Trip to Key West

Gilbert and I went to Key West to celebrate our three year wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful time. We stayed in a cute bed and breakfast, Westwinds Inn. I can't belive I forgot to take a picture of it.

7 mile bridge


In Key West you have to walk every where and it was extremmly hot. One day we were there the heat index was 113. Next time we go we will rent a scotter or bikes. I was a little afraid to get on a bike pregnant this time. This is on our first day right before it started pouring. We were at the sea port.



The first night we went on a Ghost tour. Key West is supposed to be very haunted. It was a lot of walking but the stories were fun to hear. We didn't see any ghosts though. This is our tour guide.



We couldn't resist taking a picture of this dog we saw on the street.



The next set of pictures were at Sloppy Joes. We enjoyed going there for a drink (for me diet coke or water) and to listen to the music.





The next day we went snorkeling. We had a wonderful time doing this. I saw 4 nurse sharks and 2 spotted eagle rays. I still have to develop the underwater camera film.

This is the boat we went out on.


Snorkeling



Spotted Eagle Ray. I took a picture with the underwater camera but I have not developed the film yet.

Gilbert relaxing on the boat.



Coming in from snorkeling.


That evening we went out to dinner for our anniversary and went to listen to a live band later. It was very nice.

On our last day we walked around and did some shopping. Then we went to a Pirates Musuem. It was very well done. Then we went home since it was so hot. We can't wait to go back. It is a very cute town.

This marks the southern most point in the US and is 90 miles from Cuba.


This is at the Pirates Museum

Happy Anniversary!

Today is Gilbert and my three year wedding anniversary. We have grown so much and have been through a lot in these three years but I couldn't have picked a better person to experience life with. I am looking foward to our new adventure of being parents. I know that Gilbert is going to be a great dad and I can't wait to watch him with our daughter. I love you very much and look foward to the many years to come.

Vacation

Gilbert and I are on vacation! It could not have come at a better time. We are both exhausted and need a break. Hopefully we will get to rest because we have a lot planned.

My mom comes into town today. We are going to do a lot of baby shopping and on Tuesday she will go with use to my 19 week appointment. We are also having an ultrasound that day as well. I want my mom to experience this.

On Tuesday evening Gilbert and I go to The Police concert. Gilbert is very excited about this. He had told me before if I don't get tickets to this concert he would divorce. This is how much he wanted to go. We are going with some friends so it should be a wonderful time.

On Wednesday, my mom heads home. On Thursday Gilbert and I are heading to Key West for the weekend to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary.

I should have plenty of pictures to post by the end of the week.

Floods

On Thursday we came home from work to find our neighborhood flooded. At some points the water was a little over the bumper of our Corolla. It was a huge mess. The front of our apartment complex was bad but the back where we live wasn't to bad. Gilbert and our friend Jean Max made me laugh because they refused to put their bare feet down in the water. They had me give them grocery bags to tie around their feet as you see below. By the next morning the water was gone thank goodness.

Baby Shower

While I was in NC I had a baby shower. Even thought it is kind of early I was not going to be back in NC again until after the baby so we went ahead and had a shower. My family did a wonderful job decorating and Stephanie organized some really fun games. I had such a wonderful time.


The diaper cake my sister made. Amazingly I got it home in one piece so I can put it in the baby's room.



Burwell, Brooke, Lindy, and Tonya (girl from Russia that the Stark's are hosting for the summer)

Me, Stephanie, Aunt Susan, and Aunt Peggy

Me, Dad, Hannah, and Burwell

Lori (Elizabeth's mom), Elizabeth (my best friend growing up), me, and Mom

Kathleen's wedding

Last weekend I went to NC for a friend from Meredith's wedding, Kathleen. It was a very beautiful wedding and it was so nice to see old friends. Below are some pictures from the wedding.


Jason and Kathleen


Rachel and Bennett


Me, Kathleen, Rachel, and Stephanie


Stephanie and I

It's a ....

First of all, sorry it took me so long to post today. The good news is everything is fine with the baby. We were able to see its spine, brain, kidneys, adrenal glands, stomach, arms, and legs. The baby was face down so we did not get to see its face and its legs were crossed. However, we are 99% sure its a GIRL. Her heartbeat was 143 beats per minute. We do go back in 4 weeks for another ultrasound. So hopefully she will cooperate.

Gilbert and I were confident that we were having a girl. He wanted a girl first and I wanted a boy first. But most of all we want a healthy baby. We have a few names in mind which I am not going to announce until we make a final decision.

Ultrasound Today at 1:30

I am back from NC and had a wonderful time. I will post later about my trip.

