An afternoon at the Lake

We moved, earlier this year, to yet another place that has VERY hot summers.

Luckily this nice area also has several lakes nearby.

Since today was day number two of 100 degree weather we decided it was high time to check out one of the local swim areas we've heard so much about.

An invitation from a friend was all the encouragement we needed for a little family adventure.

Our morning was a bit of a bust.

Leaving later than we had planned I was fairly sure I'd remembered all the important stuff.

Lunch.

Water.

Towels.

Sunscreen.

Kids in car.

Camden insists on putting on his own seat belt.

He's pretty good at it.

But it still takes awhile.

And we were off!

Only a few wrong turns..

the kids fell asleep.

Quick stop at the Visitor's Center for a Park Pass.

We've got to be legal ya'll!

And we finally arrived.

Nice beach, fine rocky shoreline.

Mountains jutting upward all around us.

Trees shading lots of the beach.

Making the 100 degree weather not quite so bad.

Belen quickly made herself at home.

Challenging herself to keep up with her friends.

Swimming from the beach to a floating dock perhaps 50 yards offshore.

Yes, there are lifeguards!

She swam back and forth about four times during our visit.

Do you see Belen WAY out there on the dock? Sitting. Blue floatie.

Camden took awhile to 'warm up'.

Choosing instead to sit with me in the shade.

"Me no swim in lake."

Just for a bit.

Then he wanted more than anything to catch up to Belen,

on the floating dock.

I tried the water.

It was cold.

I don't do cold water.

I told Camden I wouldn't swim with him to the floating dock.

Perhaps next time we go we'll bring daddy to take him.

Girls Night

Earlier this month Zak had the opportunity to take Camden on his very first Father/Son Campout! 

Camden was very excited.

Belen was completely devastated to not have been included.

She HAD to stay at home with MOM!

She stomped her feet and pouted for a bit once the boys left.

A quick trip through the grocery store,

with the opportunity to pick out whatever almost whatever she wanted.

We made homemade pizza.

Crust (my specialty).

Toppings of our choice:

Mom had pineapple.

Belen had mini pepperoni.

S'MORES toasted in the oven for dessert.

Belen didn't like them, too messy.

Old Fashioned donuts for breakfast the next morning, my favorite.

(Hey, it WAS my birthday)

Loves Within; teaching

School-at-Home

Merry Christmas!

Camden Rhys was born in August. He was 5 lbs 10 oz, 18 inches long. Although he was born one month early, he has grown considerably and he has cute rolls in his legs now. He is a very happy and social baby. He loves to talk, kick, and play.

Belén Olivia turns three in January. She loves to sing and dance and is such a girl. She loves everything pink, eating chocolate, and dressing up pretty. She is very active and social and loves the nursery at church where she can play with her best friends. More recently she has learned to use the potty! Mommy loves that.

Allysia is an aspiring foodie and loves to try new recipes that use lots of fresh, locally grown produce. Allysia and Belén spent most of the summer preparing the new family home for Camden’s arrival. They both had a great time exploring their new town, getting everything ready for baby brother, and spending some special time together. Allysia loves being a mommy for Belén and new baby, Camden. She also loves living closer to her family and best friend who live in Washington.

Zak graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting in the spring and started working on a Masters of Accountancy in the summer. He interned at the IRS in the summer also. He went hunting for the first time and harvested a 9-point whitetail buck. He accepted an offer to work for Moss Adams in Washington after he graduates (again) in May 2010

Velamentous Cord Insertion

I had my first post-natal appointment on Friday and got the pathologist report regarding the placenta and cord. While pathologically the placenta was normal, the cord, specifically where the cord inserts into the placenta was abnormal, as my O.B. had suspected.

The cord inserted into the membranes of the amniotic sac rather than the placenta. Visually, the cord at the insertion point is much thinner than normal and attaches in finger-like tentacles rather than a solid mass. This condition occurs in only 1.1% of singleton pregnancies (occurring slightly more frequently in with multiples).

