Bump Pictures!

When I got pregnant I had the best intention of taking pictures weekly. In reality I have  not been as diligent as I would have liked. Here is just a quick compilation of week by week photos. Sometime around week 20th I figured out how  I wanted  to capture this pictures. So from this point forward I will continue with weekly (hopefully) progress on  my bump!

Story of a Nursery - October, 2012

After months of searching of ideas, inspiration, deciding on paint colors, reviewing hundreds of reviews of cribs, Baby Ech’s  nursery is finally done!

Dad was very involved in choosing every aspect of the design and of course he had to put together all  the furniture. Our goal was to be done by October 1st and it makes me very happy to report that we made it! The only thing missing is to hang wooden letters that will spell Baby Ech’s name. But, of course that will happen after he is born to avoid  temptation of curious visitors who may want to find out his name ahead of time!

Tune in after the birth to see final  nursery pictures, for now I leave you with a collage of the whole process!

The Best Baby Shower - August 25, 2012

My sweet friends and sisters in laws hostess a fabulous shower for me! It was what every pregnant girl could wish for!

Amazing  foods and drinks which included:

• Tomato and roasted garlic mini tarts
• Homemade chicken empanadas
• Grilled asparagus with aioli sauce
• Fresh strawberries with home made cajeta
• Watermelon and mint skewers
• Margarita Cookies
• and ....my favorite ...Chocolate mini-cupcake with citrus icing and chocolate ganache

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Incredible attention to detail in all the decor - Check out the peanut decorations that match the invitations 

Great time catching up with good friends

And... a loot of gifts for Baby Ech!

Thank you all! It was simply amazing!

Food Cravings - August 2012

Do you have any food cravings? I get this question a lot so, here are a few things that I have craved over the last 28 weeks!

• Around week 12 or 13 all I craved was Doritos accompanied by Dr. Pepper!  Yes, I know not precisely the healthy foods that I’m supposed to eat while pregnant. But, that’s what sounded good for dinner, yikes!  I also experimented with Doritos and bean dip. No, not home made.  It had to be the kind that comes in a can! Thankfully the junk food cravings only lasted for about two weeks, but during this time my sweet sister in-law Amanda made sure I had a good stash of my cravings!

• Some cravings have been constant, for example any vegetable that has lots of water such as cucumbers, celery or jicama. Another constant craving has been cottage cheese with peaches, some days that is the only thing that sounds good in the mornings.

• Grapefruit, which I have never really enjoyed has been another constant craving. Full wedges of grapefruit or anything grapefruit flavor, yum! I even found grapefruit flavor gummy bears!

• During the dead heat of the summer, we were eating tons of fruitbars/popcicles, but mine had to be loaded with Tajin. Strawberry, Mango, Lime and Watermelon fruitbars all  loaded with, yum!  Tajin is crushed peppers, and it is a popular condiment in Mexico, but now is available at Walmart. It is also all natural, so I felt ok eating it.

• And to top it off... confession time... I have also been craving Lucky Charms, the question is have I given into the craving and the answer is … YES! I have bought a few boxes of Lucky Charms! Hopefully this craving won’t last for long!

Babymoon in Ixtapa Mexico! - July 2012

After months of a very hectic schedule between getting pregnant, selling a house, buying a house, moving and switching jobs a vacation was overdue! So, we went to Ixtapa, Mexico to enjoy much need QT, I guess you could call this our babymoon!

We had a great time that included in-room breakfast every morning, our very own infinity pool in our room, cooking classes and  of course  fabulous food! See below a few pictures of everything that Baby Ech got to eat while in Mexico! Yum! Yum!

We also had a chance to take some great bump pictures, this was week 23 so a little bump was visible!

A Great Anniversary Gift! - June 4th 2012

On June 4th (the exact date of our 7th anniversary) we were scheduled  to have our 16-week check up.  As we are driving  to the appointment, we are wondering when we will be able to find out the gender. Both me and David are type “A” people and NEED to know the gender!

We have a great check-up with Dr. Terry and towards the end David asks “when do you think we can find out the gender?” Well, Dr. Terry responds, you can find out today if you want! My heart starts beating really fast as we are moved to the ultrasound room! We are not supposed to have an ultrasound on this appointment, but the tech squeezes us into the schedule so that we can find out what we are having TODAY!

She starts the ultrasound and takes her just a second to say “It’s a boy” and shows us a very clear picture of baby BOY Ech!

Since we are only at week 17, I’m a bit nervous about sharing with others that we are having a boy. I asked David to wait until we can confirm the results during the 20-week ultrasound. But, he is so excited that he starts telling people right away! In the meantime, I start to carefully plan a gender reveal!

Baby Ech Moves! - May 21st 2012

I had been waiting for this moment since I realized I was pregnant. On Monday May 21st  2012, I felt Baby Ech for the first time! I was by the water cooler at work trying my best to drink my required water intake ( 1 gallon a day!) when suddenly! I started feeling as if someone was making popcorn in my belly! Wow! I’ve never felt like this before. It lasted only a minute.

Later in the day, I met David for lunch at Chick-fil-a and order the spicy chicken sandwich, which I guess Baby Ech loved because he started moving non-stop. I was so distracted I couldn’t finish my meal! Wow! It’s only week 15. This baby is going to be very active!

Baby Ech Goes Public - May 7th 2012

With a strong heartbeat and a very optimistic health report. David and I felt comfortable to share the news with everyone! So, we shared with close friends, extended family and then… you know it facebook!

