Ella Dorothy Persoleo is born!

We are thrilled to show you our daughter, Ella. She is so wonderful...we can't wait for all of you to meet her. More details to come...just wanted to get a few pictures up! It is our first night at home and we have some shut eye to catch!
Love,
Dave, Jessica and Ella

After today - 2 more days!!!

After today there are only 2 more days until Dave and I get to meet Baby Persoleo! Yesterday was Dave's 31st birthday - we thought BP might make an appearance for his/her first birthday gift to Daddy...but I guess BP thinks Saturday is present enough!

We are still all set for Saturday morning at 7:30am. As I was told at my last prego doctor's appointment yesterday - 7:30am is "knife to belly" time. So all of the pre-op business will be started at 5:30am when we arrive! Dr. McCullough(my hero - by the way) says that the whole process (cutting, delivering and stitching back up) only takes about 20-25 minutes! She even told Dave that he gets to announce whether BP is a girl or a boy!!! She will hold BP up - and Dave calls it! I can't wait for that moment! (I also hope that Dave gets it RIGHT!)

Hopefully, by 8am my parents will know the good news and start making phone calls to our family and friends - early morning rise for you guys! (especially if you live in Portland or Texas!)
Also there is always the chance that another pregnant lady could come into the hospital on saturday morning in active labor and needing a c-section who would go before me and we would be bumped until a later time.

I will post a picture of Dave and I in the next day or so - AND BP's room as it looks now.
Can't wait to post a picture of the baby in the flesh!!!

Thanks for all of the love and support over the last 7 months on this BLOG...it has been so fun!
Love,
Jessica, Dave and BP

B.P. has a birthday!

It has been a fun two weeks with doctor's appointments, showers, ultra sounds, and MOXABUSTION. What is moxabustion you say? Well - at my latest ultra sound (Feb. 2nd) we learned that BP's head is wedged up in the heart shaped uterus without much chance of flipping. This means that there is not much of a chance of a vaginal birth - so as of right now - we have a c-section scheduled for February 28th at 7:30am in the morning. This isn't to say that I couldn't still go into labor on my own before that - but if not - then the latest Persoleo family member will be a February baby! I feel like I know this little girl or boy so well - it is so exciting to know that I will get to meet BP in just over two weeks!!! Anyway - back to moxabustion...it is a form of accupuncture using a point in your toe with heat from an incense stick. The theory is that babies that are not head down move towards the heat after 5-6 treatments of the moxabustion. My OBGYN said for us to try this natural remedy - and Dave and I both thought, "what could it hurt?" So we made an appointment and Dave learned how to moxabust my feet! We just did our last session last night - the baby's head is still wedged and NOT down...but it was worth a shot! I told my OBGYN on Tuesday that our house smells like Michael Phelps' dormroom from all of the incense lighting! Above are the latest 4D pictures of BP. I think the baby has changed so much since the last ones...the Waslick nose is still in effect - but maybe not as much! I can't wait to post a blog on here with BP's face in the flesh!!! It will be before the end of the month!!!! :)

5 weeks to go...

BP's baby shower was last weekend! Michele and my mom hosted quite an event! It was a day not to be forgotten for a VERY long time...
Above are the pictures of my belly at it's current state and all of the presents! How cute!!! Dave and Tammy spent most of Saturday night putting together BP's things and Dave continued on Sunday while Tam and I washed and put away all of BP's new clothes! Today is our first snow day and I am so excited to have an unexpected day off and just nest at home.

other exciting news:

Toby was in Delaware for 5 days (a picture of him in BP's room is also above)...we had a great time being with him!

Meghaan and Ivan got engaged on January 24th, 2009! We are so excited for them...a picture of the newly engaged couple coming soon!

A Christmas, a last cervical measurement, a crib, a shower, and a stomach bug

Happy January! It has been too long since my last post. The holidays and life got so busy...
We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends and I think BP got more presents then anyone else! HA...
We went for our final cervical measurement and passed with flying colors! Now we just have 2 week visits with the doctor and monthly ultra sounds left. We are in our 33rd week of pregnancy. 6 and a half weeks to go! At the last doctor's appointment, the doctor had the hardest time finding BP's heartbeat because that little baby would not stop MOVING. This is the new trend. There is constant moving and shaking in my belly! My children like to feel the kicks at school - Dave loves to feel and guess where BP is at home.
We got BP's crib and should be getting the rest of the furniture for the room this week (dresser, hutch, glider). We will take a picture of the complete look and post it soon! This decorating part is so exciting...
My class had a shower for me on Friday. The best part of the whole thing was how excited they were. They had each decorated a patch of a baby quilt which was then put together by my homeroom mother. How special!
I will be going back to work today after an unexpected Monday off and not because of snow! I got the nasty stomach bug that is flying around Delaware. I am lucky to have gotten a lesser strain of it which only included one day of throwing up and two days of a fever. Yesterday I took off of school to make sure that I was fully recovered before heading back with my defenses down. I will tell you what - throwing up with a large belly was not my proudest moment or one that I want to remember. Thank God for Dave who took care of BP and I completely throughout the bug...how nice it is to be able to count on someone completely!!!
Another update and picture SOON!!!!

Waslick Nose!!!

Wow...an awesome day today. This morning I had my cervical check - everything was great! Another two week clearance(whew)...then we had a 3-D ultrasound! This was by far the coolest thing yet during pregnancy! You can really see BP! My mom and Dave's mom were with me this morning and the three of us were in shock looking at the screen. I picked our three favorite pictures to show you - the top is a cuddled up picture - number two is with an open mouth and the third is a picture of BP's face AND hand.
When showing Bob Waslick today (after telling him that his nose is passed down to another baby...) he said, "well can't you very clearly tell that BP is a boy? Just look at the picture!" The kids in my class have changed their minds and after looking at the pictures today think that BP is a girl! BOY OR GIRL....What do you think?
BP weighs 2.7 pounds now and the heartbeat was 154 today (27 weeks)

the latest belly comparison!

I think that my belly has Dave's beat by now!!! We are in WEEK 27 in the 7th month. My belly is getting larger by the minute - about as often as BP moves around! I have "play time" with BP each night while watching TV. I put the remote or a book on my belly and Dave and I stare at it and watch it move all around! We giggle and do it again and again. I can't wait to play with the baby OUTSIDE of the womb!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with our family. Both of our parents were together and with us for the holiday - can't get much better than that! (well maybe if Toby were there with us also...) We are now 'off to the races' til Christmas...time is certainly flying!