Week 13: How big is Baby Bubu?

Our baby's the size of a peach!

She's about 2.9 inches long and weighs about .81 ounces, and -- proportion-wise -- her head's now about 1/3 the size of her body (remember? It used to be bigger!). 

• Can you believe she's forming vocal cords and teeth?!
• And even though she's still teeny, she already has fingerprints.
• Her intestines are moving from the umbilical cord to their more permanent place, in her tummy.

Gifts from Tia Pata

Awwwww, today is our last day in Guayaquil and we decided to go have lunch all of us together. Tia Pata came over with a bag full of new clothes for you. They are all mostly new born size which is good because yesterday my dad bought 6 months and above. 

Natalia (pata's Daughter)

Walter + Patricia.

These are mi favourite because the are little socks that have little chicks heads and they make a rattle sound. I love them! Thanks Pata! Love you

Pio Pio!

Gifts from Abuelito Antonio

Today was another long long day. Abuelito took us shopping to a baby store. He bought tons of stuff! :)

Abuelito walking me to the altar where Reuben was waiting for me

Sweet!

It was a nice occasion and we were really happy to go shopping for you.

A monito for baby bubu

Teddy Bear blankie

detail of the baby towel

turtle!

Mom and Dad buy for baby bubu

Today we had a long day but we managed to stop by and buy some gifts for you. We bought 2 t-shirts that are hand embroidered. :)

Did you know that you grandpa Romulo lived in Galapagos?

We also bought this:

Little Overall!

We didn't buy much because we don't know yet if you are our little boy or little girl! Dad doesn't want to know, but he might want to know soon. :)

I also bought and overall for me but mine is pink! 

Love you bubu!

First gift for Baby Bubu!

Tia Sarita surprised us and bought us a gift from you. She bought a yellow suit pant, shirt and little sweater. Our favourite was the rocking Iguanas romper. It is soooooo cute. I love that the Iguanas are playing musical instruments and that it says: Guayaquil! The city were I was born! Thanks soooo much!

Ultrasound at 12 weeks

Today is mom's funeral. We had made an appointment with the doctor almost 2 weeks ago with Dr. Blum from BabyBlum and your dad and I decided to go ahead and go. He had to review all the exams and check how much you've grown.
The funeral starts at 5:00 pm and our appointment is at 11:00 am. So we stopped by the funeral home to see my Dad and how he was doing. We are all very sad but I think he's the one who is suffering the most. I told him we will be back after the appointment is over.

Everything went well with the Ultrasound and we saw you. You were calmly sleeping (Unlike the last time we saw you in the ultrasound when you were all over!) The doctor measured your femur and from top to bum. Have I told you that my fav sound in the world is to hear you beating? I just love it!

Roses for my Mom

Everyone who knows me knows that I adore color. That's why when the wife of one of my mom's friends and coworker came to her wake with a color painting on her hand I was mesmerized. I loved the colors and the way it was painted. The whole painting has a certain energy that resonated with me

My dad introduced me to them and turns out they were there the day we got married with your dad. My mom invited them (I did not know nor did I pay any attention back then).

The lady painted this for my mom before she got sick for Christmas. As my mom returned from her trip and went back to work, but they never got the opportunity to give it to her. So they brought it to the wake.

Today, I decided that I wanted the painting and asked my dad for it. He said that of course we could take it. Your dad and I absolutely love it. We hope you like it too.

Grandma passed away

Dear Baby,

Today we woke up so early to go have breakfast at one of my favorite places: La Canoa. Then, we went to the craft market in Ecuador to buy clothes for you and for me. We like the clothes from there. We don't know what to buy thought. While we were shopping we received a phone call from dad telling us that my dad had to go to the hospital where grandma is. He said "What other news can they give other than she passed away?"

And he was right. She passed at night. We are very sad and in peace at the same time. She suffred in that horrible place for almost 1 month. Oh baby... we don't know why we go through what we go through. It's a very hard and we have to accept it. 

One of reasons why I'm including this in your journal is because we don't want to hide these things from you.

Lots of friends have helped us through and we saw many friends and family members. We are grateful for the beautiful souls that have come to our aid with love and support.

I am grateful that your daddy is here with me. He's been so supportive through it all, taking care of us and making sure we eat and joking around to keep us happy!

We love you mom

Week 12: How big is Baby Bubu?

Our baby's the size of a plum!

The average fetus at 12 weeks is about 2.1 inches long and .49 ounces. Now that she's got pretty much all her parts, her main job is to keep on growing.

Most of her critical systems are fully formed!

