Week 20: Halfway there!

We are officially halfway there! We have been extremely blessed thus far by having a very smooth pregnancy without complications. I am so excited to be at the halfway point, but it also makes it very real that this baby will be coming in no time!

This week was my favorite by far! Not only was it Christmas, but I felt the baby kick for the first time (where I knew for sure it was kicks and not just gas or being bloated)! I received plenty of maternity clothes for Christmas, and I absolutely love them! The jeans are so comfortable, and the shirts are so nice. I can totally understand why these clothes were invented in the first place, I love them! Christmas Eve was very nice. We had family over our house for dinner and then we attended midnight mass. It was the first time in a very long time we've attended at midnight, and I really enjoyed it. I think it might be a new tradition for us. Christmas Day was wonderful because I was able to sleep in (last Christmas I'll be able to do that!) and while Jorge took Carlos to the airport we ate some breakfast and Emily and Tasha came over for our annual gift exchange. After opening all of our gifts we got ready and took off to my Grandma's house for dinner/gift exchange with my dad's side of the family.

Overall a great week and was very excited that the baby decided to kick a little harder for me to feel him/her! It was the perfect gift for me :) As always, I feel extremely blessed to be pregnant and growing this little one inside of me. There is absolutely NO downside to pregnancy, and I'm truly cherishing every single moment of it!

P.S. One of the gifts I received was for me and the baby from Jorge, and it's our first few cloth diapers! I'm so excited to start our stash, and the owl one is just too cute not to share ;)

Week 19

Week 19 seemed like a blur! Sorry I'm posting this so late, but I am taking the pictures on time which is most important! 

This picture is a little deceiving, the shirt flows very easily and you can't see my bump as much as it's there. Either way, soon enough I'm sure it will be growing like crazy!

This week was a little hectic. Jorge's parents and brother flew out of town for the holidays and we had a photo booth event on Friday in Pasadena. Since I'm pregnant and not able to help out as much as I used to during set-up and take down of the booth, my Dad came along and really helped us out. We had a little bit of free time before the booth was ready for customers so we walked a few blocks to find someplace to eat dinner. Pasadena is such a beautiful city. I love how so many places are so close together and the streets are very walk-able. We found a Japanese food place to grab a quick bite to eat, and it was delicious! I was teased with some California rolls (I can't wait to have real sushi and sashimi after this pregnancy!) and some miso soup (my absolute favorite). 

Later on in the week we went to Mass at noon and Father Tim joked how much I had grown this week. He said that next week he'd be "rolling me in"! I love the relationship we have with him and Father Ricky at our church, they make going to mass very special to us. 

Jorge's cousin Carlos was in town for a few days, so Sunday evening we went over to visit with him and the family. Zoe received her Christmas gifts from Elizabeth and she had fun entertaining us playing "Tea" and learning her fruit. It's amazing to me that Zoe is only two years old and is so smart! She loves to learn. She wants us to constantly quiz her on animals, fruit, the alphabet, etc. I'm really looking forward to doing the same thing with our baby!

Since I'm writing this so late, I'll be working on my Week 20 post very shortly! As always, still feeling very blessed to have a healthy pregnancy and everything continues to go smoothly :)

-Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Week 18

Week 18 was once again a very quick week. I feel like it came and went and everything happened really fast! During the week nothing special happened, just a normal work week for me. On Saturday Jorge and I went shopping at the West Covina mall for some holiday gifts and realized as soon as we got there it was going to be busy! I felt like I was going to be up for it, but as soon as we were in the parking lot waiting for a spot I realized I needed to remind myself to try and be patient today. Overall it went really well, Jorge found what he was looking for and we headed over to his parent's house to give them their gifts (they were leaving on vacation on Wednesday and we knew this was the only time we could see all of them together before then).

At his parent's house Ceci, Gustavo, and the kids were over and I was so excited to finally see Zoe and the baby! There was a time when I would see Zoe everyday, but the last time we had seen her was well over a month ago. The baby (Gustavo) had just turned three months old the night before, and it was amazing seeing him grow so much in the short time since he was born.

