We Had a Baby Boy!

GABRIEL THOMAS

Born March 27th, 2007 at 10:18pm Weight:  6lbs.  Length:  19 1/2"

Click HERE to visit My Video Montage

Click HERE to view my U/S photos & Videos

Click HERE to view Belly pictures

Click HERE to visit Gabriels Picture Page!

Since Christian was born so early, we decided to go to a Perinatologist, or High Risk OB-GYN for a pre-conception appointment.  The doctor who saw me was ok with me going there from the beginning of my pregnancy.  So, when Edwin and I discovered we were pregnant (after 1 month of trying!!!!) I set up my appointment!  At my first appointment, on September 12, 2006 (9 weeks pregnant), I had an ultra-sound and general checkup.  The doc who saw me said they'll do frequent u/s to make sure that all is OK with my cervix.  I'm not sure how many that will be, but I'm all for seeing pictures of my cutie!!  My next appointment is on October 10th (I'll be 13 weeks pregnant).  We should be able to hear the heartbeat (we did hear it at the u/s, which was 179 bpm).  Starting at week 16, I'll start taking Progesterone shots every week.  That will be a joy, since the needle is a big needle and it goes in deep!  EEEKKK!  But, I'll do what I have to do to keep Itty Bitty cookin!  Edwin and I have names picked out, already.  For a girl, Deleighia Renea.  For a boy, Gabriel Thomas.  We are both so very excited about this kiddo!  In just a couple short weeks we'll find out what we are having.  But, hehe, I won't make the announcement until Thanksgiving.  That's right, I'm gunna be a stinker :).   We'll *Announce* on Thanksgiving if we are thankful for a boy or girl!! I do want to ask 1 favor of you, if I could!  24 weeks will put us at the day after Christmas and I really don't want a Christmas baby!  REALLY REALLY don't want a Christmas baby.  Please say a prayer for us, if you could praying for an APRIL 2007 BABY!!!!!!  I really want to experience the full pregnancy!  This time, I have TONS more maternity clothes, and I can't wait to wear them!!!  So, just keep us in your prayers, if you would.  We'd surely appreciate it!  Thank you for taking the time to read my goings on.  I'll continue to update as things happen and after my doctor appointments!  Yeah!!!!

October 31, 2006:  Doc appointment.  It went ok.  I went in and had a cervical check done.  Everything looks good.  And, we're having a boy!  Yep, they were able to see his "goods" at only 16 wks!  Then we waited for the doc.  Doc came in and we talked about a couple things.  She's going to send in the script for my P-17 (progesterone) shot.  I'll get it every Thursday.  I'll also have a cervical check next Thursday and the following.  If those two go ok, then I'll get cervical checks every other week.  I will get the shot every week.  Then, on November 16th, we'll have the big ultra sound.  Woo Hoo!!!  All is going great so far!  This kid is staying put, I'm feeling pretty dang good!  I'm pretty happy!  :)

November 16, 2006:  Today is the "Big" ultra sound!  Baby looks good.  Growing big and strong!  I updated the ultra sound photos!  I finally know how the birth will be.  The hospital finally faxed over my records.  I'll have to have a c-section.  My internal incision was vertical, and they won't risk a VBAC.  So, c-section it is!  They will schedule it for 1-2 weeks before my due date.  They also told me that when Christian was born, I was probably rushed into the delivery room so quickly because I had a placental abruption.  That means the placenta seperated from the uterus.  Scary!!  Other than that, all is well!!  There is some sort of thickening in the baby's heart.  The u/s tech didn't give it a name, or seem concerned.  She did say that it's common in Down Syndrome babies.  They'll re-check in about 6-8 weeks.  They said it should be gone by then. November 29:  I had to have an ECHO because the doctor heard a heart murmur (in me).  Well, the results came back "normal"!  I also had a blood panel done.  The doctors reasoning behind this is that sometimes, with a placental abruption, there is a clotting disorder.  So, they just wanted to double check and make sure everything was OK.  I'm happy they are being so thorough!!

December 26th, 2006:  Well, it's official!  This is the most I've ever been pregnant.  It feels WONDERFUL!!!!  I really felt great!!  I had a doctors appointment today.  My first FFN test.  They are basically testing to see if I can make it an additional 2 weeks.  I'll take the test every 2 weeks.  We want a NEGATIVE result!!!  That means I only have a 1% chance of delivering within the next 2 weeks.  A positive would mean a 15-20% chance of delivering within the next 2 weeks.  EEKK!!  Edwin and I are trying our hardest to stay positive.  I'm sure you can imagine how hard this is!  Well, that's the update for now!!  Oh, and my lil guy is sure an active lil turkey!

