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11/28/08: I've added most of Ayla's profile
pictures up at the top. I have no new news lately other than having lots of
pressure- which I think is normal. Sometimes more pressure than other times.
The last two weeks Ayla has been head-down which is good.
If you look closely at her 27 week profile picture, there is her head, and
she has her knee drawn up to the bottom of her face and her little hand is
resting on her knee and probably in her mouth. If you look closely, you can
see each little finger. So cute.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Gus went out today on black Friday
and shopped- I didn't! However I did get up at 4 am (couldn't sleep) and
looked around online until about 8 am then went back to bed! The majority of
my Christmas shopping is finished anyway. (I'm on the ball this year!)
I'm just relaxing the rest of the weekend. Maybe I'll catch a movie.
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Update: Merideth (pictured below with me) just had a baby boy this evening. She still hadn't had a name picked out yet but I hear he's doing great and beautiful!
11/25/08: We just got back from our ultrasound and with careful measurements, Ayla was bumped up from the 16th percentile to the 25th. What the percentile means is that according to statistics, 75% of babies at her same age are bigger, and 25% smaller. She is still in the smaller range but the doctor at St. Lukes Hospital said that she is not worried about her size and that around 28 weeks is when genes will start kicking in. If she is supposed to be a bigger baby, her major growth spurt could start soon. Considering neither Gus nor I are small people, you'd assume we'd have a big baby- I always assumed that. She may start to pick up in the next couple of months. They are bringing me back in a month to check her size again. The Dr said even my gall bladder problem could have affected her growth, just as it affected many things on me such as my high blood pressure and poor cirulation and horrible swelling from the beginning of my pregnancy. In the meantime, here is an adorable 4-D picture of Ayla sucking on her hand. (She was doing that last week in the ultrasound too. We are going to have to break her of this habit!)
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Mommy-to-be's, Merideth and I
11/22/08: I have another ultrasound coming up on Tuesday, 11/25. My OB wants me to go back to St. Lukes Hospital to have the ultrasound just because her size is small. She feels like they can check on her better. Her size is consistent but I guess Dr. McDaniel just wants to watch her closer because she is in the 16th percentile (whatever that means) and she is very small. I think Dr. McDaniel is worrying too much because the ultrasound tech at her place said her size is nothing to worry about and that she is in the safe range. Dr. McDaniel agrees that she is in the safe range, but she said Ayla is at the bottom of the safe range. I'm not going to argue against seeing my little girl again. I'd take a look at her every day if I could. I should have better pictures to post of her this time.
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11/19/08: The ultrasound went great today.
Ayla is looking good and her head is down (thankfully). Sometimes when I
have bad pains in my pelvic area, my OB thinks she is butt-down. We looked
at her whole body and measured her and she is a week behind in size (which
is consistent through the whole pregnancy and not dangerous at all... she is
just a little small.) The pictures aren't very clear this time- I think
because I was on a "lesser" machine and not on the big high-risk pregnancy
machines anymore, which is a good thing. All they do is take her
measurements and get a good look at her heart and brain and body parts, but
it doesn't print the best pictures. I'll post them though.
I have an appointment with my OB tomorrow to discuss how I'm doing since the
surgery and to discuss these contractions I've been having! They don't go
too far which is good, but I'm not sure that I should be having any at all
yet. We'll see what she says.
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11/17/08: My OB wants me off of work until Friday probably. I see my OB Thursday and have an ultrasound on Wednesday.
Daddy and Craig are putting together a new TV stand and a new flat screen TV for the living room and we got rid of the "BIG screen" to make room for Ayla's toys that will be in the living room, such as the swing. We are saving so much more space now.
Baby Drake came over tonight and tried out some of
Ayla's new stuff! I got a thumbs up on the new toys.
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| He loves the Baby Einstein play
gym! |
He said the crib is too pink for his taste, but he likes it. Smiley boy! |
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| He was pretty impressed with the new swing too ;) | Chino sleeping by the fire while we play with toys. |
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| Our new TV and stand which creates a lot of new space for us to put Ayla's swing and toys in the living room. (And the Christmas tree too.) |
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11/16/08: I want to Thank each and every one
of you that came out to my shower! And a special Thanks to those of you that
had to drive really far to come! Also Thank You to those who could not make
it and sent a nice gift, that was very thoughtful :)
The shower was SO pretty and I want to Thank my Grandma Shirley for hosting
it at her house- It was great. And I would like to Thank my Mom, Allison and
Grandma Carole with helping to host it as well. And to Grandma Carole: That
cake was awesome! Not only was it so pretty, I think that was the best
tasting cake I've ever had! (Was that because I wasn't allowed to eat cake
before my gall bladder got ripped out? I don't know but it was so good.
Everyone else said so too.) My Grandpa Gene just came over and said the
place is called "Susie G's" in O'Fallon. I'm going to find it for future
cakes!
I would also like to give a special thanks to Allison's friends Katie and
Claudia! They were such a big help at my shower!
I had SUCH a good time at the shower. Considering I had just had that
surgery, I had to hold my stomach a lot because of laughing. It really was a
great time... And if only you would have seen how much stuff I got! I did
not expect to get soooo much!!!! And the outfits! WOW! Ayla's closet and
dresser are full. She needs no more 0-6 month clothing! How lucky am I? And
she's going to be the best dressed baby in day care ;)
Gus and I worked on putting her stuff away from 6ish to midnight and got
everything put away! All I have to do today is hang a shelf that I stained
to match her furniture and that is it! Her room is pretty much done other
than collecting new pictures of her and hanging those after she is born. I'm
so excited!
I got to see so many people yesterday who came out to wish me well and give
a nice gift to me, who I never get to see anymore. I told many people, and
I'm serious about this, that I'm going to have a "Meet Ayla" party in the
spring time. Maybe in May. I want to have a barbeque where family and
friends can come and enjoy themselves and meet Ayla. And of course anyone is
welcome to come out at any time to meet her or just to come and visit but in
our busy lives, that never happens. You know how it is.
Pictures of the shower (More coming soon)
Pictures of Ayla's room (Complete!)
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11/15/08: I am home this morning and wanted to let anyone coming to the Illinois shower know that yes, the shower is still on. I'm sore but feeling a lot better than yesterday and I'm looking forward to some good food and good company!
