The American Baby Shower

This week I learned from my good Swedish friend that she had never in her life attended a baby shower until this past weekend. Different cultures celebrate different customs in gift giving for babies. In many European countries it is customary to present gifts to the newborn babies and the parents. There is no actual party; they just bring helpful gifts to new mothers a short time after the baby is born. The modern baby shower that we (in America) know today came into custom somewhere at the end of World War II. The baby shower can be thrown early in preparation for the baby’s arrival. It is a supportive and generous event toward new or expectant parents.

So what does all this mean? I have some German relatives that were invited to my very American baby shower this past weekend on September 21, 2008, hosted by my mom, Mary Bengert. When they received the invitation, without explanation, they thought the baby had already been born and started congratulating me! I now understand why this could be confusing. Well, I'm still very much pregnant and we are still awaiting the arrival of our precious baby girl! We did have a great time celebrating with a party, an American Baby Shower, this past weekend. All my aunts, cousins, neighbors and family friends came to shower me with beautiful baby gifts. And, you might wonder how could I participate while on bed rest? Well, I stayed in one spot for the whole shower and had the food and gifts brought to me. Some might consider it a luxury to be waited on hand and foot... I'd have to agree to some extent.

My mom did a fabulous job with the food, games and decorations. I am very grateful and thankful for all her hard work and planning. Jon's mom flew in from Savannah Georgia to celebrate with us too. We received some wonderful gifts and so many adorable baby outfits. I think our daughter will be the best-dressed person in this house for at least the next 12 months!

Posing for the Paparazzi

During our entire pregnancy we've had numerous doctor appointments, I think probably more than is normal! The more interesting appointments have been at The Fetal & Women's Center; where they specialize in pregnancy ultrasounds and prenatal testing for chromosome abnormalities and birth defects. Most of the ultrasound is conducted in the black and white screen... the one that looks like snow static (I don't know any better way to describe it). But on occasion if the technician feels like she is getting a cute shot she switches the image to 3D and we get to see something very special. We've had a lot of fun seeing our baby girl on the ultrasound television monitor and we got a kick out of her many different poses captured by the ultrasound technician.

The following pictures were taken on 6/6/08 at 18 weeks pregnant.

Our baby girl is showing her flexibility by touching her toes.

We got to see her beautiful skinny long fingers too.
And her profile shot, can you tell whose nose?

The Hospital & Air Evacuation

This is the story of how I landed myself on strict and permanent bed rest... On Thursday August 14, Jon and I decided to split and head to the mountains for 4 days in the cooler weather. I was supposed to be resting anyway and we figured why not get out of the heat; I can rest anywhere! That turned out to be a bad idea. Three hours after arriving in Show Low, I had a major bleed and I ended up in the Show Low hospital. Apparently when you have the condition placenta previa the altitude and changes in barometric pressure (like a hail storm, see picture) can cause you to start bleeding... not good. I was in the Show Low hospital for 2 nights and the doctor gave me a course of two steroid shots to boost baby's lung development. Meanwhile they discussed how to transfer me to the Scottsdale hospital at Shea. Helicopter was out due to no pressurization and a 4-hour ambulance ride was out because the ambulance company didn't want the liability in case I started bleeding again. The reason they needed to transfer me was so that I would be at a facility that was equipped to handle emergencies in case they had to get the baby out right away. So the safest way to transfer me was in a pressurized airplane. It's the smallest plane I have ever been in. It fit me on a stretcher, one pilot, two flight nurses and Jon. The transfer to and from the airports was in the ambulance. Never been in one of those either. In Scottsdale they kept me for 4 more days for observation and testing. And when I stabilized, I was finally allowed to go home on Wednesday August 20, with strict bed rest instructions... only bathroom and shower privileges. So the bed rest begins...