You can find the new blog here!
http://bringingupbowling.blogspot.com/
2/12/2012
2/02/2012
Pictures, Videos and news!
It's a BOY! We had our 16 week scan today and learned that baby is 100% BOY! We are so very excited, one of each is going to be SO fun! We let Taylor come along because she has been asking to see the baby. Actually, HER baby that's in my tummy, according to her. She loved it. First, she was disturbed by the gel the doctor squirted on my belly, but then she saw her brother on the screen and her face lit up. He lifted his hand up at one point and the doctor clicked back and forth between two frames and made it look like he was waving at her. The girl was grinning from ear to ear, and leaned over to tell Daddy that he was waving at her. So sweet!
Here she is before the appointment, excited!
A couple of quick videos... this first one cracks.me.up. She was SO excited at the beginning, you can see it in her face. But, as soon as the doctor squirted that gel all over my belly, her face is priceless. She actually didn't even see the baby at first, she was so worried about what was going on my belly and how I was going to get it off.
Then she finally saw him. So sweet <3
Here's one of me, at 16 weeks (Baby is currently measuring 6 days ahead)
And finally, a few profile pictures of baby BROTHER!!
Here she is before the appointment, excited!
A couple of quick videos... this first one cracks.me.up. She was SO excited at the beginning, you can see it in her face. But, as soon as the doctor squirted that gel all over my belly, her face is priceless. She actually didn't even see the baby at first, she was so worried about what was going on my belly and how I was going to get it off.
Then she finally saw him. So sweet <3
Here's one of me, at 16 weeks (Baby is currently measuring 6 days ahead)
And finally, a few profile pictures of baby BROTHER!!
Waving
Close up profile of head and tummy
And last but not least, since we will no longer be "The Bowlings Plus One", we obviously need a new blog name! I am working with Jumping Jax designs for a cute new blog design and name. Of course, I'll let you know as soon as it's ready!
1/20/2012
A few pictures
I have been SO bad about taking pictures lately. Between the 1st Trimester exhaustion, working full time, taking care of one sweet girl, I'm tired. Here are a few from the last month or so. And now that I'm officially in the 2nd Trimester (how did that happen so fast?!), and feeling better, hopefully my picture taking will get better. Hopefully. For now, enjoy these.
A couple of weeks ago, it was in the 70s! This has been a crazy (non) winter! We took full advantage and had a picnic at the park, and enjoyed the playground.
Look at that fake smile! But she looked so cute for our New Year's Eve dinner out at a Hibachi restaurant
Yes, Michael likes to ruin pictures.
As soon as we got home it was dress up time for the girls
And this is how we spend New Year's Eve these days!
A couple of weeks ago, it was in the 70s! This has been a crazy (non) winter! We took full advantage and had a picnic at the park, and enjoyed the playground.
1/06/2012
Baby Bowling 2.0!
Want the details on how this happened? Okay, not the details, but I will say it wasn’t the traditional manner, and this is truly a miracle baby! Here’s the short and sweet. Not really, it will be very long, but it has been a crazy few months!
Let’s back up a little. Many months ago, we had FINALLY decided we would try and give Taylor a brother or sister. At this point we were of the mindset that if we got pregnant, great but if not, it’s okay because we have one amazing, perfect little girl. Little did we know what was ahead of us.
A few months went by, and nothing. I get that I’m older, but we got pregnant with Taylor during our first cycle, so I started to wonder. Then a couple of months after nothing, I began having random cramping and spotting - weird times of the month, as in not during my normal cycle. I immediately decided to make an appointment to see my OB, who I adore. She is so on top of things, we immediately started the standard testing. As a part of that testing, we did an ultrasound to check things out. That’s when we discovered I had a large cyst on my ovaries. Three of them, in fact. She did not think the cysts would resolve themselves, so true to her form, we decided to go ahead and get the Laparoscopic surgery scheduled to remove them, right away. Really, it wouldn’t be (shouldn’t have been!) a big deal. An out-patient surgery, tiny incision, and I would be off work a few days to a week at most. I mean, I’m not getting any younger, so let’s do this. Let’s get on with it.