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11/14/08:
I'm back online. The surgery went really well and Ayla is also doing great.
I'm in a whole lot of pain (I'm a big baby and this is my first major
surgery.) But just so happy this is all over and looking forward to
recovering. The good news is I got to eat normal food today. I guess my
doctor called this morning and ordered breakfast for me because they showed
up at my room with bacon and french toast. Mmmm. Too bad I had no appetite.
The nurse told me I needed to have a little so I took a couple of bites. By
lunch time I was able to eat more and had a chicken sandwich on a croissant
(which I ate almost the whole thing) and a couple of bites of potato soup!
Our friends Mike and Jacki sent us an "edible arrangement" the fruit dipped
in chocolate that looks like a flower arrangement! We picked at that today.
It was so awesome to have chocolate again!
Here is a link to a picture of my stomach. In the picture you can see two of
the five cuts that they made in my stomach during the surgery. You do not
have to look at this, it's a little gross but some people find it
interesting and I have no problem showing it. (along with my lovely stretch
marks that my belly already has all over it!)
Click here to see my belly.
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11/13/08:*Update* This is Gus. Its 10:15 pm. Amanda and the Baby seem to be doing well. The baby's heartbeat has been steady and Amanda is awake and groggy. Hopefully all is well thru the night. We will keep you updated.
It's 9 a.m. and I've seen both my OBGYN (McDaniel) and the surgeon (Miller). The surgery is scheduled for around 4 pm this evening and they will keep me 24 hours after to monitor Ayla and make sure I don't go into premature labor which is one of the risks of having the surgery and being put under. If all goes well, I'll be out of here Friday evening and even get to make it to my baby shower on Saturday.
Broadcasting live from Barnes-Jewish St. Peters
Hospital
(Earlier:) It's 5:30 am and I had a pretty good
night's sleep last night, other than getting up about 4 times to go to the
bathroom. I've went through maybe 5 IV bags and my urine still hasn't
cleared up. That scares me because I'm afraid it's still the bile coming
from my liver. I will have to wait for my doc and the surgeon to get here
this morning to discuss this...
On a lighter note, it doesn't feel like I need morphine today. I even needed
some last night to fall asleep. The pain lasted a lot longer than 15 hours
this time. Probably because the situation is different now and stones are
popping out. I'll write more later out of my boredom and worry.
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11/12/08: Well this gall bladder attack I had yesterday was worse than I thought. I thought it was a milder version of the last attack, but it's worse. I went today to see my doctor and immediately she had a look of worry on her face after seeing my urine. It was so freakishly dark that she new something was wrong. Not only am I dehydrated but Dr. McDaniel (my obgyn) and Dr. Miller (my gall bladder surgeon) believe that a gall stone has escaped from my gall bladder and got clogged in a "pipe" that made my liver "bile" back up and over flow. Whether the stone is still stuck or not, they are not sure, but either way they are taking out my gall bladder tomorrow or Friday. Dr. Miller is trying for tomorrow afternoon. This is what they were afraid of happening from not taking my gall bladder out before. There was nothing to do to prevent this, but we were hoping it wouldn't happen before Ayla came. So, they are cutting my gall bladder out and also using a microphone thing to look in the "pipe" to make sure the gall stone has passed. If not, they will flush it. I'm really nervous about the surgery but I know that it needs to be done and they aren't giving me an option anyway. Wish me luck.
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Here is an map of Ayla's head and face for anywone who cannot see her:
11/11/08: Had another gall bladder attack today... can you believe it? I've been very careful on what I've been eating except today- I forgot my lunch at work and I thought I'd be safe eating the Bread Company soup in a bread bowl. Well... those bread bowls are too good so you know they cook them in something that I probably shouldn't have! Anyway, the attack happened at about 2 pm. I started feeling sick then all of a sudden I was getting the same hot flashes and horrible pain in the upper stomach. Luckily the girls at work really took care of me. I called my doctor, she called in codeine to a shop n' save close by and Jessica took me to pick up the pills. I took only one (which I was allowed to take 2) hoping that it would help but I still had to manage to drive home today too. The one did not help but I was feeling the tiredness effect so Patty followed me home on her way to Troy to make sure I drove okay. I took a second pill at 5 pm and by 5:45, I finally felt better! I went from hardly being able to talk because when I'm having an attack it feels like its squeezing your lungs shut and hurts worse when you talk. After feeling good I called my mom and talked her head off! She said, "I can definitely tell you're feeling better!" So the pain is going to come back, I know, but I have the pills by my bed for when that happens. My first attack lasted exactly 15 hours. (Gus, who is all about numbers, whether it be time, money, or statistics kept track for me.) So I'm going to just rest and go see my doctor in the morning. I also have an ultrasound (so I'll put more pictures up) and a diabetes test that pregnant women have to take. I better not have diabetes on top of all this other crap!!! ;)
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11/9/08: I never did put up Ayla's 23 week ultrasound pictures so here they are. This week (Wednesday) we will be having another ultrasound just to keep track of her growth. I will add more pictures soon.
Oh! and I forgot to mention... Renee, my ultrasound tech looked at mine and Gus's hands and said Ayla has my hands! My pinkies curve inward (which I never noticed) and so does hers. There is a name for it but I forgot it. I just thought that was kind-of neat.
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11/6/08: The dresser is up! Tomorrow we will build the changing table and her room is pretty much finished for now. Eventually there is a cherry book shelf and cherry toy box that I would like to purchase. Maybe for her first birthday. What do you think of the furniture?
Also, had a doc appointment today. Everything is good. They went ahead and scheduled all the appointments until it's time for me to have the baby. I'm going to be checking in constantly! It's all sinking in now that it's getting pretty close!! In 2 months I start going to the doc once a week! Crazy!
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| Chino likes Ayla's new matress! | The new dresser! (With a little TV for sleepless nights) |
11/6/08: Today I ordered wall words to put above Ayla's crib. This is a quote by Eda LaShan who is an author who wrote about her life and parenting experiences. She was also a child psychologist. I've always loved this quote:
It's about 2.5' tall by 4.5' wide. The words will be
hovering over Ayla's crib. I think it will be a pretty addition to the room.
