Mom to the rescue!

I’ve always heard that clouds have a silver lining and over the last 3 weeks I have come to believe that myself. It’s amazing how one’s perspective can change when one looks for the good in each situation. I would never have chosen to spend the last 2 ½ months of my pregnancy on bed rest, however I can now see that there have been many golden moments that I never would have experienced had these complications not occurred. The greatest blessing has been spending unexpected time with my mom. Her trips to San Diego usually last around 5 days due to our work schedules, but because this happened during the summer she has been able to stay for 16 days! I have absolutely loved having her here and I am dreading her leaving on Tuesday. Since I’m not allowed to follow my usual routine I have really needed her to be my “in-house maid.” :) Of course I have greatly enjoyed her companionship as well as her hard work. We haven’t been able to do our usual activities of eating out, visiting favorite coffeehouses and walking along the ocean, but we have found great joy in simple things such as driving through Starbucks together and pretending to go out for breakfast by ordering carry-out from a local bakery. One of my favorite memories is when my mom gave me a pedicure! I was disappointed when my doctor would not allow me to go out for a real pedicure as a way of celebrating our 32 week goal, so my dear mom decided to surprise me with an in-home pedicure! We had a great time with me lounging in a pink lawn chair and my mom painting my toes. As her visit comes to a close I’m already looking forward to her next visit.

Now, a few words from “the maid:” :)
Actually, that term is certainly not one I would ever use to describe my duties while I have been here. Yes, I have been busy doing a variety of things, but I can honestly say that my time here has been a delight that I will always treasure. It has been my joy to be able to spend this time with my “first-born daughter” and “mother her” as I have not done for a long time. Elizabeth and I have so enjoyed just “hanging-out” with each other and chatting about all kinds of things. Our bond has grown even stronger!

And, on a lighter note, I must add that I have explored new roads and driven in unfamiliar territories, and I have loved the adventures!! California and I seem to get along very well!! I have even found the time to walk along the ocean three times, loving every wave that came crashing towards me! When I head back to Indiana on the 18th, I will leave with a thankful heart that God has given me 16 wonderful days in CA and that Elizabeth and Maya both seem to be doing well.

The Move

It's now been 10 days since we've moved to OUR new home. I don't think it has sunk in. I think I've finally recovered from the move. Moving is traumatic. When we woke up on the morning of the 29th of June, we were both a bit sad. Our home of 3 years on top of a mountain overlooking the Batiquitos Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean was a picture perfect storybook home minus the white picket fence. I had a couple of friends over during the day helping me put all our stuff in the back of a U-Haul, we started at 9am and were done by 3:30pm. Elizabeth spent the last 2 hours on the floor surrounded with pillows trying very hard to stay put. Once we drove over to the new place it was around 5pm and all the guys from our growth group came over after work to help unload the U-Haul. What had taken me and a friend 6 hours to load took the 5 guys only 2 hours to unload! After that began the hardest part of moving...re-arranging the furniture.

My mom arrived on Sunday and having her here has been such a Godsend. She has done everything from cooking, to cleaning, to organizing, to unpacking, to bringing me breakfast in bed every morning. I don't know how we could have settled in without her help. While I'm stuck on the couch or in bed it has been so nice to have someone to keep me company while Vivek is at work. On Thursday I had a doctor's appointment and things seem to be about the same...this is good news. For now we are just taking it one day at a time. I can't wait for week 36 when I'm finally off of bed rest.

Thank you all for your prayers and support during this transition time in our lives.

We survived...

...the move! I will write more once we settle down and our Internet connection gets hooked up but till then we just wanted to thank you all for your prayers. For all those who showed up to help, we couldn't have done it without you!

THANK YOU ALL!

YIKES!!

On Tuesday 6/20, Elizabeth went in for a 28 wk ultrasound to ensure that Baby O was developing normally and on time. All her tests for gestational diabetes had just come back negative. We thought we had made it through... Baby O put on quite a show at the ultrasound. Based on the size of various bones, organs and her skull the "machine" estimated her to be at 30 weeks and weighing in at a healthy 3 lb. 7 oz. Her head is by Elizabeth's cervix and her butt up by Elizabeth's belly button. All this time I have been talking and kissing my baby girl's butt, I hope that is not a sign of things to come!! :) When the Radiologist measured Elizabeth's cervix, a look of concern came over her face. A "normal" cervix is supposed to be 3 cms. Elizabeth's was measuring in between 1.8 - 2 cms. A couple of tests were ordered.

