19 Weeks

If I could sum up week 19 in one word it would be...Wow. What a week! Here is a shortened version of how my week went:
Monday: girls night with some of my friends
Tuesday: Parent night/Math night at school
Wednesday: Daniel Bible study
Thursday: Got to see our baby! Also babysat 12 kids ages 4 mo-10 yr with my homegroup
Friday: Drove to waco to pick my mom up (who wrecked), then to friends wine/cheese party
Saturday: Gender Reveal Party


Can we say CrAzY? Yes, I think we can! Thursday after school, Mario and I headed to the doctor to see our baby for a whole 30 minutes. It was truly amazing! The first part of the sono was the tech taking measurements of the brain, femur, umbilical cord, ect. Then, we got to just hang out and watch our baby do a 360 inside me, clap its hands, try to suck its thumb, and stare at us on the screen. I won't lie, I watch the video pretty much every day:) I love it~! It was then time to find out the gender, which we didn't want to know. We closed our eyes and waited for the sono tech to say, "okay we got it". That didn't happen! She told us that the baby was not cooperating and that I needed to roll over on my left side. I did so...nothing! She proceeded to tell me to cough a couple of times...nothing! We then pressed on my stomach....nothing! I told the lady that if the baby would not cooperate that I was going to get up and do a cartwheel behind her bc we had a gender revealing party and we HAD to know:) Finally, after coughing a few more times, I heard the computer a clicking away. I asked her if she got a view and how sure she was. She replied with "Yes I did and I'm 110% sure". After we left her room we met the doctor to go over all the information. We were informed that I have a low lying placenta which they need to watch. This means that I get another 30 minute full anatomy sono next time:):):) They just want to make sure that as the baby grows, my placenta moves up. Worse case scenario, if it didn't, I would possibly have to have a c-section. No big deal. Everything on the baby was Normal...awesome news!

Saturday our family and closest friends came over for lunch and to find out the sex of our baby with us. You can see the pictures below! We had so much fun. That night, after the party, Mario felt the baby move for the first time. She kicks and hits me everyday typically around 7-8 at night. Sunday, I must have felt her 100 times, I don't think she slept at all that day! Thank you to everyone who came Saturday to celebrate with us, it will be a day that I will never forget.

Go to the following website to see the full Gender Revealing Video...thanks Greg! Thanks to Ashley too for the pics!  YouTube: Mario & Christen Gender Revelation

 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/e2y6WTwUTMI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

                                 Some Fun Myths....according to them we were having a Boy!

                                                       The BOY TEAM...notice mario:)

                                                            The GIRL team....notice me:)

                                                                       THE CAKE!

                                                            WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!

                                                                     SUPER EXCITED

                                                 I made Mario zip up his jacket...to hide the blue:)

                                                                 HAHA...my favorite picture

                                                                   PRECIOUS

                                                            My granny and papa:):):)

I'll post more pics later all our family and friends (computer is running slow right now). I will be 20 weeks tomorrow! Oh and by the way, my friend Becca who I have blogged about since the beginning who is having twins found out this week that one of the babies is a GIRL! Can't wait to find out baby B in a few weeks.

How far along?   19 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 6 lbs (107 to 113...doc seemed happy)
Maternity clothes? Pants
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: not so great this week, I think she is waking me up with all her kicking
Best moment this week:  Seeing our baby and finding out it's a girl

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything? nope
Movement: Yes...ALL the time...you can even see my stomach move
Food cravings: Pickles (daily) and Milk

Anything making you queasy or sick: My back pain (not sick but it HURTS)

Have you started to show yet:  yes, people our now commenting

Gender prediction: ITS A GIRL!!!!!!!!!No longer calling her IT

Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In (I have noticed that it's kind of flat now)
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Both
Looking forward to: talking about names and working on the nursery

18 Weeks

I am so thankful to be writing you this week feeling 100% now!! I have been able to cook this week, walk on a regular basis, and the best thing about it all...being able to EAT! You'll notice in my weight gain below that I have obviously been eating. :) 

Last night after Bunco, myself and several friends went over to another friend's house to hang out and talk. As we were talking and laughing, I felt this strange sensation like a mix between a little little thump or someone blowing a spit bubble in me and popping it. It definitely caught my attention but I wasn't completely sure if it was the baby or not. As I sat real still listening to my friends talk, I tuned in to my stomach to see if it would happen again and sure enough it happened two more times. It was definitely our Baby that I was feeling. It was so cool! Obviously your supposed to start feeling the baby move around this time but it caught me by surprise for sure.

