Balloon Classes

I went to an Easter get together at Rhonda and Justin’s house.  I met Rhonda’s friend Stacy and she gave us lots of advice about baby stuff.  She recommended a class she took 6 years ago that teaches you how to take care of your newborn baby.  She said most people are court ordered to be there, but she learned a lot from the class.  Ivan looked it up online and it’s called Parenting Project and they offer a few different classes for free.

Ivan called to set up the Parenting Project’s Baby Care class for June.  I signed up online for the Hypnobirthing classes for June as well.  I want to take Lamaze classes too.  My midwife Kat recommended Jollina Simpson who also teaches breastfeeding.  I’m going to call her to sign-up for the class.

I forgot to mention earlier that our friend Michael, his mom Leslie sent Ivan two books called What To Expect When Your Wife is Expanding and The Joy of Fatherhood: The Expanded 2nd Edition.  He LOVES What To Expect When Your Wife is Expanding since it’s so funny.  He read it really fast and wants to read it a second time.

I saw Dr. Sabol on April 22, 2014 at Mountain West Chiropractic since Dr. Simoncelli doesn’t work on Tuesdays.  He did different things than the other doctor like using gun that pressed down on my neck.  Also, I laid down and he put a pad under me and then he cracked my back on both sides.  They’re both great doctors and really nice.

I saw my midwife Kat on April 23, 2014 for my prenatal visit.  I have gained 14 pounds since I became pregnant.  Kat said everything is good and the baby is lying vertex (his head is down).  Vertex is the normal position the baby should be in for labor.  Ivan got to feel the baby in my tummy. 

I told Kat that I’ve been getting a knot in my lower back since it hurts a lot.  I told her the chiropractor adjustments do help it for a few days.  She recommended doing belly wrapping.  Belly wrapping isn’t rapping with your belly, but wrapping your belly with a scarf.  There are belly wrapping products out there, but Kat didn’t think they were good.  She also thought I should use essential owls for my lower back pain like dōTERRA’s Deep Blue oil.  She said I should get a good body pillow like Gaiam Organic Body Pillow.

She also showed me two exercises which would prepare me for labor.  One is doing squats for 20 minutes a day which I can break up into 5 minute sessions and the Yoga Cat Cow exercise for 20 minutes.  She said doing the squats with a chair behind me is good.

I told her how I went to As They Grow’s Consignment event and she recommended Children’s Orchard for another consignment place where you can buy and sell things.

I love that Kat writes down notes during our prenatal visits and places it online and I can check it anytime for things I forget which happens quite often with my pregnancy brain. 

I can see the Prenatal Flow Sheet which shows my weight throughout the visits, weight gain, fundal height, pulse, fetal position and more.

Ivan ordered a body pillow for me on Amazon.  The Gaiam Organic pillow is so expensive. 

I started doing the exercises Kat recommended and the squats are very challenging.  I have weak ankles, so it hurts!  I know it will help with labor, so I will try to do it every day.

Ivan and I posted another baby announcement picture with us wearing blue and holding balloons.

We also did a baby name video.  Check it out below.

I was looking up baby stuff for the nursery on April 25, 2014.  I’ve gotten lots of inspiration from Project Nursery and Pinterest.  We have the animal wallpaper already and now we picked a blue paint called Sleepy Blue.  I want to add chevron (zig zag) and polka dots things for accents.  I make sure to bookmark everything and pin it on my Pinterest Baby Stuff page, so I don’t forget the cute stuff I might want to buy.  I love browsing the funny nursery wall art on Etsy. 

Ivan and I picked out some Ikea furniture for the nursery for storage for the baby’s clothes and toys.  I have been debating on getting a bumper pad for the crib.  There are studies that it’s not good since it can prevent air flow to the crib which can result in SIDS.  Some people buy them, but don’t use it until later when the baby is over a year old and then you don’t have to worry about the possibility of SIDS.  There is an alternative to the bumper pad with a rail guard.  I found one crib set that is cute, but I’m going to keep looking at crib sets or have one created on Etsy.

