Week 30 update

Well this pregnancy just keeps getting more and more eventful.

Soon after my last update my best friend and her family left. The temperatures in Moscow didn’t get any better from there; in fact they continued to get higher and hotter. By the end of the first week of their departure, temperatures had reached the high 30’s and 40’s. With the high temperatures came forest fires and peat moss fires in the Moscow outskirts, and eventually with the forest fires and peat moss fires came a deadly smoke that drifted into the city.

Two weeks after the forest fires started temperatures in Moscow weren’t getting any better and were continuously staying in the high 30’s and early low 40’s, rain was non existent, and the smoke traveling in from the outskirts was getting worse.

Our Embassy decided that it was time to evacuate (although they won’t say this is what it was) all pregnant women (this was me), young children (this was most of the people I knew around me), and people with health or heart conditions.

By week three we found ourselves on a plane headed to Berlin, Germany. Not knowing what to expect when we got there, especially when it came to the language, I’m happy to say that everything is going well.

A week after being here, it was deemed that the cO2 levels in Moscow were still too high to return, but I had an appointment to check baby Mia’s health, so one was set up for me here. I have to say I was nervous, not going to Dr. Peter who was so use to my nervousness and who I’ve been with through the last two years, my miscarriages and our new baby’s progress. It gave me some insight into what going to a new doctor in Toronto will be like.

Everything went well though. The staff was friendly, they did my regular urine and blood pressure check, although no weight check (I love Germany), and a NST were given where I listened to our sweet baby girl’s heart rate for twenty minutes. It was music to my ears and had I been allowed I could have fallen asleep to it. I felt so in love in that moment, and was so glad to have that moment alone with her listening to her and feeling her kick more than I’ve felt in the last three weeks. The OB preformed an ultra sound and Mia and everything around her were perfect.

It was a relief to know that all the smoke, and all the toxins hadn’t affected her in any way. If I am still here in one-week still, I will get another appointment and experience it all over again.

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.

22 week ultrasound picture

Isn't she just perfect!!!!

Traveling

Baby is the size of a papaya right now and she's already traveled to two major cities in Europe.

Here she is in front of the Eiffel tower in Paris

Stonehenge in England

and looking for Nessie at the Loch ness

These were so much fun to take, and will make great keepsakes for sure.

Baby Update

It’s 12:32 am on June 1, I’m 19w1d today, and for the last 15 minutes, there’s been a party going on in my tummy. I’m not talking about gas or constipation folks; baby girl is kicking and punching away in there.

By 21 weeks I can consistently feel baby kick. She likes to kick when it’s quiet and at night, maybe she feels alone.

At 22 weeks I am amazed to say the least at the power or her punches and kicks. I feel her all the time now. First thing in the morning, at night, when I’m sitting, when I bend over. It’s never boring in my tummy. I’m also very surprised by the occasional bladder punch. If I could send her a note, it would tell how amazingly uncomfortable those are.

It was around this time that we had our big ultrasound as well (the Anatomy scan) and everything turned out perfect. It was confirmed by our OB 100% this time that baby is indeed a girl and is as far as technology can tell, perfect and healthy. And by looking at her picture, a little chubby cheeked already. I wonder if I'll actually have a chunky baby this time?

By 23 weeks I can see her movements outside my tummy and can sometimes feel them on the outside as well. Ron has yet to feel or see, he is too impatient to keep his hand there for a minute to wait for her, and she isn’t very reliable at making her presence known when you want her to.

I just have to say it, but I am so in love with this baby girl already.

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.