35 weeks: showered with love

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Folks...I'm pretty sure that I've said this before, but I don't know if I can say this enough: I am a blessed woman.  Like unbelievably beyond blessed.  I have friends and family that people can only dream of. 

You may recall that, back in July, Tom and I took a trip back to California, where our sisters and friends threw us a co-ed shower/bbq.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures from that shower...so I haven't been able to share them here, but I had SUCH a great time meeting up with my West Coast lovies.

This weekend, as G turned 35 weeks, my sister and friends threw me a wonderful shower for my East Coast lovies. 

But because the shower was at my house, Tom and my hostesses conspired to let me enjoy one last weekend out...date night in DC!

We stayed at the W, aka Hotel Washington.  Swanky, I tell ya.

The hotel overlooks the Department of Treasury and the White House...it has amazing views and is a popular night spot in DC.  But...we went before sunset, just to take a quick peek.



We dined at the famous Old Ebbitt Grill, and then took a stroll.  We stopped by the White House to say hi to the First Family.

Then we went to the DC Improv to see Steve Byrne.  He was funny.  :)

Afterwards, we got back to the hotel and I just passed out from exhaustion.  Third trimester exhaustion has officially set in folks!

After 11 hours of sleep, we headed back to our humble and definitely not swanky abode in Virginia, where my lovely hostesses were getting everything ready.  Here they are, Jennifer, Allison, Grace, Gloria, Hannah, and, my sister, Jen.  Not pictured is my dear friend Suna, who is enjoying a well deserved vacay in Korea after taking her boards.

The afternoon started out with a prayer. 

I started tearing up during the prayer, because these ladies have been our prayer warriors throughout our journey.  And, if you recall, many of these ladies were at the prayer meeting right after the egg retrieval and before the embryo transfer.  God has been so gracious in providing us with such a wonderful family of believers.

Then we had a time of feasting.  The spread and the decorations were just beautiful.

My family and friends are beautiful, inside and out.  Seriously.  I know a lot of people say that, but it's particularly true of my friends.  They are also very generous....I was so blown away....

And here are the favors...Grace's famous choco chip cookies and her awesome handwriting.  They slay me.

And I can't end this post without giving credit to the awesome photog, my dear cousin Jeannie, who is just adorable in so many ways.  I love her.

I also love love love those big yellow balloons.  I imagine taking pics of Grant holding a big yellow balloon someday.  :)



34 weeks: 100th post!

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. His fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.


I can't believe it...this is my 100th post!  I originally started blogging to keep friends and family updated on our IVF process, and now it's been mostly to keep people updated on Grant's growth and a little random rambling here and there.  100 posts later and we're just weeks away from meeting Grant!  Woohoo! :)


I'm sitting at home today after a trip to Costco and starting my first of many loads of laundry just for Grant!  It's so surreal.  I just feel like so much of this is so surreal.  I feel Grant every day.  I've seen him move in the ultrasounds.  And yet, somehow--this new title of "mom" just doesn't seem very real.  It's hard to feel like I belong in Babies 'R Us or the baby aisle at Target.  When I step into the nursery, it feels like I'm walking into someone else's house.  I just feel like an impostor or something.


Weird, right?


Anyway....thank you for reading my blog and keeping up with the Ros.  If you've read all 100, you get a gold star and big virtual hugs and kisses from me.  :)

i am the face

I know I've posted several times about how I miss Elioenai, Grant's sweet twin.  I will never forget the morning of May 5, when we found out that Eli had left us and gone to heaven to be in the presence of our Father forever.

Though I think about Eli often--daily, in fact--today is a particularly *special* day, as it is the National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, a day to remember the 2,000 American women who experience miscarriage, stillbirth, SIDS, or the death of a newborn each day. 

Two thousand.  Every single day.

That just blows my mind.  I can't believe it's that common...and it makes me really sad, because that means there are so many suffering in silence because it's just one of those things that no one talks about.

So today, I join the I Am the Face campaign, as Face #1441, to remember all of the mommies and daddies who lost their babies too soon.  And I remember my sweet Eli, who is perfect and whole, and loving every moment with our heavenly Father, even as we grieve our loss.

And I give thanks to the One who gave me the special gift of being Eli's mommy on earth, if only for 10 weeks, and who keeps my tears in His bottle. 

