18 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: 5.6 inches long and 6.7 ounces

Weight lost: 7 pounds

Maternity Clothes: I bought my first pair of maternity jeans last weekend with two different tops to help stretch my wardrobe.

Gender: A GIRL!!! Heloisa

Movement: Not yet! I am ready to feel her. It will give me peace of mind.

Sleep: Sleep is ok! I wake up a few times at night, but I can go back to sleep.

Symptoms: Fatigue, fatigue, fatigue (Is it going away any time soon?)

What I miss: My energy, coffee and running (The doctor cut exercise out of my life, until the baby is born).

Cravings: Nothing especial

Best Moment this week: Choose her name!!!

What I am looking forward to: Starting to feel Heloisa move.

Choosing Heloisa’s Name

Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I had this feeling the baby would be a girl.

Paulo told me and I quote: “Don’t get your hopes up, it might be a boy. “

I would always answer: “I won’t be disappointed either, but I just feel it is a girl. “

So, little by little, I started to convince him it was a girl. It was a process.

When I went to get my 1^st trimester Morphologic Ultrasound, Paulo went with me. The only question he made to the doctor: Will we be able to see if it is a boy or a girl?

During this ultrasound, the doctor told us, it was 70% chance it was a girl, but we would be sure only on the following ultrasound.

For me, it was a done deal, my feeling was right and we were having a girl.

We’ve been talking names since begin of July. We had a boy’s name pretty much chose from the start. But for girls, we weren’t convinced yet.

So, we came up with a 05 names list and we would make some numerology study to be sure we would pick the perfect name. We had three conditions:

1. It must be a name that sounds good;
2. It must a name which was easy to give a nick name; and
3. It wasn’t supposed to be a common name.

Our final list was:

1. Heloisa – it was always my favorite name;
2. Samantha
3. Georgia
4. Raissa
5. Victoria

Heloisa sounds good with our last name,

It can easily become Helo as a nickname (Everyone is already addressing her as Helo, instead of Heloisa). It might sound weird in English, but it sounds really nice in Portuguese and in French.

It is not a common name.

So, her name wasn’t hard to choose. But the nursery will be a whole new chapter. I never thought Paulo would become so opinionate about the nursery décor LOL.

I hope you are having a wonderful week.

17 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 17 weeks

Size of baby: 5 inches long and 5 ounces

Maternity Clothes: Not yet!!

Gender: A GIRL!!! Her name will be Heloisa.

Movement: Not yet!

Sleep: I am sleeping better and the crazy dreams are gone!!!

Symptoms: I’m having a little lower belly pressure since Sunday. I went to an unexpected baby appointment yesterday. All is well, but with my past, all attention is necessary!

What I miss: My energy!

Cravings: Nothing specific.

Best Moment this week: Finding out about our sweet girl!! We are so attached to her already!

What I am looking forward to: Starting to feel Heloisa move! I just know it will give me piece of mind.

Sorry, but I don’t have pictures this week. My home computer died. We already ordered one, but it will arrive only next week. So, I am using my work computer to post.

It is a......

baby girl!!!!

More details to follow ; )

16 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along - 16 weeks

Size of baby: 4.5 inches long and about 3.5 ounces

Weight lost: 7 pounds

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing most of my normal clothes

Gender: Not sure yet!!!

Movement: Not yet!

Sleep: I am still really tired and I fall asleep pretty easily, but after 2 am, I wake up lots of time

Symptoms: Nothing but fatigue!!!

What I miss: Diet Coke and lots of coffee ; )

Cravings: Nothing especial

Best Moment this week: I reached the 16 weeks mark with no problems.

What I am looking forward to: My ultrasound on September 19^th to confirm if we are having a boy or a girl ;

PS: I HATE this sideways pics and let me tell you Paulo is not the most patient photographer in the world ; )

The journey

As you all know, our journey to become parents hasn’t been easy. I always got pregnant easily, but I never could carry the pregnancy full term.

When I went back to my doctor in February, he told me due to a birth defect and the scars that I have after my 1^st miscarriage, it would be really difficult to get pregnant naturally. He said we should try for four months naturally and if nothing happened, we should start talking about IVF.

Truth to be told, I just erased the IVF talk from my mind, because IVF was NEVER an option for me. I always thought if it would happen it would be naturally.

Fast forward 4 months, I went back to my doctor on June 2^nd and he pushed the IVF conversation again. I told him, I really need to talk more to my husband because I wasn’t comfortable with the idea.

Paulo and I have been discussing the adoption / IVF combo for some time by then. And neither of us was comfortable with any of the ideas.

By that time, Paulo put the decision on my hands: if I wanted to pursue IVF, we would do it. But if I decided to back out, he would support me. He said my part on the IVF journey is quiet easy and it would be your body that will go to “war”. War was the word he used.

After lots of prayers, tears and talks, I decided we should take a trip to Italy next March. We started to plan and check plane tickets prices…… Needless to say, I got pregnant that month.

I am still walking in egg shells and I am afraid of the 16 weeks mark that will arrive next week. But last Sunday, I took a leap of faith and I bought a few items for the baby. I trusted what the doctor said and I chose little clothes gender relates (as in pink or blue).

On September 19^th, I will have my next ultrasound and we will be sure if we are having a boy or a girl.

I put a pol to see what are your bets??? Boy or Girl?

I cannot thank you enough for all the support during this messy journey!!!

9/11

Ten years ago, I was a naïve newlywed Brazilian girl, living in Dearborn MI.

As I watched the Today Show, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer broke the news about the 1st tower being hit.

I sat on the couch, with my eyes glued on the TV and I was trying to make sense of what was happening. We were just there on our honeymoon. We were on top of WTC a few months before, a place where you could feel all that energy, people from all over the world, visiting and working.It was like a Babel Tower.

A few minutes later the towers crashed, family and friends started to call and emailed me, to check if everything was well with us. Of course, we were miles and miles from the attacks, but still, lots of people were concerned.

Paulo got home around noon, after Ford shut down all their buildings in Dearborn.

Late that afternoon, we went for a drive, the streets were empty and it felt like we were cruising around a ghost town.

If you know anything about Dearborn, you also know, that besides being Ford Headquarters, Dearborn has the biggest Ar*b-American colony in US (or at least it was 10 years ago).

It was a tough place to be. The days and weeks after the attacks, we saw a new society been born, dreams were destroyed. People whispered in public, like they were all scared of their own shadows.

Even though I am not an American, the memories are still fresh on my mind and it will certainly be something I will never forget.

There is a new little someone to love!

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