This week a couple in our homegroup brought their 6 week old baby to our house (gp was at our house this week). I wasn't nervous about the dogs being aggressive but you really just never know how dogs are going to react to such small, human beings who cry. Abbie of course was so excited and wanted to lick Nora's face and be next to her at all times (we ended up putting her outside). Wade on the other hand was a little timid at first, hiding behind me his mother:). When Mel (mom of baby) put Nora on the ground to change her diaper, Wade just rested his sweet little head on Mel's leg and watched the whole time. He is such a loyal dog who I know will be so protective of our baby in 5 1/2 months. Am I worried about Abbie? Nope, not at all. It's kind of like having guest in your home, dogs get excited and Abbie just wants to be around you and lick you and make you feel welcome. When it's just us (and when it's us and baby) she is quite honestly, the laziest dog ever who keeps to herself. I know that she is going to love the action of a new baby in our home, but she'll get used to the baby fast! 

This Thursday we go in to find out it this little 'rascal' is a Boy or Girl. These last 3 weeks have been really confusing for me. This WHOLE time I could have sworn to you that it was going to be a girl but now I really don't know. I am now 50/50. I have had 3 girl dreams and 3 boy dreams. The boy dreams have been in the last 3 weeks so I guess that is where my confusion is coming from. Either way I will be so happy. I don't care! 

Here are some pictures of our life lately!

                              Abbie and Wade chilling with me on the bed: Abbie yawning:)

                                                      17 weeks...starting to round out

                                                              18 weeks

                                          This little guy Wade makes me laugh...so cute!

                                     My handsome little husband and Wade hanging out.

How far along?   18 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 6 lbs (maybe more?)
Maternity clothes? I can no longer wear my jeans...time to shop today!
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: still amazing!
Best moment this week:  feeling the baby

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything? nope
Movement: Yes
Food cravings: Pickles (daily) and Milk

Anything making you queasy or sick: My back pain (not sick but it HURTS)

Have you started to show yet:  yes, people our now commenting

Gender prediction: Girl for me...Boy for Mario (we'll know next week)

Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In (I have noticed that it's kind of flat now)
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Both
Looking forward to: Seeing our baby on Thursday!!!

Time. Is.Flying!

OK, I haven't contributed to this thing in a while so here we go!  I am extremely excited right now because I am minutes away from heading to Fredericksburg, TX for my team training camp.  I will be out there through the weekend and putting in some solid miles with teammates.  After camp the racing begins, so that is really exciting!  I've put a lot of hard work into this Winter knowing that my season will be short this time around, and I am totally OK with that!  On the home front, the second trimester has been lots kinder to Christen.  She has been feeling better overall, but still not 100% on any given day.  Even still I've really enjoyed seeing Christen more comfortable on a daily basis.  She has been eating more which has been great to see as well. She's taken to eating some crazy things at times like Taco Bell, which she never eats, and candy when I am having some, which is another rarity.  I can only hope that she craves something that I really like to eat so we can both pack on some lbs. together!  Another cool thing has been watching the little bump develop.  We've been reading about how fast the little rascal is growing but yet we couldn't see it.  Now it's becoming more evident and it's awesome to watch.  For now we have taken a pretty nonchalant approach to picking out names and planning what the baby room should look like.  I'm sure that once we find out gender we'll start rolling on some of that.  As always, thanks for reading and your continued prayer.  This pregnancy has opened my eyes to so many wonderful things that God is doing in my life and the lives of Christen and I as a married couple.  We have enjoyed the journey and I'm sure the best is yet to come!

17 weeks!!!

I will be 17 weeks tomorrow! Crazy how fast time flies. Here are some things that I've experienced these last 3 weeks.

Weeks 14-15 :: crazy pains in my stomach at night when I would stretch. I tend to stretch out a lot when in bed, but that quickly stopped me!
::still sick and not eating a whole lot.
::no longer tired:-)
::cravings-soda (oops)

Week 16:: started gaining some weight meaning I'm beginning to eat:-)
::only sick (throwing up) one day this week!
::stomach has started taking on a round shape, still small but there is a bump which does not go away. I used to only have a bump at night after a full stomach but now it's there when I wake up.
::Back pains...no fun

We still don't really talk about names but I think that once we know the gender that will change. I did clean out the baby's closet over Christmas bc I know how quickly things will approach! We will hopefully know jan 28th what this little rascal is:-) Wish I could post more but I'm doing this fm my phone which is taking forever!!! Have a great week.

