A good friend of mine, Judith from juicygreenmom.ca, asked me to participate in a Blog Hop that features new women writers and celebrates why we are writing across all blog communities and genres. When she first asked me, I was a little surprised because I have never really considered myself a writer. I write, but am I a writer? If you asked me, I would have said my husband is the writer in our household, not me. He doesn’t write professionally, but has been working on several writing projects for the past few years that we hope he’ll publish one day. If you’ve read my husband’s short story, Holdon’s Story, titled “Press Play”, about our son’s short life, I think you will all agree that my husband has a rare gift for the written word. But this post isn’t about my husband the writer, it’s about me and why I began writing. I’m a visual artist, and historically I’ve always turned to my sketchbook or canvas to let my emotions and thoughts out. It wasn’t until I lost my son that I turned to writing. In 2010, I had to deliver my son early due to HELLP Syndrome (to read…Continue reading Blog Hop: Women Writing
Month: June 2014
12 Weeks 5 Days
I’m 12 Weeks 5 Days pregnant today! It’s so hard to believe! I’m only 2 days away from closing out my 13th week and starting the second trimester! I think. I’m not the only one who seems to be confused about this. Does the second trimester begin at 13 weeks or 14 weeks? I think it begins at 13 weeks, I.e., 13 weeks 1 day. I think the confusion stems from the fact that in most of the literature, the 14th week begins at 13 Weeks 1 Day so when some resources say 14 weeks, I think they actually mean the 14th week, not at exactly 14 weeks. Does this make sense? All my pregnancy books indicate that the second trimester begins on Sunday at the start of my 14th week (13 Weeks 1 Day). Baby Center says 14 Weeks, but it’s not clear if they mean at the start of the 14th week or the end. Ah! It’s all so confusing! So I’ve decided to just pick one and I’m choosing to go with 13 Weeks. So Saturday will mark the end of the first trimester and Sunday will mark the beginning of the second. Is that cheating? Thoughts?…Continue reading 12 Weeks 5 Days
MaterniT21/NIPT Results are In!
This morning I was lying in bed scrolling through my email on my phone and procrastinating getting up and starting my day when the best email ever popped into my inbox. It was from the genetic counselor. I immediately burst into tears without even reading it yet because I knew it was good news. She told us she would email the results if it was good news and only call if something came back that we needed to discuss. Seeing that email in my inbox brought on a flood of happy emotions. I finally got control over my emotions and logged onto my Kaiser account and read the message: Subject heading: Good news on your test results (fresh tears of joy) I just wanted to let you know that the results of your non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) through Verinata are NORMAL. The test results are negative with the following interpretation: Results are consistent with the normal number of chromosomes 21, 18, 13 (more tears) and… sex chromosomes (XY). Results suggest that the baby is most likely a boy. A Boy! (full on bawling again 🙂 Happy tears!) Thank you, thank you God! Gotta love that “most likely” comment thrown in…Continue reading MaterniT21/NIPT Results are In!
NT Scan
Today we had our Nuchal Translucency scan and all looked really good! The NT measurement was 1.1mm and anything under 3mm is considered low risk for Downs, so yay! So far so good 🙂 Baby is still measuring right on track at 11 weeks 4 days today and we saw baby’s perfect little hand waving at us. We could see all the fingers! It was amazing! Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo to post today because baby was moving up a storm and all the pics the tech took came out really blurry. I had to pee so bad, so eventually we gave up and just took the best one, which was also really blurry. I’m regretting not having my hubby take some video because baby looked amazing, the pics just didn’t come out clear. Oh well, guess we’ll just have to wait until my next OB appointment. Dr. S does an ultrasound at every appointment so we’ll get more pics in a few weeks 🙂 Other big news for today is baby is finally big enough to use the doppler so we now know the heart rate. It’s 161 bpm! I think there’s an old wives tale that says…Continue reading NT Scan
Just a Quick Update
I’ve been meaning to write an update about my other 2 appointments last week for the past few days, but work has been crazy and I’ve been sooo tired! I’m 10 weeks 3 days pregnant today and the nausea and fatigue is still going strong. I’ve been going to bed really early every night and can’t seem to get enough rest right now. Praying this is all a really good sign! Last week we had 3 appointments. There was our last appointment with our RE, Dr. K, on Wednesday which went well and I posted about in my previous post 9 Weeks 5 Days and All is Good! Baby was measuring perfectly and moving his or her little arms around. It was amazing. This is the furthest we have gotten in pregnancy since I was pregnant with my son in 2009 and we all know how that one ended. So needless to say, this was a huge milestone! We left Dr. K with a big hug, and said good bye to her with a promise to keep her updated. This brought us to Thursday. We were finally done seeing Dr. K and ready to start seeing our regular OB, Dr. S.…Continue reading Just a Quick Update
9 Weeks 5 Days and All is Good!
Our final appointment with Dr. K and scan today went really well! Our little bean looks amazing! He or she is still measuring a few days ahead of schedule at 9 Weeks, 5 Days today, and was moving his or her little arms all over the place. It was the most amazing sight ever! I had worked myself up into such a nervous mess before my appointment today, and the clinic, which is usually always right on schedule, was a half hour behind. I realize this is really not that long of a wait, but it was torture today! By the time the doctor walked into our room, I thought I would burst from anxiety, so when our little bean came up on the screen and Dr. K, said everything looked great, I completely lost it and bawled my eyes out. I can’t believe we’ve made it this far! I’m so relieved! Thank you God! Thank you, thank you! We still have a long way to go and if we get far enough along, I’ll have the re-occurrence of HELLP Syndrome to worry about too, but the progress we’ve made so far is huge! I’m still so nervous, but have…Continue reading 9 Weeks 5 Days and All is Good!