January 9th, 2007:  Well, I've made it to 26 weeks!!!  I'm so proud of myself and Gabriel for hanging in there!!!  I'm going to kiss him lots for stayin put!!!  I had another FFN test today.  I'll get the results on the 10th.  I'll post as soon as I hear from someone!  The doc visit was super overwhelming today!  We listened to the heartbeat, had blood pressure taken (normal), got my progesterone shot.  Then we waited for the nurse.  She came in and went over my chart a little.  She told me that all the labs came back normal from my blood tests.  They took the blood to see if I have a clotting disorder (that could have caused the abruption from when Christian was born).  She asked if I had questions and I asked about scheduling the c-section.  So, we have a date set of April 6th.  It's Good Friday.  By their calculations, I will be 38 weeks, by mine I'll be 38 wks 3 days.  She told me that I'll have to have a Fetal Lung Maturity and Non-Stress Test the day before.  She asked when I had my last cervical check, and I told her it'd been about 3 weeks, so she did that and the FFN test.  My cervix is wonderful!  But, it hurt very badly!  So much worse than a Pap Smear!!!  She asked when my last u/s was and I told her it was about 2 weeks ago.  So, she wants one of those scheduled as well.  So, at my next shot appt on Tues Jan 16th, I'll have my Glucola test, shot and labs for my RH- shot.  Then, at the appt on Tues Jan 23rd, I'll have the RH- shot, my progesterone shot, an u/s and a doc visit.  My head is literally spinning from everything she was throwing at me!!  But, I'm grateful the office is being so proactive!  It makes me feel better that they are keeping such a close eye on me!!!

January 23rd, 2007:  Well, I've now made it to 28 weeks.  Holding strong!!  All is going great!!  Today, I had another ultra sound.  Check out the u/s page to see!  I'm also uploading a video-the links are at the top of this page.  I also had a Rhogam shot (I'm RH-).  I also had a Progesterone shot.  Lastly, I had another FFN test.  I'll get the results in a day or two.  I'm apparently anemic, so I need to start taking iron.  Hopefully that will help.  The doc is very happy with how things are going for me.  Oh, and "little" Gabriel is now 2lb 8oz!  Can you believe it??  He's huge!!!  I'm soo happy!  I gained another 2lbs, which makes me sad, but daddy happy!!!  Stay tuned for more updates!!  Oh, and I took a glucola test, and it came back normal!  Woo Hoo!!  I don't have Gestational Diabeties!!

February 6th, 2007:  Great doctors appointment today!  The doctor said that since I'd had 3 negative FFN tests that todays would be the last!  That's great!  Also, I only have 4 more weeks worth of my Progesterone shot!  Then, I'll be free as a bird, LOL!  My cervix is still sealed shut and "looks great".  I'll have another u/ in 2 weeks!!  Yeah!!  The peri is VERY pleased with how things are going!!!  Me too, I have to say!!

February 10th, 2007:  Today was my baby shower!  My good friend Caitlyn threw it for me!  The silly girl had to go and get into a car accident this morning!  OIY!  What am I going to do with her?!?!  She's ok (thank God!!).  My shower cake, however, didn't survive.  LOL!  But, we had a great time at the baby shower.  A lot of good friends came!  We received a lot of very nice gifts for Gabriel!!  Plus, it was nice to actually be pregnant for the shower, LOL!  Christian was about 7-8 mos old when I had his.  But, that was ok, under the circumstances.  Anywho, it was a beautiful day and a beautiful baby shower!!

March 6th, 2007:  Things are going great!!  Babes is behaving!  He's still in my nice, cozy, warm womb!  Only 3 weeks and 5 days til we get to meet him!!  I'm getting pretty excited!!  I feel I won't have everything done in time, though!!!  It's just gone too fast!!  I should find out what time my c-section will be this Tuesday!  Yeah!!  The docs are very happy that he's staying put!!  The doc I saw today said I'm "Almost low risk".  Boy, that makes me feel wonderful!!!  I'm upto weekly appts now!  But, things are going so smoothly!  I've only had braxton hicks contractions-which are pretty annoying!!  I've not even had to have a hospital visit!  Awesome, huh?  I have 1 or 2 more shots.  Yeah!  I've had some pretty horrible back pain-you would too if you gained 1/3 of your normal body weight this quickly, LOL!  I'm in pretty high spirits, though!  Every day is another blessing!  At this point, I don't forsee me going into preterm labor!!  I don't think I would have been able to say that when I first was pregnant with Gabe!  I was always hoping and praying for a full term baby, but I couldn't tell you 100% that I WOULD do it!!!  I know that's kind of hard to understand, but it makes sense to me!!  I do want to thank everyone for your prayers for us!!  They worked!!  Yeah!!!  Just a couple more weeks now!