IVF Pics

If you don't like looking at needles then I probably wouldn't look through all my pics :)


                                 As you can see, I had my own little pharmacy......Arroyave RX

                             The next set of pics are how I prepared and gave myself nightly injections

                                                

                                         This is how many vials I would have to mix together daily

                                         
                                           I was paranoid about hitting the same spot twice so I would
                                          mark everytime I stuck myself....this was about 1/2 way to the end

Finally the day where the doctor injected two embryos into my uterus

                                                    Me NOW!!! haha just kidding:) If I gain
                                                    zero pounds (which would not be healthy)
                                                    This is what I'll look like next June!~

                                                   11 weeks (just a few intestines being shoved up)

                                                       13 Weeks (and this is at the end of the day)

14 Weeks

I can't believe that we get to find out at our next appointment if this little baby is a boy or girl! I am about 90% sure that it is a girl and Mario feels that strongly that it's a boy! I love that we think differently bc it will be that much more exciting I think. Either way we don't care one way or the other. We just want a healthy little baby!

Not a whole lot has been going on in the Arroyave household. I have still been pretty sick;-( I did go to the doctor Tuesday and got a prescription for nausea and I also tried acupuncture yesterday. I am willing to try anything at this point! Mario finished his 2nd Masters degree!!!! Other than working and finishing his school he's been on the road a lot cycling. Today he is out with his friends putting in 100 miles....crazy! Abbie and Wade are loving that mama has been out of school all week, they love being indoors all day and sleeping on the couch with me during the day:) I did feel okay one day so they were thankful to get out of the house for a little walk.

At the docs on Tuesday I got to hear the heartbeat which was sitting strong at 161 bpm. Once again baby was super squirmy. We were listening to it and then it just stopped so the doctor would move the doppler again and bam heartbeat was back and kicking and then gone again. We for sure have an active little thing! I am ready for our next sono when we can see how big she/he is. I expressed to the doctor that I was concerned about the baby not getting enough calories through me bc I'm not eating like I should be. He assured me that the baby takes what it needs first and then leaves me with the rest so I did feel better about that. Hopefully with the meds I'll get to enjoy some great food during Christmas and can fatten this baby up!!! I love little chunky babies so I need to get on the food:-)

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and remembers the reason for this time of year which is the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ! Thank you God for sending your son into this world knowing that one day he would suffer greatly to take on ALL of our sin so that one day we can live Forever with you!

*I'm finally going to upload pics today of the IVF process and possibly a picture of the miniature baby bump (believe me you might have to zoom in to 100%...it's small)

How far along?   14 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 0 lbs 
Maternity clothes? No...just have to unbutton the pants:)
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: still amazing!
Best moment this week:  hearing the baby through the Doppler

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything? eating and feeling good
Movement: No
Food cravings: Absolutely not

Anything making you queasy or sick: Food

Have you started to show yet:  just a tiny bit

Gender prediction: Girl for me...Boy for Mario

Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In (I have noticed that it's kind of flat now)
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Both
Looking forward to: Christmas with the family!

My Husband almost set our house on fire:(

Well I am now 12 weeks along! I told my students at school last week which was fun...they are so excited. They keep asking me "Mrs. A do you want a boy or girl?". I am definitly vomiting on a weekly basis and not eating like I was. Any suggestions on how to find foods to eat that sound appealing and can give me some calories? Nothing ever sounds good. The one time that Whataburger sounded awesome turned out not to be so awesome:( A kid mentioned enchiladas this last week which sent me running to the trashcan. They were all so confused...hahaha! So anyways, this is what's going on with me at this time of pregnancy...misery...which I'm thankful for.

Mario is still being the wonderful husband that he always is! Anytime I need anything, he's in the car going to get it for me. This weekend he is in Austin at a training camp with his Velossimo boys! So I'm chillin here on the couch with my "babies": baby a, Wade, and Abbie:-).

This last week Mario thought it would be a great idea to use our fire place for the first time. I completly agreed (not any more)! One night he cleaned out the cold ashes from the day before and put them into this cardboard box. He didn't move the box away from the fireplace and a some of the wood jumped out and landed in the box. He thought he got the hot ashes out but needless to say our house filled with smoke quickly (which our dog noticed first) and the box was on FIRE! Mario rushed the melting box outside while I got a towl and was splapping it against the carpet to make sure the other ashes didn't spark up....talk about an Adventure!

My friend Becca who I'm always mentioning on here...the one that told me about Dr. Le and has gone through this whole process with me is Pregnant with TWINS!!! Both of her embryos took! I'm so excited for her and her husband Scott.

Nothing new really, just trying to finish off the first semester strong at school...so ready for a break! I have my next doctors appointment on the 20th which is always exciting!

How far along?   12 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 0 lbs 
Maternity clothes? No...just have to unbutton the pants:)
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: still amazing!
Best moment this week:  Went by fast

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything? getting out of bed feeling 100%...EATING (mexican food)
Movement: No
Food cravings: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Yes....the thought of food 

Have you started to show yet:  just a tiny bit

Gender prediction: Girl

Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In 
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Both
Looking forward to: This week at school...going to be Fun!