• She's about to enter the growth and maturation stage, in which her organs and tissues will grow and develop rapidly.
• She's now developing her reflexes -- if you poke her body, she'll likely move.
• She's opening and closing her fingers and curling her toes, too.
• Her brain is developing fast!

Who else is pregnant?

Reuben's cousin's and his wife Diana are pregnant also and he/she will also be born in September!

This was her message on Facebook:

Hola mi gaby preciosa he recido la noticia mas bella del mundo que las dos vamos a ser mamitas en septiembre, gabita que dios te bendiga todo este proceso.

Raul y Dianita back 2009.

 Before they got married, I had a dream that will be getting married! :) So, now you know baby bubu that when daddy says: "Mami is a witch!" it's true and that's a good thing.

Ultrasound in Guayaquil

I went to the doctor today. My doctor since your dad and I got married. I told him that I am pregnant and you know what he said: "Congrats, you are very brave." Meaning that being a parent it's something for the brave. I guess...

He sent an order for a lot of exams and he also did a scan and I got to see you, this time in 3D! :) YAY! 

Aren't you the cutest? OMG, I only wish your dad was there with me. But he will be flying tomorrow to GYE to be with us! I love you baby! You moved so much during the scan that the doctor said you were like a twister. You were kicking your legs up and down. I saw you swimming inside.

Amongst everything that is happening, you are my blessing. And to see you made me so immensely happy. 

Week 11: How big is baby Bubu?

Our baby's the size of a lime!

Your fetus is about 1.6 inches long, and she's got about a 1:1 head to body ratio. She now weighs in at about .25 ounces.  

• You can't see it, but she's moving fluidly and gracefully in there.
• Her skin is see-through, but she's on her way to looking more like a baby. 
• Her fingers and toes aren't webbed anymore. 
• Tooth buds, hair follicles and nail beds are forming.

TheBump.com --

Arrived in Guayaquil

We arrived baby! We made the long trip! can you believe we have been in a plane for almost 12 hours. And can you believe they only fed us twice?... yeah, I couldn't believe it either? Buuuu! My original plan was to have something to eat at the airport but everything around me made me nauseous. :( 
But anyhow, we made it asn we are staying with Tia Sarita, Tio Fernando and Paulita chiquitita!
Tia Mery, Dad and the Merrills went to receive us at the airport.
We told the Merrills in the parking lot about you and they were so happy! They started taking care of me right away. They are the best! We are very lucky to be staying with them.

Sarita and Fernando the day they got married.

By the way, today it was the first time we can eat without feeling queasy. YAY! I think things are looking up in the food department. Anyway, I am so tired! We traveled for 24 hours and it's time to rest. We will hopefully see grandma tomorrow. Love you baby bubu!


:)


Mom

We told cousin Cathy

I called my cousin to let her know about you!  She was extremely happy and extremely supportive with everything.:) I love her like a sister because we have grown up together. Her mom and my mom are cousins also and are best friends. We have spent lots of holidays and vacations together. And, when I was 19 I went to live in her house in NY and she was the most supportive person EVER.

Cathy, Connie and I back in 2007!

I told her because she's getting married this June and we are invited as well as my sister and parents. But grandma is still in the hospital and the prognosis is not good. :( So we do not think we are going to the wedding and I had to let her know cause she was expecting us to go and we were this close to buy our tickets. 

It's hard times baby, I know. Mommy is confused and does not know what to do. Everyone is asking me to go and I can't as I'm waiting for the tests on our pregnancy and to go see the doctor one more time before leaving to Ecuador.. (If I decide to go).

Just know my sweet bubulicious baby that we are doing our best always, thinking about you first because you are the most precious to us.

Week 10: How big is Baby Bubu?

Our Baby is the size of a prune!

Now, she's about 1.2 inches long and weighs about .14 ounces. Her body length will almost double in the next three weeks. 

• Baby has working arm joints, and her cartilage and bones are forming.
• Her vital organs are fully developed and they're starting to function.
• Her fingernails and hair are starting to appear, too.
• Plus, she's swallowing and kicking in there. (Can you believe it?!)

 --TheBump.com

Bad news

Mom laughing ( I love this photo cause it captured her joie de vivre )

Dad called us to let us know that Mom is not doing well. They did the surgery and found out nothing could be done in her case so we just have to wait for things to progress. They are giving her 2 months to live but dad does not know if that is true and he feels it might be less. She doesn't know of what happened during the surgery and the doctor will tell her when he thinks is appropriate

Baby Bubu. We are very sad. Just the thought of losing my mom is sad, especially know that I am becoming your mom.

