Possible Names

Girl's Names: Rhonna (or Ronna). I just met my new neighbor the other day and her name is Rhonna, although she didn't tell me how to spell it. Frank's brother who passed away is of course Ronald. Alex (Ainsley's choice), or Alexis (Frank's choice). Ainsley says not Alexandra, though...just Alex. I like Lexi. Boy's Names: Adam. The lead singer from the band Maroon 5 's name is Adam. This is how the name caught my attention. Wish I could say it's after Adam Lambert who is of course my favorite American Idol this year. Liam - just thought of yesterday... we kinda like it. If you're thinking that we're trying to come up with another "A" name, you're wrong. We're just having fun with it. Maybe in a couple weeks, I'll set up a poll where everyone can vote for their favorite name. Until then, bring on the comments. Suggestions will be considered!!!

The Results Call

My doctor from St. E.'s (Dr. Khawli, the high risk pregnancy doctor) called me to give me the results of the prenatal genetic screening. There is a 1 in 78 chance that we may have a baby with a genetic disorder such as Down's Syndrome. This is considered a high risk. Dr. Khawli said that this gives us cause to have an amniocentesis. What is an amniocentesis? In a nutshell, a needle is inserted into the uterus to extract amniotic fluid that is then sent to the lab where it can be determined with 98%-99% accuracy if the baby has a genetic abnormality or disease. It can also determine other things, such as paternity, and lung development.

What are your options? Finding out your baby does not have a genetic disorder can give you peace of mind. Finding out your baby does have a disorder can give you time to prepare to care for a special needs child or to terminate the pregnancy. You can terminate the pregnancy up to 24 weeks.

Frank is kind of worried. He wants us to get the amniocentesis done but I don't really want to do it. I feel like the risk of losing the baby is too great. Miscarriage is the primary risk related to amniocentesis. The risk of miscarriage ranges from 1 in 400 to 1 in 200, depending on how regularly the hospital performs the procedure. Miscarriages can occur because of infection in the uterus, the water breaks or labor is induced prematurely. We will see Dr. Khawli, the high risk pregnancy doctor, on May 22nd. He said we can do the amnio then or we can do it before then if we're really nervous. We will definitely have another ultrasound on that day and we may find out the sex of the baby! How exciting. Frank has that day off, so we're going together. We're thinking about the amnio. We're going to talk about it, educate ourselves, and pray. Remember, this is our little miracle and I do have faith that everything will turn out okay. Stay tuned for an update. Next doctor's visit: Monday, May 4th. To Dr. Malak, my regular Ob doctor. Read more about amniocentesis at: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/prenataltesting/amniocentesis.html

First Maternity Shopping Trip

Saturday, April 25th. To the Prime Outlets in Grove City! Ainsley had a sleepover so, as it was later in the day, 7:30pm to be exact, and I was feeling better, we decided to go get me some badly needed bras and clothes. Things are starting to NOT FIT! I am wearing out and stretching out my sports bras. They don't deserve it. I've not been able to wear my regular bras for a good two weeks. So, number one on the agenda is new bras. Number two is jeans. So we made it to "Motherhood," a store at the outlets. They had nursing bras for $11. Thank goodness we didn't go to JCPenney's, as was the original plan. I ended up trying on a bunch of clothes in the "As Is" section, but as I had a small budget to work with, I did not buy everything I wanted. Here's what I ended up with: 2 nice bras for $12 and $13, and one pair of beige maternity shorts for $16. Not bad. We told the lady as we left that we'd be seeing her again, as these are the only maternity clothes I now own. We felt pretty satisfied as we left. I can begin to feel comfortable with my own body again. So we rolled over to Mickey D's and I got a chocolate milkshake, small fries, and a water (all to be thrown up later that night! ugh!). A nice little outing, but maybe a little overdone for how sick I've been.

How Are You Feeling?

