Champs!

Even though Mark may not see this post any time soon, I thought it was about time that I balanced out all of the 'baby talk' here with something a bit more masculine. . .like slow-pitch softball.  It's kind of a big deal around here as almost every city in the area has their own league and most guys on the circuit play in more than one of them.  Mark has been playing on the Reds (among other teams) since we moved here and if you could rewind 20 years it'd be pretty much the same scene now as it was back then complete with many of his little league teammates, the same parents in the stands, and for better or worse, the same uniforms (and if you're wondering, no, they don't still fit). The only things that have changed, besides a bit more facial hair on the field, is that each of the guys has their own 'up to bat song' (my favorites are the Yogi Bear theme song and Skee-lo's 'I wish') and the fans are enjoying treats from the bar (no snack here) instead of cracker jacks and red vines.  After an up and down season the bats got hot on the coldest night of the year (37 degrees in San Diego?!?) and the team won both games in a double header to take the championship!

20 years later

Feeling the Love

If you know me well you know that I am about as comfortable opening gifts in front of people as I would be standing in front of the Spanish Inquisition. Ok, so I'm exaggerating. A little. We didn't have a traditional shower (unless you consider cruising through the streets of SF dressed as a bridal party for Bay to Breakers 'traditional') for our wedding so in addition to being awkward, I'm also out of practice which had me a little nervous leading up to the shower for the Goose a couple weeks ago.  I think the reason I've always found it so awkward is that I am always so humbled that so many people would do such nice things for us, and this shower was no different. I was absolutely blown away by all of the time, effort and creativity that went in to planning this amazing day, you really outdid yourselves this time ladies. . .

After a couple airport runs to pick up our Norcal and Northwest guests (with a surprise visit from my aunt!) and dinner out on Friday (complete with mariachi serenade), I arrived home a little later than the rest of the team and walked in on Tara, Becky, Lish, Stacy and Eggy working away in our kitchen in what could only be described as Pinterest test labs meets Santa's workshop (with taller, more beautiful employees of course). Meanwhile, little did I know that across town at the 'grown up' house where my mom and aunt were graciously hosted by Mark's parents, they were enjoying a crafting party of their own. All of this, complete with plenty of 'goose' paraphernalia, was on full display at the shower:

Shark! PS My mom and Rose said they are NEVER doing this again.

Diaper cake in case of emergencies

The name game 

On top of all of the crafts, treats and delicious food made by a gracious Mohnacky neighbor, we were spoiled with what can only be described as the MOST DELICIOUS CANNOLIS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. You could probably make them too, that is if you're into making everything from scratch - including the cheese.

Heaven on a plate

Nonna and Grandma Rose

Carin, Stacy, Lish, Eggy, Me, Tara, Becko, Katie, Allie

On top of a fabulous shower, it was SO nice to have some of my favorite girls in town for a whole weekend. Many of us have been friends since the first days of freshman year - over 12  years ago - and have remained close ever since.  Although we've moved far away are busy with careers and family we always make a point to see each other as often as possible, with a little help from the Dad's/husbands who were on duty for the weekend. After a night of catching up over pizza and wine/water, we went for a Sunday cruise along the beach and couldn't pass up the photo op to get the 28 week picture for me and the 20+ week picture for Lish. It should really say 20 + 2 other kids because Lish is on round 3 and making this thing look easy:

Since Mark didn't get a lot of love in this post (he was happily at home sleeping off a red-eye and putting up Christmas lights) I thought I'd throw in a sneak peek from our quickie photo shoot on our way to the airport Sunday. We are so lucky to have such talented friends there was no way we were letting them out of town without helping us document the 28 week mark:

Stacy Greenwood Photography in ACTION!

Thank you everyone for being so nice to us and already loving this Goose as much as you do. We are lucky people:)

P.S. I'm a perpetual photo thief so thanks to Eggy, Stace and Becko for taking these pictures!

Turkey + Baby = Stretchy Pants!

Unless you've got a glass of wine and an empty DVR, there isn't any real reason to read back from here, I'm just trying to document things as I only expect to get more and more forgetful (and uncomfortable) over the next couple of weeks.

This Thanksgiving we made our way up to the Central Coast for Mark's first Turkey Day with my family, and more importantly, after years of debate and reluctance, he finally got to experience raisins in the stuffing.  I don't know if it was as life-changing as I expected, but he definitely went back for seconds (ha!)

Raisins make me happy!

Thanksgiving morning the boys took off for a golf outing so Tara, Dom and I decided to do a little adventure of our own and join in on the Pismo Beach Turkey Trot. Equipped with a street -ready stroller set up for our co-pilot we took to the sand (surprise!) and  joined in on the fun. A pretty informal gathering of the locals (not sure we were even trotting in the right direction) we had a great time enjoying the beautiful day and the occasional rogue wave that left the stroller, complete with passenger, stranded in the wash while we ran for dry sand.

