19 Week Sonogram

Maddy at 19 weeks.

On June 25, Tim and I went to our perinatologist. The cyst has grown in size by one centimeter and now measures 11 cm. Maddy, was sound asleep and was facing my spine. As a result, the sonogram tech had some trouble seeing her heart, the front of her brain and one other thing which I am unable to recall. So we'll go back in three weeks for another check up on Maddy. She is growing really fast. She measures 10 cm from head to rump and weighs a little over 10 ounces. Her heart rate was 145 bpm. In a matter of just three weeks, Maddy has doubled in size and weight. Everything else looked great on the sonogram. The perinatologist will wait to see what my OB wants to do about the cyst. So when my OB gets the latest results from the perinatologist, I suppose we'll go from there.

Lastly, at least once a day, I feel a little tap from Maddy. It is just amazing. :)

Maddy's First Wooby (Whoo-bee)

In our house, we call blankets "woobies." The origin is unknown. So it is only right that Maddy should have her own wooby. I finished it yesterday and today snapped a quick picture for this blog. It is a crib quilt and has Winnie the Pooh on it. Each panel has an image from a classic Pooh story. My favorite is "The Blustery Day." I hope Maddy loves her wooby.

Update: 17 weeks pregnant

Yesterday, I visited my OB. Maddy's heart rate is normal and Mommy's blood pressure was good too. I've lost a pound which is OK. Weight is something I have to be very careful about since I am overweight. I weigh less now than I did before I became pregnant. Weird, huh?

My OB wants to wait until after I have Maddy to remove the 10 cm ovarian cyst on my right ovary. He added that I will lose my right ovary too. (I am curious to see what the perinatologist has to say when I see him on the 25th of this month.) It was a relief to hear that the cyst removal surgery will not interfere with breastfeeding. My goal is to breastfeed Maddy for at least one year.

Today I began cleaning out one of the spare bedrooms which has been a sort of catch-all for clutter. Ugh! It is very daunting and is difficult to clear out because I have been having pain in my groin now for two weeks. I have to keep taking little breaks and it all seems to be taking forever. Eventually, I took a nap. Sleeping is very elusive due to my ever shrinking bladder. It seems I wake up at least every two hours to go tinkle.

I sewed for two hours on a crib quilt for Maddy. Tomorrow I hope to have it finished. It is a "Winnie the Pooh" quilt panel I found at Hobby Lobby yesterday. When it's completed, I'll post a picture.

It is amazing to me that I am now 17 weeks pregnant. Overall, I think things are going really well. I am nervous though about the third trimester, because I am already having so much trouble sleeping and I know that it only gets more and more elusive as time goes by. But hey, it'll all be worth it when Tim and I get to finally hold Maddy.

16 Week Sonogram

This series of pictures is from my visit with the perinatologist. The sonogram equipment is more sophisticated than what they use at my regular OB. Thank goodness too, because I could see so much more of our baby. The baby was very active and was giving the tech some trouble. I couldn't help but giggle because the baby was spinning around and kicking and flexing tiny arms and legs. It's just amazing that all of that is going on in my tummy. The sonogram tech noted that everything looked good, the baby is 5 inches long, heart rate was 157 bpm and best of all we found out we are having a baby girl. "You see those three white lines," she said as she pointed to the monitor, "that's a vagina." Well, you can't be more clear than that, but I was under the impression that the sex of the baby was more noticeable around twenty weeks. I asked her to give me a number as to how certain she was. "95%, " she smiled. I was convinced. As Tim noted, we are going to have a "little princess." As far as names go, Tim and I really like Madeline or Maddy for short. However, the cool thing is we still have five months to go before anything is set in stone, but I must admit that when I talk to my baby, I am now calling her Maddy. For example, "did that avocado taste good Maddy?" or "I don't know about you Maddy, but I'm ready for a nap."

Embryo to perfection in 3 easy steps

As a regular preacher, I'm sure family stories and anecdotes will make their way into my messages from time to time. I think I've been reasonable about the frequency so far (I only remember one previous personal anecdote off the top of my head). I usually don't care for it too much when I hear a preacher use a lot of personal stories. Sometimes it makes it sound like they are always on vacation or going to the movies, etc. So I'm a little bit wary because a few people have said they really enjoyed Sunday's message on our baby. Well, the baby was not the message, of course. But I know how the parts we enjoy best seem to stick out strongest in our memories. ("Oh Father, I loved your sermon about the chicken who crossed the road. It was hilarious.") It's the same for me ("I can't believe he preached on the Matrix.")