March 13th, 2007:  I had another appointment today.  It went really well!  I lost a pound, but the doctor is not concerned.  Gabe is doing wonderfully!!  Still moving like he should!  I will receive my last progesterone shot next week.  Can't say that I'm sad about that....  I'll also have an u/s next week!  More pictures and video to share!!  The doc finally gave me something for my allergies-Flonase.  I've taken it before...Hope it helps!! I have to go to the hospital to have Iron IV Infusion on the 14th.  I'm still pretty anemic...  So tired all the time!!   Lastly, I'll find out tomorrow what time I will have my c-section.  Yeah!  It will be on Apr 6th!

March 16th & 17th:  Wow, what a couple of days!!  At 1:00am on the 16th, I ended up in the hospital with contractions.  They checked me, put me on the monitors and gave me a shot of terb.  When they checked me, I was fingertip dialated.  The terb stopped my contractions and I went home around 4am.  Later that night, around 8:30pm, same thing!  I had more contractions, went in, they checked me, put me on the monitors and gave me a shot of terb.  Once again, I was fingertip dialated.  My cervix is starting to thin.  The terb stopped my contractions and I went home around 1am.  They did give me 2 Ambiens and boy, they did a number on me!  By time I got home, Edwin had to help me out of the car, into the house.  Edwin and Pablo had to help me up the stairs.  Boy, that was a riot as I kept hitting the stairs with my feet.  Edwin had to help me get undressed and into bed.  I don't remember a lot of it!  On the 17th, around 6pm, I went into the hospital again.  I was having contractions!  They checked me, put me on the monitors and gave me a shot of terb.  When they checked me, I was fingertip dialated.  I was able to go home around 9pm.  UGH!  What a couple of days!!

March 19th:  Went into hospital.  8 contractions w/in 45 mins.  Didn't stay long. March 20th:  Doc appt today!  It was great!  I have my c-section scheduled for Apr 6th at 12:30!!!  It's finalized.  Isn't that wonderful???  I'm sooo happy!!!  I had an u/s.  My lil Gabe is 5lbs 11oz.  He's growing like a weed!!  The nurse practitioner saw me.  She won't try and stop my contractions if I have any more.  So, if I get to the hospital, and am having contractions, they won't stop them.  Normally that would be OK, but I have a classical c-section, so I don't want to have ANY ocntractions!!  I don't know what they'll do!!  I got my last progesterone shot!  Woo Hoo!!  I had an u/s, so go to the u/s page and check it out.  Don't forget to check my belly pic on the belly pic page!!!  This was my last u/s, so I'm kind of sad, but not much longer and I'll get to meet my cutie!!!  Oh, the tech didn't get it on the video, but Gabriel was licking my placenta, like an ice cream cone!  He's not even born yet, and he's pretty weird!!  I think he'll be sorry to know that Ben and Jerry's doesn't have that flavor!

