Picture from Jessie's March of Dimes Walk

Breezy's Bravery

Hello family and friends,

I wanted to take a moment to talk to you about Breezy's Bravery... a team created by a childhood friend of mine for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I went to elementary, middle and one year of high school with a charming and funny girl named Jessica. She was my best friend for a number of those years and eventually moved away from Hawaii. Through the wonderful world of Myspace we rekindled our friendship years later and message each other constantly. I found out in our years apart that Jessie had become a mommy to a beautiful little girl, Briana who everyone affectionately refers to as the one and only "Miss Breezy".

When Breezy wasn't feeling well Jessie and her fiance made numerous trips to the hospital but always came back with no answers. There came a day when the diagnosis was made and it rocked their world apart. Breezy has Cystic Fibrosis, or more commonly referred to as CF for short. For those of you who don't know, CF is a genetic chronic illness that effects her lungs and digestive system. Currently there is no cure. In most cases, CF causes an early death. Average life expectancy is around 36.8 years according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, although improvements in treatments mean a baby born today could expect to live longer.

Which is why I am reaching out to all of you. This only way money is generated for new research and treatments is through donations. Jessie and her family are participating in a walk in their area. Though I will not be able to make the trip down to walk with them since I'm due around the same time, I will definitely help them campaign for donations.

As many of you know, I lost my baby Brent in February of this year. On May 3rd my family, friends and I walked here at Dellinger Park for the March of Dimes to help premature babies. Jessie joined my team and supported me by doing the March of Dimes walk near her home and also accepting donations from her friends, family and co-workers. I never knew quite how to thank her for her selflessness and big heart. I honestly feel like she was hurting with me and as a mother, knew what I had lost. This is not how I ever imagined I would return the favor... but just as she was there for me, I am there for her. If not physically, definitely emotionally, and now electronically. :o)

I understand that money is tight with everyone right now, which is why I made my goal to help Breezy's Bravery $150. I hope to exceed this goal, but like I said... I know extra money is scarce. Please help me to help this lovely family reach their goal of $1000. If you would like to donate to my site to help Breezy's Bravery, please visit: http://www.cff.org/great_strides/dsp_donationPage.cfm?registeringwalkid=5984&idUser=280440 and go to "Click to Donate". Donating is easy and secure, you can even use your debit card if it has the Visa or Mastercard logo.

Thank you for reading this long, but very important message. I love you all and thanks again.

-Liz

To follow Breezy on her journey, please visit: http://breezysbravery.blogspot.com/

17 Weeks

-Baby's skeleton is hardening from a rubbery cartlidge to bone.

-Fat is starting to accumulate and will do so until baby is born.

-Fingers and toes now have one-of-a-kind prints.

-Baby is more flexible with the ability to move his head, arms, legs, mouth, fingers and toes.

-The placenta is large and well established with a network of blood vessels that exchanges nutrients and waste.

16 Weeks and 5 Days

Finally starting to look pregnant... :o)

Whoa...

That's what I said when I looked in the mirror when I got up this morning. I think my belly doubled in size overnight, lol.

Definately some movement going on...

I had a quick appointment yesterday at my regular OBGYN. We just listened to the hearbeat and checked for infections. All was good so it was over pretty quickly. Anyway, last week I started feeling some movements but it was really no that noticable. This week is a different story... I have felt full kicks yet, but there is a lot more movement. I ate a brownie last night and sent Baby Walden into a tizzy in my belly, lol. It's not enough for anyone else to feel, I can't feel it prom the outside yet. I actually felt some while standing up at work today, that was the first time for that. It's such an awesome feeling... so precious. I love it. I hope everyone is doing well. I'll update again next week.

15 Week Appointment with Specialist

Sorry it's late, I normally update the day of my appointment, but with living out of boxes and working there's just never enough time. We finally got our desktops up and running. Very happy about that, I hate typing on my laptop keyboard, the keys are closer together and my fingers are used to this one. This would have been filled with mistakes otherwise, lol.

