Week 36 / 37 update, missing my babies

Week 36 brings a wide range of emotions. I’m leaving home and my boys, but I’m leaving to give birth to my daughter. The last 2 years have come down to this. All the heartbreak, all the tears, and all the waiting are finally coming to an end. In four weeks I will finally be holding our miracle baby in my arms. In the meantime though, I cry, cry for those I leave behind, this time is so much harder than the last. I know that they will be well taken care of, that we’ve planned well for my absence, and I know that they are looking forward to meeting their baby sister just as much as their dad and I are to bring her home to them.

Week 36 ends on a good note with a special phone call from my little boo, he wants to read me his school books before bed. So bittersweet.

My 37-week appointment turns out to be uneventful, a simple heart rate check shows that Mia is doing well, and so far she shows no signs of coming anytime soon, but I still have three weeks left.

My selection for OB seems to be a good one, he’s soft spoken and kind. He’s moved my due date up to the 24^th, it’s only a few days, but maybe that means she’ll be here sooner. This week I am focusing on packing for the hospital, I can’t believe how close the time is getting.

26 WEEK UPDATE

Not much has happened this week. My BFF and her family are up visiting from Canada, so we’re off and about daily doing this and that. The weather here in Moscow is ridiculously hot, we’re in the high 20’s, than low 30’s . By the time they leave, week 27 is approaching we’re almost in the 40’s, it is officially too hot to sit outside, even for me.

My week 26 OB was uneventful. I saw my little Mia on the screen once again (yes I had another ultrasound, I love Europe). I gained 1 kg (2.2 lbs), my fundal height was 24 so I am measuring almost two weeks behind based on the dates my doctor gave me, but a little less than a week behind based on my original ovulation date.

My cervix is long and closed, so no delivering here anytime soon.

This upcoming week is exciting because it marks another milestone, the end of second trimester and the beginning of third. With less than 99 days left now the time before I leave for Canada is fast approaching. There is a lot still to be done, but thankfully things are slowly coming together. Our first big purchase was made courtesy of my best friend, and we now have our stroller.

Next appointment should be around 29 weeks.

We have a name!!!!

I had spent days on the computer looking up names for our baby girl. I looked through origins wanting to make sure that her name was Spanish or of Latin descent, I looked up names that had the name Anna in it because I wanted a part of my grandma’s name in it, or at the very least a part of the name grandma in it, and lastly I looked up names that had special meaning and would signify how important she was to us, and how much we had gone through for her to be us.

Of all the names I choose (Marisol = Maria / = sun, Chalina = form of rose, Damita = little princess, Elisa = form of Elizabeth, Ana Alagracia Granados = grace, Alba, Eliana, Eva or Ava, Elena, Nina, Mia (me – a), Antonia, Emma, Julia, Sophia, Emma Sophia, Adelina = noble, kind, winged) Ron didn’t like any of them, and shot them down no sooner than he had looked at the list.

Than one night out of the blue as our friends were visiting from Canada Ron must have spent two hours on the computer looking up names, and that night, his and my efforts paid off; we finally have a name for our baby girl. MIA ELIANA.

MIA: meaning, wished for

ELIANA: meaning, daughter of the sun and God has answered me

It fit all the criteria for wanting to name our baby girl, and I think very fitting for everything that we have been through in order to have this little miracle baby.

Coincidently, if you look up at my original list, both names on Ron’s list were also on mine that Ron had turned down before. I think he just wanted to be the one that “picked” out his princess’ name.

A week later and it has finally sunk in that our baby, our little girl, our miracle finally has a name, I can finally call her something other than her nickname, of Spook or Princess Spook. I can finally call her MIA.

Week 18, it's a good one

Week 18, it’s a good one……

From week 13 when we had our NT scan to week 18 it was a long 5 weeks between appointments, and not a lot going on to keep me busy. Fortunately this last week is proving to be well worth it.

My 18 week appointment I thought would be my BIG ultrasound, the anatomy scan, but as it turned it out, my OB said that we would wait for my next appointment, but we did get a surprise ultrasound anyway to check for gender.

I saw right away that beautiful flicker on the screen, and than the sound of our babies heartbeat, I will never get sick of hearing that.

The rest of the “story” kind goes like this:

My OB did a quick scan of the babies organs, we seen the babies heart complete with four chambers, stomach, and bowels, saw the little hands and fingers

He than moved onto the genitalia area, we saw babies penis!!!!! It's a boy! I even pointed out the “penis” to Ron on the screen.

DOC: “OH WAIT ummmmmm hmmmmmmm hold on....”, "oh I need to go inside"

Yes, it was time to pull out the VAG CAM

Hmmmmmmmmmm

DOC: "No no I think that's the umbilical cord"

RON: "so is it still a boy?" lol

ME: "ummm I don't think so lol"

Jiggle Jiggle Jiggle with the prod, not impressed

DOC: "Baby keeps moving"

LOVELY we have a stubborn one already lol

DOC: “I think maybe girl!!!”

So to make this long story shorter, after baby changed positions AGAIN and again and again, and using the thermal imaging and seeing the blood run through the umbilical cord to see where it was for sure, it was no where near between the legs at this point, and we could clearly see that there was NO penis, 99% sure.

So I guess it's official, we have:

A GIRL!!!!!!! Ron is going to turn to mush when this baby comes, every bit of his manly hood is going to be wrapped around this little girls fingers.

No pics of this week though, baby girl was stubborn and facing down.

Funny thing was, even though I grew up always wanting two boys and than a girl, I was no more happy knowing I was having a girl than when my OB said that we were having a boy initially. I'm just really thankful that baby is looking good.

Our next appointment / Anatomy scan and ultrasound is now booked for three weeks from now, just before we leave for Paris!!

Later in the 18^th week while sitting on my couch, I felt what I thought was a little thump. At this point, I was quite use to the hardening of areas of my stomach (I've been feeling this since week 16), like baby was rolling around from one side to the next, but I wasn’t quite sure if what I was feeling now was actually a kick or not. The next day, I felt it again, only a few times, but I think I can safely say that my little girl is clearly making her presence known. Ron smiles (I think he knows how happy this makes me).

I’m so happy this week that we didn’t give up, that he didn’t give up on me.

16 week Belly Pic....

No real update here, just a pic - I finally popped.

Sometimes good things do come to those who wait....

Easter is a time of hope, a time of miracles, and a time of new life.

In the bible, it says that Jesus gave his life on the cross so that we may live, and that three days later he resurrected himself from the dead.

I believe that Jesus died, and I believe that a miracle took place and that he rose from the dead, I can’t say with certainty that he choose to die so that we may one day live, but I can believe in the miracle of it, just like I can believe in my own miracle because you can never truly believe in miracles until one happens to you, or you witness it first hand.

As many have read over the course of the last year and a half of our struggles to add to our family, I thought that now; the weeks following Easter and the season of spring would be the perfect time to share our good news, news that new life and a miracle is growing inside me, healthy and strong.

Here's hoping that all those around me waiting for their miracles receive theirs soon.