Fleur de Aleta

The last four days have not been the most pleasant.  In fact, I’d say it’s probably the worst I’ve felt during the pregnancy and it has nothing to do with the pregnancy.  Sore throat, sneezing, coughing, running nose, feeling icky and sick. My husband has been very sweet.   Last night he asked me to sit in front of his iPad for him to take a picture of me.  Uhhh, no.  I really didn’t want to, but I did because he asked me to humor him. When he showed me what he saw, the before and after, I was shocked.  Greg has told me that I’ve lost weight with the pregnancy (which technically isn’t true).  And though I thought, “Aww, he’s trying to make me feel better,” I really didn’t believe him.  I mean, hello, my stomach is definitely making an appearance and though I can still wear non-maternity clothes, I look either fat or pregnant – it’s enough to make a stranger pause and wonder (but not ask, Lol). You know those commercials ...

All American Frontier Meets Classic Baby Shower When people hear Winnie the Pooh, they smile.  It’s a classic.  It’s timeless. The stories are rustically set in the 100-Acres Woods, a perfect backdrop for the American frontier of log cabins, mountain ranges and trails, bringing a nostalgia that leaves a warm feeling of happiness.  The very feeling I hoped to bring to our family and friends as they showered us with their love. Our baby shower wasn’t the standard cutesy baby shower.  It was classy with white linen tablecloths meets rustic American with log stands, green burlap table runners and pine cone garland, mixed in with the Winnie the Pooh baby theme. The hostesses for the shower were friends I’ve known since before I was a teenager:  Kim and Kristen.  They did a fantastic job in planning, knowing they were going for a different feel and putting a great deal of thought and energy into the decorations, food and t...

Happy Day!  Our baby passed the NST this week - yeah!  I think I figured out the secret ingredient, at least for this time - tall order of orange juice.  I drank it while they hooked me up to the NST machine. Our baby kicked 46 times within 20 minutes.  The doctor came in midway when the baby was kicking up a storm and she said, "This is great!  The rest could be a straight line, we have all that we need.  Baby likes orange juice!"  I still had to finish the test and the baby did continue to kick. In fact, the baby kicked so hard, he was moving the NST belt.  I thought for sure he could kick it off.  Normally, baby Gregory's heart rate was 139-142, but when he kicked, it spiked up to as high as 180! When the doctor came in after the test was complete, she said, "This is exactly what we wanted to see."  She was happy and so was I :)  Yeah! Plus, my blood pressure was 128/80, both the nurse and doctor cheered. Being that we'...

I have always wanted to take a cake decorating class.  Knowing me, I'll have a cake blog up and running soon :)  Because I'll want to put my notes on a blog for future reference. Michael's Arts & Craft store offers 4 different classes for various levels.  Needless to say, I started with the much needed beginners class. Ok, my first cake decorations aren't pretty, but it is to get used to the feel of the piping and icing (and even making our own icing). My husband wanted to be the first to try the cake... and when he told me what he wanted to do, I said, "Nooooo..."  His response, "Come on, live a little."  Hehe...   (The picture below is a cake that we had to torte into two slices with strawberry filling.  The top has a "cupcake" design.  Like I said, it's not anything pretty, but it was something :)  For a good laugh, watch the video below! To see the video on youtube click here . Considering I was a nervous w...

Prenatal Class 2, part 2 At this point, the nurse brought up the idea of having a birth plan.  Some questions to ask yourself as the mom or dad to be… Who is the support person/people that will be in the delivery room?  What positions would you want to try?  What type of pain medicine?  Will you breast feed?  What about circumcision if you are having a boy?  Do you want your child given a pacifier right away?  Do you want the pediatrician in the room with the baby during the check ups or to have the baby at the nursery?  Do you want the baby mostly in the nursery or in the room with you? The nurse also advised to be our own advocate, to ask questions.  She used the example of, “If you doctor says he or she wants to break the water bag, you should have a list of questions in mind… such as… why break the water bag?  What are the side effects?  How are you going to do this procedure?  What’s the next step ...

