My First baby Shower

Today was my baby shower brunch at Rickey's townhome in La Jolla. It was an intimate get together amongst friends and it was a lot of fun! The decorations and detail he went to were tremendous and I can't believe all the ideas he came up with. (He is a professional event planner and I do recommend his services if you are ever looking for someone.)

Nursery Update

We are finally breathing a sigh of relief. All the major baby furniture is here and constructed and the nursery is coming along. Everything else from here on out is cosmetic. A special thanks to Dad San Nicolas for buying the crib for us and Mom & Dad Palmer for the changing table, crib set and the dresser,etc. We couldn't have done it without them. Well, we could have done it with a credit card, but this is better. Tony is leaving on a training exercise this time next week so please pray that I don't go into labor early while he's who knows where. He should only be gone a week but you know Murphy's law! Meanwhile, I am working on some projects and looking forward to my showers that are coming up in the next couple of weeks.

35 Weeks and 5 days

I had an OB-GYN appointment yesterday with Dr Yang. We are now going to start having weekly appointments until the baby is born. I still don't think I'm going to pop prior to March 1st but we shall see. At this point, I am all baby. My stomach is hard as a rock because of the size of this child and I'm at the point where some of my maternity tops ride up. Lovely. I've never shown my midriff in public in my life (my mama raised me right), even when I was a thin teenager, so why does it have to start now?

Anyhow, everything is going well. He went over the info he got back from perinatology and although the baby's kidneys have extra fluid, all other organ systems are working normally and there doesn't seem to be any deformation. All and all it will be just a couple of routine visits to a neo-natal renal specialist. We won't have any reason to be in the NICU or anything though we are still being advised to limit visitation to prevent infection.

Our final CBE class is tonight. I guess we "graduate" or whatever. I read the baby books so there isn't alot of new info that I learned here but maybe it put a permanent stamp on my brain. If nothing else, we got alot of free stuff and coupons so that's a good thing. Tony seems to have learned alot and it has made him more confident with the whole situation. He seems to think he can handle being alone with me for the whole labor experience, however i think my mom will need to be there to relieve him for part of it. Any volunteers to relieve me?

He did stay up most of the night and constructed the crib which came on Tuesday afternoon. I wish he wouldn't have done that on a work night since I still can't get his butt out of bed and its almost 11am. Still that was awfully sweet of him. I'll post pics once I've washed the bedding and put it in the crip. I need to rearrange some furniture to give it a more feng shui appeal.

Changing Table- Check!

I woke up this morning to find that Tony got up early and constructed the changing table. Yay! One less thing to do....

On turning 29...again!

First, I would like to thank all of our friends and family for their calls, cards, emails, myspace comments, etc. When you're 8 months pregnant, and therefore sober, its nice to be thought of in a way that doesn't necessarily revolve around pregnancy. Since Tony had to work today, he took me out last night. We went to Red Lobster where I ate myself comatose. Actually, my eyes were bigger than my stomach (hard to believe, I know) so I brought most of it home. Since the Chargers couldn't seal the deal today, it was a bit of a disappointment but the day got better. Shannen and Maren took me to get a pregnancy massage which was heavenly. I could have stayed there forever...or until my bladder couldn't take it any longer. Then, they treated me to an awesome dinner, when in doubt Mexican food is the way to go! I can't remember the name of the place but Maren suggested it and it was awesome. They also bought me some stuff on my Target registry which was awfully sweet. I feel spoiled, pampered and relaxed.

Chargers Pep Rally

Tony stayed up all night and went to the Scott and BR show live at the House of Blues downtown early Friday morning. He left the house around 4:45 am and went to the festivities. One of his fave bands, Skanic was playing and there were special guests like the SD Chicken, Mayor Sanders and some former Charger players.

An Update on the Mom to be....

OK ok ok. I can take a hint. After 4 emails this morning complaining I don't talk about how I'm doing in the blog, I'm going to kill all the birds with one stone and answer it in the blog. So far to date, I've gained 13 pounds with this pregnancy. Mostly fluid. Besides being swollen, I feel pretty good. I have energetic days and then I have days where all I want to do is lie down. More good days than bad and even with the back pain and swollen extremities, I like being pregnant. I haven't been able to wear my wedding rings since before Christmas so I do feel a little apprehensive at times that people look at me like I'm an unwed mother. Oh well. I do have pregnancy induced carpal tunnel which means my fingers are numb and is why I don't return emails all the time. Then again, I can basically only wear flip flops and tennis shoes. I can wear my Uggs if someone is home to help me pull them up as my ankles have given me Fred Flintstone feet. I am in good health and my body is reacting well to this pregnancy overall. The doctor was apprehensive in the early stages with my blood pressure being so high but amazingly, that went away when I left my job. I do have frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions, which don't bother me unless I'm driving. They seem to really intensify in that position and are quite uncomfortable. The dr suggested that I not get behind the wheel for more than 10 minutes at a time. Yeah, that will happen.

