The heart beat at 17 weeks

I forgot to post this when we recorded it.   Turn the volume way up!  Little Avie's heart is beating just the way it should.  At least that's what they tell me!

You can tell this video is old because my tummy looks nothing like this anymore.

My life as a spy

So I realized the other day that I am just as bad as any old lady who stays at home all day and spys on her neighbors. This all happened when we bought a house; all of a sudden I felt the desire to keep tabs on everyone. Now some of the "tab keeping" is because I actually sit and have conversations with some of them. Now others, it's not that easy...... they need to be watched and have conclusions drawn up about them. I tell people that I keep an eye on my neighbors because I'm pregnant and want to be sure that when my baby is older she will be safe, but the reality of it all is that my neighbors are more interesting than any TV show I watch. My favorite is the man who leaves his house every 30-45 minutes and is only gone for 5-10 minutes. Interesting right? Wouldn't you like to know what he's up to??? Blair isn't nearly as bad, but he does have a new neighbor that he is trying to guess if he is a pro surfer, a band guy, or a poser.

Not sure why I'm putting this on my blog, but I decided it was about time I admitted it. My name is Michelle Edwards and I am a neighborhood spy. Maybe I need to watch a little more TV.

Lots of elastic!

Funny thing happened the day after my visit to the E.R. - my pants stopped fitting. How does that happen over night? One day they were a little tight and the other day I couldn't zip them. Amazing! So Kat and I HAD to go shopping, And for those of you who know Kat you know that she HATES to go shopping, so I was very thankful for her sacrifice!

While we were at Gap Maternity Kat seemed to have gain a little weight. Personally I think it may have been the small coffee from Starbucks that put her over the edge, but who am I to judge?
Seriously who is the pregnant one here? So I had to show her what's up!
Gap Maternity was fun and as you can see we enjoyed the fake prego belly. It was crazy to see what I will look like in just a few months! Wait 'till Blair see's this picture. Too bad I didn't send it to him while he was in Alaska and didn't know any better.

Mission accomplished for those of you who were worried. New pants with LOTS of elastic. I'm a little nervous I could get used to all this. I think I'm in love with the elastic waist!

My trip to the E.R. in Napa

So I like to think that I'm a pretty relaxed, no stress person, but when the cramping hit the 9 hour mark; non-affected by Tylenol I thought got a little worried.......well I guess I'm starting in the middle and for those of you like Kat who will want to know all the exciting details of the day I should start at the beginning.

Well, I left to go shopping around 9:30 this morning with my mom, grandma, and aunt. The cramping started around 10am and just continued to get worse. I just thought it was because we had walked around Baby's R Us 5 times with my grandma determined to buy anything and everything. I figured it was my bodies way of saying...GET OUT OF HERE.

But nothing seemed to make the cramps go away...food, rest, water. They just stayed the same. By 4pm they had gotten so bad that I called Dr. Green who convinced me to take a Tylenol (I was determined not to take any medicine this whole pregnancy) and wait and hour. No change.

So at 7:30 my mom and I drove to Napa E.R. and prepared for my worst fear......complications with the baby while Blair was in the middle of no where in Alaska with no cell service.

I walked into the E.R., told them I was almost 21 weeks pregnant and was having cramps. You would be amazed how fast I was wheeled in to maternity and hooked up to every monitor made. I think it took all of 5 minutes from the time I walked in until the time I got hooked up to the machines. They checked for contractions, the heart, we had another sonogram (still has girl parts) and I got to experience the dialated/not dialated exam.

End result......baby is growing as is my tummy. Everything is fine and great. The baby had been laying across my belly (hip to hip) and this morning moved to a breech position and caused my belly muscles to stretch quickly; at least this is the Dr.'s best idea. No wonder i woke up thinking my belly grew over night; even my mom made a comment this morning that I "looked" pregnant.

Praise the Lord for this answer to prayer!

It's a GIRL!

Here is Avila's first official blog picture! I'm sure there will be many more to come! this is our favorite from the sonogram. If you can't make out the image on the right is her little face and on the left is her arm and hand! The sonogram went perfectly. 2 arms, 2 legs, 1 head.....all the essentials are where they should be!

It was the most amazing experience to watch her little heart beating in her body on the monitor! It amazes me that in 18 weeks this little life has formed in me!

We find out Tuesday

We have our first sonogram on Tuesday morning! I can't believe it! None of it seems real yet. Every time I tell people I'm pregnant I still feel like I lying. It's so weird! I can't wait to have a real picture of our little Avila or Liam! I should be the picture posted by the end of the week!

Please pray for our appointment that the baby looks healthy and is growing the way it should. With this being the first one, I'm constantly wondering...should I have felt that pain, should I be getting bigger, should I...well you know how it goes. Pray that already I would give this little one over to the Lord fully; trusting Him to take take care of this little life inside me.

To eat or not to eat sushi - that is the question.

Being pregnant and not being able to eat certain things is a very stressful thing. There are books that say don't eat pretty much anything unless it grows on a tree - well not that extreme, but sometimes it feels like it. My favorite is don't each lunch meant. Seriously, lunch meat. If I've grown up eating lunch meat, what will really happen to me or the baby if I eat it?

There are certain ones I understand - like cut back on caffeine - the saddest one of all!

So I ask my Dr. (who will remain nameless in case people would like to disagree with him) what should I really not eat or drink. I expect him to parrot what the books say, but he responds "stay away from alcohol and drugs." That's it? What about death by lunch meat? What about telling me the dangers of my favorite sushi restaurant? What about the effect of my beloved Coffee Bean? Nope. Nothing. Apparently he is really relaxed on the whole food dangers thing.

So, in honor of my Dr. (who still will remain nameless) Kat and I celebrated at Marina Sushi in Ventura - my FAVORITE sushi restaurant. I felt a little guilty after eating it though - even though I took most of the raw fish off. So I decide for the baby and my own piece of mind I may stay clear from sushi for the rest of the pregnancy. But, man it was good!