In pregnancies where Velamentous Cord insertion is present, babies are at an increased risk for Intrauterine Growth Retardation, preterm labor, congentital anamalies and fetal bleeding due to Vasa Previa (which carries a 75-100% infant mortality rate). Pretty darn scary.

Most cases of VCI are undiagnosed because regular examinations of the cord insertion point are not performed via ultrasound. In many cases a regular vaginal delivery is contraindicated because of the presence of vasa previa and cesarean section must be performed no later than 35 weeks. In a normal vaginal delivery the blood vessels in the amniotic sac may rupture, if they pass over the opening of the cervix (Vasa Previa), putting the babies live at risk. Also, if the OB decides to rupture your membranes artificially he may rupture the blood vessels as well. Delivery of the placenta following birth tends to be more difficult with VCI. I did NOT have Vasa Previa. If I had, I could not be snuggling my little guy this very minute.

Some risk factors for VCI, placenta previa, and Vasa Previa include; multiple pregnancies, in-vitro fertilization pregnancies, a history of uterine surgery, painless bleeding or a D&C.

I wish I would have known earlier in my pregnancy that I had VCI...this could have so easily gone very wrong.

baby News

I know I'd promised to post more of our summer adventures, our move, etc. But in the weeks since my last post I've run into some Pre-term labor problems.

3 weeks ago I started having some mild contractions. I mentioned it at my 32 weeks OB appointment and was sent to the hospital by my OB for a Non-Stress Test. They also did a Fetal Fibrolactin test. The FF test would indicate my risk of delivering within the following 2 weeks as well as my risk of delivering before 36 weeks.

Contractions were evident on the NST but so mild that my doctor decided to send me home without any medications to stop them. Later that evening my results for the FF test came back negative. I was told that I could resume normal, albeit lighter, activity than before but if any activity spurred a round of contractions that activity would be on my "to avoid" list for the remainder of my pregnancy.

Because Zak is out of town on his internship (and at that point wouldn't be home for another 4 weeks) I did the best I could, but I am a busy mom so there was not much change in activity, except that I made a conscious effor not to pick up Belen.

Now I am 34 weeks. I thought I should go in and do all my pre-registration stuff at the hospital. So I made an appointment. The evening before my appointment to pre-register I began having painful contractions that made it difficult to walk. that was Tuesday. Wednesday morning I got myself and Belen ready for the day, had a couple more contractions but noticed an almost perpetual pressure on my pelvis and tailbone. I mentioned this to the nurses while waiting for the woman who would walk me through the pre-registration process. The nurses immediately called my doctor who ordered another Non-Stress test. I did my pre-registration while hooked up to monitors tracking fetal heart rate and contractions. Turns out I was contracting every 1 to 3 minutes! I was 1 cm dialated, 50% effaced and at a -2 station. I was given medications over the course of 9 hours to stop the contractions and while they slowed slightly, there was very little change. Finally after 8 hours and 3 doses of medications the contractions slowed enough (2 in an hour) that I was able to go home.

So, I've been on medications to control the contractions for 2 days. They are not pleasant but since having this baby at 34 weeks is simply not on option in my mind I will do what I have to to make sure he has time to mature. I am now on complete bed rest. My cervix is dilating though very slowly and is anterior (forward rather than posterior or toward the back where it should be) so any contraction or sitting and standing upright puts pressure on my cervix causing dilation (and stronger, more frequent contractions despite the medications). I am still having contractions between doses of medications but they are not terribly painful. My pelvis is sore as it is already beginning to separate and widen for delivery. At this point, because the Fetal Fibrolactin test was negative, i have a less than 3% chance of delivering before 36 weeks. Zak will be home a week from tomorrow.

Of course I wish for all the things that a mother in my position would hope and pray for. I want a healthy baby that I can snuggle and nurse and bring home with me when I get to come home following delivery. I want my husband to be here to hold my hand, wipe my hair from my face when I'm laboring, and see his first son enter into this world strong and healthy. Please keep us in your hearts and prayers.

It's Official!

As far as we can tell from the ultrasound today we are having a

healthy baby BOY!!!