Please know that this sadness has nothing to do with you. We pray together your dad and I for your well being.  We repeat constantly you are innocent and loved and welcome.

El embarazo y sus guacalas!

Baby bubu: let me give you a list of things you do not like to eat:

1. Anything that has curry.
2. Any type of Indian food.
3. Hummus, or any type of Arabic food.
4. raw onions (shame cause I like pickled onions) 

Querido Bebe: estas son las cosas que no te gustan comer:

1. Nada que tenga curry
2. No a la comida hindu
3. Nada de Hummus ni comida arabe
4. Cebollitas (yuck!)

And Grandma said...

My Dad says grandma cried a lot when she found out we are expecting you! wow... we all love you so much already. she thinks that I just found out but what she doesn't know is that I am already 9 weeks pregnant. And so she started thinking and making assumptions that you will be born in November and you will be a Scorpio baby.. but in reality you'll be a Virgo baby... I do get along with the Virgos! 

Mom and I

Mom will be undergoing surgery on Monday to see if her ailment can be reversible. I sure hope so.

Baby bubu, you are safe, you are perfect and innocent! I love you

Week 9: How big is Baby Bubu?

Our Baby is the size of  a green olive!

At nine weeks pregnant, you and baby have made two big accomplishments: You’ve made it to month three, and she’s no longer an embryo -- now she’s a fetus. Basically that means she’s becoming more and more baby-like, and you’re inching closer and closer to leaving the nasties of the first trimester behind you.

She's gaining steam! At 9 weeks, your fetus measures around .9 inches and weighs about .07 ounces.

• This is a milestone. She's no longer an embryo -- now she's a fetus
• She's developing more distinct facial features.
• And she might now have a strong enough heartbeat to be picked up by a fetal doppler.

TheBump--

Ok, you are our little secret but we told...

We decided to tell my parents about you, Abuelitos Mauro y Pilar! Grandma is still in the hospital and in ICU and we don't know when she'll be out of there. So we call dad and told him we are going to be parents and he cried sooooooooo much out of happiness of course. 

He will tell your grandma tonight when he visits her. 

:)

Mom, Dad and I

We love you baby Bubu!

First Person that found out....

Reuben and I made a promise of not telling anyone about Baby Bubu. Baby Bubu, you'll be our little secret until we know how to deal with everything.

But, this early morning I broke my promise. To my defense, I had to tell this person... 

I couldn't sleep last night so I woke up at 2:00 am and turned on my computer and found my friend Fernanda on FB chat. She had just come back from a silent meditation retreat  and we had a lot to catch up to do. We chatted about random stuff, this and that until she wrote the following:

"I forgot to tell you that during the retreat it came to my mind that you were getting pregnant soon."

I just couldn't help it and told her we are expecting a little one in our lives very soon.

She said: "Sh*t.. I knew it... i am crying..."

I asked please, please not to tell anyone because we didn't want people to find out yet.
How could I not tell her? It's like she read my mind? Fernanda and I have a strong connection since we met. We love her and we are sure you will love her just as much.

This is a picture of Fernanda, Benicio, Jian (Fernanda's son) and I the day of Jian's Christening.

 And so Fernanda was the first friend/relative to find out about our baby bubu.

Who's in there with you?

A closer look at the picture! on your right you can see a little dinosaur/godzilla looking at you. Un close-up a la foto: a la derecha se puede ver un pequeno dinosaurio/ godzilla mirandote.

Dear Baby Bubu: {or how did daddy find out about me}

And so I sat down... lots of things went through my mind... especially how would I tell your Dad the news. I decided that since he was picking me up from the hospital, I would ask him to go inside the OBGYN office with me. I waited for him to arrive but they called my name to go in and as I sat down to talk with the doctor, he called me asking me where was I. I rushed out to go get him from the waiting room and I waited until we were inside the doctor’s office when she told him: “we can go see the baby now in the monitor.”

And your dad said: “Ah, What!!!!”

All I could say was: “Yes, we are having a Baby!”

And he got all teary eyed and emotional and kissed me in the forehead. I got teary eyed also. It was such a happy moment and although it was an impromptu moment it was the perfect way to find out we are expecting you. And I was so happy that your dad was so happy.

She told us that we were 9 weeks pregnant (OMG that was more than 2 months) and we will be having you in our arms by September 5^th... :)

We went to the room next door to see you. She squirted the cold gel on my tummy and then she started looking for you... and we saw this tiny beaming peanut, so small and lovely... and she said: “well, you don’t have a parasite as you thought you had, you have a baby! I will remember this when you are having him!”

 here's a your first picture!

She said you look fine and that you are the average size. (Sigh of relief!)