Today I go for my ultrasound and find out if we are having a boy or girl! I will update when we get back from the appointment.

Week From Hell

This has been the worst week ever. On Monday I had to work until 7:30pm. On Tuesday I found out that I had been a victim of fraud and I worked until 9:00pm. Then later that evening I tripped going up the stairs in my apartment and busted my lip. Wednesday has been a better day, I got my bank account situation fixed.

Tomorrow morning I am flying to NC for a friend from Meredith College's wedding, Kathleen. I am also having a baby shower while I am there. I know it is very early but I will not be in NC again until after we have the baby so instead of missing out completely I am just going to have a shower early. Then I come back on Sunday and Monday we find out the sex of the baby!

Ultrasound Date

Well I finally heard from the maternity center today. My ultrasound appointment is scheduled for July 2nd at 1:30. I was upset to wait that long. I am going to NC on June 28th coming back July 1st and I waned to go before this trip. Oh well! but I will be able to find the sex of the baby out earlier than we thought. I guess it isn't as much of an emergency to have this done as I took it to be.

The Good and The Bad

Yesterday I received some good news and some concerning news. At my last doctors appointment I had blood taken to see if I needed to continue taking the progesterone suppositories.

Yesterday my midwife called me and told me that my progesterone level was high and I did not need to take the suppositories anymore. That was the good news which was followed by a however. She told me that my hCG hormone level was low which is not normal and that they are sending me to have an ultrasound to make sure everything is OK. I asked if should I be worried and she told me no because I had good heart tones at my visit but they want to see why the hCG hormone level is low. The call ended with my midwife saying she will call me back with an appointment for the ultrasound. Of course I still have not heard back this morning and of course I am worried and want to know what is going on.

The positive thing I am bringing out of this is that maybe I will get to find the sex of the baby out earlier than I thought.

Please pray that everything is OK with the baby. And I will update as soon as I know what is going on.

15 week appointment

Yesterday I had my 15 week appointment. This time the midwifes were able to find the heartbeat right away and then the baby moved and kept moving and they couldn't find it again. They had to press on my uterus and trap the baby to find it. The baby's heart beat was 144 beats per minute. My mom says that I am having a girl based on this. We will find out soon enough.

This week all of the baby's fingernails are formed and it can move all of its joints and limbs. The baby is experiencing a bad case of hiccups. The baby is now 4.5 inches long about the size of a large naval orange. The baby is constantly moving, kicking, and moving its arms and legs.

For an update on Gilbert's mom: She is continuing to make improvements, this week she moved her head, arms, and legs. She needs to move to a long term care facility where she can receive therapy. We are currently looking for a facility for her to move to now.

Goodbye 1st trimester, Hello 2nd Trimester

I can't believe that I am now 4 months pregnant. There were times when I did not feel good and thought that it would be an eternity until I felt better. Now I am waiting for the day that I wake up and feel energized. Since I have been told that in the 2nd trimester I should have energy again. I will wait and see so far I don't feel much of a change.

I realized I have not been updating on the baby's progress. This week the baby is the size of a clenched fist. The baby is constantly moving in ballet like movement. The baby can wiggle his or her toes and fingers and suck its thumb. The baby is growing hair on its head this week.

I have started to show now and have a picture below. Next week we go to the midwife for a routine visit (15 week visit).




14 weeks

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.

Happy Birthday Gilbert!

I wanted to wish my husband a very happy 28th birthday. Gilbert's birthday was Saturday. I hope that he was able to enjoy himself a little that day as he deserves nothing but the best.

Gilbert and I have had a very difficult week. On Wednesday we received a call that everyone dreads. Gilbert's mom had a stoke and she was at the hospital. This is her second stoke. The first one was 10 years ago. So we immediately rushed over to the hospital. These last few days have been emotionally and physically draining.

Right now his mom is sedated and on a ventilator. The doctors told us that in the next 4-5 days they will slowly take her off the sedation and the ventilator. Then she will make improvements for another 4-5 days and she will plateau. At this time we will know what brain damage has occurred from this stroke. We would greatly appreciate you prayers for her and our family during this time.

Due Date ?

A couple of people have asked why my due dates changed. The first due date of November 10th was based on when I had my last period. The midwives told me that it is not uncommon for someone that has had a miscarriage to ovulate irregularly. Apparently that is what happened to me, I was ovulating irregularly which also explains why the first pregnancy test I took was negative.

What Does That Say

That's Right I am pregnant! Gilbert and I are very excited that we will be parents soon. My due date is December 4, 2007. Although I am only 7 weeks pregnant there has been a lot that has happened.

