We're having a GIRL!!

To our surprise, we are having a beautiful little girl!!  We are so excited to meet her, as she may be here in less than 27 days!  We were both wanting to wait on finding out if she was a boy or girl, but when the chance came for us to find out, we couldn't resist.  I cried tears of joy when I saw her precious face for the 1st time on the ultrasound.  We swear that when the technician pointed out her face, at that very moment, she opened her eyes and looked right at us!  She is absolutely the cutest baby I've ever seen, surely what every Mama says right.  Andrew is very happy as well.  He has a bunch of ideas of how she'll be the coolest lil girl in town, playing music with her papa, wearing lots of glitter, jewels and all.

As for the pregnancy, we just reached the 9 month mark :)  We had our 1st (& hopefully only) trip to the hospital about a month ago, when I started having contraction type pains on the right side of my stomach and it was hard to take deep breaths.  These bolts of intense pains kept us up all night, giving us a taste of what pre-labor is probably going to be like.  Andy was great during the whole thing, right by my side, helping me throughout.  We decided to go to the hospital the next day if the pains hadn't gone away, so off we went.  The doctors & nurses did not find anything to be wrong except maybe a torn ligament or muscle.  The also found a slight case of arrhythmia, that we are monitoring, but they say it usually goes away by birth.  Just in case I've given up the little bit of caffeine in teas & chocolate I've been consuming.  I did give up coffee though since the beginning of this pregnancy, & replaced it with Dandelion Root tea to help my liver.  About a month ago, she weighed about 5#, so she's right on schedule to be around 7# I believe at birth, which I can cope with ;)  The only other complaints have been the swollen hand & feet, only on my right side, but so intense around 2am that its been waking me up every hour till I get up around 10:30am feeling not so rested.  I think my growing body & hers are also making me a little tired, so we've been slowing down somewhat.  
I'm still active with my Radical Cheerleading squad thankfully.  We just participated in a demo at the Oregon Zoo, asking the zoo when will it give Packy, the elephant who's spent his life of 49 years in confinement, his extra acres & move him & his friends to the off-site center that was promised back in 2008 when the zoo got 125 million dollars of our tax dollars.   We also performed at the Kick-Off party for World Week for Animals In Labs 2011, and then a demo at Oregon Health Science University, protesting their cruel & unnecessary animal experiments.  We are planning our next fundraiser for Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project & N.E.S.T. on May 6th.  There'll be a vegan bake sale, crafts & music, with all proceeds going to the mentioned organizations.  Some have asked me how can a mama who's 9 months pregnant still have the energy to be going to protests & shakin' her pom poms?  I'm amazed at how much you can do while being pregnant, but I know that it's my strong connection to the earth & all her beings that helps gets me through.  I would not be as peaceful & relaxed if I wasn't doing something to help this planet daily.  Ignorance is NOT bliss for me, and I will not be silent when I see the injustice happening around me.  I will speak up for those without a voice when they are being abused or tortured and I encourage you to do the same.  We are all here for one another, to love not kill.  Happy Earth Day everyone!  Yes, its everyday, but lets all celebrate together today:)


"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect." ~Chief Seattle, 1855