Washington DC

I just got back from a business trip in Washington DC. This is the third year in a row I have attended the GTM conference with my company. In those three years, I have not had a chance to sight see. We work very hard at this conference, on average 10 hour days.

You can imagine that this year was very hard for me being pregnant. I felt like I had to prove to my boss that I can still work hard even though I am pregnant. I have never felt so tired as I do now. Luckily with Memorial Day, I have a four day weekend to rest.

I have good news to share about Gilbert's mom. She is breathing on her own now! They are weaning her off the ventilator and she breathes on her own for 12 hours and then at night she goes on the ventilator and in the morning back to breathing on her own. She has made a lot of progress. She is now opening her eyes often and leaving them open for long periods of time.

11th Week Doctor Appointment

This afternoon I had my 11th week appointment. Lately I have started to feel better: I am still nauseous sometimes but not that often. However, I am still tired a lot.

I have been excited about this appointment because Gilbert and I have been looking forward to hearing the baby's heart beat. On the drive to the maternity center I was a bit anxious because I kept thinking what if we don't hear the heart beat.

After doing all the preliminary stuff (weighing, blood pressure, temp, peeing in a cup, asking my million questions...) we got down to business, the heart beat. Of course it took about 5 minutes to find the stinker's heart beat. After I got all worked up, the midwife finally found the heart beat. The baby's heart was beating at 160 beats per minute which was right on target.

While we were there we went ahead and scheduled the ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. If you know me well, you know that I would drive myself crazy if I couldn't find out the sex. We had to go ahead and schedule it because my mom is going to fly down to be there for this appointment. So exactly 8 weeks from today, July 10th, we will find out the sex of the baby. And to celebrate that night we will be going to The Police concert (which by the way Gilbert told me he would divorce me if we didn't get tickets to this concert).

Speaking of the sex of the baby, everyone has been telling us what they think we are having. Gilbert and my mom think we are having a boy and Gilbert's family and some of our friends think we are having a girl. I used to say I want a boy first but now it really doesn't matter to me.

New Toy

Gilbert and I got a new car about a week ago and it has taken me this long to download the picture to my computer. We have been together for three years now and this whole time we only had one car. Finally we got a second car. It has been so nice to be able to leave and go somewhere with out having to ask each other if you need the car.

Maddie and Random

She is such a cutie

How can this be comfortable?

Maddie watching Gilbert play XBOX

This used to be my chair but I lost it to Random

Update on Gilbert's Mom

I wanted to provide everyone with an update on Gilbert's mom. This week she came off of the sedation but not the ventilator.

After running some tests, the doctors found that she has a Phechromocytoma Tumor on her Kidney. This tumor causes her body to produce excess adrenaline which in turn raises her blood pressure and caused this stroke. The tumor will have to be removed surgically. However, this can not be done until she becomes stable.

Also this week the doctors inserted a tracheotomy and a feeding tube into her stomach. Like I said earlier she has come off of the sedation, however, she has not woken up yet.

She still continues to respond to commands and yesterday for the first time she opened her eyes far enough to see her pupils and left them open for a short time before closing them again.

We thank you for all of your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for his mom to recover and to give our family strength during this hard time.

Belly Laughs

My best friend, Stephanie, sent me a package of baby things and in the package was this book, Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy. If you are pregnant or have been pregnant you will love this book. I laughed so hard when I read it and couldn't put it down. I highly recommend this book to all you pregnant women and mothers.