Having a baby vs owning a puppy

Recently my husband mentioned to me how a mutual friend of ours tried to compare and relate owning a puppy to having a baby. Keep in mind this friend is married but does not yet have children. I still remember the face I made when my husband began to tell me about the conversation, (I'm sure I have pretty prominent frown lines now).

His friend owns a puppy
We have (parent) a baby

The conversation came about when my husband mentioned that many new fatherly duties have made him extremely tired yet incredibly happy, to which his friend responded that he could relate (you know, with his puppy and all). My husband tried to explain how the two didn't compare, but his friend insisted that the two are quite alike...

*Full Disclosure*

I own a very very spoiled Yorkie whom I had since she was 6 weeks old, so I am definitely not hating on puppies here.

How can the comparison exist?

• You CAN leave to work and leave your puppy at home with a bowl of food and pee pad.
• You CAN'T leave a baby unattended...ever! Not to mention that babies need to eat every 2 hours, more or less. 

• You CAN leave a pee pad for your dog to pee on periodically throughout the day.
• You CAN'T leave a baby sitting in their own pee or poo. Not to mention that the cost of diapers is it's own conversation considering that on occasions our baby will go through a little less than 100 diapers in one week.

• You CAN indulge in at least 5 hours of interrupted sleep while your puppy sleeps comfortably on their own bed. If you are unlucky, you might have the OCCASIONAL puppy crier who just want to come on the bed, but once they're up on the bed...all is well.
• You CAN'T always have 4 hours of straight sleep. Babies wake up because they're hungry and well I'm the pumping food supply. My husband warms and prepares a bottle and I get to pump...at any given hour of the night. Baby's diaper also needs to be changed at this time and calming songs may come in handy while she waits (cries hysterically) for her milk to come. 

I could really go on and on, but instead, I'll highlight a few of the perks of being a parent (even with bags under my eyes)

• Our daughter is the result of the love between my husband and I.
• It is incredible to realize that this being grew within me and now as she is before our eyes, we can see little characteristics that completely resemble both my husband and I.
• I went through a rough pregnancy, labor and delivery just to be able to hold this miracle and that's only the beginning of things I would do for her. 
• I praise God for the gift of being a Mommy and accept the huge responsibility of shaping this tiny human into a warrior, teaching her to take on life and fulfill her dreams.

All in all, there is just no comparison and I know that when this friend decides to start a family...He too will realize why I would take offense to his comment.

Why I Chose NOT to Read Pregnancy Books

I did a quick search on an online retailer and found roughly 49,000 pregnancy books and I read 0.

It's been 2 months now since I delivered my precious bundle of joy and as I look back, I do not regret the decision I made early on to not read any pregnancy books. The reason I chose to do this is really quite simple.

Early on in my pregnancy it was determined that my pregnancy would be considered "High Risk" due to the fact that I have a history of high blood pressure and after running some early blood tests, this was further confirmed. The results of the blood test showed that I was at a risk of pre-eclampsia.

time 18830944 of being admitted into Labor & Delivery

Being that this was my first pregnancy, everything was completely new to me. I must admit, it was also pretty terrifying to be told that you we're already at risks and would need to come to twice as many check-ups as other pregnant women.

I've heard that many pregnancy books touch base on things that "might" occur to you while you are pregnant and things that might not. You know, how to prepare for this and that.

I had a fear of literally not only having an even worse pregnancy because of the fears of thinking "what if this happens to me next " - but also fear of fearing my child. I mean, really, besides the first night home from the hospital, she hasn't been bad at all (do all parents say that?). Some books literally scare the life out of you with things your baby might do, or additionally side effects of the pregnancy and I wanted to hear none of it.

Unless my doctor told me it was something to worry about, I tried to just go with the flow.

I am an incredible over thinker. Is it a woman thing? You can sit there with one idea and literally overthink it in every way possible. I mean, when it comes to DIY projects and things such as that, it isn't that bad. But when it comes to overthinking something like an itch in my throat or the hiccups while pregnant, you can get weird and crazy ideas in your mind.

