Baby Burris is a....

BABY BURRIS IS A...

http://animoto.com/play/Tm105ytovM0TO8OfONC5rg

 

Not-so-good day

I woke up to blood this morning. It really scared me. I immediately woke Brant up. As I do each morning, I had just been thinking how thankful I was that we had come this far. Brant looked up possible causes while I got dressed. I was thinking I would go to work and call the doctor's office when they opened. I got dressed and while driving, decided to go straight to the doctor. I sometimes lead myself to believe that work is most important. I don't know if it is my profession or the way I was raised, but this has to stop. This pregnancy was not easy to come by and it is my TOP priority. I  sat in the hall outside the office until they opened. My doctor is still on vacation, so I saw a person I had never seen. First we heard the heartbeat with a Doppler machine, (RELIEF!) She examined me and told me we needed to do an ultrasound as soon as we can to figure out what was causing the bleeding.
I made an appointment for the u/s at 11. They didn't see me until 12:15. The ultrasound technician took a lot of time with me, really listened and took me on a "tour." He was able to find a dark place in my placenta that he called bruising, which was causing the blood. Usually something like this would happen if you ran into a wall or got hit with something pretty hard. I asked him if it was due to lifting something, he couldn't say. Sometimes is it just unexplained. I can't recall anything ramming into me. My students are constantly hugging me and their heads are at the right height for damage, but I do not recall any of them pounding into me or anything. He kept telling me bleeding is not normal in pregnancy and that I did the right thing to come in right away.
I was sent home and told to take it easy. What happens tomorrow? I can't rest at work. I work with children. I am constantly busy and in a state of go-go-go at work. I'm worried about that, but I'll do my best. Other women on different forums and sites have had this and been put on bed rest or modified bed rest. I don't want to be on bed rest, but if there is danger to the baby, I'll do anything I have to. I am passed the 12 week hurdle, (13 weeks, 6 days,) but this is a critical gestational age and definitely not out of the woods. 
The technician was not going to tell me anything about the sex of the baby. Then we had a conversation about my previous technician telling me what she thought and the MaterniT21 test telling me the opposite. After that conversation and a little looking around, he did confirm the sex. (The blood test was correct.)
Scary day, but at least I got to see that our baby is doing okay.
Praying for a healthy baby and pregnancy.

My 1st blog - 2008

A blog I never added to, "Some People Think We're Crazy..."
This link gives some insight into where Brant and I have been for the past 4 years. My "rant" part is still true in education and worse every year. After a Masters degree I now have the best, most creative job in the school. I am thankful for that. Sadly, I see teachers (more importantly students) going through this same mess daily and it is heartbreaking.
Just a background piece to A New Adventure!!! Happy days ahead!
http://goldengirl2.wordpress.com/

13 weeks

It's fun to know the gender and keep it between Brant and me for now! Our families are so anxious to find out! Brant's not so sure that was a good idea. I see it as anticipation building to a fun opportunity to tell them, (especially since we couldn't initially tell them about the pregnancy in a fun way!) We're going to invite all that can make it to our house for a gender reveal. Unless I can think of more/other ways, I am going to make cupcakes with gender-colored filling in the center, (pink or blue.) It'll be fun! I went to a few resale shops yesterday, just to check out what those are like. I was impressed with one and actually bought 4 more items for the baby! Nice stuff for pennies! That's the way to do it! (I am a Golden!!!)

Don't be afraid to create a comment! We'd love to have them!!!!!

One of those really great days

Just a regular work day. Then at about 9:30 I received the return phone call with results from my MateriT21 test, (the no-risk blood test that replaces the amniocentesis.) Thank you, God for a healthy baby growing inside me. 99% chance there are no major chromosomal abnormalities, (trisomy 13, 18, 21.) I told Brant the other night that I trust all is well and don't really have fear that anything is abnormal, but when labeled Advanced Maternal Age and given the numbers, it gets scary. We'll just keep praying for healthy growth and smooth delivery.
The other HUGE thing is that she was able to tell me the gender. They can now test whether or not there is a Y chromosome present within the mother's blood. If there is, you are carrying a male. If not, it is female. I was about to burst all day, not able to tell anyone! I went to Babies-R-Us after work and got an outfit and card for the Daddy-to-Be and surprised him with the news. Such a happy time. We are not ready to tell everyone yet. We may wait until we actually see it on a sonogram, (even though it is 99.4% correct, we want to be sure-human error? Doctors offices do have miscommunications and it is a very new test.) We'll see. I'd like to have a family gender reveal party. So exciting.
So much fun.
A really great day.
Time for sleep!
Sweet dreams.
Thank you, God.

I Know Why Your Belly is Getting so Fat...

The first student to notice Baby Burris was a kindergartner. She said, "Mrs. Burris, I know why your belly is getting so fat. You have a baby growing in there!" I smiled and told her she was right and was the first one to notice. Oh, the innocent honesty. All day teachers and staff were commenting on how cute my belly is and how I am really showing now.  The same evening, was "Meet the Teacher" night. A parent stopped and asked if I was expecting. (The cute maternity shirt I had on was apparently one of the tighter-fitting, figure-showing kind!) Her third grade daughter was thrilled and couldn't believe it. As she was patrolling in the front drop-off zone the next morning, she YELLED in front of everyone, "Hi, Mrs. Burris! How's that baby doing in there?" I smiled and gave her a big thumbs up! The other kids looked confused. Ha. During parent night another parent shared with me that she was expecting her third. I shared our news with her and her first grade daughter kept on measuring/comparing our belly's with her hands on us. Sweet kids.

The precious Mexican ladies I work with pat my belly and say "Aww, panzita," meaning cute little belly. They assured me it is very different from panzon! They try to spoil me. They do not want me to lift ANYTHING or climb on anything...impossible in my work!

Yesterday we went to the river to celebrate Dad's life for his birthday. All the sudden, Lainey said, "OH, AUNT POLLY, I almost forgot about the baby growing!" Of course, she wants it to be a girl and Graham the Ham thinks it's a boy, already punching the baby, (not in a mean way, just being silly and playful.)

I'm not a big fan of bare belly photos, but this is for the "baby book," and this is my quick catching up on the week with bad camera phone in the bathroom on a Sunday morning...

12 week belly shot! Getting big fast!

We're shopping for a good camera! Hope to get it soon and learn how to use it by March!

We got to see our baby again today!!! 

11 weeks

Everything looked great. He/she was jumping around like crazy. We heard the heartbeat again, (now at 160 bpm). I took the new blood test that replaces  an amniocentesis, (scary to think about, but would want to be prepared...)

My belly is growing so fast. I have been a little embarrassed about already wearing maternity clothes, but they sure are comfortable!!! Thank goodness for all my sister's maternity clothes, a huge help. 

Time is flying by now that school is back in. It's good, but the beginning of the school year is always stressful! This year has been especially stressful for many reasons not at all related to being pregnant. I nearly exploded the first week, but now I have this whoosh of, "well, I'm just not going to worry about that, because there are more important things going on inside me." I'd like to think it's prayers from me, my mom and friends helping me chill out. I did "get back to the pillow" this week, (meditation.) Very helpful. 5 am is not a pretty time, however. Looking forward to the weekend!