31 Weeks!

Hey Family and Friends,

Since our last post we have been pretty busy. Last weekend we traveled up to NYC for a whirlwind trip to attend the engagement party of our friends Erica Lief and Christian Platusich. Steph is going to be in their wedding next year and we didn't want to miss this celebration for anything. We do wish the party was a little bit closer because driving a total 22 hours in a three day period when you're 31 weeks pregnant is NOT fun. It was all worth it the because not only did Steph get to see friends from high school that she hadn't seen in years, we also got to spend time with Steph's parents, brother, grandmother, and great-grandfather. Check out the picture of Steph and the bride-to-be.

The monday after our marathon traveling, Steph had a follow up ultrasound to check on the baby's right kidney. During the ultrasound we found out that the baby has three to four cysts on his/her right kidney. The doctors were unable to see the kidney behind the cysts which can mean one of two things. Either the cysts are preventing normal kidney growth or the doctors are simply unable to visualize the kidney using the ultrasound. Obviously we are praying for the second scenario but we are

being realistic and not totally ruling out the first scenario. The doctors are not overly concerned about the cysts because the left kidney appears to be functioning normally. As long as their is one functioning kidney the baby has the potential to grow up normally and healthily. The doctor's believe that the left kidney is functioning normally because the amniotic fluid is at normal levels. If you didn't know, amniotic fluid is made up mostly of the baby's urine. This means that left kidney is doing the work of both kidneys and is filtering all of the fluid the baby consumes. For now, the only course of action will be a follow-up ultrasound when the baby is born.

During the ultrasound we also learned that all of the other organs are growing normally and the baby's weight is in the 90th percentile. He/she is already 4 lbs 12 ozs (and I've still got 2 months to go!). The idea of having a big baby is definitely not helping Steph let go of all the anxieties associated with giving birth.

In the pictures to the left you can see a profile picture of the baby (top image) and an image looking down at the baby's face. In the bottom picture you can clearly see the baby's chin, top lip, and nostrils.

In order to ease both of our anxiety levels, this weekend we attended birth preparation classes and learned a lot about the birth process and different techniques that can help everything go smoothly. Seeing videos of women giving birth was definitely interesting. But it was comforting seeing all of the options available to expecting moms.

As we come closer to the baby's due date please continue to keep his/her development (especially the right kidney) in your thoughts and prayers. We are so excited to meet our baby and we know you are too!

Love Always,

Jorge and Steph

Getting Ready for Baby

Family & Friends,

Hopefully you were all able to enjoy time with family and friends this fourth of July weekend. Steph's parents came down last Thursday to help get some projects finished around the house. Jorge and Steph's dad got stuck with most of the dirty work including changing light fixtures, painting, and installing a drying rack in the laundry room. They (and Steph's mom) also spent a few hours in the hot sun cutting down an unsightly bush and fixing some of the trim work around the house. All of their hard work paid off because the house looks great! Steph's parents also bought down an elliptical for us to use. When the baby comes we definitely won't have time to go to the gym so, we have to bring the gym to us.

Along with general house hold maintenance, most of everyone's efforts were focused on getting the nursery completed. Steph's mom sewed a curtain for the nursery and Steph made a canopy that hangs above the crib. We incorporated characters from 'Oh, the Places You'll Go' by making elephant cut outs that hold up the canopy. We also put together an 'Oh, the Places You'll Go' puzzle and hung it over the changing table. The room is 90% complete and we've only got a few more finishing touches. In the pictures you can see the canopy, elephants, new ceiling fan, and dresser. On the dresser are the baby's first stuffed animals, Thing 1 and Thing 2.

After all of the hard work, everybody wanted to take time to have some fun. On Monday we all went to the course to play a round of golf. Steph's belly is too big to play so

she acted as the official golf cart driver for Jorge. Everyone had a really great time but to say that Jorge struggled his first time out on the course would be a bit of an understatement. We estimate that he lost about 15 balls throughout the course in the woods or water hazards. Despite not keeping too many balls on the course, Jorge had a great time and is looking forward to getting better.

All in all it was a great weekend. We love spending time with family and sharing in the excitement of the new baby. Next weekend, Jorge and Steph are heading to NY to attend an engagement party. We are super excited to see all of our friends and spend a day in the city.

Until then.... Be Blessed!

Love Always,

Steph and Jorge

Day at the Beach

Hi Family and Friends!

Since our last posting I (Steph) celebrated my 26th birthday. It's never fun to work on your birthday but the day went by relatively fast. After I left work, we went out to our favorite Sushi place for dinner then came home and ate some Coldstone Creamery Birthday Cake Remix cake. It was awesome!! Jorge bought me a camcorder for my birthday which is something I've been wanting for a long time. With the baby coming, I figured we needed something to capture all of the excitement coming our way.