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11/5/08: Gus put together the glider and I hung the picture that matches the bedding and room:
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11/4/08: The room is painted and the border is up! You can't see the colors really well in the brightness of the pictures, but the walls are clearly pink when you are standing in the room, however it is a very soft pink. In the pictures the walls look white. It's all so pretty walking in there now! We will begin to put together furniture tomorrow, I believe. I'll add more pictures as the room comes along!
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11/3/08:
We are almost finished painting Ayla's room! We painted it a VERY soft pink.
We still need to finish some spots then add the border. Once done with that,
we will pick up her furniture which has come in and start putting the room
together!! Here are a couple of pictures:
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| Soft pink walls | Ayla's light plate which matches her room decor |
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11/1/08: Here's a picture of my belly from Halloween. It's getting bigger and bigger! At work, there has been a few times when Patty (a co-worker) was stamping some paperwork with a loud stamp and Ayla would jump.
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10/26/08: Over the weekend I got some great
birthday gifts! I wanted to show this picture that I received from my
Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Neil. My Grandma is so good at finding the
perfect gift for someone. She finds the neatest things!
I got a framed pencil drawing (shown below) by an artist named P. Buckley
Moss of a heart with a Mom holding a baby on the inside. It's such an
amazing picture! I hung it in my hallway for everyone to see. She also got
Ayla her very own monkey suitcase (the kind you can pull like Daddy has) for
staying the night at grandma's house (and Ayla has lots of Grandmas and
Grandpas!). Inside was stuffed with goodies such as receiving blankets, burp
rags and a shirt that says, "What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's"!
Too cute.
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| Click image to view larger. |
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10/24/08: We ordered the rest of Ayla's room that matches her crib! I still want a shelf for the room and a toy box. I have them on my walmart wish list but I think we will wait and see how everything we just ordered fits in her room. Gus bought the paint for her room the other day as well. We will paint as soon as we have a free weekend and put up her border. I'm excited!
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10/23/08: I'm home!
If you read the previous posting, Gus and I went and celebrated Ayla's good
health on Monday evening by going out to dinner at Applebees and I got a
virgin daiquiri and he had a Corona. We ate greasy appetizers for dinner and
at 3:30 in the morning I woke up having a gall bladder attack. At the time I
thought I was going into labor even thought he pain was at the top of my
stomach. I'll spare you the rest of the details but I thought I was going to
die. I crawled to the bed and pulled on Gus's foot screaming for him to wake
up. He took me to the emergency room at about 4 am. To make a long story
short, we found out it was my gall bladder and not labor (Thankfully). After
hydrating me and keeping morphine close by for another attack (I had 3), we
talked to various doctors including my OBGYN and a surgeon. They were ready
to take my gall bladder out but we discussed alternative options until the
baby is born. I decided to brave it and try to eat after 2 days of not
eating. After I ate, they monitored me to make sure I did not have another
attack. I didn't so I got to go home this afternoon. We think I can
pretty much manage my gall bladder by me eating low fat and non-greasy
foods. If I do have another bad attack, I have my Dr's emergency number for
her to call in some pain killers for me or they may do the surgery. In 3
more weeks, I will be in my 3rd trimester and the surgery will be much more
high risk because of the baby's size. So it was kind of a hard decision- do
the surgery now just in case while it is lower risk or wait it out and hope
I don't have an attack in the meantime and have the surgery after Ayla
comes. Gall bladder attacks and Gallstones (which is what I have) run higher
in pregnant women because of hormones.
Most importantly, we monitored Ayla the entire time in the hospital and she
is doing great.
Anyway, I'm feeling well now and so glad to be home to hug Chino.
I want to share this poem that my Grandma Shirley wrote for my sister, Allison:
Oh, Gardian Angel, stay with my child
I need to rest a little while.
My baby is snuggled in a tiny bed
Warm, and safe, and happily fed.
Please watch as my sweet child dreams
Of things and places yet unseen.
Whisper sweet things in these tiny ears
And always calm my baby's fears.
Cradle my child in your loving arms
And keep my little one safe from all harm.
Heaven has sent you to give special love
And I thank God for all the help from Above.
Amen
Maybe an angel has been watching over Ayla during this rough pregnancy.
I'd also like to say that I met an angel in the hospital. Her name is Tresa (yes, that's how you spell it. I believe she was of Indian decent.) She was the most amazing person. She adored Gus and I and even when she wasn't my nurse, she came to visit me. She remembered it was my birthday and made a special visit to tell me Happy Birthday. She kept telling me, "Amanda I go home and I pray for you. I pray for you." She was the best and I miss her!
I would also like to thank my Mom for coming out and helping to take care of me. She is always there when I need her the most.
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10/20/08: Great news!!!!!!!
Gus and I went to have our ultrasound today and to talk with the high risk
doctor at St. Luke's Hospital. Not only is Ayla growing right on track, but
they still have found nothing wrong with her and the high risk doctor agrees
with my doctor that my high protein levels (which could indicate spina
bifida, neurological problems, placenta problems, etc) are from the demised
twin (Baby B). Ayla is super healthy and active and everything looks
great!!! The high risk doc said the biggest thing to worry about now is
labor, lack of sleep and balancing our checkbook! ;) Gus and I are so
relieved! We went out to dinner and he had a Corona and I had a yummy virgin
daiquiri to celebrate. And we double checked- Ayla is 150% all girl. No boy
parts! I do not have to go back to the high risk ultrasound place anymore.
The doc is confident that the baby and I are fine and we will just monitor
her growth monthly from my own doctor's office. This is all great news!
We have new pictures of Ayla. I will put those up soon.
(I wrote this earlier)
10/20/08: This weekend Gus and I visited my old friend Nikki who I
grew up with. Her little boy Caden (who is adorable!) is 2 months old and
will be in the same grade as Ayla! Also Stevi is having a baby and her baby
will be 5 months younger than Ayla and also in the same grade! Down the
street, our friends Sarah and Craig have a little boy named Drake and he may
be in the same grade if Sarah were to hold him back, but his age is still
really close to Ayla too! She is going to have lots of friends!
Today is my ultrasound and we are checking up on Ayla's health. I have no
doubt that she is growing- I can tell and I feel her all of the time now.
She is actually moving around right now! I still am not feeling her from the
outside with my hand but that will come with time.
