love this beast

she's perfectly beautiful

she's the sweetest little thing you'll ever meet


she has our hearts

dear baby

Dear Baby -

My name is Theresa and I am your mother. Your father's name is Joseph. Both me and your father love you very much and are trying to get prepared for when we finally meet you! You have a sister named Lucy. She's not going to be like you at all because she is a beagle dog, she walks on four legs, and eats from a bowl on the ground. But she's your sister, nonetheless, and is very excited to meet you! You also have grandparents and aunties and uncles and cousins who are anxiously waiting for your arrival and are happy whenever we have new updates about you. So I just wanted to let you know that you are already so loved and that everyone is so excited to meet you!

You have been living in my uterus for about 18 weeks now. And uterus is a weird word, actually, so from now on I will use the word "belly". So, let's start over...

You have been living in my belly for about 18 weeks now, and I really hope that you are comfortable in there. I have been trying to eat as well as I can every day (except when we have a pizza lunch at work, like today!) and have been taking vitamins to help you grow into a strong and healthy baby. I even go for long walks with your daddy and Lucy to help keep you (and myself) as healthy as possible. And I actually need to do way more of this because I want nothing more than for you to be healthy.

I've been reading a lot of books, and websites and blogs (you'll learn all about those things in due time) about what to expect during pregnancy...and most of it is very helpful. But I am learning a lot on my own, too. For example, I have learned that if I go without eating longer than 2 hours, you will send my body into a headache-filled uproar until I eat something...even if it's just a glass of juice. I have learned that I never really knew what true heartburn was until now. I have learned that the second I start to roll over onto my belly (which is my all-time FAVORITE sleeping position), I get instant discomfort and have to lean back on my side. I have learned how quickly my body can change within a really short amount of time. I have learned that you, actually, have primary control of my body altogether!

I have also learned that I know nothing about being a mother.

Your daddy and I are learning a lot about each other and have spent a lot of time (and more to come!) talking about how we are going to be parents. It's scary for us! The thing that scares us the most is that we really don't want to mess up and be terrible parents. I guess that's probably a normal parent fear...but we really truly want to be the best parents. So we will continue talking about how we want to raise you, where we want to raise you, how we are going to show you love every day, how we are going to provide for you, how we are going to care for you. And...though, I know we don't quite know what we're doing...if we keep talking about you and loving you, then I have a feeling everything will be perfect.

I hope you are doing okay and can't wait to feel your first little kick!

XOXO...

know the signs

During one of Joe's chemo sessions a few years ago, he snagged a free magnet from the hospital that lists the warning signs of stroke. At the time, I think he possibly just thought, "cool...a free magnet!" But having this on our fridge over the past few years recently paid off while we were in the company of a loved one. If we hadn't known any of the warning signs, we might not have known that they were possibly experiencing stroke.

This stuff is serious. There is really no other way to put it. So I just wanted to share the following with you. Get yourself familiar with these warning signs and, because stroke is so serious and can cause irreparable damage, be sure to contact 911 right away...EVEN if symptoms go away!!

This is serious!!

The following warning signs are taken directly from the American Stroke Association website (http://www.strokeassociation.org/STROKEORG/).

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body confusion
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
  
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
  
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

Additional stroke resources:
American Stroke Association
National Stroke Association
Mayo Clinic
National Library of Medicine | National Institute of Health

baffled

As if you didn't already know...I'm pregnant.

I know I'm pregnant. I do. It was confirmed with the home pregnancy test, the doctor's pregnancy test, and the ultrasound pictures. And it is confirmed yet again every time I have a checkup and the doctor listens for the heartbeat.

So yeah...definitely, absolutely, 100% pregnant.

But as I just sit and THINK about this, it's just so weird to me. It's definitely amazing and just ONE of life's miraculous events. But it's SO WEIRD!! I mean...I can't feel the baby yet and I definitely can't hear it yet or hold it yet. So the fact that there is this little tiny being (that I can't see, hear or feel) floating around in my chunkiness right now is SO WEIRD to me!

Amazing.

But weird.

mmmmmmm....prednisone!

Joe and I think that having our beagle, Lucy, has slowly prepared us for having a child. For example, we have learned the importance of handling/touch, positive reinforcement, training, and patience (to name just a small few). And...we have learned the importance of keeping things up high so that they can't be swallowed/eaten.

The reason we have learned this is because Lucy decided, last Monday night, that instead of chewing on a chew toy it would MORE fun to chew on one of her daddy's bottles of medication. Prednisone, to be exact.

All of a sudden Joe looked over and saw a chewed up bottle in her mouth with pills spread around on the ground in front of her. We had literally JUST filled the prescription so we knew there should have been 30 pills in there. So we counted the pills on the floor.

There were 25.

Now, Joe is a tall adult man (for those who did not know) and he only takes 1 of prednisone a day. But Lucy...little 34 pound Lucy...had managed to swallow 5 pills somewhere during her chewfest.

Awesomeness!

Joe called the vet and they said that dogs of Lucy's size have actually been given large quantities of prednisone before (probably for things like Valley Fever), but to be safe they mentioned that we could induce vomiting by having Lucy ingest 8 mL of hydrogen peroxide. Nasty, huh? They said if it didn't work the first time, after 15 minutes or so we could try 8 mL more...but no more than those two doses.

So, Joe ran down to the store and got some hydrogen peroxide and we had her take 8 mL and kept her in the kitchen where the floor is easily cleanable. 20 minutes or so later she was just as hyper and normal as ever. So we grudgingly gave her a second dose. About 10 minutes or so after that second dose, she still hadn't vomited and we really began to think that our beagle had a stomach of freakin' titanium or something. But then she got a little queasy and the rest is history. Mission accomplished.

