Its a Small World

Facts-
Did you know the rate for spontaneous abortions is 1 in 4/5 women in the USA (depending on source if 4 or 5). And that the USA has the HIGHEST mother and baby death rates for ALL INDUSTRIALIZED countries in the world?! And people think we have great maternal health care?! (well compared to third world countries only do we LOL).

A few people have asked me how my follow up appointment went.

I am going to assume people asked because they want to know how I am doing more so then being intrusive and wanting to know "what happened" or "what went wrong" (since really its no ones business but mine and Troy's).

And I am doing good and am 100% back to normal. Thanks for wondering. :)

Now this is officially over---its time to move on and quit dragging it out. So thanks for all those nice thoughts people sent our way and kind words, they were very appreciated. But now its time to talk about something else......

So if you could pick any where in the world to go on a vacation--where would you go? I expect answers people! LOL

We just got back from the ER because of some issues I was having. And I just wanted to share that we are no longer pregnant. These things happen, and we will never really know why.

This week:
9/16 at 7 pieces of TP. (this should get more entertaining once I actually get big!)

Past Measurements:
9/9 at 7 pieces of TP.
9/2 at 7 pieces of TP.
8/26 at 6.75 pieces of TP.

Have you watched this documentary? It one of my favorites! And yes-I'm having a midwife, but you all knew I would didn't you?! ( http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/)

Fun Birthday Facts (April)

• Your baby's birthstone is Diamond (Innocence)
• Your baby's Astrological Sign is Aries
• Your baby's Flower is Daisy or Sweet Pea (Yellow, Red and colorless)
• Your baby was born in the Chinese Year of The Ox
• Your baby will start kindergarten in 2014, be old enough to drive a car in 2025, finish high school in 2027, and will graduate from college with the class of 2031, give or take a year or two. Can you imagine?

Baby's horoscope---

The Aries baby (aka Troy's kid)-

March 21 - April 19 Planet - Mars Element - Fire

The Rambo of the play group has arrived! With an Aries baby around, you can expect lots of action and activity in your midst. Don't expect this tot to sit still with a rattle -- it just won't happen. The Aries baby is one who makes a lot of noise and will definitely be heard. There's really no choice! As a Fire sign, the little Ram will be dynamic and always up to something. Will this be a tough baby to deal with? More than likely. To that end, parents would be wise to show this child how to work with other babies early on. Things such as sharing won't come naturally, they must be learned. Even where siblings are concerned, the Aries child won't be a walk in the park. What the Aries baby may want most of all, however, is attention, so parents be well advised. In a play setting, the Aries tot will easily get the attention of others on their own. This baby will also start many things early, the better to get to the finish line, so to speak, in a hurry. To sum up, the Arian baby can be quite independent but enjoys interacting with others. This baby is a fairly physical child and craves constant stimulation. They will be ready from day one!

OR

The Taurus Baby (aka Angela's Kid)-

April 20 - May 20 Planet - Venus Element - Earth

Parents of a Taurus tot are going to have to be very aware of this baby's need to be touched. Loving caresses and a tender touch are what the Taurus baby lives for! Along those lines, this is a child who needs to be comfortable. Things to keep in mind are providing a room and bed that are neither too hot nor too cold, food that is tasty (a budding gourmand has arrived!), soothing sounds, and whimsical toys. As Taurus rules the Second House, the House of Possessions, this baby's playthings will be very important. When it comes to the learning curve, the Taurus baby is not in a hurry to grasp new concepts. This tot will learn things at their own pace and be unresponsive to pressure, yet persevering in the end. In light of this, a gentle manner to get this baby to react and respond is the sensible course of action. Also familial in nature, the Taurus baby will enjoy having the family in close proximity, especially siblings. You can consider this baby a people person in general, as they are also likely to control the play circle where that well-known Taurean stubbornness will reveal itself! To sum up, the Taurus baby wants to be touched, will revel in delicious toys, and as an Earth Sign, will want to have both feet firmly planted on the ground!

Well this is going to sound odd to many of you but the number one thing we want for this baby----is handmedowns! Thats right, we are trying to avoid buying new clothes or having new clothes bought for us. Our goal is to try to get handmedowns for the first year! Minus special events/holidays, which I will have to hand select! HAHAHA I have tons of friends who have already started my pile. This is sooo great! Our clothes get worn out so quick with the way they are washed and the amount of times we wear them that it doesn't even make since to get new baby cloths....they just stain them in days anyway! LOL.
So hit those friends/family members you have that don't need that little one's stuff anymore and start a stash. Hit up garage sales also if you got them! Remember we will need all of baby's stuff to fit in one suitcase just like us-and our cloth diapers will be half the bag. I figure clothes will be the other half. My ta-tas travel well so no formula/bottles needed since we plan to breastfeed only. And I have already got all the toys we possible could need- SO NO TOYS!

