My little ghoul :)

Just a few pics of my sweetie...

One year ago today

I found out I was pregnant. I will never forget that morning. It was our 10th month TTC, 7th cycle (we'll take more about the weirdness that is these 2 numbers in a sec). I was feeling pretty down in the dumps about TTC. We had just gone through all of our evaluations and testing with the RE. All my b/w was normal and my HSG was clear (I had it at the beginning of my 7th cycle). Chris' SA came back questionable with low count and he was on Femara. We couldn't do any treatment cycles b/c we weren't covered insurance-wise until one full year of TTC. So, we were still trying on our own but were looking forward to treatment come December (IUI).



That fateful cycle was a little bit different for me temperature wise. I had an enormous temp jump after O and it stayed high the whole time. My chart was really too good to be true. I was so nervous to test on 10/13, Monday morning. But my temp was still high and AF would have shown up that day since my LP was only about 11 days and I was 11 DPO that day. I wasn't feeling particularly hopeful b/c I had cramps, but tested anyways. I 1st tested with an Internet cheapie and saw a faint line. I pretty much started shaking at this point as I pulled out the FRER and digital. The 2nd line on the FRER came up right away and the digital said "pregnant" right away as well. After this point, things are kinda fuzzy. I started sobbing uncontrollably and tried to tell Chris who was worried that something was wrong. Once I actually got the words out we just hugged for a long time. We couldn't believe it. Our dream was coming true. It was one of the happiest days ever.

Now I have a beautiful 4 month old that lights up my life. I did not know happiness until she came around. My heart is so full that it feels like it could burst.

***

Back to the weirdness about the numbers 7 and 10. Chris and I conceived Gabriella on our 10th month of TTC (which was also the 10th month of the year) and it was our 7th cycle. Gabriella was born on June 7th at 7:10pm weighing 7lbs and 10oz. Totally bizarre!

Survey!

Baby survey....I can't remember who's blog I found it on, but thank you!

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What was your reaction when you found out you were pregnant? I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I 1st took an internet cheapie and saw a faint line, then took a digital and a FRER. Once those came up positive I went into the bedroom sobbing trying to tell Chris. I was so elated I could hardly breathe.

3. How old were you? 26, 27 when I had her

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? See question #2

5. Who did you tell first? Chris

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Absolutely. Deep down I knew it was a girl.

7. Due date? June 23, 2009

8. Did you deliver early or late? 2 weeks and 2 days early

9. Did you have morning sickness? I had mild nausea from weeks 6-10, but never any throwing up.

10. What did you crave? Sandwiches. I was convinced that I would give birth to a sandwich. I ate them all the time.

11. What irritated you the most? People touching my stomach and the "oh you just wait" comments. Constantly going to the doc at the end of my pregnancy. I had a great pregnancy though.

12. What was your first child’s sex? Girl

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 45-50, I was weighed about a week prior to delivering and I was around 47 then, so I'm guessing I was close to 50.

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? High blood pressure my last 2 weeks

15. Where did you give birth? Central DuPage Hospital

16. How many hours were you in labor? From the time I started having contractions to the time I had Gabriella, 10-11 hours. From the time I got to the hospital till delivery, 7 hours.

17. Who drove you to the hospital? Chris

18 . Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Yes--I don't know how I could have done it without it.

19 . How much did your child weigh? 7 lbs 10 oz

20 . What did you name him/her? Gabriella

21 . How old is your first born today? A few days past 4 months

22. Who does your child look like? Like a combination of me and my sister. Its like Chris wasn't even involved in the process

23. Did you get mad at your husband during labor? A little. He kept trying to hold my hand and I didn't want to be touched. I know, I'm really sweet ;)

4 month appt!