Last night I had such horrific back pain that it made me nauseous and I was
up until 3 am. My alarm went off at 4 am to go to work, so I took the day
off and finally fell back to sleep somewhere around 5 am. Today I was
leaving early as well for my ultrasound. I just woke up and now it's time to
get ready. I hope tonight is a better night! I will report any news from the
ultrasound when I get home.
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10/18/08: Last night we put up Ayla's
curtains in her room. We are getting ready to paint and order the rest of
her bedroom
furniture too. Mom got me Ayla's
bedding as a gift and I have other little things such as a picture,
lamp, wall border, night light and light plate that match the bedding Mom
got me. It's all so cute! I'll be taking more pictures as the room
progresses.
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10/16/08: Look at these little shirts my Grandma Shirley sent us!!! Hah! (I told Gus I'm going to throw his away but I can't because it's a gift from my Grandma. He didn't like that.)
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Too cute! Thanks, Grandma Shirley!
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10/14/08: Wow... I started having Braxton Hicks contractions and didn't even know it until I read my Pregnancy Calendar (at the left side of this page) under the week 22 tab. I thought, "What are Braxton Hicks contractions?" So I googled it. (ah, the power of Google) and checked a couple of pregnancy sights. Braxton Hicks contractions are mild contractions that are spontanious and I've been feeling the symptoms of them for at least a week. I feel things such as what feels like period cramps, tighness of my belly (like a charlie horse without the severe pain), and pressure in my pelvic area. Just last night I was complaining of a couple of these symptoms to Gus while walking through Walmart. I said to him, "I've never felt this before... It feels like the baby is pushing down." Then about 10 minutes later it subsided. Same with the tightness- it comes and goes for about 10 minutes at a time it seems. I was just so surprised to read about Braxton Hicks contractions this morning because I had been feeling all of this having no clue that contractions start this early! It really sank in this morning that this is all really happening! In a few months I'm going to be preparing for Ayla to be here! How exciting!
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10/10/08: I am 22 weeks along! Almost to 6 months! Ayla is moving around in my belly more than ever. I even think I felt her bump against my hand for the first time a couple of nights ago! I also turned in our application for daycare. I really love the place we picked out. We really had little to choose from considering some places are booked up until the middle of 2009! This particular place we chose is very convenient for us but extremely expensive. The reason I picked it is because they are all about education at every age. They bring in yoga specialists, gym on wheels, and teach the children everything from sign language as infants to spanish as toddlers. When I visited, the children in every room were really happy and the place is just so neat. They go all the way through all-day kindergarten and also have after school programs in which they bus the kids from school over to the daycare until parents get there to pick them up. This year they were voted #2 in all of st. charles county and last year they were #1. If I had to leave Ayla then I wanted the best and I think this place is awesome.
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10/7/08: Hand of Hope
I am 21 weeks along so out of my curiosity, I was "Googling" babies at 21
weeks of age to see what they look like at this stage. I came across this
story of a boy name Samuel who had spina bifida at 21 weeks of age. Still in
the womb, a surgeon was able to repair the damage that spina bifida had
caused on Samuel before even born. You have to read this article and see
this picture. I hope it is all true. I read it on a couple of different
websites so it seems legitimate. Either way, the picture itself is amazing.
http://www.frogview.com/show2.php?file=1431
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10/5/08: Wow, working takes a lot of energy
out of me! No naps during the day ;) Needless to say, I've been sleeping
much better at night so far. Even insomnia hasn't been much of a problem.
Some nights I sleep so hard that I only wake up once to pee! That's a plus.
Ayla has been wiggling around a lot. I still can't feel her from the outside
of my belly though. I really don't like how my doctor separated my
appointment from my last appointment by a month. I'm so used to getting to
check up on her heartbeat. While at work, I don't feel her moving as much I
guess because I'm constantly and franticly (sometimes) moving around myself.
My next ultrasound is 2 long weeks from tomorrow and I'm not excited about
it. I'm going to either hear, we can't find anything wrong with your baby,
but there still could be something wrong that we don't see, or yes, there is
something wrong. That's not fun.
I've been thinking about calling Dr. McDaniel because my feet and ankles
are swelling so bad. I'm not doing that great at cutting down on sodium...
Everything has sodium! Especially walking around at work, my ankles swell up
over the tops of my dress sandals. It's gross. Luckily I wear pants and no
one can see but it's not comfortable either. Even in the morning, I wake up
and they are still swollen, though it usually goes down through the night.
Every night before sleeping, I prop my feet up on pillows and use Ice packs
on them, but that helps very little.
Mom got me this adorable little sleeper for Ayla that is pink with brown
poka-dots and little animal feet. So cute! We also finished a spare bedroom
for Ayla to stay in while she is over at Grandma's house in Brendan's old
room! Brendan got my old room downstairs and he loves it!
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9/28/08: Gus and I had a baby shopping spree today. After checking my registry on the Babies 'R' Us website, I realized that some accessories that I wanted for the baby's room were selling out fast. So Gus and I went to Babies 'R' Us and purchased the lamp, the wallpaper border, and the valance for the window. They are so cute! They all match the bedding set that my Mom bought for me. We also stopped by walmart to use my Pampers coupon for the month of September. Each month I get a coupon and I have started stocking up on diapers. Today I bought a size 2 in Pampers Swaddlers and also some wipes. I'm growing a little collection already. I also couldn't help myself in buying this little Carters one-piece pink onesie with little cream colored flare pants that went with it. So fun.
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9/27/08:
I am now 20 weeks. Here is an image of a baby at 18 weeks. I wonder how they
took that picture...
Ayla was in this same position most of the time while watching her on the 19
week ultrasound. Her feet were up by her head. It's getting cramped in
there! And she pushes on my blatter even worse than before! I have to go
every 5 minutes sometimes. No exaggeration.
Stevi gave me my first baby girl outfit!!! It's so adorable that I had to put it up for everyone to see. It says Daddy's Little Princess, and the butt of the pants with the little pockets and buttons are my favorite! Thanks, Stevi B! :D
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There are a couple of people that I know of that cannot make out Ayla's face in the picture (which I know many people cannot see those ultrasound pictures.) Click here to see an outline of Ayla's head and face.
