pregnancy!  That being said, after about 4 bites, I was over it already. 

Aversions: Grilled chicken, meat, ground turkey, salmon.  I'm not totally averse to sweets at this point (AKA: when I think about them it doesn't make me gag), but they still don't make the list of things that I want to eat.

What I Missed: Ice cold beer at dinner with friends at an Irish Pub over the weekend.

Symptoms: Belly is getting way bigger which I'm loving, (especially in the last 2 days- and it's not just in my head b/c literally everyday at least one person would comment on how small my belly was at this point, and the last 2 days haven't heard it once!), tons of movement, getting tired more easily, and for some reason nausea has come back this week making a majority of Sunday pretty miserable.  Isn't that supposed to be gone once it's gone!?

Movement: Absolutely! Isabella is most active right before bedtime, but she certainly is a mover and shaker throughout the day too!

Gender: It's a GIRL!

Best Moment This Week: Jon has started working from home 4 days a week and it's been amazing to spend more time together, or at least see him a bit more.  Just the time saved in his commute to and from work has added up! We even got to eat a quick lunch together twice last week!

Worst Moment This Week: The cold has come back and I hate it!!!  20's at the end of March AND some snow, really Chicago!? I'm so ready for summer!

What I'm Looking Forward To: I have a work shower scheduled in about 3 weeks, and while it's still 3 weeks away, I'm so looking foward to going out with great friends to a restaurant in the city I've been wanting to try for awhile, and celebrating Isabella!! So exciting!

25 Week Update!

This week was pretty jammed packed. I guess that's what happens when you go out of town for a week.  I worked 6 of the last 7 days, had a hematology appointment, and an OB appointment filled with an US, blood work, the lovely glucose challenge, and a doctor visit, and had the urge to massively clean my house which was long overdue.  Whew!  No wonder I'm tired!

How Big is Baby: The size of a cauliflower!

Weight Gain: I actually lost 1 pound this week (probably just counter balancing the extra weight gain while on the cruise), so +13 total.

Workouts: Just one prenatal pilates session and 10 x10minute brisk walks (yes, I'm including my walks from the parking garage to work because it's been so cold out I walk as fast as I possibly can...and it takes ten minutes each way, so that has to amount to some calories burned!). 

Maternity Clothes: I am definitely needing maternity pants now...no getting around that.  But  I'm still able to wear normal dresses and skirts to work, as well as sweaters and sweatshirts.

Belly Button: In still, but getting more shallow.

Sleep: Thankfully, now that I'm back on a "normal" work routine and only working ten hour day shifts, I'm sleeping much more consistently!  I wake up at 5 am every day, and fall asleep sometime between 8 and 8:30 pm while we're watching a show in bed...pathetic I know!  But consistent 8.5-9 hours of sleep has helped me feel great!

Cravings: No cravings...I'm just waiting for the day that I can ask Jon to get me some pickle ice cream or something crazy.  Or maybe I'll even take something not crazy, like a cheeseburger or a milkshake that I'm craving! We'll see!

Aversions: Same old things...anything that falls outside the realm of vegetarian dieting and sweets/chocolate.

What I Missed: Blue cheese on my chopped salad this week!

Symptoms: I have actually felt great this week.  I don't know if it was because I worked a majority of it, and generally those are the days that I feel pretty good (I think it's all the adrenaline surging while I'm there!).  Pelvic pain and pressure has been better this week, energy overall has been better, and super quick minor bouts of nausea were more than tolerable. I'm definitely liking pregnancy at this point!

Movement: Isabella is one active lady! Feeling punches and kicks and rolling all around all the time now, and loving it!  Jon is feeling her movements stronger and stronger too...which isn't a surprise because my belly does the rumba multiple times a day and her movements are more and more visible!

Gender:  It's a GIRL!

Best Moment This Week:  Getting to see Isabella on ultrasound and how much she's grown! Always the highlight of our weeks!

Worst Moment This Week: Getting told that I'm at risk for placenta accreta based on the placement of my placenta which could mean hysterectomy with Bella's c-section.  It's a small risk, but it's still there, so that's scary (which really, "scary" is an understatement!).

What I'm Looking Forward To: Warm, sunny, consistent weather!  We've had a few teaser days where the sun comes out and it warms up a bit, but I can't wait to have a smoothie on our deck, take walks in the evening, and just enjoy the outdoors again! 

 

Isabella's 24 week, 6 day Update!

We had our "24-26 week Appointment today"- at 24 weeks and 6 days.