I know my mom is dying while reading this--Sorry mom, I know I'm killing your shopping spree. If you want shopping ideas though let me know---I have a cloth diaper list I need to work on!

Sometimes with this job we get perks like when manager type people come to visit us, they take us out for a nice meal and drinks (on an expense card of course!). Well tonight we had one come to town and took a few of us out. Funny how we have had these specail visits a ton while in Thailand but no one ever wanted to do spot checks while we were in the middle east last summer.
Troy seems to be trying to drink enough for both of us now a days. Well he did it pretty well tonight. I left early since I wasn't feeling well, but he stayed for a bit. When he came home he was one drunk puppy. After a few minutes of hiccups and giggles he laid down and got "the bed spins". Which of course all most always lead to throwing up or "praying to the porcelain gods". Well he made a dash to the bathroom and "prayed" very hard for what felt like a half hour to me. Here I am not feeling that great and my husband is throwing up loudly with the smell to follow in our ONE bathroom. NOT fun to listen to while preggers. Luckily I managed not to lose my cookies also.

Well I got a new camera during our trip to Singapore. Its a Canon 450D/Rebel XTi. And it ROCKS! This will make it easier for me to take pictures of gummy bear when shim's here, to share with everyone so they can see what shim looks like.
Now I just need to talk troy into a better lens (I really want the Canon 17-85mm lens!).

Since we will not know the sex of our little gummy bear till they are born I am referring to she/him as shim. Feel free to vote on what you think the sex will be on the right side of this blog.

This week:
9/9 at 7 pieces of TP.

Past Measurements:
9/2 at 7 pieces of TP.
8/26 at 6.75 pieces of TP.

"When are you due?".
What does it really matter what the DAY is? Only 5% of babies come on their due dates. And the average first time mom is 1 week and 1 day late with the birth of their child. Which means that most go over their due dates!!! I have seen many of my friends and family share their estimated due date with people only to go past it and be very annoyed with people doing the "haven't you had that baby yet" type comments just because that date is passes. A baby is medically considered ready to deliver at 38-42 weeks. Before 38 weeks your considered a preemie and post 42 weeks your considered late. So we are due in April. Yep no date your only getting a month.
I'm not doing any type of count down because I, myself don't care what the date is. Gummy Bear will come when Shim's ready! I look more for healthy goals like we have a heart beat, anatomy check goes ok, etc, etc.

"When will you find out if its a boy/girl?".
Well when I can look and see if its a boy or a girl is when we will find out! Their are a ton of reasons to wait and I can't think of ONE good one to find out early. So we are waiting! Team Green as they like to call it. (team pink is girls, team blue is boys). Did you know that an u/s is only at BEST 85% accurate anyway, and that its illegal/not allowed in most countries to find out the sex before birth!

"Are you coming off the road?"
HECK NO! We actually love our lifestyle and can't wait to share it with children. So our plan is to keep seeing the world! The only glitch in our plan is that we will have to stay in one location for 1 month prior to baby being born and 1-2 weeks post baby-since I can't fly and will need to get baby a passport. Or get locations we can drive to instead. After baby is here we plan on going again. Really babies don't care if they live in hotels- I mean all they do is poop/eat/sleep. Its not like they are running around playing. We like to joke that when they can run around we will re-evaluate our choice. Hahaha. But right now we are thinking of traveling NO Later then kids needing to start school. Better pick a place by then. Hopefully we can still travel in the summer breaks.

"What about a doctor visits?"
Well first...I will not be having a doctor, I will be having a midwife. I have a midwife in Chicago that is my primary care provider. Meaning IF we are in Chicago I see her while there. If we are traveling and I am due for something I will go to whomever I can find at that location. My midwife gets copies of everything sent to her (and I travel with a folder of info) so that she can oversee everything and make sure we are fine.
Since pregnancy is a normal thing and not an illness/sickness there is really not a lot of things I NEED during pregnancy. (healthy food/exercise/vitamins). I can weight myself at home, I can take my bloodpressure at home, if it becomes a concern I can check my urine at home. And since Well with pee stick/bp/wt there you have over 80% of your prenatal care right there! I have a chart that tracks it all also.
Now what about my heart condition...turns out pregnancy is been great for it! With the increase blood flow/amount I have my hands and feet are warm and pink for the first time in years! I haven't had any issues.