The birthing classes are really good and I'm finding are more designed to the dad's because they are the ones who usually didn't read the baby books. The teacher is nice but she has typical Nazi doula moments at the same time. I had to fill out a survey on my position on the use of drugs in the delivery room and my answer was "yes please". She was not remotely amused by this. As I mentioned in the previous blog, Shannen went with me to the first class. Apparently everything she learned here gave her nightmares. Ha! Tony has been great with everything and he's really taking everything in and learning alot. He may get sent out on a training exercise in February again for a week or so. We won't know until they call him and tell him to get on the plane. At least its early enough in the month that we aren't getting down to the wire.

PartyLite Anaheim Mini-Convention

I got some great decorating ideas as shown in the posters above. I love the Easter ideas!

Week 34 Update and Ultrasounds

On Friday, Tony and I went to see my OB-GYN and our perinatologist. Everything at the OB went well. They took the baby's heartrate and felt around to make sure the baby was head down. So far, so good. After that, we went across the street to the perinatal specialist and we found out that baby's kidneys were still "abnormally dilated". We will have to see a neo-natal kidney specialist after the baby is born as one kidney is larger than the other. Basically it looks like the fluid is partially blocked and we'll have to unblock the ureters. Dr Catanzarite seemed to think that this should not be in any way life altering and there's a good chance we can do this medically, rather than surgically. When we see Dr Yang again next week, we will start talking about neonatologists that he recommends. Again, we will have to limit visitors at the hospital and at home for awhile until we know what's really going on. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND- we have not told our either of our fathers about this in order to prevent undue worry and panic. We won't know more until the birth anyways.

Another cause for concern is the cord is already looped around the baby's neck, but only one time. Apparently, this happens in 25% of delieveries and as long as it is only 1 loop around, there is no additional cause of concern. They were able to narrow down with the infrared to see the blood flow and hear the heart beat through it. All is well there. This child has been kicking the crap out of me so that's a good sign of a healthy baby. Brain and heart functions are excellent.

On 1/3, I started child birth education classes and Aunty Shannen came to the first class with me as Tony couldn't get the night off. Tony went to the 2nd class and was glad he did as he really learned alot. On 1/5, we took a breast feeding course with the lactation specialist at the hospital. It was all stuff I knew and had read about but it taught Tony alot and he was glad he went. We go to the hospital this Saturday for a tour and go back to the OB-GYN on 1/23.

Making Progress

We are happy to report that the cradle mattress has arrived so I got out the wood polish and cleaned up the cradle, so that is set for now. The cradle has been in my family for many years so I'm excited that I get to use it for our baby. Tony also worked until midnight last night putting the dresser together for the nursery. As you can see, we are going with a cherry wood finish and it turned out gorgeous!

The Nursery- BEFORE

I'm posting this for accountability purposes. I'm trying to motivate myself to take all my Christmas decor down so I can move on to the next project- the baby's room. As you can see, it is a good sized room with a cool window seat that my sister in law, Sylvia, has graciously offered to make cushions for. I'm excited to get it done, but I feel like it will be a long journey!

The Revelations of Today's Doctor's Appointment...

This morning, Tony and I had a routine visit with my OB-GYN, Dr Yang. At the advice of the ultrasound technician and our perinatologist, we are moving up my due date. Dr Yang is doing so hesitantly because he did an ultrasound at our first visit and he feels that there is no way I was further along than 7-8 weeks. Well, on 12/7 Dr Catanzarite, my perinatal specialist says that according to the bone density tests that the baby was weighing approximately 3 pounds and they can't blame me for what I eat because at that point, I had only gained a total of 8 pounds. So today, Dr Yang told Tony and I that he is moving the due date up but not to panic about it because he's going to let me go as long 10-14 days over before he would induce. This makes my new due date February 22nd (it was 3/13). OK, now I'm starting to panic as my father in law still hasn't bought our crib, I need Tony to get a few days off so we can get the baby's room put together, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that's only 3 weeks earlier, but I had everything timed out and my anal retentive nature isn't handling this well.

Meanwhile, I was able to sweet talk the lady at the hospital in charge of scheduling classes to fit us into the child birth education classes and me into the breast feeding class as well for January. Whew! Ok, that's one thing off my list.

Ultrasound Photos from week 26

These were taken at the perinatologist's office on 12/7. They are supposed to be face shots but this child would not hold still long enough to get a clear picture. I think that is a San Nicolas trait. From this appointment, all looks pretty good but we are going to have monthly visits with him and our regular ob-gyn to keep an eye on things. Although they look very similar, they are 2 different shots.