Wednesday I headed down to Atlanta. I wasn't sure about where I was going and how bad traffic would be there, but I got there about an hour early. So I parked in the parking deck and went inside and wandered around for a while. Got something to eat from a vending machine and then found my way to the doctor's office. My appt was at 2:30, but I ended up getting called back about 2:15, which was good, because by then I'd read all the magazines I could stand. My ultrasound tech was really nice, I asked her if we'd be able to tell what sex the baby was and she said Oh yeah! So I was excited. She measured the head, femur, humerus and abdomen, then took a peek between the legs and said Can you tell what it is? And I said, How can you not! There was definitely some goods there, so she said You're having a boy! I'm pretty sure my heart melted into a little puddle inside my chest, I was so happy and just relieved. It's not that I don't want a girl, but I just want a boy first, then a girl. I would've been happy either way, but I feel like I am owed what was taken from me, so it really felt like a blessing.

Off the subject, sometimes I just wonder if my little Brent was just too perfect for this world. I try my hardest not to be mad at God for taking him. I won't lie, I've cursed him a lot in the past year. I just hope there is a reason I do not understand yet to that huge question on why... Anyway, back to the appt.

So then my doc came in and checked my cervix and looked at it on the ultrasound. He said that everything still looks exactly like it should. I asked about the placenta, since I had placenta-previa last time and he said the placenta looked great and was no where near the cervix and I wouldn't have to worry about that. So that was a relief too. So, it was a great visit and I can't wait to see my little boy again in two more weeks!

I called Bobby as soon as I got in my car and told him, he was so happy, I could hear it in his voice. :o) My dad's work is on the way back from Atlanta so I stopped by and showed him the pictures, then I headed back to Cartersville. I went to Target and bought some little blue socks that were sports themed and put it in a plain white gift bag and went to mom's work. I got there and there's two other ladies that sit in the same room as her, so they were chomping at the bit when I handed mom the bag. It was pretty funny, they were like Open it already! So mom pulled out the blue socks and immediately hugged me and started tearing up. It was funny because one of the other ladies was tearing up too. She's a sweet lady... So then I went to Ingles to pick up some applesauce (we were having pork chops that night), and went to the bakery to get a message cookie and had the lady write It's A Boy on it. Then of course texted everyone in my phone book, lol. Anyway, here are a few pics for ya'll. Enjoy!

14 Weeks

-Baby is 3.2 to 4.5 inches and weighs approx. 1 ounce.

-At this time the baby's facial features are becoming more apparent.

-The lanugo (body hair) is starting to develop.

-Baby's soft cartilage is being replaced by real chalk bones.

-Baby now has eyebrows, but no eyelashes yet.

14 Week OBGYN Appointment

I'm sorry if this is short and sweet but we've been moving this week and I am extremely tired and have been pretty much going, going, going for days now. There's still a little left to do by Friday when we're officially out of the apartment. So here's how the appointment went on Tuesday...

We went in and waited for almost an hour to be seen. Apparently one of the OB's had to run over to the hospital to do an emergency c-section, so they had to divy up his patients to the others, making everyone else run late. Understandable though... Anyway, I finally got to see my midwife and she just used the little heartbeat detector thingy so we heard the heartbeat and everything sounded good. Every so often there would be a little "swooshing" sound, she said that was the baby moving around in there. I brought Bobby with me because I thought I might get an ultrasound and if I did then we might be able to tell what sex the baby was. But unfortunately I didn't get one, so I'll have to wait until Nov. 5th at my specialist appointment at Piedmont Hospital.

So nothing too exciting, but that's probably a good thing anyway, right? Well, I guess I should be going. I'm really tired and my hips are hurting. Good night everyone.

13 Weeks

-Baby is 2.6 to 3.1 inches and weighs 14 to 20 grams.

-Fetal growth will begin to increase at a rapid rate.

-Sockets for all 20 teeth are present now.

-Baby's vocal chords are beginning to form.