I mean, when it came to delivering my daughter, I felt mentally prepared and ready. Even with the almost emergency C-section scare, I remained calm. I really have to give all the credit to the fact that I was sure that God was taking care of me and his will was what was to happen. I knew he sent angels to watch over me and I had no need for a book (besides the Bible) to keep my A-game strong.

For my next pregnancy, I doubt that I'll read these books either. But for now, it's too early to tell...you know since you have all these intricate plans and well, babies just kind of show up and do what they want lol

Til next time :)

Cute Hairstyle in Under 5 Minutes

Hey there!

Check out my first YouTube video.

It is one of my go-to hairstyles now that I'm a mommy because it literally takes about 3 minutes.

I also really loved wearing my hair like this during pregnancy because having my hair in my face got on my nerves and made me really hot!


Hope you enjoy it and let me know if there is anything you are interested in me showing you!

Just like the rest of this journey, I hope to continue growing not only as a mommy, blogger, person and YouTuber but also in the quality that I bring to you =)

Ariana's Birth Story

Lets begin by saying that my original due date was August 16, 2014.

Ariana was born August 8, 2014
I was at risk of pre-eclampsia throughout this whole process

Ok now that we know that...

Two weeks prior to giving birth I was doing a routine of going in to get Non Stress Testing to check on both baby and I.  During those two weeks, I would literally get sent to Labor & Delivery EVERY SINGLE TIME I had an appointment. It was a mix of having contractions, extremely high blood pressure and the baby's heart rate unexpectedly dropping. This mix was a big no-no but they still kept me as an "observation" case. Finally on Tuesday August 5th, I was held for 24hrs to make sure that we we're both ok and that I didn't need special attention. After being released on Wednesday August 6th, I was ordered to go home and get some rest with my feet up (aren't all pregnant women ordered the same?) I still had an appointment the following day.

I went in to my regular appointment on August 7th, 2014 and as usual I got sent to L&D. (Luckily) My OB was the on call doctor that day in L&D and as soon as she saw me she said "I am so over you being in here and getting released over and over again. I'm just going to go ahead and induce you today."

Yup, as easy as that! Let me just say that my OB is pretty awesome, which is why she just makes decisions as easy as that lol.

Then the (long but short) process began at 11am. I was advised that this could take 2-3 days so there was no need to get all my family in a craze. I called my husband to let him know that I was going to be induced but it would take a while. I encouraged him to still make his way to school and that he would still be able to come back with plenty of time.

I was dilated to 1cm at this point so they wanted to get the process going. In comes "the balloon" or balloons I should say. This is a little tube that has 2 deflated balloons attached to them. One balloon gets placed under baby and the other in the middle of your cervix. Once placed inside, they fill the balloons with liquid. This in theory makes your cervix forcibly dilate. This process can take anywhere from 8-12 hours, so it was going to be a while.

During the time I had the balloon in, I began feeling much stronger contractions and I was encouraged to do much walking in order to help the baby really push herself down. During the hours I had the balloon in, I walked and showered with hot water and walked and walked. The pain was obviously like nothing I had felt before but also I didn't feel a need to scream or hurt anyone. I guess I must not be THAT dramatic.

After a while the midwife advised that it would still be a while and suggested my parents head home and get some rest, which they did. Shortly after my parents left, the midwife came back in to check on the balloon and, well it was ready to slip out. The balloons have the capability of making you dilate to 5cm and once you've reached that goal, they slip out. After taking it out, she checked me and advised that they would wait a tiny bit to see if I would continue contracting on my own.

After less than an hour, the midwife came and let me know that it didn't look like much was happening and that they would be breaking my water shortly. My nurse came in and let me know to go ahead and call my parents (whom were just getting into bed) and let them know to head back. My nurse also suggested that I get the epidural now before they break my water. I had nothing to prove, I'm not the woman warrior so....bring on the epidural.

The tech put the catheter in for the epidural and it felt like heaven, I couldn't feel a thing aaaand I even managed to play a joke on him before he left the room. Shortly after, the midwife came in, broke my water and placed pitocin in my I.V. My parents made their way back but still no baby. After a while of tons of contractions and no more dilating doctors were panicked because Ariana's heart was STILL dropping. They connected me to the oxygen and let me know that they did not like how things were looking and that it was very likely that I would have to deliver via C-section. They set a countdown of one hour, within this hour my blood pressure would need to drop enough to be considered normal and Ariana's heart would need to remain stabilized with every contraction.