Time period: when I first found out - up through week 13. Very nauseous. I've been very nauseous throughout the first trimester. Many smells bother me greatly. There is not a lot I can eat. What are my solutions? What has made me feel somewhat better, for short periods of time anyway, are the following: 1) seasickness wrist bands, given to me by my sister, Tara. She said this is the only thing that worked for her during her last pregnancy. I will say that I feel worse when I'm not wearing them. 2) Ginger ale. People say that ginger works to help nauseousness. This is all I can drink, along with water. I won't say that it combats nauseousness, but it maybe subsides it a little. 3) Saltines, 4) Dry toast. 5) Tums EX. A plus in taking Tums is that you get that extra dose of calcium, which is greatly needed in pregnancy and for older women, such as myself. I think I might've lost weight, or at least not gained any. A small bonus for all the sickness. I did not have this hugely nauseous feeling with Ainsley. I don't know how women are able to work while they feel this way. I'm also extremely tired. Then I went on Ainsley's class field trip. It was cold, windy, and rainy that day. We went to visit Heinz Field, the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Pittsburgh Zoo. We were outside for many hours. A couple of days later, I was sick. Sick with horrible sinus pain, a cold, and cough. This has been for about 4 days, and is hopefully subsiding. Unfortunately, I also passed my sickness onto Ainsley and Frank. Let's hope as we go into the second trimester, I will feel better.

Prenatal Screening Tests

Visit to Dr. Khawli at St. E.'s on Wednesday, April 22nd. Dr. Khawli specializes in high risk pregnancies. My sister, Tara, came with me, which made me feel good because I'm pretty nervous about everything. They pricked my finger and took my blood. I just can't imagine how Frank as a diabetic does this multiple times daily because it hurt. They also did a non-invasive (thank God!) ultrasound. They took many pictures and measurements of the baby. This is part of the prenatal screening to see if the baby is more likely to have Down's Syndrome or another genetic disorder. The nurse told me that they will call me to let me know if my baby is in the higher percentage to have a genetic disorder. The doctor will call if we're in the higher percentage, the nurse will call if there's nothing to worry about. The doctor said that we will most likely be in the higher percentage because of my age. One good thing is that the baby had a nasal bone, which, according to the doctor, most Down's babies do not have. Do we go on with the testing after this? The doctor pointed out that these tests are 90% accurate. The only way to know 100% if the baby has a genetic disorder is to have an amniocentesis performed. There is a small risk of miscarriage if you have an amniocentesis. If these tests show that the baby is at high risk, we will have to make the decision whether or not to get an amnio. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I found a good article explaining prenatal screening tests: http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/prenatal-testing/PR00014/METHOD=print

Telling The Family (paranoid hormones?!)

Frank and I told Ainsley the day of her birthday party, March 28th. Of course she was thrilled. She's only been waiting for this moment for her entire life! Then we told our moms & dads and the rest of the family the first week of April. I don't think everyone is very thrilled. Maybe it's my hormones being paranoid?! Anyway WE ARE THRILLED! We want to stay positive and remember that this is a miracle sent to us from God for some reason. The most important thing to me is my family: Frank, Ainsley, baby & me!

First doctor's visit

First visit: March 30th. To Dr. Malak. Yes. I am pregnant. Did anyone bother to tell me I am 40? They all sure have. First ultrasound done - invasive. Not comfy at all. There really is a baby in there. Frank and Ainsley came to the ultrasound. We were all so excited! We went to Bob Evans for pie afterwards.

The Revelation

Found out we were pregnant just before my birthday. Great birthday present! This is how I found out. I was working in the cafeteria at Ainsley's school. I caught a nice big whiff of the garbage being changed. YIKES! I was so nauseous for the rest of the day. My friend, Deb, asked jokingly if I were pregnant. Haha. Well, I thought back and I should've had my period a week before. So I ran home and found an ancient pregnancy test under the bathroom sink. The result: a pink plus sign. But one part of the plus sign was kind of faint in color. The box said it doesn't matter. It's still positive. Well, Frank ran out and purchased a test that will leave no doubt whatsoever. It reads "YES" for pregnant and "NO" for not pregnant. "YES" was the result on this one. Okay, well what now? I'm sooooo ill! There is a constant nauseousness. Ugh, I did not have this with Ainsley. Not this bad.