We love turkey trots!

Pre-turkey trotters = success!

 Recognize this place? Since we were there I thought I'd introduce the Goose to the place where Mark and I got engaged AND celebrated our wedding. Hello Seacrest! And you can stop sending me silly emails now. .

The scene of the crime

A little shy thus far, the baby must like turkey because the belly really started to make an appearance this weekend. I'd probably be wearing stretchy pants for turkey day regardless of being pregnant, but I thought what better time than now to bust out the new maternity clothes. After the 4 am Dom alarm went off on Friday we decided we might as well join the crazies for some Black Friday fun so I suited up in my new gear and we hit the streets. No more than 10 minutes in the store (yep, our first stop was Home Depot where they couldn't give free muffins and coffee away) some lady asked Tara (on the sly) if I was pregnant!  So literally, it started feeling very real overnight - they were magic pants!

Finally in a socially acceptable 'touchable' phase, my parents hadn't seen me in a couple weeks so they wanted to take the opportunity to 'get to know' the little Goose by formally introducing themselves to her. Not sure how the first impressions went, but she was kind enough to entertain them with some kicks and flips.

It IS as awkward as it looks.

Aloha!

Following our ridiculously crazy month of October, we were very excited to make our way to Kauai for a little pre-baby vacation time together.  Following an amazingly easy flight out of the local Carlsbad airport and an exceptionally good veggie sandwich for lunch, I think we had made it as far as LA when I stated that this was 'already the best trip we've ever been on.' Luckily it didn't peak at the LAX food court and just got better from there as we lucked out with a ground floor condo just steps from the water in Poipu on the south side of the island. Mark's been to the island a number of times and you can just tell this is his 'happy place.'

Carlsbad Airport

Hawaiian Sun + our front porch + surf = Happy Sponge!

We started each day with a run or walk past the local attraction the Spouting Horn and cruised over to Waimea Canyon on our first day with some other trips up north to hike the Napali Coast and to see the Wailua waterfall. We got in our fair share of snorkeling too, which has an added degree of difficulty when you're unaware of the actual size of your growing belly and need to be sure not to get it caught on the coral (to be clear, I speak for myself here, not Mark).

The Spouting Horn

24 weeks and nice and swollen from the plane 

Napali Coast

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nostalgic about this being our last trip together for awhile as we've spent the last 8+ years in our little world of just the two of us. This closing of a chapter is a very separate emotion from the excitement I feel from welcoming this little girl into our crazy world. It's kind of like graduating high school where you feel so sentimental about that part of your life ending, but once you graduate you can't imagine ever going back (not to mention it seems so small now, right?).  We do like to joke about what she'll be like being around the two of us and what kind of traits and qualities she'll pick up. Physically there's a good chance she'll be on the shorter side, have big eyes, lots of hair and hang on to her baby fat well passed her baby years (Mark lost his in junior high, me sometime around 2007).

Hiking the Napali Coast

The Dodo Bird

I started feeling flutters around 15 weeks and Mark got to join in on the fun when he felt the Goose conducting a zumba class right around week 17. With concrete proof that this pregnancy was legit, we couldn't wait to get to know her and for her to know us. We figured she's already getting more than her share of hearing my voice throughout the day that Mark should start getting some quality time in with her too. So one night he put his head gently on my belly and thought of something to say. I was expecting some sweet nothings as his first words to his little girl but what came out was more of a  high pitched warble that scared the crap out of me and most definitely the goose as she responded with a quick jab to his temple (yes!). This 'dodo' sound has become a weird ritual for daddy and daughter bonding time and the best part is she never fails to respond with a good swift kick or punch to the sound. When she makes her debut in February hopefully she'll be pleasantly surprised to see that her Pops isn't covered in blue and purple feathers (at least that's how I picture dodos).

Me and Dodo - 2 years married!

"O" Baby

Every parent knows their kid will be special, we just didn't expect to get scientific proof that ours was one in a million so soon (the actual statistic is 1 in 5,000 but who's counting?) In addition to what's explained in the email I sent to our friends and family below, our Goose is special because she has already taught us an incredible lesson. . . . we've learned to count and appreciate every thing that has gone right and be thankful for those things instead of focusing on the one or two things that may not seem quite perfect at first.  See, she's already smarter than us.

Copy of the email:

Hi Everyone,

I apologize in advance for the long email, but as many of you know there's been quite a bit going on with us this week and I wanted to catch you up since many of you were expecting a 'pink or blue' text sometime last Tuesday . . .

