12w4d!!!

This week has been a tad bittersweet for me. We're moving out of the city into our new roomy, lovely, Oakland home, and this past Wednesday was my last prenatal acupuncture appt. I will miss both Rose & SF, but as our soon to be neighbor put it, "SF is only a 15 minute BART ride away." True that! Another major accomplishment will occur this Saturday outside of our move, I'll finish up my last final for my RE license!!! woohoo!

The master plan is:
1. Take the state exam by Summer's end
2. Pass, lol
3. Enroll in at least 2 classes towards my broker's license
4. Take the last class needed by baby's 1st birthday
5. Take my brokers license by baby's 2nd birthday

We'll see how well the master plan goes, I know that once baby comes everything's going to be turned upside down! I should have became a lawyer so I could have just taken both exams without having to take all of these classes :-P It's been almost a decade since college and it took me a while to get back into the swing of things, especially with the dreadful finance class I took towards my broker's license, ugh. It will all be worth it in the end!!! Fingers crossed that we'll have at least a couple investment properties by the end of the decade (for our baby's future) :)

Back to the most important thing in the world, life! Today was my integrated screening, I've been waiting for this for sooo long!!!!! I popped out of bed at 5am, ready to go by 7am, and had to chillax by the time our appt came around at 8:30am, lol. Seeing our baby actually look like a baby was surreal! It was the first appointment where I didn't cry hysterically because I was taken aback by my baby's beautiful dancing/ballet, it was my first proud mommy moment! My husband and I tried to zone in on our baby's genitalia, but couldn't see a thing since baby's legs were crossed the majority of the time. I have a feeling it's a girl... either way I'm elated since the chance baby has down syndrome is 1 in 30,000, woohoo!!!

Alright, so more fun stuff- pics!!! I have to cut this blog short due to the fact that I have to finish packing the rest of the apartment and study some more for my final tomorrow ;)

Look at my beautiful baby sucking it's thumb :')

9 weeks 3 days!

Woohoo! Baby updates are always good, especially during this uncertain time :) I meant to post yesterday after my dr visit, but the flurry of hormones mixed with all of the other tasks I had to complete by the month's end had me a little low on fuel.

Yesterday was another monumental day, we heard baby R's heartbeat whoosh through the neat handheld doppler instrument my dr used (needless to say I became overwhelmed with joy and cried like a baby) :) This sound was a huge relief since last Saturday was a bit of a scare for me. I began cramping during my gfriend's bridal shower :'( I can't begin to tell you how uncomfortable & stressed I was. Luckily, I kept my cool and waited for the cramping to subside and passed it off as our baby making a little more space in their room. This was the second scare that I've encountered thus far in my pregnancy, and I pray to God that is will be my last!

Since my last post, I had to face the fact that my clothes no longer accomodate my growing figure. I went on a mini shopping spree at Marshall's and a few other places & bought some flowy dresses, larger tops, and a pair of maternity jeans. I understand that it's normal for women to gain a few pounds in their first trimester, but my fat jeans have turned into my too tight to even be considered skinny jeans jeans :-/ After having a mini meltdown in one of the dressing rooms (hormones at their finest), I resorted to calling my preggo friend & hubby for a pep talk.

After that emotional whilwind, I was not expecting for the scale at the doctor's office to read 125lbs. Huh? I'm pretty much the same weight pre-preggo, I gained a pound, but who would've thought that a pound would make me move up 1 size larger in my tops and 2 sizes larger in my bottoms. Confused as ever, I asked my dr why my clothes no longer fit if I only gained one pound, to which she replied "thank your hormones."

Oh, one last "discovery" I'd like to post about. This past Wednesday, while being treated by Rose, she had mentioned that she believed that I was further along than she had thought (originally she estimated my due date as 12/2, but the ultrasound technician gave us a date of 11/29 based on the length of our baby). Well, crazy enough, yesterday when my dr looked at my fuller (bloated) belly, she told my husband and I that she thought we were one week further along then she had thought. Hmph, so now we may possibly have our little turkey on turkey day since I've now been given a due date range of 11/22-11/29, yay! Exciting! Baby will be home with family for the holidays :)

6 weeks 2 days!!!

Ladies & Gentlemen, presenting the 2 newest parents to be- Octavio & Elizabeth Rodriguez! Yaaaa, Woooo!

Hard to believe but we did it! God has blessed us tremendously & we are now expecting our little bundle of joy on November 29, 2010!!!

