Dreams

I've always had weird dreams. I often wake Jim up in the middle of the night to tell him all about them...and he really appreciates that. Most of the time he says "I don't want to know, they freak me out".

I haven't really had many super weird pregnancy or baby dreams...until last night. I had to share (since Jim doesn't terribly appreciate them).

I had a dream that I was getting my hair done and a stylist next to me said "oh wow, your belly button has popped out". I looked down, lift up my shirt a bit and my belly button was sticking out about three inches and in a cone shape. It was wiggly, long and a hideous. I was mortified in my dream and tried to push it back in, but it would only pop back out. I tried to tape it down, but it wouldn't hold. I finally woke up...

I know...I know...now you are freaked out and never want to hear about one of my dreams again. I HAD to tell someone... :-)

You're welcome :-)))))

5 Months

Today, I am 5 months and 1 week. Wooohooo! I now know what they mean when they say time flies after you get to your second trimester. I'm loving being pregnant "now"...feeling this little guy inside of me is a pretty crazy thing!

As most know, we picked our name Vincent Michel Caramazza..."Vinny". This was our original name for a boy, but I decided I wanted to try some other names out. I went through hundreds of them and none seem to fit. When I would think of this little guy in my head, I would call him Baby Vinny. So, at Little Joes Italian restaurant in San Francisco (very appropriate that we were in an Italian restaurant)I looked down at my belly, then looked at Jim and said "He's a Vinny". Jim smiled ear to ear and said "really, we can name him Vinny". Yes we can...and yes we will. I know the name is very Italian (and he will actually be only 1/8 Italian and actually have more Swedish in him than anything...we went against Sven), we decided that Vinny is what our hearts wanted.

Naming a child for the rest of their lives is a big decision, and I think we chose the right now. Vincent will be his formal name, Vinny his nickname and Vince for when he's an adult in business.

Anyway, life is just truckin' along and I'm feeling great. Baby bump is getting bigger and bigger everyday, and it's getting a little hard to get comfortable while sleeping now. I'm sure that is just going to get worse...

It has been so fun sharing all these steps with friends and family, how blessed we are!

Can't wait to keep seeing this little dude grow until he finally decides to come out and meet us.

Hope all is well in your lives...Hugs!

Jac (and Vinny)

I'm a Nut...

Nothing really exciting to blog, just another proof that I'm losing my mind.

I felt like baby boy wasn't moving anymore (he was between 16-18 weeks).

In usual "freak out for every little thing" form...I decided to just "stop by" my Dr. office at Kaiser Women's Health and ask them nicely to check for the heartbeat. They just smiled at me and said "of course we can".

I'm sure these wonderful nurses and Dr's get "crazy-paranoid-new-moms" all the time...and they were very sweet in agreeing to calm my nerves.

She put the little doppler on my stomach and sure enough...boom, boom, boom, boom...baby is healthy and chillin' inside me.

She said that the reason I felt so much movement was because baby was pretty low in my pelvic area and has now moved into my abdomen area and is tucked back further. This is why I feel less movement and feel more comfortable.

I'm a nut...I'm a nut...I'm a nut!

But I'm a relieved Nut!

:-)

It's a Boy !

Boy-oh-boy-oh-BOY.....I was not expecting this!!! I was so sure it was a girl that I convinced everyone around me it was a girl too. :-) I decided on July 26th to surprise my husband (who had been working very hard that week) and to surprise my mother-in-law for her birthday...by finding out the sex of the baby.

I got a last minute appointment with an ultrasound company in Roseville that can tell the sex of the baby as early as sixteen weeks (I was only 17 at the time). I wasn't sure if they would be able to tell...obviously, they could.

The Dr. came in and ran the ultrasound over my little bump and said "hmmm...looks like baby is taking a face first nap and needs some encouragement...lay on your side for a minute and I'll be right back." He came back and just like he said, baby moved into a visible position and he started looking for "thing or lack of thing". He rolled over my belly for a couple minutes and then...there is was...I knew it before the Dr. even said a word.

That is a penis! My girl has a penis???? Oh wait.....I'M HAVING A BOY!!!!!!

WHAAAATTTTT!!!! I couldn't believe it...total shock! I sat there for a minute and all of a sudden a big grin came on my face! My little Boy! I fell in love with him instantly!!! I give my husband a hard time about him getting his boy and he better give me a girl next time....but it's all just fun. I couldn't be happier...a baby BOY!!

Here is the ultrasound video from the appointment...it's about 5 minutes long. You will notice about a minute in that the Dr. nicely points out (with a yellow cursor) what the sex of the baby is. Pretty sure you can see it :-)))) Let the shopping begin...

Just a little "no news" update

No news is good news. Life has just been truckin' along, no big ups and no big downs. Yayyy! I will be 15 weeks on Thursday and I'm feeling great. My only "symptoms" are backache and constant need to pee. We have a little more than 3 weeks until we find out what we are having...Girl or Boy. I will be giggy with either...but as most of you know...I have pink on the brain :-)

I do have a little bump that I "can't suck in"...and some maternity pants were purchased last week. Oooohhhhhh, soooooooo nice, not having to stuff myself into tight jeans and wrap a rubber band around the button. Stretchy bands in maternity pants are from heaven!

We have our next appt. on July 29th with the Dr. who will deliver the baby...

No spotting and feeling GREAT!

I feel like it's been forever since I've posted something positive about this pregnancy...sorry about that. Yes, it's been a rocky road, but I'm finally starting to feel "normal" again.

It's been an entire week ON MY FEET and no spotting. I've been walking around, going to dinner, working a bit, cleaning up my house more and just living a somewhat normal existence now...WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

My new nurse practitioner gave me a great pep talk...

"You're fine. Baby is fine. You can't cause a miscarriage or prevent one. You are over 12 weeks and rarely does anything bad happen now. RELAX and get out of bed"

I love her!!!

My tummy is officially getting bigger (along with other areas of my body...need to lay off the junk food sister). It finally feels REAL...and I'm loving it!

Hanging in there...

Tomorrow I will be 12 weeks!! I can't believe we are only 2 weeks away from the 2nd trimester. I've still had spotting off and on the past six weeks, but every time we go to the Dr. to do an ultrasound, the baby is fine and they tell me to just go home and rest. So, I've been on bed rest off and on for the past six weeks. The frustrating part is that I will stop spotting for 5 days, get up for a bit...then spot again.

I went to the Dr. yesterday because the spotting lasted a little longer than normal and of course, baby looks good, Mama is a stress case. There is apparently a pocket of fluid (blood) near the sac of the baby that is causing the spotting - it's not a great thing, but it is pretty common. It's trying to heal itself, but with any activity or growth of baby, it starts to release and spot again.

I'm back on bed rest and trying to keep my spirits up, even though I'm a little stir-crazy and frustrated with the complications. I know God's plan is always good, but man-o-man, can I get a break!! I've gotten great encouragement and of course, I appreciate it...but sometimes you just want to say THIS SUCKS!!!!

So, THIS SUCKS!!! I feel better...

I will get through this and in the end, I promise to share my story and help anyone I can who is going through infertility (emotionally and financially). Someone recently told me that when I finally have this baby, I will hardly remember any of my infertility woes. I hope that never happens, I never want to forget!!! I want to help others who are going through the same thing and never ever ever ever make them feel like I'm above them for the IVF working and having a baby. Infertility is hard, really hard...and I empathize with anyone who has dealt or is dealing with it.

...stepping off soapbox now :-)

On the bright side...these t-shirts cracked me up!!!
*click on the picture to make it bigger*