9/24/08:
I went to the doctor this morning and discussed our AFP levels and she again
said she is not worried and that we will just watch Ayla closely just in
case. Gus and I feel much better from the support of friends and family and
endless emails and messages we've been getting about people either going
through the same thing or have heard of what we are going through and
expressed their beleif that we will be just fine. The doctor approved me to
come back to work and I start tomorrow morning. My next ultrasound is being
scheduled by my doctor's office for the next month and Dr. McDaniel is also
having me talk to a high risk pregnancy Dr. after my ultrasound over at St.
Lukes Hospital, just for peace of mind. *Note that you will probably
see less postings on the website from me during the week, but can count on
an update on weekends.
I wrote this next part early this morning:
Thanks to an email we received last night before bed from Julie, who is my
Aunt who has triplets and 2 other sons as well, we slept last night. She
went on and on about how the AFP test is just a statistical test and really
means nothing. I will never take a test like this again.
It's 6 am now and my doctor's appointment is at 8. I will be discussing this
with my doctor (who believes the levels are from my demised twin and that
there shouldn't be a problem) and make sure she still stands by that. I can
already breathe a little better. It really sucks to be so scared for your
unborn child.
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Click here to read more on my high AFP levels:
Ayla Marie Sansone blog posting
from Myspace
9/22/08:
Today is finally the day!!...
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| We're having a Girl!!! Ayla Marie Sansone! | 99.9% Positive! |
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I have tested positive for certain levels that
indicate there could be a neurological problem such as spinal bifida. After
extensive checking of the baby's body, the ultrasound techs and Dr could not
find anything physically wrong with the baby, however I will be needing to
come back monthly to watch the baby closely to make sure her growth does not
slow or that a physical problem does not appear. They believe it could be a
problem with the placenta which in turn could hurt the baby somehow. I will
post more as I find it out. Right now though, the Dr said not to worry at
the moment and that the baby is doing very well. I can't help but to worry,
though.
I am, however, very excited about having a baby girl! I couldn't be more
thrilled :)
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9/21/08:
It is 10:30 p.m. the night before the ultrasound. Gus and I are very excited
about tomorrow. He took the day off work. We will sleep in and take our time
getting ready. The appointment is at 1:00 and you can count on me putting
our updates on here as soon as we get home! I'm very anxious and excited but
a little nervous too, but I'm sure everything will be fine. Check back
tomorrow!!!
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9/19/08: Steak doesn't work!!! No beef!!! No beef at all!!! :( I can never have beef again, period. I was awake and sick last night until 4 am. No beef....Yuck!
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9/18/08: I hadn't had any bad food situations lately and everything seemed to be sitting fine with me until yesterday. I finally tried to have a burger after going months without eating them because they made me sick. And after eating it, I was sick again!!! I think I'm done with burgers for the rest of my life! Yuck. However, what is weird is that I've been craving steak (I never liked steak) and other types of beef like that. The other night I saw characters on Baby Mama (the movie) eating a Philadelphia Cheese Steak sandwich and I said to Gus, "Where can I get one of those!?" And we wound up running down the street to Subway at 9 o'clock at night to get me one. I know it doesn't compare to the real Philly cheese steak but it hit the spot. Also I've been LOVING Gus's Pork steaks lately. He cooks them for hours in a pan of Maull's BBQ sauce and they are falling apart by time you eat them. Yum. Those are the types of things I usually don't care for. Have my taste buds changed forever?
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9/15/08: I felt a light "Kick" today rather than a "flutter"! A week from today is my ultrasound!
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9/12/08: Wow! I'm 18 weeks! I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere!
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9/10/08: I'm feeling lots of little wiggles in my belly all day today! Usually I just feel them when I'm laying down at night. They are starting to break my concentration, and I'm noticing them more. Still very faint, though.
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9/8/08: Gus went with me to my doctor's appointment today and got to hear the baby's heartbeat. Again the baby was moving around- a lot! We have a hyper baby on our hands! The doctor said we are past the point of worry anymore and the baby is doing great. That made me feel good to hear that. 2 weeks from today is our ultrasound! I'm so excited!
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9/7/08: My 17 week Belly picture. My belly is growing rapidly now!
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9/4/08:
Nothing much to report lately. I'm finding more foods that just don't sit
well with me. I think pasta is out of the question or anything with beef
anymore. I made a pot of veggie soup last night and I eat it with crackers.
That is going well.
Monday I have a regular scheduled doctor's appointment just to check on the
baby's heartbeat and things like that. I've been sleeping less and less.
It's starting to get uncomfortable! I'm also feeling the baby move a little
when I lay down. It's very faint but from what I've been reading, it seems
that it really is the baby moving around so that is pretty exciting.
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8/29/08: Mom got a magazine in the mail from Babies R Us with some great coupons. These coupons are for almost every item in the whole store and can be used until September 18. I scanned them in. See them on the Coupon Page.
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It's driving me crazy!!!
Ayla is Hebrew for "Oak Tree"
Jack is an English version of the Hebrew name, John, which means "God is
gracious"
8/25/08: Baby names: We've decided on the for
sure names.
Girl: Ayla Maria Sansone
or Boy: Jackson August Sansone called "Jack"
We will see in one month what the name will be!
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8/22/08: I heard the baby's heart beat today at my normal doctors checkup. That was exciting and relieving to know that I get to check up on him/her every 2 weeks by hearing the heart beat. The doctor said the baby sounded very good. She had to keep chasing him/her around in my belly with her little microphone because he/she kept moving from one side of my stomach to the other! Sept. 8 I go back to hear another heart beat and Sept. 22 I have my ultrasound where I find out the sex! Sept 24, I have another doc appointment and if all goes well at the ultrasound she might let me go back to work. Until then I'm supposed to continue resting which I give myself an A+ for because I'm pretty good at resting...I'm too tired to do anything else! ;)
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8/20/08: Our baby Crib came today! I went ahead and ordered it pretty early because I found it on super-mega sale! (A whole $150 cheaper than normal cost!) I couldn't pass that up! We still need to purchase the rest of the room. We opened the box to make sure the crib wasn't damaged because UPS did quite a number to the outside of the box. Once we had it opened, I guess Gus got excited and wanted to put it together (I didn't argue against it!) So we had a good time (somewhat frustrating) putting it together tonight. Take a look at the pictures here. We are completely happy with it! I can't wait to get the rest of the room!