My hair has been getting fuller – I wish it would stay this way after I’m not pregnant.  But, my friend Carrie said your hair falls out after you give birth.  My feet have gotten a little bigger at the top of my foot.  I haven’t gotten bigger anywhere else lately.  But, in the past my butt, hips and thighs have gotten bigger. 

I’ve been moody more lately and I cry really easily now.  I’m trying to remain calm, but it can be difficult sometimes. 

It’s been a wonderful pregnancy so far.  I am now almost 20 weeks pregnant. 

You can really tell I’m pregnant now.  I feel so big!

Gender Announcement

Sorry for the lack of updates.  Ivan and I took a trip to New York City and I kept putting off blogging.

We left on March 29, 2014 and spent 8 days in New York City.  Stayed in an apartment in Astoria, Queens which is filled with Greek seafood restaurants.

Ivan was busy with business, so I got to explore New York City on my own a bit.  I went to the MoMA which had some cool and interesting art.  I also got a chance to walk around the HUGE Central Park.  I made sure to visit the Imagine Circle and the Alice in Wonderland statue.

I wanted to visit the Shakespeare’s Garden, but I didn’t get a chance to.

We had a good time in New York City.  Wish the weather was better since it mostly rainy and was really cold.  My nipples still got hard (and hurt badly) even with a t-shirt and a heavy winter jacket on.. that’s how cold it was!  I make sure to carry a jacket with me if I think a place is going to be cold.

Sometimes, I put off making appointments.  I did this when making my appointment for my ultrasound.  It turned out that my doctor that is connected with my midwife didn’t have an appointment for a few weeks on April 22nd really early in the morning.  I’ve never been a morning person, so I decided to make an appointment with another doctor at the same place a day earlier.  Ivan and I really want to find out the sex of the baby.

I talked to my midwife and she didn’t like any other doctors at Desert Perinatal Associates.  So, I called back the next day to change it and Dr. Wilkes didn’t have an opening until April 29.  He doesn’t work afternoons and he doesn’t work every day.  I was bummed, but I will try to see if any appointments open up sooner.  We will probably do an ultrasound at one of the ultrasound places through one of the deal websites.

I did so much walking at the art museum that my feet hurt and I was actually limping a little on my right leg.  It went away the next day, but it didn’t feel very good.

I’ve still been going to the chiropractor weekly.  Dr. Simoncelli joked that when he presses down on my sinus points it’s my favorite and I said Not really.  It hurts!  He pressed down so hard once it almost made me tear up.

I have been getting sick of drinking water since I have to drink a gallon a day.  I usually don’t drink that water normally.  I have been drinking sparkling water since we have a Sodastream machine.  I’m going to buy Crystal Light soon to add flavor to my water.  I also read that you can flavor water with frozen or fresh fruit.

My hands still go numb and my wedding ring will eventually not fit on my finger.  My feet are expanding, too.  I’m now in search of slip-on shoes since I know I won’t be able to tie my shoes soon.

Ivan found a good deal on Living Social for a gender check ultrasound.  We were happy to find out that they had an opening the next day on April 15.

On April 15, 2014, we went to Baby’s First Image for the ultrasound.  I presented the Living Social voucher.  On the form that Ivan filled out for me, it asks if I’ve had an ultrasound before.  Ivan marked no and the lady at the desk asked us and he said no.  She told us that we had to do a thing to determine the due date and tells us how the baby is lying for $25.  Ivan said then I’ll change it to yes.  The lady was too strict and stuck to the rules.  She said I’ll still tell the doctor that you’ve never had one.  How dumb!  I don’t know if it says it on the website (like the lady said), but it doesn’t say anything like this on their Living Social deal page.  We ended up paying the $25.  Ivan thought it would be handy to know the due date since the doctor we saw at the beginning to confirm the birth just based it on the start date of my last period.

The lady at the desk took us to the room.  There was a high bed with a stepstool on the side.  I laid down and she asked me to raise my shirt and she put a paper towel at the top of my pants.  She said the lady doing the ultrasound would be in the room shortly.

