Pictures!

Ok, y'all! Here they are! The doctor took a lot, but these are the best ones. The first three are 3-D ones that show his face and his hand up by his mouth. I think the fourth one is his hand.

Dan scanned them into the computer and is sure that's what that is.

I think it looks a little freaky-alien-meets squid thing.

I bet he's right. I think that is a hand!

These last two are cute! In the first one he's sucking his thumb!! AWWW! The second one lets everyone know he's a man and he's proud :)

We are going back in April for some more 3-D shots and those should turn out better. By then the little guy will have less room to move around and hide. The doctor at the Center for Maternal and Fetal Medicine was really nice and he looked at everything. They measured brain development, thickness of skin on the outside of the spinal cord (to rule out Spinabifida) and looked at the valves and chambers of the heart. They even did a cool color thing where they look at the blood flowing into (red) and out of (blue) the heart. Amazing! We counted fingers and toes and ribs, measured bone length and head circumference. We were there forever, but it was so wonderful to see! I never had the chance with Jackson because I had different insurance that didn't pay for fancy doctors. Dan is pretty happy about everything and really just wants the little guy to get here so he can hold him...awwww....sooo sweet!

Let me know if you have questions and I'll do my best to answer them. We are just happy everything is going well.

I'm looking into leaving school early to rest. Work is very, very stressful because of some bad administration and I find myself upset most days. There is much drama involved and not nearly enough time or space to explain, but the short of it is, I have obtained a union lawyer a new supervising administrator, and the principal and vice principal are not allowed to talk to me without my representative present. Dan is pretty much ready to shoot anyone else who makes me come home in tears, so we are trying to figure out how to get me out of that school before June.

The stress has caused migraines, terrible heartburn which is normal in pregnancy but aggravated by the tension, and cramping. This is no good. My obgyn has offered to write a letter excusing me from work, but the leave would be unpaid and that is not an option quite yet. The good thing is (if there is any) I have only been under extreme stress on two occasions and I came home right away and got into bed. I felt better instantly and so far I have not had to endure too much more. There have been no negative effects on the baby, but I'm trying to get out before it gets to that point. The lawyers have assured my union that if there are any health problems for me they will sue for a huge amount of money. Again, I am hoping to get out before that is even an option.

Just keep us in your thoughts and prayers and please don't worry! It will be a cold day in Hades before I allow anyone to put me or the baby in danger. We are happy and healthy I promise! Dan is wonderful and helps me stay calm when I'm feeling overwhelmed. We are doing our best to get me home as soon as possible and if we can swing it I'll leave in April or May.

Take care, y'all!

Love, Christine

My apologies!

I know I promised pictures and more information after the visit to the doctor, but I am completely exhausted and really need to get to bed. I didn't sleep well last night and after chasing Jack around I feel horrid! Here's the basic scoop: Baby is very healthy, no risks, no abnormalities in his growth, no concerns at all. We have lots of pictures to post, but Dan needs to scan them first. He is truly a boy and seemed quite proud to show us "the goods"! LOL! He's measuring at 20-21 weeks, but I'm just into my 19th.

The docs will be watching his growth to see if we need to move the due date up. Also, I have a pretty small torso so his size will determine whether or not we'll need to "schedule" his birth. Jack arrived very fast and was almost born in the car (no joke), so there is a chance this one will come just as fast. If he's really big it could be pretty difficult for me, so we are just going to monitor his growth. I have a feeling he'll be huge if he's anything like the Umina clan! All big babies I hear!

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm totally wiped out and am headed to bed :)

Love,
The Las Vegas Uminas

Quick Update

Ok, here are the pictures of Jack's bruised bean I promised! I couldn't get the lighting right, but that bump really does stick out quite a bit.






The next few pictures didn't come out as well as I planned, but I couldn't get any closer for them to be bright enough. As you know, the Democratic Debate was here the other day (and since we are a caucus state, this was a pretty big deal around here) and Hillary's rally was scheduled to take place at the high school were I work! Of course, since most of the staff was going, I decided to go and see what I could see. America Ferrera (famous for her show Ugly Betty) gave the introduction speech and then Hillary and Chelsea Clinton along with lots of other people I don't know, came on stage. Her speech was pretty good! I'm bummed because I had left my purse in a friend's classroom and as soon as she was done he wanted to leave, so I had to go. I regret it now because she walked around forever and talked with people, signed autographs, and answered questions. I had a few things I wanted to ask her too :( The rally was very small for security reasons so there were only about 300 people there. I had a great chance to talk to her and missed it. I may not know who I'm voting for yet, but it would have been cool to at least talk to her.

There were lots of secret service guys there which was cool and during the day our school was pretty much on lockdown so they could get things ready for her to come. My students were freaked out because they were afraid the dogs would sniff the lockers and find someone's "stash". Did I mention my school is in the middle of the ghetto?! In fact, we've been on three lockdowns since the fall for shootings in the neighborhood and just today there was a serious gang related drug bust involving school police and metro. I knew it was bigger than the normal issue since they blocked off the street. There's never a dull moment at Desert Pines High School!

Dan wanted me to go to another school, but I let him know our kids don't want to shoot us, just each other. It's very rare for kids to be mad at us. Besides, a Columbine-style plan was uncovered at one of the more affluent schools in town so it's not just the poor kids that get in trouble. I've been working in "high-risk" schools since I started teaching eight years ago, so I'm used to all the chaos. I love my kids (even though I wish more of them could read and write to grade level) and once you have their trust and loyalty, they'll do anything for you. Life in a urban high school sure is interesting!


Anyway, talk care y'all and we'll keep you posted on any baby news. We go in for the next ultrasound on the 22nd so we'll post pictures as soon as we can :)

-Love, Christine, Dan, Jackson, and baby Umina

Baby Stuff

Just a quick update! My blood work hasn't shown anything so far. They are going to run a few more tests, but everything looks very good :) There are two tests that take a few days longer, but since I kept calling and bugging them, they let me know everything so far is looking wonderful. We go in on January 22nd for the fancy ultrasound and then we'll have better pictures to post for you to see.

Since I am ALREADY in my 5th month (what?!) it's time to start getting some things together. Most of you know (even our "non-blogging" friends) we are registered at Babies-R-Us and Target. You can find us under either Dan's name or mine and we have a pretty good list going! I've had so many people ask about that I thought I'd better just post it. This does NOT mean y'all have to run out and purchase things! I don't want anyone to feel they have to buy things for the kiddo just because we are registered somewhere. Lots of love and best wishes are more important than gifts :)

There are a few things I'm having a hard time finding though, so if anyone has suggestions let us know. We are looking for Dr. Brown's glass bottles but can't seem to find them. There is too much information about BPA's and plastic bottles to ignore, so we are going to have to go the old fashioned way with the glass. Also, I've got to find the bottle sanitizer that goes with those bottles. I'll be breast-feeding while home and pumping so Dan can help and so I can go back to work in the fall. The only other glass bottles and sanitizers I can find are WAY too pricey (50.00 for 4-5 bottles!!) and are made by Born Free. Yeah, "free" my backside!

Anyway, that's about it for now. I came home early with Jack today because my active little man bonked his head real good at school and they sent him home because he was bleeding. It's a pretty good goose-egg if you ask me, so we are hanging out at home together. I'll post pictures if he'll let me get close enough to take off the band-aid!

Love to all!