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8/14/08: Today was a better day. After
running to St. Lukes hospital for another blood test, I managed to do some
shopping on my own for a couple of hours. After that, I was tired and came
home and rested. Usually I'm too exhausted, or too sick, or in too much pain
(my back) to clean and make dinner and Gus has been picking up my slack a
lot. But today, I was able to cook a decent dinner for Gus and I and it felt
really good to feel well enough to get around.
Tomorrow, Mom, Allison and Brendan are coming to stay the night with me
which is always fun. They will probably hang out with me for a while on
Saturday while Gus is driving to Chicago and back to help his friend, Jake,
pick up a car he is buying. After this weekend, Allison and Brendan start
school already! Where does the time go?
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8/10/08: I want to thank everyone for the nice emails, phone calls, flowers, etc that we've gotten supporting us in this sad time of losing Baby "B".
A couple of days before my ultrasound, I pulled a muscle somehow in my lower back. I've never had lower back pain before and I've never felt a pulled muscle hurt this badly before! Even when I was in sports, I've never pulled anything this badly! My doc says pulled muscles are exaggerated when your pregnant and everything hurts worse. Well, thankfully she lets me use a heating pad but I can barely stand up long enough to take a shower. Oh well... honestly, I can take this pain better than I can take nausea (which isn't gone yet, by the way...but it's subsiding.) So other than me being stuck in the house, nothing has really been going on lately. My next ultrasound is Sept 22 and my doctor still wants me off work to rest. I'm guessing she may keep me on rest until my pregnancy is over. I thought for sure once I hit my 2nd trimester, she'd send me back to work but I was wrong.
Here are pictures of the beautiful flowers we've received. Receiving flowers is a very exciting thing and I thought they were so pretty I just had to share. They really do brighten my day. Thank you for our flowers!
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| From the MessageLink Crew (Gus's work) | From Gus's Aunt Bunny and Uncle David | From the CEO and employees of Symon (Gus's work) |
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8/7/08: Today Gus and I found out we lost
Baby B. Mom went with me to my ultrasound and sadly we saw tiny Baby B who
had lost his battle. He (or she) was trailing behind Baby A in size from the
very beginning and I did know that this could happen.
I want to let everyone know that although this is hard, Gus and I will be
just fine. We have one baby to concentrate on now and he (or she) is doing
so well! He was kicking his legs, sucking on his thumb, he had hiccups, he
was twirling around and doing somersaults. His size is great and heart is
strong. All of his measurements are perfect as they always were and I feel
very fortunate to have this baby.
Please say a prayer for Baby B and just know that our family will be fine.
Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts as always.
Below I have a couple pictures of our healthy baby. Click on the pictures to see a larger image.
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8/4/08: Today is Monday and I will be staying
at my Grandma Shirley's in Alton until Thursday morning. Gus is out of town
this week and I didn't want to be alone for that long. Thursday, Mom and I
will be going to my 13 week ultrasound. We should be able to see a lot-
moving arms and legs, the shapes of their face. I'm really excited.
Something very exciting happened to me last night. I had a very active day
which may not have been very safe for me to do, but I went to the zoo. We
didn't walk the whole thing, just the tail end of the trail and went to the
children's zoo where our friend Kim works. We watched a couple of her shows
that she hosts and got a back-room tour with all of the animals. It was
neat. I was exhausted by the end of 4 hours.
I came home to rest on the couch in the evening. Gus took care of dinner and
cleaning as he often does for me lately. I was watching Planet Earth (I was
in the animal mood after the zoo), and I was very into what I was watching
and all of a sudden I felt what I first described as sort of a little spasm
towards front left side of my belly. It went on for maybe 5-7 whole seconds
and I put my hand there but didn't feel anything on the outside of my belly.
It stopped and I forgot about it and went on watching my show. Then, 10
minutes later it happened again. Same spot. All of a sudden I thought, "Oh
my gosh, I think I felt the baby move."
I had Gus google "When can you feel baby move" or something along those
lines and all websites agreed that you can't feel the baby move until 16-24
weeks or something like that. But most would also say, in rare cases people
claim to feel the baby move as early as 11 or 12 weeks- it's called a
"Flutter". When I heard the word, Flutter, I said that describes exactly
what I felt! A flutter! 2 times! I know some women have mistaken gas or
bubbles in their belly but it wasn't either of those. Plus it was in a place
in my stomach towards the front where as gas or anything else feels way
deeper in my stomach. I'm 100% confident that I felt one of the babies move
twice!
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7/25/08: Some Good news: The doctor gave me a
prescription for nausea medicine and it seems to help quite a bit. I still
feel a little queasy, but I can take that over how I've been feeling. She
did tell me also that she still wants me off of work for another 2 weeks.
She said she wants to know that she did everything she can to make sure my
babies sail into the second trimester safely. She put me back on the
medicines that I quit taking due to nausea so I will start those tonight...
or at least I will try.
We have hit week 11!!! This is huge for me... week 12 has been my goal to
get to which marks the end of the first trimester and the safety of my
babies. Also at the end of week 12, I get another ultrasound and I'm very
excited. The babies are now fully developed and are moving around in there!
I'm so excited to see their progression. You can see my 9 week and 6 week
ultrasound pictures below. It's amazing how fast they grow. Now, through the
second trimester they will be getting big! And so will I.... Bigg(ER).
Sadly, Gus will be out of town for work during this next ultrasound, so Mom
will be going with me which is exciting. She's looking forward to it. She is
my #1 fan...she can't wait to be a grandma ;) ..... to 2 babies!
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7/23/08: So I think I'm learning a little
better on how to manage my morning sickness... I eat a little bit constantly
to keep something in my belly at all times. I've been mainly living on
oatmeal, soup, water and lots of bread and carbs. It seems to help. Gus (my
hero) is back at the grocery store picking up various soups and breads for
tomorrow. That man, I swear, goes to the grocery store or wherever I want
him to every day for me. I owe him big time for putting up with me.
Sometimes we both get a little stressed with each other but he has been so
great to me.
Nights have been the worst for my morning sickness. Before I go to bed I
have to throw up. If you get time, please wish upon a star for me to stop
throwing up!!! I really appreciate it! I keep hearing and reading everywhere
that morning sickness means healthy babies. If so, my babies should be doing
quite well!
I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. We will see if I am going back to
work.