Wednesday was an exciting/historical day for us. We had an appointment at the Title office to sign the deed and title of our new condo in Pelican Cove. Since we are the first owners our names will forever be in the annals of the city.

Thursday morning Elizabeth was back at her doctor's office for a Fetal Fibronectin (fFN), a test that detects the presence of a particular enzyme in the cervix. If present, it could mean a bunch of things but if negative, then with 90%+ probability Elizabeth was not going to go into labor for the next 2 wks. After the sample for the test was collected the RN felt her cervix and the all to familiar look of concern was back. Elizabeth was told to drive down to the hospital and get admitted. Elizabeth had gone to the doctor's by herself that morning. I was at work struggling with work insecurity issues. When she called me from outside the doctor's office the priorities of life snapped into focus. One of the things I have discovered about myself these past couple of weeks is that if I feel secure at work, I know that we as a family can go through anything life throws our way. But when our financial security is threatened, I am paralyzed with fear and quite easily get depressed. By the end of the phone call the only thing on my mind was Elizabeth and Maya. As we both drove to the hospital in separate cars talking to each other on the phone, the uncertainty of the future was overwhelming. We found each other in the parking lot of the hospital and headed in together. For the next three hours, samples were collected for tests and ultrasounds were done to evaluate the condition of mother, daughter and cervix. The fFN test came back negative, Praise God! But the decision was made to give Elizabeth muscle relaxants, electrolytes and antibiotics to stop her contractions. Until this moment, Elizabeth did not know what a contraction felt like and when she was told that the "bunching/tightening" feeling in her tummy was not the baby but the uterus, we realized that Elizabeth had been experiencing contractions since wk 17! Except now she had about 6-8 an hour! Elizabeth has been put on complete bed rest for the next 5 wks (until wk 34, after which the risk of any infection drops really low if Maya comes into this world). For now she is in the hospital being monitored until a 24 hr. period passes by without a single contraction. Lord willing, she will be released Sunday evening.

Oh, by the way, our condo closes on Tuesday and we move in on Thursday. God help us!

Our trip to Indiana

We just returned from a wonderful trip visiting family and friends in Indiana. Everyone in Indiana knows that the weather is a gamble and this time we won big! We were blessed with sunny skies, mild temperatures and gorgeous green fields to enjoy. It was a lot of fun to share our pregnancy with those that we love. One of my favorite memories was when my family threw us a "surprise" baby shower during a cookout. Vivek and I were chatting on the deck when out marched my mom, sisters and friend Alexis with baby gifts, an ice cream cake and a "it's a girl!" balloon. We had such a great time opening gifts, laughing and enjoying that ice cream cake. The most special gift was a dress from my mom, all three of us girls had worn it as babies and she had saved it all these years. Now she wants a picture of her first granddaughter wearing the same dress. It's precious. Little Maya hasn't even arrived yet and she already has more clothes than me and Vivek put together! She will be quite the cutie in all of her cool clothes.

Another trip highlight was getting to spend time with both of my grandma's. They make being in their 80's seem young! I can only hope to be as active as they are when I'm their ages. They are both inspirations. We also were able to squeeze in a trip to our beloved Purdue. In some ways so much had changed and then at the same time everything seemed the same. The most shocking change for Vivek was seeing how much his former dorm Cary Quad had changed. We were both in awe at the new dorm rooms with all of their conviences. Purdue will always hold a very special place in our hearts.

The best part of the trip was just spending time with family. Whether is was eating together, shopping till we dropped or just hanging out at home, we all had a great time together. It was especially hard to leave at the end of this trip. We are happy in San Diego but Indiana will always have a pull on my heart. San Diego has given me my wings but Indiana is where I have my roots. I'm already counting down the days to August when my mom will visit us for several days!

~Elizabeth

Off on Vacation!!!

From our trip to the Middle East

We are off on vacation to visit the beautiful Midwest one last time before Baby O comes along. We will continue our blog when we get back. Take care and enjoy your summer!!

