Third Trimester Intro and Update

Third Trimester Intro

Hey all,

This pregnancy is continuing to FLY by! I am so grateful for a pretty smooth pregnancy thus far and haven’t written an update in a while because we’ve been so so busy with the gender reveal and the holidays that we just haven’t had time! When I looked at the calendar the other day I realized that I was going to be starting my third trimester and could not believe it! So here are some things that have happened in the last few weeks since my last update post:

1. We found out Baby Franek is a girl!

Before I was pregnant I knew I wanted to do a gender reveal because why not it’s super fun and a great way to celebrate with everyone! However it really made me anxious waiting the two and a half extra weeks to know. Because of timing and traveling we couldn’t do the party right after we had the ultrasound so that made me crazy! We also got SUPER surprised because we had been convinced it was a boy! It’s so funny how you have all this reasoning behind why you think something or you just “feel” like it but we were totally wrong! Now instead we are welcoming little Aili Anne into our lives! A lot of people have asked about how to say her name. It is pronounced Eye-lee and is a Finnish name that was my great grandma Rintalas name and my middle name. Anne (as most of you know) is my moms name! Both our boy and girl choices had family elements in them because that was super important to us.  

2. Baby is really moving around! 

Since I have a frontal (anterior) placenta I have not felt as much as most people do, but lately she has been really moving around! This usually means that I can feel her rumbling or hiccuping but can’t feel on the outside any punches or kicks unless they are really high, really low or to the sides of the placenta. Last night Madi finally got to feel her kick for the first time and that was a really special moment because I have tried to get him to come over quickly when I have felt a kick or too but then she moves somewhere else. The only question he had for the doctor at one of our last appointments was “when will I be able to feel her kick?”. So he finally got his wish! 

3. We started working on the nursery!

We spent the weekend after Thanksgiving cleaning out the den that we used as an office and making it into a nursery for Aili. We hope to stay in the townhouse rental we currently live in for a few more years before we get enough savings to buy a house so we are trying to maximize on space and the den is a great size room for the little one. Our townhouse has super big rooms which I think is so interesting but we have loved it. So far we’ve built the crib and dresser but will be doing more work with the rest of the nursery as we get closer to the new year. 

4. Some symptoms are worse, some are better

TMI but I’m telling you constipation continues to be an issues for me. Luckily the nausea is gone for the most part but I still feel way too full all the time and literally feel like my intestines are being squished so eating a regular meal has turned into fourths to halves at a time. As soon as I eat everything that I want to eat I instantly regret it. Sleeping has also been more of a challenge. Otherwise I’ve still been able to do my normal routines at work. Gym time has been more of power walking at an incline than jogging, mostly because baby is basically bouncing a lot on my bladder and pulling on my back when I jog. People have suggested a support belt but I HATE anything that is right around my abdomen so I think I’ll just stick to the power incline walk for the last trimester! I also just felt like Tim Allen in The Santa Clause when he was jogging on the treadmill and had gained all that weight. It wasn’t cute. 

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5. Nike is super obsessed with me now
If you know our dog Nike, she has always been a daddy’s girl. When Madi and I are both home she never chooses to be by me over him, unless food is involved of course. But now she ONLY wants to be by me or in between us. She lays right next to me at night and on top of me on the couch during the day. People told me this happens but I never believed that it would because of how much she has always favored Madi. It’s so weird!

Now we are just looking forward to Christmas and happy that we made it out of this crazy snowstorm okay! Soon I will have my glucose test and am praying that I pass and don’t have to do the three hour test!! Praying this little lady continues to grow and stay healthy! 

Thanks for keeping up with us,

- Olivia :) 

#BookWorm: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Hello fellow readers,

Wow what a whirlwind of a book this was. I started reading this in July and shortly afterwards found out I was pregnant. This is not the book to read when you are first pregnant. It is heart wrenching and makes you cry almost every few chapters. I had heard of this author because of the TV show Big Little Lies and while in Portland this summer decided to look for that book while browsing in Powell's City of Books. I couldn't find Big Little Lies but instead found this book, What Alice Forgot, by the same author, Liane Moriarty. It was about Alice a 39 year old woman who wakes up after falling off of a stationary bike in spin class at the gym and hitting her head, thinking it is 10 years earlier than before. She forgot that she and her husband are getting a divorce, her sister's many miscarriages, her ever changing friendships, and her new boyfriend and body. She goes through the days trying to piece together her life and what happened to it.

Since this book dealt with the topic of miscarriage, reading it as a newly pregnant person was emotional and honestly I thought a few times about stopping the book because it was making me stress a bit. However, I made it through without totally stopping it or skipping anything. It was a really good book and a great plot. I am looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Big Little Lies and watching that when I get the chance. Has anyone else read this book or another by the same author? Have y'all seen Big Little Lies? Tell me what you think!!