My husband is encouraging of me with this new endeavor ~ Cake Decorating.  He smiles and says, "Another craft... jewelry, poetry, painting, piano" (and soon to come, card making, but that's going to be a lengthy process as I'll need help with it). I love art and cake decorating is right up there with the arts in my mind.  It's a skill.  You create something.  You create art.  It is in total sync with my muse :)  And I've wanted to do this for a while now.. but especially so with a baby on the way, because there are many birthday celebrations in our future.  How nice would it be to make and decorate each cake for my husband, our son and our families. Fortunately, our local Michael's Arts & Craft store offers 4 different lessons in cake decorating.  I'm in desperate need of the beginner's class and lucky for me, there's one available and the classes end at the beginning of February.  This is good, because our baby is due March 7th, but babi...

I wouldn’t say this prenatal class went as well as the first one, but that might be because I wasn’t happy about the information.  It was very well presented and our instructor did an excellent job.  No complaints there. It’s just… well, I need to back track in time for a moment to help understand my feelings on the subject.  When Greg and I were told we couldn’t get pregnant (about a year or more before we became pregnant), we were advised to do IVF using donor eggs.  We both did a great deal of research, not just on the process, but also reading blogs about women who have been through IVF, the emotions, the shots, the expectations, etc. We opted not to do IVF, because we didn’t like the idea of all those chemicals and accepted that this was God’s path for us, not to have children.  God has His own timing and now, we’re expecting our first in just a few weeks. So, that’s the quick background… now for the update… My doctor wants ...

Today I went to the appointment with Dr. Chau, the pregnancy specialist.  She said the baby's heart rate was 150.  He was moving a lot and the ultrasound video wasn't that good, because he was all over the place.  She barely got the picture that she did. Baby Gregory weighs 4 pounds 13 ounces.  I'm 33 weeks pregnant and he's measuring 34, which they said is perfectly normal. After all of the numbers were entered into the system, it came back that our baby is in the 50 percentile, meaning he's not too small and not too big and everything is exactly on target. When I saw Dr. Wild on Tuesday, baby Gregory was breech.  Today, he was face down.  I'm sure he'll keep moving around, but I was happy to see that at least once he is face down :)  We did see that he was practicing breathing and the amniotic fluid was where it needed to be (last time it was too high). Dr. Chau said, "OK, this is the last visit!  Everything looks great, so I don't have ...

I see Dr. Wild, my OBGYN, on a weekly basis from this week to the delivery.  Dr. Wild is being proactive in making sure that my blood pressure isn't affecting the placenta's ability to deliver the nutrients to the baby... and that the baby has a low chance of being a still birth. Dr. Wild told me to drink or eat something sugary before coming into the office, because the NST works properly only when the baby is awake.  I did as she said and in the waiting room, I felt the baby moving a number of times. I didn't think this would be a long visit, but I was at the doctor's office from 9:30 to 12, solely because our child has an attitude. When they strapped the NST monitor on and found the heart beat, the nurse handed me a clicker and said, "Press the button any time you feel the baby move."  They had me move from my back to my side and still, I only felt the baby move once. All that time, in the waiting room, the baby moved, but not during the NST.  We ha...

This should be labeled as Greg's Famous Chicken Stew or maybe the O'Brien Famous Chicken Stew, because Greg's Mom taught us :) Special Notes: **  It's easier to cook this when it's two people.  One person makes the roux while the other person is cutting the veggies.   If it's only one person - cut the veggies before making the roux. ***  Once you start the roux, you Must Stir Constantly or the roux will burn!! Ingredients: Flour 2/3 cup Vegetable Oil 2/3 cup Rotisserie Chicken Medium Onion (about tennis size) Green Onions, one bunch 2 stalks celery 1 bell pepper parsley salt, pepper, garlic salt Instructions: Cut up the veggies (onion, green onions, celery, bell pepper, parsley). Take the rotisserie chicken and tear off the meat.  Separate the meat from the bones and skin.  Put the chicken meat in one bowl for later use.  Put the bones and skin in a large pot and let it boil for 10 minutes.  Drain - the liquid left will be the chicken stock. On lo...