The surgery was scheduled for one week later, on August 18th. Michael and I got up to the hospital bright and early, I got my happy meds and was wheeled away to surgery. When I woke up, I was disoriented, in a lot of pain, and recognized that I was in a regular hospital room, not a recovery room. I was in the same type of room I was in after I gave birth to Taylor. Something was wrong, something happened, but my brain couldn’t function long enough to figure it out. Finally, Michael appeared. He asked if I was ok, and all I could ask is “what happened??” He proceeded to tell me things were bad, and I had to have major surgery, not just Laparoscopic surgery - okay, that’s what the pain and inablity to move was. I had major abdominal surgery, a 5 inch incision (like a c-section) to be exact. He said I would be in the hospital for 2 or maybe 3 nights. He then said that I lost my right tube, he said Dr T would explain but it had to be done. Okay. I still didn’t understand the gravity.
Later, once I was more with it and settled, had a few visitors and some food, Dr T came to check on me. She explained that the cyst was huge, as in the size of a grapefruit! It was so large the Lap surgery would never had worked, hence the large incision. It had actually grown since the week before, at my ultrasound. She had no idea how I hadn’t had any symptoms, how I wasn’t in pain constantly. I also learned that along with these cysts, I had Stage 3 Endometriosis. My right tube was so damaged from the Endo, it had to go. She “cleaned up” the rest of it as much as possible, but basically my tubes, ovaries, entire reproductive system is covered in scar tissue and damaged from the Endometriosis. She couldn’t believe that I haven’t had significant pain. My cycles have always been painful, so I just thought that it was normal.
So here I am, in the hospital, less one tube, Stage 3 Endometriosis, and facing weeks off work. I was released from the hospital, healed for a few weeks, and went back to work. After my post-op check-up, Dr T said we could start trying again, right away. I was anxious to get started, but then I started reading, researching, and understanding how bad all of this was, especially with my age (ugh!). We didn’t really have any time to waste, and Dr T suggested that if we weren’t pregnant within 3 months, to go see a Fertility Specialist. What?! A fertility specialist? We had NO problems conceiving Taylor or with the pregnancy itself. I couldn’t fathom how I had gotten here. Then Dr T dropped a bomb. She said that likely our best chances for having another baby would be IVF. Invitro Fertilization. Holy crap. I couldn’t even think about it, we immediately said we didn’t think we could do that. Injections, shots, hormones, it was just... too much.
However, I will say my attitude towards having baby #2 TOTALLY changed. I went from “if it happens, it happens” to I REALLY want another baby, now. I guess it was my body telling me I CAN’T that made me more determined to beat those odds. I never knew how badly I wanted another baby until my body said no.
Instead of waiting 3 months to see a fertility specialist, I made an appointment right away. We got started right away with the standard tests. The most important test was the HSG. This would tell us whether or not my remaining tube was open or blocked. If it was blocked, then IVF was our ONLY option to have another baby. If it was clear, we *could* get pregnant but the fact of having one tube, Stage 3 Endometriosis, and my age, our chances were very slim. The HSG revealed that my remaining tube was partially blocked. Great. But really that kind of sealed the deal for me. After several weeks of tears, researching, worrying, stressing, we decided to go for it. IVF here we come.
I'll spare you the details on the process, but I will just say that it was tough. I had to inject myself in the stomach with hormones up to 3 times a day for 11 days, there was a giant needle inserted in my ovaries to retrieve the eggs. There was the actual Transfer (which was a piece of cake in hindsight) And after that? If I got pregnant, there would be 10 (TEN!) weeks of daily intramuscular injections, with a BIG, giant needle. No fun, not fun at all. There were tons of hormones, bloating, needles, discomfort, needles, and more needles.