 

It was a rather long one (a little over 2 hours to be exact) because we had an ultrasound, a quick nurse visit for vital signs, weight, and tetanus booster, then the glucose challenge test that included one hour of waiting around, a lab draw (to draw my glucose, and resend the karyotyping that they incorrectly sent two months ago...ugh!), and finally a visit with my OB. 

 

Because of my placenta previa, we will be having monthly US at each of the appointments from here on out...no complaints about that here!

 

Where I will complain is the taste and the after effects of the glucose drink! YUCK!  I was told by the nurse that I got lucky because I got Fruit Punch, so I guess I feel really bad for the ladies who get the orange.  But seriously, that stuff was disgusting.  I just chugged it as quick as I could to get it over with. 

 

And while I thought the worst was behind me, about ten minutes later, my heart was pounding, my organs felt like they were shaking, and I told Jon I either wanted to dance like a crazy lady, or run really fast in circles!  Then about an hour after that, I got a bad headache, and about 30 minutes after that came the post-sugar crash, and I was so sluggish, tired and just felt miserable.  It's crazy what sugar can do to you!! Definitely glad that is all behind me!

 

The ultrasound was a different story.  I love each and every one that we get! 

Baby girl waving her arms to say hello : )

Isabella proved that she was quite the contortionist. She was kicking and punching per her usual, but with both of her legs behind her ears, and her arms up over her head! 

 

While this picture looks a lot like the one above, the extremity resting on and extending past her head is actually her leg! You can trace it all the way down to her hips!

How she can be comfortable like this I will never know!? And just to top it all off, Jon says, "She doesn't get that flexibility from her Mama!" Ha...so sad, but oh so true!

A little bit closer up of her leg and foot behind her head! 

Size wise she was measuring well, but Jon and I both forgot to ask how much she was weighing or what her length was. I think we were still so mesmerized by both legs way over her head!

So the few stats that I have from this appointment:
Isabella's HR: 155 (and still one of the sweetest sounds ever!)
My BP: 94/56
My weight: No change from last appointment one month ago (which is not consistent with my scale at home, but I'm pretty sure I had on about 6 layers at the last appointment so that probably beefed up the # a bit).

In regards to my complete placenta previa, my placenta has not moved at all, so it's still right over the cervix. Honestly I wasn't expecting it too because of how centered it was last time and how infrequently they move enough to cancel the c-section and move towards vaginal delivery, so there was no surprise there.

However, our doctor did tell us that I am at risk for placenta accreta which could mean an automatic hysterectomy at the time of Bella's c-section. (which we won't know until the c-section is happening)  This was definitely a devastating thought.  There is nothing that I can do to prevent it (or change things!), so for the time being I am going to try to not worry (drastically) about something that I can't control, and pray that this won't be an issue at all. 

So while it feels like every appointment we get some sort of "bad" or "and then there's this" or "you're at risk for" news, everything is going smoothly so far. We are just hoping and praying it continues to go this way! Unless the previa resolves, we are shooting for a c-section around 38 weeks which would put us around June 17. Exciting things I tell ya! 

24 Week Update

It's weird posting two weekly updates within a day of each other.  Most times I have the entire week to think about things I put on here, but these last two weeks just kind of blended together because of our Babymoon (which if you didn't read yesterday's 23 week update post, it was AMAZEBALLS!).

And now, here we are: 24 weeks. 6 months down!

Hello!!! I can't believe I'm 6 months pregnant already! Time is certainly flying by!  And I'm really loving this part of being pregnant. 

So without further ado, here is the Week 24 Pregnancy Update, full with a chalkboard bump photo, but not as many fun Caribbean pictures now that we are back in cold, snowy Chicago. Oh how quickly things change!

How Big is Baby: The size of a cantaloupe!

Weight Gain: +3 in the last 2 weeks (since I didn't have a scale last week), so +14 total.

 

Workouts: None- took a day to recover (AKA: be lazy) once we got back from vacation, and yesterday I just had way to much to do to squeeze one in.  Definitely ready to get back into the swing of things though, as much as my MD will let me!

 

Maternity Clothes:  Definitely now using maternity jeans and will have to bust out the maternity work pants this week.  But for now regular shirts and dresses are still working for me.

 

Belly Button: In, but its starting to look more shallow than ever before!

 

Sleep:  I slept like a baby on the cruise. I'd get up once a night to pee, then go right back to sleep.  Since I've been home, I'm having a harder time falling back to sleep after my pee breaks, but I think it's just stress and my mind going into overdrive.

 

Cravings:  Still no true cravings yet. Just trying to stick to the foods that don't make me wnat to gag!  I will say the endless supply of fruit (especially watermelon), fresh salads, and baked goods in the morning were amazing on the cruise.  Now it's back to previously scheduled healthy eating : )

 

Aversions:  Same old thing- red meat, chicken, ground or regular turkey, sweets, especially chocolate.

