As most of you already know, if you follow me on Instagram or have me as a friend on Facebook, baby Penelope is finally here! In a couple of days she will be 4 months to be exact. I know it has been a while since my last blog post, but lets face it, having two babies is hard especially when you're a stay at home mommy with a boyfriend that works busy hours. I have finally got the hang of taking care of two kiddos and managed to sneak some time to write about Penelope! It all started Saturday, April 16th, 2016. I remember waking up with a sudden urge to seriously pee! Or so I thought. I tried to roll my pregnant self out of bed without losing control of my bladder, but no matter how hard I tried to not "pee", it just came out! Oh no, I thought, am I getting to that point in my pregnancy in which I can't even control when I pee?! I ran to the bathroom, did my business, and as I was washing my hands, I felt the fluid again. I just knew at this point, it wasn't pee, it was my "water"! It all felt too familiar as my water broke with Benjamin as well, but unlike Benjamin who was full term, Penelope was barely 35 weeks and 5 days. I was freaking out; I was home alone with Ben, my parents were at work, Alberto went to go fix his car, and to top it off, my cell phone wasn't working so I couldn't call anyone! As I made sure that I had everything packed up in the hospital bags, I was finally able to contact Alberto through Facebook messenger and he made it home as fast as he could! When I got to the hospital, I was already 2cm dilated and I wasn't feeling any contractions then. I was practically pain free until around 6pm where my contractions begin to get a lot worse, and on top of that I hadn't ate anything since Friday night. I was shaking uncontrollably that the nurse had to give me oxygen since Penny's heart rate was beginning to drop. I began to get anxiety and my shaking got worse! I was finally 5cm dilated and I decided to get the epidural so that I wouldn't be in too much pain later on. At around 10:30 pm they checked me again and I wasn't dilating so they gave me Pitocin to speed up my labor, and boy did it speed up! At 11pm I began to have pressure in my vagina, the pressure when you know you HAVE to push soon. I informed my nurse and when she checked to see if I was dilating well, she gasped, "I feel her head!" she said, so she told me to start pushing as she called in my doctor to come in to deliver Penelope. I gave a good 5 pushes until I began to crown, and my doctor was still nowhere in sight! The baby nurses and nurse assistants came in to get everything prepped up, and suddenly, one nurse exclaimed in surprise "oh sh*t!". My nurse hurried towards me and literally caught Penelope in her arms! I wasn't even pushing at that point, the contractions did all the work! Penelope Micaela Gonzalez, born April 16th, 2016 at 11:27 pm, measuring 19.5 inches long and weighing in at 5 pounds 7 ounces! My little girl was born with a head full of hair but super tiny! I was sad that I wasn't able to hold her right away but I understood that they needed to go ahead and check her vitals and to make sure she was nice and healthy and that she could breath on her own. When I finally had her in my arms, I didn't want to let go! A week later I took Penny to her check up to see how her little premature body was doing. She seemed alright except that she looked yellow; jaundice. Ben had jaundice as well so I knew the drill: prick her foot, go home, put her in some sunlight and wait for the doctors phone call to see how her levels are. A couple hours later I got the call, "Her levels are at 22, take her to The Texas Children's Hospital as soon as possible". I was scared. Little Penny was in Phototherapy for a whole night. I never left her sight as daddy decided it was best to stay home with Ben. The next day we stayed so that they could monitor her and they finally discharged us the next day. 3 months later here she is! Penny is such a chatty little girl. She loves to smile and her favorite things so far are looking at fans, lights, rattles, and loves to nurse! Ben is still getting used to her but I know in the future they will be best friends! XOXO, ThaliaI have been meaning to post my monthly pregnancy update which is long overdue! I was going to post my 25 week update when I was about to turn 28 weeks pregnant but I figured, why not just wait after my 29 week check-up? Anyways, I have been beyond stressed and busy this past month and a half. With getting things ready for our new apartment, to getting things ready with the baby shower and the new baby. It has been rough! As I mentioned, I had my 25 week check up 4 weeks ago which included the fabulous glucose screening test! I have to admit, I was rather nervous to take the sugary drink. I hadn't been eating my best, and being overweight made me start to worry. On the day of my check up I had the worst anxiety! Please let me pass. Please let me pass! I remember thinking as I chugged down the sugary drink. After an hour of waiting, they drew my blood and I was off on my way home. The next couple of days were filled with anxiety for me. Do I have gestational diabetes? Is everything ok? Luckily, my tests came back normal and I was relieved to know that I in fact did not have gestational diabetes, but I did however, got diagnosed with anemia and was prescribed some pills to take with my prenatal vitamins. At my 29 week check up I began to get anxiety again! I haven't been feeling great since anemia gets you really exhausted. But of course, I let my hypochondria get the best of me and I was certain that I was getting preclampsia. My mom had preclampsia with my older sister so I had a feeling I would get it too. Thankfully, my blood pressure was great and I have no protein in my urine and little Penelope is doing fine. I don't know why lately I've been getting anxiety almost every single day. Is it the move? Preparing for a new baby? Both? All I know is that I need to relax. Which is something I'm working hard on! Let's Talk About Symptoms!