What we thought was going to be the best day/birthday ever turned out to be one of the most challenging days of our lives. To start, Mark's family was in Ohio attending his grandmother's funeral that morning - he stayed back to attend the 20-week ultra sound with me but it was bittersweet knowing our little goose would have been her 39th great-grandchild. We were still excited to be there and anxious to find out the gender and just loved seeing the first real pictures of our goose dancing around. Everything looked good, but we were suspicious when they sent us to the waiting room and called us back in to re-measure a few things. Before we knew it we were being handed paperwork with instructions to schedule an immediate appointment with the bigger hospital in La Jolla. Our little goose had been diagnosed with an omphalocele - a birth defect where some of the tummy organs (liver, intestines, bowel) were incorrectly developing outside of the baby's body. Our excitement had been replaced with absolute shock - I was devastated. It felt like a bad dream not knowing if the baby could survive this or if it could be fixed (and what their quality of life would be if it could).

After a very sleepless night, we made our way to La Jolla for an early morning visit. After three stressful hours of tests, meetings and discussions with our new doctor, it was confirmed that our baby did in fact have an omphalocele. The good news - the defect was small, only a small portion of the bowel was outside of the body. The bad news - one of the kidneys was holding too much fluid which alone would not have been cause for alarm, but in conjunction with the other defect meant there was a much higher likelihood that both were the result of a much more serious chromosomal disorder (50-70% chance). At their recommendation, we agreed to do an amnio test which at best could give us some peace of mind for the next couple months, and at worst, allow the doctors to be more prepared for when the baby was born. We paid the extra fee to have access to prelim results for the 'big three' and have spent the last two days anxiously awaiting the results. We got the call this afternoon saying that the initial results looked good, but were gently reminded that it was not 100% and even so, there are a number of other genetic disorders that could have caused these defects. Nonetheless, we are so grateful for even the slightest bit of good news!

Throughout this crazy week I've realized there are so many things I am grateful for. First - my husband. For every bit of a leaky wreck I've been he's been that much more amazing and I don't know how I could have handled this without him. Second - our care. We're lucky enough to live near one of the best children's hospitals in the country and I know we'll be in good hands for our (extended) stay sometime in February. My original doctor even called me herself to apologize for having to give bad news on my birthday and to assure me we'd be well taken care of at the new hospital. Third - my friends and family. Thank you SO much for your emails, texts, flowers, happy thoughts and prayers you've sent our way. . .it has meant everything to us.

We've definitely got a long road ahead of us. I've had to transfer doctors as I'm now considered high risk and will need a number of additional tests and visits over the next couple months. Instead of Scripps La Jolla we'll be delivering at the UCSD hospital where the baby will have surgery a day or two after birth and will need to be monitored in the NICU for some time after that. We're still awaiting the full results of the chromosome tests and may have more tests yet to come. Beyond that, we don't know. So if you've got extra prayers lying around please feel free to send them our way. We already know our little goose will be perfect in every way, but nobody wants their child's life to be any harder than it  has to be. Even though it has been hard, we are completely in love and cannot wait to become parents in February.

And by the way, the cake was PINK.

Love,
Mark, Dina and Baby GIRL Mohnacky

Birthday cake - it's a girl!

A New Adventure

For the past four years my New year's resolution has been the same: answer my cell phone when it rings.  It sounds simple enough but if you've called me in the past four years you know nothing has been "resolved" at all as you've probably caught my no name voice mail more than once. But now that I find myself as the spokesperson for this little human growing inside me (and my lovely husband who isn't exceptionally verbose or forthcoming with info even if you DO catch him on the telly), I've decided to change my strategy and utilize the exorbitant amount of time I'm spending in hospital waiting rooms these days and take a different approach. I love following along with the blogs of many of my friends and have decided to stop being a creeper and join the party myself. Hence, this here shiny new blog (my sister always said I was better on paper than in real life anyways).

A few things you may need to know (if you don't already):

1) We're having a baby in February better know as 'The Goose.' I can assure you she's all human but for some reason we just can't shake the name. We know February will be an adventure for us in many ways so we're looking forward to sharing the experience with you.
2) Like flat feet and dark hair sarcasm runs in my family and they'll be plenty of that here, along with bad grammar and endless ramblings of a pregnant mind.
3) Mark's already admitted he probably won't get around to reading too many of these posts so be sure to talk to him about it in detail...often.

Some pics to get you started:

Found out right before Eggy and John's wedding

Spilling the beans at a summer party at our house

Camping with Darren and Emily (and nausea)

Ohio!

Mainland visit from the Seal - 19 weeks