Guess!

What an awesome holiday! We had a very merry x-mas and an awesome new year's eve spent with family. On Christmas Eve we had our 3rd ultrasound at 19 weeks. We were blessed with the most amazing technician ever. She was so friendly and easy going. She even typed "merry x-mas!" on the ultrasound pic she gave us. The session was quite lengthy. Lotsa measuring of limbs and skull and torso. She had quite a time getting to all of the info with the baby being so active. And her murmurs of "excellent" and "perfect" made me want to lay there all day, staring at our bustling baby. We got a fist and a high five and a flip flop or two. And we also got this...

Ten Little Piggies

Hanging ten! Look at those little feet! Don't you just want to nibble on those tiny toes?! When we first walked in, she asked us if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. We had tossed around the idea of having the technician throw the "answer" into a sealed envelope that we could open at Christmas dinner with my family later that evening. But then we kinda wanted to see it "live". So we asked her to let us know, we wanted to "see". We were thrilled. We would have been thrilled no matter what. We still took a sealed envelope to my parents place for dinner that night and we had our 12 year old niece Kassidy do the honours. We passed around the ultrasound pics and let everyone have a look as she took a poll. And once the numbers were in, she ripped open the envelope for the big reveal....

Baby Flores-Holz

It was such a fun way to get the family involved. Everyone was into it. Everyone had their own old wives tale way of determining the sex. Everyone was very happy with the outcome. Care to hazard a guess? So far there have been 13 guesses for a girl and 12 for a boy. What say you?

Just a laff

The Belly

Week 18 and feelin' fine! We got our test results back for the maternal serum screening and to quote nurse Barb, "everything is perfect". We're still having our bi-weekly doppler shows. We thought that the sessions would get shorter now that we've become more accustomed with locating the heart beat, but lately we've been finding mine first and then the baby's will kick in and harmonize. We'll hear both together and then we'll get a quick baby beat solo. It is one of the most amazing sounds ever! I haven't been feeling any real baby movement yet. I get a flutter every now and then but nothing really pronounced, like a good kick! Soon, I'm sure.

I was having a bit of a time with the whole pregnant body image thing. When people would say, "wow, you're really starting to show", I'd hear - "jeeze you're getting fat". And if they'd say "you're not really showing yet", I'd hear - "are you sure that you're pregnant?" Perhaps I was experiencing some sort of the-grass-is-always-greener kinda syndrome. Or something similar. Like, if you have curly hair, you want it to be straight. I am a woman after all! And a pregnant one to boot!

Here's an example of the kinda crap I get to hear. At work, we we're all placing an order for lunch. I choose the small chicken noodle. Buddy* next to me says something like, "you better order the small. you're really starting to pack it on". I say, "I must really get you that list of things NOT to say to a pregnant woman**. As a matter of fact, Bill* has it right now. Maybe you can get it from him". Bill would be the guy who growls "prrrreggggo" every time I walk by. Buddy got the hint and a few minutes later he came around to apologize. Whatever. And then there's the waiter at the local pub, "wow, you sure are gaining weight fast!" "Well, I am almost at 18 weeks now." "Really? Didn't you tell me that you were at 12 weeks?" "uh, ya...that was about 6 weeks ago." Duh!

Please don't get me wrong. I'm more than proud of my ever expanding belly. Just ask Jay! I'm dancing around holding my bump and telling him to look at it and talk to it and sing to it and touch it. There's someone growing inside, isn't that just freaky!!!?

I've always thought that photos of pregnant bellies were kinda , well, strange. I will admit to having perused sites where women post their preggo bumps. I HAD to compare. And it looks as though I measure up! But recently I've actually had some requests from people wanting to see what it looks like, so here you go...

18 weeks

* names have been changed to protect the stoopid.