We had a great 4 month check up yesterday. Gabriella is 15 lbs, 14 oz (90th percentile) and is 25 inches long (75th percentile). She was totally charming her pedi with her smiles and babbling. Gabriella's pedi said she had great head control for a 4 month old and that she was pretty strong. She recommended we get a jumparoo for her and we are going to get her one this weekend. She also told us that she thinks that Gabriella will be an early walker. Only time will tell :)

Gabriella did good with her shots. She only wailed for one of them. I was so worried that we were going to be in the screaming hell we were in for her 2 month shots but her shots didn't even phase her this time. I gave her tylenol right before her shots and then 4 hours after that, so maybe that averted a crisis. The pedi also said to start giving her rice cereal 2 times a day and that I can thicken up each serving to 4 tablespoons if I want to. I was only giving her 1, with 3 tbsp of breast milk. Last night I made 2 tbsp of rice cereal and 4 tbsp of milk and she loved it. We are going to try oatmeal this weekend and we also got the ok to start baby food at 5 months (right in time for my mom's and sister's visit)!

Now to talk about operation de-swaddle. I was petrified to try and de-swaddle Gabriella again, after our big fat fail at about 10 weeks. But she has done great! We went straight to arms out of the swaddle, and did that for about 6 nights and then last night she slept in her sleep sack. She sleeps in intervals just as long as when she was swaddled. We are thrilled! Now I actually have use for all the uber cute footed pjs that she has a whole closet full of.

Hopefully I'll be able to post new pics this weekend.

3.75 months old

LOL--I had no other post title other than to put "updates," and I thought that was boring and I use it way to often.

So, anywho, rice cereal for STTN = big fat fail. She's still waking up once to eat. However, we decided that since she's not STTN anymore anyways, we might as well try to de-swaddle again to see if maybe that was inhibiting her STTN. It wasn't, but she is sleeping the same with her arms out of the swaddle, so that's great news. As long as she can get through more than 2-3 hours of sleep at a time with her arms out, I'm happy. She's been going about 5-6 hours when she's 1st put to bed (with the exception of last night when she was kinda fussy and kept waking up). She'll eat, zonk back out and sleep for about another 4-5 hours. All in all, she's getting about 10 hours of sleep a night. I wish it was more, but she seems to be doing well on it.

My decision to start with the de-swaddling had a lot to do with the fact that she started rolling! Gabriella rolled twice from her belly to her back on Wednesday with our daycare lady. I have yet to see it, b/c apparently its cool to keep those kinda things hostage from mom.

Also, she's getting super grabby (to the detriment of my hair). I was encoraging her a lot this weekend. Putting toys within her grasp and trying to make her reach out and grab stuff. She's not there quite yet, but she is definitely interested and I *think* she is doing the actual reaching, just not getting the "open hand and grab" part yet.

Gabriella has her 4 month check up on Thursday. I cannot believe my baby is almost 4 months old. She is almost completely out of her 3 month clothes. Actually, technically she has outgrown them, but I was still putting a few select things that I love on her. But, I definitely won't be able to do that anymore since fall really made her grand entrance overnight and its downright chilly here. She fits nicely into her 6 month Carter's stuff, and its definitely time for those adorable long sleeved onesies and hoodies. Today I had her in a long sleeved brown with white polka dot onesie, with a pink, blue and white cupcake, and pink cords. Oh the cuteness!

Rice cereal!

After much deliberation, I decided to start Gabriella on rice cereal. She would have normally started next week after her 4 month appt, but after 3 weeks of not STTN (after STTN since she was 9 weeks), with feeding times getting increasingly closer together overnight, and an overall feeling it might be time, I took the plunge. I was nervous she wouldn't like it, but man, to say that she loved it would be an understatement. She was almost attacking the spoon with her mouth. Granted, a good amount dribbled down her chin, but she did really like it and really started getting the hang of it at the end. I think I might make it a little thicker tomorrow. After she finished her entire serving, she downed a 6 oz bottle and is now sleeping....hopefully till tomorrow AM!! Fingers crossed!

This weekend was a busy one for Gabriella. She met her 5.5 month old cousin, Nicholas, for the 1st time. They were adorable together....very curious about each other and they even spent a little time babbling to one another. Gabriella also met her fellow fort monkey, Kendall, and mommy Jenna; both adorable!

Gabriella and Nicholas

Jenna, Kendall, Gabriella and mama

Gabriella and her 1st time having rice cereal

Thank you!

Thanks so much to all you ladies who left the sweetest comments yesterday. They were so nice to read. Today I am doing much better. Gabriella was being super cute all night until she went to bed last night and I soaked up every minute that I could with her.