The message was that we are God's children and he has set before us the way of the blessed life (i.e., keeping his covenant and his commandments, or "practicing our faith"). The other way ends in destruction. If we are to move on to maturity in Christ, we must endeavor to follow his will.

The baby part was the motif, talking about growing up in general and growing up in our Christian walk in particular. Overall, I think it worked well. Have a listen and see what you think. (Sorry about the poor audio quality, btw. I think the recorder was too close.) Click here to listen to my sermon on the two ways, titled "A blessing and a curse," from 1 June 2008.

Checking out the new crib

Hello. Here's the first words from the new dad. Melisa and I were coming back from the movies this afternoon and decided to stop in the thrift shop. We found this lovely little bassinet that we thought would work out just great for us, so we brought it home. It feels like a sturdy construction and it has rolling and rocking features. Little by little, the house is feeling more baby-ready. I thought I'd share a picture with you, and our two babies Molly and Lil' Joe wanted to help as models.

Tomorrow, I'll be celebrating the feast of the Visitation of Our Lady to S. Elizabeth. The event is recorded in Luke 1:39-56. Having heard that her older cousin Elizabeth (who should be beyond child-bearing age) is six months pregnant, Mary goes to visit her in the hill country. We know that babies begin to hear in the womb at about 20 weeks. When Mary arrives, Elizabeth feels the baby kicking and says that the sound of Mary's voice is giving her baby cause to jump for joy in the womb.

May 12th: Week 13 Sonogram

This sonogram marks the first time the nurse used the wand on my tummy. The ovarian cyst gets in the way and makes it more difficult to see the baby. In this picture, the baby is doing a handstand. To me, it kinda looks like an alien. We were a little disappointed with the picture, but the important thing is the baby is healthy. The baby's heart rate was around 155 bpm. That was healthy too. Our next sonogram is on June 9th.

April 22: Week 10 Sonogram

This sonogram was a delightful experience. You could actually see the baby wiggling around. He looked as though he was dancing. It was nothing short of amazing. I joked that his dancing reminded me of Billy Crystal doing the "white man overbite" dance in "When Harry Met Sally." The baby's heart rate was 175 which the doctor said was healthy. So good so far. Look at that little frog butt! Too cute! I loved watching my husband as he watched the monitor. He's going to be a great dad.

March 25th: Six Week Sonogram

Initially we had a sonogram at five weeks, but the nurse and doctor couldn't see anything. The reason is because I couldn't remember the first day of my last period. So the nurse guestimated and well...it was wrong. So we were asked to come back the following week and lo and behold there was an image of our baby. To me it looked like macaroni and cheese, but hey cut me some slack. I an art major not a doctor, Jim.

All in all we were very happy to see that little squiggle because the OB, when we saw him at week five, tried to prepare us for any outcome. That means, he told us, there was a possibility that a miscarriage had occurred. Geesh, thanks for that one doc. That whole week I was crying and was so terribly worried, but luckily, things did turn out for the best the following week.

Now there is one other thing that must be addressed. It isn't so great, but here goes anyway. At week five during the first sonogram, the nurse discovered a cyst on my right ovary. What? She wouldn't talk about it and told me the doctor would go over it with us. We were mortified. Ovarian cysts, as it turns out, are very common, but up until that day I'd never even thought about it. My mother never had any and I never knew anyone who had one either. The cyst I have is 10 cm which is roughly the size of an orange. To make a long story short, the doctor basically has a "wait and see" approach to the situation. To me, that stinks, but I understand there isn't too much that can be done. Since then, I have had three painful incidents with the cyst. The last one was so bad, I had to go to the emergency room (I can't tell you how wonderful it was to wait five hours for a sonogram). During my follow-up OB appointment the next day, the doctor explained that the cyst rotated. That torsion or rotation is what created the pain. He prescribed some pain medication and during the next four days, I finally was back to my old self.

March 6th: We Learned We Were Pregnant.

At the time this picture was taken, I was shaking with joy. My husband ran and grabbed the digital camera and snapped away. Now we have the picture, what's next? We called our general physician the next day and set up an appointment with an OB.