Baby Ech Goes to Europe! - April 22, 2012

I know what you are thinking! Who goes to Europe on their first trimester?! Yes, it’s true we did! Truth be told, we booked this trip back in the fall when I was very sad and discouraged so David wanted to give me a treat.  Little did we know that by the time we would take the trip Baby Ech would be on its way!

It was such a fun trip! Yes, I was tired and yes, I had to abstain from many of the wonderful foods and drinks. But, our excitement was such that it really did not matter! We had a great time. Here a just a few pictures of what Baby Ech did get to try while in Europe!

During the trip (two full weeks!) we did our best to agree on names. By the end of the two weeks, we had a short list for girl names, but no idea about boy names! Yikes!

There is a baby in there! - March 21, 2012

March 21, 2012 was a day full of emotions. Early in the morning, we got the news that my grandma Flora Garza de Saldivar had gone to be with the Lord after months of being in an out of the hospital. She was 86 years old and had lived a very full and blessed life. While we knew this was coming and that she is now enjoying her new home, it was still hard to realize that she was not going to be around anymore. I loved what my sister wrote on her blog:

Flora-Plus

Later that same day we had our first doctor’s appointment. We are six weeks pregnant and after our new doctor (previous doctor stopped seeing OB patients!) heard about our struggles he suggested an ultrasound to make sure everything is where it needs to be.

Sure enough, the ultrasound tech tells us “there is definitely a baby in there!” and we actually got to see a valve (the heart) moving! We can’t hear it yet, but we can definitely see movement! David and I are in awe at God’s creation! How is it possible that at only six weeks there is already the beginning of a little heart moving! Wow!  This was a life-changing experience! Here is the very first picture of Baby Ech!

Sharing the News with Auntie Flora and Uncle Eliud - March 11, 2012

I had a business trip to Chicago a week after finding out that we were pregnant. So, I decided to wait to see my brother and sister in person to share with them the good news! It was so hard to keep the news to ourselves but it was well worth it!

Check out this video to see Flora and Chris’ reaction to the news!

In case you couldn’t tell the gift box had two baby jean jackets and a note that read: One for baby girl Anderson and one for her cousin… arriving November 2012!

My brother was out of town so we had to share the news via text message. Sign reads uncle Eliud x 2!

Trying to Conceive - March 5, 2012

In February of 2012, after almost two years of trying to conceive, having visited 4 different doctors in two different countries, taken multiple rounds of strong medication and undergoing artificial insemination, I was at my lowest point of discouragement and starting to doubt whether we will have a child of our own.

To make matters worse, right before I started taking another round of strong drugs, David found out that he was supposed to go to Mexico with the CEO of our company on " the  dates" of the month when we are supposed to do our “homework.”  After much debate, we realized that he was not going to be able to get out of this trip. So, I called to doctor and asked if I should take the drugs anyway. He said that this drug is very strong and sometimes even prescribed to cancer patients; so, if I was not going to have a good chance this month he recommended that I skip the medication and instead detox.

Towards the end of the 3-day trip to Mexico, the CEO encouraged David to take an early flight, note that she does not know what is going on. David gets home earlier than expected and we decide to “ do our homework” even though I'm not taking the drugs and the right dates have passed.

After the dreaded two-week wait and still no period, I had some minor spotting; and I was very sad once again. But, the weekend went by and still not period.Finally, David persuades me to do a test on Monday night (March 5th) after we come home from work. On our way home, we are both excited and anxious about doing the test. We got home around 8 PM and I did the test right away. I chose to do a “line test” vs. words test because seeing the words "Not Pregnant" made me feel very sad. 

I had done this type of line test in the past and I knew that you are supposed to wait 3 whole minutes for the result to appear. But, this time was different, as soon as I peed on the stick the two lines lighted up! WE ARE PREGNANT!!! I come out of the bathroom crying to share the news with David who is patiently waiting outside. We hugged and I kept crying and crying! We sat down and prayed and thank God for allowing this miracle to happen! I couldn’t believe that there was a baby growing inside me!!

For the rest of the evening, I drank a lot of water and went through several boxes of tests! I even did the "words" test and confirm the results. The next morning, I woke up and did two more tests and just wanted to be sure that I was not dreaming!

During the two-week wait I prayed constantly that God would allow us to be pregnant. I specifically asked Him that He allow for this to be our testimony: that we would get pregnant on the month when we did not do “our homework”  on the “right dates”, I was not taking drugs and did not undergo any procedures. He made it happen! He did not want to share His glory with any doctor, medication or treatment. 
This is His child and He alone created it!

Line Test and Word Test

Positive!

Letting Go of Perceived Control - March 2012

I have been very open about our struggle to become pregnant and while I realize there are people that have struggled for much longer and/or have more difficult situations; I like to share my story because of the impact that it had on my spiritual life.

After long months of struggle and discouragement, God showed me through his word and many people around me that He wanted me to surrender my “perceived control” with true sincerity.

He opened my eyes and showed me that all my attempts to "plan a pregnancy" and “get pregnant” were really my efforts to fight back God's will, instead of letting him work in my life. He alone is the giver of life and we humans cannot change that.

After this realization, I had a peace that I had not experienced in many months. I rested in the fact that God the creator of the universe was taking care of "my case" personally, I knew He loved me and trusted him on this matter for the first time. I huge weight was lifted off my shoulder and things started looking up!

Here are two verses that encouraged me during this time:

Psalm 77:13-14
Your ways, O God, are holy; What God is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles. You display your power among the peoples […] my times are in your hands.

Psalm 121:1 - 2
I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.