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7/21/08: I wrote already this morning, but today wound up not being that bad. In the morning I felt very sick. I have to try to find foods that I can eat that wont force me to get sick and if I do get sick, will be easy... to deal with... That's all I'll say about that... But I wound up having a peice of toast and a little oatmeal. After that, I took a nap. I have not been sleeping well at night- that is a whole new story. I have major insomnia! So naps are great during the day. Today, after my nap, I wound up feeling better than usual. I even managed to get up, fold laundry, clean the kitchen, water the lawn, pull weeds (even though I'm supposed to be resting) but I only did that for a little bit. I just jumped in the shower but now I'm starting to feel bad again. I'm going to rest some more and make sure to take it easy the rest of the evening, but today was better than most days.
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7/21/08: When will this morning sickness stop?? I don't mean to be so negative lately... but this has been my worst week of the first trimester and I can feel, this morning, that it is not over. I've read on the internet that your hormones peak at week 10 (which is where I'm at) and I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse from here. I don't want to be one of those ladies who has morning sickness all through the second trimester! How do they go on with their lives? It's weird that the doctor put me on bed rest last week and this week because I wouldn't have been able to work anyway this past week because of being sick! I don't know how people do it! Some websites say morning sickness is worse with twins, others say it's not, but all I know is I had to take double the hormone pills. I'm sure that didn't help! Until I feel good, I've learned that I really don't want to eat anything more than water, sprite and chicken noodle soup.
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7/19/08: I went back to the doctor this past Wednesday, 7/16, and the doctor told me she wants me off work for another week and to take it easy. It hasn't been too terribly hard for me because I've been so tired and I have a lot of little projects to keep me busy. I started a baby scrapbook to keep all of my keepsakes so far such as all the ultrasound pictures, and the many Congratulations cards given to us from our family and friends. Grandma Shirley taught me how to cross stitch and found a little bib with an elephant and a giraffe on it that I'm currently cross stitching. And between a cat nap, the Today show, crossword puzzles, Oprah, the TLC channel... my day goes by pretty quickly. So my next scheduled appointment with Dr. McDaniel is Thursday, July 24. So we are trying for me to go back to work on the 25th. We will see what happens. This pregnancy is a rough one! Gus keeps saying, "It's no walk in the park." And I say, "You can say that again."
PS- 2 more weeks until week 12!!! This is a big goal for me to get to. And I really REALLY really hope that my morning sickness goes away. Please. ;)
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7/12/08: I had an emergency ultrasound on
Friday, 7/11/08, due to a little scare. The babies are fine but I had a
little internal bleeding where the babies sacks are attaching to the
placenta? Something like that. This can be normal but I need to take it easy
so it doesn't happen again. The doctor wants me to rest for a week and wont
allow me to go to work. It's been very hard to just lay around even though
it sounded good at first. It gets really old really fast. Mom has been here
with me this weekend, cooking for me, cleaning for me, getting things for
me. She's been great. Tomorrow, Allison has a game and after that they are
heading home. I'll miss the family being here with me.
So the one good thing out of all of this is I have new ultrasound pictures
and the babies are doing great so far!
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7/9/08: I've been very very sick with morning sickness that lasts all day. Although I do have some appetite, it's hard finding things that wont make me nauseous. Every day is unique but they are all bad. I am taking pills to double my hormones because of the twins. I just took a blood test today so my doctor can see on monday how my progesterone level is doing so maybe she can take me off the meds soon.. Wish me luck! It's hard to work and be sick at the same time :( I'm looking so forward to week 12 and really hope my sickness goes away!
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7/5/08: After doing a little research, I realized that I will not be able to find out the sex of the babies at my 3 month ultrasound. I will have to wait until 4 months (week 16) but most people do it at week 20, so it will be a while. My week by week pregnancy book shows what my baby looks like every week and even the actual size of the baby(ies). At week 6, they were like a seed, then quadrupled in size for week 7 then quadrupled in size again for week 8! They are actually kind of cute now! And next week, week 9, they look like little humans with all of their fingers and toes, according to my book.
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7/2/08: I've been so tired. I had a doctors appointment yesterday. They had me choose my hospital and I chose St. Lukes because of me having twins. They said St. Lukes Hospital is much better for higher risk pregnancies. August 7 will be the date of my next ultrasound. Hopefully we will find out the sex of the babies! That will also be the end of the first trimester I think. I'm looking so forward to it!
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6/30/08: Tired...
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6/29/08: I'm not a religious person, I'm not
spiritual, and I don't logically believe things happen for a reason...
although I think life would be so much more romantic if things DID happen
for a reason. I'm a believer in common sense and scientific reasoning... yet
I can't ignore the train of events leading up to my pregnancy and of me
finding out I'm having twins. I'll explain.
I think pretty much everyone knows about me meeting my biological father,
Paul and some of his family members including his Mom. It was just neat to
me to have met them right before finding out I was pregnant. Before getting
pregnant, Paul and his Mom both expressed (on many occasions) how they would
love for me to have a baby to make Pat (Paul's Mom) a Great-Grandmother and
to make Paul a first time Grandfather. Then, BAM, I got pregnant. To add to
this same story, Julie, Paul's sister has triplets. I just got in touch with
her for the first time via email and she told me something along the line
of, "Watch out when you get pregnant, twins run in the family." Well, other
than Julie's triplets and the twins that run in her distant family, me and
Gus have NO other multiple births in our families. I met Julie and found out
about the triplets just a few weeks before I got preggo... How weird.
The week I told everybody that I was pregnant, my Grandma Shirley started
working on my "Baby Quilt". She didn't know I was pregnant because she was
in Houston at the time visiting relatives and that was the project she
decided to bring along for the ride, starting my baby quilt. And what's even
funnier about this quilt story is that Grandma Shirley is working on an ABC
quilt. She called her mother, my great Grandma Brown, and she was working on
an ABC quilt too. G-ma Shirley thought, "What is Amanda going to do with 2
ABC quilts?" She got her answer. I'm having twins.
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6/26/08: WE ARE HAVING TWINS!!!!!!!
Yes, You read that correctly!!! We are so shocked (and excited)! Even Gus is
excited (really! He's okay!)