Ultrasound Photos from week 23

We apologize now for these taking so long to get up. These are from my Doctor's appointment on 11/21 (the day before Thanksgiving). The photo on top is a special 4D image they threw in there for us without charge. I think it was supposed to be a teaser for us to come back and get more done. As cool as they are, the thought of lying flat on my back with the back pain I already have isn't that enticing. Meanwhile, the new scanner I got for Christmas is hooked up and ready to roll so I'm catching up on everything.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm having more ultrasounds than the average pregnant woman. There are some reasons behind this that Tony and I wanted to keep private until we were ready to share them. In October, I mentioned that there was some slight dilation of the kidneys and it was nothing to worry about. Well as of this particular appointment, its become something to KINDA worry about. The dilation has not reduced, nor has it increased but we are seeing a perinatologist with San Diego Children's Hospital to keep a closer eye on things. Tony and I have done our research on this medical condition ( called fetal hydronephrosis) and on our doctor. We are blessed to be working the best perinatal specialists in Southern California...and even more blessed they have a Murietta office! From our medical research, we have found that this is nothing to panic about (so if you feel the need to panic, please refrain from doing so in front of Tony, myself or our parents as we kept this quiet just for that purpose). This is something that doctors are seeing in 5-10% of pregnancies these days due to the advancement in technology- they are able to pick things up on an ultrasound that they were not able to do even 5 years ago. In most cases of this situation, it corrects itself by birth or shortly after. Worst case scenario, they will have to perform a minor surgery to open the baby's ureters to allow the fluid to drain more efficiently. Although that sounds like a traumatic experience for both parents and baby, I've had a dear friend who has had to deal with her newborn daughter having open heart surgery and in comparison, this is nowhere near what she and her husband had to deal with. Another friend of mine happened to mention to me that her son had the same issue and when they did the tests a few days after his birth, all was well. To be honest, we feel very optimistic about everything and we are at peace with everything and are putting it in God's hands.

My mom still hasn't told my dad anything about this as with the loss of their first grandchild last year, he's been a little nutty about my pregnancy because he can't handle the heartbreak again. So let's just not bring this up to him if we can help it. He already has heart problems, no need to exacerbate them. On the same note, we have not mentioned this to Tony's father either in order to control the level of panic around us.

Meanwhile, with the possibility of the baby needing surgery, we have been advised not to have many visitors to the hospital and to limit it to immediate family( yes, Jenn and Shannen, you are considered family) and under no circumstances are we to have children under 16 years old visit within the first 2 weeks post-natal for obvious reasons. We are going to follow the doctors' advice on this and the hospital will be given explicit instructions to enforce this. Oh yeah, no cameras in the delivery room. Period. That has more to do with your health than mine. :)

A Blessed Christmas Season

Christmas was so wonderful this year, probably because I was off work and truly had the time to enjoy it. Also because of Tony's work schedule, it stretches out over a few days so it doesn't seem to come and go in the blink of an eye. Last weekend we were in Big Bear and then we had a few days in between and then celebrate the actual day of. Christmas Eve, I made Tony and I a batch of homemade spaghetti and meatballs from scratch and the next morning we got up and opened our gifts to each other and attended Christmas Mass before he had to leave to go to work. The mass was beautiful and we are blessed with a great group of priests that always deliver a poignant message in their homilies. Luckily, they made a huge turkey dinner for all the guys on base so Tony didn't miss out on a good hot Christmas meal. I spent the day w/ the Galyean family (my friend Jennifer's family) so I got to see them and of course, Jenn and Dan and Gabriel (our Godson). That would be Gabriel in the above pictures. Jenn made us tamales again this year and Tony is already staking his claim on those for tonight!

I spoke with my Grandma Bev that lives in Portland and they got Christmas snow! Apparentally they were just big, fat snowflakes. I called Belinda next and she said all she could do is stare out the window at the snow all day. It usually doesn't snow in Christmas there. They do get their fair share of snow but it doesn't stick to the ground very long.

My cousin Kalynn got engaged. I'm really excited for her and she is so happy she can barely contain herself. She just called me and asked me to be her maid of honor and I'm so excited. She'll be getting married over the summer so I told my parents they have to go too so we can all take turns with the baby. I guess that's the motivation I'll need to get Weight Watchers rolling for me once the baby is about 6 weeks old.

Tony and I are hoping to connect with his family this coming weekend when he has a few days off. Its tough with his schedule and I know he misses his family.

One of my gifts yesterday was a new all in one printer/scanner/etc so once I get that hooked up, I will post ultrasound photos and all the updates on the baby. There's alot to update so I intend to have that going in the next 24 hours or so. Hopefully sooner.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love Christmas, especially when we get to go to the mountains and there is a blanket of snow on the ground. We went up to my parents for an "early Christmas" since Tony will be working Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We got to spend 3 days in Big Bear and just have fun with the family and play in the snow with the dogs. On Saturday night, Mom made an awesome prime rib dinner and afterwards we opened gifts. Since Tony will be working Christmas Day, I'm going to have a quiet day with the Galyean family out in the Dido. Luckily with Tony's schedule, we will still be able to go to church together and have a Christmas morning together. We have so much to be thankful for this year, so many blessings have bestowed us as we celebrate the birth of Christ and relish in the true meaning of the season.

PartyLite Christmas Clearance and Open House

As many of you know, at least those of you who are local- my PartyLite leaders and I were trying to clear out some old product so we did a week long open house. I took some pictures to show all the work we did on displays to give people an idea of what we had to offer and as a reminder for myself when we do this next year. We are moving the product to Moreno Valley for another open house on Tuesday. Then I am happy to say I am done for the year!