Sunday, Jorge went to the 8 o'clock mass with his parents, and we (my mom, Devo, and I) went to the 12 o'clock mass as usual, and went to eat at Ihop afterwards. Usually I would have some pancakes, but it just didn't sound good for some reason, i'll blame pregnancy. Afterwards Brittany came over to our house to do Pyka's hair, and gave my mom and I a quick trim. I love that we have our own personal hairdresser! She really is amazing though, and if anyone is looking for a new hairdresser let me know and I'll direct you to her!

On Monday, I went downtown Los Angeles to do some work at the Building and Safety office, but I brought my mom along with me so afterwards we could visit the fabric district for my next project. I'm making my own DIY Moby Wraps! After Pinteresting this idea, I realized it was really very easy so I wanted to try it out. Downtown fabric district is the perfect place to find what you need at a great price! We found Jersey Knit/Jersey Cotton fabric for only $1/yard! This is the same fabric we found at Joanne's on sale for $6.99/yard. They had plenty of colors and patterns to choose from...it was a very successful trip and I'll do another post on how to make one later! After our downtown trip we visited my Grandma and decorated her house for Christmas. It was really nice seeing her, we don't see her very often even though she only lives about 13 miles away.

Overall great pregnancy week! Still feeling great, energy level is okay, no aches or pains (yet), and still extremely grateful and feeling blessed that i'm pregnant! Loving every second of it :)

-Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Week 17

Week 17 was more exciting than most other weeks...I actually did something!

On Sunday we were invited to Disneyland to celebrate Analicia's birthday! Every time we go with her and her family we are absolutely spoiled (they have annual passes as well as a Disneyland employee in the family so they know all the secrets to getting advantages)! Even though my favorite attraction is off-limits for expectant mothers (Space Mountain) I had a great time with my friends. We even went on the rides meant for toddlers since I can go on those which is so entertaining because as a kid I'm sure they are a lot more exciting, whereas now they are very simple but still a fun part of the Disneyland experience. Favorite parts of the day: Parade on Main Street with the Toy Soldiers, the Haunted Mansion decorated with "A Nightmare before Christmas", Clam chowder soup in a sourdough bowl, Fantasmic the show, hot chocolate and of course being with my best friends!

Monday morning Jorge and I went to our next Midwife appointment for a monthly check-up. Everything was going really well, we checked the sugar/protein levels, my weight, and the baby's heartbeat (all great), and then we realized I'm RH-negative. I didn't know what that meant, so after talking with the nurse and finding out Jorge's blood type is O+ (I'm O-) I guess that can lead to complications. After talking with the midwife, we realized this is very common and can be helped by getting a shot during my 28th week and one up to 72 hours after the baby is born. Just another part of having a baby I need to research! 

Once again very happy that the baby is still growing and is healthy! See you next week :)

-Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Week 16

I can't believe I'm already 16 weeks! The first trimester was dragging on and on (just because I wanted to get through it not because of morning sickness or feeling bad), and now the weeks are just flying by!

I was trying to decide when to start taking weekly pictures to document my bump and what's going on with the baby each week, but didn't really see a point until there was a little bump to see...so now there is! 

This week was Thanksgiving which I look forward to each year (even if it's because I can start listening to Christmas music without getting weird looks)! I had a slight cold coming on, but not enough to take any medicine. Used the old fashioned vapor rub to help soothe me to sleep, and it did help. Thanksgiving day was great! I was able to sleep in, and casually get ready for our family dinner later that night in Rancho Cucamonga. I was looking forward to seeing everyone, and as I assumed everyone was eager to see me and congratulate us on the baby news! 

Overall a great week, and happy that the pregnancy is going by smoothly and everything seems to be alright. I'll try to keep this updated weekly, but no promises! ;)

-Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Sharing the news

Months, maybe even years ago I started brainstorming how I would announce to Jorge, and our families that I was pregnant. It's one of those things that, for me, was very exciting and had to be planned just right.