There was no sign of any problems as a result of the early issues we were having with this pregnancy (Retroplacental Hemmorrhage), he is measuring a bit small so the doctors will be closely monitoring my weight gain. So far I have gained 5 lbs. which they say is good! A benefit of doing all the cycle tracking I was doing when I became pregnant is that I know I ovulated late and my due date should have been 9/18/09 instead of 9/14/09...today he measured only a day behind at 9/19/09 so it's not a worrisome situation.

Coming Soon!

Stay with me...TONS have been happening with our family in the last 2 weeks and I barely have time to sleep these days. You can look forward to hearing all about Zak's Graduation, our trip to Moscow, ID to check out their town, the U of Idaho campus and look into their Master's in Accounting program, a little foray into Spokane to visit some great friends living out there, our new apartment in town (temporary) and Zak's summer job...I think that's it for now. Details and pictures to follow in the next few days. Keep checking back!!!

YUP!

For those of you who said BOY on our little poll, you are CORRECT! Now, we did the ultrasound at 15 weeks 4 days. Usually a bit early to tell but the nurse had trouble tracking down our busy bee on the doppler...with a nervous mommy (me) who had some unluckiness in the past...my doctor decided to do the ultrasound.

We quickly learned that the baby was just fine..his little heart just beating away and my doctor took the opportunity to peek even before we asked.

Sure enough, a couple of different angles revealed that it's a BOY! We will still have the ultrasound that is typically done between 18 and 22 weeks for a confirmation as well as for diagnostic purposes to make sure he is healthy but we are super excited to be having a boy.

Zak has already named him...we don't agree on the name but so far he's been pretty adamant that it's his name....we will have to wait and see....

I am SO BLIND!!!

My next pair of glasses...

...you love em, don't you?

I just got back from the ophthalmologist's office...yup, the eye doctor. The lovely guy I get to see every year...but I haven't in the last 2 years...long story.

It's moments like these that I am so jealous that my sister...twin that is, has perfect vision. Not one of my immediate family members required the use of lenses until their 50's when they needed only reading glasses.

Let me share with you what I learned today about my own eye health..

First of all...my eyes are perfectly healthy...no problems with long-term contact lens wearing (can cause vascular problems in the eyes...etc.). Good.

My glasses are pretty much worthless...

My eyesight was measured at about 20/400. Nope, not a typo...

Legally blind is 20/200

(technically to be determined legally blind this would be the result after correction).

Luckily, my eyes correct quite nicely.

Although, I am blinder this year than I was last year...

Also lucky me...because I am so blind (technical term that may be used in my case...see above) my state funded health insurance will cover the cost of contact lenses...That's nice.

I wouldn't be able to see what I am now typing if I didn't have my lenses in.

SURPRISE!!!

I've decided now is the time to share our surprise with you, our dear friends and family!!! Are you excited? Are you at the edge of your seat??? YOU SHOULD BE!!!

Because here it is......

We have a baby on the way!!!!!

I hope you will find it in your hearts to forgive us for all the secrecy up to this point but after having a miscarriage last November I was afraid that this baby might not be able to stay with us either.

This has not been a pregnancy without complications. You can stop reading here if you don't want to hear the gory details...

Right about the same time I started having problems with the last pregnancy (about 4-5 weeks), cramping, bleeding, etc. It began to happen again with this pregnancy. After 10 straight days of dark colored bleeding I called my OB. Before I learned I was pregnant I had visited my OB/GYN to bring him up to date with my miscarriage and possible fertility issues I had been having since we last lived here. So one morning I went straight in to my OB and had an ultrasound where we saw a perfect gestational sac that was measuring right on target, a fetal pole and a tiny yolk sac..Yay! I was told to go home and take it easy. I scheduled my 8 week ultrasound as we left the office.

After another week of bleeding, I began to have some small amounts of red bleeding and called the OB's office right away. I was put on be rest. We sent Belen to stay with her grandparents in Utah for the 2 weeks until my ultrasound. That was hard but it was the only way. I knew that I couldn't go through another miscarriage...especially as I imagined the guilt associated with losing a baby when all I had to do was take it easy for a few days...I talked to her on the phone every day.