I will try to post another pregnancy update soon! As you can tell from my lack of posts, it has been a busy trimester! Between work and family visiting it’s been a little crazy. I’ve still been reading and experimenting in the kitchen, but have had a lot less time to do it and post about it. I will try to do so soon!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)

Second Trimester Update and Genetic Testing

Hey all,

So this pregnancy is flying by, I can’t believe I am halfway, like WHAT?! The last few weeks have been much more manageable than my first trimester: most nausea is gone (praise the Lord) and my appetite is better. I do feel way too full in the evenings and usually eat about half of what I normally would for dinner. This has made it hard anytime we go out to eat, because I want to eat but then when I eat too much totally regret it. I’m just happy to be wanting food again, mostly tacos! We got Nana Taco catered to church for a meeting a few weeks ago, and I was super nervous about eating it because last time I had a good taco it wasn’t the same and made me super nauseated, but this was DELISH. Yay for the tacos! I also am so ready for my bump to be bigger than my chest, because right now the ratio of growth is not equal *eye roll* and have had some of my weekly chemo patients say that they wondered if I was pregnant not because of a bump but because of my ever-growing boobs *double eye roll*. Otherwise I’ve been doing really good staying on track with my daily exercise. While I haven’t been jogging as much as I’d like to, I have still been walking the mile to and the mile from my car every day at work and trying to get a good workout in on the weekends when I feel up to it. Trying to keep me and baby moving and grooving! 

In my first blog about this pregnancy I said that I was going to tackle the topic of why Madi and I as a pro-life couple decided to do genetic testing. There are a few reasons why we chose to do it and overall we both agree that we were happy that we did. Again everyone’s opinions are different on this and no one is “right” or “wrong” for doing it or not doing it. These were just our personal reasons for choosing to do so.

1) Madis family history isnt well known

Most of you who know us well know that Madi’s dad passed away when we were sixteen from a heart attack. Madis grandpa passed away three years ago from chronic heart failure. Madis dad was an only child and his grandma passed away when his dad was young from breast cancer. There aren’t people left to ask, “did you all have a history of xyz?” This is the initial reason why we decided to go for genetic testing. 

2) I am a chronic worrier. 

I struggle with anxiety and worry on the daily about lots of things, and have really been working on that for the past few years. But to me knowing and being able to plan helps me deal with things. If we were to find out our baby has Down syndrome for example, it wouldn’t change our minds about keeping the pregnancy, but it would help me plan what my life with work and in general would look like after baby came. Would I really want to go back full time? Would I pursue another job? If I could know ahead of time I would rather that than at the birth. Obviously things at the birth can still happen but as much information prior to me is helpful. Some people are the opposite though and that’s okay too!

3) We found out some surprising things. 

So throughout this process we found out that I am a carrier for Spinal Muscular Atrophy or SMA. We learned that SMA is the number one genetic cause of infant death. And second overall cause of infant only to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). This genetic disorder causes quick paralyzation to the baby and by the time they are a few months old they cannot move almost at all. Typically in like 90% of cases the infant doesn’t live past 18 months. THERE IS NO TREATMENT FOR THIS. If they do survive it is similar to a life with ALS. This disorder is autosomal recessive, meaning that the mom and dad both have to be carriers for the baby to have the disorder. And if mom and dad are both carriers, there is a 25% chance the baby will be fine, a 25% chance the baby will have the disorder (can be confirmed by amniocentesis) and a 50% chance the baby just will be a carrier with no symptoms or signs of the disease (like me). If just one parent is a carrier, there is just a 50% chance the child will or will not be a carrier but will not have the disease. This scared the crap out of me. No one in my family knew that this apparently stemmed from somewhere in our family line. Obviously a lot of people are impacted by this, so that is why people started testing for it, and this test wasn’t done back when our parents had kids. We were so thankful to find out that Madi is not a carrier. But this whole situation greatly impacted our appreciation for genetic testing. Honestly if we both were carriers, we wouldn’t have aborted, but it would have made me probably change what I was going to do as far as working when the baby was born. We also probably would not have had any more children ourselves, and just have adopted only instead (something that we want to do anyways one day). It was eye opening to me and made me realize, wow this disorder wouldn’t make me change my mind about having or not having this baby, but it really would have been helpful to know if I was a carrier BEFORE we started trying so we both could have been tested and it would have saved a lot of stress in the early months of this pregnancy. Also, how many of y’all know about SMA? As a healthcare provider I had never even heard much about it at all and neither had the doctors I work with so that is crazy to me how many people it impacts yet it is not talked about that much! I felt like I should have been better informed beforehand about this by my providers because I feel like many people say “are you 35+ or do you have a history of xyz? No? Okay you don’t need genetic testing beforehand” which I know some of it has to do with what insurance covers but I would have loved to know about this possibility that kills so many babies beforehand! 

These are just some things that lead us to choose why we chose genetic testing and how it didn’t make our choice about keeping the baby any different. We are still pro-life and still believe that God created this baby for a reason, but for me planning and knowing is just helpful. For those of you who have been pregnant with the option of doing genetic testing, had you heard of SMA before your pregnancy? Did you chose to do or not do genetic testing? I would love to hear thoughts! I’ll keep you all posted in another few weeks on my progess after our big gender reveal! Even though our anatomy scan is done, we are waiting to find out until our gender reveal party the first weekend in November! Two of my friends at church due around the same time as me are both having boys so I can’t wait to find out what ours will be too!! What’s everyone’s guess?! 

Thanks for keeping up with us,

- Olivia :)