And then, we heard your heartbeat going “vroom vroom vroom” very, very fast.  It made everything so perfect.

It was perfect. We came out of the hospital in total shock and so happy. All our plans for trips and things are out the window and we don’t care! I am going to be mom!

We had to go to a party that day and daddy said we had to tell everyone, I didn’t want to. The main reason was because people would start asking questions about you and I hadn’t even processed the info myself! I was just happy.

That night, when we went to bed, your daddy and I hugged and knew that we were not alone anymore and that you are our little blessing. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it.

And that is the whole story of how we found out about you!

Love you baby bubu,

Mom

Dear Baby Bubu: {or how did mommy find out about me}

 Dear Baby,

My name is Gabi and I am your mommy. I cannot tell how much of a surprise your existence is to me. You are our beautiful surprise and we are so happy that you are making our family stronger and happier. We love you... I will tell you the whole story about how we found out we were pregnant with you, my beautiful baby.

For years your dad and I have been moving around from country to country and every year we have said: Yeah, we will have a baby next year.  And years passed and still no baby. We were used to it.

On January 8^th, I had to traveled to Bangalore, India for laughter yoga training. I laughed and shared for 6 days straight. We were so happy. But, by the end of the week I found myself with almost no energy, very sleepy and also emotional. Also, I found out that you Abuelita Pilar (your grandma) was in the hospital. I was very concerned about her health because I love her and we live in different countries that are an ocean apart.

We stayed an hour away from the city in a place called: “the school of ancient wisdom”. The only food they served was Indian food. I’m not a big fan but I ate it. Also I found myself being disgusted by certain odors and people’s actions: like people eating raw onions or eating massive amounts of food at once, or eating with their hands.I couldn't stand it... just walking through the food court was yuck!

funny times at the laughter training with my laughter friends!

Once I was home, I crashed. I was soooo tired and so lethargic I couldn’t do anything. I thought it was from the trip. I was in bed all day wearing pajamas. And didn’t feel like eating. Then after eating I would feel nauseous and then gassy. But it was so gassy I couldn’t stop at all. Your daddy was not happy with my gas issues and told me to pretend we were dating. :(

But anyhow, I would not eat much because everything I ate felt like yuck in my stomach. So horrible. A week passed and I had my ups and down with food. Then over the weekend we got together with our friends Los Chiles y Los Criollo at a restaurant and they asked me about India. All I could say was that I would never go back because I hated the food. Yuck! Just to talked about it made me nauseous .... horrible... Gabriela Criollo hinted “well, maybe you are pregnant.” I said.. noooo, I don’t think so.

During the week we had ups and down. Then, on Saturday, I threw up my cereal . :( And then I said, well, maybe I could be pregnant. That day, I ate soooooo much at church (they had like a small fair where they sell food). Afterwards, we went to a restaurant and nothing on the menu seemed worth eating:

Chicken.... yuck.

Beef... no way!

Fish.. ugh!

I started playing: what is the LEAST disgusting thing I could eat? And even when I made my choice, I didn’t like it. :(

And then I started having abdominal (constipation) and I decided I needed to go to the doctor because I did not know what was happening.

I went to the doctor on Wednesday, February 1st. My friend Dominika suggested to go to a general practitioner to Al Ahli because She thought I had a parasite. She said her friend had recently came back from Singapore with a parasite that made her gassy, constipated and nauseated. And since I had just came back from India...

I was directed to the gastro-enterologist. He asked for blood tests for liver, and for my kidneys and also a pregnancy test. After all, I was 2 months late on my period.

People ask me how could I not know I was pregnant after not having my period for 2 months, but see I suffered in the past of PCOS and that makes your period irregular. I had been regular for a long time but when I missed my period I thought: Maybe the PCOS is back. And since I was dealing with so much with my mom ( she had been in and out of hospital 3 times...and she was back in the hospital and put in the ICU), and being far away I thought “I will deal with PCOS later.”

The next day, I went to see the doctor and he waited until I sat down to say:

“We can rule everything out. You are pregnant.”

( I thought I heard him say, “We can rule out you are pregnant.”)

And so I asked: I don’t understand. Am I pregnant?

And all he could say back was the same: “We can rule everything out. You are pregnant.”

We had the same conversation back and forth for at least 30 seconds, until I realized what he was saying. I am pregnant and I am going to you, my baby. All I could say was: Oh My God. I can’t believe this.

And so the nurse (who was smiling while I was having talking to the doctor escorted me out of the office and guided  to the OBGYN section to see a doctor. His last words were: “All the best!”


----to be continued-----