what about baby

Welcome to the World!

2006-07-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

Please join us in welcoming the new addition to our family…Miss Ruby Jocelyn Silva.

Ruby was born on Monday, July 24, 2006 at 1:22 pm at UCSD Medical Center in San Diego, CA. She was delivered by cesarean-section with Rene in the room holding my hand and taking those first glimpses of her with me. We couldn’t believe our eyes when the scale measured out at 10 lbs 4 oz. and just a hair shy of 21½ inches long. It’s no wonder that I couldn’t get her to turn around out of her breech position. The doctor said that it was justified that we scheduled the surgery as a vaginal breech delivery would have been next to impossible with her size and position. Being awake during the surgery was very scary but the outcome was amazing.

We stayed in the hospital until Thursday afternoon when we got to take our little Ruby home. I had heard of people being scared to take their babies home for the first time but I couldn’t wait! We showed her the room we had created for her (she thinks mommy is a fabulous designer) and gave her a tour of her new home.

The first night was a little hard on Rene as he tried to woo her to sleep while mommy got some zzzzz. But then I took over and found a little peace feeding her in the middle of the night in our living room.

Long Overdue Update

2006-07-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

So, a lot has happened since my last post...

For Mother's Day weekend I went up to the Bay Area for a Baby Shower that my Aunt & Cousin threw for me. It was really special. All of the women in my family were there and it was a lot of fun to see everyone. Here are a couple of pics from that party...

Oh, I wish I was only this size still...

Aunt Joan, Cousin Lindsay, Mom Jocelyn (G-Ma), Me, & Sister/Tia Holly

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Then a few weeks later - back in San Diego - we had a party at our house with all of our friends. We BBQ'd some tasty food (a la Top Chef inspiration) and enjoyed the soon to be summer sunshine. Here are a couple of pics of us opening some presents (oooh, we got some good stuff)...

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That brings us to June...

We had a follow up ultrasound about 4-1/2 weeks ago in which we found out little Ruby is breech. That means that she is head up and cannot be delivered vaginally. There are several methods (both natural and medical) that we could try to get her to turn around.

About 3 weeks ago I started going to an accupuncture clinic (Pacific College of Oriental Medicine) to see if that would help. The procedure is called Moxibustion and involves burning a meridian point on the outside of my pinky toes 7 times in a row with an herb called Mugwort. This method is used to stimulate fetal movement in an attempt to get her to turn. From what I hear it has been very successful; however, after almost 12 daily treatments she has yet to turn around. All was not lost though. During my treatments at the clinic my case was primarily seen by two very special people - Lihn & Toan. I really felt like they cared about what they were doing and my well being. They will always hold a special place in my pregnancy memories.

Some other natural methods inlcude (I've tried them all):

Swimming
Handstands in the water
Yoga positions
Pelvic Tilts
Flashlight (downstairs)
Music or voice (downstairs) - okay, I haven't actually tried this one.
Cold press/Ice Pack on her head - she moves out of the way when I do this one.

So, now my only other option available is an External Cephalic Version in which a doctor physically tried to move her from the outside - ouch! I scheduled my procedure for yesterday but there turned out to be too many emergency c-sections going on and no doctor's available. They rescheduled me for tomorrow but no telling if I'll get turned away again. I'm starting to believe that a vaginal delivery is not in the cards for me.

So that is where I sit today. I will most likely being having a scheduled c-section - not at all the natural, birth center experience I was planning for. Don't get me wrong, there are plusses to be had with a c-section and no matter how she's born I still get my daughter. I am just disappointed that I don't get to have the experience I wanted for myself and her coming into this world. But perhaps this is just one of the many lessons I'm learning on parenthood. I will not always be able to provide the security I want for my daughter. No matter how hard I may try, I won't be able to protect her from everything. Also, my accupuncturist, Toan, says that I really need to trust the baby. She knows what she wants for this birth, she knows what is best.

I have an appointment with my midwife today and then hopefully the version procedure tomorrow . I'll let you all know what happened and what we find out. As of today, I have 11 days until my due date.

Okay, here's some pics...

2006-04-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our 4D Ultrasound that we had last Friday. I am 26 weeks along now and Ruby is totally normal in all her sizes and functions - except she does have long legs and big feet (go figure w/ me at 5'-9" & Rene at 6'-5").

Isn't she so cute!!!

