Here is our daughter!

It's so surreal to use that word! I love it!

Here is the "money shot" that left no doubt that yes, she is a girl!
Here is her face! We couldn't get a profile shot because she was facing forward, folded in half with her feet up by her face - she's quite the contortionist! You can even see the heart in this pic. It's the dark spot on her chest.

Results of the BIG U/S!!

It's a GIRL!! We are so excited! She showed us the "goods" immediately and was not shy at all! She was wiggling around like crazy and looks absolutely perfect! Now for the fun to begin! Brad took the pics to work with him so I'll post some tonight. She's so beautiful!

Unfortunately, this pregnancy was not destined to be complication free. I have a complete placenta previa. That means that the placenta is completely covering my cervix which automatically makes this a high risk pregnancy, so I'm being sent off the Perinatal specialist for sonograms every 4 weeks to see what the placenta's position is. I go for my first one on Sept 28. They can sometimes move up and away from the cervix as the uterus grows, and I was told that the majority do move, so we're praying that happens. If not, it will mean an automatic C-section, possible early delivery and bedrest. It looked like the placenta is posterior which means that it is growing up the back of the uterus with the bottom covering the cervix so in that position, we have a greater chance of it moving up the back of my uterus. So far I haven't had any bleeding or spotting or anything, but it is apparently very common with previas, especially in the third trimester so I have to be very careful and watch out for that and may wind up in the hospital for my bedrest. I've been put on pelvic rest and I'm going to be taking it easy from now on. I've read a few articles and have seen some scary stuff in there (worst case scenario stuff) and I'll admit, I'm pretty freaked out about it. I would appreciate any prayers!

Oh how times have changed

First, I'll apologize for my rant in my last post. That stuff does bother me, don't get me wrong, but I was having one of those days when EVERYTHING got on my nerves. Just an example of how bad it was, I was riding the elevator down that afternoon and had of course pushed 1 for the bottom floor, and this girl gets on at the floor below me and for some reason felt the need to push 1 again even though it was lit, and yes, that annoyed me! Ah, pregnancy hormones :)!

So, on to the reason for this entry. I was just reflecting on what a drastic turn my outlook has taken. For example, I've started recording A Baby Story everyday and get so excited to watch it! This is a show that you couldn't have paid me enough to watch just a few short months ago - way too painful. I went to a baby shower a few weeks ago and it was the first time that I didn't cry on my way home in oh about 3 years and it felt great! I see pregnant women out in public and instead of feeling sad and looking away, I find myself smiling at them. Of course, I do secretly wonder if they had it easy or not, and I do get jealous of the "had it easy" crowd, but trust me this is a huge improvement. When I see a hugely pregnant woman that looks visibly uncomfortable out in this Texas August heat, I actually feel real sympathy for her and believe me when I say that this is a new one! When I see new mothers or couples with tiny babies, I think with great joy about how that will be us soon, not, I wonder if that will ever be us which is a terribly depressing thought for someone who wants nothing more than to be a mother. I think that I will always hold some bitterness and residual pain from our struggle deep inside, but it feels incredible to have such an enormous weight lifted off my shoulders!

Only 3 more days until the BIG U/S!!!!

Irritating news story

This morning as we were getting ready for work, I heard Matt Lauer giving the introduction on the Today Show (my favorite morning show by the way!), and one of the top stories was, "A woman has given birth to identical quadruplets without the use of fertility drugs!" What? Gasp! No fertility drugs for indentical quadruplets which means that a single egg and sperm spontaneously split into 4 babies! Yes folks, it could happen to anyone. If they had been fraternal quads, yes, they likely were conceived with the help of fertility drugs. I get so annoyed with the misinformed media and public for that matter (probably as a result of stories like these) on matters related to reproduction and conception. I didn't see the story, but I highly doubt that they addressed the difference between identicals and fraternals, i.e. single versus multiple eggs, and explained that identicals are completely spontaneous and random occurances. Of course Brad reminded me that if we hadn't gone through this, we would assume that they were a result of fertility treatments and he's maybe, probably right. I also know that there are many people who read this blog who are "fertile" who don't know all the ins and outs of conception and the infertility world (and they're certainly not going to learn it from the media), but that is one of my goals here - to try to educate. Another one that gets me are the people who say that because their husbands have twins in their families so they have a higher chance of having twins too. Uh, sorry to say but the husbands have nothing to do with it. They always have millions of sperm while it's up to the woman to release the multiple eggs or for the embryo to spontaneously split which again has nothing to do with genetics.

So, that's my little fertility lesson of the day. Stepping off my soapbox now...

18 Weeks!!

Here's my 18 week belly shot!
My very talented photographer seems to have cut off the top of my head! The most important thing is the belly, right? I'll start posting them about every two weeks or so.

