Smiling Through the Rain

My mom and I decided to treat ourselves to a day at the spa today to celebrate both of our July b-days. We went to a spa in OKC and had a foot treatment and then a massage. Let me tell you how much Gil and I enjoyed all of this. It was a full 2 hours worth of treatments and we were in heaven! My body has been working hard to tote around these extra 30 pounds of " sexiness ", and it felt so incredible to have someone work out the tissues formerly known as muscles. My therapist was a 21-year-old who found pregnancy quite interesting (like a circus side-show)and had lots of questions about it. I thought it was cute and didn't mind answering them. Especially because I love to talk about my pregnancy and this sweet baby. To anyone who will listen. And sometimes people who don't want to hear about it... Gil seemed to be really enjoying the whole thing and I was feeling sweet little rolling movements and gentle pushing inside until the scalp massage. Apparently, the...

We went to the doctor's office today for my weekly follow-up. My body is still hanging in there- trace protein in the urine (been there for many weeks), blood pressure was 122/78 (highest it has been, but still okay), and my belly is measuring a couple of weeks ahead (way to grow, Gil). Baby's heartrate was in the 130's, and is definitely head down. Seems like the doctor is actually trying to kill me when he checks fetal position and measure my fundal height. I was pretty sure the baby was going to just shoot out from all the pressure. Which I feel a lot when I'm walking nowdays- kind of like a bowling ball trying to fall out of your hoo-hah. He doesn't do cervical checks until 38 weeks, which is really alright with me. It doesn't really matter in the scheme of things, and certainly doesn't feel good! Last night, I had quite a few painful contractions and some menstrual like cramping. At one point, I was questioning how bad it had to get before I did somet...

One of my long-time blogging friends got news today that she has a birthmom interested in choosing her to adopt the baby she is carrying. She's been waiting a LONG time for a baby, and I just want to tell her congrats and that I'm praying super hard that this works out for her. I can't leave a comment on your blog since you don't allow them and I'm not sure how else to send you a message, but I had to let you know that I'm so excited for both you and your husband! Keep us posted!!! (I'm not including your name on here to protect your privacy.)

Gil and I have made it to the 9th month of pregnancy! It's a wonderful feeling to know that even if this baby made an appearance today, things will be okay. We're just working on plumping up from here on out (both of us!) We've gained 28 pounds now, so we're still a little under the 150 mark. I'm still feeling pretty bummed that this pregnancy will be ending soon and I feel really good overall. The half-days have restored my sense of well-being and I'm still enjoying pregnancy. * Proving all of those mean women wrong who have been saying all along, "just wait until the end of your pregnancy." Hard to tell for sure, but I feel like the baby is starting to drop. This child has moved around so frequently throughout this pregnancy that my belly shape is different from day to day and I'm never quite sure if I'm carrying high or low because it depends on the day. I feel more pressure down really low now though and I have a lot of space betw...

I've been a little under the weather all weekend, so I've spent all but about 3 hours of it sleeping. Which always bums me out, so today I was super excited when Aaron got the opportunity to go to an exotic animal park by us today and we got to play with some wild animals! Granted, I probably should have laid around and stayed out of the heat. But it was such a great day! My mom couldn't help but tag along, and we got to play with a 3-month-old tiger who was feeling very playful and wouldn't stay still for the picture. Notice: my cankles are temporarily gone again and my ankles have shown back up. I promise to post a pic of the swelling once it returns... These half-days have really helped. :) We also got to hold a serval, which is a type of wild cat. This little guy is about 5 months old and won't get a whole lot bigger. I wasn't too sure if he was going to be over my weight limit for holding, but turns out he isn't really all too heavy. Then we held the ...

Saw the OB today and I reported what the cardiologist told me. I then tried to tell her that my heart has been acting a ton better since being put on part-time and that I didn't think we didn't to repeat the holter monitor as he has suggested. She proceeds to send me across the hall to our cardiology department to get one put on before I left the building, knowing that if she let me do it tomorrow at my clinic, it probably wouldn't ever get done. So here I am... attached to this bulky, uncomfortable monitor for 24 more hours. Well, we're actually down to 17 hours and 15 minutes now. I at least talked them into letting me take it off at noon tomorrow when I get done seeing patients so that I don't have to drive it back to their office, I can drop it off at mine. The results will get sent to the cardiologist eventually and he will get around to reading them in the next couple of weeks. So the baby could potentially arrive before we even know the results. Which the r...

Met with the cardiologist today. What an exciting man he is. Good thing he's smart, because there is not much going on in the personality department. Anyways, he asked me tons of questions about my symptoms and pregnancy, and didn't really give me an answer to what is going on. We know my heart has a small irregularity which can predispose me to arrhythmias. Apparently, he thinks now that my heart is pumping for the two of us, it's getting stressed out easily. He first mentioned bed rest, at which point my heart actually just quit beating all together, but then luckily said I should just reduce my work schedule and take it really easy from here on out. If that doesn't help, I should do even less... He actually said no shopping. That would be more of a problem for my metro husband. :) And my legs decided to swell like balloons again today before I got in to see him, so he wasn't too impressed with that. He'd like a repeat holter monitor, but I'm go...

