First name: Gummy. Last name: Bear.

What makes a morning better than being handed a fresh cup of yummy hot, hot coffee? When that morning is Christmas Eve! :) Plus, coffee is always tasty, especially when made by someone other than me.

Mmm... coffee.

But this time I was only able to get one sip in. You probably know, I am in LOVE with Christmas but the baby wasn't aware of the smiles that the holidays bring (yet) so gummy bear decided to shake things up a little. From that sip of coffee on, the day was then in the hands of the baby.

I ended up spending what I think was almost eight hours in the emergency room in Cleveland after having severe cramps and a scary bleed. After waiting in the hospital room for what seemed like forever, and THREE ultrasounds later (not the fun kind, btw) I was told I suffered a subchorionic hemorrhage/threatened miscarriage. This was definitely the opposite of fun. The doctors gave me the least amount of information as possible and honestly did not make the pregnancy sound promising in any way. I was told my pregnancy was now high risk and I was to stay on bed rest indefinitely, until I could get home and see a doctor.

Not quite what I pictured for the holiday, but that was ok. I finally knew the baby was in there, alive and apparently stressed but doing alright for now.

Once back in Boston, I had the energy of a Slowsky. (You know, those Comcast turtles who are soooooooooo slow. Kind of like Comcast customer service. Anyway, back to the story). Basically I had ZERO energy and was weak all the time. I decided I should prob cut the caffeine at this point, even though I know caffeine while pregnant is ok, in moderation. I'm sure I have ingested enough caffeine over the past five years to last me the rest of my life, so a nine month break is really no big deal.

Constantly tired, I did my best to rest as much as I could. BUT baby again decided it was time to go back to the ER, only this time on New Years Day. (We really are going to have a serious talk about holidays once this child is old enough). ;) I suffered from the same hemorrhage and I can't say it was less scary than the first, because this time, I thought I was losing the baby.

This ER visit wasn't as long as the last one, but it was super nerve racking. Again, not how I imagined my New Years Day but it didn't matter. The holidays of 2011 had done a complete flip from how I pictured but I was only concerned with the health of the GB at this point. This ER visit ended up turning out with a more positive outcome than the first. I knew, again, that the baby was ok but still stressed, so that I had to work on. But this time, the ultrasound tech printed my first photos of the baby, and as you can see, this is why I refer to it as the "gummy bear." :)

01.01.12

01.01.12