Maria came in and she’s very nice.  We told Maria that we wanted her to write the sex of the baby in an envelope since we were doing a gender reveal cake.  She said that was fine.  She had heard of it before.  Ivan saw a video that showed the gender reveal cake and a little boy being disappointed that he was going to have another sister.

She put the wand (no idea what the proper name is) on my belly which had a cold gel on it.  There was a big projector screen on the wall where we got to see the baby.  It was cool to finally see the baby.

Maria measured the baby’s head.  She said that the baby was actually due later than we thought.  It was due on September 16 which is my sister’s birthday.

We got to see the baby in 4D which makes the baby look like an alien.

It looks like it has the flat Filipino nose.  I would rather it had Ivan’s nose.  She told us that the baby is really skinny and is mostly skeleton.  We also got to hear the baby’s heartbeat.  She said the baby’s heartbeat was 160 bpm.  She said the baby looked healthy.  I think she forgot to tell us how the baby was lying.

Maria told us to close our eyes while she took a picture of the baby that revealed the sex.

It was really great seeing the baby for the first time!  It does make you feel even more excited for the little one to come.

We left Baby’s First Image and looked up bakeries.  Ivan found one that was close to our house called Drago Sisters Bakery that makes the gender reveal cake.

At the bakery, Ivan asked if we could get a gender reveal cake.  Unfortunately, it takes awhile to make a cake so we wouldn’t get it today.  The lady asked the baker and she said we could pick it up tomorrow at 5 pm.  The baker looked at the paper inside the envelope.  She then asked us what we wanted.  Ivan said we didn’t want to say since the look on her face might reveal the sex of the baby.  She placed the envelope in another envelope – probably to make sure we don’t peek!  We bought a 16” cake with a vanilla cake with strawberry filling.  The baker said she would put blue and pink on it with baby feet.

I was so tempted to peek at the envelope, but I resisted since I wanted it to be a surprise.  I still thought it was a boy since people have been saying it’s a boy since I’m carrying low and I don’t look worn down (which is the old wive’s tales that you look worn down when you’re having a girl since she’s stealing your beauty).

On April 16, 2014, I went to see the chiropractor.  I had a big knot in the middle of my lower back.

Ivan picked up the cake later on.  We wouldn’t be cutting the cake until later since Ivan wanted to do the gender reveal cake with his parent’s over Facetime.  His parents live in Southend-on-Sea, England.

We posted a picture of me asking our friends a few days ago if they thought it was a girl and a boy.  20 people guessed a girl and 12 people guessed a boy.

At 11:30 pm, which is 7:30 am England time, we called up Ivan’s mum and dad on Facetime.  Ivan placed the cake on the table.  I set up the camera, so I could videotape it.

Ivan handed me the knife and I cut it to make a slice, but the icing was so thick that you couldn’t really see the cake inside.  I said Oh, it’s a boy, but I was actually seeing the baby feet on top of the cake.  We finally got to see the cake and it was blue.  It was a boy!

Ivan’s dad already thought it was a boy since he would always talk about his grandson.  It’s so good to finally know the sex.  We decided to announce it on Facebook the next day.  I started working on a graphic for the baby announcement.

In the morning of April 17, 2014, I finished the baby announcement and posted it on Facebook.  It turned out great!

iJen is our nickname that Ivan’s brother Neal came up with. which combines our names Ivan and Jen.

Here’s a picture of our baby boy showing that he’s a boy.

Now, we can decorate the nursery.  We already have wallpaper with animals on it that we’re doing on one wall.  We’re thinking of a really light blue for the other walls.  I love browsing the different nurseries on Project Nursery.  I’ve collected a few ideas from a couple nurseries that I might use for the nursery.

I saw my doula Shannondoah on April 18, 2014.  She did a hypnomassage on me which I really needed.  She worked out the knot that was bugging me in the middle of my lower back.  I saw my birth again in the sky while I was lying on the water.  I like the beach that I visit during my hypnomassages.  I love beaches and floating in the water.

I’m now almost 19 weeks and I’m doing good.  The only thing that annoys me is the nipple pain which comes more often now.