Then, there was the biggest decision we struggled with. How many embryos to transfer back. The doctor recommended 2-3 for someone my age. Um, no. We wanted a baby, but we wanted ONE baby. He explained that at my age it was unlikely that both would stick. He said that it was likely none of them would stick. How the heck were we supposed to decide what to do? I had been through so much, and what if it didn't work? How could I put myself through all of that, all the emotional and physical stuff, and have it not work. It was SO hard, probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make.
Let’s back up a little. Many months ago, we had FINALLY decided we would try and give Taylor a brother or sister. At this point we were of the mindset that if we got pregnant, great but if not, it’s okay because we have one amazing, perfect little girl. Little did we know what was ahead of us.
A few months went by, and nothing. I get that I’m older, but we got pregnant with Taylor during our first cycle, so I started to wonder. Then a couple of months after nothing, I began having random cramping and spotting - weird times of the month, as in not during my normal cycle. I immediately decided to make an appointment to see my OB, who I adore. She is so on top of things, we immediately started the standard testing. As a part of that testing, we did an ultrasound to check things out. That’s when we discovered I had a large cyst on my ovaries. Three of them, in fact. She did not think the cysts would resolve themselves, so true to her form, we decided to go ahead and get the Laparoscopic surgery scheduled to remove them, right away. Really, it wouldn’t be (shouldn’t have been!) a big deal. An out-patient surgery, tiny incision, and I would be off work a few days to a week at most. I mean, I’m not getting any younger, so let’s do this. Let’s get on with it.
The surgery was scheduled for one week later, on August 18th. Michael and I got up to the hospital bright and early, I got my happy meds and was wheeled away to surgery. When I woke up, I was disoriented, in a lot of pain, and recognized that I was in a regular hospital room, not a recovery room. I was in the same type of room I was in after I gave birth to Taylor. Something was wrong, something happened, but my brain couldn’t function long enough to figure it out. Finally, Michael appeared. He asked if I was ok, and all I could ask is “what happened??” He proceeded to tell me things were bad, and I had to have major surgery, not just Laparoscopic surgery - okay, that’s what the pain and inablity to move was. I had major abdominal surgery, a 5 inch incision (like a c-section) to be exact. He said I would be in the hospital for 2 or maybe 3 nights. He then said that I lost my right tube, he said Dr T would explain but it had to be done. Okay. I still didn’t understand the gravity.
Later, once I was more with it and settled, had a few visitors and some food, Dr T came to check on me. She explained that the cyst was huge, as in the size of a grapefruit! It was so large the Lap surgery would never had worked, hence the large incision. It had actually grown since the week before, at my ultrasound. She had no idea how I hadn’t had any symptoms, how I wasn’t in pain constantly. I also learned that along with these cysts, I had Stage 3 Endometriosis. My right tube was so damaged from the Endo, it had to go. She “cleaned up” the rest of it as much as possible, but basically my tubes, ovaries, entire reproductive system is covered in scar tissue and damaged from the Endometriosis. She couldn’t believe that I haven’t had significant pain. My cycles have always been painful, so I just thought that it was normal.
So here I am, in the hospital, less one tube, Stage 3 Endometriosis, and facing weeks off work. I was released from the hospital, healed for a few weeks, and went back to work. After my post-op check-up, Dr T said we could start trying again, right away. I was anxious to get started, but then I started reading, researching, and understanding how bad all of this was, especially with my age (ugh!). We didn’t really have any time to waste, and Dr T suggested that if we weren’t pregnant within 3 months, to go see a Fertility Specialist. What?! A fertility specialist? We had NO problems conceiving Taylor or with the pregnancy itself. I couldn’t fathom how I had gotten here. Then Dr T dropped a bomb. She said that likely our best chances for having another baby would be IVF. Invitro Fertilization. Holy crap. I couldn’t even think about it, we immediately said we didn’t think we could do that. Injections, shots, hormones, it was just... too much.
However, I will say my attitude towards having baby #2 TOTALLY changed. I went from “if it happens, it happens” to I REALLY want another baby, now. I guess it was my body telling me I CAN’T that made me more determined to beat those odds. I never knew how badly I wanted another baby until my body said no.