This hour was the worst by far! In this final hour I began feeling strong contractions. They were so strong that I could feel them at equal intensity as the first 5cm. Keep in mind that I already had the epidural and this pain was surpassing all the anesthesia. I noticed that the baby's heart would continue to drop dramatically so I would breathe frantically in order to find a way for her heart to stay up during every contraction. The hour felt like 5 minutes! Finally my OB (I was surprised she was still on call) rushed in with the midwife and about 6 or 7 nurses. They quickly turned the lights on and began unplugging everything. My OB looked genuinely worried and she stated that I was being rushed for an emergency C-section. She decided to check me before moving me over to the operating room and noticed there was a large amount of bleeding and stated that I was already dilated to 10cm! She also mentioned that the baby had turned away from the proper position for birth so...she began turning the baby! Yup, I didn't feel anything because of the epidural but I imagine it would have felt as crazy as it looked. One hand inside manipulating the baby and the other pushing my stomach!

Once she determined the baby was fine, they rushed me to the operating room. At this point only my husband could accompany me. My parents stayed behind supporting me in prayer. They took me to the O.R. and explained the risks of a C-section surgery and had me sign my life away (pretty much thats what I understood). I tried as much as possible to remain calm but the nurse had given me medicine to stop my contractions--the side effects were shakiness so it was hard to stay calm while your body is shaking uncontrollably. They left only my I.V. fluids, oxygen and baby monitor for a total of 2 minutes. During this time my OB determined that the baby was stable enough and gave me the option to try for natural delivery.

The option was given this way-

• I will give you one chance to push
• People are scared of pooping, I guarantee you won't poop and if you do, we don't care
• If you push and the baby gets stuck halfway, we will use the vacuum to get her out
• If you can't get the baby out we will do surgery here

That was enough of an incentive for me to push with all my might. OB told me to let her know when I felt a contraction and when I was ready to push. I completed a total of 3 pushes and Ariana Raquel was born. 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to put her on my chest at that time because they needed to check her in under the NICU to make sure she was fine and daddy got to spend that time with her. I had to...well get put back together and that took about 40 minutes. Once the baby was labeled as "in great health" the whole staff in the operating room sang "Happy Birthday" to her! That was such an awesome and unexpected gesture. 

All in all the pregnancy,labor,delivery and recovery was tough but I thank God for keeping the baby and I safe. The staff at the hospital was nothing short of amazing with me throughout the whole process! I was afraid that the horror stories of nurses being rude or inattentive would happen to me but thankfully we had none of that. I was able to pass out cookies to all the staff and a special gift to my OB who is also pregnant and having a baby girl!

I love my little miracle more than anything and hubby is such a great daddy to her, you can tell she's gonna have him wrapped around her fingers!

After my 6 week check-up, I am more thankful than before. My OB explained the fear all the staff was going through during my labor and how serious things really were. She congratulated me on how strong and calm I remained and said that patients like me are the reason why she keeps doing what she does.

I thank God for any strength I gathered and I thank him again for the little princess he gifted us.

 with grandpa

wearing daddy's glasses

-Susana

3rd Trimester & Pre-Eclampsia

Ok so the 3rd trimester was deffinately the toughest! First I had to take the gestational diabetes test again and failed. This meant that I had to take a longer 3 hour test which consisted of me drinking a heavily sugary drink and having my blood drawn 4 times in those 3 hours. Thankfully I passed this time which meant I did not have diabetes.

I continued to pack on the pounds and heavily! Because I was at risk for pre-eclampsia, I began to see many signs that this was coming true. I would gain about 8 pounds a week of water weight. My legs became so huge it was hard to walk. Although I had a very lovely baby shower, that was about all the fun I had this close to my due date. My blood pressure started going through the roof and I began having contractions at week 30. Baby was positioned as well and I was dilated to 1cm for the majority of my last trimester. I will share the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy on an upcoming post. For now, I'll share a couple of nice shots from the baby shower.