It was so funny because all along my Grandma Shirley called it and so did
some of my co-workers. I even thought there was a huge chance because I've
swelled up so big already and my pants are too snug for me to comfortably
wear and I'm only 6 weeks along. Plus all the crazy symptoms I was having so
early and so harshly, that must be why they upped my ultrasound to now. They
knew something was going on in there!
So we walk in and I lay down and immediately Gus says, " I just want to know
that we are only having one baby." Because like I said, everyone has been
saying I could be having twins! And the lady says, "Oh yeah, there's just
one."...Few seconds later...."Wait a minute... I see something." (I saw it
too.) Two sacks.
I looked at Gus's face of concern as he stood up and walked up to me to get
a closer look at the moniture. More moving around...yep... two sacks for
sure. We thought at first the second one could be empty. First baby: Fine,
great size, great heartbeat. Second sack... YEP! There's a baby! And there's
a heartbeat! Gus's face was just pure shock. I could see his mind racing. I
couldn't do anything but laugh and laugh. I guess it was my nervous reflect
to laugh!
After he has let it sink in, he's really happy now. He just walked in the
computer room a few minutes ago and said, "Congratulations, Mommy." and I
told him congratulations as well. We are so lucky. I wanted a child so bad
and look, I'm having two! I couldn't be any luckier. I'll write more later.
:) Love, Amanda
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6/24/08: After shopping all of the major department stores for baby furniture (yeah, I'm ahead of myself but I'm just too excited!), I have decided to get this set. We will probably buy it in a month or two, after I get through my first trimester. What do you think? I found the same set at other major retailers for much more.
https://www.walmart.com/giftregistry/gr_detail.do?registry_id=80521758133
6/24/08: I gave the baby page a new look to
match how I want to decorate the room- in baby giraffes!
My favorite nurse, Dawn, called today. My first ultrasound is scheduled for
Thursday afternoon :)
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6/23/08: Word from the doctor: All 10 tests (yes, 10 blood tests!) came back great and I'm progressing very well. In fact, I'm ready for my first ultrasound! They will be calling me tomorrow to schedule it for this week! I'm crossing my fingers to hear that little heart beat! Wish me luck :)
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6/22/08: Wow! Take a look at an actual picture of what the baby looks like right now!
6/22/09:
Gus and I have been looking at baby furniture already just to get an idea on
what we want. We definitely don't want to spend a lot. Cribs are frustrating
to shop for... Anything in our price range is the "fake" wood.
Here is a link to the baby giraffe comforter and bedroom set that I want for
the baby's room.
Giraffe Comforter Set and Room Decor
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6/19/08: Took about 10 blood tests. Doctor will
talk to me about swelling next week and schedule and early ultrasound. In
the meantime, I've lowered my sodium intake and that has helped already.
6/18/08: (Night) Swollen again. Going to the doc
tomorrow.
6/18/08: (Morning) I'm much better! hopefully I can keep it this way.
Look at the before and after:
Click here to see my swollen ankle
6/17/08: So my doctor wants me to come back in
on Thursday because my ankles (and legs and feet) are swelling really bad!
I've looked it up online and it looks to be something called edema. Edema is
when your body retains way too much fluid. From the moment I found out I was
pregnant it seemed as if I started to grow right away. I am constantly
bloated and uncomfortable and that is also what edema can do.
Today I tried on a new pair of summer shoes for work. It's so embarrassing
and uncomfortable! Let's hope the doctor helps me get rid of this. In the
meantime, I've been elevating my feet, drinking plenty of water (that helps
flush the fluid that is sitting in you out supposedly according to various
websites), and wrapping ice packs around my ankles. They go up and down but
they are still big :( Wish me luck!
Click here to see my swollen ankle
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6/12/08: I had my first doctor's
appointment today! It was a little early because I had a scare the past week
with some of the pains I've been having in the abdomen. They ran some tests
and brought me in today and everything looks great!!! The official due date
is, like I said, Feb 14 (Valentines Day) '09. I go back in 2 weeks to meet
with the nurse and discuss some more tests and talk about pregnancy, and in
a month I should be having my first ultrasound if my hormone levels are high
enough. Hopefully by then there may be a heartbeat? I think I read you can
hear it as early as 6 or 7 weeks.
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6/8/08: Gus and I have been talking about names (I've been talking about baby names for years!) and so far for a boy we really like Jackson August Sansone and we'd call him "Jack". Mom came up with Jack and we all really like it! For a girl we like Ailah or Lilyan Giovanna Sansone. (Lilyan is the name of my doll that I've had my whole life. She still sits in my bedroom.) See the picture of Lilian (I like to spell it Lilyan) and I below.
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| Lilian Mahayla and I. She's my cabbage patch baby. |
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6/7/08: I'm on week 4 as of 6/6. View the
week by week pregnancy calendar here:
http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_calendar/
Next week our baby will develop a heart!!!
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| Me and Mom when I was a baby. | Gus and his dad when he was a baby. |
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Details as of 6/6/08: Well I'm considered 4 weeks along although it's only been 13 days since conception. (Apparently they start counting weeks from the time of your last cycle.) I had a big feeling I was pregnant before I even tested because for a week, I've been peeing non-stop! As of today, it feels like something is in there already and whatever is going on is really pushing on my bladder so I have to go a lot! The past couple of days I've had non stop heartburn even before I eat! I've only had heartburn 3 times in my life before this! haha. I'm always tired but now I'm even a little more tired than usual! I need my cat naps! I'll add more as soon as a new change comes about or when I learn something new. :) Gus and I have considered that we are telling people early and that anything could happen at this point. This was a choice we made together. We wouldn't be able to hold in this wonderful news if the world depended on it!
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My Pee Poem:
I peed on a stick
And what do you know!
In three of four months
I'll be starting to show!
I told my Mom over the phone because I could not wait to come out and see her and surprise her. While I was on the phone with Mom, she told me Allison and Dad were on their way home from ball practice so I texted my sister and I said, "Allison, you're going to be and Aunt!!! Tell Dad he is going to be a Grandpa!!!" and she texted back saying, "OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! NO WAY!!!!!!!". I also texted Brendan and told him he was going to be an Uncle and he called me to see if it was true! Dad called Mom right away and said, "Hey Grandma!"
Gus and Mary live close to us so Gus and I were able to go over there with our surprise gifts saying that they were going to be Grandparents, and Sarah an Aunt and Aunt Gae a Great Aunt!