In the past year, both Jorge and my mom mentioned to me that they would know "right away" when I was pregnant, so I kind of made it a personal goal to make sure they didn't and keep it a surprise! Luckily, I did. I found out I was pregnant around 4 weeks and 2 days so it was pretty early for any symptoms to actually be felt, so I took advantage of the situation and planned on when to tell Jorge and then when to tell our families.

I found out on a Wednesday, and planned to tell Jorge that Friday after work. We were given a gift card for Outback Steakhouse and thought it was a perfect excuse to be alone and give him the news! I went to Barnes & Noble to pick up a few books, and then headed to Target to get a card along with a onesie that read "my dad is cooler than yours" to give to him. As soon as he pulled up in the parking lot I was ready and got out of the car, only to realize he wasn't parking but waiting for me to come up to the car (hmmmm). Low and behold, Ceci was in labor and heading to the hospital to have her baby 10 days early! So to try and get my plan back on track I said, "That's great! But she can be in labor for hours, so lets get a quick bite to eat then we'll head down to the hospital". It worked, so he parked and I waited for him to give him his gift. Right away I'm sure he thought it was weird that I gave him a card but didn't ask why, so he opened it and right away pulled out the onesie, turned to me and said in an excited whisper "you're pregnant!?". We kissed and hugged for a moment and then he finally read the card that said something along the lines of "I love you with my whole heart, but come May you'll be sharing it with Baby Little Foot".

During dinner we received the call that Ceci had the baby! Within 30 minutes and only 4 pushes, he was brought into the world! So after dinner we met up with the rest of Jorge's family to visit the baby and kept our little secret to ourselves.

Saturday we went to the West Covina mall to try and get some ideas as to how we were going to announce it to our families and came up with a sports theme. My family are USC fans, and his family are UCLA fans so we thought it would be fun to buy a onesie/bib set of each and that's how we would show them. We went to my house first only to find that my mom and sister were out shopping for some running shoes (she's running her first half marathon in November) and my dad was home alone. Not wanting to tell him alone we decided we would have to wait and come back later. We had already planned on going over to Jorge's parents house to watch the Mayweather vs Canelo fight so knew family would be there. Waiting for some family friends to go home, Jorge gave them them the box. Saying something along the lines of "look what I bought for all of us for the next UCLA game", so they pull out the onesie stating "awww, how cute" assuming it was for the new baby that was born the night before. So Jorge had to say "do you know for which baby...?" and then right away his mom said "yours!?" and then everybody got it. We do have this part on tape and watching Bryan's reaction is priceless, i'll have to post the video for you to see. Unfortunately Elizabeth wasn't home yet so we waited for her to come back then did the same process with her, and her reaction is just as priceless asking "are you guys pregnant?" and "i've been waiting for this day!" Also on film, so we might be posting that video as well.

Back at home it was already pretty late but we wanted to try and find the right transition to telling my family. They were all in the family room trying to catch up on TV, so I said we bought something for all of us, and that we can bring it to our next USC game. I handed it to my mom and she opened it, pulling it out stating the same thing as his dad "awww, how cute". Then proceeded to put it back in the box. Meanwhile Devon is looking back and forth at me and Jorge, and I'm grinning and waiting for mom to get it. She doesn't so we decide to help her out a little. Conversation went a little like this:
     Me: "Do you know who it's for?"
     Mom: "yeah, for the baby"
     Me: "Do you know which baby"
     Dad: "yours!?"
So then they got it and all stood up and were happy and hugging and kissing, and we were laughing at how it wasn't as obvious as I thought it was going to be. Unfortunately Jorge started recording and the battery died! So we don't have this reaction on film (even though the lighting would've probably been really bad anyway), but I know i'll remember the reaction forever.

Now we're in the waiting stages of first appointments and getting through the first trimester before telling any other family and friends. We gave our family the hardest task of keeping this secret to themselves for quite some time, but I wanted them to know early on for support and so I didn't have to keep it a secret that long too! I'm currently over 7 weeks, and have our first appointment next Monday. We will be announcing sometime around Halloween, which means we can be creative in how we do it! Til then, i'm doing my weekly update survey and will post them sometime soon.

