Week 37

Doctor said I was already 80% effaced, meaning my cervix is almost thinned out enough to open up. Don't ask for details on this. I do not have the motivation to explain it. Brett went to New Daddy Bootcamp class. He changed a two-week-old baby girl (photo below) and bonded with new dads. He really liked the class and learned a lot!

It was Brett's birthday this week! Happy birthday my love.

Also in week 37 we worked a lot and cleaned the house getting ready for the big Thanksgiving Holiday Madness. More on that in the above posting.

Week 36

My good friend, Tara Nalty, hosted a Blessing Way for me and then a Daddy Diaper Shower for Brett on Sunday Nov 15th. The Blessing Way was an intimate girls-only ritual blessing me and the baby with words, roses, amulets, massage and the casting of my belly in plaster. A very special Thank You to the girls who participated: Tara, Dana, Nyah, Erika, Shannon, and Sarah Burns. Before the blessing we had a beautiful catered lunch of soup, finger sandwiches, salad and ginger champagne cocktails; after the blessing, Brett's Shower was catered with dinner of beef stew. A crew showed up bearing diapers, presents, beer and whisky. People stayed until almost midnight, but I was in bed by 10pm. Here are some photos.

Week 35

We have finally built the beautiful nursery furniture that my Mommy bought us! And put some happy friends in the crib who are anxiuosly awaiting the baby girl to love them!

Week 34

Dr visit again and I am still anemic. They want me to eat red meat twice a day. Gross! But I am trying. I did get the H1N1 Flu Vaccine! Woo-hoo!


Also, we started our Prepared Birthing Class at Exempla St Joseph's Hospital. We are learning so much about the whole process or labor and birth. But instead of feeling more courageous about it, I am much more terrified. We watched a couple videos and it is all pretty horrifying if you ask me. But it is good for us to see and to know that all weirdness that could potentially come out of me is all totally normal (ie, white, alien, cone-head babies, and bloody placentas, etc.)

Week 33

So sorry people (especailly mommy who is sad when I don't write a post).
The penultimate weekend of Oct, Brett and I celebrated our 2nd Wedding Anniversary. We rented a cute little cabin in Rollinsville, CO (near Nederland, Gilpin County). We just relaxed and enjoyed the quiet and the snowfall and went on walks through the forest and watched movies by the fire.



On our actual anniversary (Oct 27th) we went for a nice dinner and ate a bite of two-year-old wedding cake when we got home... it was pretty gross and we finally threw it out a few days ago all nostalgia aside.
We decorated the house for Halloween. We had a total of TWO little kids who came trick-or-treating. Stupid little brats. Our neighborhood is not very social at all.

Week 32

Starting to get presents from our family! We love them all! Thank you everyone!

Also, we had a maternity photo session with JK Studio on Sunday. The photographer was one of the crew who did our wedding photos. Here are a few teaser action shots, but the real photos will be available to buy online through the studio's website later on.

Week 31

Last weekend Brett's parents came to visit us. We had a really nice time with them and are so thankful for everthing they did for us while they were here - took us out to eat, bought us groceries, made us dinner, and THEN bought us a few items from our baby registry! Thanks so much Lillian and James!!! We love you!!!

Also, THANK YOU BECKY for the Baby Bjorn! Brett won't let me put Chango inside it.

Speaking of the Baby Gift Registry... if you are wanting to see it, here is the link...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&type=baby&id=2REK4QRJ4BHTS

Week 30

Seven more weeks to go until full-term! (But the average time a baby lives inside a mother is 40 weeks.)

Week 29

Last week I visited my sister, Becky, in Miami. We had so much fun hanging out. We went to the beach and ate lots of good food and drove around a lot to see the city. Here are some pics. PS - Cubans CANNOT cook tostones right! WTF?! Why would you boil all the flavor out of the poor plantains and then smash them into huge, tasteless saucers? But the sushi we ate in South Beach was absolutely amazing! I highly recommend Planet Sushi.

Week 28

Yesterday, I overdosed on a glucose drink to see if I have Gestational Diabetes. Everyone says that this drink is disgusting. But I think it just tastes like Orange Crush that has no carbonation. The Kaiser Lab serves it cold and you have to drink it in under 5 minutes. An hour later, two tubes of blood were taken from me. The doctor's office called today and told me the following...
No, I do not have G. Diabetes. Infact, just the opposite - my body processes sugar extremely well and fast. My glucose level after an hour was suuuuper low they said. Meaning: I can get hypoglycemic very easily. I am supposed to eat every two hours. And I need to balance protein with sugars every time I do eat, so that I don't "bottom out my glucose level".
Also, the nurse said that my blood-work indicates I am Anemic. I just knew it! So I am supposed to now add an iron supplement to my diet every day.