**why do we say pregnant "woman"? is there such a thing as a pregnant man? or are people just afraid that others might think that they're referring to the pregnant cat or dog or cow or sheep? In Spanish there's just one word for it - embarazada. Which, of course, can be easily confused with avergonzado (embarrassed). So it would be an easy mistake for a person learning Spanish to make: "Pablo esta embarazado". Paul is pregnant!? How embarrassing!

Growing Pains

Every now and then I'll get a little "stitch" down in the lower abdominal area. Sometimes on the right side, sometimes on the left. If I get up too quickly, if I laugh, cough, sneeze something in there pulls and it really effen hurts! On Sunday evening it really started to burn, across the entire area. I was fine if I was sitting or standing still, but by Monday I could hardly walk. Great. Luckily we had a doc appointment that morning. "Nothing to worry about", she said. "Growing pains". It seems that there are ligaments that support the uterus. The round ligaments. As the uterus expands in size and weight, the ligaments supporting it stretch, becoming longer and thinner. Ouch! The next day got a little better and now, Wednesday, all is pretty much back to normal. Phew! But as my mother put it, "Eso no es nada!" Translation: "You ain't seen nuthin yet!" Thanks Mom.

Our doc appointment marked the beginning of week 16. She checked all my vitals and had a listen to the baby's heartbeat and let us know that all is good. We were given some prenatal classes info and sent for a Maternal Serum Screening. Yeehaw! More waiting....As before, with the NT Screening, we feel super confident that all will be fine. We're looking forward to week 19 when we go for our next ultrasound. It will be Christmas Eve. If the baby allows us a peek, we will be able to tell if it's a dude or a doll.

Any bets?

Baby Beignets

and they just keep a-comin'....yesterday my über groovy boss took me and some of my favourite ladies out for a celebratory-bun-in-oven lunch. I had never been to George. What a fabulous restaurant. The artichoke soup and duck cannelloni were divine! Not to mention....dessert!

mmmm...chocolate filled baby beignets

These delectable chocolate beignets covered in cinnamon sugar came courtesy of George. Kim had brought me a little prezzie (some Body Shop butter for my belly and yummy lip gloss). I'm thinking that the gift bag triggered the waiter to ask, "Special occasion? Someone's birthday?" "Well kinda. Some time in May." It took everything out of me not to lick that congratulatory chocolate right off that plate! Thanks Michael and Kim and Jodi and Jillian, from me and the bump. xo

Angel of Love

The well wishes, congratulations and prayers just keep coming. And we love and very much appreciate it! My sister-in-law, Lori, gave me a very special gift. It's a small medal of Saint Gerard Majella, Patron Saint of Expectant Mothers. I carry it everywhere I go, it's pinned to the inside of my wallet. It looks something like this:

and on the flip side is Mary holding baby Jesus.

I had never heard of St. Gerard. Guess I'm a lapsed Catholic. Lori, on the other hand, is very committed and keeps us all safe in her prayers. Although Jay and I have been baptized and gone through both communion and confirmation, we did not get married in the Catholic church. What will this mean for Baby Flores-Holz? We've never really talked about it, perhaps we should. For now it's good to know that we have Saint Gerard (and hopefully all of the angels and saints) watching over us. Oh, and Lori Flores too - of course!

Baby's First Track

We rented a doppler. We researched and researched and ran it by our doc. Everyone gave us the thumbs up. The only drawback that we were advise of was that not finding the heartbeat or not knowing what to listen for could cause us stress. We have had no trouble finding the heartbeat. Listening to it is like hearing the growing baby say "¡hola!". The doppler came as a kit, with the gel and an instructional CD all in a pretty velvet bag. I love it. We took it to my parents' place over the weekend for Show & Tell. A moment I will never forget -- lying on my parents' bed, surrounded by loved ones, listening to the newest family member's heart beat away. I don't think we've ever been that quiet! Jay, being the musician/armchair sound technician, set up our mini studio at home in order to lay down baby's first track. You can click play on the recording in the side bar and have a listen for yourself.

thumpedythumpthumpthump!