Thank you for reading and hearing how we announced to family, I look forward to posting more pictures or video on how we tell the rest of our family and friends!


Heather Ortiz, mama to be

It's official!

September 11th will always be a day we will never forget...but now I will always remember that on September 11, 2013 as the day I found out I was pregnant for the first time ever!

Waking up that morning I didn't really have a feeling anything was different, but I was late a few days and decided to take a test just to see. Short backstory for those of you that don't know, but I'm one of the millions of women that have PCOS. Everyone is different, and my only symptom is irregular cycles so it's not bad at all. But because of the PCOS testing on CD32 I really wasn't expecting anything since my cycles are anywhere from 27-38 days. Anyway, back to my morning. After taking the test I let it sit on the counter while I brushed my teeth, and getting prepared to see it and throw it away I grabbed the stick and BAM! TWO LINES! I stood there for a little while thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me, but no...it was positive!

I soon came back to reality and got ready for work because now I was pushing it being there on time. Consciously not making myself an iced chai tea latte to go, I took off to work. I brought the test with me, and probably pulled it out of my purse to look at it 20x that day! After work I came home and decided to take another test, just to make sure and once again, positive! 

I've been researching and planning as much as possible up this point, but having it become reality was a whole other feeling. Overcome with emotions, my next step was deciding how I wanted to tell Jorge, and then our parents. Those stories will come later! Stay tuned :)

-Heather Ortiz

Mama to be

Boston Marathon: I just ask "why?"

This world has gone crazy. After every big tragedy that comes up, I immediately think to myself..."why?".

What is so horrible, or wrong, that you have to hurt innocent people that have their entire lives ahead of them. I know people have problems, but seek help! After the shooting in Newtown last December, I remember crying for days. It still doesn't seem real, and I can't even fathom what the parents and friends are still feeling to this day. After Sandy Hook I've thought that there really is no safe haven, no place is off the table to these people that are troubled, hurt, or want revenge. Nowhere.

So once again, the Boston Marathon strikes a nerve with me because it's something that we have participated in whether it's as a runner or a spectator, and it's scary. So it makes me think, and once I get to thinkin' it's full speed ahead.

Thinking about the future, and this amazing journey we hope to be on by starting a family. Kids. Safety. All of those instances where I can't be around and protect them already scares me half to death. And the times where I am there and something still goes wrong. I read this quote recently and even though I'm not yet a mother, can understand completely. It goes a little something like this: "to make the decision to have a child, is to forever have your heart walk around outside your body". Now if that doesn't sound terrifying, I don't know what is.

This post isn't about anything political to change laws about gun control or security at public places/events (even though I do have very strong opinions about these topics), but it's a simple fact about me realizing the emotions I know will hit me so much harder when having a child. I know I can't be there 100% of the time and protect them in everything they do, and I accept that. I also know I will try my absolute hardest to raise kind and caring children, with the heart to always do the right thing and make good choices. I know I will be what people call an over-protective mom, and that's fine with me, although I think it should be called just-enough-protective-mom, because after all there's no such thing as loving and caring too much (but that's of course through my over-protective eyes).

Heather Ortiz, mama to be

Successful first visits!

Last month on Valentine's Day Jorge and I made our first visits to two birthing centers, and I'm happy to report they were very successful!  We were able to tour the facilities, meet the staff/midwife(s), and ask questions!

Some may think that this isn't something very romantic to do on Valentine's Day (don't worry we still had a dinner date!), but I can tell you there was no other way I wanted to spend the day with him.  Knowing that we are starting a family soon, and that he is just as interested in how we bring our baby into this world, is very sexy ;) (and romantic!)