One more thing from yesterday's Prenatal apt. Our doctor showed me how to feel where the baby's head is inside me. That was really, really weird becuase I had her little skull piched between two fingers. Brett did not like this at all. He felt bad that we were harrassing her in her nice cozy little world.

Happy Birthday to my Mommy! She is 65 as of yesterday. Love you!!!!

Week 27

Week 26

Spent a week in my old town, San Francisco! Brett, his brother Sean, and I went for some vacation time and to see lots of my old friends. We had a great visit! Ate, lots of good food, rode lots of MUNI and BART, spent time with good people... including two other pregnant women, one of which had her baby the day after we left town! Congratulations Cherlyn & Charles on the arrival of little "Jax" Wagner!
Here are some pics of us and them...

Week 24

We bought some paint and prepped the nursery for painting. Brett will paint today and tomorrow and I will do some accent painting this weekend. We are getting very excited to do the decorating and pick some furniture for the room. Brett's parents and my mom have most graciously offered to buy the furniture that we choose. I'll put up photos very soon for you to see! (Teaser = Enchanted fairy forest at dusk. Greens, browns, animal decals, and glowing stars for our little baby girl. I hope she likes it when she arrives.)

I've gained 20 pounds total in the past 5 months. There's only four months left now! The due date is December 11th for those who have been asking.

Special thanks and love going out to all my Tios and Primos in the Dominican Republic who have been emailing me with questions.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DADDY who would have turned 70 years old yesterday. I MISS YOU DADDY! <3

Week 23

Didn't write anything for week 23.

Week 22

Brett's brother, Eric, and his wife, Haley, gave us a doppler! We can't stop playing with it. Every night we check the baby's heart rate. I think she gets annoyed with it, cuz she kicks at it sometimes. Very cute! Here is a movie of Dr. Brett getting a reading. Sorry there is no sound. I accidentally covered up the mic on the iPhone when I was filming.

Week 21

The belly is getting so big. Finally broke down and spent some money on "maternity" clothes. Mostly they are just clothes that normally would be way too big for me. Then my big sister, Maria, sent me a gift card to Target with a note saying "Buy maternity clothes". So I got some more! Now I should be able to dress myself for the next month or so. Also Maria sent us our first bunch of soft PINK things for the baby. Thank you MTV!
We are now totally used to the idea of having a baby girl. At first I was really freaked out, but now I am so happy and excited to have a daughter. We bought her some things at the Renaissance Festival over the weekend. Two baby fairies and two feathery dragon puppets.
They will live in the nursery which we are designing in our heads. Hopefully soon, Brett will sand the walls in there so we can paint it and start the decorating. It has tan walls and chocolate carpet. Barf. (But the white wainscoting we will keep.) I will show you what it looks like now...


Sorry the quality and light of the photos is so bad. iphone camera.

Week 20

IT IS A GIRL!!!!!

Week 19

Road Trip to Wyoming! - Last week Brett and I went to Wyoming with some friends (Derek, Breezy, and their 11 month-old baby girl, Logan). We drove all night and got to Jackson Hole at 4am. Slept for a while at the Rawhide Motel, had lunch at Bunnie's (awesome, yummy restaurant/bakery in Town Square), then drove a few more hours to our cabin in Cayon Village, Yellowstone National Monument. (Thanks Becky and Andrew for the cabin they had reserved a year before! Sorry you couldn't be with us.) Spent three nights and two full days in the Park, seeing the beautiful natural sites and animals. Guess what... we finally unmistakedly felt the baby moving!!! 'Moving' is not a good word for it - going crazy in a mosh-pit was more like it! It's cuz I ate a chocolate mint icecream cone and drank a Pepsi while sitting in the heat waiting for Old Faithful to blow. Sugar and caffine made that baby hyyyyper! And you should have seen Brett's face when I put is hand on my belly. He was speechless and his mouth dropped open in disbelief. This made our day! Better than seeing a black bear and her two baby cubs eating flowers not ten feet from us! Better even than seeing a grizzly bear wandering around by an enchanted fairy-tale pond! After Old Faithful Geyser erupted, we went to Yellowstone Lake and Brett jumped in in his boxers to swim. He lasted half a minute cuz it was like ice-water. But soooooo beautiful.

Next day, we drove back down into Grand Teton National Park. Managed to find one last empty camp-site. We made camp, ate dinner, hung out in garbage bag-ponchos while an evening storm rushed through, and hung out eating smores by the fires til late. Brett and Derek drank beer and whiskey of course. You know - camping. Awesome.

Got back to Denver Monday night and have been working my ass off since. Can't wait to rest on Sunday and Monday. And on Monday.... the big ULTRASOUND APOINTMENT!....