On our first appointment with the midwife, we were told our due date was November 10th. We had a few concerns we talked about, the main one being that we know I do not produce enough progesterone. For those of you that don't I had a miscarriage almost 3 years ago. After this happened we found out I do not produce enough progesterone. So I was going every two days to get blood drawn to check my progesterone levels.

Sure enough, after about a week they confirmed that my progesterone was not rising like it should. So now I take daily vaginal progesterone suppositories. After this the midwifes wanted me to have an ultrasound to make sure everything was fine with the baby.


Everything is fine with the baby but that is when they gave me my new due date of December 4th. This 7 weeks has felt like an eternity. I currently am tired and battling nausea. Which working 9 hour days make it hard to deal with. But I am hanging in there and can't wait till I feel better soon.

I appreciate the prayers that the baby will continue to be healthy and ask that you keep praying for us.

Couldn't Resist

 

This was so funny to me, I couldn't help but post it.

Misc.

I have not been very good about updating my blog. Not much is going on here right now. I do have some random pictures that I have not posted.


I had mentioned earlier that I was into Orchids. This is the third Orchid I bought. It is the only one blooming at the time. My goal is to get all three to re-bloom next year. Hope I can be patient enough.



This is Maddie's new past time. She loves to look out the window.

Youth Fair

Gilbert and I went to the Youth Fair with our friends last weekend. One of our friends, Jason, won the stuffed animal pictured above for me. I went for the food but I am not sure the headache to get there was worth it. We waited in traffic for about an hour to park and then when we got to the gate we had to wait 30 mins to an hour to buy our tickets. I believe we left the house about 8:30pm and didn't get into the fair until about 10:30pm.

I also got a taste of the real Miami at this fair. I saw all kinds of people here. If you like to people watch this was a very entertaining place to go. I can tell Gilbert and I are getting older because we had no interest in riding the rides. One: we didn't want to wait in the long lines to get on the rides and two: they just don't seem that safe anymore. I can remember when I was a teenager and loved getting on the rides and the lines didn't seem that long then. We had a good time but we were exhausted by the time we got home. I don't think I will feel the need to go there again anytime soon.

Bachelorette Party

I have been so busy lately I have not had time to update the blog. On March 17th I went to a friends bachelorette party. This was my first "real" bachelorette party I have been to and let me tell you it was crazy right down to the adult entertainment.

On the way to the bachelorette party another girl, Char, and I got into a car accident. We had just left for Ft. Lauderdale (where the party was) and a 80 year old woman ran a red light and hit the rear passenger side of Char's SUV. We spun around twice and almost flipped. It was pretty scary. I hurt my neck/shoulder and lower back but have been going to therapy for it. This is my 5th accident since I moved to Miami in 2004. We didn't let this ruin our night but it sure put a damper on the start. After, a few drinks we were okay and ready to party.

Some of the girls got too drunk and out of control towards the end of the night. At that point it was a mission to get everyone back in the hotel room. Which I thought was selfish because they could go out any night they want but this night was about the bachelorette. All in all we had a great time. Sorry no pictures from this night, they have all been destroyed.

Sunday we went to a University of Miami baseball game with our friends. I am not into baseball I just went for a tan and to socialize. But we had fun. I will post pictures later.

Work has us super busy as of late and we have not had much time to do anything else exciting.

Trip to the Keys

We went down to the Keys to celebrate our friend, Alfredo's birthday. The weather was great and we had a wonderful time. Below are some pictures from the weekend.


Gilbert and I


View from the porch where we stayed.


Chris and Casey relaxing at the pool.


The boys.


Gilbert getting ready to fish.


Casey relaxing


Jason, Hector, Gilbert, and Alfredo getting ready to fish.





Chris holding the lobster he caught. We had to put it back because it wasn't lobster season.

Little Get Together

A couple of weekends ago we had a little get together with our friends. Here are some pictures from it below.



Casey getting her grove on.


Jason chillin


Gilbert being silly.


Alfredo and Melissa giving a duet

Heat vs Pistons

Gilbert and I were given Heat vs Pistons tickets. We had great seats and the game was awesome. Dwayne Wade was hurt but Shaq put on a great show and the Heat won! The first game we went to this season was the opening game against the Bulls and the Heat did not show up to play. It was nice to go to a game that was entertaining to watch. At the game we saw the rapper Naz and his wife Kelis, Scotty Pippen (who apparently wants to come out of retirement to play for the Heat at 41), and Jason Taylor (plays for the Dolphins).