I went for my 2 week check yesterday afternoon at my OB's office. Blood pressure, urine, fetal heart tones, and my weight are still all doing well. My heart rate has been a little higher lately though and I have had several episodes of dizziness along with it recently. When I mentioned it, they decided I should see a cardiologist. I had a cardiac work-up early on, but they want me to see this guy in particular so he can review what I've had done. Plus, my symptoms have worsened, so they are being cautious. My heart rate was in the 140's for about an hour yesterday and I was having a lot of skipped beats and irregular rhythm. I'd feel better if we just ensure that my little ticker isn't going to explode from the stress of labor! They also put me on part-time (8-12) starting on Monday for my last 3 weeks. This will hopefully help a lot to make me feel better if I can get off my feet more. I feel like such a wimp that my body can't handle working full-time ...

Here we are at 34 weeks !!! Hard to believe that Baby Gil will be full-term in 3 short weeks. I'm getting so eager to see what the baby looks like and if I have been incubating a boy or a girl all this time. Seems like a mother should know what she has growing inside of her, but I'll be real honest about my lack on intuition on this one. I always said boy from the beginning, but I'm almost starting to think girl now. Then I get confused and realize there will only be one way to find out! (I don't mean the chinese zodiac chart or a ring attached to a string). I decided this week that I didn't feel like putting on my pink tank top because I was already in this outfit and it was good enough. It's not like you can't tell how big my belly is at this point in whatever I wear! Swelling has commenced and I'm not a big fan. Yesterday afternoon my legs swelled up to my knees and it took several hours of elevating them last night before they were no longer ...

We were in the car tonight and I mentioned that I no longer ask Aaron if I look pregnant anymore. (Earlier on, I used to wonder if I looked chubby or pregnant in clothes and he would always say "pregnant.") He then goes on to say that I still think I look " small " some days, and he has to wonder, " in comparison to what?" Don't worry, he further emphasized his point by adding, "a hippo or a pygmy hippo?" Good thing I have self-confidence. :) P.S. My maternity pictures were done at Target. They did an awesome job and were much more cost affordable than most others. We'll be getting our baby's pictures done there soon after birth. (Well, once they are cleaned off and the head regains a round shape.)

We took maternity pictures today which was super fun! I thought I'd post a few for everyone to see a sample.

We have officially entered the "my-body-may-be-trying-to-kill-me" phase. That's maybe a little bit dramatic, but pregnancy is definitely starting to hurt at times. I'm supposed to sleep on my left side but I can't breathe when I'm on that side. And I figure it doesn't really matter if the blood flow is better if I don't get oxygen to my lungs. So I try my right side, but that hip and outer thigh hurt really badly when I put pressure on them (I guess my extra 25 pounds is too much for them to hold). My tummy is out for obvious reasons, so I end up on my back. I know, shame on me . But guess what? I don't sleep very good there either. What is up with this leg pain??? And is anyone else having pelvic bone pain? Mine feel like they are trying to rip themselves apart, and I'm quite sure they are succeeding. It's almost like they are both the plus side of the magnet and are fighting to separate. OUCH . I still have more energy than I probably...

Yesterday turned out to be a really fun day! Aaron and I went with both of our moms to see Eclipse which was the best of the movies so far. And I'm 100% Team Jacob still. Now, I don't think Bella is good enough for him, so it's probably best that she choose Edward. :) Then we went to my sweet little cousin's 1st b-day party. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to let it pour right at party time so there were a LOT of people crammed into a house for a while. It was lots of fun anyways and we got to see lots of our family. My back started hurting pretty bad following all of this since I'd been sitting in less-than-comfortable chairs for a while, so I took a bath and realized that I didn't feel up to going to our last stop for the day. We were going to go to our friend's house in Edmond and watch fireworks and hang out. So, I felt like I was letting Aaron down and decided to do a little sobbing in the tub. Nothing cuter than a round girl crying in the...

I have a fellow blogger who is considering ovarian drilling to try to have a 2nd child after having an adorable son through IVF. She has lots of questions and uncertainty about this, which I can totally relate to. The day my RE suggested doing the surgery, I freaked out! It was not anything I had ever heard of and he wanted to cut me open and laser through my ovaries... and then, I decided you can't really hurt what's already broken. Let's do it. So, in April of 2009, we went in for an outpatient surgery at St. Anthony's. (Sorry if you already know all of this, I just want to update those who weren't around for this phase.) It took about 90 minutes for him to make three small incisions (two very low and one in the belly button) and "drill" about 10 holes in each ovary to destroy the testosterone making part of my non-functional ovaries. I had a little discomfort following surgery, but totally manageable. Now, this is where my story went haywire....