On June 25 we took a much needed trip to the beach. It's an annual tradition for us to go to Topsail Island beach the weekend after Steph's birthday. We've been going through a heat wave in NC and spending a hot day near the cool water was very rejuvenating. We spent most of the day underneath the umbrella but we did venture out into the water a couple times. The water was a little rough and one of the waves knocked Jorge off of his feet causing him to do a back flip. A little water got in his ear and he's been paranoid about it reaching his brain ever since.

Despite the water in his ear, Jorge was able to walk up and down the shore collecting shells. Normally we collect shells together but my growing belly makes it more and more difficult for me to bend over.

After leaving the beach we spent some time with Jorge's family before making the long drive home. We had to come home Saturday night so that Jorge could finish up a project for his grad school course.

Next weekend my parents are coming down to help us finish up some decorating work in the nursery. We are very excited to work on the room because our due date seems like its approaching very quickly. We will post our nursery progress next week. Until then, be blessed!

Love Always,

Steph and Jorge

Nursery - Work in Progress

Hey All,

I promised pictures of the nursery in my last post, so here they are! Since we are waiting to find out the baby's sex we had to pick a unisex theme. We decided to go with the Dr. Seuss classic, 'Oh the Place You'll Go'. If you haven't read the book it's about all of the adventures a person will go on throughout their lives.

We decided to go with a yellow base coat with yellow and green stripes on one wall. Dr. Seuss is a big fan of stripes so we wanted to incorporate this into our design. The crib will go on the striped wall. Eventually we will be putting up some wall decorations including elephants and hot air balloons. As you can see Jorge is in the process of painting the elephants.

That's all for now, more pictures to come once we make some progress. Steph's parents are coming down forth of July to help finish up the window treatment and wall decorations. So look out for some new nursery pics around then.

Lots of love,

Steph and Jorge

28 weeks!

Hello Family and Friends,

Today we had our ultrasound appointment at the Alamance Regional

Hospital with a perinatal doctor from Duke. Steph's parents were able to join us and they were extremely excited to see their first grandchild in action. Our baby is getting bigger and bigger and currently weighs 2 lbs 5 ounces. We also saw some hair growing on the back of the baby's head but we're not sure who's hair he/she will take after though (it just looks like peach fuzz).

During the ultrasound process, Stephanie got a chance to see the baby's eyes opening and closing which was super cute. Jorge and Steph also got a chance to see the baby swallowing some of the amniotic fluid. Hopefully it tastes good (gross)! When the ultrasound tech was trying to get a picture of the baby he/she wasn't being very cooperative. There was always a little hand blocking the lower half of

the face. In most of the pictures you can see a hand, an arm, or the shadow of the hand on the baby's face.

As far as the baby's kidney's, the left kidney is completely fine but the right kidney has two fluid filled cysts formed on it's exterior surface. There is no blood flowing to the cysts indicating that they are benign. The doctor just wants to keep an eye on their growth to ensure that they will not pse a problem in the future. Also, both kidneys are functioning normally indicating the cysts are not affecting kidney function which is great news. We will be going back for a follow up ultrasound in 4 weeks to make sure that the cysts are not growing and changing in form. Please continue to keep the baby in your prayers.

All in all it was a great ultrasound appointment and we are excited for what the next few months will bring.

Love Always,

Stephanie and Jorge

The Past Several Months...

Hey family and friends,

We decided that keeping a blog to keep everyone up to date with the pregnancy and baby would be a great way to keep everyone in the loop as to what's going on with us. We're starting this blog pretty late in the pregnancy (Stephanie is 27 weeks and 1 day today) so this entry will be mostly a refresher of things that have happened in the past few months. Just so everyone knows, we do not want to know the sex of the baby until the delivery day, so we will be using he/she interchangeably to refer to the baby.

Up until this point, Stephanie has put on about 30 pounds (yikes!) but has been able to wear her regular clothes with the help loose fitting shirts and a super cool invention called the BeBand which is an elastic band that holds your pants up when you can't zip them up anymore. Looking at the ultrasound pictures you can see that the baby has grown quite a bit as well (4 weeks - 19 weeks).

The pregnancy has gone very smoothly so far and we are very thankful for that. Stephanie had no morning sickness in the first few months and only recently has she started to feel very tired. The baby has been growing normally and should be approximately 2 pounds at this point. At our last ultrasound, the ultrasound technician observed extra fluid in one of the baby's kidneys which may mean that he/she has an extra ureter (the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder). This, apparently, is very common and may just mean a high frequency of urinary tract infections once the baby is born. We have an ultrasound on Monday (6/14) at the hospital to lean more about the baby's kidneys, so please keep us in your prayers.

Finally, we have been spending most of the past few weekends getting the nursery prepared. We are doing an "Oh! The Places You'll Go" theme. We have painted most of the room yellow and one wall has yellow and green stripes. We will be adding some Dr. Seuss characters around the room as accents in the next couple of weeks (pictures to come).

All in all we are super excited and we look forward to sharing our experiences with all of you!

Love you all!

Stephanie and Jorge