Most of the baby shower was DIY

Burlap banner with baby's name is DIY as well as the ruffle garland in the back!

Drinking from Mason jars

Baby shower favors are candy filled painted baby food jars. Super easy and inexpensive!

2nd Trimester & High Risk

The second trimester is supposed to be when the morning sickness gets kicked to the curb.

Not so much in my case. I was still having regular visits to the E.R. and it was still hard to keep anything down. 

They recommended I take a test that would allow my OB to see if I or the baby we're at risk of any other problems. Due to the fact that I have a history of high blood pressure, I was already predisposed to having something else attached to it. 

Sure enough, test results showed that I was at risk of Pre-Eclampsia. My pregnancy was already labeled as high risk, but this just pushed that title further. 

Work became more and more difficult as I had more doctors appointments and I still felt quite ill. Although my boss was quite understanding, his patience grew thin and he began to show his annoyance of my situation. As my stress level from work and the pregnancy grew higher, my husband and I made the decision that it was time for me to leave work. Our baby was always priority #1 and there was no reason to continue having the stress of work on my shoulders. I had a fear of realizing too late that I could have done something to reduce any stress I had, (at least the ones I could actually do something about).

On a positive note, during my 2nd trimester, we found out we were having a baby girl!

I finally began to show a little more!

1st Trimester & Zofran

Once I found out I was pregnant, all the sleeping made sense. What I was not excited about was the nausea. I do not understand why they call it "morning sickness". For me, it was an all day sickness. I could not keep anything down and was miserable. I remember having to wake up even earlier for work in order to fit in all the time that puking would set me back. While at work it was hard to keep it under control and now and then my manager would be so annoyed with seeing me run to the bathroom or basically have no color in my face that he would send me home.

I paid a few visits to the E.R. due to the fact that I was dehydrated and loosing all kinds of nutrients my body needed.

For my birthday I thought I was well enough to go to Vegas with my husband and parents. Well most of that time was spent hurling my guts as well.

Thankfully I was shortly prescribed the saving pill of Zofran! This pill was meant to help with all the throwing up although at this point it didn't take much effect, it plays a bigger part down the road. 

Quick! Bun in the oven!

So we wasted no time to start a family. Well in all reality, I believe we waited 6 weeks, not bad!

We had talked about having a family and decided that we would put it in God's hands when he would allow us to be parents. That turned out to be rather soon. 

I knew I was pregnant mainly because I got sleepy! I don't mean regular sleepy when you stayed up late and could use a nap. I mean like I would get home from work and fall asleep until 9pm, wake up use the bathroom and go back down! That seemed a little odd but we hadn't taken a test yet.

We finally took a pregnancy test and it came back negative...I guess it was too early to be read on the test. That same week I got hired in as permanent to the job I was working. Part of the deal was that I needed to go get a physical in order to complete the hiring process. At the physical exam they mentioned that they needed to do a chest x-ray----no! I mentioned that although I was unsure if I was pregnant, I felt uneasy about having an x-ray until I was positive that I wasn't. They understood and mentioned that I can come back in a few days once I was sure.

Thank God I waited! I took another pregnancy test that same day and sure enough...PREGO!

We really were sooooo excited!

Here is my hubby being silly with the positive pregnancy test!

We obviously waited until the 1st trimester was complete before we shared the news with anyone other than close friends and family. 

We had Lindsey Lane Photography help us with our pregnancy announcement pictures!

Welcome to my life!

Recap of the whirlwind I went into...

Met Marvin (my now husband) September of 2008
Marvin and I began dating November 29, 2009
Engaged on January 1, 2013
Married September 28, 2013
Found out we were expecting a little blueberry December 2013
Ariana Raquel was born August 2014


To say the least the year went by super quick!
I have decided to blog about my experience to help myself keep these memories and to encourage anyone that might be going through the same situations as I.

I'll begin by showing a few of our engagement pictures to lighten the mood and will touch on my pregnancy later on.

Lindsey Lane Photography

Paramount Ranch- CA