This journey hasn't been the easiest (especially through all the wicked clomid cycles), but we're glad that we tried everything we could before pulling out the big guns, better known as ivf.

In case you were not aware, we were lucky enough to get pregnant with the help of fertility acupuncture. I found an amazing woman by the name of Rose Glavin who became my beacon of hope. Every visit with her was positive & reassuring that I too would have my own little bean someday SOON :) I discovered last April (at a fertility clinic) that my fertility "problem" was annovulatory cycles (meaning I don't ovulate, therefore I don't get a period, making it practically impossible for me to get pregnant without hormonal therapy), with that information, Rose was able to prescribe me various Chinese Herbs and slowly but surely she brought on my womanly flow naturally (before, I had to take provera to bring it on, not fun at all, especially with the exaggerated PMS I would unintentionally direct towards my husband, & don't even get me started on the other drugs I was taking to make me ovulate... grr). After 2 successful "natural" menstrual flows, Rose decided that I was ready to use an OPK. Mind you that I had used various OPK's for 5 consecutive months (while on clomid therapy) with no positive results, ever!

Okay, so let me break down how this went down... ahem

Monday, February 15th, Day 1 of my last cycle.
Wednesday, February 17th, I met with Rose on & she told me to start checking for a surge a week later.
After reading tons of reviews on Amazon, I decided to buy 100 OPK sticks from: http://www.amazon.com/Early-Pregnancy-Tests-Ovulation-Pack/dp/B000GHYAVW/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1
After almost 2 weeks of daily testing I was beginning to get discouraged. Luckily on Monday, March 8th, I had an appt with my ob/gyn,/ She had suspected that I had or was about to ovulate because of various symptoms I was having, so she scheduled a progesterone test on Friday, March 12th.
Later that day I decided to check my OPK, & to my disbelief it was +!!!!!!!! Unsure if the test was a fluke, my husband wanted me to take another & that one was - :( But, I was aware that I needed to test at the same time everyday (which for me was around 10a) & the second test I took that day was at 3p, so needless to say I was still hopeful.
Friday, March 12th, I get my blood drawn. I'm anxiously waiting to hear the results.... Luckily, my sister-in-law Lissette was in town that week, so my baby worries were overshadowed by all the fun we had experiencing the city.
Sunday, March 14th, I had pre-menstrual symptoms :( Oh well, I thought, there's always next month.
Monday, March 15th, my Dr calls "Elizabeth, this is Dr Curran, I wanted to let you know that you indeed ovulated, your progesterone level is 9.8." Thank you, thank you, thank you! Then a million thoughts ran through my head, did we hit the window? Should I take progesterone suppositories in case we did? Why am I cramping? etc. etc. etc.
Wednesday, March 17th, I met with Rose, & although I was a little distraught about all my PMS symptoms, I felt that this could finally be it! Rose's words that week were "relax, & whatever happens, know that we're moving in a positive direction & if it's not this month, it will be a month soon from now." ahhh, ok. Then she told me the kicker... you have to wait a week to test. eek! A whole entire week?! OK, I thought, I can do this.
Saturday, March 20th, I awake after having a strange dream... and after a whole week of cramping something feels strange about the fullness I feel in my belly. I then busted out a pregnancy test that I had on hand. I take the test & at first it appears - to which I make out as "I should have waited, why didn't I listen to Rose... wait, the + line, it's becoming clear, OH MY... OCTAVIO, OCTAVIO, BABY, BABY, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Octavio jumps out of bed (this was all going down at 5:30am mind you), makes me take another test and that one's + too!!! Still unsatisfied I took a 3rd test later that day!



Then came the unbearable part, waiting to see if the baby would "stick," Rose had told me that a lot of women miscarry, but since I had all of the symptoms mine would probably stick, either way I thought, it's a step in the right direction :)

Fast forward to my first prenatal ultrasound which was yesterday, April 6th 2010, Octavio & I were unaware of what we were going to see, I prayed & prayed to God to let me keep this baby, I prayed that we would see a heartbeat, & then we seen it, the most beautiful thing in the world, the tiniest flashing light coming out of the screen, our baby's heartbeat, a healthy 120bpm!!!
Everything else was normal too, what a relief, phew!


After sobbing uncontrollably & oogling the ultrasound film for what felt like hours, Octavio & I finally snapped back into reality & realized that God has given us the biggest blessing HE could ever give anyone- Life!

Please join us in praying for our baby, we're halfway to the "safe" point!

:)