V & E

Flashback...December 29th, 2005

"Honey, my period still hasn't come". Those were the first words that come to mind about that morning. I tried to convince Elizabeth that it was probably a bit late as her body was fighting something, we'd been through this conversation before. The next thing I remember was, "Honey, is that two lines?" as she stood grinning with a mischeivous smile on her face and a pregnancy test stick in her hand. I stared dubiously at the stick trying to find an answer, the right answer. I wanted to believe that it was two lines, but I was afraid to...

Getting pregnant had been a long and rocky road for us. Not much had really gone "according to plan" but God knew what was best for us. 2004 was a tumultuous year for both of us and we found ourselves working through a lot of "baggage". The end result was, and continues to be, a relationship much stronger than before and an intimacy that neither of us had ever known possible. We decided we would start working on getting pregnant the moment we got back from our trip to India in February of 2005. Elizabeth knows a lot about the female body, how it works and what happens when it doesn't work "properly". From day one, she had a clipboard on her bedside table and started charting her Basal body temperature. After a couple of months, it became very clear from her charts that there was absolutely no consistency in her ovulation cycles or if she was ovulating at all. Initially, it was fun, but after a while it became more of a science experiment with the hope that it would work. After collecting data and compiling charts for six months, Elizabeth wasted no time setting up appointments to meet with her gynecologist to discuss possibilities. Her doctor put her on a low dosage of clomid in November. In December, Elizabeth was starting to get discouraged so she made an appointment to meet with a fertility specialist in January. Somehow, she squeezed us in for a first consult during the second week of December. I remember that appointment quite vividly. We left that evening feeling completely overwhelmed. We weren't sure we had quite understood all the steps that followed, we had both checked out sometime during the hour long appointment. On the way home, we just wanted to trust God and see what happened, we wanted to be aware of all the options we had but we wanted Him to lead us down the path... and He did!! PTL!!

I know that 10 months is not a really long time from the outset. But for those couples who are working on starting a family, a month is like a year. Our hearts go out to all of those couples, we know what a rollercoaster that time can be. I've seen joy, hope, despair, frustration and confusion over and over again in the eyes of my wife over those 10 months.

I think that we learned our first lesson in parenting through those 10 months, that Life is beyond our control. We try to make it so that we always have options, if Plan A doesn't work, there is a Plan B. But sometimes, we just have to let go and let God... And that is the most difficult thing to do.

Flashback...2006 Tour of California

This year was the first ever Tour of California. It started in San Francisco, worked it's way down the California coast and ended in Redondo Beach. I cannot begin to explain how excited I was. Everyday I'd get to work and open a window on my computer with a live video feed of the race and real-time reports (one of the many advantages of a dual monitor setup). As the weekend neared I was like a kid who couldn't wait to go to Disney Land that weekend. In all my excitement, I forgot that Elizabeth was not interested in the event and was coming simply because she loved me. That Thursday, when we were praying for each other in our Growth Group, someone prayed for Elizabeth, "that she would have a good time at the race", at that moment, the Heaven's parted and I had an epiphany, "Why in the world am I dragging her to the race?!" I started praying for a friend to go to LA with, picked up the phone and called all the guys I knew who rode. I left a lot of messages, got a lot of, "I'd love to go, but...." and by the end of Friday I was starting to get dejected. I knew God would provide someone to go to LA with, I just didn't want it to be Elizabeth. Saturday evening, as we were volunteering at our church's toddler ministry, the phone rang, it was my neighbor. He was someone I'd seen in the parking lot and occasionaly shared ride experiences with but we didn't really know each other. He said he'd like to go. I was stoked!!!! We had a great time! We spoke about everything under the sun. I now consider him a good friend of mine. We don't communicate a lot but when we meet up, we start right where we left off. Rick, I am truly blessed for having had the opportunity to spend time with you.