And for all you that have been bugging me for pictures of myself - we finally shot a couple outside the ultrasound place on Friday. I promise that I will try to take some more. It was a bad hair day so I hesitated to post these at all.

I am definately getting large. My legs are holding the majority of my new weight and my ankles are swelling as we speak. I'm recovering from a sinus infection that has turned into a full blown cough - my poor daughter must be scared out of her mind from all the noise and jerking around.

We're having a Ruby!!

2006-02-24T18:02:00.000-08:00

Here is the proof, look at where the arrow is pointing...those are her labia - boys don't have labia.

Here is our girl sucking her thumb already...

Here is our beautiful little Ruby's profile :)

That's right, we are having a girl. Really, I knew it all along but started to second guess myself the last few weeks. Sitting for so long without confirmation of your intuition can cause anyone to second guess themself. I immediately started crying from sheer joy - I could not be more excited! So her name will be Ruby. By all measurements taken today, she is 19 weeks and 3 days. If you do all the calculations this actually makes her due date almost a week earlier than we had anticipated - possibly making her a Cancer not a Leo. So either she'll be a mellow little crab like her grandma jossie or a wild lion like her mother :) I think you know which one I'd like - Leos of the world unite! She is only about the size of my palm right now and weighs about 10 ounces. We saw so many great shots of her on the extremely intensive ultrasound today. We saw her little legs and feet (big feet so she's definately going to be tall). We saw her beating heart, her spine and ribs, her little fingers, and we saw her sucking her thumb. I feel like I just met her today and this whole pregnancy journey can finally begin.

Baby Silva - 11 Weeks

2005-12-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

We had our first OB appointment last night. It was so amazing to see our little baby's heart beat and watch him/her jump around. Seriously, he/she was bouncing all over the place - already rockin' out! Here is the best of several pictures we got. You can see his/her little arms and legs. I can't believe it! So we have decided to definately go the midwife route. We meet with her in another 4 weeks to go over everything. Today I have to go take several blood tests and tomorrow we are off to SF for New Year's weekend with my family. I'll keep you all posted with more details as they arise. For now, just keep thinking - girl, girl, girl :)

More Puppy & Pregnancy updates...

2005-12-20T13:24:00.000-08:00

These little puppies are so cute! They look like little dairy cows. We've now named them: Spots & Cowboy. Frida is such a good mamma although I think she's getting a little annoyed with being sucked on all the time. Gizmo is being a good daddy too. He lays watch over Frida and the puppies and gives the cows kisses whenever possible. He's a very proud pappa...

As for the update on me...I have been extremely fatigued but have not really experienced any "morning sickness" at all. I kind of thought that life already gave me more than my share of nauseau this year. We have our first OB appointment next Wednesday. We'll be going over all our birthing options and doing a check up on me (I'm assuming). I feel like its taken forever to just get this appointment. I'll fill you all in after that appointment.

We have Fridos!!!

2005-12-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

Little Frida had puppies last night!!! Sadly, one of them didn't make it. But Frida and Gizmo are proud parents of two little frido boys!! Of course Frida won't let Gizmo anywhere near them or her. I don't think she wants to go through childbirth again.
We fix that tomorrow with Gizmo - no pun intended.

We're Pregnant!!

2005-11-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

So...beating cancer wasn't enough for one year, we had to go and get pregnant too. We've officially been "trying" for two months. Does it really happen that fast? A friend of mine told us which days to "try" and after following said advice - we created life.

I took the test while visiting San Francisco this past weekend. It was horrible to have to give Rene this wonderful news over the phone (as he has been in Dallas on business for a couple of weeks). My friend Sabrina was there to witness the pee stick. The rest of the weekend was spent telling all my friends and family from back home the great news.

This year has been such an insane rollercoaster. It was exactly yesterday 11/15 last year that I first noticed my lump. I joked earlier this year that I found and beat cancer in less time than a pregnancy. Well, I guess its my chance to prove that.

For any of you that may be worried about my health. I am feeling FANTASTIC! I've actually never felt better. Rene had wanted to make sure that we had approval from the doctor prior to starting this journey. I had a PETscan in September that proved clear of any signs of cancer (yippee!) and we asked if we could get pregnant. The doctor said that normally he would like his younger patients to wait 2 years but since I was right at that age (after 35 poses a lot more health risks to me and the baby) so he said he couldn't see why there would be any reason to not get pregnant. I have another scan scheduled for January but we will have to do an MRI instead since we don't want to create any mutant X-men with the radioactive injection with the PETscan.