Stella Paige Moreno's Baby Shower

On February 28th, 2010 a very anticipated day arrived! I have always imagined how my baby shower would be if I were lucky enough to have one. Well it was beyond my expectations. My Mom, sister, Best friend Ericka, and Stella's Nina Nathalie with the help of many more wonderful friends created a pink wonderland of Anne Geddes and Roses! It was at Stella's Italian Restaurant in Dana Point.The centerpieces were bright and exactly what I wanted. The vibrant colors of Pink, orange, and yellow made it cheery and perfect. Mario suprised me and made a CD for all the guests with songs that I would listen to throughout IVF that inspired me with an attached heartfelt note from him. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. The day before it poured rain and I was a little worried even though it was in a covered patio with a fireplace. But the day of the shower it was warm and the sun was shining!! My guests were beyond generous and the clothes line made by my friends was adorable! Stella is going to be one stylin' little girl. Fifty guests attended and we had amazing italian food and played games. All the gifts were amazing but a few that I would like to mention is the handmade bassinet Stella's Godmother Nathalie had made for her. I couldn't take my eyes off of it with the black and white damask and hot pink bow with a personalized pillow! Three adorable diaper cakes were made for her that all matched her nursery. Then there was a moment where only my mom and I would understand but 7 years ago when I was having trouble conceiving, my mom and I were shoppinh in a boutique and I came across thsi adorable bunny outfit. I really wanted and she said someday I would have it not knowing that 7 years were going to pass by. So when I finally did get pregnant my mom went on a search to find it. Needless to say it was quite a surprise when I opened it! I can't wait to see my little "Thumper" in it. I have been calling her that for awhile now because that is what she feels like when she moves. We always say Thumper is up :)

Aches and Pains

My second trimester continued and I began to get really bad backpain! There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't have excruciating pain. It really limited what I could do and the only thing that made it better was lying flat. It eventually went away after a couple of months. I am not sure if my body was adjusting from the belly but I was so happy when it got better. Then I was having really bad pain near my gallbladder. I scanned it and of course I had a gallstone. Of course my luck but all the while still staying positive. Eventually that too got better. I must admit that my aches and pains never lasted the entire pregnancy so I put up with it. It is amazing to have a child grow inside your belly and know that you are providing everything it needs. By my third trimester my only complaint is that my little muffin was so active. I was able to continue working up to 35 weeks which is great considering how short I am and how demanding my job is.

Enjoying every Minute of it!

In the midst of it all we really needed a car and we couldn't have Stella riding around in non-dependable cars. We ended up turning in both of our cars. We got the Ford Flex which was part of my vision board while I was going through IVF. We love the car and picture out little muffin in it!
The ultrasounds continued everyday that I worked and we loved watching her grow and all her little habits that were already happening. She loved to have her hands by her mouth and we even cought her sucking her thumb! Mario would scan me and she would move around for him and open and close her mouth. Such a blessing to watch your child that you thought you would never have grow inside you! By this time I began craving sweets. And not just a little bit but a lot!! I swear its because she's so sweet in there :) I love cupcakes, cookies, candy, and anything full of sugar. I cannot stand the thought of meat and its pretty rare if I eat it. I developed anemia because of it but it just repulses me which is odd because I loved steak prior to pregnancy.

The Second Trimester

November was here before we knew it and it seemed time was passing by quickly. We have an annual Thanksgiving feast with our friends and we decided it was the perfect time to announce the sex of the baby! Everyone was excited and it was so special to be able to share it with somme of the most special people in our lives! Mario bought Stella beer and as we went around the table saying what we were thankful for it came to Mario's turn. He said how he was thankful for his baby girl Stella and passed the beer around so everyone could cheer together. The hoidays were great I loved eating and the food tasted so good :) and I was no longer feeling sick. I started to show and was feeling more comfortable about the pregnancy and safety of it.



Our annual Moreno Christmas Party came and we did the theme "White Christmas" this year and it turned out great! All the babies that were born the past year were dressed adorable and I can't wait to see Stella with them and how their friendships evolve like all their parents. We are truly blessed to have our friends in our life. They have alwasy supported us through everything we have been through and we feel so lucky to be able to raise our kids at the same time! We celebrated Christmas very differently this year. We had spent a huge amount of money on In Vitro and decided not to buy gifts for each other. We were so happy to be getting the best gift ever that it no longer seemed important.






By this time talk of the shower began and I have always dreamt of how my baby shower would be. I had planned, given, and attended so many baby showers over the years that I felt like it was finally my turn and it would be perfect. And that it was. Finding the place was quite stressful. I remember going to a restaurant called Stella's with Mario and my parents to check it out. We knew her name was already Stella so we thought how perfect it would be to have my shower there! We were driving over there and all of a sudden I start to feel her move for the first time! I screamed beacuse it was startling. It felt like somebody painting inside me. I was around 21 weeks and it was amazing. Needless to say Granpa booked it the next day :)
New Year's Eve was here and we went to The Tapanes Family Party. It was a lot of fun and Stella loved all the latin music playing. I swear she was doing the salsa in my belly all night! I just know she is going to be a great dancer like her Daddy!

Halloween

So I was nearing the end of my first trimester and the holidays were approaching quickly! We attended a Haloween Party and deciced to be the charachters from the movie Juno. I wasn't really showing enough yet so we stuck a deflated ball in my shirt and it looked hilarious! I was still feeling yucky and we had another scare where I had to go to high risk ultraounds and care throughout my second trimester. As if we hadn't been through enough the Lord continues to throw struggle at us but we always prevail thanks to our Faith!

The First Trimester

I eventually went back to work and I was obsessed with scanning my child to make sure everything was OK. I was paranoid the whole pregnancy and without being able to peek at her I would've went crazy! So needless to say we have lots of ultrasound photos. Mario would come in weekly to see her and we also we going to Dr. Werlin still and I was giving myself large injections in my butt still! It was all worth it though. Throughout the first trimester I was extremely tired. I would lie on the couch the entire weekend and had constant nausea but never threw up. I ate a lot during my first trimester, it was the only time I felt good as long as I was eating! I am really lucky that my weight gain hasn't been horrible. I craved lots of salt and lived on cup of noodles which I know is really bad but I loved it! Because I scanned myself constantly we thought I was having a boy at first. I realized that because of the injections of estrogen it made her very swollen! As soon as my injections stopped we could tell she was definitley a girl! That's what I get for looking too soon :)