Instead of waiting 3 months to see a fertility specialist, I made an appointment right away. We got started right away with the standard tests. The most important test was the HSG. This would tell us whether or not my remaining tube was open or blocked. If it was blocked, then IVF was our ONLY option to have another baby. If it was clear, we *could* get pregnant but the fact of having one tube, Stage 3 Endometriosis, and my age, our chances were very slim. The HSG revealed that my remaining tube was partially blocked. Great. But really that kind of sealed the deal for me. After several weeks of tears, researching, worrying, stressing, we decided to go for it. IVF here we come.
I'll spare you the details on the process, but I will just say that it was tough. I had to inject myself in the stomach with hormones up to 3 times a day for 11 days, there was a giant needle inserted in my ovaries to retrieve the eggs. There was the actual Transfer (which was a piece of cake in hindsight) And after that? If I got pregnant, there would be 10 (TEN!) weeks of daily intramuscular injections, with a BIG, giant needle. No fun, not fun at all. There were tons of hormones, bloating, needles, discomfort, needles, and more needles.
Then, there was the biggest decision we struggled with. How many embryos to transfer back. The doctor recommended 2-3 for someone my age. Um, no. We wanted a baby, but we wanted ONE baby. He explained that at my age it was unlikely that both would stick. He said that it was likely none of them would stick. How the heck were we supposed to decide what to do? I had been through so much, and what if it didn't work? How could I put myself through all of that, all the emotional and physical stuff, and have it not work. It was SO hard, probably one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make.
On the Transfer day, we had two “beautiful, perfect embryos” according to the embryologist. They were all set to for the transfer, and they were really encouraging us to transfer both. We just couldn’t do it. I just had a feeling/intuition that if we transferred both, both would stick and there we would be with twins. Obviously, we would have adjusted and made it work but, we really wanted only ONE more baby. My doc encouraged us to re-think our decision, but we stuck to our guns. The odds were TOTALLY against us. I kept reading the stats for someone my age, especially transferring only one embryo, and really my hopefulness faded. And I can tell you more than once, I thought “what the hell am I doing?”
Ultimately we had to do what we were most comfortable with. And we were most comfortable with transferring one “beautiful, perfect embryo”, so that’s what we did.
Want to see something totally amazing?
This is our “beautiful, perfect” embryo:
And this is our "beautiful, perfect" baby!:
7 weeks
12 weeks
I’m 12 weeks pregnant, and SO happy we took the chance. After months of injections, hormones, emotions, worry and stress, I can’t believe it worked. I still can’t believe I’m pregnant. We beat the odds, when everything was totally against us.
Baby Bowling 2.0 coming, July 2012!
12/28/2011
Christmas 2011!
We had an amazing Christmas, complete with a trip to Oklahoma, and SIX celebrations! We had a wonderful time but now are completely exhausted! Taylor is a loved little girl and got so much great stuff from friends and family. I'll include it all in one giant post, because I'm too lazy and really pictures is all everyone cares about, right?
Getting ready to go to celebrate with Pa-Pa and Grandma and family!
Listening and watching the music box like last year
We did a Dirty Santa gift exchange, and bless her heart, she got #10 (out of 10) which is great but she didn't understand. All she wanted was to open a NEW present not steal. She took the last one and it was a pair of earrings. In the end, she traded and got some Veggie Tales puppets.
Happy
Being silly with Daddy!
Christmas Eve morning at Gramma & Grampa's house!
Trying out all of her gear. Tutu, new purse, Vreader, baby doll, you name it!
Matching jammies!
All dressed and ready to go to Great Grandma's!
The three great grandaughters
Giant Sock Money from Aunt Carol & Uncle John!
And finally, Christmas morning at home!
Santa finished the cookies & milk!
Daddy & Daphne
Even Daph got presents!
Later that morning, Mimi, Larry, Beavis, Jason & Uncle Charles came over
Her new princess wardrobe!
Her face when she saw it :)
And just a couple from Christmas at Granny & Papa Lou's
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