At 7 weeks I had a very scary evening with very painful cramping and lots of bright red bleeding. After about one hour the bleeding lightened, changed color and the cramping subsided. I called the OB's office first thing in the morning and went in for my ultrasound just a few days early.  I was so scared that this was going to be a repeat of my last experience...going in, and learning that the baby did not have a heartbeat and had stopped developing weeks before. It was a cruel experience. My body had been sending me normal pregnancy symptoms as it continued to retain the fetus and the placenta it also continued to produce pregnancy hormones...

This time our experience would be different. When I saw the tiny fluttering on the screen I had to ask to make sure that I was seeing correctly....the baby's heartbeat. Strong, without a doubt. 158 beats per minute, regular, normal, healthy. Our baby was okay! Measuring perfectly in size. My due date was set for September 14th. 

Not everything about this ultrasound was perfect. The doctor spotted the source of all the bleeding. He called it a Retro-Placental Hemorrhage (aka Subchorionic Hemorrhage). He said that there was still a small risk of miscarriage but he wasn't overly concerned about the bleeding. This type of complication is caused as the placenta is implanting and patching in to the vast blood supply of the uterus, blood can at times pool in that area(behind the placenta). He said that either I will continue to see it as it is expelled, my body may absorb is as the pregnancy progresses or it will hang out until I deliver and be resolved at that point. He classified it as a small bleed and took me off bed rest. As I left I was reminded to contact them immediately if I see any more bright red bleeding. I haven't, the baby seems to be growing well.

I had planned to wait until my next appointment, when I could hear the baby's heartbeat again and be comforted, to announce that we are having another baby. But, today I felt the baby move for the first time. This morning I rolled partially over on my belly and I felt a firm, swift kick. Unmistakable. I'm almost 14 weeks. I can only feel the baby when I am still. I felt Belen at 16 weeks. I am reassured. I hope now I can begin to build a relationship with this little one...one that isn't cloaked in lingering fear.

Belen is HOME!!!

Since Belen's birthday party she has been spending some time with her grandparents in Utah while I've been dealing with some minor health issues...don't worry, I'm absolutely fine. Belen came home last night and we've been enjoying some mommy-daughter time together....

Belen broke me in quickly by creating a poo mess in her  'jammies this morning...poo everywhere...

Now she is playing with her Mrs. Potato Head that she got for her birthday.

Isn't she pretty!?

P.S. Belen is sure that the the posts that insert into Mrs. Potato Head 

when you put on her arms, shoes, eyes, etc. hurt her....

Parent/Child Horoscopes

I find this to be pretty accurate. I am a Taurus mommy, Belen is an Aquarius. Go to BabyCenter.com to find your own!

Comfort vs. the Unfamiliar

Taurus

Aquarius

Your primary concerns in life include comfort and familiarity, but your Aquarius child is far more interested in being different. He purposely bypasses familiar people, places, and experiences in favor of unusual ones in the name of broadening his understanding of the world. Your little Aquarius has a touch of genius, and you can foster that brilliance by giving him the freedom to explore life in his own way. 

Of course, some of his activities could make you nervous -- or just baffled. It's hard for you to understand why he's attracted to such unique friends and ideas. And since you're both stubborn by nature, you can expect the occasional run-in. But you're also securely attached to one another. Sometimes, the best thing for your young Aquarius will be for you to shake your head affectionately and let him keep pursuing his own interests, however odd they might seem. 

"Wicked" Vent Fest

Ok...bare with me, please. I have been wanting to see "Wicked" for I don't know how long. Finally we move to California and I learn that "Wicked" will be performing in L.A. until January. I subsequently get really excited, convince Zak to take me for our anniversary, price tickets, plan our little trip, then get stuck when determining childcare knowing that whomever we leave Belen with will be committing to an all night gig. The plan, at that point falls apart.