March 27th:  I'M FULL TERM!!!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  I had a doctors appointment today, I'm 137lbs, so up 1lb from last week.  I'm ok with that.  Listened to the heartbeat, sounds great!  Doc checked me, I was 1-2 cm dialated, up from 1cm the last time I went to the hospital.  The doc wanted to put me on the monitor because she thought that I was having contractions and not feeling them.  So, I was put on the monitor and had 1 contraction.  She wasn't concerned, so she said I could go home.  Before we left, I asked how far dialated I'd be before they would just do the surgery.  She said probably 3 cm.  I said ok, and we left. I had 2 more contractions on the way home.  Once home, I took my belly picture, just in case.  At home, Edwin made Turkey Burgers and I had another contraction, so off to the hospital we went!  My mother in law came with us.  Christian stayed with his aunt and uncle.  I had a very slight feeling that this time was "the one", so I made sure I had everything I needed for the hospital. Once at the hospital, they hooked me up and checked me.  I was still 1-2 cm dialated.  They told me I was just a little dehydrated, so they gave me an iv.  About 30 mins later, I started having more contractions.  They were about 5 mins apart.  It was getting harder to breathe through them.  They weren't painful in ANY way, nothing like what I had with Christian.  About 30-45 mins after that, they decided to check me.  I was 4 cm dialted!!!  I started crying.  Edwin looked at me, thinking something was wrong.  I said, no, nothing is wrong.  I'm just scared, excited, nervous.  I knew that I'd be having the baby tonight. They started getting things ready, giving Edwin his surgery suit to get dressed up in.  He looked so handsome, hehe!   Since it hadn't been long since I'd eaten, they gave me a drink to neutralize the acid in my stomach.  The anesthia guy came in and told me what was going to happen.  The doctor came in and we talked about how things would go.  She said she'd use the same incision, but I asked if she could do the bikini cut, she said sure, but she'd use the same incision on the inside.  Fine with me.  I asked when the staples would be removed, would it be before I went home and she said, "Oh, I won't use staples, we'll use the glue".  Man, that REALLY made my day.  I hated having the staples taken out with Christian!!!  It hurt more than anything!!! Shortly after that, we went back into the operating room, Room 4.  They got everything together and gave me a spinal.  I laid down and my legs were numb, then my stomach.  It felt so weird and horrible not being able to move my legs.  It started making me nervous.  Then my breathing started getting faster.  I tried to cough and it was so little and light.  They said it was normal.  Edwin kept telling me that my numbers looked great, that I was doing fine.  But, I felt horrible.  The anesthia guy told me if I couldn't calm down, he'd give me something to help.  He ended up having to do that because I couldn't get it under control.  It was kind of a panic attach, too.  It helped a lot. They put the screen up and the next thing I knew, they asked Edwin if he was ready.  He stands up to get pictures and all of a sudden, this beautiful scream is heard!  My little Gabriel!  He had a GREAT set of lungs and his crying was just amazing!!!!!!  They put him over the screen so I could see him, he was beautiful!  Then they took him over to get him cleaned up.  Edwin went over to be with him while they closed me up.  Gabriels APGARS were 8 and 9!  Then, Edwin brought him over to me while things finished.  He was so beautiful.  I kissed his beautiful head.  It was amazing.  So VERY different than being put under general and waking up to having a baby in the NICU. Gabriel needed to go up to the special care nursery while I went to recovery.  He was doing a lot of grunting, which is "normal" for having a c-section baby.  So, we went our seperate ways, Edwin going up with Gabriel, to make sure everything was ok.  Then, he came back down to see me, then went to take his mom home.  After about 2 hours, I was able to go pickup Gabriel and go to our room, he was going to be able to sleep with me!!  OIY!!  This was going to be very different!!   After we were comfy and settled down, Edwin went home to get some sleep.  Gabriel and I did wonderfully together.  He was able to nurse not too long after we were in the room. On March 31st, Gabriel and I came home.  It is so truely awesome being able to bring your baby home with you!  I PRAY that everyone is able to experience this feeling!  I know that when you become pregnant, you just assume that everything will be "normal and ok".  But, sometimes it's not.  Sometimes the baby has to stay in the hospital for awhile.  I had that the first time around.  This time, EVERYTHING was different!!!  Going to a perinatologist instead of an OB helped too!  They kept such a good eye on me and everything!!!  I really think I was able to stay pregnant for so long with their help!!!

PREGNANCY MILESTONES: *  September 12:  First Ultra Sound *  October 5:  Felt first movement *  October 20:  Heard heartbeat on my new doppler. *  October 31:  Second U/S.  Cervical check 3.4. *  November 9:  Third U/S.  Cervical check 3.4 *  November 16:  Forth U/S.  Cervical check 3.4 *  November 22nd:  Fifth U/S.  Cervical check 3.4 *  November 28th:  Sixth U/S.  Cervical check 3.3 *  December 5th:  Seventh U/S.  Cervical check 3.5 *  December 12th:  Eight U/S.  Cervical check 3.4 *  December 19th:  Ninth U/S.  Cervical check 3.79 *  December 26th:  1st FFN Test.  Result:  NEGATIVE! *  January 9th:  2nd FFN Test.  Result:  NEGATIVE! *  January 23rd:  10th U/S.3rd FFN Test.Result:NEGATIVE! *  January 25th:  Hiccups!  For the first time! *  February 6th.  4th FFN Test. Result:  NEGATIVE! *  March 20th:  Last U/S and last Progesterone shot (21 total) *  March 27th:  Welcome Baby Gabriel!

BABY MILESTONES: *  Smiled:  *  Laughed:  *  Head Up:  *  First Tooth:  *  Sat Up:  *  Solids:  *  Crawled:  *  Walked:  GROWTH: *  Birth  6lbs & 19.5" *  1 Month  8lbs 4oz & 21.5" *  2 Months  10lbs 4oz & 22.5" *  3 Months  12lbs & 23.5" *  4 Months  *  5 Months  *  6 Months  *  7 Months  *  8 Months