Blessed be His name.

you can't have your cake and eat it too

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard of the recent Chilean miner rescue.  Now, I have to admit, my husband is the news junkie in the family, and my interest in the news typically only peaks when something big, dramatic and emotional happens....like this Chilean miner rescue.  Ok...and when it involves scandal.  What can I say?  Years of living in LA rubbed off on me--I enjoy trashy news. :)

Anyhoo...about a month ago, I heard that one of the miners' wives, who was at the vigil, heard another woman calling out her husband's name and crying.  Basically--she asked, "Who the heck are you?" and the woman revealed that she was his longtime mistress. 

Drama.  So, of course, although I was already praying and hoping those poor miners would be rescued...this story just made it Days of Our Lives juicy!  (Yes, I watch that show.  Don't judge.  It's a sentimental thing--I used to watch it with my non-English speaking Grandma when I was growing up.)

But I digress.  Initially, both women were reported to have said they would stand their vigil and wait for him.  I was like--"WHAAAAA?" and told Tom that, if I were his wife, I'd wait and push him back down the hole.  (I know....not very Christ-like....sorry, but I'm keepin' it real.)

Well...apparently, Chilean miner #21, Yonni Barrios, asked for both women to wait for him on the platform during his rescue, and his wife decided..."Heck no!" and didn't show...and the footage of his rescue shows him kissing and hugging his mistress.  Boo.

That image made me really sad.  I mean, you would hope that this idiot would have some clarity being down in a mine for 69 days, and be sad that he could cause his wife of 28 years pain.  That his near death experience would make him want to be faithful to her.  But he wanted to keep both?  Idiot.  His wife was a lot more gracious than I would've been--she actually said she was glad he was alive.  At best, I would've given a "no comment."

Sigh.

It makes me love my hubby more.  'Cause when he tells me that he would never even think of cheating on me, I believe him.  Call me a fool...and I know...a lot of men cheat on their wives.  But I do know this...my husband has integrity and is a good, honest man. 

And I'm his lucky wife.  Who just told him I'd push him down a hole if I caught him cheating on me.  Just sayin'.  HAHAHA.

labored breathing

We had our first birthing class tonight.  It was an interesting experience, especially because I'm starting to become really fearful about labor and delivery.

I learned a few things, though.

1. If the relaxation breathing during labor is anything like what we practiced tonight, I will be cracking up hysterically, because my husband cannot seem to be serious about anything.  (I think we annoyed our very serious post-partum nurse classmate because I could not stop laughing.  Yes, Nurse Kacie, we are immature.)

2. Tom is a beast and his "tender" massages probably left bruises on my arm, so we're going to have to practice the concept of "gentle."

3. No mirror, thank you.

4. EPIDURAL IS MY FRIEND!

:)

33 weeks: a big ball of hormones

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

To celebrate today's milestone, we took our hospital tour today.  Even though I've been pregnant for 33 weeks, it was totally surreal. 

When we were in the labor and delivery room and the nurse was talking about what happens during and right after birth, she said that our baby is going to be cold, and the lights are going to be bright, so that daddy should walk over to the area where he's being cleaned and talk to him to soothe him because he'll recognize his voice.  Then she explained how he'll be alert in the first hour after, so I should feel free to unwrap him and put him directly on my skin, so that we can bond.  I started tearing up and had to do everything in my power to not cry a big fat ugly cry--'cause if I let myself, I think I could've ended up on the floor wailing.  Seriously. 

Oh geez--how embarrassing would that have been?

I cannot believe we're actually going to have a baby.  It's something I just took for granted before we met the nasty infertility monster, but the fact that, after 4 years of hoping and praying, we could be holding our son in a mere month and a half just blows me away. 

And this little one...the one that I've had all to myself for the past 33 weeks...I'm going to have to share him with this big, bright, sometimes cold world.  I don't know how I feel about that--happy and sad...excited and scared...ready and totally, absolutely, most certainly, not ready.

Ok...I'm gonna go have that big ugly cry now.

P.S.  Mommy resisted and saved the cupcake for Appah.  Isn't she so nice? :)

pop quiz

It's Friday!!!  Time for a pop quiz! 

I'll be nice and make it multiple choice, so you don't have to think too hard. :)

Question: What is pictured below?

A. A red velvet cupcake from Red Velvet.

B. What is left after Tina had her own red velvet cupcake.

C. The red velvet cupcake that Tina bought for Tom.

D. The red velvet cupcake that Tina is now thinking about eating.

E. The red velvet cupcake that Grant is asking Tina to eat.  Seriously, he's tugging on the umbilical cord. 

F. All of the above.

Considering Tom rarely reads this blog without my prompting...I suppose I could get away with eating it and he would never know better. 

And it would be for his son, after all.

And in the off-chance that he reads this post, it would just be a great lesson in how much we need to sacrifice for the sake of our children.

So.very.tempting.