More About The Baby!![]() By now, Penelope is the size of an acorn squash. And if you're like me and have no idea what that is and how big that is, she is roughly 15 inches long from head to heal. She is finally starting to store fat under her skin which is causing her to become more energetic and her bones are hardening more and more each day. Even though her brain and lungs are still developing day by day, she has a great chance of surviving if she decided to join the world already. As much as I'd like to meet you, stay in there a little longer babe! XOXO, ThaliaSo I've been a little behind on my blog posts, sorry about that! I am currently 23 weeks pregnant but went for my check up and ultrasound at 21 weeks. We were so excited to FINALLY find out the sex of the baby since last time it was a definite no-show with closed little legs. If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or have me as a friend on Facebook, you will definitely know that we are having A GIRL! It's insane how sometimes the motherly instinct comes out being correct. I remember with Benjamin I automatically knew I was going to have a boy and started buying boy stuff at around 9 weeks pregnant, surprising many people as to how could I possibly know what I was having. This time around, it was the exact same thing! I just knew I was going to have a girl although many family members predicted a boy. Mama bear just knows! Thinking about names for the baby was so difficult for us this time around. We went back to Benjamin's baby book to read the names we had liked then in hopes that we'd like one of them for the baby, but we didn't like any at all! One name we did like though was Penelope. This time around Alberto couldn't think of a middle name so I chose the entire name: Penelope Micaela Gonzalez! Micaela was chosen to honor my Great Grandma. <3 Let's Talk About Symptoms!
More about the baby.![]() By now, little Penny is about the size of a large pomegranate, or a carrot. At my 21 week check up she was already weighing in at 1 pound! Her brain and lungs are still developing and she can even taste some of the food I eat through the amniotic fluid that she swallows! She is also sleeping as much as a newborn by now, about 12-14 hours a day and can hear very much of the outside world by now. Hope she is used to Benjamin's tantrums and wails! Poor little Pea! XOXO, ThaliaIf you haven't noticed by now, I have decided to do monthly pregnancy updates rather than weekly ones. I thought that since this pregnancy is so different than my first, it would be a little pointless to do a weekly update when there wasn't much of a difference in the weeks and thought it be boring writing the same thing until I saw a difference in my pregnancy. With that being said, I had my 18 week check up this Tuesday! I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to have an ultrasound this week since it was so close to my last ultrasound and I'm honestly dying to find out the sex of the baby! My next appointment is of course in a month and all I have to do now is wait! Other than that, we got to hear the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler and both me and the baby are doing just fine! Soooo.... Let's talk about symptoms!
More about the baby.![]() The baby is now about the size of a sweet potato and is now yawning, hiccuping, sucking, swallowing and even practicing to breathe! The baby's nervous system is maturing rapidly and his or hers little body is now covered with a substance called myelin, which speeds messages from nerve cell to nerve cell. With that being said, the baby is beginning to develop it's senses! That's right, touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. So I'm sure this little sweet potato is enjoying some of the ice cream as well! xoxo, Thalia I am officially 14 weeks pregnant since November 17th! It's such a relief being in the second trimester as the chances of miscarriage drop significantly and if you're lucky, most of those dreadful first trimester symptoms are starting to diminish as well. I had my very first doctors appointment on November 17th and to my surprise I was very healthy! I actually had lost 2 pounds in my first trimester due to all the morning sickness and lack of appetite, but other than that the doc said everything was A-Ok and scheduled me for my first (ahem...second) ultrasound. I was packed with anxiety as I waited in the waiting room to have my ultrasound taken today. Was the baby growing fine? Is the baby healthy? Will I hear a heartbeat? I honestly don't even know why I was so nervous because I wasn't even this nervous with my ultrasounds with Ben. As a matter a fact, I was never nervous and was actually quite the opposite and was always so excited! After what seemed forever (it was actually just 15 minutes of waiting), they called my name and I hurried off to the ultrasound room with my mom and Ben. It was actually cute how the ultrasound tech remembered me and Ben through his 3d ultrasound! As I laid there with the ultrasound goo on my pelvis, I began to feel excited and a lot less anxious. How will the baby look like?! As soon as the ultrasound technician turned the screen for me to see, there he/she was. I couldn't believe just how big he/she had gotten. Everything was so well developed; the legs, the skull, the arms, the spine...everything looked perfect. It was amazing to me how different this baby's skull shape was compared to Benjamin's second ultrasound picture! Benjamin's skull looked really round with a pointy little chin just like his dad's. Meanwhile this little baby's skull looks fairly long, just like mine! The baby's heartbeat was also great. A whopping yet strong 148 bpm. After the ultrasound technician checked all of the vital organs and bones, I asked if it was possible to check the gender and she was delighted to show me, but of course little baby thought the complete opposite! The entire time he/she would have it's little legs criss-crossed and at one point even decided to cover it's little genitals with it's hand! Stubborn little baby! Although I didn't get to see the gender, I am very excited and happy to know that the little bun is baking just fine. Maybe we'll find out for my next appointment or when we go get a 3D ultrasound like Ben's. Let's talk about symptoms!