Prenatal 1 Class My husband asked me why I posted some things about pregnancy and why the posts had to be so long.  I replied, “Because it might help someone else who is Googling the experience.”  I guess that’s my warning, this will be a long post :) I signed us up for three prenatal classes that our hospital offers at no charge.  We had to take the ones in January, because otherwise they don’t start again until late February and that would be too close to our due date. Unfortunately, the prenatal classes are only offered on Tuesday nights from 7-9.   This isn’t good, because my husband works 12 hours on Tuesdays and he has another 12-hour workday on Wednesdays.  I wondered how Greg would handle this and totally understood if he ended up falling asleep in the class or refused to go, even though I really wanted him to be there. After the class, Greg made me feel really good when he said he was glad he went and that it was very info...

Gestational Diabetes On December 18 , 2012, I took the one-hour Glucose Test.  I was worried, because about a year or so ago, I took the same test and the results came back as being borderline diabetic.  It wasn’t high enough for me to go on any type of medicine.  It wasn’t high enough to call me diabetic.  But that was a year ago and before I was pregnant. I read enough about gestational diabetes to know that the pregnancy hormones can change how a woman’s body processes sugar.  Even a woman who has never been diabetic and doesn’t have a family history of diabetes, she can get GD. At the same day of taking the one-hour glucose test, my fundal measurement came in large.  I was 29 weeks at the time and the measurement came in at 32.  The measurement was supposed to be between 27-31.  The doctor told me, “When a measurement comes out larger, we schedule to check for Gestational Diabetes.  (which I did the one hour t...

For our Anniversary , we went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  It's pricey, but delicious.  We realized that this was the second anniversary that we went to Ruth's Chris.  Maybe a tradition in the making?  The food was so delicious! Though it is known for it's steak, I ordered chicken.  It comes out so tender and yummy.  The restaurant surprised us with a dessert - homemade Reese's cake, talk about rich!  I liked the fruit and custard too :) Our waitress was Diane and she was really sweet.  She was thrilled for us when we told her that we were 7 months pregnant and the story of our " little miracle "...  Diane has a three year old daughter and said, "When you have those good days with your child, it makes all the tired days or difficult days disappear and makes it worth it all."  She was sincere in her joy for us and it made for a lovely ending to our evening. Before we left for dinner, Danny and his wife and son came by f...

This morning I woke up and the first thing I thought of was our wedding day .  It was a rainy day, just like this morning and it couldn't have been more beautiful. With every fiber of my being, I know that I’ve found the man that God meant for me to love and to be loved by.  Greg, Sweetheart, you make me laugh, offer me strength and make me feel cherished. I love how you believe the best about people and want those around you to be happy.  You’re respectful and kind.  You’re loyal and hard working.  Through actions, not just words, your love shines.  When I need to hear it the most, you remind me of your strength and support. Whenever there is someone in need of a helping hand, you don’t hesitate to assist. Thank you for holding me, loving me, letting me cry on your shoulder and always helping me to see the positive in life. Sweetheart, you are a wonderful husband and you are already a wonderful Daddy to our son....

Wishing Everyone a Happy New Year! This month, Greg and I will be busy attending prenatal classes that are offered at night.  It's going to be a busy few months and then a wonderful additional to our family this year!! At the end of last year, we went to see the movie of Les Miserables.  I saw this once at the Saenger Theater and loved the music. Greg said the movie "was worth 5 dollars."  I had to agree with him that the two main male characters didn't sing too well.  But Samantha Barks was the saving grace of the film.  She did a beautiful job!  Not only does she sing well, but she sells the song with her emotions. "She was the highlight of the whole movie" - per Greg :)  Here's the song on YouTube: To see the video on YouTube, Click Here.