"Where will baby be born?"
Come on now people you know we can't tell you where we will be THAT far in advance! Hahaha. We rarely know more then a couple weeks a head of time. So thats yet to be determined-probably know last minute, like everything else. And it depends on where they would want to send us. So far we have one NO country-and thats China (not because I think its unsafe to have a baby there-because the health care seems fine- but trying to get a baby's passport in a communist country doesn't sound great to us).

"When can I come to visit?"
We would like the post baby time to be about bonding with Gummy Bear and us adjusting to our new family life on our own. We would like time for us to figure things out and THEN start seeing people. For all those who then say "Well you will need help"....my answer is....we have housekeeping/laundry service/room service and troy will be on paternity leave, there really isn't anything to help with. We will take vacation sometime after baby is born and hopefully get up to SD/MN/IL/CO to see everyone!

"Will baby be an American citizen if born overseas?"
Yes. Since baby is born to a USA citizen it automatically makes them a USA citizen. Now depending on where we are the baby could also be a citizen of THAT country as well. Some countries (like the USA) have laws saying just by being born there you are a citizen. Some countries will let you be a dual citizen your whole life and some you have to pick one or the other when you become an adult. So Yes to American and maybe to something else!

"What do you want"
Well first things first--a healthy baby. With that said if it had a frank and beans I would be ecstatic! Troy however doesn't have a preference....or so he says.

"Do you have names picked out"
We will not be sharing the names we pick until baby is here and its IS their name (gives us time to change it up as much as we want!). As of now we don't have any picked out and are not really close to having one. We do agree not to do family names. Lord knows there are enough Marie's on both side of our families hahahahaha.



So that should answer the first line of questions we seem to get asked! If you got more just leave a comment below and I will get to them.

Today we called and told the exciting news to Troy's parents, Jeremy and Katie, Jenny and Grandma Dorothy. Everyone was very happy to hear the news.
Katie and Jenny are busy with wedding stuff and we got to hear all about that also!

So about a week ago I emailed my cousins Jay and Kelly to see if they would help me surprise my mom by telling her I am pregnant on Grandparent's day. She has been nagging me for a grandchild for about 12yrs now! HAHAHA Well she of course is out of town on Sunday (actual grandparents day) so we had to improvise some. So I emailed Kelly my ultrasound picture and had her print it off and place it in a nice little frame: (so imagine instead of a baby it my ultrasound picture of the little gummy bear)


Then I had her put a note on it that says "Grandma, I'm coming April 2009!" Love Troy & Angela.

Well my mom needed to stop at their house to pick up some medications (jay is a drug rep). When she got there they were "playing" with their new video camera. She was telling them she was just notified that she got the job she really wanted. Well about that time they had a gift for her. (she was thinking it was a new job gift). When she opened it she found the frame and the note. But hey why am I explaining this to you, when you can watch the video!



She then called me as soon as she found out (4am our time!) and squealed away at me! Needless to say she is VERY excited! HAHAHAHA And already planning her shopping sprees.

Next I tried to call my Grandma--but she wasn't home.

Then I called my Aunt Linda! She was very excited as well and promises to knit us a few knit shorties/longies/legings for our future little one! Strange thing is her daughter Sara was saying 2 week earlier that we really needed to be pregnant soon, so I hear her yell in the background "I knew it!". It was pretty funny. After talking awhile with them we said goodbye.

Then I tried calling Grandma again! Nope not home----and people thing Grandmas never go out on a friday night! HA Not mine! So I told Linda and Mom NOT to tell her yet because I wanted to. And I will try again in a few hours. I mean a girl has got to sleep sometime! (updated!--Got to tell her Sat morning her time! She is super excited!)

But one last call before I do.....I called my Matron of Honor/college roommate-Brenda to let her know also. She figured since I was calling at 5:30 in the morning my time I must be preggers! And she knew we had been trying for awhile also-so she had an unfair advantage!

Everyone gave us tons of love and congrats! I couldn't have asked for more, it was great!

And for all the other people who knew earlier-THANKS for not talking and spoiling the surprise. We tell Troy's family tomorrow and then its public knowledge so you can talk all you want starting Sat afternoon!


My favorite grandmother quote--and so perfect for you mom~

A mother becomes a true grandmother the day she stops noticing the terrible things her children do because she is so enchanted with the wonderful things her grandchildren do. ~Lois Wyse

This week:
9/2 at 7 pieces of TP.

Past Measurements:
8/26 at 6.75 pieces of TP.