Then I feel rescued as we notice that "Wicked" will be playing in two other cities we will find ourselves nearby this year. Portland, hello, it's where I'm from, my whole family lives there, childcare is a built-in thing when visiting family...especially Grandma and Grandpa!  But, then the rose colored glasses fade yet again...."Wicked" will be in Portland in MARCH!!! This would be the MARCH of Zak's LAST semester at school!  Portland is a yummy 12 hour drive away!  

But wait!  Ahhah! "Wicked" will be in Salt Lake, too!!!! A mere 4 hours away from where we will be living in April..perfect timing, we can go after Zak's graduation...a duel little treat!  What is also great is Zak's parents live in Utah! Insta-childcare! BAM! BooM! We are MADE!

Oh but wait...Again, we are currently living in California...tickets went on sale this morning at 10 a.m. online (7 a.m. at the theatre in Salt Lake)..I tried over and over and over and over, spending my ENTIRE morning on the ArtTix website but there stinking server was DOWN!!!!! I couldn't get a page loaded if my life depended on it. FINALLY a page loads after 2 hours of attempts, yay, the showing I wanted to attend was still open..I click the corresponding button, the page doesn't load, refresh, refresh, refresh, wah-lah, I sign in and hit another road block...for some reason they are not selling tickets for that particular show online. I go back to chose an different showing on the same day, refresh several times as the server is bogged down by other eager "Wicked" fans...I choose the appropriate button for the different showing and this is what loads on the ArtTix website:

DUE TO UNPRECIDENTED DEMAND WE HAVE SUSPENDED THE PURCHASE OF TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT ONLINE.  TICKETS WILL ONLY BE SELLING AT THIS AND THAT THEATRE...I admit I don't remember what exactly it said but they also listed 2 phone numbers that I had also been calling all morning and were consistently BUSY BUSY BUSY...no, please hold, no you have a 30 minute wait NO NO NO! Just a stinking busy signal!!!! ARGH!  Maybe I will have to drive the 12 hours to Portland! I think it may be less frustrating than dealing with stinking ArtTix people again!

Now their webpage says on one page that all performances are "SOLD OUT," but if you go ahead and go to the event site it still lists dates and times available with a message that tickets are still on sale for those showing but they are not availabe for purchase online....Make any sense? Bring it on Portland!!! I like you better than Salt Lake anyway!!!

Los Angeles Zoo

This is how we spent our November 20th this year (I know we're backtracking here, just bare with me!)...in shorts and t-shirts in 75 degree beautiful sunny weather at the L.A. Zoo!  Zak was working at an office in Beverly Hills so Belen and I decided to explore the Zoo together and had a great time!

Above: This is her reaction to the stinky Flamingo exhibit.

Above:  Watching the "raffes" as Belen would say (a.k.a the giraffes). 

Above: leading the way...for those of you who don't know...Belen is the most fiercely independent little girl I've ever had the privilege of knowing...let alone raising...hence the much needed leash and harness. I used to think they were so cruel, NOW... well, lets just say I've changed my mind!

Gone...but not forgotten.

Some Sad News...

Yesterday I went to my first O.B. appointment and  learned that there was no heart beat.  The embryo had stopped developing at 6 weeks 4 days when it should have been 8 weeks 5 days.

New Haircut

I apologize for just having a 'look at me' post but I just had to show you my new haircut!  I went to a cosmetology school in Tumecula while visiting Melanie a few weeks ago and the poor girl was so timid that I...well lets just say that I left with something less than I would have liked...Let me also just say that I have spent the last 3 years getting my hair cut  and colored at cosmetology schools and while the services do typically take a bit longer than in a high-priced salon, if you go to a good school (i.e. any Paul Mitchell School) you will leave with salon quality style without breaking the bank (cut and color-full color plus highlights-about $40). I have NEVER before been disappointed by a service received at a P.M. School. The cut I got on Saturday was done by Alexis at the Alexis Rene Paul Mitchell Signature Salon here in Bakersfield, CA. I explained to her my dilemma and also mentioned that I'd been in a hair rut for the last little while and she worked her magic. I left the Alexis  Rene salon feeling stylish and might I even say...pretty! So for the grand unveiling; TA DAH!

P.S. Nope, I didn't get a color also, that is all me (even the grays, eek!)