The picture above is a collage of different pictures I took at the race. Rick and I walked the 7.5 mile course during the race. The backdrop is the Time-Trial bike of American Dave Zabriskie of Team CSC, he crashed on it during the Team Time-Trial event at the 2005 Tour de France and lost the Yellow jersey. The sequence at the top was at the start when the gun was fired and the peleton (main pack of cyclists) started rolling. The picture on the bike's top-tube was the best shot I had of the Golden jersey wearer, American Floyd Landis of Team Phonak, who went on to win the entire Tour. I've watched the finish of stage races on TV but nothing compares to being there in person. As the riders turn onto the final straight and the sprinter's get into position, it is an adrenaline rush. The picture at the bottom shows Team T-mobile leading their star sprinter, German Olaf Pollack, to the line.

Week 23

Wow...time flies!! I can't believe we are more than half way through. One of the first things that confused me about the pregnancy was keeping track of time. I always thought that babies were born in 9 months but now I know better, they are born in 40 weeks. I don't understand it, I can't explain it, but I am grateful that it is a definite number that I can look forward to +/- a week or two. The past couple of weeks have been really fun. If we are sitting on the couch watching TV, laying in bed reading, or driving along somewhere, Elizabeth will spontaneously burst out giggling and grab my hand and place it on her belly. I then have to stay absolutely still, no matter how uncomfortable the position, barely breathing in hopes of feeling some movement. So far I've only felt a tiny kick once, maybe twice. Yesterday I put some pressure on her belly and I felt Baby O turn inside. It was awesome! It is so cool to feel something hard and then it moves and becomes soft. A tradition that Elizabeth started a while ago is before jumping into bed, she'll come over to my side with a tub of "belly butter" that I generously apply on her beautiful belly. I love making her squirm with the cold cream. I know, I have a wicked streak, I'm working on it but it's so fun!!

The past several weeks have been a great experience. My "bump" has really grown a lot and Baby O is now moving around more and more. Most of the time her movements are gentle but every now and then she gives me a good poke. It's almost like a little secret between me and her because the people around us have no idea that she's dancing around inside my belly. After having a few tense periods when I didn't feel much movement I learned that she actually sleeps and wakes up. Now when I start to complain about not feeling her move in a while Vivek tells me, "don't worry, she's just sleeping." He's probably right because before long she will start to move around again. I think that my motherly instincts are already starting to kick in because I not only feel very protective of the baby I'm also feeling protective of Vivek! He seems to be loving the extra attention. I feel like I swallowed a watermelon seed and now I have a slow growing watermelon in my belly! :) This is a precious time in our lives.


The photo album has been updated with some week 23 pictures of Elizabeth.

About Mom

My story has many different chapters. I contemplated beginning with the past and writing all about my family and love for Indiana but reasoned that most of you already know that part of my story. Since I have now lived in San Diego for 5-years I thought that you might enjoy a glimpse into my California life.

I have had the pleasure and challenge of working with teen moms for the last 4-years. I work as a home visitor/social worker for Children’s Hospital. On a typical day I drive to different cities and do home visits with an average of 4-teen moms. During the visit I engage the teen (more challenging than you would think) assess the safety of the home, provide education on parenting, nutrition and developmental milestones. I also help empower the teen mom to make good choices for herself and her baby by developing goals that we work on together. Working with teen moms has simplified the way that I view parenting and has been very rewarding. Over the past month five of the teens have given birth. What an exciting time! My passion is women’s health. My dream job would be to work on a high school or college level as a women’s health educator. I would love to help other women learn the importance of taking care of their bodies.

As you can see from the picture I enjoy cooking. Thankfully, Vivek is a willing guinea pig who is open to trying my many experiments in the kitchen. I am a bit of a health nut who has a weakness for pizza and In-N-Out hamburgers. Vivek and I look forward to going out for breakfast on Saturday mornings and then going for a long walk by the beach. California is a great place to explore and people watch.

My relationship with Vivek is very important to me. He is my best friend and we really have a great time together. He is the coffee and I am the cream. We balance each other well. My mom is also an important person in my life. She continues to be my greatest role model and inspiration. Frequent visits and daily phone calls help us to stay close. My sisters, Katie and Ashley, have grown into close friends. It’s so neat to have two sisters to share my past, present and future with.

I also joined BSF this past year and it has been a great experience for me. I have learned so much from the study of Genesis. I’m just hoping for a good babysitter so that I can attend the class again in the fall. I am so excited as this chapter in my life continues to unfold.

-Elizabeth