Randomness

Well, I finally got an appointment for Shayla with Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia - September 18th at 9:30am! I really hope they figure this out. She's starting to lose all her hair in the back and on the sides now too. I want to cry everytime I look at my poor little girl!!

I have an OB appointment on Thursday. I'm hoping I have a little more time with the doctor this time so that we can discuss more things in detail.

This weekend is going to be great - we are going to Brick on Saturday. My mom, Shayla, and I are going shopping for Fall clothes for Shayla - yay!! Then on Sunday Paul's family is having a get together for his mom's birthday. After that, my mom is making dinner for M&M - woohoo! I can't wait - it's going to be such a fun weekend!

Then next Friday is the BIG ultrasound. This is the one where they take all the measurements to make sure the baby is growing properly. It's also the one where we can hopefully find out the sex of this little munchkin! My dad and I both think girl, my mom and Paul both think boy. We'll have to see who is right!

And that weekend we are going to the Poconos. I can't wait. To be up in the mountains with the birds chirping, deer strolling by, crisp fall breeze....ahhh! Makes me wish Fall was here already - apple cider, pumpkin pie, cool weather.

Speaking of great Fall things - Knoebels trip is the first weekend in October - yippee!!! It's a combination camping / amusement park trip. We are actually going to try camping - with me being almost 6 months pregnant and having a 2 year old with us....are we nuts or what? It's not going to be the same for me this year obviously - no drinking, no rides, no apple cider (the cider there is made fresh - not pasteurized - so it's not safe for pregnant peoples). But I'll still have a good time!!

I guess that's enough rambling for now. I'll update later this week about my OB appointment. :-)

Shayla

I just realized I haven't updated here on Shayla in awhile. We did go to the dermatologist and he pulled at her hair and poked and prodded her and said it wasn't anything like alopecia but he didn't know what was causing it. Could be stress, could be a virus, could be anything. Ugh. He said sit around for 6-8 weeks and let's see what happens. I waited 2 weeks and couldn't take it any more. I called her primary and made a follow-up appointment. We went in today and he's still baffled. He said that his gut is saying it's nothing serious but he understands my concerns...if it were his child he wouldn't sit around and wait either. So he referred us to Childrens Hospital Of Philadelphia (one of the BEST children's hospitals in the country). I spoke to them earlier and faxed all of Shayla's blood test results, insurance card, etc. to them. I am now just waiting to hear back from them to schedule the appointment.

What a week!

Well, last week was nuts! I went on Saturday to see my sister and the baby in the hospital and while I was there I started to feel sick. By Saturday night it was full blown - stuffy head, runny nose, sore throat, couldn't breathe type of cold. Ick! I was sick all the way through Wednesday - I wound up leaving 1/2 day on Tuesday and instead of going to help my sister on Wednesday I got stuck at home trying to get better.

Thursday and Friday were great - I drove out to Cheryl's house on Thursday morning and spent the day helping her with the baby <3 He's so darn cute! I went back to my parent's house Thursday night and hung out there (well, I went shopping because I was extremely bored at their house all night). Friday morning I got up and drove back out to Cheryl's house and stayed for a few hours. Most of the time we were sitting around talking but we got some things accomplished - she got to shower, pump, etc. while I watched the baby. Then it was back to my parent's house where Paul and Shayla met me. I missed them so much! I know it was only one night but it was really hard to be away from my family like that!

Saturday was my brother's annual BBQ. We had a lot of fun! It was very different this year though - usually there were very few kids and lots of adults getting trashed. This year there were tons of kids and less adults getting trashed - makes me think we are all growing up - haha!!

There's not too much to report on the surrogacy front - the BIG ultrasound was rescheduled to 9/7 because MB starts his new job on 9/10 and wouldn't have been able to come. It actually works out well because we are going away that weekend and having that Friday off will be great!

As far as cravings go - I had to have nachos and cheese for a week or two - and I mean every few days or I felt like I was going to cry! Last night I couldn't decide between having a banana or having an ice cream sandwich so I had both...together. I cut the cookies off the ice cream sandwich, sliced up a banana and placed the pieces on the ice cream, and then put the cookies back on. So I had an ice cream, banana, cookie sandwich - hehe!

Well, I guess I should get back to work. I haven't done much today and someone might notice soon - haha!

Welcome Baby!

My nephew was born yesterday! Yay! His name is Richard (or baby Richie). He's a bad boy and wouldn't turn around so they had to take him via c-section. He was born at 12:02pm and weighed 8lbs 7oz. My sister is doing well, although still very sore from the c/s. I drove down last night to see them but I had to come home so I could work today. I'll be going back tomorrow and staying until Sunday. Then I'm coming home, working Monday and Tuesday and then I'll be staying out there the rest of the week to help my sister. Ain't he a cutie?



Things are good with me. The clinic has stopped all meds - yay! Not that I was on much any more but it's nice to not be on ANY. Woohoo!

M&M sent me cookies the other day - they were sooo good! Especially the chocolate chip ones - those were REALLY good!

I have another OB appt on 8/30 and then the BIG ultrasound is scheduled for 9/10 - yippee!! Hopefully this baby will cooperate and give us some money shots ;-)

Appt Today

I had my first OB appointment today. Other than the fact that the doctor had an emergency at the hospital and was almost 2 hours late, the appointment was good. We heard the heartbeart <3 and talked a little about the surrogacy. She was kind of in a hurry because she was so late and had to leave for another woman in labor. I didn't get a chance to talk to her about a few things I had wanted to talk to her about but none of them are pressing and can certainly wait until the next appointment. She did give me the script for the BIG ultrasound, so I am happy about that. I was afraid they wouldn't give it to me until the next appointment and then by the time I could schedule it, I wouldn't be able to have it until 20+ weeks...but now it looks like I'll be able to get it 18-19 weeks - woohoo!

Things have been nuts over here in Lindaland. There was the horrible tragedy of my friend Aria passing. That knocked me down for a few days - of course I'm still upset and still have my moments where I can't keep myself from crying - but in general I am ok. I know Aria wouldn't want me to dwell on her death...she wasn't that type of person. So I'm working on staying positive and trying to keep a smile on my face. I'm also working on a nice tribute to Aria. When I have everything completed, I'll be sure to share it.

The other craziness is Shayla. She's losing her hair. Yep, losing it. She looks like a balding man - bald on top but has hair on the sides and in the back. I thought it might be from her ponytail but the doctor doesn't think so since he can pull on it in the back or on the sides and clumps fall out in his hand. He ordered bloodwork and we got the results today - nothing abnormal. So, we are going to see a dermatologist on Monday and hopefully get some sort of answers.

Just to show you how crazy this week has been - I did not have one full day here at work. Not one. Monday I left early, Tuesday I was out, Wednesday I worked a half day and then had to take Shayla to the doctor, yesterday I had to take Shayla to get her bloodwork so I was late, and today I had my OB appointment and was late. Oops!

One thing I am really looking forward to is this weekend. We are going up to my parent's cabin in the Poconos and taking Shayla to the zoo. I think it's going to be fun. Of course, I've been trying to bribe my nephew to come out of his mommy's tummy but he hasn't so far...so you know he's going to make his appearance this weekend while we are away, right? Hhaha!

Well, that's my update for now. I have to go pick up my daughter and give her hugs and kisses and let her know that bald is beautiful! ;-)