 

What I Missed:  Mojitos, margaritas, ice cold beer, and wine on the cruise.  Virgin drinks just aren't the same!  But probably the thing I REALLY missed this week was my all time favorite cruise breakfast- smoked salmon on a bagel with cream cheese and capers...aghh passing that up daily was not easy! 

 

Symptoms:  Whoa pregnancy + travel = insane constipation (enough said). And I still have pressure and the occasional shooting pain in the pelvic region every once and awhile.  Also, in regards to eating, portions are definitely getting smaller as Isabella is taking up more room in there. *I was upset over the weekend that I could only eat one small square of pizza and 2 boneless wings before I was insanely stuffed. If we are going to have "cheat meals" on the weekend, I want to make them count!

 

Movement:  This is absolutely the best thing about being pregnant!  Isabella is certainly make my belly move like crazy! She is particularly active in the evening time around 8 or 9 pm, and again around 9 am. I love it!

 

Gender: It's a GIRL!

 

Best Moment of the Week: Definitely being on our Babymoon...just soaking up the warm weather and enjoying our time as a couple.  We had so many laughs and made some great memories.  It was a much needed vacation for both of us and a time we will cherish forever!

 

Worst Moment of the Week: Going from 80 degree Caribbean weather to 18 degree Chicago weather : (  Isn't it supposed to be Spring!?!?

 

What I'm Looking Forward To: We have an OB appointment next Monday with an ultrasound so I'm so excited to see our baby girl and how much she's grown!  We also do the diabetes screen that day so not eating until noon won't be fun, but at least the ultrasound before hand will help take my mind off the hunger a bit! *BTW- what office schedules a pregnancy appointment in which the woman can't eat anything prior at noon!?!? Apparently mine.

Week 23 (brief) Update & Babymoon!

Since we were on our Babymoon for most of week 23 and did not have access to internet, this update will be 1.) late, and 2.) short.  But, it will include lots of pictures to make up for it : )

For the record, if you've never heard of a "Babymoon" before (because Jon had no idea what it was until I said we MUST take one!), it is essentially one last vacation or getaway for the parents to be prior to the baby being born.

And if you've never gone on one, I'd HIGHLY recommend it.  So much so, I told Jon at the end of ours last week we are having a Babymoon for every baby we have!

We went to Miami, FL for one night and stayed in a great condo on the water.  We then went on a week long Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Reflection.  We stopped at St Thomas for a relaxing beach day at Emerald Beach and St Martin for an even more amazing catamaran day sail. Oh it was all glorious and so relaxing!

Week 23 Pregnancy Update:
1.) Isabella is moving more and more (which I say every week, but it's so true!). My belly does some serious acrobatics at times which is so much fun to watch, and even more fun to feel from the outside and inside!

2.) No new symptoms this week, although nausea still seems to come and go in the last 2 weeks. 

3.) Despite popular belief, being on a cruise and surrounded by great food doesn't take away the pregnancy aversions...meat, chicken, and the oh so delicious looking desserts and sweets were completely off my radar the entire time. Case in point- I brought home an entire bag of chocolates that were placed on my pillow each night because I just had no interest in them.  This is the complete opposite to past cruises where I have snuck extra chocolates off the Stewards carts on a daily basis! 

4.) No workouts this week because I was trying to be extra cautious with keeping my feet up/taking it easy, and not having any complications or bleeding with my Complete Previa that would hinder us from going on vaca. It worked!

5.) Luckily none of the clothes or bathing suits that I brought were maternity (AKA: I didn't have to buy anything special just for this trip that probably wouldn't fit come this summer when I'm even bigger!).  Gotta love flowy dresses with room for the bump!  That being said, I did have to chuck out 2 bathing suits from my suitcase at the last moment...it seems in the week between the time when I tried things on to the day before we left certain upper body parts (2 specifically : ) were too plentiful for the bathing suit tops. And one dress barely was able to be zipped in that area just before dinner one night.  I'm thinking one man's dream is a woman's nightmare (this woman, anyways!).

And now for the (many) Week 23 Belly shots:

23 weeks, 5 days- back in Port of Miami

23 weeks, 4 days

23 weeks, 3 days- Enjoying a relaxing sea day in our suite



23 weeks, 2 days

23 weeks exactly! Emerald Beach, St Thomas



Emerald Beach, St Thomas

22 weeks, 6 days

I may be pregnant, but we still have a ton of fun!  And no, there was no alcohol involved for either party : )

22 weeks, 5 days