In my first post I mentioned how there are three birth centers in our area and we were able to visit two.  I think it's a little early to write down comparisons but I can tell you that I'm leaning towards one slightly more than the other (final decision will be introduced at a later time).  Here are a few factors that will go into the final decision:

• Location from home (wherever we buy a house in the near future)
• Closest hospital (in case of transport)
• Compatibility with staff/midwife(s)
• Comfort at facility for us, as well as family that is there the day of

*Something that DOES NOT factor into our decision, is the cost!  Both birthing centers have the same costs for in-center births, and just slightly different prices for home births BUT this doesn't affect us in any way because how our insurance works both the deductible and co-payments are the same.  This is good for us because cost doesn't factor into leaning one one way more than another to save a few bucks and can really decide on which one our gut tells us to go with.

I've mentioned before how Jorge and I are really trying to be as prepared as can be which is why we visited birthing centers before we're even pregnant, and why I'm constantly pinning stuff to my boards on Pinterest! Til then, more research and dreaming of the future!

                                         Our Valentine's dinner at Dave & Busters 02/14/2013

Heather Ortiz, future mama to be

Planning. Prepping. Preparing.

Today is the first day in which this baby journey seems a little more real.  Most of the baby thoughts use to start with "in the future when i'm pregnant" or "one day when we start trying...", and now that we have an idea of WHEN that phase may begin I feel like it's really begun and there are so many things I need to start researching.

Insurance:  We are very lucky to have a great insurance plan with Jorge's work.  But I've heard and read so many horrible insurance stories I wanted to start getting information.  First things first, I needed to know if we needed to call BEFORE I got pregnant to make sure that I was covered.  I've heard of people not having those benefits because they didn't tell the insurance company they were trying to get pregnant.  Well what if it wasn't planned!? Obviously that is not my situation since i'm here gathering information beforehand, and the customer service representative with our insurance was able to explain our benefits and specific questions to ask our doctor/facility to make sure they accept our insurance plan and not just the insurance provider. So much information to shuffle through, but right now that's a good start.

Facility:  I feel like it's really early to start looking into where I want to deliver my baby since i'm not even pregnant.  But, I do have a really good idea of what I want in my birth and delivery which narrows down my options.  Right now my plan is to have a natural birth in a freestanding birth center with a midwife. Where I live, that makes it a little more difficult to find a midwife and facility I feel completely comfortable with.  There are three facilities I will be calling in the near future to set up initial consultation appointments with and go from there.  One is only 5 miles away, the second 25 miles, and the third is a whopping 32 miles away.  In the perfect world I will walk into the one right around the corner, love the midwife and feel completely comfortable in that facility, so I'll be crossing my fingers for that!

Midwife:  I already know the reactions i'll be getting in the future when people ask me who my doctor is and what hospital I will be delivering in.  No i'm not crazy.  Yes I've done the research.  No i'm not a hippie.  Blah blah blah.  Trust me, this was all very new to me until I started getting interested in the research and really not wanting a C-section.  To be clear, I am not against people who decide to have elective C-sections, epidurals, pitocin, etc.  This is just a personal choice I've made for myself and my future baby.  I understand that if I am a high-risk patient, I will not be able to have the out-of-hospital birth I'd like, but I believe I can start this process and hope for the best.  Pregnancy is not a sickness or disability, women have been giving birth for thousands of years, and I believe having a natural birth is the best for me and my baby.  Inspirations for this (and they don't even know it) would be my mom and my Wela (mom's mom).  I've grown up knowing that my mom had both me and my sister in the hospital, without getting an epidural.  My mom has told us stories how she and all of her siblings were born at home, and how that was completely normal at the time.  This is what I want.  This is what i'm striving for.  (For those of you wondering what ignited this birth plan please watch: The Business of Being Born, More Business of Being Born, and Pregnant in America, to name a few.)

Like I mentioned before, I'm in the planning, prepping, and preparing phases of what will hopefully be a pregnancy in the near future.  Even though right now we don't know how long it may take, and it seems so close because of actually talking to insurance companies and birthing centers, I will go with the flow and do everything I can from now until then to be ready.

If you have any suggestions about the preparation phases please let me know!

Heather Ortiz, future mama to be