Happy and Sad

First I would like to share pictures of our beautiful baby BOY!!! (haven't decided on a name yet) He is healthy and growing as he should...he measured at 19 weeks today, estimated weight of 9oz (over 1/2 pound!!). Heartrate of 142. Great looking heart & kidneys. He also did a couple somersaults for us too during the ultrasound :) Here he is...

Baby Face

Side profile, 4D...I think he has daddy's nose lol

Baby face 4D...he looks kinda funny in this one :)  That is his hand right by his face on the left

Baby Feet!!!  How adorable is that? :)

Proof....He's all boy!!!!!!

So now for the not so great news.  When looking at the placenta, the doctor pointed out to us that it is abnormally shaped, and it appears that there is an area that didn't grow in the center...he also mentioned something about a cyst, so I don't know whether the spots in the middle were cysts or an actual "hole" in the placenta.  The doctor seemed very optimistic about this, and that it will hopefully take care of itself with time, but there is always the possibility that it won't.  In that case, babies tend to have some growth restriction as well as not being able to tolerate labor as well, so constant monitoring would have to be done during labor, and I'm sure that it would ultimately end in c-section (worst case scenario).  Then the doctor also showed us a spot in the brain that he was slightly concerned about, although again he seemed very optimistic about it as well.  There is a spot in the brain that has not quite developed to the point where it should by now and there is some cerebral fluid that is still being "communicated" between areas which should be closed at this point...he stated that at a 10 week ultrasound scan, this would look normal, but at 19 weeks, it is something to keep an eye on. 

So while the first part of our appointment was extremely exciting, especially when my "motherly instincts" were validated as being true about Baby Pena's gender, the second part was not so fun to hear.  Dr. Roberts is a perinatologist that deals specifically with high risk pregnancies, so I feel like I am in the best care possible at this point.  I am soooo thankful that I chose to go to see him to get the full medical ultrasound scan performed because if I would have gone to just do a gender check with someone else, who knows if they would have found these things.  Our follow up ultrasound with Dr. Roberts is to be in 8-10 weeks, so end of June/ beginning of July. At that time he will be able to reassess the placenta and brain development and hopefully give us a clean bill of health.  Again, Dr. Roberts tried to emphasize that although it's not great news, he was pretty confident that there would be much improvement before our next visit.

Although I am saddened by news I never expected to hear, I am also feeling very optimistic that everything will turn out alright.  As I was reminded today, the Lord does not give us more than we can handle, so I must put my faith in the fact that everything has its purpose, and these things will only make you stronger if you just have faith.

I want to thank everyone for their support and prayers today as this was hard news for all of us, but we will get through and I'm sure we will be looking into the face of a healthy baby boy in September!  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  Love you all!

Before vs 18 weeks

Here's my before and "after" pictures.  The one on the left is right after I found out I was pregnant. I believe I was 4 weeks at the time.  The on the right is a picture of me tonight at 17 weeks 6 days. :)  I don't feel much bigger than when I started...and a lot of people still don't think I look pregnant, but I think it definately shows in these pictures lol...it looks like my butt has gotten a little bigger too (oh no!!!) looks like I'll be doing a lot of stairs when baby comes lol  Only 2 days until we find out!!  But waiting until Saturday to reveal!  I'm so excited to bake a pink or blue cake! I'm 95% sure it's a boy, but Manny thinks its a girl...man Monday is going to be the slowest day ever!!

Too Funny...my little bump

So last night I was laying on my side, watching tv in bed when all of a sudden I felt a lump move in my lower abdomen and it felt really hard...so I turned and layed on my back, and this is what I saw...lol too funny

Apparently laying right on my bladder is the comfortable spot because I have to go to the bathroom so often now! I have been feeling some kicking (and by kicking I mean bubble popping sensations) every so often since monday, but it's mainly when I'm laying down at night...although as I type this I felt it again.
This is so exciting!!  I'm in love :)

Here's another picture I found...just for fun...my 2 boys, they're so cute :)

Midwife Appt & scheduled baby's big gender debut!

So today was a pretty good day! I had my midwife appt today, and Manny couldn’t make it, but fortunately mom didn’t have to work until 1pm today, so she got to go instead. Worked out great! It was a good visit…baby is doing just fine…measuring right where (s)he should be…heart beat sounded strong…150 bpm this time.

Last night I swear that I felt the baby kick twice, and both times happened to be when Manny came into the bedroom and started talking…baby must love him already :) He doesn’t believe me that I felt it, and I may have been feeling something else, but I don’t think so…I think it was baby…either that or I am going crazy lol

The next great thing was that Margie (midwife) gave me the information for the perinatologist that she works with so that I could schedule the BIG ultrasound!!!! So of course I called as soon as I could this afternoon, and it is scheduled for April 27th at 8am!! I am so excited, and hopefully baby cooperates because I would hate to have to go back for a second one. Margie says that he is a great doctor and they have very great ultrasound machines, so I am hoping for a very clear picture…he will also do all of the measurements and all the other checks to make sure baby is healthy too. Of course I am excited about finding out the gender, but having a good bill of health was just as important…if not more important :) (I had the choice of an ultrasound technician that comes into her office because she has an ultrasound machine, but he charges $125 and she said the clarity of her machine isn’t as great as the doctor’s office…but I wanted to go to the doctor because 1) he takes my insurance (saving money) and 2) because I wanted more than just a gender check…I wanted a check on the health of the baby as well)

So so so excited!! I haven’t discussed this with Manny yet, but I’m not going to give him a choice lol, and I am going to throw a little dinner for our parents at our house…I am going to bake a cake and the inside will be either blue or pink, and the outside will be decorated to where you can’t tell the color inside. After dinner, we will cut the cake, and everyone will find out together what we’re having…for our family far away, I will send a text picture right away so they will know too.

After that, I will post a picture here for the rest of the world to see PINK or BLUE!!

Until next time...here's an update picture...16 weeks and counting...24 weeks to go!