More about the baby.
I still can't believe that I'm about to have another baby! I remember whenever Benjamin was just a year old and he'd have his whiney days I'd say to myself, "nope, nope, nope. he is my first and last one!" and just a little over a year later, here I am! It's so exciting yet scary to think that our lives are going to change all over again! According to my LMP, I turned 12 weeks today. I'm almost done with my first trimester and boy was it a difficult one! Let's talk about symptoms:
![]() What about the baby? Right now the baby is about the size of a plum from head to rump! His or her little fingers and toes are fully formed and no longer looked like little webbed pads. All of his or hers most critical systems are fully formed and if you could poke him or her, he/she would react in response! Little fingernails are starting to grow and it's little brain is developing at rapid speeds! I can't wait to see my little fruit at his or her's next doctor's appointment. Keep growing my dear! xoxo, Thalia As I was scrolling down Instagram, I saw a picture of one of my followers pregnant belly in a hospital gown. Her caption said along the lines that she hoped that her baby wouldn't come out any time soon because she is only 29 weeks pregnant.
Pregnancy can be such a beautiful thing, and also very scary. I can imagine the fear she has right now and I send lots of prayers and hope that everything is ok. I can imagine how she feels because I went through something very similar when I was pregnant with Benji, only I wasn't 29 weeks pregnant, I was just 12 weeks pregnant. Before I begin, I want to say my story is about a sensitive topic, so this is my final warning. I remember dying to reach the 12-13 week period because that is the stage in which a pregnant woman can relax since the chances of a miscarriage decrease significantly. And there I was, 12 weeks pregnant, shaking in an emergency room gown. It was 6 am, I woke up to a warm wet feeling in my underwear. I figured it was probably some weird discharge since pregnancy comes with some interesting changes in your vaginal secretions. I went to the bathroom and as soon as I sat down, I was completely horrified. My underwear were red and smelled like chlorine, and I could feel something dripping out of me. I ran out the door and surprisingly my mom was coming out of her bedroom. "I'm bleeding!" I remember telling her, and her smile turned into a cold stare. I remember not even changing and rushing to the Emergency Room since I still didn't have a gynecologist. I was crying and everyone was telling me to calm down even though I could see fear in their eyes. After 2 long hours of waiting in the waiting room, they finally took me into the ultrasound room. I remember grabbing my small belly and whispering to Benji that everything would be ok. As the ultrasound technician turned on the ultrasound screen, my heart raced, "Can I see please?" I asked. She said nothing and turned the screen; there he was, twirling and moving like my little squirmy baby that he is to this day. I felt the tension leave my body as she let me listen to his heart beat, and I quickly believed that everything was ok, that's until she said that there were more tests to be done. I was moved to another room where they were gonna check my cervix for any dilation. It was the most painful thing I had ever experienced. The doctor that checked me left with the large Q tips that she had just inserted into me to test the blood. I was shaking all over again. When she came back she looked concerned, but with no emotion said, "you are diagnosed with a possible spontaneous abortion, or a threatened miscarriage. Go home and if the bleeding increases or if you experience pain, come back". I seriously cried the entire way back home and cried the next hour and a half. Luckily, I didn't experience any pain but the bleeding did increase, so as a first time mom, I had to go back, and I'm glad I did. A different doctor attended me and recommended my OB/GYN, Dr.Daisy Ayim, which I saw the very next day. She was very nice and I totally recommend her. She checked my cervix and said everything looked fine, and that I hadn't and wasn't dilated. That was the biggest relief of my life! The bleeding stopped 2 weeks later, and the rest of my pregnancy was easy peasy. To this day, remembering my 12 week "checkpoint" brings a tear to my eye. The fact that I didn't lose my son when the chances were 50/50 is truly the biggest blessing I have received. My heart goes out to the mothers with baby Angels and to the mothers suffering from a hard pregnancy. I still don't know what caused the bleeding, but if this or worse happens to you or a loved one, seek medical help immediately and don't let your questions go unanswered. Blessings to all. xoxo |
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