We hated having to do that to her, but we thought it was better than having a beagle so hyped up on steroids throughout the night and possibly getting ulcers because of the steroids. That would have sucked WORSE than a little vomit!!

MORAL OF THE STORY: Leave your prednisone where little dogs and little people cannot reach them. Actually...scratch that. Just leave EVERYTHING out of reach! :-)

what are the odds?

Lucy McG
A couple weeks ago, we noticed som crazy gross discharge from Lucy's eyes. Totally an eye infection of some sort. We've had her on eye ointment for almost two weeks now and it's definitely gotten a lot better. Also...and on an awesome note, Lucy has been off of doxycycline for about 3 weeks now because her titer results were so low. YAY!! And she just went in for some additional bloodwork yesterday. So sometime this week we should find out if we can keep her off the doxycycline, or if taking her off of it cause the tick fever to grow again. Keeping fingers crossed for the latter!


Material Things
The Civic decided to start smoking on my way home from work on Thursday night. Awesome...NOT! Joe came and met me where I parked alongside the 51 Northbound and took a look and saw that the upper radiator hose had completely burst. Yikes! Called AAA and had it towed to our regular auto mechanics. They are REALLY GOOD...but they are also really expensive. Because the hoses hadn't been replaced in goodness knows how long (definitely before I got the car in 07), they recommended replacing all hoses and the thermostat. So, coupled with Lucy's tests from Friday and the car repairs...pretty much half of the paychecks that just went into our accounts this week is already gone.

This got me thinking.

The Civic is definitely very reliable (despite the hose bursting) and gets GREAT mileage. But once I start becoming even more grossly heavy than I am now, there is no way I will want to get in and out of a car whose seats only sit about 6 inches off the ground. So I think we might be getting a new car some time this year. Maybe not BRAND new because I am not quite sure we could afford something like that, especially since we're also hoping to look for a home in the next couple years. But new for us. I'm not going to hold my breath for these specific cars, but I'm thinking a Volvo V70 (or V50 or XC70) or a Subaru Forester. I've really liked all those styles for some time now.

Anyway...what do you think? :-)


Baby McG
I had another appointment last week and actually met the doctor who will be delivering Baby McG. She's really nice!! She's very small, about 300 pounds lighter than me (ok, that's actually not possible...but you get the point). But she seems really good, made sure all my questions were answered and that I felt comfortable, and she has some really awesome experience (I googled her!). So I think mom and baby are in good hands. :-)

My official results from the ultrasound and bloodwork came back. The initial ratio they gave us has changed. They originally said that, based on my age and initial glance at the ultrasounds, we have a 1 out of about 630 chance of a chromosomal abnormality. Not bad odds, right? Well, after looking at my age, the ultrasound images and the bloodwork, that ratio has changed to about 1 and 10,000. Amazing!!! After explaining all of that, she put this really small handheld thingie across my abdomen and played the baby's heartbeat for me. So precious! It rang about about 160...so all is good in the hood. There were no new ultrasounds this week, so no new pictures or news about the baby's sex (you'll all just have to be patient). But I will say that I do have a feeling about what I think the baby might be. However, there's really no logical reason for thinking it and, really, there's approximately a 50% chance that I'm right or wrong, right? So for now, I'll just say that it's a boy...


...or a girl.

Stay tuned! :-)

all things nuchal

At my first OB appointment a few weeks ago, they advised me to contact The Fetal & Women's Center of Arizona to set up an appointment for once I was between weeks 11 and 12. They said that this organization has the best ultrasound technology available. So I ended up scheduling the appointment for yesterday because right now I am somewhere at the end of week 11, beginning of week 12.

Originally, I thought the appointment was just to check growth and get some cute little ultrasound pictures. But we discovered yesterday that the scanning was actually to test the baby's nuchal translucency. Nuchal translucency screening tests for all types of chromosomal abnormalities (mainly Down Syndrome) and congenital heart defects. Nuchal translucency refers to the fluid-filled space at the back of the baby's neck. The reason they look at this space in particular is because they have found that fetuses that have a high amount of fluid in this space at the back of the neck have more likelihood of having a chromosomal abnormality, such as Down Syndrome. The primary things that are taken into consideration when testing for these birth defects are (1) the mother's age, (2) the amount of nuchal translucency in the fetus, and (3) bloodwork.

The ultrasound scan lasted for almost 50 minutes...yeah, 50 minutes...because little Baby McG was being a little turd and would pretty much show nothing but his/her backside. The tech was getting a little frustrated, too, especially after about 30 minutes of not even being able to take a measurement. So she had me try to cough to get the little butthead to move a little. Yeah...no luck. Either the baby was being stubborn or was being extremely lazy and just didn't want to move. Yeah...this kid is TOTALLY related to Joe, huh? :-)

Anyway, she went from a scan on the belly, to an internal scan, to another scan on the belly. Finally, she was able to get some measurements before leaving to show the results to the doctor. The doctor came back to tell us about what they were looking for and what they found in the initial look at the scan. All I have to say is that next time, Baby McG better be a little more cooperative. Otherwise, I have a feeling we'll have to lay down the law pretty good with this kid.

As far as the results go, based on my age alone the chance of any chromosomal abnormality is about 1:630 (or 0.15%). After the complete results of the scan and bloodwork are in (sometime next week), they will update that number showing either a higher risk or a lower risk of birth defects. Based on their initial measurements during the scan, however, they said that everything looked completely normal.

Phew! :-)

Here are some updated photos of the little one. A lot of them confuse me as to what I'm actually looking at, so I tried to pick some of the most distinguishable photos. Enjoy!

Baby McG's backside:

Baby McG's left side:

Baby McG's right side profile: