WOW….I’ve been MIA for a while….NEWS FLASH (sorry its so long!)

I can’t believe that the last time I posted something was for our 23 week appointment! Shame on me lol. Well in my defense there really wasn’t much to report. Doctors appointments got more frequent (as they normally do) But Ari also started to have high blood pressure issues. When they found this out, she was scheduled for non-stress tests 2 times a week with the maternal fetal medicine doctor along with her regular OB appointments. Things were getting pretty hectic for a while!!

Ari’s midwife put her on modified bed rest (meaning she couldn’t work but didn’t have to be confined to the bed 24 hrs. a day). This only lasted a short time though, because on September 22, 2014 at a routine OB appointment, Ari’s BP was high enough that her midwife sent us right over to Labor and Delivery to get monitored. They started to monitor the baby as well as her BP and it was quickly learned that we would not be going home that day (or anytime soon for that matter). The doctor came in and explained to us that Ari would have to be induced and that it could be a very lengthy process (that was an understatement lol). For the next 2 days Ari underwent so much. They did numerous blood tests, hooked her up to IV medicines and fluids and attempted every method possible to dilate her cervix including breaking her water. Unfortunately none of this worked. I have to give my wife all the credit in the world though because she was an absolute champ during this time! Her spirits stayed high, she always had a smile on her face and we made some awesome memories!

So on Wednesday September 24th at around 7pm the doctor on that night came in and told us that we had reached the end of the road and that they were going to have to perform a C-section. We agreed and they called in the team right then and there. By 7:45 she was prepped and ready to go to the Operating Room.

Ari and I are very proud to announce that at 8:30pm on September 24, 2014 Piper Jae Gabor was brought into this world at Day Kimball Hospital. She weighed 5 lbs 15 oz and was 19 inches long. She was 3 1/2 weeks early but was perfectly healthy. Mommy and baby were both doing great!!

As all babies lose weight when they are born, Piper went down to 5 lbs 7 oz and the doctors only concern was that she wasn’t gaining the weight back. They wanted to have 2 consecutive days with a weight gain before they would let us leave. Apparently Piper really liked it there…Sunday night (Sept. 28th) the nurse came in after weighing her and told us that she still hadn’t gained anything. We were devastated this point because we just wanted to bring our little girl home. She advised us that we had the right to ask that we be released anyone and said that she would advocate in our favor because everything they were doing there, were things that could be done from home with checkups at our pediatricians office. Monday morning the Nurse Practitioner allowed us to take Piper home!

3 weeks later (today), I am happy to say that Piper is doing great and has gained almost a pound. She’s up to 6 lbs 5.5 oz. She’s sleeping for about 2-3 hours between feedings at night and things are going pretty smooth considering. I think mommy and I have a pretty good system down at night. Unfortunately I’m back to work now and I’m already taking some overtime. Its hard to leave my girls at home alone and even harder knowing that Ari has to do it all on her own. She’s a trooper though and I can’t thank her enough for everything that she does!!

Here are some pictures from start to finish!! Thanks to everyone for following our journey and I promise to keep updating on Pipers progress!!

Just the beginning

Still smiling!

All hooked up and nowhere to go (except the bathroom)

I’m ready!!!!

So excited!!

She’s here!!!!!! ❤

Already smiling!

Meeting Nana and Pop

Meeting Grammy, Grampa, Auntie Kristen and her big sisters!

2 days old and so alert!

Picture with mama….I’m in love!

With Mommy ❤

Breaking free and going home!

FIrst Visit to Doctor Rich

23 Week Appt. 6-24-14

Ari had another appointment with Dr. MacKenzie on 6/24/14 at the Maternal Fetal Medicine office where she had her 19 week anatomy scan. They weren’t able to get all the pictures of the heart that they wanted the first time, so they had to take another look. This time they were able to finish getting what they needed (after making Ari get up and walk around because the baby was face down and they needed her to be face up….she’s already stubborn!) Oh and yes….they confirmed we are having a GIRL! Ari and I have decided that we are going to name her Piper Jae Gabor. It was funny because Dr. MacKenzie asked us if we knew what we were going to name her and after we told him he was calling her by name and it was nice to hear it out loud from someone else (I think it has a nice ring to it).

Here are some of the pictures from our ultrasound this time. They were actually able to capture some 3D ultrasound pictures for us too, which is absolutely amazing to me. You can see so much detail in the face!!

 
23 weeks down and only 17 weeks to go until we get to meet our beautiful little girl!! We are on the downhill slide now and I could not be more excited!!!!

Our friends from Abroad

I know I’ve mentioned these two lovely individuals before in this blog but I think I need to go a little more in depth. I met Shawni on the Baby Center forums and subsequently met her husband Cade through her. In the 6 or so months that I’ve known them they have become great friends of ours even though we’ve never actually met them. Shawni played a very big part in helping me learn the process of at home artificial insemination. She also helped and is still helping to keep me sane throughout this whole thing. Although now I think that I may have to start returning the favor. On June 2nd Shawni sent me a text telling me that she was pregnant again, Shawni had suffered a miscarriage a month prior, so imagine my happiness for these two!! I actually got teary eyed while she was telling me because I was so happy. Its amazing to me that I can have such a connection to people that I’ve never even met before. Soon though, that will all be changing. We have already started to plan a vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina together next summer. Our babies will be here by then and we decided that we would like to do some kind of “baby-moon” together.  We are all very excited to finally get to meet each other!!

A couple of weeks ago Shawni had told us that she was making something for us and through talking with Ari about ideas she had come up with something. Last week she sent out the package from Canada and it arrived yesterday!! Ari and I were so excited!!!

Inside we found lots of fun things! First off she made us a homemade shopping cart cover and then with left over material from that she made us a homemade dress for baby squishy!

Along with these the baby also got some other goodies but she also sent some gifts for Ari and I as well as for Sophia and Selena, which I thought was just so thoughtful and sweet!

So there you have it!! There truly are good people in this world and we couldn’t be happier to have these two people in our lives!! So a huge thank you goes out to Shawni and Cade for coming into our lives at such an important time for us! Even though if we flew to you it would take us 12 hours and 15 minutes, if we drove to you it would take us 47 hours and if we walked it would take us 934 hours, we still consider you 2 of the best friends we have and we can’t thank you enough for being there for us and supporting us. I only hope that we do the same for you! And we are very excited to share in your next 8 months of pregnancy bliss! 🙂

All our love from your BFF’s in the good ol’ US of A!!

19 – 20 Week Appt – Anatomy Scan – 5/27/14

I’m a little late at finally getting this post written, things have been really busy lately, but on 5/27/14 Ari had her Anatomy scan with the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor. The anatomy scan is when the doctor measures all the bones, checks the brain, heart and other vital organ development and also checks for certain risk factors associated with down syndrome. Ari and I had opted to not have the blood work done that would tell us more accurately if the baby was a high risk for down syndrome because lets face it….it doesn’t change anything in the least. It wouldn’t make a difference to us either way so we figured just let it be. The scan went very well, the babies bones all measured exactly where they should have been at 19 weeks along. The legs were actually measuring a little further ahead much to my surprise. Neither Ari nor the donor are tall to say the least so how this baby has long legs I’ll never really know lol. The doctor explained that they look for about 26 different things that would tell them if we were at a high risk for having a baby born with down syndrome. Dr. Mackenzie only found 1 thing that (a little bright spot on the heart…which was very well developed by the way) but he also stated that this is a very common among children born with and without down syndrome so he wasn’t very concerned about it at all. He told us that he wanted us to come back in 4 weeks so that he could check things again after the baby developed a little more. All in all I was very pleased with the results of the scan.

The ultrasound tech that did the initial scan was finally able to tell us the gender of the baby….

This was the picture we got….I have NOT A CLUE what I’m looking at here but she stated she believed the baby is a…..GIRL!

I posted this picture to an ultrasound board on Baby Center asking for people to give their input as to what they thought without telling what our doctor had said. One of the women on there is an ultrasound tech, and she immediately commented and said BOY…..WHAT?!? Ok now I was more confused than ever because this woman (who is well known on these boards) doesn’t usually give her opinion to anyone unless she has some firm reason to believe one way or the other. She did state later that she could be wrong because the picture isn’t really great given that the babies legs are very close together but she believed she saw scrotum and penis. HMMMM ok so now I’m not so sure what to believe lol. I guess its going to have to wait until our next visit to the midwife on 6/16/14, hopefully she can confirm something for us. But as of now….we are elated to think we may have a precious little girl on the way!!

Here are a few of the other ultrasound pictures we were able to get that day.

Kinda freaky but I love it lol

Aww baby feet 🙂

Mother’s Day Poem 5/11/2014

Mothers Day

Today is a day of appreciation
And every Mom in the world deserves a standing ovation
There are going to be times when things get tough
But at the end of the day its worth all that stuff

It all starts at the moment of conception
And the ultrasound is the first visual perception
Right now I can only imagine what it’s like to hold your baby for the first time
But in October I’ll get to meet my little partner in crime

I already have two little girls in my life who I love and adore
And now we are all ready to add one more
The anticipation is really starting to rise
Especially as my wife’s belly starts to increase in size

Baby squishy will be here before we know it
And then our family will become even more closely knit
So to all the Moms out there, especially my wife
Let’s all cheers to this way of life

Disney and 16 week Ultrasound

Disney Trip

Phew…I finally have a chance to sit down a write. I feel like I’ve been non-stop since we got back from Florida. The trip was A-MAY-ZING! It just felt so good to get away from all the stresses of work and normal everyday life. I haven’t been on a vacation like that in a while so it was great! The girls had an absolute blast!! Now just for a minute imagine with me….2 girls aged 5 and 9 in an 11 passenger van for not one but TWO 20 hour car rides….Yea that was my thought too!!! But I have to say that they were the best behaved kids we could have ever asked for. Not once did we hear “are we there yet?” or “I’m bored”, there was NO fighting or complaining in the least! We were absolutely shocked! And then during the week we were there with all the walking around and crowds, they were still great! Couldn’t ask for better kids 🙂

Beginning of the 20 hr car ride

This is the house that we stayed in, Kissimmee Florida

The girls showing off the dresses that they wore to the Bippity Boppity Boutique (they Princess-ified)

Bippity Boppity Boutique Dresses

And a few more pictures throughout our week in Florida

So as you can see a GREAT time was had by all!! I starting taking videos and posting them to Facebook right from the beginning of the trip originally because my parents weren’t able to come and I wanted them to see what we were up to, but soon those videos became a huge hit with many of my friends and family. I was getting tons of comments and people were telling me that they felt like they were on the trip with us. Much to my surprise it was a HUGE hit lol!!

Also I would like to say a GREAT BIG thank you to my Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Phil for having us over for dinner at their Florida home before we left to come back to CT. It was nice to have a good meal and see some family!!

16 Week Ultrasound (May 5, 2014)

Before our 16 Week Ultrasound

Monday (May 5th)….Cinco De Mayo….we had our 16 week ultrasound. We were finally able to hear the heartbeat at the doctors office (even though we cheated and listened at home with the Doppler that I bought Ari for her birthday)…nevertheless every time I hear that heartbeat it still amazes me! Our midwife started our ultrasound in hopes that we would get to find out the gender….BUT baby squishy had other plans as the legs remained crossed the entire time (Either a suborn boy or a courteous lady) despite the belly shaking that my wife had to endure. We did get to see that the baby is growing a lot these days. We saw hands (it looked like he/she was waving at us at one point…or probably yelling to stop the shaking!) and a foot poked out at one point too. But the majority of the time all we could see was those darn crossed legs! So the big gender reveal will have to wait until our anatomy scan on May 27th. That’s a much longer ultrasound where they measure all the bones and everything so hopefully baby squishy will be more cooperative that day! And boy do I hope so cause I am so anxious to know!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A letter to my wife

I realized that my last post was very depressing, so I thought that I would turn my mood around and write something positive! So here is a letter to my wife Ari, whom I adore!

Ari,

I just want to start by saying thank you! If it wasn’t for you, my dream of becoming a mother would not be possible. You have taken on such a huge commitment for us. We made a commitment to each other when we got married, but you have taken it to a whole new level. You have endured all of the trying to conceive woe’s. Starting with religiously taking your prenatal vitamins, giving up your beloved coffee (and beer for that matter), taking ovulation tests everyday when the time came, inseminating, waiting and peeing on sticks just to find out we weren’t pregnant and starting the whole process all over again. But this last time made it all worth it. Seeing those 2 pink lines for the first time and looking at you was something I’ll never forget, even if we did laugh uncontrollably. I knew from the moment that I met you that you were amazing but I didn’t really know how amazing you were until that moment. It was then that I realized what a selfless person you really were. You were willing to do this for us…not just you….but us. And to me that is the best gift that you could have ever given me. I know I’m hard to handle sometimes and I also know that the next 6 months are going to be tough (for both of us), but please don’t ever forget how much I love you and how thankful I truly am every single day that you are my wife. Here’s to a happy and healthy 6 months to come and when baby squishy arrives and we get to hold him/her in our arms maybe you’ll realize what a terrific gift you have given!

I love you!

 

Being the Non-Bio Mom

So let me start by saying that I am soooo excited and overjoyed by this whole thing. I’m not really even sure that it has completely set it yet that in about 6 months I’m going to be a mom! Now while I say this, I’ve also been having some issues with it as well. Yes I’m going to be a mom, yes I’m going to be on the birth certificate as soon as the baby is born because my wife and I are legally married in the State of Connecticut, yes I’m going to raise this child in the best way that I know how, BUT realistically I will not be biologically connected to this child in any way. This has me a little thrown off.

Where do I fit in? Answer is…..I’m not sure, which is my whole dilemma. Yes I squeezed the plunger on the syringe during the inseminations, but that’s basically it. I felt very involved from the beginning because I did so much research and learned so much about what my wife was going through and what she would be going through in the next 9 months. I think I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, sometimes I wasn’t even sure who the pregnant one was. I learned so much about the human reproductive system and how babies are conceived. I’m still to this day doing lots of research on how the baby is developing and everything, even still somehow I’ve been starting to feel less and less involved. And let me add that this is at NO fault of my wife. She keeps me very involved in everything.

I think part of it has to do with the fact that during the first 3 months of a pregnancy you really don’t physically see any changes. The baby is growing at rapid speeds but there isn’t anything that is “noticeable” (even to my wife). The weeks that are in between doctors appointments are dreadful. When we went for the 1st ultrasound, saw that everything is ok and saw the heartbeat, I started to feel better. But then there is another 4 weeks until you go back. As the weeks went by I started to feel less connected again. Then the 2nd ultrasound came and it became real once again (for what seemed like a split second). I felt that overwhelming joy all over again but then it was right back to real life. Back to not even feeling like this was real (even though I know that it is). Now we have 3 weeks until the next doctor visit and its just a waiting game. I think that hearing the heartbeat at our next appointment will be a big thing for me. I’ve also thought about buying an at home Doppler for us to use. I think it might be a good way for us both to stay connected. And finally, I’m thinking that once my wife starts to have that little baby bump and the baby starts to kick, that may be what finally makes me realize that this is not a dream and that I AM going to be this child’s mother regardless of blood relation.

I’ll leave with this….

My friend Shawni said it perfect tonight when she told me “Your sperm donor is just a sperm donor and it takes two to make a baby. You’re one of the two, its your baby and it will love you just the same as it will love her. Nurture is so much more important than nature and your personality will shape your baby way more than DNA”

Well said I think! Thanks Shawni!

2nd Mid-wife Appointment 4/7/14

Ari and I had our 2nd mid-wife appt. yesterday. She told us that everything is going well and we were able to see little baby squishy again. Baby squishy has turned from a little jelly bean blob into something that actually now resembles a baby!!! It was so exciting to see. She had a really hard time getting a good picture though because the baby was very active and moving all over the place. This is probably the best (in my opinion) shot that she got, although I’m no ultrasound tech.

Ultrasound picture of baby at 12 weeks

 

After our appointment we decided it was time to tell the world. The doc said everything is great and we saw the nice strong heartbeat once again. My parents took us out to dinner at Chili’s so we decided to take a picture to post on Facebook. We had already told the most important people in our lives so that they didn’t hear it first online (didn’t want any hurt feelings).

This is what we posted:

Facebook Announcement Picture

We got an overwhelming response from all of our friends and family, near and far! It was nice to see everyone so happy for us. Its really starting to feel “real” now. Even though we are 12 weeks today, it still doesn’t seem possible that this is actually happening. We couldn’t be happier and I’m so proud of my wife for doing this for us. She’s truly giving me the best gift in the world and there aren’t enough thank you’s to go around!

We were told that in 4 weeks we’ll be able to find out the gender of our little baby squishy. At first Ari didn’t want to know (I did) but after we went and looked at baby themed bedding and such at Babies r’ us, she started to agree with me that we think its going to be better and easier at the end to know what the gender will be. My reasoning for this was because there just isn’t a lot of choices to choose from in any aspect from bedding to clothes. I was afraid that we would get tons of the same outfit’s, because lets be real, there aren’t a lot of things to choose from. Now this choice isn’t for everyone, it was just my opinion and that surely doesn’t make it right lol. Everyone is different and no one decision is better than the other  🙂

I’m going to try to update a couple times before our next appointment but we are leaving for Orlando Florida on April 19th 🙂 The girls have never been to Disney so this should be an amazing trip. I’ll be sure to post some pictures!

To Be Cont…….

Our 1st Mid-wife Appointment

March 12, 2014 was such an exciting day for us! We could hardly sleep! Luckily our appointment was in the morning so we didn’t have to wait very long because I don’t know if I could have done it 🙂 The appointment went well, she started out by asking us a lot of questions, mostly family history and such. I honestly don’t remember much of it because I was a little nervous and very excited all at the same time. We didn’t know if they would be doing an ultrasound that day (but the room we were in had one in it, which made us excited :-)) After all the questions were done, she had Ari lay on the table and explained that she would be doing an exam and then the fun part would come….we would in fact be having our FIRST ULTRASOUND! This was what we saw:

Ultrasound screen

 

Its hard to see on this one, but inside that dark circle in the middle there is a white “blob” lol. That’s our little baby squishy (that’s the babies nickname….for now at least :-))

Ari’s first picture with baby squishy

 

AWWWW…..This is Ari’s first pic with baby squishy 🙂

Ultrasound showing baby at 8 weeks 1 day

 

You can’t really see the edits I made to this picture but the first one is just showing where the baby actually is. And the second is pointing to what the midwife said was the head. I couldn’t tell the difference, but I’ll take her word for it 🙂

We were also able to see the heartbeat at this appointment. UNBELIEVEABLE EXPERIENCE!!!! I remember just holding Ari’s hand and squeezing it because I couldn’t believe this was real! There is a baby growing in there and its got a heartbeat! She told us that the baby measured at 8 weeks and 1 day at that time, which was only 2 days off from what we had figured out on our own! (We thought she was 8 weeks and 3 days) Not to shabby if I do say so myself!

I’ve finally caught up to present day. Currently today, March 28, 2014 as I’m writing this Ari is 10 weeks and 3 days pregnant! Everything seems to be going just as planned FX (Fingers crossed)! Our next appointment will be April 7, 2014! We are starting to feel the need for another update. Waiting is soooo hard when you just want to know that everything is OK! The midwife told us that there will be a 50/50 chance that we might be able to actually HEAR the heartbeat at this next appointment! I really hope so because that would be AMAZING!! I’ll be updating in just a little over a week after that appointment. Maybe someone will be reading this by then 🙂

To Be Cont……..