I get weekly e-mails from Babycenter that tell me about what is going on with the baby that week and they usually have a food reference for the size of the baby, like one week it was a jumbo shrimp, another week an avocado, etc. Anyway, I always forward them on to Brad and he likes to read them out to his staff (he's so cute and excited :)!). So, last week, it said that the baby was the size of a large onion so one of the girls decided to print out a picture of an onion and wrote Stretch on it and hung it on his whiteboard - this morning, there was a picture of a sweet potato :).

I think I forgot to mention that at my Dr appointment on Monday, they drew blood for the AFP test which is the one that tests for the risk of spina bifida and other neural tube defects. Anyway, I got the results and everything was good! I really wasn't worried about it, but it's always a relief to hear that the results were just fine.

Look what I found!

Someone posted a link to this cool website that has all kinds of nifty things that you can order related to infertility, like T-Shirts, baby bibs or onesies. Anyway, I picked out one that I really like that I'm definitely going to order for Stretch -

I know most people don't know what that means, but ART stands for Advanced Reproductive Technologies, basically IVF. I thought it was so cute and clever!

Brad wants this one -

Pretty funny, huh?

Our appointment went well today. I've only gained about 5 pounds total which is just crazy because I've been eating like a pig lately! I guess this means that my metabolism is just cranking away! We got to hear the heartbeat again and her doppler measures the rate and it's a strong 154! She pointed out that if you believe the old wives tale, it's a girl...hmm. The most exciting part about today's appointment was that we scheduled our BIG U/S for August 28!! I cannot wait!! Dr. K is about to pop! She's huge! She is a tiny little person to begin with so there's nowhere for that baby to go except for out in front. This was the last time we'll see her for a couple months, but I'm looking forward to meeting the other two docs.

Speaking of eating like a pig, I think that Stretch must have liked the two chocolate chip cookies I ate at lunch today, because I think I'm really feeling some flutters right now! It's still not consistent because I'll think I feel something and then go several days with nothing, but I'm really thinking that these are kicks!

A Woman with an Obsession

I am completely obsessed with finding just the "right" stroller and car seat. I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent researching reviews, message boards, etc. - it's crazy! It all started with our first trip to Babies R Us two weeks ago, and hasn't stopped since. I want to make sure that we make the right decision and I'm trying my best to pick out a stroller that we will be happy with using for years down the road, so I'm trying to find one that is good quality, lightweight and preferably folds like an umbrella stroller to take up as little room as possible in my trunk. It also needs a basket that is large enough. Then, Brad has to test them all and if he kicks the wheels then it's out. Who knew this would be such an agonizing decision!

My doctor's appointment is finally tomorrow! Thank goodness I have my doppler because it made this long wait tolerable. Speaking of dopplers, we listened yesterday morning and had such a strong reading that we could actually hear Stretch's heart valves closing shut! So cool! The CD that came with our doppler had an example of this so we recognized it as soon as we heard it. I think the most exciting thing about tomorrow's appointment for me will be scheduling our BIG u/s!! I can't wait!!

Just an update

I've been neglecting my blog lately, so this will just be a miscellaneous update. Here is my 16 week belly shot! I look like I'm carrying this baby really high, but I'm pretty sure that it's just my "guts" being pushed up and out now that my uterus has moved and is now standing up straight. Strangers are starting to notice my belly now, well they've just started making comments to me anyway. Last week in the elevator, the guy who was in there with me just said congratulations. At first, I couldn't figure out what he was talking about! Then a lady at work who is apparently out of the gossip loop was in the bathroom with me and she just flat out asked me if I was pregnant. She said she figured it was either that or I'd suddently gained a lot of weight! I'm loving looking pregnant!

I'm finally starting to feel better about food which is very nice! I even cooked dinner a few times last week! I know Brad is happy about that. I still can't stand the thought of eating a big hunk of meat like a steak, but I at least can stomach a peice of chicken. I still have my queasy moments, but those are becoming few and far between. I haven't really had too many crazy cravings, mainly just chocolate but that is nothing new for me - now I just succumb to those cravings! I'm also in a constant state of hunger and pretty much have to eat every 2 hours or I'm one unhappy girl. I went from having to force myself to eat to wanting to eat 24/! I still have pretty bad heartburn, but am trying to put off switching to Zantac as long as I can - Tums do the job so far.

I also finally decided to rent a doppler so that we can listen to Stretch any time we want to. I tried to put it off for as long as I could, but I was going crazy waiting for out next appt! Anyway, we've had it about a week and have heard the heartbeat 3 times and we're going to use it tonight - I can't wait! I'm now only going to use it once a week (I was a little obsessed at first). It is really nice having that little reassurance that everything is A-OK in there.

I am not positive, but I might have felt some movement over the last week. It's so hard to tell though. They say that for most first pregnancies, movement isn't felt until 18-20 weeks, so who knows. I can't wait to feel some real kicks so I will know for sure!

So, that's my update - all crammed into one random entry!