Welcome to the Third Trimester!!!

The beautiful bedroom set we've picked out for Lily's nursery.

The "mommy to be" with the VERY excited Grammy.





My former "innie" is quickly becoming an "outie"
Just another strange yet mundane occurance in pregnancy land!

YAHOO!!!!

We've made it to the 3rd Trimester!!!! We are so excited!!!! It's truly hard to believe that it's been 7 months already but the reality is setting in that little Lily Mae will be in our arms soon enough! Wow. Lately I have been beginning to feel the transitions from "individual" to "mother". There is a definite loss of identity- a loss of self- but an addition of a wonderful new one. We will no longer be Molly and Alan....rather "mommy and daddy"....that may take a little getting used to...


Anyway, we've got so much to look forward to in the coming months. We will be starting our birthing/new parent classes sometime soon. We are also going to be having a baby shower which is always a blast!We just registered this past week and it was so much fun. Although we are very exited for our little angel to arrive we are also enjoying the pregnancy. I am still sleeping fairly well at night. The swelling and all those other terrible "3rd trimester symptoms" (extreme fatigue, achy back/achy everywhere, ad infinity) have yet to come my way, so I am still a very happy (but big) preggo.

I will try to post more regularly but all my "free time" is being spent on baby preperations!!!

Happy 2009!!! The year that changed our lives...forever!

It's hard to believe the holidays have come and gone and here we are already one week into 2009! Alan and I have been so busy the last couple of weeks with the holidays and now we are just as hectic preparing for the arrival of little Lily Mae. It is so hard to believe that I am almost 2/3rd's of the way through my pregnancy!!! Only 15 weeks left to go! I am so excited to see our beautiful little girl but I am enjoying every step of the pregnancy as well. It's such a special feeling knowing that there is a little life inside of me. I love feeling her wiggle and kick. Feeling her brings a sort of peace to my heart...It's really amazing! And yes.....my belly is growing everyday!!! Lily weighs just over a pound right now but will double in size in the next 3 weeks!

The picture of my belly is the most recent....it's beginning to "get in the way"!

I also included the picture of our pregnancy tests because that is a reminder of the day that changed our lives forever!

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!
We are so excited to begin a week of fun family time, great food, and of course, presents! Tonight we have Alan's Dad and Step-Mom coming to celebrate. Then late tonight we are off to Sanbornton to see my Mom and Bud; where we will be spending Christmas day. Alan, Lily and I will have our "own" Christmas at home tomorrow night! Then last but not least we will be visiting my Dad, in Vermont all weekend. As if that's not busy enough Alan and I will be celebrating our birthdays next week!!!!!
Everything is going wonderful with Lily. She is approx. 1 pound (this is a milestone for us) and about 9 inches. She has earned the nickname "wiggles"- no explanation necessary!!!
We are off to drink some eggnog and sit by the Christmas tree! Lily seems to especially enjoy the eggnog!
Alan, Lily, and I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a healthy and happy new year!

Lily Mae is as HEALTHY as can be!

Thank you all for keeping Lily in your prayers this past week.
We went to see the specialist yesterday and learned that the cysts are completely gone and the Dr. saw no other indications of an abnormality (specifically Trisomy 19). Thank God!
We had so much faith that everything was going to turn out okay but hearing from a Dr. is a wonderful confirmation!
We are so happy that our little Lily is going to be okay.
The best part about the whole ordeal is that it confirmed our love for this little life growing inside of me. Oh, and we also got to watch her on the ultrasound again--in 3D this time!! And it was re-confirmed three times that she is indeed a "her"!
So, thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers!
We will keep you updated on our little angel as time passes!

A Bit of a Scare

Hey all!
Thank you so much for checking of our blog and leaving your feedback and comments. I love reading what you have to say!
On Monday we had a bit of a scare. We got a call from our nurse telling us that the ultrasound showed that Lily has a cyst on her brain. Of course when we heard this we panicked. We didn't know what the implications of this would be- what it would mean for Lily. After a tough day and a lot of research we have learned a lot about Choroid Plexus Cysts! Rather than me trying to explain the situation I have included a bunch of useful links that explain the problem in layman's terms, if you'd like to check them out.


http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/health_wellness/prenatal_tests/ultrasound/article/choroid-plexus-cyst

http://www.ucsfhealth.org/childrens/medical_services/preg/prenatal/moreinfo/faq.html#11

http://www.cssd.us/body.cfm?id=1208

http://www.momsquawk.com/2007/01/04/choroid-plexus-cysts-they-sound-scary-but-are-they/ This one is a good blog.

We go next week to see a specialist-- to meet with a Genetic Counselor and to have another ultrasound with a pre-natal specialist. I will know more then and will keep you posted.
Please keep Lily in your prayers. We know that God is with us and that everything will be okay- no matter what- but it helps to have the support of wonderful family and friends. Thank you all!

The Growth of little Lily Mae...and my belly:)

As you can see I am quickly getting that beachball belly!

It looks especially large in this picture!

These were both taken in December- (5 months along)!

Getting a bigger Belly...Slowly but surely!

The first picture was taken in Oct (when I was about 3 months along)

and the secind pic was taken in November!

Lily is growing quickly!