Sometimes Pregnancy is a Pain in the Back

The one thing I am sure of is that this is Friday. Two of the things I have learned to be thankful for (or additionally thankful for) are a) the opportunity to work from home; and b) bosses who are very understanding of personal situations. I am also thankful for the nice lady with AT&T DSL Support who finally was able to solve our lack of DSL problem before I became a permanent wi-fi thief switched to that other internet provider. In actuality, today has been a series of small victories at Casa Gafforda.

Yesterday was another painful day for my beloved bride. She had some serious pain from 4:30 to 8:00 in the morning. That prompted her to make an appointment with her doctor. Her regular doctor is out of town, the one we saw in the hospital and on Tuesday was not in the office, so we saw another doctor in the practice (tip for all those who want to become moms: pick a practice with several doctors, because it makes a big difference). The absent doctors turned out to be a blessing. The doctor we saw did the examination (no change, a "generous" 2 cm dilated). Ginny began describing the pain, and the doctor said, "Hold on a minute, let me call my son who's a physical therapist." Well, 15 minutes later we were off to his office. Around 3:30, he got around to Ginny and spent some time talking with her and figuring out her pain. As it turns out, her left hip is, for lack of better terms, slightly twisted and turned up. I'm sure there's a better phrase, but I'm just a blogger. Anyway, he did a few stretches and massaged her hip area. She immediately felt better. She still had another bad episode later in the evening, but she had a pain-free night of sleep. Today has been the best day out of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Her pain spells, generally speaking, have been shorter and not as intense (although as I type this she is going through a pretty rough one). As a spectator, I feel absolutely helpless knowing I cannot make her pain go away. She just has to ride it out.

We have another physical therapy appointment Monday, so we'll get some more stretches and exercises she can do. We also see her regular doctor Thursday, at which point Ginny will beg, plead, and attempt to get Little Giant Baby Nyla out as soon as possible. Until then, she'll fight through the pain; I'll attempt to be the best massuse in the world; and Little Giant Baby will probably just sit there, not wanting to move.

-D

28 Weeks!

I'm 28 weeks, I can't believe I'm already in my 3rd trimester! My pregnancy is flying by.

We went to the doctor yesterday and got to see our beautiful baby girl again. They FINALLY were able to get all the pictures they've been needing of her heart. It only took 3 different ultrasounds over the past 8 weeks. I hope she is just shy and not stubborn!

Everything from the ultrasound looked great. She is getting so big! 4 weeks ago she was about 1 pound and 10 ounces, 4 weeks later (yesterday) she was 3 pounds 1 ounce. Wow! She is getting big fast! She is in the 73 percentile of weight and about 9 days ahead of the average. Our Doctor isn't concerned and said some babies are bigger than others. I knew we'd have a big baby though, I've been expecting it. My momma had 2 big babies. I was almost 10 pounds and my sister was just over 9, so I've been expecting an almost 9 pound baby. Looks like I could be right!

Some people have wondered if they've gotten my due date wrong. There's been no talk of that, so I'm honestly not sure. It would seem that they've gotten it wrong. I got my first ultrasound at 20 weeks and she was 5 days ahead of average then and was 5 days ahead 4 weeks ago and now she's 9 days ahead. So is she just big or is my date wrong? I guess only time will tell!

I still feel great and still have a decent amount of energy. I do have to rest a little more once I get busy doing my work, but that's normal, I am in my 3rd trimester. I'm really trying to pay attention and listen to my body. I don't want her to come to early. I do feel tired enough after lunch that I want to take naps. This is so unusual for me because I'm not a big nap person. I usually only want to nap if I'm sick or haven't slept great the night before. For me to think about napping everyday is very unusual.

Daniel and I enjoyed a nice weekend together. I'm really enjoying our last few weeks as a family of 2! It's finally hitting me that soon we'll be a family of 3. It'll be different when she comes, but I know it'll be great. The past 27 weeks I've really only thought about being pregnant and been in awe of being pregnant. I'm so thankful that I'm able to become pregnant. I feel so blessed!

It's starting to hit me that I'm going to be a mom. A mom! WOW! We're going to have a child who depends on us for life's essentials and more. It's a bit overwhelming and we've had a bit of anxiety because of this the past few weeks, it just takes some time to get used to the idea of becoming parents. Another life depends on us. We know it'll be an amazing adventure to add a child to our life!

We ask for your prayers for the next 12 weeks, for an easy and safe delivery with no complications and prayers over the years to come as we take parenting one day at a time. Thanks!

We're having a.....

We are proud to announce that our little baby is a GIRL!

We are so excited! (We would've been happy with a boy, of course, but it's exciting to finally know).

(Daniel: As I predicted the entire pregnancy.)

The Doctor said everything looked great and baby is looking wonderful. She is growing and is perfectly healthy. Her heart rate was 155 bpm and she weighs 13 oz. I can't believe she's almost a pound! Crazy!

Please continue to pray that the baby continues to grow and be a sweet girl to her mama.

She has started to kick quite a lot, thankfully she's still too small that she doesn't hurt. Her little kicks just feel like bubbles popping, which is quite funny, and ticklish at times! But I know soon I'll be able to feel them more and they'll get harder. I just pray they don't hurt too bad.

Everything is still on track and my due date is still July 19, 2010.

20 weeks down and 20 weeks to go (approximately)!

An exciting day!

Today is the day we find out if we're having a boy or a girl!

I can't believe the day is finally here.

It seems like we've been waiting for weeks and weeks for this day to get here.

And now it's finally here.

We're praying for a healthy baby and hoping everything looks good with the ultrasound and we have a good checkup.

Tomorrow is our "Gender Reveal Party" for some family and friends. We aren't telling anyone today what we're having, they have to wait. :)

And to all you other family out there, be on the lookout for a card in the mail with what we're having! It's so exciting!

Come back Thursday for all the details from the reveal party. It'll be a blast!

17 Weeks Pregnant (Well a week ago)

17 Weeks Pregnant!
The pregnancy is going really well. I feel great, as I always have through the pregnancy. I'm so thankful for not being sick or feeling bad each morning when I wake up. I know a lot of people suffer from morning sickness and I'm so thankful I haven't.

I had a doctor's appointment Wednesday, 2 days later than usual. I go on Monday's but we had a surprise snow Sunday night and got about 4 inches dumped on us. So that was canceled.

I did get to hear the baby's heartbeat Wednesday and it was wonderful! 144 beats per minute. The doctor said my blood pressure was good and my weight gain too (yay!) and the baby's heartbeat sounded good too.

Everything is on track and I go back March 1st for my 20 week checkup. They'll do an ultrasound and make sure the baby looks good up to this point and if the baby cooperates, we'll get to see what we're having! I'm praying that the baby does cooperate because we already have a party planned for March 2nd to let our family and a few friends know what we're having (I'll post pictures and everything that went along with the Gender Reveal Party).

Daniel thinks it's going to be a girl, he's said that from the beginning. And me, well I have no idea what it'll be. I haven't had any feelings or intuitions about what the baby is. And it doesn't matter to either of us. We just want a healthy and happy baby. Everyone keeps asking us what we want and we don't care! We're praying for a healthy baby, a healthy pregnancy and an easy delivery (if that's possible).

Keep praying for good health!